The Right Tool

Ok, although you haven't been hearing about this, my rudder post packing gland, very similar to a main shaft stuffing box, has been leaking. I'm not surprised as it looks as if it hasn't been adjusted in the thirty years since it was installed.

I was going to repack it but there was still a great deal of adjustment left. But here's the thing: the tools you can purchase at marine stores are absolutely worthless. They bend and warp and don't have any use aboard a boat. But the right tool is available - and it's from one of my favorite tool companies, Rigid.

You never want to use pump pliers or pipe wrenches on a stuffing gland. The last thing you want to do is chew up the relatively soft bronze fittings. Once you do, you'll never be able to use a real proper wrench again without removing whatever shaft you're dealing with.

So, I've been struggling with this dilemma until I found these wrenches. They are perfect! Boy, oh boy, the job was done in just a few minutes rather than the hours struggling I've done so far trying to move the nuts.

So, the first job is to loosen the locking nut - with this wrench adjusted properly, it was a couple of taps on the handle with the hammer and presto! All loose. Then I removed the actual packing nut and held it up above the whole fitting. Next, I ran the nut down the threads as far as I could and back a couple of times to clean the threads. When doing this, don't rush. Go a little way, then back off - there should be water coming through the packing material that helps wash away the salt and corrosion.

Finally, I schmeared lithium grease all over the threads and re-ran the locking nut back down. Then I put some grease on top of the packing itself and ran the packing nut down to a little over hand tight so that no water was coming out. Remember, the rudder shaft doesn't really need a lot of lubrication as it doesn't spin. The main shaft has a little different adjusting procedure.

The last thing to do is to snug the lock nut up against the packing nut and Bob's your uncle. It will take you way longer to read this than do. Repacking only changes this in that you have to remove all the packing letting in a considerable amount of water (not a dangerous amount, though) and replace with whatever kind you like - I like the graphite impregnated stuff.

A Rendezvous and Various Adventures

There is a Pearson 424 owner's organization - Of course I belong to it - that has such a tremendous wealth of information and opinion from people who have sailed the 424 all over the world. All of us have had similarly different experiences (that's not double-speak - your right hand is like your left hand only different, if you get my drift) and have come up with some pretty spectacular solutions.

For this trip Paul and Jo from Canada who are new 424 owners came along. They're really nice people and it was an extraordinary pleasure to have them along. Both are experienced sailors and this will be telling a little later on.

The really neat thing about all this is that even though the solutions are different, they're all quite valid and totally satisfactory. It is in these solutions the owner's personality become apparent. There really is, it seems, more than one way to skin a cat.

This weekend (July 26-27 2008) was a rendezvous for the 424 owners. Rodd and Thatcher who keep their boats there suggested Three Mile Harbor, NY (just west of Montauk, the end of the South Fork of Long Island). The harbor is quite large with a mud bottom. More on that later. Six of us showed up and we rafted together.

There are several things I learned this weekend. First, how to kedge an anchor. Second, a Fortress anchor is worth its weight in gold (big surprise to me). Third, you can move a raft-up en masse with the help of hand held radios. Fourth, my outboard motor works like a champ and drives the 10.5 foot Achilles dinghy really well. Fifth, boats that are the same aren't.

Remember the mud? Well as you put more boats on a raft-up, you need more anchors. We started with two and as Saturday wore on we had two or three more boats arrive. As the anchors were mostly on the other side of the raft up, I volunteered to set one of mine. Since my main anchors are a 45 lb CQR and a 70 lb Bruce I wasn't interested in taking one of them out in the dinghy. I happen to have a Fortress 23 and that seemed a good choice as it only weighs about, well, 23 lbs.

First, if you're going to kedge by yourself (there were others there, but this was an excellent opportunity to try on my own because there were others there) and even if you've got help, first flake the anchor rode out - I flaked the chain on one side of the deck and the nylon rode on the other. Figure out how much you might need and add a few more feet. Make sure the lines are not overrunning each other. This sounds obvious, but a knot in the rode will make your life very difficult. Put the anchor where you can reach it safely from the dinghy. Obviously, a 23 lb anchor is pretty easy to carry, for me, anyway.

Bring the dinghy to the anchor and put the anchor gently into the bottom so that you don't puncture the dinghy. Holing the dinghy is considered bad form. I found using reverse so I could watch the rode paying out to be the best way. It may be difficult running astern if there are big seas, so be prepared to go forward and watch you don't tangle the rode with the engine. Once far enough out (you decide), drop the anchor and chain part of the rode like you'd normally do it from the bow, drifting back towards the boat as you do.

