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.
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 …
Jen, Silcox and CA in the cockpit. Yes, it was chilly on the water. Of course, we had a great time.
Sailed Saturday. Not far. Not fast. But it was still spectacular.
Had a good-bye party on Liquid Therapy. They're headed south for the winter. Here's one of Brooke's blog …
Above: teak from the starboard ("hazmat") deck locker next to the port ("propane") locker. The blue tape hides 28 screw holes. Which is better? The no-teak look? The teak frame?
Back in March (Befores and Afters) we pulled a plug of soft adhesive out of a significant hole in the …
That's Aluminum Chloride (AlCl3) from our water tank. In addition, there was sand. We had noticed the particulate in our drinking water, so we knew the tank needed to be cleaned.
The good news is that we have to gloriously large inspection ports , making cleaning possible. The ancient gaskets had …
That's Fawkes at Hospital Point. The picture doesn't portray the gusty and choppy water. Monday Morning was just astern of her. Folks are on the move south.
Except, of course, for us. We moved about a quarter of a mile NNW to a new apartment. Sigh.
We didn't make the …
It's that time of year. Folks are getting ready to head south. Last year at this time, we were Done Fooling Around, and had started planning to take Red Ranger to the Whitby-Brewer Rendezvous. Ultimately, that didn't work out (Sweaty Palms -- Best Laid Plans, and Gang aft agley.) We were …
Cindy Ann (Red Ranger), Jen (Red Ranger), Sue (Liquid Therapy), Steve (Red Ranger), Stanley (Green Eyes) and George (Grace). Yes, it was rainy. We're all boaters, we all have pretty good foulies. In a variety of colors, it appears.
The crabs were delightful. There were lessons learned on the sudden …
As a Birthday celebration, we went to Chef Todd's with Lloyd, Barbara (SolMates) and Dave (Fawkes). Chocolate Torte Cake! Dinner with friends. Joy.
Now for the concerns. On Friday, the house battery voltage was 10V. 10V is—effectively—stone dead. A level of discharge from which batteries rarely recover.
On …
Labor Day means—what?—end of summer? Party? Labor? We did some labor. But that's not what's important.
On the party front, Red Ranger's crew is still in recovery mode. Saturday night it was beer, wine and snackies on Fawkes. Sunday afternoon it was Bloody Mary's at The White …