We're looking for the trash fence...

Before

I knew the previous owner had reduced the size of the ice box, many cruisers do that. He did this by adding several layers of 2” foam insulation and then starboard on top of that. There was also a huge void in the bottom of the refrigerator that had a big jug of mystery labeled “A” and with a skull and crossbones on it. Well the refrigerator had that old refrigerator smell so Dawn took out all the now moldy foam insulation and cleaned the ice box.

After

We will definitely put back the starboard to mount the refrigerator element, but while we’re here in Puget Sound with cheap access to ice we’ll also use the larger ice box.

Next year, we’ll do the big refrigerator project to permanently shrink the size of the box, insulate to modern standards and reclaim the unused space for storage. This was just a clean up project and Dawn did an awesome job at that!

Tuesday evening we put Deep Playa back in the water sans rig!! She only spurted a little while I tightened up the stuffing box, which is to be expected since you don’t want to tighten it “too much” and you can’t tell if it’s “too loose” until you’re in the water. The prop shaft is also still not properly adjusted because that also has to be done in the water. So we slowly limped back to our slip and are now tied up at D Dock in beautiful Shilshole Bay Marina. Thanks to CB from sv Palarran for warping into the slip. Turns out sitting in the yard for 4 months did not make me any better at driving the boat. I’m really looking forward to anchoring more then docking!! :-)

The yard is now getting the spars painted then we can run the wiring conduit, attach the rigging and all the new toys and wiring and then we will have our our masts re-stepped and we’ll look like a sailboat again!

We’re happy to be back in the water, up and down the ladder was getting pretty old.

The boat show is much improved over last years noticeably smaller event. The show is more fleshed out and I believe there are more new seminars than in years past, but I've not done my spreadsheet magic to verify that. Saturday Dawn and I focused on walking the floor and seeing what the deals were. I have a short list of needs including getting quotes on the wire and connectors for our NMEA 2000 instrument network.

We attended Carol Hasse's sail inventory seminar. She gave a great talk explaining the different sails a cruiser might want aboard given their rig type. Dawn found the very helpful as Carol does a great job of explaining everything with just enough but not too much sailing jargon. We had previously received a quote from CArol and she was the cheaper of the high-end sailmakers. We're about 99.9% sure we plan to buy our sales through Port Townsend Sails. I'll do a write up of our sail plan in the near future.

At Hasse's talk we also met Nicole and Aaron from s/v Bella Star we also had drinks with later that night back at the marina on s/v Palarran. Aaron found me through this blog. He and Nicole are taking the Seattle Maritime Academy's diesel class taught by professor grumpy and they confirmed he is indeed still a nut. We told them to tough out the lecture , the lab is worth it. We also ran into Craig from s/v Luckness who we originally met when Dawn and I took the diesel class.

Larry Brandt gave a great talk on cruising the sound. He covered Olympia and Shelton. I want to make it down to Olympia one of these times so I'm glad we got some local knowledge form Larry. Larry is also a teacher for Starpath and I have a feeling we'll be seeing him in the future as we take a few more classes.

Great first day at the show! We're headed out the door right now for day two.

The Boat show started yesterday and today will be day one of a multiday journey to the show. If you're not alread, check us out on Twitter at @DeepPlaya. I'll be sending out pics of cool things and comments on the show and seminars. Also check out the hashtag seabtshw to see if anyone is also tweeting.

Update 2022: We don't Twitter any more

We’ve been working pretty hard this weekend and got through the following list of things:

• The new prop shaft from The Prop Shop, Ltd is installed !! It’s very shiny. The prop has been dry fit and hand tightened I need a couple of 12” wrenches to tighten it properly. Included in that is a new coupling, new keys and new stuffing box packing. We used 1/4” Tefpack from Western Pacific Trading
• All of the scupperscockpit drains (there are 6) now have new 1-1/2” hoses and 316 stainless steel hose clamps. I’ve been working on this slowly ever since we hauled out. These were last replaced in 1999 and the old hose clamps were inferior and rusted. Along with these the galley and head sink drain hoses were replaced as well.
• The diesel fill hose has been removed. I’m having some issues getting the new hose installed and I’m seeking advice on tight fitting hoses on Cruiser’s Forum. This hose was labeled 1980 and was original (yikes).
• All of the seacocks have been lubricated.
• We made some progress on our chainplates. I think were’ about half-way through sanding them all with 100 grit. We only have to sand them about 4 times each with progressively finer and finer grit and then polish them.
• Dawn has started work on the furring strips for the aft berth. She has to take a 1x1 piece of wood and then kerf it so it will bend against the hull. These will be glassed in and used to attach the ash battens. She plans to line the aft berth and the v-berth in this way. It’s going to look gorgeous.

