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.
We're getting Red Ranger ready for the summer. This means a thorough cleaning. It also means answering the questions like "What's this?" and "Why do we have it?"
It also means looking at the work done (and not done) over the winter.
Yes. That's a duck …
This was our old helm arrangement.
The white box on the left is the "chart plotter". GPS receiver with charts that shows exactly where we are. It's integrated with the radio and receives AIS positions from other ships and shows them relative …
Details will trickle into the blog from the electronics refit. I'm not doing it myself, so I'll have to report on the status of the folks from MTS. When we get out sailing (in the spring and summer), I'll provide details. For now, overviews.
Here's an important new feature. It's …
In the southern bay, (below the Potomac) winterizing is a good idea. It hasn't frozen hard there in years. The recent polar vortices may change that.
In the northern bay, however, the creeks do freeze.
This year, we did the following.
Six gallons of anti-freeze went into the …
The boat show is down. The hurricane season is starting to wind down. Here's Red Ranger without any sails.
We're almost ready for winter haul-out. We have a dozen important jobs to do, including rearranging drains, replacing hoses, upgrading the electronics.
Still. Sniff. We're happy …
There were issues with Red Ranger. Kind of awkward when you have guests. But sailing conditions were ideal. Ideal.
Meet Fatjon and Blerta. From the 14th floor. Fatjon was a captain in the Albanian Navy. And an ordinance diver. He knows ships and the sea. Blerta is a …
That's my sister, Elizabeth. One of many sisters. This was her first chance to actually go sailing. We showed her many — but not all -- of the boaty things on Red Ranger: we hoisted most of the sails, we had a pleasant drift, we dropped the anchor, had some lunch …
Things happen. We wound up testing the bilge pumps heavily. And one of them wasn't keeping up and needed to be replaced.
CA cleaned the nav station. This leads to something you don't see every day.
The Nav station.
With no stuff.
The stuff was all on the …
When we lived aboard, we kept Red Ranger clean. It was easy. We were there. And we were otherwise unemployed. Except for sight-seeing. And writing.
The amount of small mildewy areas is legion. It's actually kind of insane.
We're starting from this ☞
The part is a vent fitting …
Step 1: Clean everything. This means everything must come out of the locker it was in.
The locker must be scrubbed.
In some cases, the things from the lockers must be scrubbed.
And then aired out for a week before going back into the locker.
When we moved …
Some time in 2015-ish era, CA was closing the aft port light and the clamp that screws it down hard against the gasket failed catastrophically. I can't find the picture, put the metal failed, leaving the hatch not fully closed and — consequently — dripping onto the aft berth.
Here's the link …
Two winters of sitting — and a summer with only a few trips — has left Red Ranger awfully dirty. Also, some mission-critical things had failed.
Here's CA washing the galley fan. She's scrubbing the power cord with a toothbrush. (Mine, I think.)
If the galley fan is dirty, what …
What's important is that nothing seriously failed. Stuff broke. We worked around it. Here's the overview. Details follow.
1600 - Move to fuel dock. Take on 54 gallons.
1710 - Anchored in Piakatank River at 37°32.132N 076°19.318W
This is a move of about a mile …
If you don't really need it, then you work around it when it breaks. The Commodore Says, "If you're not using it, get rid of it."
Here's how my Epifanes finish is coming along.
I'm pleased. You can make out the reflection of the shade cover on the …
We bought a Wave Stopper Dodger from Canvas Creations. It's quite a bit like having a hard dodger, but it's held on with screws and steel pipe just like a canvas dodger. It's a brilliant hybrid solution that offers many benefits of a hard dodger without the complex installation.
I have no clue about Epifanes. Really. Zilch.
But I have a can. And some "brush thinner." And some foam brushes.
I've got sandpaper in 60, 80, 100, 150, and 220 grit. And a sanding block that grips a ¼ sheet of sand paper nicely.
And I've got woodwork that's …
We had two "events" on the way North.
The chain looks really cruddy. Flakes of metal are coming off. Not a good look for chain. The question is "Exactly what kind of chain is it?" The difference in measurements between ⅜" HT, ⅜" BBB and 10mm chain is tiny. And …
Today, we rejiggered the deck wash down system. And solved two mysteries. One was a mystery that could have sunk Red Ranger. The other was just mysterious.
The bilge system involves a secondary use case for deck wash down. The deep bilge pump normally pumps bilge water overboard. We can …
On Red Ranger, we use the 5F's of safety.
Flooding
Falling Overboard
Fire
First Aid
Fatigue and Famine
These help us separate what's safety critical from what's merely a good idea.
Which leads us to pumps. Hull integrity, hose integrity, and hose clamps are important preventative measures. A dripless shaft …
With the water tanks a mess, we can still host guests and sail around in the Piankatank River. Outside party time, we do have some new water problems to solve.
We set up some gallon jugs of dock water in each head and five gallons of grocery …