August, 2013: Things we’ve made that make life nicer (and make us feel pretty clever):
#1.
A Boarding Step: We stole this idea from a marina neighbor and
Bryce’s design was constructed in Bob Romano’s woodworking space in Spokane
Washington. The step is made with ½”
plywood and covered with white-tinted penetrating epoxy. It disassembles for easy storage. Getting on and off the boat at a dock and
getting to and from the boat and the dinghy are now much easier and
safer.
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| Collapsed Steps |
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| One of Two Locking Pins That Keep The Step Horizontal |
#2.
Additional Galley Storage: Anyone who has worked in a boat
galley knows there is never enough storage. We have added two acrylic storage bins: a
moveable square tray that sits over a formerly open bin (what was that all
about?), and a shelf mounted behind the stove.
Both are built from ¼” thick acrylic sheet plastic. We found acrylic a fantastic material to work
with because (a) it matches the “décor” of a 1985 Canadian Sailcraft, and (b)
more prosaically, it is strong, inexpensive, and can be cut to order quickly at
a plastics vendor. To create the
masterpiece, all one has to do is clamp the acrylic pieces together, run a tiny
bead of a liquid solvent along the edges (it melts the plastic on contact),
wait a minute until the solvent has evaporated, and – presto - done. Caveat
gluer: if done incorrectly the pieces may never come apart again -
ever. Measure twice, glue once. Also, if your boat is not of the acrylic
vintage you will want to use a different material.
[NOTE: Photos to come [too funny - we thought we had pictures . . . guess we'll have to take some when we get back to the boat]!]
August, 2013: Care and feeding of the ancient diesel engine:
Abracadabra's engine is the original 33 horsepower 1985 Westerbeke - but even after two years of cruising it only has 1275 hours on it! Over time and with a lot of work, we have come to trust this engine more and more -- but we still keep a close eye on its health. Every year(ish) we have a sample of engine oil analyzed to measure various metals, chemicals and impurities found in the engine
oil. Each is quantified as to amount per
unit of oil and then qualified as to severity based on industry standards. This gives us a good sense of how the engine is wearing. Think: getting an annual blood test.
- The first analysis we had done was during the purchase survey. The results were horrible: the engine oil was full of ground metal and it looked like the engine was heading to the scrap heap pronto. We bought Abracadabra for a price that reflected the possibility that we would be buying a new engine sooner rather than later.
- The next sample was after Bryce had corrected a number of problems with the engine : blocked raw water coolant lines (virtually every use of the engine over 20 minutes was an overheating scenario), faulty injectors (2), dead batteries, faulty starter, and bogus wiring. This sampling showed a remarkable decrease in the metal quantities present in the oil. At that point we decided to keep the engine and see how many more hours we could get out of it, thinking of it as a victim of misuse and inactivity and that it was responding fairly well to better care and more constant use.
- The third sampling was of oil that had been used for only 28 hours on that particular oil showed everything was rosy.
- The most recent analysis, done on a subsequent oil change, shows high soot levels and that the viscosity of the oil is high. These are interrelated and could possibly be a result of sampling when the oil reservoir was down a quart or two and because the engine was running rich it was producing more soot than it should. Both the iron and the aluminum content of the oil are creeping up a little, as well.
- Our next sampling should be at 50 hours, early in the coming season. Hopefully this will confirm that all is well – or well enough. Bryce's theory is that a sample at the full oil level, after a tune-up, will show a lower soot level and proper viscosity. If not - we will change the oil more frequently.
August,
2013: Thoughts and tips on using a manual windlass:
Background
(ignore this if you know about windlasses):
A windlass is a big winch that hoists and drops the anchor. The anchor is heavy (Abracadabra’s is about 33 pounds) and when deployed it is at the
end of a length of heavy chain that is about four or five times longer than the
hull is from the bottom of the bay (this is called scope). For example, when Abracadabra is anchored in 20 feet of water, the anchor is at the
end of about 100+ feet of chain (chain + anchor + water resistance = really heavy). Most boats have a windlass that uses a
motor to lower and raise the anchor on its chain (an “electric windlass”). Others have a manual windlass which works on
the principle of a hand lever that when pumped backwards and forwards operates
a gear (the gypsy) onto which the anchor chain fits: mechanical advantage +
brute force = raising the chain and anchor.
