by miami | Jan 6, 2014
Wow! 6 degrees in Atlanta tonight? Holy icycle Batman! We feel for all of you dealing with this obvious result of global warming.
It is forecast to drop all the way down to 48 here in Ft Lauderdale. We got out the silk underwear and the spare space heater just in case.
In the meantime, work goes on. The bottom paint is done, Shelly's new navy blue boot stripe is very nice and makes us even more multicolored; the rebuilt generator is in (but not wired yet); the stuffing box packing has been replaced, engine room wiring cleaned up, and the bilges cleaned (for the umpteenth time).
The generator was a bit of a job. Especially while fighting a cold. The motor mounts had rusted completely through and the bolts had to be cut and chiseled to get them off. Challenging when you are hanging upside down in the small excuse for an engine compartment.
And of course the stupid hot water heater had to come out to get to the mounts on the front of the motor. I very much dislike the hot water heater in its current location but have few options at this point..
This is a motor mount that was cut out. It was once part of a four foot long by 6 inch wide by 3 inch high steel rail that was a sled for the generator. 30 years of neglect and this is what you get. The surveyor report said ” generator seems to be in working order…” Sheesh.
I used the main sheet slung from the boom through the hatch to pick up the 300 pound motor to get underneath it to clean the rust and debris, then install new motor mounts. That was one day. The only thing that kept me going was thinking that the yard would have charged me two skilled mechanics at $95 an hour each and they would have taken longer than I.
Not much room in the hole…
The two new front mounts can just be see under the red plate. All those hoses and wiring drive me nuts but will have to addressed another time!
This morning the plan was to get the generator in. Shelly sanded the boot stripe and painted her second coat, then she and Ryan packed up the dirty clothes and rode off on the fold up bikes to the laundrymat.
Before they left, Ryan helped get the generator housing and rotor into the boat, again using the main sheet which went a lot better than expected. We got it lined up and bolted on without too much swearing and scraped knuckles!
Goose is definately over this living in the yard thing!
Here is the hole it is going in. The old rear mount and rest of the sled can be seen in the bottom of the pic. The red motor is the Westerbek diesel that drives it. With the generator we have lots of power to run the refrigerator, freezer, and even heat and air if we want.
There they sit waiting to go in.
Down comes the housing. The rotor will be handed down and slid into the housing once it is in place. You can see the companionway ladder and the engine housing top have been removed for access. This means we climb in and out of the “house” all day long!
The rotor ready to go in. This thing spins really fast inside the housing and creates 30 amps of electricity like magic. It is sitting on the access panels to the engine compartment which have a sound insulation on them. It is lead sheets in foam with a heat reflecting foil. ( Hey some people are interested in this stuff…) It acts as a noise reducer and heat insulator all in one… You can never have too much of this stuff. If you happen to have any extra hanging around we would be glad to take it!
Here they both sit ready to be bolted. I quit taking pics about 2 today and got a lot more done after that.
We go back in the water in the morning. The genset still needs to be wired up, and the belt on the motor changed out before the hot water heater is reinstalled but all that can be done in the water.
So tomorrow we head back to the store for provisions, test the generator (please say a little prayer), and maybe get to head a little further south.
We just got our next deadline where I have to fly out of Miami on the 21st for two days of work, so we need to be in that area and Shelly and Ryan need to be more comfortable staying by themselves on the boat at anchor.
Let's go practice!
Stay warm and safe. (Maybe you might think about letting the water run in outside wall bathrooms?)
By the way, we were trying to get Ryan to Atlanta on Wednesday to the VFW post 5408 so he could deliver his 1st place Voice of Democracy speech, but it just can't happen. Nice job dude!
by miami | Jan 4, 2014
Poor Goose. We are hauled out in the yard in Ft Lauderdale, but still on the boat. Since we can't leave him on the boat all the time, we sling him up and down. He doesn't like it but seems to know it is the only way.
This is almost as bad for the rest of us. We hauled yesterday afternoon with the wind blowing a bit making it interesting to get to the haul out slip.
It took the yard an hour or two to haul us and move the boat to a place where they block it up. Not much for us to do until this is all done.
We started sanding the old bottom paint off around 5 and went until dark. We realized quickly this was going to a nasty job. Off to the showers to try and get some of the black sanding dust off of us. Remember this stuff is put on to kill things so they do not grow on the bottom of the boat.
We finished sanding, and wiping down the hull about noon today. Of course the weather changed , bringing in drizzly rain, so,, since two,of the thre of us have been afflicted with some sort of cold bug down time was called for while the hands either napped or just took it easy. We picked back up at 2 or so and got er done.
We did not take any pics while we were sanding as it was just too nasty, but we tried to get some of rolling on the paint… We are also changing the colors of the boat. The burgundy stripe above the tape line is called a boot stripe and will be painted navy blue tomorrow. Some idiot in the past used some sort of sears weatherbeater or something over gel coat and it just peels right off. This can be seen at the outlets of the bilge pumps to the right.
Someday we will sand and paint it all but not this week.
While the paint crew are fixing the boot stripe tomorrow the mechanic captain will attempting to reinstall the electrical end of the generator. Then we can put her back in the water where she belongs!
So for those of you jealous as you deal with sub freezing temps just remember it is not always hanging out on the beach here in our cruising life!
by miami | Jan 2, 2014
This painting done by Shelly's father, now hangs in Yume. He painted it from a picture taken of our then new puppy Goose and I visiting Hilton Head Island two years ago.
We are back on the boat after driving 1500 miles and sitting in the car for 24 hours. At least it was a nice brand new Charger and we looked like state troopers running down the road!
Our visit to NC was bittersweet as we said goodbye to a wonderful man and father, but got to spend time with family. This is the third painting we have of Wayne's, and it is a very nice way to easily remember him often.
We sneaked this picture in at the service, (selfies are all the rage) after noticing the porcelain baby Jesus in the little manger scene was missing an arm. We thought that was pretty funny and helped amidst all the tears.
This morning we leave this private dock to go back to Riverbend Marina here in Ft Lauderdale. The two major goals are to haul and paint the bottom and boot stripe, and to replace the generator motor mounts, clean up the plumbing and wiring around the motor and bilge and then reinstall the generator.
Both of these are fairly major tasks. We hope to in and out of the yard in less that a week. We reserved a room at the motel 6 withing bicycle distance, and hope the weather stays sunny and warm!
After that we are really ready for some down time and might be heading further south for the keys. After all, isn't that what this is all about?
It was very nice to be back where we sleep with all the hatches and ports open, and the dress of the day is flip flops, shorts and tshirts!
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