Category: Boat Projects

NYC: Take two

by  on  in Boat Projects, Boat Work, Destinations, New York State, OpTrop • 0 Comments

A few posts ago I alluded to an issue with our roller furling headstay in the mast re-step day post, but didn’t go into much detail because I’d jury rigged a solution that I thought would work.  My solution was pretty crude and frankly it wasn’t sitting well with us, so we decided to get an expert opinion…

The expert opinion we got wasn’t positive…basically the top section of the roller furling extrusion (where the forestay from the front of the boat meets the top of the mast) had sheared off.  This we knew.  What we didn’t know, was that the forestay itself had been damaged in the process, which could put the entire rigging system (AKA what holds the mast up) at risk.  Basically we were looking at a new forestay and replacing the top extrusion of the furler.  Further complicating the process, this would require disassembling the entire system and then reassembling it with our new part, something that came in quoted at up to 20 hours of labour.

-yes I know these all sound like technical terms for the uninitiated…if I lost ya, just scroll through the photos :) –

We got a quote to do the work in the neighborhood of $3200 (WHICH SEEMED CRAZY!), so we asked the guy to let us do some of our own labour to get the hours down.  He obliged, and we got right to disassembly with a blowtorch, awl, hammer, and vice grips as soon as the furler was down.

It all went really well except for ONE roll pin which took over 50% of total time spent to get it out.

Once disassembled, we sent the connection pieces off (to the guy assembling the new forestay) and are waiting anxiously to hear some good news about reassembly early this week.  HOWEVER, since no one was working on the weekend…BACK TO NEW YORK CITY!!!

This time, however, we had the pleasure of meeting up with our good friends Tom and Mel!!

We covered a lot of ground in less than 36 hours in the city!!!  Chelsea, East Village, Greenwich Village, Midtown, Brooklyn, and Wall St….our feet were sore and we were happy.  We took a coupla photos where we got engaged last week in Central Park and scoped out the NY waterfront by the financial district…it looked like a rough day out there, so we’ll be targeting calmer conditions for our passage!

It’s been an amazing weekend and we’re ready to get back at ‘er tomorrow.

Sailing has everything

by  on  in Boat Projects, Boat Work, Deep thoughts, New York State • 4 Comments

After riding a high of a New York weekend and engagement, we are back on the boat in Haverstraw, struggling through delays for parts, bad weather, and crummy docking experiences.  During rainy nights like these we are drawn to re-reread a journal entry Mark made at the beginning of our trip.

We often say that “sailing has everything”.

Massive highs, massive lows and the swings in between. Boredom, excitement, terror, enthusiasm. It offers a chance to practice tenacity, relaxation, thoughtfulness, conscientiousness. A place to fix things, break things, solve problems and make them. It challenges your mind and body, while satisfying a sense of adventure.

Sailing teaches you to appreciate the simplest things: Food, water, shelter, weather, power, and (not to mention) a hot shower. Sailing gives you the time and the opportunity to stare out over the horizon for hours, to see sunrises and sunsets in the same day, to go wherever your heart desires and to respect nature because ultimately it has the final say.

We often say you can’t have a schedule, more of a plan with a backup plan…and a backup to the backup plan…and plans change.

You learn to appreciate the sunny days until there are too many in a row, then you appreciate the clouds. You learn to crave wind in the doldrums and calm in a storm.

There’s always something to do if you want to do it, but you don’t always have to do it right away. Sailing gives you a chance to do what you want to do, be who you want to be, and figure out just how the hell you’re gonna get there.

Sailing has everything.

New Solenoid, New York, New News

by  on  in Boat Projects, Destinations, New York State, OpTrop, Surprises • 3 Comments

We’re a little overdue for a post, so here goes!

Where did we leave off….Poughkeepsie @ Mariners on the Hudson (Wednesday last week)?  Yeah that’s about right…What can I say?  It was nice to have a place to tie the boat, but resulted in the worst nights sleep due to the current/waves/exposed nature of the place.

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Also, it was quite literally the shittiest dock we’ve ever had the pleasure of stepping onto (tip of the cap to the seagulls & geese that call this dock home – nice work guys)

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From there we went to Haverstraw Bay, and after navigating the tricky entrance, we had two of the nicest days at anchor.  The weather was great, the anchor held well, and it was nice to have some solitude for a change.  I managed to sneak ashore and grab a replacement zinc for the heat exchanger (thank god – see photo below comparing new & old), and we caught an amazing sunrise on the morning we departed.

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We then headed over to Half Moon Bay Marina, where we kept the boat for the weekend while we dashed into the city!!!  Although we were keen to get lots of photos in the big apple, we only got two at the train station on the way in.  We got ZERO photos in the city itself…and frankly weren’t too bummed about that.  We were pre-occupied with soaking up the awesomeness.

We had an amazing time even though it was just a couple of days blasting around Manhattan and Brooklyn.  It’s always so fun going to NYC – there’s always something new to discover.

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After the weekend, we came back to a boat that wouldn’t start.  At all.  We’d been having problems with our starter solenoid, and it seems like it had finally died for good.  Steve (marina manager/nicest guy ever) ripped us across the river in his jetboat to buy a replacement from the marine store across the way, and $40 later I’d picked up a new/better version of the solenoid (see below – the new one is heavy duty/steel, the old one is plastic).  After the installation, Tara turned over instantly, and put a big smile on my face.

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Oh yeah one more thing…we got engaged this weekend!  Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!

 

MAST UP!

by  on  in Boat Projects, Boat Work, New York State, OpTrop • 2 Comments

WHEW!  What a day.  Stepping the mast was, frankly, pretty easy with the help of Sean and the guys at Hop-O-Nose marina…the hard part was rigging everything afterwards!  Good news is, she’s finally up and ready to rumble.

