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.
Most of Red Ranger's refit has been to replace out-of-date systems. Our logs include a lot of "Replace" activity. True, we've done some small adds: a bilge pump, a bilge pump cycle counter, two galley lights, a water filter, two solar panels and the stays'l tracks. But most of …
Things we find. Example: the old binnacle ammeter was both poorly installed (i.e. loose wire) and partially disconnected when I installed the new alternator (see "We Got The Power").
We did notice that the ammeter seemed to be stuck on zero.
Then, as I thought about it, the idea …
The Commodore Says "We need reduce our dependence on diesel fuel." How do we cut our dependence on petroleum? How creative do we have to be? Are we going to revert to cave-dwelling?
The diesel auxiliary ("Mr. Lehman") for moving the boat is difficult to restrict. We can try to …
The essential power system rework is complete. Now we're (finally) in a position to start adding new features. Until we replaced the old, out-of-date equipment, it was difficult to add anything.
There were really only two small things to replace: the diodes and the charger But there were a lot …
Wiser heads advised us that the secret of living aboard is to accomplish one thing before noon each day. A shower counts.
There's a lot of activity on a boat. But did we really accomplish anything?
The blurry picture above may be an accomplishment. It's a proper (working) engine block …
There's that "Oh, Crap!" moment when things are clearly not working. This moment of horrigying clarity is balanced by the utter obscurity of the root cause. After all, I only changed a one simple thing. How could it go so horribly wrong?
A solution is something that must be earned …
We installed the Engel MT45 fridge this weekend. That's not the "Oh, Crap!" moment.
This fridge is 1.43 cu ft; 1/10th of the volume of the original, complex built-in fridges with their 12V water pump, 110V compressor and engine-driven compressor. "Chilly Willy", the little Engel, just plugs …
CA works for a company that gives gifts for various anniversaries. For her 10th anniversary, she asked for the Black and Decker drill. For her 15th anniversary she asked for the Coleman 18W solar panel.
It's 1.5 A at best. Assuming 6 solid hours of great sun …
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 …
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 …
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 …
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 …
How broken is "broken"?
Clearly, if it doesn't work, that's one thing. But what if it's hardly ever used or you can live without it? What it you have a work-around? What if it's largely cosmetic? What if it's just a lack of confidence?
A very, very important thing on …
It's embarrassing but true: Red Ranger's electrical system has been an opaque mystery. Yes, I have done electrical work (i.e. add battery fuses and rearrange the grounding) but there's a difference between a pile of parts and an integrated whole. I was mired in "crap-load of components" mode …
Our 2011 Spring Commissioning had some dramatic results. We're excited to be back in the water after having had our drive train partially overhauled. While that's a big success, there's always more.
We thought we might be getting some paint. But on inspection our bottom paint was perfect. So we …
Accessible snacks are really important. There's an easy way to do this. All that's required is to eat some Classico® spaghetti sauce that comes in those high quality Atlas Mason jars. The hard part is keeping the jars handy. Unless, of course, you have a nice shelf under which you …