Day 285 Bills big adventure.

My first stop of the day.

My day began taking the 7:20 ferry from Bremerton to Seattle.  My class on Ford Lehman diesel engine was scheduled for 12:00 and I didn't want to be late.  

Since I was heading to Seattle, I tried to combine it with other errands.  I needed to go to the Apple store to see about questions I had on my MacBook and my IPod.  My IPod won't accept all the movies I have been trying to download into it and my MacBook keeps coming back with "error" messages when I do a "repair preferences".  This isn't a PC so I didn't expect these kinds of problems.  

I was smart enough to make two appointments--one for the IPod and one for the MacBook--with the "Genius Bar".  That's one great thing with Apple, they always have tech support for you machine no matter how long you own it.  

I got there right on time for my first appointment and got shuffled back and forth between two "geniuses".  The answers I got were not what I expected.  "Oh,the error messages--that's normal.  You will always get them"!!!!  Say what!!! this isn't a PC where you expect to get "errors".  This is a MAC!!  As to the IPod, the answer was, "Well, the file must be corrupted.  That's why it won't download".  Now the TV show I was trying to copy over to my IPod was on a DVD that had three shows on it.  This was the middle show.  The one before it was fine as was the one after it.  I think I got the "I have no idea what the problem is and so I'll just go with the "file is corrupted" excuse so he will go away"excuse.  What a disappointment!!  I thought I would get some good help, especially from one of the company stores.  I have gotten great help in the past from the store in Littleton, Colorado.  We checked on Tracy's IPod and the show that won't transfer to my IPod is there just fine.  I think I got the "bums rush"!!  Oh well, there is always phone support.

Since I got done a lot earlier than I figured, I had time to make a quick stop at "Fisheries Supply" to look for a replacement dorade (big metal wind scoop that is screwed onto the deck).  One of ours is missing.  No luck.  The one they had was too big.  I did find a magazine I wanted.  While checking out, the man in front of me was buying a bunch of life jackets.  These are normally big money items and since he had 5 of them, he was in for a big bill.  I passed him one of the discount coupons I got at the boat show.  That saved him some big bucks.  I wasn't going to use it and he could put it to good use.

Next onto the Inflatable Store.  We want to add two more handles to our inflatable dingy to make it easier to handle when on deck or on shore.  The address on the Internet was wrong so I got lost.  The phone number wasn't good either.  So I just went to Pat's Marine for class.  I was there by just after 11:00--real early.  I told them of my search for the Inflatable Store.  They knew exactly where it was so off I went.  Found it just fine.  Not even close to the Internet address.  Only problem--they were closed!!  What retail store is closed on a Saturday?  They had a sign with a phone number to call for an "appointment" to get into the store!!  I called them and got an excuse about why they weren't there but they promised me and email with particulars on the handles and the glue to attach them.  We'll see.

I returned to Pat's Marine with plenty of time for the class.  They covered all the basics of our engine.  It was great having a class with pictures of our engine as the model of what to look for as you worked on your engine.  I did find out that some of the components of ours isn't original which means some parts are newer than 1981.  That's a good thing.  Now I have a better idea of exactly what I'm looking at in our engine compartment and how to work on it.

After class, I went to "The Second Wave".  A used marine supply store with tons of used(see the definition of the word "junk") equipment.  I don't think I have ever seen a store more crammed with just about worthless stuff.  None of the electronics were newer than ten years old(obsolete).  Lots of this and that.  Other than some mast steps that I could have used, there wasn't a thing I could find a use for.  A disappointment.

My last stop was Qdoba for dinner.  They had sent me an email for a free burrito with the purchase of another burrito.  Qdoba has always been one of our favorite restaurants and since there are none out here on the peninsula,  this was a no brainer.  I just brought the second one back to Zephyr for lunch.  Add on some of their queso and chips and it was a great meal.

I made it back to the ferry and took the 6:45 for Bremerton.  Home by just after 8:00.  A long day.

Our son used to live in Seattle.  I can understand why he never owned a car.  Driving in Seattle is a challenge.  It feels a lot more cramped than driving in Denver.  The streets just feel narrower than back home.  It's nice to be back home.

Day 284 A big step forward-sort of.

What you see in the photo is our Robertson Autopilot.  A great piece of engineering that will steer Zephyr with no work on our part--other than us sitting near by keeping watch.  You set up a course--the way you want the boat to go--push one button and with it drawing info from its compass, it will steer you nice and straight till you tell it to stop or change course.  Changing course is as simple as turning a small dial on the face of the autopilot.  It took us all the way South from Neah Bay at the West end of Juan de Fuca Straits to Newport, Oregon(back in September 07) and back(July 08).  So far without fail.

