Saturday, May 26, 2012

A Sailing Boat Again . . .Kind Of!

SHIP'S LOG:

ABISHAG is a sailing boat again! Well, at least she has her sail back from the loft.  They haven't been "bent on" as of yet for to do so, perched perilously on the poppets, would be to invite a tumble and the thought of the damage her 11 tons would do crashing to the ground is painful to contemplate.

I was however, with a little help, able to get the newly re-windowed dodger back in place. I can actually see through it. The previous vinyl "window" was so old that it lost its flexibility and as a result cracked in several places in the heavy winds of the storms I experienced during the trip on the ICW. Repairs were made with fiberglass reinforced packing tape which worked well for about a month before the UV rays made it fall apart. It had to be regularly replace and each time the cracks and tears got bigger. In addition, I could see through it so the window obviously had to be replaced.

The batteries are still not in. The yard boss says that unless there is an absolute need, they prefer to install them once the boat is in the water. It is much easier then hauling them 10 feet up a ladder. They are kinds heavy and going up a ladder with one is slightly dangerous. I can see their point, so installation will await launching.

The welding will have to wait until the welder gets up to speed with the jobs he has lined up. As I noted before, welding and rain just don't mix and we have had a surprising amount of rain recently, which is the reason for the back-up.  It will take him less time to do the job than it will to haul all the equipment he needs to do it from his shop down to where ABISHAG patiently awaits. I shall continue to make myself "present" around the yard in the hope that he gets tired of seeing me and just comes and does the job. Hopefully, it will be sometime this week!

Thursday, May 24, 2012

And Still More Rain!

SHIP'S LOG:

It is not possible to weld stainless steel in the rain and so, as a result, the stanchion remains broken. The rain did stop yesterday and the day turned out wonderful and now the welder needs only to finish his other delayed projects to get to mine. Hopefully, it will not be too, too long as ABISHAG is ready to go! And me too!

Fred and Bob went down river yesterday and to New London. They left around 10:30AM and I got a call that they were safely ashore at TYC at about 8:30PM.  Even with the 3 knot push down the Connecticut River, it is still about 42 miles and with a top speed of about 7 knots it does take a little time, especially when you you don't make 7 knots all the way. They did all motor-sailing but at least they had a beautiful day to make the attempt.

I didn't go because I was to work on my dodger and sails at the loft. However, as these things sometimes go, the "window" for the dodger didn't get ordered and  that ended that idea. I only found out once I got down there, so I lost a chance for the first trip of the season even though it would not have been on my boat.

I did take the time to install a new air filter system on ABISHAG. The old fixture was tiny and rusted and needed replacing. The new one is a space-age and colorful and even reusable.Tightened the screws on three large hose clamps and the deed was done. It took longer to set up to do it and clean up afterward than to do the actual procedure.

I went down to TYC about 5:30pm to see if Fred and Bob had gotten that far. Obviously, considering the time of the phone call, they hadn't. I waited for a bit and then decided to head "home." Friday I will make another attempt to fix the dodger as I have the assurance from Big John that the window material will be in.  If it is, the work should not take long and then I will truck the sails up to the boat. The dodger will be able to be fitted but the sails will have to wait until ABISHAG is in the water less the sails "fill" when being "hanked on" and literally blow her off the jack stands.  You can feel her move abit in the wind even without the sails in place so it is a real possibility. So that will have to wait also for the launching.

I am not sure if I will get launched today or tomorrow and  if not, it will probably wait for next week.  But then again, if I have learned anything over the past few years, it is patience.It will happen when it happens.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

Rain! Rain! Rain! & A Senior Moment!

SHIP'S LOG:

Yes for about four days the weather was truly wonderful, almost summer-like. It got warm, even hot, and with enough sun for me to get the start of an honest-to-goodness sun burn! But all good things come to an end, even and especially, good weather.

I really didn't get much done on Sunday in that there wasn't all that much to actually do. I painted the depth sounder transducers (two of them) several times with special transducer paint. The paint "protects" the transducers like the bottom paint protects the bottom of the boat from marine growth  . . . . . . and probably about as well. You can't use regular marine bottom paint on the transducers because the copper in the paint, a minuscule amount as it might be, interferes with the signals sent and received by the depth sounders. And if you are consciously using your depth sounder because you want to be sure of the depth of the water beneath your keel, - ie. to keep from going aground! - you surely want accurate readings on that score. Hence, the special paint! SO I'd paint, wait for it to dry, then paint again and wait for it to dry, then paint again  yadadah, yadadah, yadadah . . . . . .

