Day 136 Lots happening.

Here is what caused the breakdown in our plumbing yesterday.  As can be seen, it was beyond salvage.  Jack--the electrician--as well as many other titles now, tore out the kick plate in the galley step(that's the vertical piece in a step) to gain access to the fittings and installed lots of new hose.  This time, the kind  that won't rust and corrode.  When Zephyr was built, plastic hose wasn't used on boats or virtually anything.  Now it is everywhere.  We are back up and running.  It may have taken him all day(6 hours @ $75.00/ hour) but what the heck, you can't do without water.  Now I have to rip out the Paloma heater.  I'll have lots of nice new space on the forward bulkhead of the engine compartment.

Troy, our new electrician,(we think Jack got to frustrated with Zephyr after 6 weeks of fun) is working on more connections.  Renewing and replacing as he sees problems.  When we pulled into Point Hudson, the "off" switch for the engine that is mounted on the binnacle(where the steering wheel is) no longer shut off the engine.  If the alarms I discussed yesterday ever go off, I want to be able to shut her down ASAP without having to climb down the stairs.  He replac

e the connections and it should work just fine now.  He is also replacing the connections on the key switch that turns on the engine below decks.  Again, one of those necessary things.  At over 6 feet tall, he is having fun squeezing into lots of the small spaces on Zephyr.  Jack, at about 5 foot 10 had it much easier.

The really big news is that Brion Toss, our rigger, is going to use Zephyr as a teaching tool next week.  He is teaching a class to 16 US Coast Guardsmen on how to inspect boats for problems.   There have been an escalating number of boats that have been inspected--surveyed by "professionals", that have actually been unsafe yet the new owners were told the boats were fine.  These guys will be all over Zephyr, inspecting and checking systems and learning what to look for on boats like ours so that in the future, they will have a better idea of what to inspect as they check out other boats.  After what we have gone through, I can't tell you how excited we are to have all these people going all over Zephyr.  It will be interesting to see what, if anything they find.  Look for our post next Thursday.  

We spent an hour with Brion yesterday afternoon learning how to put "eye" splices on line(rope).  "Rope" becomes "line" once it comes on board a boat.  Nautical term don't you know.  He invented a tool for making it real easy.  I'll be practicing it a good bit over the next few days.  We will have more classes on it as there are many different types of "line" that are used on boats and each gets spliced just a bit differently.

I stopped the installation of the SSB yesterday.  The boat yard was ok with my decision as to the matter.  If we change our minds, we can always get it installed before we leave here next year.

Here is another picture of the fittings that were used at the water heater.  It took me a while to get it downloaded.  This is a 5 inch section of hose that is made up of copper, bronze, steel and iron pipe, all connected to the rubber hose which went to the other fitting, which by the way isn't hose made for drinking water.  You're not supposed to use different metals in a fitting like this.  Lots of corrosion over the years.  It's amazing that it didn't go sooner.  It's all been replaced with the proper hose.

We can certainly see the difference in the amount of boats here at the marina now that it is after Labor Day.  No where near as crowded.  The boat yard on the other hand is a buzz with activity.  Lots of boats coming and going everyday.  People are done with their boats for the season and now want work done over the Winter months. One wooden boat came in for an estimate as to the cost of repairs.  An old wood power boat that they had bought for $10 grand.  The estimate in labor alone is over $25,000.  That is with out parts and the woodwork that needs to be done.  Lots of rot in her decks and bulkheads.  We on the other hand wanted the work done now and will enjoy sailing during the Winter months when it isn't so crowded.  We would have preferred to do the sailing down off Baja, but that time will come.  Now we will have the time to play with Zephyr and maybe get to Alaska next Spring/Summer.  Tracy has always wanted me to see it. I of course would prefer to go where you take cloths off, not put them on.  Tracy will be shipping clothes to Zephyr in a few weeks when she goes to Denver.

Well, that's about it.  The Sun is up and the day is beginning.  Lots to do, or at least watch.