Merry windy/rainy/tornado Christmas

This is a first for me. In the past I have only worried about snow storms and slippery roads around the holidays. Today the weather forecast started out with high winds and heavy rain. The marine adversary shows gusts up to 55 mph and waves 15 to 20 feet, glad I am at a marina. The rain started out at 1.25 inches and now shows 2.86 inches, all in 24 hour period. Boise Idaho normally get 13 inches of rain a year, I am getting 22% of that now. When I just checked the weather we now have a tornado watch for the area. Not sure how many reindeer Santa will need to stay on course.

Happy Holidays :)

Caramel Corn

For Christmas and special times I will make up a batch of caramel corn.  When we cruised last time the caramel corn was a special treat, and  sometimes we even shared it with others.  The recipe is easy to follow and at home the proportions are good for the stove.  The first time on the boat I had to make smaller batches because the stove can only take a 11 x 14 pan.  So today it was try and figure out how much to make a smaller batch.  Started with popping the pop corn on the stove, no microwave here, how much oil to pop corn and how full do you fill the pot, trial and error.  When I made the caramel sauce I had too much heat so burnt the first batch.  Oh well start again and the 2nd batch went ok so now onto the 3rd.  Will have to package up the product and ship it back to Kris and to another boater who kind of likes it as well.

Popping the corn.

We are Officially Documented

Most long term cruisers, including us use U.S. documentation for the boat versus licensing in a state, as it doesn't make sense to license your boat in one state, since you don't live in just one state.  Our boat is documented, and we have official numbers.   

What Is The USCG Documentation Number?

The USCG documentation number is the official number (ON) of a documented vessel. It stays with the boat for its lifetime.

When we boat the boat, we register with the Coast Guard, and put our names with the official number.

How to place the USCG documentation number?

It must be permanently attached to your vessel. But, unlike state registration number, the ON of federal documentation is affixed to the interior part of the ship. But it has to be in a clearly visible area.  It has to be at least three inches in height.

Want to make sure these guys are happy

 

Closet Shelving

I admit it, I am a stacker.  I tend to put things in piles, I might move things from pile to pile but I tend to keep things in groups or stacks.  My wife tells me to just put things away but sometimes the stack is just short term storage and eventually everything does find a home.

New floor step 3

With the floor glued down it is time for putting on a seal coat, we went with the Bona Mega product vs other water based polyurethanes.  Bona is a waterborne hardwood floor finish that gets great reviews for home and commercial floors.  We started with Bona sealer, 3 coats, and then moved on to the Mega.  Between each coat took 600 grit wet/dry sand paper to remove any of the imperfections that we had.  It doesn't look much different in the pictures but it sure looks good in person.

sanded floor bare wood

New Floor step 2

We found the teak and holly plywood at World Panel Products, their office is in Florida but they happen to have a warehouse 2 hours away at Windsor, NC.  I needed three sheets of 4 x 8, that I would cut to pattern for the floor.   The marina here was concerned on me cutting wood and creating a lot of sawdust on the boat, so an alternative needed to be found.   I asked World Panel Products in NC if  they had space where I could cut to my template.   They said yes so off I went with my patterns, having a large flat area to work in sure beat working in the cockpit.

1st cut on the new teak and holly plywood

New Floor step 1

With the water leak "taken care of" it is time to move onto replacing the floor.  The old rotten wood has been replaced with new plywood and the low spots have been filled with leveling compound.  It looked like I would have to make 5 seams to work around the island and the cabinet overhang.  Several people suggested trying to bend the new plywood length wise to get it under the cabinet overhang.  Figured it was worth a shot so bought some 1/4" birch plywood at Lowes to try.

Made a paper template, transferred it the plywood and then cut out the shape.  I had to do some sanding and adjusting but the plywood did go in with it bent length wise, :).  I did not get all the layout perfect so with the plywood now on the floor I can use it to make new and improved templates.  Once I am happy with the templates I can get the 6mm teak and holly plywood, transfer the layout and cut for the finished product. 

1st paper template for the kitchen area.

If at first you don't succeed, try and try again

When we bought the boat  there had been a long term water leak that affected the salon floor and we traced it to the mast support post.  Water does get into the mast at a few of the openings and most of it drains out at the base of the mast.  Some water happens to follow the electrical lines into the inside the salon through the mast support post.  There is a drain at the bottom of the post to allow any water a path to get out of the boat but somewhere the water found a new path.  That path was along the seam lines of the teak and holly plywood floor which resulted in the wood joint becoming soft and rotten.  So cutting the seams out replacing the wood with new wood and fixing the leak was the project.  The covering of the salon floor with new teak and holly plywood is another project that will be talked about later.   

