Can’t wait to find some time to rip into some varnish projects. Pick up where I left off, then round the corner and start all over again with the boomkin and rudder cheeks, the first varnish projects I tackled all the way back in 2008. I only got about 5 coats of Epifanes on the Boomkin. I’d say for only 5 coats it has held up well. I did keep it covered 50% of the time.

The latest item to shit the bed aboard Elizabeth was the engine control. The button that allows me to throttle up in neutral seized in the depressed position (that’s rather punny), such that I could neither start the engine nor get the non running engine into gear (moot point I suppose). New control unit ran me $158 from go2marine. There was a nice discussion at the Sam L Morse forums about various control units, their longevity and construction. I chose to simply replace my existing unit with the OEM Teleflex brand. If this new one lasts 20 years, like the old one, I think it will have been a good choice.

Three months later I finally hung the two prints which Adam gave me in the main salon. He is a fantastic artist and these two paintings help add alot of cozyness to my sometimes lifeless cabin. Adam’s use of light and his ultra-realistic style amaze me everytime. You can see more of his art at his website.

So what could be my new engine issue? Is the starter fried?  With all that smoke…how close did I come to having a fire aboard? Immediatly after dropping the hook, I dug into the engine room to begin troubleshooting. Visual inspection of starter and ignition wires indicated everything was OK. No melted wires. I crawled back a bit further to where the starting battery perched. The entire engine room smelled like ‘burning electricity’, so it was hard to determine exactly where the smell originated. But upon inspection of the battery, there was no doubt in my mind where the odor came from. The negative terminal had completely melted! It looked like ‘Hot Liquid Magma’ at the terminal. Internal short I guess. I talked with a few friends about possible issues. Together we traced my charging circuit and tested to make sure the starting battery was getting a proper charge. All checked out OK. I have an Ample Power Next Step Regulator coupled with their Eliminator to charge a 2nd battery bank.

The simple starter test: I swapped the starting circuit Hella key switch, and fired up the engine using the House Bank. Starter appears to be OK. Engines running. No meltdowns… yet. So, out with the old battery. Let’s just say, moving the Group 31 from its perch is a royal bitch; sweat and curses come standard.

I loaded the small boat with my bike and the dead battery, bound for West Marine to find a replacement. I pulled up to Daphne to get Teresa and her bike. Now, Charleston Harbor is actually a river, the Ashley River. At max flood/ebb, the current rips at about 4 knots. All the boats in the harbor sit in different directions depending on their hull shape. Some are in harmony with the wind direction, others follow the flow of the current. This day, the wind and current opposed one another and the chop was annoying to say the least.

Making room for Teresa’s bike, I moved the battery and my Dahon to the center. All in a matter of seconds, she handed me her bike, the dink rocked from the large wake kicked up by a powerboat speeding through the nearby ICW, the painter jerked, I lost my balance – which was compounded by stepping through a crack in the floor, and the dink began filling with water! I thought I could recover it, but nope, it was too late, I was getting wet, the bike was in my hand. I let go, the dink flipped over and I swam away, thinking, “Damn there goes another phone!”  Teresa yelled, “It’s OK, It’s OK. Get the bike, it’s stuck on the dink! Quick!” The bikes! In my state of shock, I didn’t even realize the bikes would be gone. With hope, I swam to the dink, but there was no bike – it was the outboard motor lower unit, triggering another realization… the outboard was submerged.  My phone, the outboard, 2 bikes, chain, lock, oarlocks – sunk in 30′ of water with a 3 knot current. Damn. Two dinghies arrived quickly to help out. Jim from Starbound, and another fellow, who’s name I didn’t catch, but his boats name was Timrod. We righted the dink and pumped her out, retrieved the oars, got a GPS fix, and took a deep breath.

Having sunk an outboard before, I knew if I was going to save this outboard, that was the first thing I had to attend to. I got the outboard to the Mega Dock, hosed her off, flushed the oil, sprayed the cylinders, and cleaned out the carb. She’s running just fine – for now. Go Team!

We found a diver through the “I know a guy who knows a guy who’s knows a guy” network. He came down after he got off work in two halves: half in the bag and with half a tank of air. Needless to say, finding our bikes that day was fruitless. The next day another diver came down, and again had no luck finding the bikes. 30′ of murky water and  3-4 knots of current didn’t help the situation. We decided to give up the search, and move on. It was MORE than time to leave Charleston.