Once the anchor is down, go back to the boat and pull the rode in to set the anchor. It turns out that the Fortress/Danforth type of anchor sets pretty easily in mud. The plow type anchors don't. Bruces do.

Anyway, after that little drill, the wind came up and we started to drift. The two plow anchors skipped along the bottom and finally my Fortress really dug in. We had 150,000lbs + of boat holding on my anchor in 15kts wind!

My brilliant idea was to start the engines of the two outboard boats on the raft-up and idle or whatever to a new anchor point and drop all three major anchors (I decided to use the Bruce), drift back to set them and call it a day. So that's what we did using hand held radios to coordinate the port and starboard boats for directional control. I'm sure it was quite a sight to see the six boats motoring about the harbor all tied together. I wouldn't recommend this for rough water. Of course, if it were rough, we wouldn't raft up.

I have never used the motor on my dinghy. Moreover, I've never actually used the dinghy for anything but washing the boat in the water. If you want an inflatable dinghy and you don't want a RIB, then make sure that the dinghy you get has an inflatable floor and keel. Highly recommended because it makes the dinghy more maneuverable and it tows much better than the flat bottom ones. Oh, and it can plane.

My 8hp Nissan 2 cycle outboard is more than sufficient for my dinghy and now that I figured out how to get it into the dinghy without undue strain and gnashing of teeth, I'll use it more. Knowing I was going to have to use it, I made an engine harness for it. I use the mizzen boom an mizzen sheet as a lifting device to lower it over the side to the dinghy's transom. Very easy. No drama. Works like a champ. The same in reverse to remove.

I really got a lot of experience on things you'd never normally have to do and that made the weekend worthwhile even if the people hadn't been absolutely spectacular!

On the way back we rounded Orient Point into a serious thunderstorm - winds gusting to 38 kts steady at 30-35. Well, sir, we were puttering along before this with the jib, staysail, and mizzen and when the wind went to 25 kts or so we rolled in half the jib. Then as it built, we rolled it all the way in. Call me chicken, but at that point I had the engine running at an idle. The lee shore wasn't so far away. Anyway, the staysail and the mizzen powered us through at 7+ kts (hitting 8+ at times) on a close reach and there was no drama! The boat was heeled about 10-15 degrees and that was that. Easy to steer and easy to deal with. I was pleasantly surprised and really thankful that Paul and Jo were there.

Now I know what the boat can take and I know what I have to do to keep all the stuff where it belongs in a seaway. It turns out that the normal elbow catches don't do the job. If there's any weight at all behind the door/drawer the catches will let go. Moreover, I think that the catches where you have to put your finger inside a hole to unlatch is pretty much asking for a broken finger at some time. So the search is on for a solution - external, positive, easy to use. I don't really want to use barrel bolts because too much fancy stuff has to be done to make it work, like blocking the barrel up to the height of the drawer face. But as a last resort, I'll do it.





Recently I added a cockpit shower. Here are the pictures of the external and internal set up. I picked the place to put it because that's where the dockside water fitting is and there's little or no structural stress and it's easy to work behind that face of the cockpit. I chose the fitting because it has a sealing door. One thing I don't like that much is that where the hose goes in is a potential leakage point when using the shower, but I left the hose long enough that I can be pretty far away when using it. You'd not use it in a stormy seaway anyhow.

There's nothing better than a cockpit shower for keeping salt out of the boat. A very worthwhile project and it took me about 2 hours to install. True, I've done it before, but still, it's a really easy project.

Well, more later. See you on the water!

I Love My Boat and a Rant

Of course, everyone loves their boat. They may say otherwise but they still mention it with pride. Certainly I was that way. But the other day I was sailing to Northport in a convoy of friends. The winds were light and I set the staysail. As my friends Herb and Gina passed by, they took some pictures.

Ignore the fact that I'm hanging on like an old man. I had just lifted an 8D battery out of a box and my back was killing me.

But the point here is that when I saw this picture my heart jumped! That big ol' tub of a boat at the dock is really pretty under sail!

Since this picture was taken, I've put the Pelican logo on the bow and hope soon to have the new main sail and spinnaker with the same logos. It may be too much, but I don't think so.

Anyway I've had this picture since Memorial Day and it still tickles me every time I see it.

Life on the docks during the warm season is pretty interesting. There is or could be a party every evening. There is definitely a gathering every evening as we each see what happened to the other that day. It's really pretty nice. After dusk, when the no-see-ums come out and start being annoying generally we'll all disappear into our boats.

