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.
The last three days? Major accomplishments. All with "R".
Our big mistake was leaving the dodger windows in place. Hurricane Ian's wind pummeled the windows, ripping the entire dodger structure apart.
Three of the …
We have questions, of course. A lot of questions.
Earlier today, Red Ranger was put back up onto her stands.
Our friend Scott (of Joie de Vivre) took some more pictures for us.
A great deal of the interior looks like it may be in good shape …
CA asked if we had closed the dorade vents.
We closed up Red Ranger back in June. It's hard to recall exactly what we did.
I reminded CA that there's a "close up the boat after haulout" checklist. What did that say?
The answer: Remove dorade wind-scoops and screw in …
We're (still) moored on ball K-9 (at 24°42.250′N 081°05.550′W) in Boot Key Harbor.
Beth Leonard (I think) said "Cruising is fixing your boat in exotic places."
For the last three days I've been going aloft to work on our OGM LXTA masthead light. It …
We're moored on ball K-9 (at 24°42.250′N 081°05.550′W) in Boot Key Harbor.
I've ordered a replacement for the mast-head OGM-LXTA-S light. It's a sealed unit. Maybe Weems & Plath will repair or refurbish the old one so I can have it …
We had some problems. Some we solved, some we didn't solve. We had some disputes; they're resolved now. I think.
In the morning, I found that when the dinghy's fuel tank is COLD, it doesn't leak. So we started the day by going ashore. We do love Cumberland Island.
See Preseverence. The gas didn't work on cold mornings. Jeri fixed it by wrestling the hose up into the air to slosh around a drop of condensed, cold propane so the gas could flow past it.
Before that, however, the electric sparker on the Force10 hasn't worked for a while …
After removing a random pile of solar panels, here's what we have on the foredeck. Two little 4′×1′ super thin panels. Super thin. Tiny.
Right now, they're lashed to the handles. I may put four small holes in the deck, filled with butyl tape and …
I've been experimenting with solar panels since 2012. (When you think about it, everything on the boat is an experiment waiting for replacement with something better.)
After about eight years on deck:
Obsolete SunForce: not good. No longer sold.
Ganz semi-rigid: really good.
SunWize semi-rigid: weak.
DMSolar 158W rigid …
Wow.
Everything's okay.
We've never left her unattended for this long before. When we moved to Nevada, we paid someone to check on the batteries each month.
The critical checks:
1a. Diesel? We had …
The solar panels are about 8 years old. The SunWize 24W panels seem to work, but also seem to be delaminating. It's time to upgrade. There are some nice-looking 55W panels that might fit on the foredeck without getting in the way. The Go Power! Solar Flex Solar Charging Expansion …
CA bought a magnetic knife holder to put with her refinished cutting board.
Getting the backing plate away from the magnet is not fun. You have to commit to pulling them apart without wavering in the least. If you hesitate, that piece of steel will take chunks out of your …
The West River Sailing Club cruising group ordinarily has a half-dozen cruises throughout the season. We were away, living in Nevada for some of the sailing season. With a pandemic, a cozy get-together is not a great idea. So, a cruise was a surprise.
Some folks from the club decided …
We use Trello (https://trello.com) to track a lot of the jobs on Red Ranger. We also use Toodledo (https://www.toodledo.com). Trello is really good for complex one-time tasks, prioritizing, assigning, etc. Tooled is really good for recurring tasks. Trello requires an internet connection, Toodledo is a …
Instead of taking a break to honor the Labor Movement, we worked.
Some of it was wildly successful. CA washed down the entire deck. It's amazing how much grime accumulates when you're not actively using the boat. CA uses ammonia once each year to gently wash the teak toe-rails. We've …
The galley is finally starting to feel like we live there again. We spent four days aboard; I did my day job from the boat using Herrington Harbour's WiFi.
CA has cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned. And investigated stuff we hadn't looked at in years …
Having dissimilar metals in a salt water environment has consequences. Life-or death consequences. The galvanic current flow means your metal bits are dissolving. There are some clever tables providing details on how "noble" each metal (and alloy) is. The "Galvanic Series" and the "Anodic Index" show you what's happening to …
Sigh.
Seasons come and seasons go. As we get on toward winter, we need to strike Red Ranger's sails, winterize Mr. Lehman, take the food out of the galley, upend all the cushions to let air circulate.
We replaced the T-shirts keeping …
House batteries were nearly dead. See House Batteries for their last days.
I have a theory that ice in the bilge may have frozen the switch in the on position, and the motor's overheat protector kicked on and off over a period of weeks, running the batteries down in the …
The house batteries date from September 2011. We've gotten a hair over six years of service from batteries that are normally replaced every five years. They're not stone dead. See Sudden Death—Joys and Concerns for details of the last time they died.
They're not dead. But. They're barely …
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