For as long as I can remember, the main belt has been spewing black dust all over the engine room. Along with the dust came an odor of burning rubber. Unpleasant. Annoying. Instead of really solving the problem, I masked it by installing a heavy duty belt from NAPA. This solved the burning rubber smell, but the dust continued to settle – all over everything – especially the alternator.

The other morning leaving Deltaville under power, I heard a loud “schnapp”, and wondered what I had just hit! I throttled back and looked over the side, but no floating log appeared. I smelled rubber, and saw smoke below. Immediately, I shut down the engine, and dropped the hook.

Upon opening the engine compartment, I saw the problem – the old broken belt trick. Pretty sneaky sis. No big deal, I have 2 or 3 spares. But I wondered why-oh-why that heavy duty belt broke.

I began monitoring the belt temperature with my infrared thermometer. To my surprise the belt temperature reached 350º quite quickly, and when I throttled up to 2400 rpm, the belt temperature rose above 450º. Concurrently, I noticed the alternator output had dropped to nearly nill… 5 amps plus or minus 2. Bad regulator? Too much belt dust build up on the windings? Overheating caused a short circuit? Oh bother.

Upon removal of the alternator, I saw, by spinning the pulley, that the shaft wasn’t straight, such that the pulley wobbled. So much so, that on one side, the fan blades nearly scraped the front body of the alternator. Clearly this was the cause of my overheating, dust-producing belt issues.

Fortunately, in Hampton VA, there was, close by, an alternator/starter repair shop by the name of Dixie. I hopped on my Dahon, and peddled my poor alternator over for a rebuild to the tune of $140, with the promise of it being returned to me in 23.5 hours. Not bad.

The following day – installation success. No more dust, plenty of power (amps), and normal belt temperatures. Cleanliness is next to Godliness when it comes to alternators. Keep ‘em clean, keep ‘em straight. For the record, this alternator is a Max Amp 137/116 amp alternator made by Ample Power on a Yanmar 3GM30 with a single V-belt.

On my list there has been something called outboard bracket. Not sure what that means, but I knew I had to make one. This is what I came up with. Aluminum 3″ Angle, and some teak scraps I glues together. Seems to work. Why the guy who made this list wants to carry that crappy outboard around with him is beyond me. The thing never runs right and is too big for his little dink.

The radar on the BCC Elizabeth was installed such a way, that it only swung out 90º – leaving me to peer in from the cockpit side towards the starboard beam. Inconvenient to say the least. Better than having to go below for sure…but the install left me feeling like they got a phone call half way through the job, then when they hung up, they moved onto some other project. I do that all the time. I used some aluminum angle, since I had some laying around for my outboard motor mount project. Pretty darn beefy for a radar display, but works like a Chimpanzee.

One of the best birthday presents ever… maybe the best, hard to quantify those sorts of things was this flag I got, with an E on it in my colors.  I think it’s supposed to stand for Extrasmelly. I fly it all the time.

Nights growing colder
Children growing up
Old friends growing older
Experience slips away

(Rush, Time Stand Still, 1987)

The mooring field, the anchorages, the streets, the coffee houses, all are noticeably less crowded. The secret service helicopters fly overhead this week, but the rest of the island is settling down. The days are only as long as they were in April. The sun feels different, and my thoughts are absorbed in plans for winter.

I’ve scheduled a survey over in Falmouth for insurance renewal/upgrade. I’m shopping around for insurance to cover the trip south, and I’d like the insured value of the boat to reflect the work I’ve done this past year. I’m just looking over the pre-purchase survey and realizing there are a few items I never addressed. But I did pick up some new flares and a fire extinguisher, registered the EPIRB in my name, and sent it off to have the battery replaced – to the sweet tune of $250.

I’ve just learned you can’t have your SSB backstay antenna insulators right up at the top of the mast. “The mast will reflect a certain amount of radiated power back down the line to the radio (VSWR), it will also change the pattern of your signal.” So, I’ll have to pull my backstay down, and rework it a bit, making 3′ at the top. I ordered the correct Stalok pieces from Rigging Only, and still have some leftover wire. Never a dull (non-spendy) moment!

