The Great Chinese Communist Plot

Tom and I have discovered a diabolical plot by the Chinese Communist Party to take down the USA.  It's so simple and subtle that it had gone undetected until now.  But we are on to them and we are going to blow this whole thing w-i-d-e open.

Have you ever noticed how on a project one stainless steel screw or bolt or washer or nut seems rust up before the others.  Yes, stainless steel rusts in the right environment like say the sea/marine environment - come on people....we've talked about this before.  For example - you install a new rope clutch.  Four through bolts with accompanying nuts and washers.  Almost immediately one bolt or nut or washer starts to rust.  The others are just fine.  WTF?   Seriously!  I know you have all witnessed this first hand.

We've mentioned this to various people through the years.  Possible answers - Corrosion?  Inferior SS?  Dis-similar metals?  Hum?  Usual answer......"Must be a bad one in the batch."  We have heard this so often it has almost become the standard answer.  But let's look at this response closer.  So the theory is that somehow in the modern, highly technical manufacturing process of a run of say 5000 stainless steel 3/8 screws, that there is one or two that somehow just didn't get enough of whatever so they are bad.  These then escape quality control measures, get shipped to your local marine supply store where you just happen to pick that one or two out of a bin of 50 and install it on your boat where it promptly starts rusting.  Do I have it right?  Oh yes but these are Chinese manufactured SS screws, you say.  Okay.  But even still, read through that again for me just to be sure I have it right.  Seems like a stretch doesn't it? 

We thought so as well.  So we starting looking into other possibilities.  We find the randomness too convenient.  How could the one or two bad ones in each batch be random?  We decided they aren't.  These are deliberate!  This is where the plot starts.  We believe that all the communist bosses in China - from the lowest level to the highest, walk around with their pockets full of "bad" SS screws/bolts/nuts/washers.  It's part of the standard uniform.  On any given day they might be asked or decide to tour a SS manufacturer.  When they tour these factories, they simply reach in their pockets and toss a few of these bad ones in with all the good ones.  This starts the waterfall effect - the screw is shipped to the USA where you buy the bad one at your local marine or hardware store, installing the inferior screw which starts rusting immediately.  Whatever project you have going is doomed thus reducing your success and ultimately the success of the USA.  This is happening not only to you but to big commercial builders.  Don't you see.......The Communist bosses are taking down the USA one bad screw at a time!  

Boat Projects - Watermaker Fine Tuning

New value and switch

Until now, when Tom made water (ROH2O), he would get it going, test the water quality and then put the hose into a tank via our deck fill.  It was simple and worked just fine this past season but he knew eventually he wanted to run a hose so that it would fill directly into one or both tanks.  In typical Tom project fashion, he has been thinking, researching, and designing it in his head for a while now.  He eventually came up with a plan and this week put it into action.

Running the hose behind the microwave

KISS method- Keep It Simple Stupid -is something we try to live by on our boat. Tom routed the hose from the watermaker (located in the cockpit locker) through the port side behind the microwave and down the hose run from the deck plates and into tank #2.  While back in the states, he made up a simple diverter value (3 way) and switch plate ......I told you his been thinking about this for a while.  Sample mode allows him to take a sample reading of the water quality using a short bit of hose.  Tank mode of course allows the ROH2O to flow directly into the tank.

Mounting the 3 way and switch plate

With the Christmas Winds blowing 20-25 knots each day and thus our wind generator whizzing along in combination with the solar panels, the power grid on s/v Honey Ryder has been topped up rather nicely each day.  And this includes making ROH2O for at least 2 hours each day - no engine.  Wind and solar only!!  Free ROH2O from free wind and sun.  :) :) big grins on our faces.  

Tom's in a Pickle

June 22, 2014

Mixing up the pickling agent

No, that's not right.  Tom's pickled?  No, that's not right either.  Tom's pickling?  That's it!  

Well if that is the case, you might be saying why isn't this posting on the Beyond Burgoo food blog tab vs here?   Simple, Tom isn't pickling food.  He's pickling the watermaker membrane.

