Vacation Report – Part one (to the Vineyard)

On Jul 26th, 2008 Published By B.J.

Perhaps we are a bit too Laissez-faire in our trip planning, but anchoring out everywhere gives you that freedom. So as morning dawned on July 11th, the day we were leaving for ten days, it was not clear in my mind precisely where we were going and when. I know we were heading East, to Martha’s Vineyard and maybe Nantucket – but not when, how, or if we would hit both of them, Cuttyhunk on the way, etc. etc. I kind of like it this way, though it does make you sound rather disorganized when people press you for details on where you are going.

As it turns out we eventually got our act together and did get off the dock on Friday night. A quick motor to Jamestown to drop the hook an take a couple of hours off of Saturday’s trek was as far as it got.

Saturday dawned lovely and clear (this would be a recurring theme) and we set out for Vineyard Haven. Our plan was to drop the anchor in Vineyard Haven for one night, then move to either Oak Bluffs or Edgartown the next day. The sailing was a beautiful southerly, we set all three sails at Brenton reef and flew across under sail all the way to West Chop.

Oak Bluffs was the preferred destination for the children – with flocks of ducks to feed, Ben & Bill’s Chocolate Emporium for what may be the world’s best ice cream, the old Carousel, and lots of shops and restaurants it has a more child-like appeal over the more reserved and staid, but quite lovely, Edgartown. Edgatown does have ducks, but they don’t come over to the boat the second they see a child walk on the deck.

In Oak Bluffs we’d be required to pick up a mooring and actually *gasp* pay to stay somewhere, and there are only a few moorings with the swing space and depth for us. They fill up fast on a first come first served basis, so if you want one your best bet is on a non peak (read: Saturday) day. Hence the layover in Vineyard Haven for a night, Oak Bluffs is only a half hour further but ou’re not likely to get a mooring on Saturday.

We don’t dislike Vineyard Haven, however of the big towns on the Vineyard it is our least favorite. It’s not just being a lush in a dry town – though I can’t get a Martini I can bring my own wine most places which is a WAY better deal. But it lacks the quirkiness of Oak Bluffs and the charm of Edgartown. It’s still not a bad place to be, so we went in to town (forgetting our BYOB as usual) and had a nice dinner at the Black Dog and visited a few shops.

Sunday dawned lovely and clear with a nice Southerly breeze. It seemed a shame to motor even a short ways, so we set sail for Oak Bluffs. We got there about the time we got all the sails trimmed right. Found a mooring right off and stayed through Wednesday. Highlights included…

  • Day trip by bus to Edgartown to visit the “Octopus Store” as my daughter calls it and many other places.
  • Feeding every duck in Oak Bluffs. Multiple times.
  • Fishing off the boat
  • Ben & Bill’s Ice Cream. Scientific testing shows that three of four family members think it is better than Graeter’s which is a significant accomplishment. One voted “about the same”.
  • Going to the beach, watching the Osprey’s with their babies.
  • Visiting shops and restaurants in O.B.
  • Walking around the Camp Meeting village to look at all the cool houses.
  • For my son – sailing the 6′ Skimmar dinghy we recently purchased all over the harbor for hours, meeting some kids and taking them sailing too.

We had rain only once, just as we left the boat to go to Ben & Bills. We were forced to have mudslides at Nancy’s while waiting for it to clear, then decided that discretion was the better part of valor and took off for the boat again at a break in the monsoon.

Oak Bluffs is a great place to visit, though I do feel cramped in a tight mooring field after getting used to anchoring over the last few years. The only difficulty we saw there was that the Harbomaster was short staffed for running the pumpout boat – we called on Monday and were told we could not be handled until Wednesday. There is a dock though we are too big to fit on it.

We decide that Oak Bluffs was so nice we would stay until Wednesday and leave early for Nantucket to get as full of a day there as we could.

To be continued…

Posted in Cuttyhunk, Martha's Vineyard | Comments Off on Vacation Report – Part one (to the Vineyard)

More P&M about….pumps. And smells.

On Jul 25th, 2008 Published By B.J.

On our recent vacation we noticed a very distinctive and odd odor.