History: Abracadabra
originally had an electric windlass but the prior owner sailed her only
around San Francisco Bay and apparently didn’t plan to anchor often if at all, so
when the original electric windlass died he replaced it with a manual one. Our resident
electrician (aka Bryce) thinks the earlier electric windlass may have had
cabling of insufficient wire gauge and that this caused the unit to overheat
and die young. Reasons We Have Kept the Manual Windlass: After two cruising seasons we have chosen not to replace the manual windlass with an electric one because:
- we’re cheap - a new electric windlass would cost $4,000 or more, plus the cost and effort of installing and bringing electricity to the windlass;
- an electric windlass would negatively impact our precious electricity “budget”;
- we’re not sure an electric windlass would be easier to use unless we reconfigure the anchor locker (this is where the chain lives when not deployed) -- currently the chain jams ever 5 to 10 feet and/or catches on the bolts that hold the gypsy in place and these glitches require the use of the slow, steady and calm approach to raising the anchor which wouldn’t be improved by using an electric windlass;
- the manual windlass was nearly new (this may really be a sub-set of “we’re cheap”) when we bought Abracadabra;
- the manual windlass operator can actually feel when the anchor hooks the bottom (or not) by handling the chain so it's possible that using a manual windlass makes us better anchorers;
- perhaps the most important part of anchoring is the communication between the windlass operator (aka Bryce) and the helmsperson (aka Molly) about positioning the boat and using more or less engine power to imbed the anchor into the sand or mud bottom (while the windlass operator keeps his toes, fingers, safety sandals, etc, out of the spinning windlass and chain) -- and this would not be improved by adding an electric windlass (see notes on "the Marriage Savers" in a blog post - these two-way radios have vastly improved this part of the process!);
Tips on Using a
Manual Windlass: Setting an anchor isn't much more difficult with a manual windlass because gravity is on our side -- and because the windlass operator can actually feel the set, it may be easier. The real difference comes when raising the anchor. Our approach for
raising the anchor using a manual windlass is:
- drift over top of the anchor so that the chain is slack;
- take the chain on board hand-over-hand as fast as possible until there is resistance;
- repeat (i.e., let the boat drift forward again and bring chain in hand-over-hand) – Bryce can usually bring in half or two-thirds of the chain in calm weather;
- commence rhythmic cranking of the windlass handle back and forth to raise the last of the chain; and
- once the anchor is loose (which the windlass operator can feel because he’s doing this manually!) the helmsperson engages the engine and off we go (note: Abracadabra has a fairly sharp bow so the anchor can swing around a bit on its way to its home without taking a bite out of the fiberglass, something that won’t work on many newer boats with more vertical bow lines).
February, 2011: Double Reef Pasta
It is the recommendation of this cookery writer that the galley officer prepare meals for a passage in anticipation of the passage, and that cooking underway be limited to heating up previously prepared meals. However, sometimes that is not possible (if, for example, the prior anchorage is so rough as to preclude cooking!). In the event the galley officer must cook underway, and if the passage involves heavy weather, he or she is welcome to this recipe:
13.00 – 13.30: Find a package of pasta, the containers of salt, thyme and basil (or whatever dried herbs you can find that sound like they’d be good with canned chicken and pasta), a clove of garlic and a can of Costco chicken in the dry-food locker, and put them on some non-skid shelf liner on the counter to keep them from flying around the cabin. Dig through the refrigerator and find a red pepper, a yellow pepper, an onion and parmesan cheese. Put them on the non-skid shelf liner too. Find the pasta pot (it’s behind the settee in the main cabin). Go above and look at the horizon. Drink something fizzy (Coca Light is preferred by this writer).
14.15 – 14.45: Slice one clove of garlic and slice the other vegetables so that you have an equal amount of each. Put the slices in a zip-lock plastic bag. Using the vegetable peeler (the grater is too far down in the dry locker to be of any use today) slice bits of parmesan cheese and put them into a zip-lock plastic bag. Return vegetables, cheese and plastic bagged food to refrigerator. Go above and look at the horizon. Drink some of the previously mentioned fizzy drink.
15.30 – 15.45: Add salt and water to the pasta pot. Cover pot (to limit spilling and to help heat the water, because the propane burner doesn’t put out enough heat to heat an uncovered pot of water). Go above and look at the horizon. Drink some of the previously mentioned fizzy drink.
16.30 – 17.00: Check in on the status of the pasta water periodically, and when it comes to a boil add pasta. Dress in foul weather gear (yes, even if the weather is hot) in anticipation of the possibility of flying boiling pasta water, and periodically stir boiling pasta which may have to be cooked with the lid on (see above re: limited power of propane burner). Periodically go above and look at the horizon, and drink the fizzy drink. Drain pasta, and once it is cool enough, put it in a zip-lock plastic bag. Put bag in refrigerator. Peel off the by now hot and sticky foul weather gear. Go above and look at the horizon. Drink more of fizzy drink.
17.45 – 18.15: Find sauté pan (it’s in the oven, which is used for pan storage) and add olive oil (it’s inside a zip-lock bag in the cabinet above the stove) to pan and pull zip-lock bags of vegetables, cheese and pasta from refrigerator. Empty vegetables into pan and add herbs. Once the vegetables are soft, open the can of chicken and empty it and some of its juice into pan. Add pasta. When the chicken and pasta are hot put some pasta mixture into a mug and add cheese, hand mug and fork up to the Captain and announce in a cheerful voice that dinner is served. Add the rest of the pasta mixture into another mug, add cheese, and go above to dine.
Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it – at 25 knots with 1.5 meter swells (at least - there is a disagreement among the crew as to how high the swells were), it’s pretty danged good! December, 2011: Three things we've found invaluable -- and somewhat surprising:
Item 1: Four metal Pusser's Rum cups received as a "boat warming" gift from relatives. We thought they were cute - but hadn't thought that they would be particularly useful - until we realized that eating stew from a bowl on a pitching boat would be very difficult. Tada - the Pusser's Rum cups were pressed into service. Thanks Lori & Scott. Pusser's Rum cups - they're not just for rum drinks any more!
Item 2: A head lamp is not an unusual item for night sailing (helps one see the sail trim, find lines, etc.). But it has an even more important second purpose -- night bar-b-queing! The chicken was great.
Item 3: Huggies baby wipes. Personal hygiene should not be neglected underway. Think of your fellow crew members! All backpackers know that specialty stores carry "shower wipes". While these high-priced cleanliness aides are large in size, and have the added benefit of coming with instructions (note the instructions below -- the right leg is to be cleaned before the left leg), Huggies do just as well, and can be found at most grocery stores.
