...Goes to a good mate of mine, Ben T, for finding a copy of Lat 38 in Washington that had Norm's freshly-built steel boat on the cover (looking good there Norm), and posting it to me in the UK.
nathan
nathan
Can you tell by the post title I'm really, REALLY counting down 'til we leave?
Anyway, 2015! Where does the time go.... 2014 was a great year that
included some big milestones for the boat, but an even bigger one is
coming this year. In 18.5 weeks, we'll be taking in our lines for the last
time and heading off. Yep, it's that close.
I had two weeks off over Christmas and even with the cold weather, managed to spend the time getting some more projects out of the way.
-
Having sold our two rubbish wind generators (don't buy an Istabreeze -
they produce zero power), I fitted up the new Rutland 914 and it's
working a treat. It doesn't produce a huge amount of power (I'm
expecting 100aH a day from it), but is almost silent and I expect our
solar panels to provide the other 100aH each day.
-
Our 2-stroke 15hp arrived and I thought it could do with some testing.
The engine weighs about as much as the ally dinghy, so zipping around
the anchorage won't be an issue....
- The guest
cabin was in dire need of finishing - especially with a mate coming up
for NYE - so I wired in the lights, fitted the fan and cleaned up the AC
outlets to make everything a bit more presentable. You'll be pleased to
hear the cabin received a thumbs-up..
- The
watermaker plumbing received some attention. Just a few more bits to
arrive and fit (stepping up from a 6mm outlet -> 38mm inlet ain't
easy) and it'll be ready to go.
- The now not-required davits were removed from the aft deck and the Aries extension pole fitted.
- We found a pre-mix bread that only requires water, lasts six months in it's packet, and tastes great. It might not seem like a big thing, but when store bought bread only lasts (at best) a week and you're in the islands for months, fresh bread is a biiiig deal.
So
quite a few little jobs ticked off the list and now we're on the final
run to haul out - just 10.5 weeks away. I still have a few bits &
pieces to do in the interim - mainly plumbing and trim related, then
it'll be time for the final repaint and re-rig, and we're off. Can't
wait.
A great weekend thus far interspersed with periods of utter frustration.
First up, welded a piece of stainless rod onto the anchor. Our anchor catches the bowsprit cable every time we haul it in so the new piece of stainless should help the anchor slide along it and settle into it's holder ok. Hopefully.
Next, our plan was to keep the two kayaks on the swim platform while underway. I managed to squeak one on there, but the second is going to need to live on the aft deck.
The aft morse controls needed fitting and Chandlery Rob has been on my case to pay him for the cables, so I spent a day crouched in the engine bay fitting everything. Well, as it turns out the gearbox selectors work fine but one smashed morse cable later, the throttle cables just do not work.
Update! I got them working this morning (Monday). I woke up with a Eureka moment at 06:00 (sorry Lauren) - basically, rather than having a nut on either side of the bit that connects to the throttle, I changed it to a nut on only the pulling side. What this means is that when you pull the throttle, it slides along the throttle that isn't being pulled (rather than moving the cable). Make sense? Well, if not, rest assured it just works.
I pulled apart the the morse controls and changed it from push to pull, but still no luck. Anyway, here's what I spent my Saturday night doing....
The throttle selectors will be going back to the supplier and we'll see what they come up with.
Things ordered:
- 15hp outboard. I found a good condition outboard in Wales that should be arriving on a pallet tomorrow. As good as the 8hp has been, a 15hp will get us on a plane a lot easier fully loaded and move us around the anchorage a lot easier.
- Two sheaves. Our aft steering is still not right and the cables are attached to the rudder stock at the wrong angle so I did some hunting, and found two sheaves in Idaho for $29. The guy's happy to ship them to me but curious as to why I'd be happy to pay $59 for shipping..... given that comes to £60 all up, and two sheaves in the UK would cost £400, it's a proper bargain.
- Rutland 914i wind turbine. Those of you who've followed the blog for a while will know all the problems I've had with the Istabreeze wind turbines.... well, I swore off that design and decided I'd get a local 6 blade version. They have a great reputation and are absolutely silent. Anyways, this one came up 20 miles away and it's brand spankers but the guy's had it for 2 years and never installed it (still in the box) so the 2 year warranty is null and void. That'd normally be a problem but ebay give a 3 month warranty and since we're leaving in 5 months, a 2 year warranty wouldn't be any good anyway (it's not like I'm going to send a wind turbine back from the Caribbean). Anyways, I paid 3/4 of the brand new price and picked it up this morning.