While boat odors are not “normal” in the sense that your boat shouldn’t stink, there are certain odors that are more…common. The “Head Smell”, when something is fouled and wrong with the lavatory, the “Dead Sea Things Smell” when crispy critters get up in somewhere and die (sometimes comes along with the Head Smell, when they up and do this in the raw water intake for the head and their reek comes forth when you flush for the first time in a week), plus there are Engine Smells (Exhaust, Hot Antifreeze, Hot Oil), Bilge Water Smells and others. When you get one you track it down, clean it, treat it and make it go away. Who wants a stinky house?

There is typically some rhyme and reason to these smells – head like odors generally are found near the head for example.

We’ve had some odd ones before, like when one of our old Gel batteries was SO baked that it made really nasty sulfur smells and got scary hot when it was charged. This is odd because sulfur/rotten egg smells usually come from the head, NOT wafting up from under the bed. Took a while and a lot of confused sniffs around the toilet to deduce that one. Start the engine, and ten minutes later Beelzebub has invaded the aft cabin, all that’s missing is the flies.

This strange new odor was also a head like smell, and sort of like a bilge smell. And it was in the galley, not the heads. If you have been paying attention you will recall that we had two brand new heads on board, the likelihood of a foul odor coming from the head when it has been flushed thoroughly and replaced is low. Also this smell was not on the boat before vacation, only when we were on the boat.

So – the sniffing around began.

Sticking my head in the bilge – the likely culprit – was enough to show that in spite of the odor being near the bilge it had nothing to do with it. In fact, the odor was emanating from under the floorboards in the kitchen cabinets where the compressors and raw water pump for the fridge and freezer are. Aha!

Turns out there is something wrong with that whole setup, my working theory was that the pump was shot and something was growing in there, which in turn got stinky when the pump heated up. This particular pump had been on the “to replace” list for a couple of weeks since it had gotten very noisy.

Simple solution – after a couple of years with this boat I’ve scrounged an inventory of 24V pumps, they’re not easy to find. But a quick check of the documentation for the Frigoboat system says the pump must run off the Frigoboat electrical connection which is all stepped down to 12V. Yes, Mr. Backup 24V pump guy has to go off to West Marine and get a stupid 12V pump, because unbeknownst to me there was in fact one 12V pump – the fridge raw water pump. It is run by the refirgeration processor and uses power supplied by it, which is 12V.

Suffice it to say, in spite of being mildly excited about being able to just walk into a West Marine and buy a pump without special ordering I was STILL unable to get the pump I wanted off the shelf. No one stocks any of the smaller 12V pumps, the Jabsco Par-Max series have a nice quick connector setup and I’ve a number of filters that snap right in. No luck.

So today i ended up with a 3.5 GPM pump in there – too many amps, too loud, and too much water…but it should work. Except IT won’t prime either.

It looks like there is a blockage in the (too long) raw water intake line. For some reason this thing is plumbed to a through hull about 15 feet away and done with insulated hot water hose as well. It will be a bear to re-plumb, so I am trying to clean it and break up the blockage with some bleach and water over night.

We’ll see how that goes.

Posted in 12V, 24V, bad smells, broken things, pumps | Comments Off on More P&M about….pumps. And smells.

Trip Reports…Block, Cutty, Block

On Jul 24th, 2008 Published By B.J.

Maybe it’s getting repetitive, but we made a few trips out to Cuttyhunk and Block Island over May & June. They are nice places, there is usually stuff to do, and of course they are off shore so they are cooler than being on the main land.

The challenge is to find somewhere new and cool to go…that we can’t drive to in an hour or less. There are lots of places around here to go, but while visiting Mystic or Battleship Cove by boat is fun, it is so much easier and convenient to make the 45 minute drive. So this puts you in “Island Mentality” which drives you offshore to places you can’t drive too. That limits the places you can hit on a weekend and still get off the boat for something more than a visit to the town dock heads.

Perhaps we were at Cuttyhunk a little early. Nothing much was open – we walked to the Fisherman’s Club for breakfast to find it opening “next week”. The status of Soprano’s pizza was indeterminate. However we had a nice time walking about and going to the beaches. Perhaps it is better to wait until July & August for Cutty, but you can’t go too late in August either.

Block Island is an easy destination for us – about four and a half hours under power, the wind can make that shorter or longer of course. We sometimes head out directly on a Friday night if we can get ot early enough, otherwise we drop anchor in Dutch Harbor as I mentioned in a prior post. Too many visits can make you feel you’ve “been there, done that”, especially going in to the shops, but there are enough restaurants to mix it up and when the water gets warmer the beaches are always a favorite.

