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 bought a magnetic knife holder to put with her refinished cutting board.
Getting the backing plate away from the magnet is not fun. You have to commit to pulling them apart without wavering in the least. If you hesitate, that piece of steel will take chunks out of your …
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 …
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 …
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 …
The Whitby design has a fairly large number of through-hull fittings. They let water in (and out) of the boat in a controlled fashion. For fittings below the waterline, we have huge bronze valves — sea cocks — to be sure we can close off the hole in case a hose fails …
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 …
The bottom line on boat maintenance is the sea trial. It may look like things are working when you're in the slip. Getting out into the open water is where — metaphors fail me. The rubber doesn't hit the road. There's no pudding to be proven.
There were several momentous things …
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 …
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 …
I am not good at finished carpentry. That's the kind of job that intimidates me: it's something we're going to be looking at for a long time. It has to be done right. Am I up to it?
Mistakes were made. But this is how we tweaked our counter-top for …
What are the odds of seeing other Whitby folks in cars at the corner of 27th and South Dixie Highway.
Actually, remarkably high. We don't get that far up 27th all that often.
On Thursday, we were up there so we could take the train to the modern art museum …
Our hard dodger has two tiny gaps at the for'rd corners.
It looks good, but, there's a path for rain to drip on the bench.
If the bimini cover went down low enough to prevent all dripping, it would be right difficult to get out of the cockpit …
Four big things yesterday.
Another issue to wrestle with: the air conditioner.
We've used the forward A/C twice in the last two years. About a month ago when it was hot. About a week ago to test it after I pulled it out to get at the chainplates.
It's been hot. Really …
The machine shop did an excellent, outstanding, amazing job of cloning the first 8 chainplates.
It took some beating to get the new ones into the boat. Mostly the beating was because the new steel was perfectly straight and the fiberglass knees are slightly irregular.
The trick appears to be …
We spent part of our summer dismantling Red Ranger to get at the chainplates. They seem like massive blocks of steel. Except. While stainless is chemically tough, it's not really all that stiff. I learned this while westling with 12′ pieces of bar stock.
Now is the time to write a pithy, clever retrospective on the first year of living aboard a sailboat and seeing the watery parts of the world.
Instead, I've posted a picture from our first sail on Red Ranger, from June 27, 2010. We hadn't rigged the ratty old dodger …
Highly recommended product: The Pro-Fill system from Jan Watercraft Products.
I saw the video. Discovery recommended it highly as a great simplification in topping off the water for large battery banks. We have four Trojan T105 Plus batteries, and the two in the back of the area are almost …