Since the mast pulpit installation I've finished the basic holding tank set up (there is a little more to finish for being at sea) and started the SCADTech Tank Level Monitor installation. Also, I've purchased tubing for replacing the water tank vents and suction lines. They're all old Tygon tubing that's degrading at an alarming rate and they have no reinforcement. There is always something to do. But summer is for sailing and I'm having a really hard time getting myself together to work on the boat.

Fuel prices are out of this world, as everyone knows. I get one or two 5 gallon cans filled each week depending on what I've done over the weekend. I don't like doing that because the fuel tax for marine fuel goes to the Wallop-Bureau act spends the money on things all us boaters need or want. However, the marinas here are charging 6+ dollars per gallon, clearly more than necessary. Especially when marinas up the Hudson River are charging just a little more than the price at a gas station.

I've probably ranted about this before, but if you're in a business that depends on discretionary dollars, you'd better not charge so much that your customers leave. Last year used boats were selling pretty well; not so much the new sub-million dollar boats. At this point, however, the market for used boats isn't moving and there is a glut. People are leaving boating because it just isn't worth it.

True, there are some die-hards. But more and more, anchorages are full and transient moorings empty. Permanent moorings are full in yacht clubs and marina slips are empty. There is a trend here. This time, because I don't expect fuel costs to go down significantly, the trend will not reverse easily. This has been coming. In the northeast, you can very easily pay $3.50 per foot per night for dockage plus $5 or $10 per night for electricity! I don't know about you, but if I go to a hotel for $140 for a night, I don't expect to pay extra for electricity. So, if there's someplace ashore I really want to go, I'll drive there or dinghy in.

There's also another disturbing trend I read about recently in a Boat US magazine. Outdoor activity participation has decreased almost 50% since the 1980's! National parks attendance is down by that much over the almost three decades. Child obesity is almost at an epidemic. Heck, adult obesity is an epidemic. It seems no one wants to go outdoors. When did that start? Think about it - mid to late 80's - video games. Online services. 24 hour television.

Is it any surprise, then, that our disregard for the natural world is increasing? That we can't get a government together that actually cares more about the future of our country and world than big oil and the military-industrial complex?

In a recent Scientific American, Japan is researching the technology of bringing power from space to earth via laser or microwave. We're setting up a missile defense system that's doomed to failure. Northern Europe countries are setting up wind generators at sea. We're suing companies that want to do it because 'it will spoil the view' (this applies to the wind generator farm proposed for the Nantucket Sound - a barely navigable stretch of water for boats with a draft over 10 feet). We, in New York, have to petition the government to not allow the Broadwater project in the Long Island Sound - an LNG station in the middle of the Sound (see http://www.broadwaterenergy.com/ and http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16594903/ ).

Europeans stress conservation and have for decades. They have some extremely nifty cars that get 40 miles per gallon. What do we want to do? Drill offshore in environmentally sensitive areas. Drill in places that won't produce oil for 15-20 years! Last evening on National Public Radio's (NPR) Morning Edition there was a piece "Big Oil's Alternative Energy Ads Scrutinized". Even though the big oil companies are getting huge profits, they are spending tiny amounts (relatively) on research for alternative energy.

Well, if you're an oil company, you want to sell oil.

And if you're an oil man president and vice president, you want to sell oil.

It's really, really clear that we, you and I, are witnessing the last days of America. Every great civilization has followed a clear path of violent rise to power, golden era of prosperity, and either violent fall or a just fading away to a lower status.

Is there anything we can do? There sure is. We can get off our fat lazy asses and get back on track with education, outdoor activities, energy conservation and stop our collective whining. We are or have become a nation lead by fear, not bravery. We think of ourselves and not others. We want to be taken care of rather than taking care of ourselves. We can aspire to greatness, not wealth. We can use diplomacy instead of force. And more than anything, we can learn to laugh at ourselves again.

Sorry about the rant. I usually don't do that here because sailing isn't political. I don't care who you are, when you're at sea you have only one thing to do: stay afloat. Democrats and Republicans and Independents all drown the same way.

Mast Rails and Their Installation

When I was young, say, last year or so, I never had a use for mast rails. I could prance about the deck with nary a worry in the worst of the worst weather. I was, for all practical purposes, the mountain goat of deckdom. I'm sure you'll believe that.

My efforts since purchasing Pelican (nee Pelicano) have been to make her an ocean going vessel that I can single hand.

Towards that end, I decided that since I couldn't run all my sail control lines to the cockpit, that I'd keep them at the mast. These lines include the main and jib halyards and the main reefing lines. It doesn't make sense to have to run back and forth from the cockpit to manage sails, especially if you're trying to get it down quickly.