There was a little drama again with the roller furler (more on that later), but otherwise it went up without a hitch.  WOOT

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We’re going to stay here one more night before continuing our trek south down the Hudson River.

D(estep)-Day

by  on  in Boat Projects, Boat Work, New York State • 0 Comments

Today we had to take down the mast…I woke up with mixed emotions – the disappointment that comes with knowing you won’t be sailing for a while, coupled with the urgency to get to work!  Damn there was a lot to do…especially since we had an issue with the roller furling mechanism the day before and we couldn’t drop the headsail.

Mark’s first time up the mast in a bosuns chair :)

ALL IN ALL, the day was a huge success!  Bill and the gang at Rich Marine were super pro and really went the extra mile to help us with the task.  I think we said “thank you” about 40 times…

We were SO eager, we decided to split and make our way towards the canal.  Only one problem…we were running pretty low on diesel…

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Painting Daze

by  on  in Boat Projects, Boat Work, Ohio • 2 Comments

Painting starts with a power wash!  That was the easy part…

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Once the boat was out of the water, it was time for sanding (don’t worry, I -Caitie- health and safety-officer’d us into wearing appropriate respirators and safety gear), and a brief wipe down with thinner to prep for painting.  Finally, taping the water line, wrapping the prop and all of the other necessary precautions.

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Traditional anti-fouling paints are pretty toxic (that’s the whole idea…to prevent life from growing on the boat), and since we were going to do this ourselves, we chose a slightly more environmentally friendly version called Pettit Hydrocoat Eco, a “water-based, copper-free, self-polishing ablative antifouling paint“.  This is their top-of-the line new paint which will hopefully keep us growth-free for at least a year or two in the tropics.

 

We estimated that we would need about two gallons (~7.6L) to do our two coats, and at almost $250 per gallon, this paint quickly became known as Black Gold (to us).  Unfortunately it is also extremely viscous (Yes, we thinned it as per the instructions. Still.) and has thus generously provided a neck/shoulder/arm/back/full body workout neither of us knew we were missing out on, through a strenuous two-day painting process.

<Note: There are no pictures of the actual painting, because we were BUSY!  Dayummmmm>

 

Let me just say, for the record, that this was the least fun boat project we’ve done to date, if only because it was more physically taxing than anything else we’ve tackled.  But hey, could be worse – we could be at real jobs, right?  (EDIT – I’m sure there will be worse boat projects.  This wasn’t actually that bad.)

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Two coats over two days, and we’re tired!!   Frankly, we’re a little tipsy too…Celebration beers! haha

 

Haul out day!

by  on  in Boat Projects, Boat Work, Ohio • 1 Comment

We wanted to do one last check of our hull, rudder, through-hulls etc. and apply a fresh couple of coats of anti-fouling paint before we headed towards the Atlantic.  Our current coat, while still relatively new, is meant for cold/fresh water and we are headed to warm/salty, where more marine life is likely to try to grow on our boat.

The Harbormaster at the MHYC operated the crane which lifted our boat (all 7600 lbs of ballast) up on two straps and onto “the hard” for us, where it will remain for a few days of maintenance and painting.  This was, despite Mark’s cool appearance, still a humbling experience.

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The next couple of days will be filled with two coats of fresh paint, so get ready for painters jumpsuits, respirators and safety goggles – DIY/Breaking Bad style.

Two weeks in Ohio – what have we been doing?

by  on  in Boat Projects, OpTrop • 0 Comments

We’ve been in Ohio for over 2 weeks now, and although we haven’t made a lot of geographical progress, we have been working hard to get ready for departure!

Things we’ve accomplished (or mostly accomplished):

Researched, ordered and installed new LED lights for the whole cabin, therefore reducing our power draw from 18 Amps to <2 when we have all of our lights on.  This is awesome and a big deal for us on the continuing theme of Power Management, as we will be relying on limited battery power for most of our needs while at anchor each night.  Mark earns major points for his multi hours of research finding the right kind of lights online (online shopping in the USA >> Canada btw) and ultimately found our bulbs on LEDWholesalers.

LEDeez

LEDeez


Measured, designed and crafted the beginnings of our “mast cradle” which is a combination of DIY wooden structures used to securely hold our de-stepped (=taken down) mast when we go through the Erie Canal lock system. This is definitely a nerve-wracking point for us, taking down the mast, but it’s the only way to be able to get through the 30+ locks that take us from Buffalo NY at the east end of Lake Erie to Albany NY (check this video out for an idea of what we’ll go through).

Researched and ordered our new Alternator, upgrading from a 51Amp to 100Amp system (again, Power Management!) …still to be installed

Researched and ordered supplies to put a new coat of salt water (and warm water) appropriate anti-fouling paint on the hull…still to be hauled out of the water and painted

Bought a set of Corelle boat-safe (aka mostly unbreakable) dishes and mugs, as well as small baking sheet/ muffin pan/ cake pan for nautical domestic baking.

Amazon.com

Amazon.com

MOVED ONTO THE BOAT!  And found places for our clothes, electronics, books, toiletries, safety gear, etc.  Flying from Vancouver forced us to be very economical with our packing choices, which is the only reason we aren’t totally bursting at the seams on this boat (yet).

Plus, we’ve been spending lots of time with Mark’s family, who has been very graciously hosting our unemployed 30-yr old selves as we drink their coffee and beer, eat their food, and clog up their kitchen table with our various computing devices, as we research just how to do this crazy trip of ours.  Thanks K&W!

Updated rough timeline has us departing Mentor Harbor (Ohio) in just ~10 days, and we’re definitely feeling the push to get going, as the weather is starting to get chillier and the leaves are just barely starting to change colour…