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.
Are two heads better than one?
I've reached my limit on removing marine sanitation devices. There were two heads on Red Ranger, and I've removed them both. That's my personal limit. There's a world of pain in dealing with sanitary hose and (I hope) I'm past wrestling with it.
The …
The cockpit has teak planks with black caulk. Very traditional looking.
The teak wears down. The caulk splits away from the wood.
I've been avoiding this for 10 years.
At first, I thought all the caulk had to be carefully scraped out and replaced. It appears …
Well over sixty years, I wandered around while my dad, grand-dad, and uncle played Cribbage, drank beer, and smoked cigars.
CA and I have taken to playing a game every day. It's a quiet time together before we dive into reading (or writing or knitting or whatever
We had two lovely Wilcox-Crittenden Imperial 51 MSD's on Red Ranger. We took out one to install a composting head back in 2012 (see "Painful Head-ectomy.")
We've kept the other working pretty well considering it's something like 37 years old at this point. It's a heavy …
Here's a temporary hack. I think it will work for a few years. We'll see.
We have a custom-built "Wave Stopper" hard-topped dodger. See, for example, "Annapolis VI: ‘Done'" for some information on this. It was (7 years ago) a wonderful thing. Sturdy. Dry. Clear windows. Hand-holds. Really nice. For …
How do you keep your to-do list?
Paper? iOS Reminders app? A spreadsheet?
What's on it? Maintenance, Repair, Overhaul? Anything else?
I've been using Toodledo for years. Well over 10 years now. It has an iOS app as well as a web app. It has a kajillion features with folders …
Rust never sleeps. Also. Rock and roll will never die. But that's another story.
We had two problems leading to water on the engine (and rust.) One of the deck drain fittings failed, leaking rain water over everything. This was an amazing amount of water. All the snow-melt from the …
The remains of the V-Berth tank can hold two bladders. This requires a shelf. Since the bottom of the tank comes to a tiny little point, it requires two shelves: a top shelf that leaves 11″ of space and another shelf, 11″ below that.
I've cut …
The usual advice is measure twice cut once. But. We're not there yet.
I've (finally) cut away enough of the top to reach inside and work. While it's taken a bunch of weekends, it's really one, long messy cutting job.
We wait for afternoons where it gets up to about …
We've learned a lot of lessons.
First, the 4″ segmented TiN coated blade for the Fein Multimaster is the secret to this job. See this from Multifit Blades. The technique of scribing the line carefully with the blade oscillating, followed by running the tool slowly back and forth works really …
For me, my day job things are rarely "finished" and "done."
There are a lot of folks who can go home knowing they filled all the orders, dropped of all the shipments, closed all the tickets, and got things completely done. All the way done — for the day. Tomorrow there …
The reciprocating saw (known to us as "Maxx Damnage") let me make four long cuts in the space of a few hours.
Sadly, once we're past the easy part, the new cuts involve less accessible places. And a less destructive saw.
The DeWalt reciprocating saw is …
See Water Tank Replacement for some back story.
We've started taking steps. This involves radical destruction.
First, get the anchor we've never used up and out of the bilge under the V-berth.
We didn't even know we had this anchor until we'd owned the boat for …
The v-berth tank always leaked. The port side saloon tank now leaks.
The solution seems to involve custom tanks by Dura-Weld. See https://plasticfabricatedtanks.com.
Under the saloon floor we have two choices:
Option 1: Follow the Joie de Vivre plan and …
The sea chest sounds so nautical and "yo-heave-ho," but it isn't. It's also called a water box; it's the manifold where sea water comes in for the various systems that use it. Once upon a time, we had air conditioners, a fridge, and two heads that flushed with sea water …
We have a bilge pump counter. Over the last few weeks we've been severely worried about the counter being non-zero.
Non-zero bilge pump counter is a sure sign of a leak.
When we return to the boat and the counter is more than one, it's a sign of a fairly …
Plumbing — water, sewer, propane — is all pretty simple. Until it leaks. Then it's a right pain in the ass. Leaks can be difficult to diagnose. It's not always a good idea to tighten things down harder. Sometimes over-tightening breaks something else.
Neither CA nor I grew up with propane. Not …
CA likes having countertop she can use directly. A loose cutting board on a moving boat is a liability.
The Whitby has a nice cutting board built in the top of the refrigerator.
This has consequences. Mostly it means having any ingredients that need chopping …
There are two important classes of chemicals. Goos and Lubes. Goo to make things stop. Lubes to make them go.
They each have specialized purposes. It helps if you know what you're doing. And in some cases, you learn as you go. This is one of those lessons learned.
The …
Two weeks ago, I broke the catch of Red Ranger's bar.
Thus lead to much swearing. And this clamp-and-webbing catch.
The clamp holds the webbing. The webbing holds the bar.
It's a shabby necessity. A "jury rig."
There are two choices. Replace …