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.
CA cleaned. And cleaned. And cleaned.
It rained much of the weekend.
I managed to drill out four screws and remove one of the mast steps to make it easier to put on a sensible sail cover. There's more to report here in the long run. For now, let me …
We're tortured by The Thing from below our foredeck.
Like a malevolent toad, squatting on deck, it stares at us in the cockpit.
In rare moments of lucidity, my partner's gibbering includes claims it rose from the chain locker, smelling of charnel horrors, and cold as the …
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 …
Our Nissan/Tohatsu 2-stroke outboard is (with some care) still going strong. Early on, we broke a thing called a lift bracket.
It's part of the frame on which the outboard motor hangs on the transom of your dinghy. Studying the drawing, it seems to …
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 …
What's required to get Red Ranger ready?
Cleaning. After over a year of sitting empty, Red Ranger is very dirty. So far, the galley is clean enough to cook in. The cockpit is now clean enough that we can start to look at the heads and berths.
Water. The port …
I think — or perhaps I hope — I've solved a serious problem. I have a theory about diesel fuel in the bilge.
Last winter, a hose clamp for the deck drains failed. The winter rains and snowmelt poured into the engine room, and the deep bilge. It froze. The pump broke …
May as well clean.
And fix things.
This thing is the pump assembly on our Marine Sanitation Device (MSD). You might know it as a toilet.
CA's picking the paint out of the inlet valve packing nut.
The forward cylinder (with the …
For years, we turned the helm over to our trusted crew member, Midshipman, Mr. Benmar.
While he was rugged, reliable, and patient, it was always a kind of crap-shoot to see what Mr. Benmar had in mind. Roll the dice. Perhaps you were on course, perhaps not …
We've moved the deck drain hoses. The Whitby has wonderful bulwarks that trap water running over the decks. The original Whitby design had hoses that ran from deck drains to through-hulls below the waterline. It's an elegant idea that keeps the cockpit dry and makes sure dropped tools don't always …
Red Ranger uses "raw" water for a number of things: flushing the forward head, rinsing in the galley sink, cooling the engine, washing down the anchor. Once upon a time, it also had air conditioners, a fridge, and an aft head that used raw water also.
All of the raw …
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 …
The whole story is kind of complex. The bottom line is that we have a counter-top issue in Red Ranger's galley. A serious "Concern". Or maybe Concern in bold.
There are two strategies available. (Three, if "Ignore It" is a strategy.)
Replace the counter top with a new counter top …
The Whitby has a dozen opening portlights. Plus three hatches.
In the bright, tropical sun, it can get warm. Really warm.
The previous owner had curtains. We took those out because they're dust and mildew catchers.
We tried to make window shades from HDPE board. If you're careful, you can …
First, and most important, the main saloon hatch leaked. But, there's also this issue of preserving data from the old chart plotter. You know how some projects just spin out of control? Those are the projects that tend to dredge up historical artifacts.
Here's the …
The Commodore Says "Anything worth doing is worth overdoing." Actually, she never said that. However, it still seems to be true.
This weekend, we did a bunch of small repairs using only tools and parts that were already on the boat. We've turned some kind of corner where we can …
The word "fair" has several meanings. It seems to mean "honest" or "equitable", "adequate" or "acceptable". You have to get way down the list of definitions before you get to the nautical sense of "fair".
Sailors use the term to mean "smooth" or even "helpful".
When we look at phrases …