Dry rot in old plywood

Salon Window Visors

On our Manta 38 "What If" we did not have the visors on the boat so we had shades on the outside to keep the sun from heating up the boat.  When we started to look for the new boat we decided that the visors were something we wanted.  So Charm has them but we didn't really want them painted blue, which is how they came.  Since we had to remove the visors to replace the salon windows it is a good time to swap out that blue.  Looking from the inside of the boat the visors were painted black and we wanted to change that as well, since we did not go with tinted windows, and used clear to allow more light in.

Ladder, Generator, Grill

In an effort to clean up unused items and free up space went ahead and listed our Generator, Magma Catalina 2 grill, and our 6 foot ladder on Craigslist.  Sold the ladder in the first couple of days.

The generator only had 70 hours on it, per the hour meter.  It ran but we did not think we wanted to deal with issues and didn't think we needed the power from it.  Would rather go with more solar panels, lithium batteries and possible higher alternator on one engine.  Had a person, Sam, come by and he wanted/needed a small generator so on Saturday we disconnected it, raised is out of the port locker, moved it to the starboard side and lowered onto the dock and onto a cart.  It was only 250 lbs. but the only way to move it was using the jib halyard and then the main halyard.  The electric winch made it nice as well.  Getting out of the cart into his vehicle was another story.

Generator ad photo

Reuse, Renew, Recycle

So some people, even myself, will tell you I am cheap.  Actually Kris and I are both cheap in different ways - that work well together.  We rarely buy new, if used is available. W have saved some items from being thrown away and have repurposed items as well.   Today when I happened to find something floating by the boat I thought lucky me.  I did inquire at the office if someone had lost the gas jug they could have it back but they said "If it is in the water it is yours".  I had already taken two  2x6 pieces of wood out of the water and set them by the garbage in case someone else could use them.  So this time I have saved the 5 gallon gas jug for us, or I could sell it if someone wants to offer me a good deal :).  I know it is only $10 to $15 but we are cheap.

Things you forget

There are some things you forget or try not to remember about living on a boat.  How most of your clothes are dampish.  You need to pick up your feet when walking inside the boat because the doorways are not flush to the floor.  Another is the boat is always moving slightly so you are aware of climbing onto and off the boat even at the dock.  Halyards are tapping against the mast, lines are creaking, other boats are noisy and the waves make more noise than you think.  These things become even more noticeable when the 25 to 30 mph winds are coming through the area and you are trying to sleep.  The remains of Zeta passing through has reminded me of all this.

We did not get the rain but the wind has been active most of the night and into the morning.  So it is 4:30am and the winds are supposed to be under 20 knots by noon, but it has been a  long night.  Yea that is another thing you forget about -  the staying up and checking lines or anchors during windier conditions.  Kris usually is the one that gets up and double/triple checks everything and I tend to sleep like a babe. Not this time, oh well the naps today will feel good.

Probably should not complain too much about it.  As Kris is still at work, while I am here :)

Window Project II

I am glad the last window was not the first one I removed.  The first three took about an hour to remove each of them and each came out as a full window. That allowed for a good template for the outline and hole location.  So why was the last one not behaving like the others, not sure but it sure made up for it.  I ended taking pieces of it out, 10 of them, and then taping everything back together to make the pattern.  The cut out was ok and the holes weren't too bad, it could have been worse.

Now we have 4 clear windows in the boat and it sure lets more light in.  Now work continues on getting the visors fixed and reinstalled.

Window project

We noticed that our salon windows had a couple of cracks and were in need of being replaced.    If we can get this done prior to the colder weather then the majority of the rest of projects are inside.  So today I started by removing the sun visor and stored it on the jib for now. The fun starts with getting the acrylic, cut, drill and install, for now just the port side.  Figured I would keep the project small in case, or when, I make a mistake.

Cruising to Morehead City

It was time to move the boat south from Severn Yachting Center and we found a liveaboard spot at Morehead City Yacht Basin.  To get the boat south a mighty crew of Kris and Dean's brother and wife, Lee and Edie, flew from Boise Idaho to Virginia. 

We left on 10/11 Severn and while dodging an air craft carrier made it to Deep Locks the first night.  

Rigging are us, or not

Today was planned for mast work like rigging, take off the 15 year old stuff and put the new supplied from Mack Sails.   So up bright and early, it was even cold enough I had to wear jeans and a jacket, well at least until 10 ish.  The first project was replacing the old mast head light with a new and improved model.  Of course it isn't that easy, the old light only needed 2 wires and the new needs 3.  No problem just pull the new wire using the old and voila you are ready to wire in the new light.  1 project down  The old black light is just sitting on top of the new one.

On to the rigging; we had measured them on our last trip to the boat and then ordered from Mack Sails.  Two boxes arrived and boy they look nice and shiny, new left, old right.

Mast, boom, 1 sail on

The morning started a bit foggy but no wind so why complain.  

Moving the boat over to the haul out area went easy and the crane showed up on time.  The crew from Severn Yachting Center rigged the mast for the lift and getting it onto the boat.  