Reading the instruction manual, I found that it will take input from our Data Marine wind instrument and steer Zephyr by the angle of the wind and not the compass.  A few months ago, I had followed the autopilots manual as far as hooking up the Data Marine to the autopilot.  The autopilot could see some of the data but didn't understand what it was seeing so it was all over the place as to where the wind was coming from.  Not a good thing when you need that info to steer Zephyr.  Plus, it didn't get a reading as to how fast the wind was.  In short--it didn't understand the info it was getting.  

Yesterday, I gave their tech support a call at the instance of one of their reps I'd talked to at the Seattle Boat Show.  They could not have been nicer.  Given the fact that the autopilot dates back to 1995, I was amazed with all the information I got from them.  They checked their manuals and info sheets in their computers.  We talked back an forth for at least an hour.  We discussed the Data Marine system as well as the autopilot system and what junction boxes I had.  Marine electronics made a huge leap forward about 15 years ago when they came up with a new way for all electronics to communicate between each other no matter who made it.  It's called NMEA 0183.  Well, both the Data Marine as well as the Robertson Autopilot had the capability to talk to each other using this type of connection.  So I unhooked the 7 wires I had originally set up for the communication from both the Data Marine and the Robertson Autopilot and used two of the leads--no reason to string new wires while these were perfectly good--to make the necessary connections via NMEA 0183 terminals.  I turned on the autopilot and the wind gauge and VOILA, it worked perfectly.  Precise data was being transmitted to the autopilot.  Now we can steer Zephyr using the direction of the wind instead of by compass.  Using it in the wind mode while sailing, the DuoGen generator on the stern dragging behind the boat will make all the electricity it will take to maintain the autopilot.

Now here is the "sort of" section of the blog.  Where I had attached the two wire for the NMEA 0183 connection off the Data Marine, there were already two wires going into the autopilot junction box.  It ends up that these wires are from the Raytheon GPS that tells us where we are.  When I turn it on, it negates the info from Data Marine's wind instrument.  It takes it off line.  Even the instrument on deck that is made by Data Marine went off line.  With the GPS turned off, the both work fine.  I could run one but not both at the same time.  NUTS!!!  

This morning, I placed another call to the autopilot folks.  Again, they could not have been nicer.  They listened to my situation and told me of a company that makes just the gizmo I need.  It will take the information from both the GPS and the wind instrument and combine it into one stream to go into the autopilot.  Problem solved--at least it will be next Wednesday when the new gizmo shows up.  I figured there had to be more people that had had the same problem and that someone had come up with a solution.

Once this is all setup, and the new Hydrovane shows up(early April), we will have three ways to steer Zephyr.  The Robertson autopilot will work in both compass mode and wind mode.  The Hydrovane will steer us using the wind alone and not use any of our power.  Each has its benefits and its shortcomings.  Time will tell as to which one works best for us but it is great to have these options.  Life will be a lot nicer if we don't have to be at the wheel all the time Zephyr is moving through the water on her way to her next destination.

It's cloudy again today with intermittent Sun.  I put on the canvas that covers the cockpit enclosure windows.  It will keep them from discoloring in what Sun we do get and stop them from getting scratched.   

More projects to come.

Day 282 It may never end.

I spent the morning at the local Mazda dealer getting our car serviced.  The fan belts were making noise and needed replacing.  In at 8:30--out by 11:00.  Not bad.

Tracy and I traded calls through the morning.  Early on, she thought she heard someone tapping on the hull but wasn't sure.  A few minutes later, the power went off in the boat.  She got up to find out what was wrong.   People from the marina were untying Zephyr to move her.  They thought there was no one on board.  There is a gathering of the Poulsbo Yacht Club starting tomorrow through the weekend and they needed us to move down a few slips so there would be room for everyone to be able to raft up together.  Once they saw Tracy they stopped untying and she told them we would move this afternoon.

I was calling her to give her updates on the work on the car.  Nice people and a decent price for changing the oil and replacing the belts.  I got back to Zephyr about 11:30.

We walked down to our new slip and then to the pump out station since our tanks needed emptying.  Once we had our plans, we untied Zephyr and slowly moved through the marina to the pump out station.  We moved in easily and got the job done.  We motored back to our new slip and pulled in nice and easy.  Out went the dock lines and we got nice and snugged in.  I went below to shut off the engine.  All it takes is the push of a simple button.  This time, when I pushed it, nothing happened.  The engine just kept on running.  Tracy pushed the "off" button at the wheel.  Again, nothing.  I opened the engine compartment door and reached in and manually pushed the "off" rod forward.  The engine went still.  I swear, the jobs on a boat never end!!  We stopped for a quick lunch and then started exploring to see what was wrong.

