We're looking for the trash fence...

The blog has purposefully been very quiet about our exact plans because we had yet to quit our jobs. Dawn quit her job the first week of July. This week I let my work know and can openly say this will be my last week at work!

The obvious next question is what are you going to be doing? We’re going sailing, more correctly cruising! The basic plan is to leave Puget Sound from Neah Bay in mid-August and go to San Francisco. The next planned stop after that is to be in San Diego in mid October to join up a couple of hundred other boats to sail from San Diego to Cabo San Lucas as part of the Baja Ha-Ha Rally put on by Latitude 38 magazine.

After that who knows… Yes, we’re comfortable with ambiguity.

WOO HOO WE’RE GOING CRUISING !!!

Systems - Hull Slug: setbacks-and-problems Status: published

This week was full of unexpected issues and problems and very little movement forward on projects.

It started out when we noticed the some leaking with our newly installed portlights, which is fine really, a bit of tweaking was expected. However the leak got into the new wood (which was not marine grade) and caused it to swell. So we’re going to have pull down the new cabin top wood and re-seat the portlights to do that. We are not looking forward to that as the new wood was put up with epoxy, much grinding or demolition is going to be involved in that. New marine grade plywood has been ordered, if you learn one thing from me do not skimp on materials. I don’t normally skimp we did this one time and it bit us hard. Take the time to do it right and use the right materials.

This next one really pisses me off. When I had the yard install the conduit in the mast I also specified that they pull messenger lines to the masthead, spreaders and foredecksteaming light. Well they did that but they didn’t make the holes big enough for the wire. I didn’t specify a size and they didn’t ask so this is really a communication problem (one of many with the yard) but I’m not sure why they would drill any holes without explicitly knowing what size. So, I had to drill new holes in the conduit and snake new messenger lines. Once that was done I find out that I still can’t get the wire to pull through because at the angle I’m pulling (90 degrees right out the hole) all I can do is flex the tubing once the wire has exited. I can’t get any more vertical pull. That lead to an almost complete meltdown on my part. I was thinking I’d had to eat the cost the boat cable and pull primary wires instead. Now I’m thinking maybe I can pull back several feet of the insulation and still pull the wire. We’ll see. I’m sure it’s going to be another week of dinking around with that whereas I expected to be done pulling wires this weekend.

Dawn did make progress on some painting though. When we originally pulled down the hull lining and painted we left all the teak in place that covered the chainplates. We have since removed that teak and pulled the chainplates to clean them up and we’ve decided we’re going to not re-install that teak instead leaving the chainplates uncovered so we can see them and any leaking or corrosion issues. So Dawn has been painting that exposed fiberglass white to match the areas we had previously painted white. This is good because now I can start rebedding the chainplates. I’ll have an entire post on that process.

I didn’t really want to write this post, but I figured it was important so you can all learn from our mistakes and see that doing a refit like this is a lot of work and despite planning things will go awry. So with that unpleasantness behind us we are ready to kick much but in the next couple of weeks with our complete focus on everything needed to re-step the masts.

I’ve been working on a document describing the refit we plan to do on Deep Playa. I thought it would be good to share it with all of you and see if anyone has feedback but also so others might benefit from seeing what I’m doing.

Here’s the first half of the document, still lots of specifics to figure out, but a good start.

Overview

This refit plan for Deep Playa includes replacing the standing rigging, re-bedding and improving the deck hardware, replacing and improving the running rigging, and new bottom paint and hull polishing.

This section will cover the highlights of the projects by area (Rig, Hull, etc) but the meat of the document with all the details will cover the projects in the phases they will be carried out.

This document will be reviewed with several yards and riggers for additional input and to help select who will do the work.

We like to do our own work where it makes sense (saves us money, teaches us key maintenance or survival skills) but there are times where specific expertise or time consuming work makes more sense to be done by a professional . To what degree we do things ourselves is to be determined.