Circulating the pickling agent through the watermaker

Anytime you are not going to use your watermaker for an extended periods of time, it needs to be pickled to preserve the membrane.  These membranes are very expensive (isn't everything on a yacht) so pickling it allows us to continue using it next season and the next and so on.  

The pickling solution circulated for 30 mins.

Since we will be leaving the boat in Trinidad for hurricane season, the membrane need to be pickled. Reports are that the water Chaguaramas Bay is very, very dirty.  This is not good for watermakers. Therefore Tom has been nothing short of a watermarking fool these past 3 days, making as much as possible before pickling the watermaker today.  No more ROH2O after today.  First he did a fresh water flush of the pump.  Then he let the pickling solution circulate through the watermaker for 30 mins.  That was it.  

FYI - The above picture is of the tank fill hose he made up.  We don't currently have a way to directly pipe the water that is made into our tanks.  Instead, Tom uses the above to feed the freshly made water directly into our tanks using the deck fill opening.  A simple, easy solution that is working just fine.  I don't think I have shown this and I thought it might be helpful to others.    

Honey Ryder Projects - Stateroom Shelves

Right side with the cleats for the shelves already installed

In our forward stateroom, there is a big hanging locker with two doors.  Cruisers don't hang many clothes.  Most are crammed into very small spaces!  The previous owner used the closet rod to hang cloth selves like those they advertise for teenagers gym lockers.  That was good enough to get us going.  However I always had in the back of my head to convert this locker to permanent shelves.  I happened to casually mention this idea to Tom - "Someday we should probably take a look at making real shelves."  Tom went to investigate.  "Oh my gosh.  There is a ton of unused space behind these cloth shelves!  We aren't even using all the space in here that we could be using!"  Tom hates unused space on a sailboat and has made finding extra space a new hobby - see Head Access Panels.  

Tom and Thomo - seriously!  Check the sign

Meet Thomo.  He is a local craftsman who does terrific woodworking.  We stopped by his shop behind the Catamaran Club to see if 1.)  He could do shelves for us.  2.) Would be interested in doing shelves for us.  There are SO many mega yachts here that keep the local craftsmen busy with refits, that they often don't have time or interest in small projects.  Thomo said yes to both questions.

Top shelf had to be in 2 pieces for installation purposes

Tom brought Thomo out to s/v Honey Ryder and he went straight to work making the pattern for each shelf.  Tom watched intently over Thomo's shoulder, quietly learning.  The space is not symmetrical at all and has several little grooves that cut in and out here and there.  "The pattern is key" said Thomo and he treated it as so at the end of the day, carefully lifting and carrying the patterns with him as if they were a delicate ship model.    

Tom sanding the shelves prior to painting them

Once the shelves were completed and double checked for fit, Tom set about to finishing them.  He decided to do that to save some $$.  Thomo didn't mind and let Tom use his shop to sand and paint.

Cutting holes for the bottom, lift out shelf

Left over teak edge trim from Tom's galley shelf project was the perfect finish for the front of the shelves.

Almost done - only the fronts missing

The project was completed.  The only thing left was to figure out who got what space.  Tom didn't realize until this project that I had given him the right side of the locker previously and that it was quite a bit bigger than the left side.  We decided he would take the top shelf, I would take the middle and we would split the bottom shelf.

NICE!

We are very pleased with the end result.  It gives us quite a bit more space.  I might have to go shopping for more clothes - just kidding!

Honey Ryder Projects - Windlass Switch Cover

We have a windlass switch in the cockpit that will allow us to lower and raise the anchor via from the helm.  We have not used it because we prefer to tag team when anchoring - one on the bow and one at the helm.  However, it's nice to have this in case emergencies or if by chance, one of us is ever singlehanding the boat.
The location of the switch is on the aft port panel inside our cockpit, right next to the engine panel.  We find that we can and have accidentally bumped it while hoisting or storing the outboard motor or a few other times.  We generally don't realize it for several second....."What is that noise?  Hum?  Crap - the windlass." and we find we have dumped out 20ft+ of chain in no time!  D-oh!
The solution was to get a new switch that locks.  Those run $75+.  Glup.  Plus switching out switches isn't always straight forward.  Our next idea was to have someone weld up two small brackets that would act as a cage, thus protecting the switch.  We found a metal fabrication shop here and they could and would do our small job.....or so they said....for $100.  Maybe that was their way of saying "we really don't want to mess with a tiny job like this."
Plan C- I said something to Tom about too bad there isn't a deep footman's strap as two of those would work.  That got Tom thinking and he pulled out a couple of extra I straps to see if that would work. Too small but the concept would work.  Off to the local chandlery.  $5 later and we have a homemade protection cage for our windlass switch.