We started at the switch and worked our way down.  I glanced at the "off" switch on the engine and saw where the wire was supposed to be connected and there was nothing there.  Just the screw.   I found the wire dangling beside the solenoid it was supposed to be attached to.  It had simply snapped off.  No one had been anywhere near it, its connection had just corroded off.

I unscrewed what was left of the fitting from the solenoid.  Stripped off some of the insulation from the wire.  Buffed it with sand paper to make sure it was nice and shiny.  I pulled a spare fitting from my box of spare connectors and crimped it on to the wire.  

Now on boats, you can't or at least shouldn't use the fittings you can get from your local auto parts store.  You need special fittings that you use a heat gun to melt the end fitting after you crimp it to the wire so that no moisture can't get at the fitting.  Once that was done, I screwed it back into position on the solenoid and the job was done.  We restarted the engine and the shut off switch worked just fine.  Every day we learn more and more of Zephyrs workings.

Seattle tied their record high temperature today at 66 degrees.  It was well into the 50s here in Bremerton.  A really nice day to work on Zephyr.  

The second sail slide that was supposed to clean out the track of the "Strong Track" had arrived and I took the time to take it out and get the track "cleaned".   We need to "clean" the track so that we can get the main sail to the top of the mast easier.  Guess what--it doesn't fit either.  It's too big just like the first one they went me.  It was too late to call them today so I'll try tomorrow.  I'm not sure what they will suggest we try next.  I guess we will find out tomorrow.

I spent the rest of the afternoon making lists and web surfing for more parts for Zephyr.  I have lots of people to call and orders to place.  It never ends.

Tomorrow is another day.

Day 281 Jobs and errands

Here was the job of the day.  We picked up the disk we had special ordered yesterday from the local metal fabricators and started getting it reassembled this afternoon.  You can see on the left side of the post where the steering arm has rubbed all the paint off the flat surface it is supposed to glide over.   Once apart, it was easy to diagnose the problem.  The arm had slipped down again and was hitting the bolt heads and rubbing on the steel plate that holds the rudder post straight.     (Remember, you can click on the photos to see them in bigger detail)
The disk--5 inches wide with a 2 1/2 inch hole.  It fits perfectly inside the four bolt heads that hold the assembly together.  You can see the heads of the bolts to the left and right of the post that had been causing the problem.  All the paint on the right one has been warn off.

I applied Lithium based grease on it to make the steering arm glide easier.  Lithium grease is water proof and is made for the boat environment.
Coming together.  I installed the nuts and and shims and  added lock washers to make sure it didn't come lose again.  I added a second set of nuts just to make sure it wasn't going anywhere.
Job done!  Well sort of.  When Tracy went on deck and turned the steering wheel, it just slightly bumped the head of the bolts as it turned back and forth.  Not enough to stop the arm from turning but enough that I will probably order a small sheet of Delrin(really slick plastic)ans make a secondary disk to go on top of the first one.  It won't do any harm and will make the arm glide even better as it goes back and forth.  When it dropped down, I could only steer to 23 degrees either way.  With it in its proper position, I can take her to 40 degrees each way.  For now, we are safe to at least leave the dock.
The other project of this afternoon was to take apart the new inlet for 110 power Tracy had installed a few days ago.  We bought some petroleum jelly to coat the wires that go into the inlet to make sure no rust or corrosion finds its way into the new fitting.  I've used a thin layer of the stuff on the posts of my car batteries for years and have never had any problem with the terminals getting covered with that light green corrosion you see so often.  Once a thin coat was put on, I wrapped the wires in a product called "Rescue Tape".  This stuff is a special rubbery tape that bonds to itself and provides a solid "case" for the wires after it fuses itself together.  It take just a few minutes to react and just a few hours to become a solid piece of material.  No water or condensation is getting to these wires for a long time.  I made sure to sand the wires a bit just to make sure they were nice and shiny for a good contact.

I have an appointment at the local Mazda dealer to have our car serviced early tomorrow(Thursday) morning.  There are a few noises coming from under the hood that we don't like.  We can't afford to have it break down and while there is nothing obviously wrong with it, it is better to have her looked at before what ever is wrong goes really wrong.  We had cancelled our AAA membership last year when we took off for Port Townsend as we figured we would be back in Newport by late August so there was no longer a reason to keep it.  Little did we know that we would still be here many months later and still driving a car instead of sailing a boat South to Mexico.  If we were still in Colorado, I would look into the problem myself.  I've got lots of tools for that back home.  Wayne(Tracys father) taught me well on working on cars.  I got lots of first hand tutelage from him in the years we were together.

