Norfolk, VA
To see as much of the world as we can,
Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.
Red Ranger's interior is about to start its overhaul.
The V-berth cushions. ☑th Done.
Almost.
The open issue is sizing. The SailRite cushion video is quite clear on measurements. Their advice is to measure the foam and then sew with a ½" seam allowance.
Does this compress the foam …
Red Ranger's interior was in need of an overhaul. The wood (and plastic) are in great condition. The fabric covering needs help. (Okay, there's a spot there the cabin sole doesn't fit perfectly, but that's not visible.)
CA's got a three-part color scheme in mind: each cabin gets a …
Red Ranger's interior was spotlessly clean, thanks to the wonderful care and maintenance by her previous owners. However. The fabrics were also a bit -- well -- "dated".
CA has the skills and the tools to completely rebuild all the interior cushions. One of the crucial decisions is whether or not …
We had our "No Thank You Helping" of snow.
Tom, on Monday Morning, somewhere near Daytona, FL, posted that it was 30° down there.
We did a few jobs on the boat and fled back to our apartment.
Maybe next weekend we can get some things done.
Other than shivering …
Red Ranger's yankee and stays'l date from the Reagan administration. As we noted in Stitching Failures, they've reached the end of their useful life.
Mr. Baxter, of Baxter Sailmakers, went to Red Ranger to measure her for a properly-designed set of headsails. Custom-design sails include some consultation on sail design …
Aboriginal Australians have a concept of dreamtime during which creation happens. It seems to make sense: we dream, we create a vision, we focus our actions around that vision. The hard part is keeping on course with your vision.
There's no end of management folderol about the essential importance of …
Red Ranger's Yankee and Stays'l date from 1981—the Reagan administration.
We took them to Baxter Sailmakers for a consult.
The news is not good. Mr. Baxter said that he could patch them; but after putting $$$ into the sails they'd only be worth $$$. We'd be patching them annually until they …
During our circumnavigation (day 10, specifically), we found that our macerator pump didn't work. We were three miles off shore and noticed that the tank-minder light was one, indicating a full holding tank. The pump, however, wouldn't spin. Broken? Packed solid with poo?
This was the start of a series …
It's important to actually get things all the way Done. It's also important to know that "Done" is a very localized concept. The boat—as a whole—is never "Done". However, specific incidents or tasks can be closed off as "Done". Some things get done; and some things linger at …
Some blog and websites to follow for the coming year.
College fraternity brother Jeff Perkins: Lake Norman Charter Boats, LLC.
College fraternity brother (my "little brother") John Irwin: Irwin Marine.
Brooke and Susan of Liquid Therapy.
Dave and Nancy of Fawkes.
Scott and Jeanie of Joie de Vivre.
Randy and …
Check out this news in the Washington Post: "‘Ghosts' haunt creatures on bay's bottom". This is a federally-funded program to find and remove the ghost crab pots that have come adrift from their float markers.
In the picture, I'm holding a part of a crab-pot float marker. I may have …
What everyone wants for Christmas: home handicrafts to play with. Some sailboat hardware is like playing with Legos or a picture puzzle.
Red Ranger's lifelines are (as far as we know) original equipment, dating from 1981. They're vinyl-coated wire rope, a potential corrosion nightmare. See Standing Rigging Basics, for …
A boat with multiple banks of batteries (like Red Ranger) has a margin of safety. One dead battery is not a terribly big problem.
However.
Charging multiple banks of batteries is where the challenge arises. If all the batteries are connected together, and all have the same chemistry and the …
Creature comforts include things like food and light and a comfortable bathroom.
After the Painful Fridge-ectomy, we've decided on something like an Engel MT60 Combi fridge. Preserved food, cold beer and ice are some creature comforts.
Next up: the cooker. The door for the oven on our HilleRange is falling …
Over Thanksgiving we landed a great resource: boxes of Rhodesian teak that CA's grandfather, CA, bought sometime before she was born. Yes. We now have the family heirloom 50-year-old teak from a country formerly known as "Rhodesia". And yes, CAB has the same initials as her grandfather, CAB.
I used …
We never used the Crosby refrigerator on Red Ranger. Why? We never seemed to need it.
The Crosby was a classic piece of ultra-heavy-duty gear. Red Ranger has an 8 cu. ft. fridge enclosure and an immense 6 cu. ft. freezer section. (Compare with this; what would you do with …
We're slowly replacing the old incandescent lighting with more efficient LED lighting. Two dead fluorescent fixtures were replaced with Aqua Signal "Maputo" lights. They look like fluorescent fixtures, but they're really just long strings of LED's.
The nearly useless light over the galley sink will be replaced with a light …
Back in October ("Plastics vs. Brightwork") I started removing the toe-stubbing teak from around the aft deck lockers. Hurricane Irene indicated that it may be part of the leak into the aft cabin. After busting up the wood, we had to fill all 56 screw holes with epoxy.
Then wait …
One of the great gifts from our kids was good reading material for the boat. The Oxford Press Very Short Introduction books are a delight. Well written. Small format. Another great gift was a West Marine gift card, good for lots of boat goodies. (There were more... magazines, coffee, tea …
We're in the middle of a string of off-the-boat weekends. Sigh.
Visiting the family in Texas for the Commodore's father's 81st birthday. (Happy birthday, Bill!)
Visiting our kids in LA (Los Feliz, really) for a Pan-Holiday celebration that includes Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Diwali, Nevada Day, and (perhaps) even more holidays …