Boom Brake

We have been trying to rig a preventer and or boom brake on vs Honey Ryder for some time with varying degrees of success.  A preventer keeps the boom from doing an accidental jibe - which is a very bad thing/very dangerous/can kill someone/de-rig a boat!  We find that even on a good point of sail, ocean swell can cause the boat to roll enough to potentially have an accidental jibe.  Therefore we always rig a preventer.  Generally Tom goes out on deck and ties a line from the boom to the toe rail forward.  This works great until you want to tack and go a different direction.  We needed a better system.

For the passage down to the Caribbean, we used a line off the end of the boom rigged on both sides, the idea being that we wouldn't need to leave the cockpit.  It worked....ok but still needed improvement.  Additionally it chaffed on the brand new dodger - argh.

We then started seriously talking about a boom brake.  There is one on the market and we looked at it in a chandlery in St Martin.  It's really beef, which isn't a bad thing but the cost was beefy as well!  Cha-ching Cha-ching!

Then Tom got to thinking.....ours doesn't have to be that beefy.

Who else uses something like this?  Bing!  Mountain climbers.  Baxter on Sv Terrapin has done some climbing in his day to put it mildly.   He and Tom talked through the concept.  Tom ordered a Super 8's from REI and our friend Michelle brought it down when she visited us in St Martin.  The price was so reasonable that Tom decided to order two.  Take the word marine out of a product and watch the price fall to something reasonable. 

We are still testing and tweaking.  Remind me down the line and I will try to report back how it is working.

New Foredeck Bag for Stay Sail

We lost overboard our foredeck bag for our stay sail  on the trip from BVI to St Martin.

Phifertex bottom from muslin pattern

Cutting the Sunbrella using the muslin pattern

Bag under construction

I decided we needed a new one.  Luckily the North Sails loft here - Tropical Sails sells Sunbrella and canvas notions.  The cash discount is a nice help.

Front of the bag with Sunbrella cover over zipper

Front zipper and Sunbrella flap to protect it

I previously made a foredeck bag for our sailboat Riot.  However, for some reason I really struggled with the design of this bag.  I kept getting stuck on the design.

port side attached to orange Phifertex bottom

FYI - most all canvas work you undertake on a sailboat is your own design - ie....you must design everything yourself...unless you buy a kit.  I don't buy kits because I always want a design that is enough different that kits don't seem to make sense....or so I think. *Yes, I am silly, stupid, delusional like that!

Top with vinyl edging

Loops in the front and vinyl edging

Anywho....while taking a break from designing/pondering, I happened to glance up and see that our new friend Mike on s/v Right Turn has a perfectly wonderful foredeck bag for his lovely 42 ft Bowman sailboat.  I hopped in the dinghy and zoomed over.  "Hi Mike.  Can I look at your foredeck bag?"  He said sure and even offered it up so I could use it for a pattern.  SWEET!

View of the top and aft end of the bag

I was still a little wobbly on my design so the next morning I dashed ashore to the French equivalent of a 5 and dime and bought some cheap muslin fabric so I could make a sample before cutting into the precious $$$ Sunbrella.  *Always measure 3 times and cut once but DON'T forget to carry the one.  I didn't carry the one when making new cockpit cushions last week and barely had enough to complete my purple (YES) cockpit pillows.  D-oh!