Standing Rigging

The wire rope standing rigging appears to be original and it is overdue to be replaced. Replacing it involves dropping both masts, replacing all of the wire rope, inspecting an possibly replacing the chain plates, inspecting and possibly refinishing the spars, having new wire rope rigging made and then re-rigging the boat. At the same time any electrical, communications or running rigging projects that affect the standing rigging and the spars need to be done as well.

Planned Upgrades

• Adding a isolators to the main backstay for the SSB antenna
• Conduit for in-mast wiring
• Strong Track
• Running Rigging Related
• Route all halyards internally
• Add Spinnaker and Mizzen staysail halyards
• Rope clutches for main, mizzen, jib spinnaker and mizzen staysail halyards
• Inspect sheaves and probably replace, internal routing probably changes them all together
• Spreader Boots
• Electronics & Communications

Main

• Masthead NMEA 2000 weather station
• Masthead VHF Antenna
• Masthead LED Anchor and Nav Lights
• Masthead Davis Windex
• Spreader LED lights
• Foredeck Light
• Hailer Mount
• Ensure the crane has all that is necessary for planned sails
• Spinnaker halyard

Mizzen

• Masthead NMEA 2000 GPS
• Masthead AIS (backup VHF) Antenna
• Spreader LED lights
• Foreword Light
• Self leveling Radar Mount
• Ensure the crane has all that is necessary for planned sails
• Mizzen staysail halyard

Open Issues

• Refinishing the spars – What’s the cost
• How many things that are bolted to the spars need replacing?
• Main and Mizzen reefing are a mess
• Rigger needs to be identified
• Rigging Inspection Needed

Running Rigging

All of the lines for the running rigging except for the Jib Halyard and the Mizzen Sheet are in a very sad state and need to be replaced. In addition to that there are several very flawed installations such as the main sheet winch and main traveler which are also functioning poorly. At this point based on pricing and helpfulness I am plan to use Garhauer almost exclusively.

Planned Upgrades

• Move main sheet winch inboard
• Replace main traveler
• Add rigid boom vang
• Increase main sheet purchase

Open Issues

• Can I get a bulk discount from Garhauer?
• Should we do this before we make decisions on our sail maker?

Deck Hardware

Beyond the rigging fittings which will be pulled and rebedded all other deck mounted hardware will be rebedded as part of this the lifelines will be moved to the toe rail as well.

Planned Upgrades

• New Garhauer toe rail mounts for life lines
• New lifelines and fittings
• Bow trim piece is broken and needs to be replaced
• Moving the windlass foreword and the hawse pipe out of the berth
• Add additional bow roller

Open Issues

• Will we use wire rope or line for the lifelines?
• Should we add any fittings for jack lines?
• Can we afford new stern pulpits placed on the toe rail? Would include:
• Bimini
• Solar Panel mounts
• Stern reel mount
• Close the Bow Tank Hole?
• Will a horizontal windlass be needed
• Can the existing windlass handle two anchors
• Will the toe rail track need to be shortened to accommodate the lifeline changes

Hull Work

The main two parts of this project are new bottom paint and polishing the gel coat. In addition to that we want to evaluate all the thru-hulls and see if any might be eliminated as well as make modifications to our ground tackle management.

Planned Upgrades

• Remove unused thru hulls
• Toilet overboar
• Toilet intake
• Stainless steel on the bow to protect hull from anchors
• Bow padeye for anchor snubber
• Rebed and inspect starboard hatch
• Combine knot meter and transducer
• Inspect cutlass bearing and plan to replace
• Upgrade transducer to one with temperature, maybe not a thru-hull; maybe add or instead use fish finder type.

Open Issues

• Do we “plug” or glass closed unused thru-hulls?
• Should we close off the galley sink intake?
• Is the crazing in the gel coat around the hull a problem or just an age issue? Will polishing clean it up? Should we even care?
• What Hull paint should we use? Need to look at the PS articles and compare NW to CA paint results

Headliner, Portholes and Hatches

Removing the headliner is a necessity todo all the other work; we plan tO replace it at the same time as well. The damaged teak along the cabin top will be covered so it blends with the new white headliner as well to create a visual lift to the salon. The leaky and sealed closed portholes will also be replaced with the New Found Metals portholes we acquired this summer. The hatches are also questionable (the aluminum is brittle in places) and leaky they will be replaces as well while the headliner is out. In the final installation the teak colored strips holding up the headliner will be painted white to blend them with the headliner.