That’s a pretty good list of things… We wanted to work on installing the new T-Track on the port toerail which Dawn prepped previously, but the weather wasn’t dry enough. We’re going to watch our weather windows and just jump on that at our first chance.

I can definitely see a light at the end of the tunnel!!

Dawn and I went to Port Townsend, WA last weekend. We unfortunately did not sail instead we took the land dinghy (Subaru Forester) and all of our standing rigging and chain plates to Port Townsend Rigging to have it inspected and plan for its replacement. Port Townsend Rigging comes highly recommended. In fact, I can’t think of any boat services in Port Townsend that people don’t like. I have not had any work done by PT Rigging in the past and this was my first time meeting them.

I had an email exchange with Lisa to get a ballpark estimate and I had a great phone conversation with her as well. Lisa and Dan were flexible and willing to meet with us on a Saturday which we really appreciated. This would allow them to see what we had and to and allow us to make the gono-go decision.

Lisa and Dan are the nicest people and easy deal with. They explained everything in lots of detail which if you’ve seen my wiring diagram you know I love! Even better, they took the time to answer questions not just about the standing rigging but some of my other rigging projects. They even did the unthinkable which is recommend where we could save a few bucks by reusing components of our existing rigging or where my other plans were unnecessary and costly (e.g., custom fabrication Vs. off the shelf parts).

Big takeaway from that is they’re hired. They’re going to do all of our standing rigging. Dawn and I are going to sand and polish our chain plates. We’ll have more on that process in a future post.

Here’s a little tip for you locals here in Seattle. The Fisheries Supply online store which can tell you if things are in stock does not actually reflect what is in stock. I’m not sure how they built their system with out doing that right. But I called in today to check on something and the person on the phone confirmed that the web site and actual inventory are not hooked up.

Call first!

If you want to get your Amateur Radio LIcense (AKA HAM Radio). The Mike and Key Club ARC is having their annual electronics show and flea market on 6 March 2010.

To register for exams call 425-788-0452 or email ag7t@arrl.net

To get ready for your exam I recommend www.HamTestOnline.com. It’s how I studied and it’s a great tool for cramming in all those test answers.

The Electrical and Diesel classes Dawn and I signed up are starting this week according to the folks at the Seattle Maritime Academy which is part of Seattle Central Community College:

The Electrical course begins tonight (11 January 2010) at 6pm, runs M & W from 6-9 and runs for 8 weeks.  The cost is \$275 + \$25 payable to the instructor. \ The Diesel starts tomorrow:  runs T & TH from 6:30-9:30 for 11 weeks. The cost is \$300.

If you are interested in one or both, you MUST be at the office at 5:30pm tonight to register/pay.

I took the electrical class and both Dawn and I took the Diesel class. The Diesel teacher is a bit of an ass and a grump, but he knows a ton about diesels and we both learned a lot. We had no more knowledge engines than how to change the oil going in and we able to get an engine running and we also did a complete teardown on a dead engine which was great because it completely demystified our engine. I recommend both classes. As far as this being your last chance… if they have seats, I’m sure they will let you in. They need the money! ;-)

Here are the course descriptions:

BASIC ELECTRICITY FOR SMALL BOATS AND RECREATIONAL BOATERS - 7251 CSS 122 1A\ MW 6:00 p.m.-9:00 p.m.\ An electrical class designed for the recreational boater and for the small boat owner. A class that will take the mystery out of how electrical systems work. Topics to be covered will include batteries, alternators, solar and wind generators and related charging systems. Small A/C generator and power inverter systems will be investigated. Methods for determining load requirements, wire sizing and wiring techniques will be discussed. Electrical system troubleshooting, meter reading and hands-on training will be offered to the small boat owner or operation in a six week course. Course requires a minimum of 10 students.

MARINE DIESEL ENGINE MAINTENANCE & OPERATION FOR BOATERS - 7306 CSS 122 3D\ TTh 6-8 pm\ A course in marine diesel engines that includes theory, operation, troubleshooting and repair. The student will learn fundamental operating procedures for marine diesel engines. Instructional format combines classroom lectures with applied training in diesel engine labs. For the small boat owner. Course requires a minimum of 15 students.

Dawn and I have started our annual cleanse diet which kind of messes with you with the first couple of days (headaches, low energy, weird tummy stuff) but now we’re back to more normal energy levels. We’ve still managed to be down at the workshop though cleaning up some of the aluminum ends from the spars.

Once they are cleaned up we’ll take them over to Asko for galvanizing.

This weekend we’re also going to drill tap and dry-fit all of the electronics we plan to attach to the spars. That sounds pretty simple, but first I have to round up all the bases, get bolts, and then I can start the drilling, tapping, etc. When I am done that I’ll give the green light to to do the final prep and paint the spars.

The final plan for the weekend is to complete some more hose installations including the new strainer for the anchor washdown.

Should be a good weekend of getting stuff done and eating super cleanse healthy.