Of course all three of these weekends were during the “Battle of the Dented New Sprit” which meant that we were assured of a nice down wind sail home every weekend. Lots of fun to do wing and wing…not! Knowing the sprit was sitting there not installed caused me to chafe a bit at the down wind sailing and yearn for the spinnaker.

Posted in Block Island, Cuttyhunk, Dutch Harbor, Islands | 1 Comment

Cool Gear

On Jul 24th, 2008 Published By B.J.

Maybe this isn’t the most exciting piece of kit out there. It’s not as shiny and sexy as a sprit but it sure solves a problem in a way that is just…nifty.

We’ve a propane grill we use on the back of the boat. I don’t like the idea of intentionally burning coals over a teak deck, so it’s gas for me. But that gives you the problem of what to do with those little cans of propane. You don’t need a lot of them, but they need to be secure and not roll around or get too salty; they rust very quickly.

This thing, from Sailor’s Solutions (the same folks that brought you the odd but effective Sensibulb) gives you a place to store them and protect them without taking up any real space.

It looks just like what it is – a few cleverly glued together bits of PVC plumbing. It also comes with some hose clamps to stick on your rail. The bottom is open, so the compartment is vented.

This makes me happy because of it’s simplicity and the elegance of the solution. It took a minute to install and can be installed outside the life lines, so it doesn’t get in the way of anything on deck. Two propane canisters are safe, protected and out of way.

I just like it so I thought I’d share. $59.95 at Sailorssolutions.com.

Posted in Cool Gear | Comments Off on Cool Gear

Project Updates

On Jul 24th, 2008 Published By B.J.

For those of you sitting on the edge of your seats with your print out of The Master Project List – 2008 Version with a pen looking to scratch off those timely finished projects..stand by! Because it’s a boat work list, every time you cross off one thing you need to add two more.

Case in point, the Pottie Projects. Note that this is now plural.

Recall that the valves in the forward head needed replacement, so I ordered identical valves from Sweden. They arrived, I busted everything up…and couldn’t get the new valves to go in right. After much research, whining & kvetching and communications with the fine folks in Sweden I’d pretty much worked out why I couldn’t get the exact same replacement valves to go back together in a way that would 1) line up so the handles could be operated and 2) screw together tight enough keep the ick inside the plumbing and out of the bilge. I finally brought the valves to my Grandfather, who prior to his retirement had been dispatched to places like the Alaska Pipeline and the Zimmer (not-quite) Nuclear Power Plant to un-bugger the things the people there had done to the valves his employer manufactured for them. If a guy that unbuggered Nuke Plants couldn’t unbugger my head it wasn’t happening. He figured it out – the judicious addition of some hand made gaskets and we were off and running.

However, fast forward to two days before we were to leave on a week’s vacation -I was working on the boat trying to get the forward head done after solving the valve reconstruction problems. While clipping gaskets out of gasket paper I went to the aft head to answer a call of nature and notice…that IT was leaking when flushing too. Cheap Jabsco heads are…cheap. And easier to fix than rebuild and the rebuild kit costs almost as much as a new head. So – almost scratch “Replace Forward Head Valves” from the list, and ADD “Replace Aft Head Toilet” for sure instead of Maybe. 48 hours before leaving for ten days.

The aft head replacement was shocking, because it actually only took about 20 minutes and nothing revolting or aggravating happened. It was like I almost actually learned something in the courses. It was strange, I planned it…and it went according to plan. I sat there scratching my head for a few minutes afterwords because I didn’t know quite what to do with myself.

But I digress terribly and I know you are dying for the other updates. So…in short order…if it ain’t listed here, it still ain’t done:

  • Sprit; damaged sprit is installed and safe for use, in theory. Replacement sprit expected some time in the off season.
  • New alternator is in and actually working. A few false starts, but we got it. Of course, now I am wondering if there is a way to up the ratio on it. And the 12V alternator belts are squealing.
  • Bimini and cushions are lovely. They look good and are comfortable. A few more tweaks are needed, such as through botling some of the bases.
  • Solar Panels are on order
  • Both heads replaced, forward head valves replaced
  • Gelcoat has been comounded and buffed; not perfect but better.
Posted in heads, projects | Comments Off on Project Updates

Catch Up

On Jul 22nd, 2008 Published By B.J.