In be tween the painting and during the drying, I checked all the hatches, draws and doors that were sticky. I sanded them until they closed and opened with no sticking. It was so bloody hot down below - on dry land ABISHAG can't turn into the wind and have it fill and cool the inside -  so I had to crack the hatches to let the heat out and what breeze there was in. Still, it was surprising how it sapped the strength right out of me.

I vacuumed the inside, arrange some things, did a lot of little busy work and then decided that it was too nice to spend the day doing busy work and I took off. And that's when the "senior moment" occurred . . . or may have . . . for I am not sure, but now I think that may have neglect to have closed the hatches and ports on ABISHAG.

Normally it wouldn't be a big deal especially considering the weather we have had for the last four days but that weather did not continue.  If I did leave the hatches and ports open, more than those little "whirligigs" from the Maple trees go into the boat. Rain got in, and if was anything in Portland like it has been along the Coast, a lot got in. It is not that it can do in the way of damage, it is a boat after all. Rather, it is the clean up and the mold and mildew that will follow if I don't do it. I hate mold and mildew and I hate cleaning it up almost as much.The rain woke me out of a sound sleep last night which is when that it struck me that one, some or all of the hatches and port on ABISHAG were open. I must be getting a lot calmer in my old age for, since I wasn't sure if or how many was the case, I decided that I wasn't getting into my car and driving up to close them. I simply went back to sleep!

I used the rainy Monday to drop some excess books and an extra tool kit at TYC. Tools, like spares, tend to breed among themselves and produce more tools, certainly more than one deeds. i can say how long ago I bought this particular tool kit, but it has become redundant and so unnecessary and so expendable and so I gave it to the club. I also used the day to head to the sail loft and check on the sails. I am going to have to go up again on Wednesday and work on them myself. They have gotten behind. Their help ( an imposed relative in need of direction) hasn't really been all that much of a help and then have gotten behind. So I'll be there Wednesday and get the Dodger done and any work necessary on the Main and Genny. If nothing else, it will eliminate or at least reduce the sail-loft bill, which is a good thing.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Off Days

SHIP'S LOG:

Since the weather turned nice(read "No Rain") and there is really little left to do to get ABISHAG ready to go(read"Waiting for the batteries to be re-installed and the welding job completed" ) I took a couple of days off just to enjoy the weather. It is getting on toward summer and I can't wait for it to it big time.

Basically, I didn't to anything. I sat and read in the sunshine and, like "Oddball" in the movie, Kelly's Heroes, "sitting around, eating cheese, drinking wine, soaking up rays." A total and complete and wonderful "waste" of time.

Today, I will head back to the boat and polish the hull, or at least make a stab at it.  If I get it done or get bored, I'll get back inside and work at tagging the wiring again. I got a bunch of that done but seemingly, the more I did, the more there was to do. Strange.

I got a call from a friend of a friend who might be interested in buying ABISHAG. We talked for 20 minutes or so on the phone and he is planning to come by on Monday afternoon to see her. As these things go, I don't expect much will result from the visit but it is the closest I have gotten to having a real live interested potential buyer give her a look.

I am strangely anxious about the trip from Portland to New London.  I am anxious that everything works right. I am anxious about my handling of the trip. I am anxious about the weather.  Truth be told, it is the normal pre-trip anxiety that most sailors, even those with lots of experience, always seem to experience prior to beginning a journey. Considering the trip last year, it shouldn't be all that big a deal, but then again, it was really being meticulous and conservatively careful that led to that journey being as "trouble free" as it was.  I am "safe" ashore in Portland but it doesn't feel like "home."  "Home" is the mooring off of TYC in New London and I can't wait to be there. It's the getting there that seems to be the source of the anxiety.  Strange.

Tuesday, May 15, 2012

Not As Easy As It Sounds

SHIP'S LOG:

Trace a wire from one end to the other. What could be simpler? But it is not as simple as it sounds. Tracing the wires for the engine gauges required getting access to the engine which meant opening up the side panel, the front panel and the floor panels in the "In-Law" apartment cockpit locker. Even then, it was not all that easy a tack for a couple of reasons.

The first is that the manual I had for the engine is gone. It disappeared during one of my sojourns on the hard after the groundings. Someone, for whatever reason, "borrowed it and never brought it back. So any and all directions and descriptions of the wiring is gone.

The owner's manual, which I have, depicts the wiring as it originally came from the factor but it has been "modified" over the years and most actually bears little resemblance to what it originally was. Fixes and adjustments by the owners, crazy wire routing and bundling makes tracing a
horror show.

Then there is that routing and bundling. Wires need to be support along their length, ideally ever 18 inches(to keep to code)  and to prevent them from dangling and getting snagged and/or ripped out accidentally. It is hard to follow a wire in a bundle through a bulkhead or wire run  and be sure of where it actually goes.