I’m planning my first cruise to Long Island, NY in early August to go see my favorite band, Dream Theater with my friends Adam & Khrystine, fellow graphic designers and prog-metal lovers. I’m going solo. So the latest effort has been to get the boat ready for singlehanding. The two key elements to that end are the mechanical tiller pilot and wind driven self steering windvane.

I picked up the Simrad TP32, rated for boats up to 14,000 lbs… just about the weight of Elizabeth. I really only use the tiller pilot when motoring, which allows me to prep & set sails. The tiller pilot requires a pedestal mount to meet the height of the tiller. These mounts were on backorder indefintely. So I had one made locally by a metalworker. I brought him some SS parts I had laying around from my double anchor roller, that I had to hack off. A threaded rod and a SS tube to fit over it. Perfect for this pedestal mount. All I needed was a base, a nut welded to the tube and a few tapped holes for set screws. I wanted the 3″ tube to be removable, so it wasnt a toe stubber/line catcher when not in use. I think the build is robust, however I would have preferred a slightly wider base to distribute the horizontal load a little more. However, I think it will be fine.

The 80 watt solar panel I have will eventually end up on the wind generator pole, but for now, I have it on the port side lifeline. I replaced the lifeline with a 1″ OD SS tube, added some aluminum flat bar under the panel for extra support and as a place to attach some mounts. It’s not a bad set up, but the panel is too wide for this loaction. There is a 13″ wide panel you can get that would be more appropriate for this rail mounting set up. But this will get me going for now.

I’m currently in the middle of rebuilding the Monitor windvane. I have a few parts coming in the mail next week, so right now, I’m on hold with this. There are a million and one pieces to this thing, gears, bearings and bushings, set screws and ring snaps galore. One part had some significant crevice corrosion, so I opted for replacement… to the tune of $350… ouch.

I’m living aboard in Vineyard Haven Outer Harbor on the hook, running my inverter to keep this Mac Book Pro charged.  I lovingly call it my “Amp Eater”. I’ll need to fire up the Yanmar soon to keep my aging house bank alive… a cycle that repeats itself daily. The 80 watt panel I bought can keep up with my Isotherm on a sunny day, but the laptop is just too much. I’m researching wind generators, and hope to get one soon… who needs a website?

Despite the broken foot, I got out for a second sail last week when Rosie and Darrah came down for a visit. Rosie soldered my radar cable connector at the mast base for me – he’s good with that sort of thing.  We ordered  a beautiful Amphenol 14 pin connector, that was large enough to work with fairly easily. It’s a Military Spec connector, and looks like something straight out of M*A*S*H*. Four hands makes precision soldering a whole lot easier.

We got out for a glorious sail the next day, in 15 knots and sunny blue skies. Avacado, Havarti and mustard sandwiches, along with Darrah’s homemade pickles filled our bellies with delight. We sailed east past Edgartown and Cape Pogue, towards Nantucket. I decided we should sail until we could see Nantucket, then we’d tack round and head home. Once past Cape Poge, we were in unhindered open ocean, with no land to heat up the breeze. It got chilly and a little swell began to pick us up gently, then lower us down carefully between the small, yet long peaks. As I gazed forward wondering what Nantucket would look like, trying to recall its features, I noticed a patch of tan colored water, and thought — odd… Then suddenly I realized tan water = sandy = shallow! I grabbed the chart and took a look. “FOUR FEET – WHAT THE ?!” Indeed, out past the point in what should be deep ocean water between Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket there are shoals-a-plenty that are often in the single digit depths. Well that was close enough for me, “Ready About!”, and homeward bound we set our course. On the way home we sailed by Valora, a daysail schooner, which Teresa captains. We tacked round and took a few pics for their brochure and print ads I’ve been working on. One of their passengers snapped a quick phone-photo of Elizabeth.

Finally back to some sanding and varnishing this past week… boy did that feel good. I missed the old 80 grit, and paint brush routine. Glad to see the coamings begin their journey towards 10 coats. 2 down, 8 to go. I’m using Epifanes Rapid Clear, for quick build up. I might try a top coat or two of Bristol Finish over this…not sure still.

Another finally… the name! It’s official now. Still homeport-less, but that’s OK. It’s slightly crooked and off center, I really have a hard time when there’s no “command-Z”, but I figure it’s just perfect as is. BCC Mommy is alive! Elizabeth is my mom’s middle name. I’m looking forward to sailing down to Stony Brook Harbor soon to put some flowers on her memorial in the rose garden at Knox.