I know you'll say, "Hey, wait! Didn't you move all your lines aft to the cabin roof on Inertia? I mean, you went to such trouble!" You'd be correct - the difference was that Inertia had a clear route for all the lines that wouldn't result in me tripping every time I went forward. Pelican's layout is not the same and since I can't run that many lines, I won't - actually, the only three will be the staysail sheet, the boom vang, and the main sheet. Everything else is at the mast.

Now doing all this work at the mast could be easy-peasy if the weather's nice. If it isn't, not only will I be hanging on for dear life, I'll be trying to get something done. Tada! Here enter's the mast pulpits (or mast rails, or sissy bars depending on your proclivites).

Mast pulpits are sturdy bars that give you a place to lean when working on the sail handling gear. They should wrap around you so that pitching won't fling you from your perch and they should be sturdy enough and well enough attached that you can hook your tether to them or to their base, in my case.

The Pearson 424 Owner's group got together to order a mess of these things - One member spent considerable time measuring and making pricing requests and finding Railmakers, Inc. to make 16 pairs for a deep discount. Dave at Railmakers was very helpful and patient, too.

Anyway, a month or so later, the rails arrived and I waited for a nice weekend to install them. Here's how that went and lessons learned.

When you get these things, you have to figure out where they're going. We measured for a certain location that most people wanted. In my case, because I have a staysail, I didn't want it banging on the rails all the time so I moved mine aft and outboard so that the feet still fit the contours of the deck. They must also clear all the lines that may be near, and they must be comfortable to lean against and work the various controls on the mast.

In this case, I measured the front and rear legs for the port side mast pulpit from all sorts of fixed points, such as the mast, a hatch edge, the shrouds and wrote them down - 4 or 5 measurements for each of the two legs. I then took those and placed the starboard pulpit in the identical place. With a Sharpie, I marked one hole for each footpad. There is a lesson to be learned here: Use some kind of tape to hold the things in place while you mark. Trust me, you'll be glad you did.

The next step was to drill placement holes - I knew I'd have to remove the outside overhead panels to mount these things, but I still needed to know where to clear away interference inside. So I drilled one hole in each leg in the most limiting direction - inboard for the inboard legs, outboard for the outboard, forward for the forwardmost... and you get the rest. Actually, when marking them I chose the hole. Then I took a picture. You can see that the inboard legs fall right next to the trim for the overhead. That means some work for the chisel. Note the little whitish lines - those are the long bolts I used for location.

Railmakers, Inc. provided backing plates with the rails - very nice ones, I might add. I needed to clear enough room in those strips to put the plates. With the rails in place and being held with the locator bolts, I used the trusty Sharpie once again to mark the rest of the holes. Then I removed the rails and drilled them babies out.

The next step usually is to take a bent nail and scrape out the inner core. I went one better - I took a 1" hole saw and sawed the inner liner and core out. This gave me a great big place to fill with epoxy for strength and compression resistance. Each hole got taped over with duct tape. Make sure the duct tape is well bonded. Also make sure you don't cut the outer skin. Once drilled, the core pops out with a little persuasion from a screwdriver (like making wood plugs).

Now comes one of the hard parts. Here's what I learned. You need to use a syringe to fill the holes from the top. The West System has them pretty cheaply. You will be tempted to use 5 minute epoxy. Resist the temptation. 5 minute epoxy doesn't give you enough time to mix, put in syringe, squirt in hole, clean up mess, and self-level. Trust me on this. There are two ways of proceeding - one, use regular epoxy, West System or whatever and get that whole mess going.

Or, for a bit more money, Devcon makes self mixing injectors for 30 second, 5 minute and 30 minute mixes. They're about $4.00 a pop, but buying even the smallest amount of the West Epoxy with pumps and mixers and blah, blah, blah will cost you more and then you'll have to store the stuff until the cans get rusty and leaky and you throw the whole mess out. Ok, so, I purchased about 6 of the 30 minute injectors - each one will do one and a half of the holes or so.

Remember how I knew not to use 5 minute epoxy? Yup, the other holes. The 30 minute stuff is also much stronger, being a 2500 lb mix. Since I have other repairs, I'd probably get the West stuff if I had to do it over. I'm older, wiser, and stickier... If you look closely at the adjoining picture you'll see the three wrinkly areas on the tape patch - that's from the heat of the epoxy curing. You'll need to go around the holes several times as they self level. Also, keep checking below that the epoxy isn't leaking out all over your whatever.

When you're done with this part, take a break. The epoxy is supposed to cure in 30 minutes. Wait. Wait a little longer. It gets harder as time goes by. In fact, unless you're like me with almost zero patience, put your stuff away, have a cocktail, go have dinner. Tomorrow's another day.