Yeah, I’m a month or more behind. We’ve got a bunch of weekend trips, day sails, an Air Show and a week long vacation to Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket behind us. Fun with Spinnakers! Head Repairs! Smelly refrigerator pumps!

All coming your way soon. It’s that time of the year, and I need to be swapping out that pump instead of chronicling my adventures for the three of you out there reading this.

Updates…soon. I swear.

Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Catch Up

Spritting Mad

On Jun 12th, 2008 Published By B.J.

Many thanks and Kudos to Vickie in HR Parts once again, she finally secured Evenstar’s new bow sprit. This is a lovely piece of stainless steel that we spotted on the deck of Freight Train VII, a sister ship we ran into at Block Island last year.

Running the spinnaker has been a bit problematic – mostly where to tack it. I managed to bend the port anchor roller in a fit of stupidity last year while flying the kite (don’t ask). Going off the wind in light air there is no better way to sail; it’s fun and damn you look salty out there doing that on your cruising boat. It was fairly easy to do on our old boat which was very spinnaker friendly but the prior owner of Evenstar never flew the sail from what I could see. Sheets and blocks and gear are all there…except for the place to tack the sail on the deck.

Then…last summer…nirvana.

Isn’t that a pretty piece of kit from the bow of Freight Train? The quest was on…my rigger and I searched high and low for the maker of this thing. We each were on a separate mission at the Annapolis Boat Show last fall to find the secret maker of this mythical beauty – the owners of Freight Train didn’t know where it came from, it came with their boat the lucky devils!

The legions of non-sailors reading this may wonder why I am so excited by this. In short, it lets you take your spinnaker (that big parachute like sail) and stick it in front of your boat on something strong and designed to take the load. And it gets the sail out in front of all those anchors, bow rollers, rails and other pesky spinnaker eating devices.

After searching fruitlessly we dropped by the Hallberg-Rassy booth at the show to say hello, and what do you imagine was sitting on the bow of the only HR at the show? That sprit is an option now from HR. We ordered it in January, and unfortunately the shop that makes them didn’t complete it until June.

A week and a half ago it arrived in the middle of dinner on a Friday. The following Monday I brought it to the rigger’s and we opened the box. Only to discover that some genius at UPS had driven a forklift through the box and dented the sprit!

The good news is that on review it appears to be damage in a spot that does not bear a lot of load so it should not be affected in performance.

The bad news is we need to quibble with UPS about what exactly happened and who is paying for it. They wanted to “pick it up for inspection” and couldn’t tell me what would happen to if after they’d inspected it. Of course, given the difficulty in acquiring the first one I’m not about to give it to UPS so they can drive another truck over it to finish the job. More importantly if this one works I want to use it and not wait another five months! We’ll see how that all shakes out.

The biggest difficulty is explaining to UPS that while this is damaged it is a custom built part that is functionally OK, but cosmetically wrecked. It’s supposed to go on the front of a pretty boat and look…pretty!

It doesn’t look awful but it clearly doesn’t look right.

Posted in hard to find parts, spinnaker, sprit | 1 Comment

Back in the Saddle Again…

On Jun 10th, 2008 Published By B.J.

So we FINALLY got to go for a cruise. After braving first communions, cutlass bearings, mad hunts for special bolts and a variety of other things that managed to shoot May completely to crap for cruising we finally got off of land.

Sure, we took a couple of day sails but that’s not quite the same.

This turned out to be sort of a shakedown/limp around cruise, but we made Block Island for the first time this year. Friday night we left East Greenwich and motored to Dutch Harbor where we anchored for the night. After a restful evening on the hook we left for Block Island.

Block is a great place to visit but sailing there is usually problematic. The wind, on the whole is either in your face, dead astern, or just plain dead. A brisk and bracing reach to or from Block Island is something some Narragansett Bay sailors can go their whole lives without experiencing one would think. Saturday morning was no exception – less than ten knots on the nose – so rather than sail until after dinner on Saturday we did the Rhumb Line with the iron genny.

Unfortunately it was to be hazy hot & humid. On land. On the water this turned to fog well before Point Judith Light – we heard the light but never saw it. In fact after the fog set in we didn’t see any land until we were about 50 yards from the breakwater at the entrance to New Harbor on Block Island. It was strange how once we found the channel in the fog, the fog just lifted as we closed on land. We could see the channel markers clearly on the way in which was a nice relief after two hours of foghorns and radar watch.