Port side view

The basic pattern was an oval shaped bottom piece made of Phifertex (orange because I had it on hand) so it will drain any water that gets into the sail bag and allow the sail to breath.  The top is also oval shaped with a zipper.  The sides are triangle shaped.  The front also has a zipper.  I covered both zippers to protect them. There is also a loop on the top of the back part of the bag so we can attach the halyard to it and lift it off the deck if we want.  Two loops in the front will allow us to tie the bag on and thus keep from loosing it overboard.  Amazingly, once I got Mike's bag, it only took me two days to design ours, make and test the muslin pattern and then cut and sew the final bag.  *If anyone is interested in more details, email me or leave a comment with your questions and email.

Water, Water Everywhere and TONS to Drink

New membrane ordered prior to our departure from USA

 Woot Woot!!

Sometimes it takes a few taps from a hammer

After a few days of installing replacement parts, troubleshooting, and watching You Tube videos on watermaker maintenance and repairs.....Tom got our watermaker working yesterday!  Yay!

Pre-filter to keep crud out of membrane

Water flow -check

Of course I knew he would.  He wasn't so sure yesterday morning.  "Well.....I will give it another go and see if I can't figure out what is going on but...."  A little while later he casually called me up into the cockpit "Hey, come see this."  I thought a new boat had pulled into the anchorage.  No, water was flowing out of the watermaker and into a small container!  Woo hoo!  *I have the best husband ever!

Installing membrane part

Old O rings and pump seals replaced with pump rebuild kit

Pump rebuild in process

Clear, fresh water from sea water.  He tested it with the water tester thingie ( I forget the official name of this thing).  The water was an acceptable level for drinking.  The watermaker keep producing (of course) so we had to scramble to find a couple pitchers to put the water in.  Further testing...the water kept getting better into the really good range on the tester.

Success - first water and big smile

Final test......drink it.  "Ah....refreshing!"  He grabbed the blue (for water) jerry can and started filling it.  The watermaker ran for two hours and made almost 10 gallons of fresh water.  FREE water!  The power pull was big - 25 amps but we knew it would be big and will plan for that.

Cheers!

We now feel like a totally independent, proper cruising boat with solar, wind, watermaker, sails and iron genny (engine).  Look out world, here we come!!  

Refreshing

Yes - my husband took sea water and turned it into fresh, clean drinking water.  In turn, he will take that and turn it into diet tonic tonight around sundown!

For those interested - basically a watermaker takes sea water and filters it through a very, very fine membrane (filter) that takes out all the particulates out like salt.   Our watermaker is a S&K with various parts installed in various locations in the hole (cockpit locker) thus taking up less space over all and allowing easier access to the various parts to service them.  It is a low output model - 5 gallons per hour (however we have already produced more than that in an hour!)  Previous two owners used it with great success.  The membrane was pickled when we bought the boat - meaning it was sort of put into sleep/storage mode if you will.  We did not fire it up before now because once you un-pickle the membrane and fire it up, you need to keep making water every so many days.  That wouldn't work while we were commuter cruisers.  Additionally the seawater needs to be relatively clean ie you don't really want to run it in a marina or crowded or dirty anchorage.  First, Tom replaced the membrane only.  Water was flowing out of the pump but not like it should and thus not through the membrane. After much troubleshooting and discussions with S&K president Jack, it was determined that the pump seals might be beyond their years.  Sure enough.  However, after the pump rebuild a few days ago, NO water flowed.  Argh!  After more research and head scratching,  Tom and Jack decided that air had been introduced into the hydraulic part of the pump during the rebuild and it would need to be bled out and 5W30 synthetic oil added back in.  Finally after that, Tom force primed the pump with a bit of water to get it going.  FYI - S&K has been terrific in terms of customer support.  They take Tom's calls and emails and promptly get back to him - often times the president Jack himself called Tom back.  S&K is located in Florida somewhere.

Boat Projects - Sabrina's Sail Loft

I didn’t want you to think I was completely slacking off while Mr Marine Starboard was hard at work onboard s/v Honey Ryder.  I have managed to accomplish a few projects myself. 

The first was actually sewn some time ago but we finally got around to installing it.  I made a Sunbrella cover for our cockpit “pocket”.  This will help keep things better organized and protected as well as looking much neater. 

I also made a line bag for the starboard corner of our cockpit.  It holds the furling line, temporary boom preventer line with room for sunscreen or an occasional beer for the captain.