Well I'm finally getting back into the swing of things. It still astounds me how quickly free time is depleted once the weather warms up. Since my last post there have been a lot of distractions; planning a trip to Vietnam, getting 99% of the rest of my belongings out of 86 Montgomery (thanks for the patience boys!), brewing three kegs of beer for Hugh & Sarah's wedding, going to a wedding in Mexico, spending a week up in Maine, etc... Throughout all of that my brain was planning out the next projects to tackle on Creeky once I had a morsel of free time. When I first got back what did I return to? A heat wave. A huge effing heat wave that crippled all ambition. Sustained temps in the upper 90s with what felt like 300% humidity, and no relief.
I quickly learned that the temperature being a few degrees cooler on the water does nothing for you when you can't get good circulation going. Despite having two huge box fans blowing at full blast with all the hatches open I still couldn't cool off. "Time to buy an air conditioner..." I mumbled to myself at 2 AM in a hallucinatory state after the third night without sleep. No problem, I'll swing by Home Depot on my way home from work and get one of those fancy upright units. Nothing. Fine, I'll try Costco. Nothing. Target. Still nothing. It seems I wasn't the only one who had a delusional epiphany. It was impossible to find an A/C unit I could buy and install on the same day for under $600 within 100 miles of Boston. Capital eff...
Fortunately the heat wave finally broke without claiming mass casualties (that I know of), but a few days later a bigger one was forecast. Yesterday and today the temps were already in the mid 90s, and they will be approaching 100 by the end of the week. I'm sure east coast news stations are working around the clock in shifts to come up with some combination of the words "summer" and "apocalypse" that will earn them certain fame in the history books (or whatever they use in the future). But I'm not worried because I managed to get exactly what I was looking for on my lunch break today; on sale, no less! Apparently a bunch of people have hastily purchased the upright units and not liked the fact that they still have to vent them out a window. So I picked up a returned one at Sears for 20% off with the same warranty as a brand new one. Score!
I realize that people reading this who have air conditioned homes, or at least large windows, are probably not nearly as excited about this as I am. All I can say is unless you have been through the same sleepless torturous nights I have, baking in the heat, you wouldn't understand. Having temperature control is a huge win. Now onto other major achievements.
Prior to leaving for Mexico I took a quick trip down to Hope Valley to visit Henry and Birgitta and to have the mast moved. They had been more than patient in allowing not only Jenny and Justin (previous owners) to keep it stored in their yard, but me as well. After a few phone calls to RI Boat Movers, Norton's Marina, and NE Yacht Rigging, I had a new home for the mast, transportation for it, and a rigging company willing to work with me and my very limited plans. Jennilee even humored me when I said that I just needed to take a quick drive down to RI to take care of all these things a few hours before the flight, or even packing for it. Sweet!
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| They sent the actual boat hauling trailer just for the mast & boom |
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| This is where they asked us where our crane was to lift one end of the mast over the top of the truck cab. Oops... |
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| Henry examining the rig before loading everything up |
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| This is Henry insisting that he is 25, and Birgitta returning from spin class. A truly amazing couple. |
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| Henry and I looking at two different cameras after a job well done |
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| Success!!! |
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| On the road down to Warwick |
The trip to RI was a whirlwind, and before we knew it, Jennilee and I were in Mexico with drinks in hand.
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| Airport Margaritas |
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| Yeah Cabo! |
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| Sometimes life isn't hard |
Another significant achievement was the final installation of the waste deck plate and the pulpit, which I accomplished with the help of my dear friend Brian. So now the deck is a bit less cluttered and Creeky is actually looking boaty. In fact, since installing the pulpit I have had 30% fewer people asking me what the hell my boat is! I can also finally pump other people's stinky poo out of my boat. Double win!
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| Here's where it started. The bolt holes were then drilled out to twice that diameter. |
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| The holes were then filled with epoxy and redrilled to the bolt size. The large hole was coated in several layers of epoxy as well. |
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| Bad picture of the final product, which still needs to be cleaned up to get off the 3M 4000 |
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| The pulpit post installation. It looks like a sailboat bow! |
Soon after that I got down to installing the galvanic isolation system I purchased after reading about the horrors of galvanic corrosion. Whether it's overkill or not, it will at least help me sleep better at night.
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| The galvanic isolator |
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| The monitoring system to be ABYC compliant |
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| I still need to get a display unit when I can find one on ebay |
So that's the bulk of what I have been up to. There have been a few other little projects here and there, and there are plenty in the works. I think one of the next big ones will be to figure out exactly where I want to put the portlights that came with the boat and start cutting holes. I am struggling with how much symmetry a sailboat needs from the outside. I feel like it's close to 100%, but I may talk myself into thinking otherwise for the purpose of mounting the huge portlights.
Lastly, after a few dead leads on possible used V-Drives I think I am going to have to bite the bullet and buy a new one directly from Walter. Stay tuned for more on that.
Sweet update Brendan - I remember a July heat wave the summer before college were you couldn’t find an AC unit. Went into wal-mart and they rolled 4 out right in front of me. they were gone in 15 sec. I could even hook it up that afternoon because my room was so hot; sweat was dripping into my eyes and I couldn’t hold it up to bolt it into the window.
ReplyDeleteSounds like the trip to Vietnam is coming into fruition, be careful with Jerry, you remember what happened the last time he got off a plane at an Airport Florida and he didn’t want to get in a car, or remember who was picking him… to this day I still wonder if he was just efffing with us.
I’m curious about your galvanic isolator. Will you sleep better because it helps to breaks up current, therefor projecting the anodes while the boat is docked and using shore power? Or perhaps it’s because it will help prevent accidental current from reaching ground through your body while you sleep. I’m thing both.
Your last comment said that you are looking into finding a V drive or getting a new one. I thought you were thinking about getting new LH blades made. Not worth the time, trouble, and shipping from Europe?
BK
Hey Bill,
ReplyDeleteYeah, this has been some awful Florida-esque heat we have been getting. Pretty brutal. From what I have been reading about galvanic corrosion, the isolator seems like a great investment, especially while being at a marina filled with other boats connected to shore power. Some people I have talked to about it think its an over-the-top piece of equipment though. I stand by my decision.
As for the V-Drive vs. blades decision, it basically came down to customer service and/or timing. The Norwegian company that makes the blades, West Mekan, has been completely unresponsive by phone or email after giving me the rough quote of $1,000-$1,500 to make new blades. I think most of their work is for major blades/propulsion systems for large ships, so making a one-off set of sailboat blades probably doesn't provide much of a business incentive. Ultimately, I feared that I would give them some amount of money and be at the mercy of them finding the time to manufacture them, which I imagine could be over a year based on my experience so far. The final cost of replacing the blades would likely have been close to that of the new V-Drive anyway, so I don't feel too bad about shelling out a bit more cash up front.
The people at Walter Gear have been really helpful and responsive. I'm confident that I will just be able to unbolt the old one, drop in the new one, and be good to go. I also won't have to haul the boat out to do it. We'll see how it works in a few weeks!