The watermaker is setup in the garage at the moment.    I have determined that it does need a new membrane kit.   

I found that because of the relatively soft mahogany I needed to make the head of the bolts larger.   I welded a piece of SS to the bolt and then let it into the deck of the Swim platform.

The dinghy has been in build mode now for since 2013 when I visited Wooden Boat School and learned the fundamentals of boat building.  This is really like summer camp for older people and here is the result.

This is a real space saver/creator.   I looked at a bunch of pics on the internet and came up with this.

I made this from some bits and pieces left over from bigger projects

This is my pot Jumper    A tight SS cable between the Keel and the rudder skeg to prevent lines from getting fouled in the prop.

You might call this a red neck air conditioner, but it really helps increase the flow of air through the boat especially in light air conditions.

Here was some wasted space that now has a good size shelf for dry goods

Storeing cans is always a challenge.   I saw this in the latest issue of good old Boat magazine

Final paint applied to quarter berth shelf and can storage

New pin for boom gooseneck

Installed spring in Spinnaker pole connection

I did a couple of welding projects yesterday.   One was to begin an antenna mast for my WIFI antenna and my AIS antenna.    This will be a Short mast on the stern.  Here is the beginning of it.

The other project was to add a plate to the bottom of the swim platform strut.   This will spread the load and be bolted through the transom.

Here is a nice shot of the new dinghy with the paint done and seats installed

One of the things that you must do if you are going to take a vessel to another country is to establish it in a registry.   To do this there are several steps and some funds to pay.   If you are content to just Boat in Canada you can obtain the pleasure craft license, which is free and requires nothing more than an email and a bit of information about your vessel.     If you want to become foreign going you need to tend to a few things.

1.   Have the vessel measured for tonnage by a designated marine surveyor.  Kevin Quinn of Bay Pilots did this for me when he also completed my marine survey last fall.   The measurement has nothing to do with weight by rather volume and is historically linked to how much wine a ship could load on as cargo!
2. I had to write to the vessel licensing people and have my license canceled so that Tevah could be registered.    That took a month or so.
3. I thought I was ready and sent off $250 to Ottawa.   I got a response that said I also needed proof that the vessel was not also registered in the USA.    I had believed that this was done by the Boat broker, but alas it was not, or atleast the certificate of deletion was not given to me.   So, another cheque and a bundle of papers sent off the the US coast guard, and two months later I got the Deletion certificate!
4. Finally after another month I got my registration certificate.  Now I just need a warm day to paint the number somewhere inside the hull

Here is the swim platform all ready to be reinstalled.  New fasteners and varnish.    Finish is also all done on the dinghy as well.

I got two of these flexible 100 watt panels. The mount directly on the Bimini

At the end of last season the Maserator quit working.    It is always wise to have this item in top working order.   I found a new one at Dykemans with an old price tag on it, so I bought it.   My Son Chris removed the old one and installed the new one.   During the install we noticed that the elbow down to the tank was loose.    It could have been sucking air and that might have been the problem.   We will test the old unit and then do a tear down and rebuild just in case.

Several years ago I built a sump pan that fit under the engine.  It worked well, but not perfect.     It was time for Ver. 2.0

With the pan on the welding bench I brazed a fitting on the bottom at the lowest point.  This will enable me to attach an oil suction hose to emptie the pan with minimum fuss.    I also added a flexible leather extension to the back, as I was suspious that I was not quite getting all the drips!

Two new solar panels installed.  A third one is on order along with the support hardware.    You can also see the new antenna support at the back.

No new pics, but we are launched and are working on sorting out all the systems an getting things working correctly.   Right now I have discovered that the raw water pump is leaking at the seals an will have to rebuild it.     Everything else seems to be on track.   The solar power seems to be sufficient and all other systems are a go.    Time to test and stress everything.

After a very long cold and wet spring with the highest freshet in 100 years, we are in the water and working to make sure all the systems are working.   I have installed a deck wash down system, completed the Bimini install and tweaked a bunch of electrical items.     I discovered that the raw water pump was leaking and have ordered bearings and seals.    It took several hours over two days to find the right part number and then source the original manufacturer part number, which was less than half the price of Volvo Penta.  The engine is an MD 22-L, which comes with two different sea water pumps.    One is belt driven, mine is direct drive from the cam shaft.