Cross County via the Northern Route

Dean needed to go back to the boat and get it ready for it to be put in the water.  So a trip back but this time gave an excuse to visit some old friends thus the trip involved a different route.  Dean left on a Thursday morning from Boise to Billings MT. Had to go through Bozeman and that required a quick stop at the "Pickle Barrel" for a sandwich.  When Dean went to college in Bozeman the Pickle Barrel was a go to place if the cafeteria didn't have "great" food that night.  Made it to Billings and spent time with Scott and Kymm, old college friends that had recently moved from Milwaukee back to Billings.

Up the next day and drove from Billings to Minneapolis to spend the night with Dean's brother Terry and his wife Mary.  Long day but they had dinner and good conversation.  On the drive kept seeing this semi loaded with onions, well maybe it wasn't the same semi but Dean saw a few of them on the trip.

Up early the next day to travel from Minneapolis to outside Chicago where Dean reconnected with a former co-worker Tony and his wife Christina.  They severed a great lunch and  spent time talking about past and future plans.  Left there around 3pm and made it to outside Toledo Ohio and spent the night at a rest stop.  

Up sometime in the morning and headed the rest of the way to Severn Yachting Center where "Charm" is stored on the hard.  Had fog for some of this trip.  She looked good and is wanting to get back into the water.  Will spend the next few days finishing up some projects and on Friday 9/2 its back into the water.

Splash Down

It has been 10 months since "Charm" has been out of the water and it is about time to get her back in.  On 10/2, Friday, she went back in and is loving it.   

Where's the boat

Oh moving to the water

Look it still floats :)

So right now she looks more like a power boat, no mast, it will only be a matter of days until the mast and boom are back on and she will look like a normal sailing catamaran. 

September back to the boat

We had planned on taking a trip in September to make sure the boat had survived the summer and it also gave a good excuse to be at the boat.  We left Boise Friday around noon on the 4th and headed east, well south and then east.  The trip coincided with the start of Labor Day weekend and we saw the affect of that between Ogden Utah and Evanston Wyoming.  The amount of traffic and how slow everyone moved was a worry but after Evanston things thinned and we made good time.  It was a nice day/evening for a drive

Looking good

When Kris, Lee, and Norm went to bring What If from Charleston SC to Bridgeport CT it wasn't a vacation cruise.  There were several incidents with the septic system, finding the bottom of the waterway with the boat bottom, and seeing floating things in the middle of the night were just a few of the travel adventures.  So while they were traveling Dean and Derek created awesome looking shirts so when the boat arrived in New York the shirts were presented.  The crew looked good and from that moment on they and the boat did not any more issues.  Now that is one mighty fine looking captain and crew, you figure out who the captain is.

So thinking ahead the idea of a good looking shirt/logo only seems to make sense to avoid boat issues in the future.  Working on the site Custom Ink we have been trying out different designs and options.  So far we are thinking:

The front has Sailing Vessel Charm identified by name and it's marine number plus we have the nice manta ray cartoon the front and the back has the outline drawing of the manta catamaran.  So if having the shirts do not fix all the potential problems on Charm at least we should look good.  Dean is pushing that all overnight visitors would receive a complementary shirt but we haven't agreed on that.

Scotty I need more power

Well that is what Captain Kirk always said on Star Trek to his engineering chief Scotty Montgomery.  Some how it always seemed that Scotty could work miracles and give more power and make all the repairs in 1/2 the time it would take normal people.  Not sure how he did it but week after week he did.

Water, water everywhere nor any drop to drink

Lines from "The Rime of the Ancient Mariner," by Samuel Taylor Coleridge.  A sailor on a becalmed ship, is surrounded by salt water that he cannot drink.

We do not want to have that situation, after all this is suppose to be a pleasure/enjoyable time on the boat and to not worry about water is important.  To make water less of an issue we are looking at desalination water makers for the boat.  The process of taking salt water, pushing it through a membrane and having fresh water come out the other side is a great option to have.  We have all the salt water available around us so all we need is equipment to do the work.

Going down the list

When we mapped out the things that needed to be done prior to sailing we made a list, no surprise there.  It kind of went like this: 

1) decided we were going to go cruising

2) decided on the type of boat we wanted, shopped for the boat, buy it

3) sell the house

4) minimize the amount of stuff you have so it will fit on the boat

5) fix/repair anything that is needed on the boat

6) load the boat up and go sail

So far we have done 1 and 2.  As of today #3 is active and the house is listed on the MLS for sale.  We were thinking that in Jan/Feb 2021 would be the ideal time to do items 3 and 4 on our list,  but with  COVID 19 and the election coming up, we started thinking maybe it would be smarter to sell sooner.   Currently the housing market in Boise is hot and the houses in our neighborhood are selling with in a week.  Hopefully it goes fast for lots and lots of money to help fund the cruising kitty.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2835-S-Slate-Creek-Way-Meridian-ID-83642/79682323_zpid/