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 limited in what we can do on the weekends. Partly it's the time. Partly it's CA recovering from surgery. She still can't lift much or bend over. Activities must be balanced against rest time.
Smart helps. Sometimes, we're smart. Sometimes not.
We bent on the two head sails. We're …
Our two most recent zinc anodes haven't lasted 6 months.
They used to.
What changed?
(1) Solar panels. (2) GFCI outlets. (3) A few small things.
The solar panels mean that we now generate power constantly. Constantly.
I added a Camp zinc grouper. This is 6 pounds of …
Our insurance requires a survey every five years. We contacted John L. Schnoering. Traditional Yacht Surveyors, in Deltaville, and got a detailed list of what's right and what's wrong with Red Ranger.
The "red flag" item on Red Ranger? What's the single most dangerous thing that must be fixed? We'll …
Some things we did during the winter.
That was it.
We didn't …
Took some of the family — Niece Hjördis, CA, Sis Nancy, Mom Judy — to see Red Ranger on the hard at the boat yard.
Not shown in the picture are Bro-in-Law Andy, Nephew Sumner, and Nephew Winsor.
Red Ranger weathered the winter without too many problems.
The bilge froze …
A few years ago, one of the bigger boat jobs was adding a second electric bilge pump. See A Manifold of Bilge Pumps. At the time, it felt epic because it was a job that was safety-critical. As in "your life depends on doing this right." Or maybe "Do this …
Upgraded the laptop to Mac OS 10.10, Yosemite.
This leads to many software upgrades.
It leads to GPSNavX not working at all.
Sigh. The Involuntary Upgrade. Unpleasant, but necessary.
I went to the App Store and plunked down my $59.99 for the latest and greatest version.
I open …
Sigh.
The fun thing (two weeks ago) was ascending the mast to examine someone else's lighting. They had a short. Somewhere. I want aloft to look around. It didn't seem to be up there. The Aqua Signal was clean and tidy. Bulbs looked good.
Sadly, they'd looked at the …
We have a sextant on Red Ranger.
I think it might be adjusted properly. The index error appears to be 6.8′. I fiddled around with the mirrors a little and got a single view of the Sun through the various sunshades.
On the way N from Norfolk to Deltaville …
Wait! There's more!
That's a guy with Rocket Pants. You've heard the Elton John/Bernie Taupin song: "Rocket Pants, burning out his fuse up here all alone."
Raftups. Lots and lots of raftups. This one grew to over a dozen boats.
And the "Tug Busting" wrassling among the …
Viewed From The Water!
Wow! It's a spectacle from shore. But from the water — listening to channel 72 where the safety boats converse — was a riot.
I'm sure that the fireboat crews call it "training" not "playing with the super-high-pressure equipment."
Summertime has officially arrived in Hampton Roads …
We've finally struck our old colors and replaced them with new.
The old flag served us well for several years.
It made Red Ranger easy to find because it was a big flag.
The end of the flag, however, took a beating against the backstays.
You can see where …
Red Ranger snuggled into the North Landing.
We've moved about 700 hundred yards from Hospital Point. Lighthouse Inflatables is working on Scout. Jeremy has a theory that maybe some of the MEK they used to clean up the excess adhesive might have gotten under the patch.
We've said hello …
Scout came back from the dinghy doctor on Friday.
With some difficulty, we pumped out Red Ranger's holding tank. The wind was blowing directly off the pier. The pumpout area is bounded by two gigantic dolphins. Instead of easing up to the dock at a gentle angle, we have to …
While waiting for Scout, we tackled two jobs.
The aft deck sunscreen.
When we had the dodger and bimini made, CA asked Dan at Wavestopper Dodgers to add some extra zippers in the bomini. She made the starboard-side sunshade which zips onto the bimini and provides ample cooling shade …
CA sent this picture of our "closet" space on Red Ranger.
We have hanging lockers, which are like closets. But we also have bins underneath the various berths and settees.
Here's one of the bins under the aft berth.
Yes, that's three cases of Ranger beer in Red Ranger …
A few weeks ago, we had some Wrath of God rain on the Neuse river. It might have been a waterspout. It left frogs on the deck. It was brief and brutal.
Today, we had rain of larger volume but less wind. The narrowly averted horror part was in the …
We've lost our fuel tank sender. It doesn't report anything below about ½ tank. It simply drops from ½ to "not working at all" mode. I looked at it with my trusty multimeter. It is dead.
It's a standard Teleflex sender. Nothing special; easy to replace.
But.
Until we replace …
Sometimes we do things that are completely stupid. Sometimes less completely stupid. And once in a while, we make something good out of something abysmally dumb.
The filler for the fuel is in a low-spot on the starboard side of the deck, almost as low as the scupper drain. That …
Coping with operator error is difficult.
The ColRegs (The International Regulations for Preventing Collisions at Sea) are required on boats. Rule 20 describes when lights must be used (sunset to sunrise and restricted visibility). Rule 25 describes lights to be used on sailing vessels.
We have both version of the …