The first boat we saw entering the harbor was a sister ship! Given there were only 88 Hallberg-Rassy 53’s ever built this is always a cause for celebration. These gentleman were eventually making their way back to Europe after spending some time in the Caribbean. Taking the long way home up the coast and over by Greenland and Iceland. This was hull #6 I believe, and the owner is the original owner and was very involved in the design process when the boats were first built.

Block Island was very nice – practically empty and twenty degrees cooler than the heatwave bound mainland. Though the water is still quite frigid.

Sunday was hot, with wind almost dead astern. But enough to sail dammit, though we are missing the new bow sprit that has not yet been installed (more on that later) so we were wing & wing most of the way home. I finally convinced my wife to take the helm on the dead run – minutes later the wind turned forward and she had a screaming reach with a short beat for the last hour of the trip. Sunburns on all the adults since the new Bimini was not yet installed either.

Posted in Block Island, Dutch Harbor, Point Judith | Comments Off on Back in the Saddle Again…

For lack of a more pithy word – BLECH!

On May 28th, 2008 Published By B.J.

The head is of course the worst part of the boat to deal with. Outside of losing a couple of fingers in a fan belt, which would no doubt suck, what is the worst that can happen anywhere else? Oil, dirt, grease, stinky critters, sea slime and various toxins?

Only in the head projects do you get a lovely melange of all of the above PLUS the added joy of human waste!

We’ve had some…issues…in the past. Mostly because Evenstar was hardly used and the head valves were frozen up when we bought her. And because maybe we didn’t totally believe the boat manual when it said to make sure to close all valves when not in use. Never had to do that on any other head before, right?

This boat has an interesting system for the heads – basically it’s gravity fed. The tank is the highest point, with a pipe heading straight for the overboard at the bottom of it. Two valves act to prevent this from happening. One closes off the outflow over board (or allows outflow), and one diverts the waste from overboard up to the tank. If you open them boat together and the through hull is open the whole tank empties with a whoosh! Not a good thing to discover accidentally for the first time in a Florida marina with crystal clear water BTW.

If the top valve is left open too long and the tank is pretty full then the weight of the column of ick overwhelms the back flow valves in the toilet with predictably repulsive results. Bowl O’ Sludge, which will slosh burble and bubble if you try to pump it back in too enthusiastically. If you try to pump the head with both valves closed the back pressure can blow the seals on a cheap Jabsco head in no time.

The worst trouble has been the valves themselves. WD-40 and perseverance got them working the 1st season, WD-40 and vice grips kept them so the kids could still operate them in the second. Now I have to replace them. It’s not going to be pretty.

The forward head valves refuse to turn any more and I think one is stuck open; it always drains back into the bowl and nothing can go in it. In the mean time the only fully functional head is acting up – back fulling and not flushing – and I need to “debug” that one so we have at least one in working order.

Lovely.

I will do all three of you loyal readers a favor and NOT post any pictures.

Posted in bad smells, broken things, heads, plumbing | 2 Comments

Homeward Bound

On May 24th, 2008 Published By B.J.

She’s finally on the mooring. This afternoon Evenstar came home from the Great Cutlass Bearing Debacle of 2008 and all is well.

More importantly the raw water pump I replaced seems to actually work! No more sea water spraying around the engine room. My 24V alternator seems happy with it’s new dry state as it was happily producing electricity – something it was very recalcitrant about doing in the state of constant salt water dampness it endured last season. That was a pleasant surprise; I have a brand new alternator all ready to go but maybe I don’t need it right away. Expensive, but I wanted a spare anyway.

So the leak is stopped and the boat didn’t sink. Hopefully next week the new Bimini will start to take shape and the sails will get bent on.

The other happy news is that new tools are on the way. Go the Vo-Tech discount programs at Matco and Snap-on! Torque wrenches, snap ring pliers, IR thermometers and Laser Photo Tachometers and more! The engine will be purring like a kitten in no time (or shedding rods and bearings through the side of the block…). I might actually be able to calibrate my tachometer and know how fast I’m actually running the engine for once.

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Posted in Uncategorized | Comments Off on Homeward Bound