Raw water pump Jabsco p/n 29500-1001  Volvo p/n 859824

I found a place to buy the kit.

http://www.pumpvendor.com/Jabsco_29500-1001.html

Let’s hope the right parts arrive!

In the last month or so I have not posted anything but there have been loads of things going on in the background.   The parish gave us enough money to by a RIB with an aluminum bottom.    We will name her “Little Jimmy” as this was one of the names our parish is known by; St. James the Less!   We have a 3.5 2 stroke Mercury that is undergoing some repairs and will be a good motor to start with.   Down the road (coast) I hope to find a 6 hp 2 stroke that might get us up on a plane!

I took our alternator off and found a cracked adjuster support and some mounting issues.   The belt was also the wrong size so I managed to find two the right size.     I also have ordered a spare alternator that was actually the original one specked for the motor.    It is slightly smaller in output but with 400 watts of solar now that will not be a problem.

The water maker is installed now with two stages of filters and pressure seawater feeding it.   Clearly it needs a new membrane but we may wait till Florida to get it, since that seems to be the best price.  It will not really be needed until we cross to the Bahamas so we will leave that expense for now.

I purchased 600 feet of 7/16 double braid to change out the halyards, main sheet and other lines as needed.     I have also a good supply of 3/8 for other running rigging.   Time to practice up on my double braid eye splices.   I did the one for the main halyard this morning.   Took about 45 min!

We have done a number of day sails and I have spent only one night on the boat but all systems seem to be working well as we approach our departure date of Sept 1

Below are some pics of the most recent improvements

water maker with with two ore filters    We still need to replace the membrane, but will wait until we get to Florida to do that    The raw water pressure pump is hooked up and is feeding the wash down hose on the foredeck as well as a hose under the sink and the RO unit.   There is also a raw water faucet in the main sink

The TV is installed and has the Apple TV module with it.  We can stream from wifi or watch movies from the hard drive on the computer.

The next the next big job was to get a mattress that we could sleep on.   So I took the electric knife to the bed we have been sleeping on for the last 20 years!   It has been a great bed and given us great sleeps at home.   Here’s hoping it will serve as well on the boat.

Boat Projects

There is always a list.   A dream list; a wish list;a honey-do list; and a must do in the next day list.

When you have hours and hours on passage it is very possible to knock off some of these items.   Some sailors have also given over to the arts and written music, sharpened their skills; the art of scrimshaw and decorative rope work comes from long hours at sea.

This morning I finished stitching the ticking back together including installing a zipper at the head of the mattress. Got is slipped on and sipped closed easier than expected.   Now all that is left is to build some covers for the triangles that go at the sides.

Here are some pics from the last week to show some of the things we are doing.  It is a big job to move out of a house of 20 years and onto a 36 foot sailboat and retire all at the same time.   During this month of August we have lots of projects. Here are a few.

The rest of the pics just show the piles of stuff that is getting sorted.   Some goes to the boat.   Some to my mums house and some to Nat’s and Andrews.   Next week will be a big push to clear out many more things.   My last official act as Rector if Renforth will be next Saturday as I perform a wedding ceremony for the son of a close friend.

I thought it it was time to test the fit of the new dinghy “little jimmy” on deck.    I tried it a couple of ways but the best fit was upside down deflated    Lots of room to walk around and easy to tie down.  We will keep it on deck like this for any open water passages.   Once we are in protected waterways we can tow it.

Today we made three trips with the trucks.  Two to Andrew’s house with tools and workbenches and lights etc, to rebuild the shop and one to Mums house with general stuff for storage.

Yesterday was also a productive day as I found the leak in the water tank. The seal around the clean out port was blowen and every time we were on starboard tack it would dump most of its contents into the bilge .

The bilge pump pump was also not working well and I found a kink in the hose where I had put an anti syphon loop.   I removed that and replaced it with a check valve that I had bought 2 years ago for that purpose!

I also changed out the hoses and mounted the big charcoal filter in it’s permanent location.