Another milestone – mast stepping. I took 2 days to rig the mast, taking my time and making sure it was all done well. Of course I ran into a few issues, like one of my sta-lok eye terminals was actually 7/16″ not 1/2″ which I didn’t notice until I went to put in the pin.  But it’s a simple fix with Sta-lok… you just swap out the eye. No need to cut wire or re-form it. Just add more goop and locktite and snug the new piece down. I used Tef-Gel anywhere and everywhere I could to help isolate the stainless and aluminum. I used Lanocote on the turnbuckles. I wire wheeled, then passivated all the mast hardware I reused. And I seized the stays’l block shackle — that took me happily back to my old schooner days. I was almost ready to whip out the pine tar and start slushing my brand new 1×19 SS rig!

I made a mistake on the mast step base. I should have tightened it down where I wanted it (before dropping the mast in) which was all the way aft, in order to reduce rake. Evidently the boat sails alot better with less rake. But I left the base loose, in order to help out with the rock n’ roll (swell) we were experiencing while lowering the mast into the boat. I only realized this “oopsie” after the gin pole lines had been released from the mast. Well, I asked to have it reconnected and some strain taken on the mast so we could re-align it, and move the step aft. We were only able to get it back half way on the bolt slots… good enough for now. I think however that it’s better this way, since any further back and my stays wouldn’t fit. I built all my rigging off the old rig, using the same dimensions… which ensured I’d have rigging that fit, but didn’t allow me to remove the rake fully. Guess there’s always next time…

The boat got smaller with the mast and boy did the mast get yellower once installed. I think it must be the yellow and green combo… I feel like the flag ship for the Oakland A’s, John Deere or McMaster-Carr — take your pick. My mast color struck up many a conversation around the yard, and was dubbed “Safety Yellow”. I like the Sterling Cloud White top I did, I think it’d be nice in all white – perhaps just the white top makes the mast look squat… I’m not sure. Without sails, its hard to judge, she still looks naked.

Last spring when the boat was delivered I thought I’d be in for about a month’s worth of work,  then I’d launch and go sailing! Little did I know… things take 3x as long, and cost 5x as much as anticipated. All in the name of fun… or is it obsession, or is it addiction?

As I kept pushing the launch date back another week, then two, then three – the running gag became “June 09″ which at the time seemed so far away and rediculuous. But oh how true it was! June 1st to be exact. Although, I am launched… I’m far from ready to go sailing.

The launch went smoothly, except for no water flowing from the exhaust on startup. I had to tie up to the dock for a few minutes while I primed the pump… filled the raw water strainer with water. I guess when I winterized it, the strainer drained. I would have thought the pump would overcome that, but I suppose that is a large volume of air.

Living aboard on the mooring gets me in the mood. I’m pirating wifi from ashore, somones unsecured network. I use a Linksys router flashed with an application called DD-wrt, and a 15dbi omni directional antenna. Works OK. It’s still not 100% reliable, but I can usually find signal and get some work done after dinner. The boat has put a severe leak in my wallet, and the pumps are barely keeping up. Solar panels, wind generator, and a new dodger will have to wait. But I did order a Simrad TP32, a necessity. I was so excited to see the brand new lifelines (purchased by previous owner) in place, first time they’ve been rigged since I’ve known the boat. Too bad the gorgeaous quick releases he ordered don’t fit in the D-rings on the stantions.

After having spliced my entire rig WRONG last summer, I’m back to re-rigging my boat with Sta-loks. Splicing was yet another expensive and time sucking mistake I’ve made. I am happy that I learned to splice, and enjoyed the process (agony). But mechanical terminals are the way to go. I have much appreciation for them now that I know the alternative. I understand Hi-Mods are even easier than Sta-Loks, and are perhaps more appealing to the eye (still undecided on that), but since I had the bottom Sta-Lok studs already, I opted to re-use those and just buy new Sta-Lok tops, saving myself $700 or so. I’m reusing the wire from the splices where I can, but that still left me buying almost 200′ of new wire. The only tricky thing with Sta-Loks is keeping the strands out of the gap in the wedge. Here’s a pic of how they line up to avoid the gap.