The dehumidifier is going strong as we head off for bed.  It took out well over half a gallon of water last night as it ran.  For some reason, it dumped it all into the bucket that is in the machine instead of out the hose.  I had to call Customer Service this morning to find out why.   They had me pull out the bucket and put a piece of tape on a switch to hold it down.  With that done, the water should go out the hose.  There's nothing in the owners manual about the switch, just where to screw in the hose.  Go figure.

Well, it's off to bed.  I have to be up early to get the car to the service center.  It's going to be a long day.  I'll take my IPod and a book to read.  That should keep me busy at least for a while.  Knowing me, I'll fall asleep right in the waiting room.  I can fall asleep anywhere and any time.  It drives Tracy crazy some times.  It one of the reasons we stopped going to parties.  I kept falling asleep at them.  Heck, I fell asleep at one of my managers meeting back when I was in the furniture business and I was the boss!!!  Now that's embarrassing! 

Day 280 Groundhogs Day!

I hope you all enjoyed Ground Hogs Day yesterday(sorry-six more weeks of Winter).  We had a great day here.  Sunny and bright where I actually walked around outside with no coat.  We made it up to 50 degrees and the forecast for the next several days is for the same.  It was wonderful to experience the warmth of the Sun again.

We took off on errands yesterday.  We went to Lowe's and bought a dehumidifier for Zephyr.  As I said in yesterdays post, the humidity has been getting bad inside with water running off the port lights and the hatches.   You walk under a hatch and suddenly drops rain down from above.   

We plugged her in and let her rip.  We bought a hose for it so we can funnel the water it takes out of the air down into the bilge and can then be pumped out from there.  When we 

brought it on board, the humidity was over 70 percent.  As of this morning, we're down t0 46 percent.  There is a lot less moisture on the port lights and the water on the hatches is gone.  I haven't looked down into the bilge to see what is down there but will later.  This baby pumps up to 25 pints out of the air daily-at least that is what the box says.  The fan on it is quite noisy and we had to have the TV at close to full volume just to hear it last night.  We switched it off until we went to bed and then let her go all night. The fan moves lots of the heated air around that had normally been at the ceiling.  It does make for better distribution of the warm air inside Zephyr but it sure make a good bit of noise.  Using this machine will help us battle the mold and mildew that we have been having.

As I said before in an earlier post, Zephyrs steering failed again just before I pulled into the Port of Brownsville two weeks ago.  We lifted up the mattress in the stern cabin and down I went.  Ends up that the bolts the workman had put back on the steering assembly when we had the rudder post repacked were not tightened any where near enough and not only had the shims I had put in to hold it tight slipped out, but I could take off the nuts that hold the turning mechanism together with my fingers.  No wrench was needed.  There were no lock washers(bought new ones yesterday) between the nuts and the bracket.  This time, I'm going to fix it the right way.  I took some measurements and am having a circular disk made to fit under the turning arm mechanism.  It has to be made of stainless steel to avoid any chance of rust.  With luck, I can pick it up today and get this project done once and fore all.   It took several calls to find a machine shop that would fabricate it for me.  The one I finally found didn't return my calls so we just drove down and talked to them.  It must be nice to have that much business that you can turn away jobs like that by not returning a phone call.  I'll post picture of the process of fixing it as soon as I get it done.

With all the sunshine yesterday, we let the fur people out to tour the deck.  With the otters around, you have to stay on watch just in case they return.  They'd kill the kids if they saw them.  Territorial disputes.  "This place is mine and you're not welcome"mentality.  Shadow was the first on deck(amazing).  Snowshoe and Blue saw him go up and out they went too.  Kitties on parade.  They stayed out for about 15 minutes and then came back inside to take naps.  I find it amazing how much sleep these kids require in a day.  A tough life!

Oh boy, it's Shower Day today.  It's a nice 5 minute walk to the showers.  Well, nice if it's sunny-not so nice if it's raining or cold and blowing.  Then off for errands and jobs when we get back.  Still more to do.

Have a great day everyone.

 

Day 279 Clean clothes.

I spent the morning and into the early afternoon getting the laundry done.  It takes more time than you think.  Sort, wash, dry and fold.  Plus the walk back to the boat, cart in hand.  While I may not be paranoid(or maybe I am),I don't like leaving the clothes unattended while they get washed and dried in someone elses laundry room.  I stayed through the entire cycle.  Four loads of wash and the same in driers.  