So that's about it for today. More work to be done in the lead up to Christmas, three days off, then hitting it for another week and a half before it's time to head back to work.
Have a great Christmas everyone.
First up, welded a piece of stainless rod onto the anchor. Our anchor catches the bowsprit cable every time we haul it in so the new piece of stainless should help the anchor slide along it and settle into it's holder ok. Hopefully.
Next, our plan was to keep the two kayaks on the swim platform while underway. I managed to squeak one on there, but the second is going to need to live on the aft deck.
The aft morse controls needed fitting and Chandlery Rob has been on my case to pay him for the cables, so I spent a day crouched in the engine bay fitting everything. Well, as it turns out the gearbox selectors work fine but one smashed morse cable later, the throttle cables just do not work.
Update! I got them working this morning (Monday). I woke up with a Eureka moment at 06:00 (sorry Lauren) - basically, rather than having a nut on either side of the bit that connects to the throttle, I changed it to a nut on only the pulling side. What this means is that when you pull the throttle, it slides along the throttle that isn't being pulled (rather than moving the cable). Make sense? Well, if not, rest assured it just works.
I pulled apart the the morse controls and changed it from push to pull, but still no luck. Anyway, here's what I spent my Saturday night doing....
The throttle selectors will be going back to the supplier and we'll see what they come up with.
Things ordered:
- 15hp outboard. I found a good condition outboard in Wales that should be arriving on a pallet tomorrow. As good as the 8hp has been, a 15hp will get us on a plane a lot easier fully loaded and move us around the anchorage a lot easier.
- Two sheaves. Our aft steering is still not right and the cables are attached to the rudder stock at the wrong angle so I did some hunting, and found two sheaves in Idaho for $29. The guy's happy to ship them to me but curious as to why I'd be happy to pay $59 for shipping..... given that comes to £60 all up, and two sheaves in the UK would cost £400, it's a proper bargain.
- Rutland 914i wind turbine. Those of you who've followed the blog for a while will know all the problems I've had with the Istabreeze wind turbines.... well, I swore off that design and decided I'd get a local 6 blade version. They have a great reputation and are absolutely silent. Anyways, this one came up 20 miles away and it's brand spankers but the guy's had it for 2 years and never installed it (still in the box) so the 2 year warranty is null and void. That'd normally be a problem but ebay give a 3 month warranty and since we're leaving in 5 months, a 2 year warranty wouldn't be any good anyway (it's not like I'm going to send a wind turbine back from the Caribbean). Anyways, I paid 3/4 of the brand new price and picked it up this morning.
So that's about it for today. More work to be done in the lead up to Christmas, three days off, then hitting it for another week and a half before it's time to head back to work.
Have a great Christmas everyone.
Another weekend closer to departure ticks by. This weekend I needed to change the ally angle that was supporting the steering cables for thicker mild steel, and also fitting the wood to the swim platform.
The mild steel angle fitted up amazingly quickly (for a boat job anyway), so it was time to crack on with the swim platform. We re-bolted the steel supports and sealed everything with a touch of 5200, then fitted the hardwood planking.
A light trim later and I'm relatively happy with it, although it'll need another trim as it's too wide.
After that, I had a spare day so fitted the cover to the guest cabin mattress.
Doesn't seem like much got achieved, but it filled up the weekend quite easily. Anyway, it's the last week at work before the holidays then I've two weeks off to get more boat work done. It never ends.
5 1/4 months to go.
The mild steel angle fitted up amazingly quickly (for a boat job anyway), so it was time to crack on with the swim platform. We re-bolted the steel supports and sealed everything with a touch of 5200, then fitted the hardwood planking.
A light trim later and I'm relatively happy with it, although it'll need another trim as it's too wide.
After that, I had a spare day so fitted the cover to the guest cabin mattress.
Doesn't seem like much got achieved, but it filled up the weekend quite easily. Anyway, it's the last week at work before the holidays then I've two weeks off to get more boat work done. It never ends.
5 1/4 months to go.