Then there is the wire color coding. Specific color wires are used for specific jobs. They all had the correct color s when they left the gauges but some "miraculously" changed colors somewhere along the way.  It is a case of using whatever wire of whatever color to affect a repair. It is a total pain.

Then there is the crazy and non-code and unsafe connections that show up along the way. It is something akin to traveling on a freeway through a monstrous work site with all sorts of detours and changes of direction. Just trying to figure what goes where is one hell of a challenge.

One could try to work backwards, going from the appropriate sensors back to the gauges. I tried this but just finding the sensors is a challenge. When I first go the boat, it took me a whole day of dedicated and focus investigation to find the oil dipstick! It was actually hidden behind two hoses which had to be moved to access it. Things are like that on ABISHAG. The diesel fuel filler is "hidden"in the propane lock. I got a call in the fall from the boatyard wanting to know where it was as they couldn't find it. It took me most if the afternoon to find the oil pressure sensor and the engine temperature sense and I was able to accomplish that only by means of a process of elimination.  The only wires "connected" to the engine should be those leading to the alternator and those to the sensors. But there are wires that lead over, under and around the engine and it is a task just to figure out which one actually go to the engine. Access to the engine on a boat is not like that on a car. Usually you have access to one, perhaps two of the six sides.  Of course it doesn't help matters that there are also wires that are near the engine that are connect at that end to nothing.  what a chore!

If I had the bucks, I would rip put every single wire, bus bar and panel, and re-wire the entire boat, marking every single wire and c0onnection as I went and creating an accurate electrical schematic. That will have to await a visit from the Prize Patrol from Publishers Clearing House! ! !! ! ! ! ! !

Saturday, May 12, 2012

Getting There

SHIP'S LOG:

Wires removed! Welding job set up. And that's about it. True, it did take most of the day as both were more complicated that you would think, but both got down and basically . . . . that's it. Didn't get to the polishing as I can save that for next week, but basically it's done.

If I have the energy and the inclination I may actually do another wire trace, following and marking all of the wires for the various gauges on the engine panel. Right now, none are marked and the best guess is that "they were installed using the right color wire!" One a boat, the colors of wires mean certain things, basically that the wire is being used for a particular application  and that it should not be being used for anything else. this helps immensely when you have a problem or need to work on a specific piece of equipment. At least you know you are dealing with the right wire. Most wires on boats are under floors, in walls, and above hatches. Tracing them to find and correct problems can be a real task  so it is a good thing that a wire of a particular color that goes in here is the same wire that comes out over there. This means you don't always have to dismantle everything to find the truth. Most electrical problems take place at connections, not along the length of wire in between, so knowing that the pink wire leaving "the whatis" is the same one that slipped off the bus-bar under the settee will, when reconnected, get the "whatis" working again. Then again, yard workers have been known to grab any piece of wire of any color to make a fix. Color then is no guarantee but it is at least a place to start. But like I said, I will need energy and the inclination to trace, label and tag each piece of wire, and with launch day looming, I might not be able to find or summon up either!

Friday, May 11, 2012

Taking Stuff Out! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

Yesterday was a stellar day . . . even with the rain which we weren't suppose to have.  First of all, the boat was dry. No leaks! And if it didn't leak after all that rain, it won't! Even peeling away the masking tape didn't produce any returning leaks so all is good there. And then a strange thing happened . .  . I started to clean up ABISHAG!

Sounds strange, I know, but when you are working on a boat, you have all sorts of stuff scattered everywhere. Tools on table, cleaners and lubricants sealers on every flat surface. Cleaning cloths and scrubbies and sponged in the strangest places. But now, the tools could be put away, accessed when needed from the tool box. Sealers and lubs were oput into their respective lockers. Painting tools and paints hauled down from the boat to the car. Indeed, everything not essential to the running and on-the-water maintenance of ABISHAG was transported to the car. 

Lockers were also cleaned out. Items that I need or anticipated I needed, from diesel treatment(several different kinds in partially used containers) to empty plastic gallon jugs got the heave-ho! Back-ups and redundant spares were emptied from lockers, their places taken by items that would be regularly used in the daily running of the boat.

And the boat was cleaned. Vacuumed(inside and out) and washed down and polished (where needed) and lockers were emptied and carefully and thoughtfully arranged so stuff could be found.  All that remains to be done before launching is a weld-job on a stanchion( the yard has to do that), remove two wires and and seal the remaining ends of those unused and un-removed, polish the hull and return to the boat those items such as charts, books and clothes. It is an almost overwhelming feeling to know that ABISHAG is "good to go" for another season.  Now I have to book a "launch date!"