Day 286 Bigger Liberty

Ever since we moved here, I have stared at a big boat across the marina.  It looked sort of familiar but I just couldn't place it.  We took a "dock walk" yesterday and when we finally got to the boat it suddenly dawned on me,  it was another Liberty, only this time a Liberty 49.  The big sister to our 458.  It's the first one we have ever seen.  She looks huge in relationship to ours.  Ours measures 45.8' unless you use a tape measure, then she is closer to 48'.  This baby is supposed to be 49' but measures in at over 53 feet with her bowsprit(the big pole that sticks out the bow of the boat).  Her name is "China Cloud".  She is #6 in the line and was built in 1987.  We were lucky enough to talk to the owner(yelling across the marina).  He bought her in 2007 in Bellingham, Washington.  Close to where we bought ours.  He is still working on her.  He's planning to have her hauled out in a few weeks and bow thrusters added to her.  I can't say I blame him.  Once you get to a boat that size, she can be hard to handle, especially in winds going against you as you try and dock.  I ran into that yesterday when we moved Zephyr back to where she started before the Poulsbo Yacht Club showed up late last week.  We had to move down the dock so there was room for all of them to be together.  It was great to see another Liberty.  I'll still stick with ours.  A 458 is big enough for Tracy and I.  Anything bigger and you really need more crew to sail her.  

After our move down the dock last Wednesday, the poor guy next to us had been using two electric cords to get power to his boat.  His heater would blow the circuit breakers is there was anything else on the line with it  so he needed two lines.  Once we showed up, all was still fine as we could hook ours up to the outlet in the next slip.  Unfortunately, the owner of the boat in that slip came over for the weekend and wanted his outlet back.  The poor guy next to us had to relinquish one of the outlets he was using.  During the night, the circuit breaker blew and he ended up with a temperature of 48 degrees when he got up.  As soon as the yacht club left yesterday, we moved back to our original slip.  He's now got both his cords plugged back in.  I'm sure he is a lot more comfortable on his boat.
I ordered and installed two Alpenglow lights on Zephyr a few months ago in the main cabin.  We were so impressed with them that I ordered two more for the galley area.  Boy they sure make a difference.  Not only in light output, but in their amp draw.  One is equipped with a red light so we can have light at night as we sail without ruining our night vision.   The halogens used 2 to 2.5 amps for each light.  These Alpenglows use less than 1/2 an amp for each light.  A huge savings and we get more light out of them.  They showed up Saturday and I installed them yesterday.  Wow, what a difference.  

I few days ago, I showed pictures of our melted electric cord where it comes into Zephyr.  It pretty well trashed the cord end and made it useless.  I had ordered replacement ends for the two cords we had and I replaced  the end of the cord last night as we sat watching tv.  I still have one cord left to do today.  We will then have plenty of back ups or extra cord in case we run into an outlet farther than what our existing cord is in length.

We ran errands to Costco(more supplies) and Home Depot and Lowes looking for a stainless steel bolt to lock up the anchor on the bow so it can't deploy itself unless we want it to.  Currently, it is only held to the bow by its chain.  We should never have come up the coast with it the way it is.  Unfortunately,  neither of the big box stores carry a bolt that will fit Zephyrs bow roller.  Today, the hunt continues.

Have a great week.