Meanwhile, Tracy cleaned house, or boat if you will.  She took out clothes from the cupboards where she stores them and found lots of mold all over the place.  Now there are more clothes to be washed.  We knew that there was a mold problem on Zephyr.  You can't live in a climate like this and not have it.  Every time we breathe, we expel more moisture into the the air.  Add that to an already moisture laden climate plus the effect of our heaters and voila, you get mold.  After lunch, we headed out to see if we could find a dehumidifier for Zephyr.  Given the size of Zephyr, we need something of decent size to really do a good job.  We hunted up and down the highway--Lowes(several at big $), Home Depot(out), Sears(bigger bucks), Fred Meyer(don't carry them), Target(don't carry them), Walmart(don't carry them).  I was amazed how many of the stores we went into that didn't carry them or were out.  Yes, we have had a lot of rain over the past few months with lots of flooding, but I would have thought that that would mean that more store would have them.  Now everyone had humidifiers--a dime a dozen for them, but DE-humidifiers were much harder to find.  In this kind of humidity, why would anyone buy a humidifier?  It's like selling a sun lamp to some one in Tahiti.  It's just not a necessity.  By the time we were done, the store with the best one at the lowest price was closed(Sunday night in a small town).  We'll be off today to get one.  We figure we will connect a hose to it to allow it to drain the moisture into the bilge and then it can be pumped overboard.  I can't see emptying a bucket every few hours.  We'll see how much water it gets out of Zephyr.  It has to make the mold more manageable(a good thing).

Yea!!! Steelers RULE!!!

Day 278 Cleaning up and odd jobs.

Well, now that the boat show is over, it was time to go through all the paper work and literature we brought back with us from the show.  Catalogs and order sheets galore.  Living in such a small area, there isn't that much room to keep these things so you have to be careful what you want and what you don't.  Papers on getting into Canada and what they require will be kept as well as what we can bring back to the US after visiting Canada.  We may be citizens, but going through Customs, they can rip your boat apart.  It pays to always declare everything they ask about.  They can confiscate(BAD)your boat if they find anything amiss.

We had visitors yesterday morning.  As I sat at the table going through the stuff from the show, I heard a bit of noise from on deck.  I look up and there is one of the otters again looking through the port light.   This time with a big fish in his mouth.  I guess he or she was looking for a place to sit and munch his brunch.  One of his siblings was on the top step of our ladder about to join him/her--not sure how you tell the difference.  I took off for the stairs and got them shooed off our boat.  We want to nip this visiting in the bud.  One of the last things I want to do is to have to clean up their "leavings" from our deck.  I guess we will have to fasten the life line gates--ours has netting on them--when we ever leave Zephyr.  It may not stop them but they will probably go elsewhere.  I saw them later in the day--another fish for their afternoon snack.  They were farther down the dock.  One swam up with a fish and kept it all to him/herself.  No sharing in this group.  I thought they would.  I guess it's every otter for themselves.

I took care of some small tasks that had been suggested by the lecturers at the show and made a list of more tasks that need attention.  I lubed the Duogen gears where it makes the 90 degree turn from the propellers into the drive shaft.  We had run into the folks that sold it to us last year and they reminded us to do that every so often.  One of the boats--Wind Dancer that is linked to our sight has had his up for about a year and a half and his gears just gave out after thousands of hours of use.  I still plan on ordering some extra parts for it before we leave.  Can't be to prepared.

It was Shower Day on Zephyr yesterday and today will be Laundry Day I figure.  The bag is getting full and the drawers are getting empty.

The replacement parts for our electrical cords should be here by Wednesday so I'll tackle that when they arrive.  One of the booths at the show had a display of power cord ends and how burnt and melted they can get if not maintained properly.  The ones on our two cords looked far worse than what they were showing.  I'll be sending our to him after the swap out.  He collects them to display at shows.  His booth is put on by the ABYC--American Boat and Yacht Council.  These folks train and certify electricians to make sure the work done on boats is up to the codes in force by the federal government.  You really don't want anyone working on your boat that isn't certified by them and even then you hope they remember their training as they wire your boat.  There a a lot of people out there that claim to be certified who really aren't.  It pays to look over their shoulder as they do the work.

Remember folks, today is Rabbit Rabbit Day.  Just repeat "Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit Day a few times when you get up--normally before talking to anyone else and you will have good luck for the entire month.  My parents taught me that while growing up.  "Google" it when you have time.  This practice dates back hundreds of years.  It may sound stupid but hey, what do you have to loose?

Have a great Sunday--and Happy Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit Day!