Planned Upgrades

• New Found Metals Portholes
• Replace hatches
• New headliner
• New cabin top wood (cover up teak)

Open Issues

• Brand of hatches TBD, New Found Metals is supposed to be making hatches this fall
• Headliner material is TBD, Originally wainscoting was the plan, are we really over that?

About 24 hours till we leave for the biggest sailing trip we’ve taken thus far. We’re going to spend the first few days partying at the Latitudes and Attitudes Northwest Party in Poulsbo, WA and then we’re headed to the San Juans for a little more than a week.

The whole route is planned out precisely, but I should be able to post updates as we go. I also have a few gear goodies that are arriving as well and I’ll do some posts about the new toys as well!

Soooo EXCITED to be heading out… one more day of work. ;-)

From SNL… I think this sums up my life these days :-)

Systems - Electrical, Systems - Entertainment Slug: installation-weekend Status: published

This past weekend was a good one in terms of getting things. It started out with a personal economic stimulus package when we dropped some coin at Fisheries for supplies. Mostly I stocked up on spare filters, electrical wiring components and 100’ of wire I’ll use when I put in the new speakers that I bought elsewhere, more on that later, here’s what did go in this weekend.

LED Lighting

When we were cleaning the boat this summer we pulled out the reading lights in the salon. We didn’t like how they looked, some of them didn’t work and they were a bit rickety. At boat show this year we looked at all kinds of lights some with built in LEDs and other that could take an LED bulb. There weren’t as many choices as we though there were going to be, and in the end we ended up going with two lamps from ABI. One is a classic bulkhead bell type reading light and the other is similar but is mounted on a swivel, like a podium microphone.

For LED Bulbs, we chose Dr. LED bulbs for these new fixtures and LED replacement bulbs for all the existing reading lights as well. The Dr. LED bulbs put out a nice light and they aren’t nearly as hot as the old bulbs which were so hot you could burn yourself on the fixture when pointing the light. They’re a tad expensive (ok a lot expensive) but they also reduce the energy we use which means running the engine less!!

Sirius XM Radio Antenna

When I put the new stereo in this summer, we were using the little hockey puck style antenna which we ran through a hatch and let it sit free on the cabin top. The new antenna is a Shakespeare SRA40 which I have mounted temporarily on the dodger hand railing. Eventually I plan to relocate this, the C.A.R.D., and GPS antennas, which are mounted on the other side of the dodger, to the mizzen mast or a stern mounted antenna pole. I’ve not decided yet. I think the Mizzen mast may be the only option give the mizzen boom’s swing through the stern area. I’ll decide all that when we starting working on the rigging and hauling the masts. I think the radio already holds the signal better and we’re just sitting at the dock.

I want to thank everyone who came down to the boat Saturday and helped Dawn and I with the renaming ceremony (pics on Flickr). Dawn and I have been a long time coming to this point in our lives where we could actually have the boat and call her by a name we loved. Its been about 2.5 years since we first sold the house to make all this possible and to share it will all of you was important to us.

There will be many more times when we can raise a glass to give thanks aboard Deep Playa and Dawn and Dawn and I look forward to sharing those times with you.

We cancelled last weekends event due to rain so we're going to give a shot this wekeend.

We're having our renaming ceremony this Saturday evening, if your friends or neighbors your welcome to come by. Pics will be coming shortly thereafter.

Deep Playa has her stern tattoo completed.

Nancy the sign painter did an awesome job! She's in the back of 48 North, tell her we sent you.

This the mock-up from the artist (same company who did my PeaBoy work) of the final design Dawn and I chose for Deep Playa. Final rev, web site update, re-naming ceremony, T-shirts, hats, etc. all to come in the near or distant future.