Ok, epoxy's cured. Remove the tape. You're ready to drill holes. Here's what I did: I drilled one hole from the top through where they were before. Don't drill them all - just one per leg. Place the rail and run a bolt through, put on a backing plate and tighten it down so the holes remaining line up with the spots of light you'll see through the epoxy. It's easier to drill into the light then the other way, and the bit will find the hole in the feet, at least close enough so that you can remove the rail and drill down from the top. Trust me, this is the best way to do it because if you do it the other way, I guarantee the bolts won't line up with the backing plates.

Dude and dudettes! You are ready to mount the rails! Ok, here's the next hard part. You can do it yourself. If you stand on the table you can work the screwdriver outside and a socket wrench inside. But it's easier with help. So offer a mate a beer and give him/her the screwdriver and go to town.

I used 4200 UV as the bedding material. I like it alot because it's really sticky (but not as bad as 5200) and it doesn't turn chalky from the sun. Slather that stuff on, making sure you get a good seal around all the holes. Carefully place the rail in place and start running the bolts through. With your assistant outside, run the nuts up until the goop starts oozing out or until the plates are almost all the way down. Don't tighten them tight. Now's a good time to quit for the day.

4200 UV takes 24 hours to cure properly. Wait. Really. And for God's sake, don't try to clean up the excess unless it's dripping down the sides of the cabin top! Let it cure. Tomorrow, you'll be taking a knife or razor and slicing the excess clean away. Really. Don't get impatient. Wait. Replace the overhead you removed, clean up the boat, and you're on your way!

When you're done (tomorrow) you'll have a lovely set of pulpits installed that will keep your ass in place when you most need your ass in place. Your friends that call them the pejorative 'sissy bars' isn't someone who's been out in a blow wrestling with lines and sails and so happy they have a secure place to park themselves to get the job done.

See you on the water real soon now!

The Sailing Season Is Here Again!

The cover is off! The cover is off! The cover is OFF! Man, is that a great feeling or what? Sure, the boat's a mess and needs cleaning in the worst way, but real live sunlight is coming in all over! Man, oh, man.

Today it's cold and drizzling, which is ok because we need the rain and it is April, after all. I figure I'll stay nice and warm in the boat, catch up on my reading and writing, and nap and so forth.

While I'm drinking my first cup of joe, the bilge pump came on. That's ok - it does that once in a while because the rudder packing gland leaks. I'm working on that. But worse, in a couple of minutes it comes on again. And a couple of minutes later. And so on.

Well, this needs investigation so I looked into the bilge and I see water running into it at a pretty decent rate. Ok, everything out of the lazerette so I can see if the rudder packing has gotten worse. Nope. Check the dock side water fitting that I put in last weekend (see below), and nothing's leaking there either. Investigate the bilge some more and see the water is coming down the side - not the center as I'd expect from the rudder post.

Well, it turns out the hot water heater is right near there. I opened up the locker and hey! voila! water is spraying out of the cold water line to the heater. Turns out whoever plumbed the original tube in just loosely put on the hose clamp - enough not to leak at pressure of the water pump but not the shoreside water pressure. Not only that, but they put the hose on a pipe nipple as opposed to a hose barb. No worries - I loosened the clamp, slid the hose up another two inches, tightened the clamp, and added a second behind it. Problem solved. And boat is still floating.

Now, about the shore-side water fitting. I love them! It saves filling and managing the tanks when living aboard. Moreover, you always get clean water at a regulated pressure so no worries about running out of water when all soapy... and the piping will provide the cold water side of the cockpit shower.

I did this once on Inertia (and in the process flooded the battery charger by not tightening all the fittings before applying water pressure...oops) and was happy with the whole installation. This time, however, because I may plumb it so I can fill the tanks with water, I added a filter inline. The water comes through the regulator via a standard hose, goes through the filter and connects to the cold water side of the water heater. It's all done with flexible plastic tubing and fittings that are easily and inexpensively acquired at Home Depot. Since it's good enough for a house, it's good enough for a boat.

One of the great tools for doing this job is the Rigid Flexible Tubing Cutter - it's like a pruning shear except with one very large blade. The plumbing fittings require square cut ends to work properly - this tool holds the tubing square before cutting. The blades (very sharp) are replaceable. It's cheap and totally worth it for cutting any kind of plastic tubing. Highly recommended.

My new mast pulpits have just arrived - hopefully this weekend I'll be putting them on. Expect a full report!

I hope to get out on the water the weekend of May 9 - maybe I'll see you there!

One of the First Signs of Spring

I don't know about you but my nav station collects stuff. By season's end, the inside contains little bits and pieces of things that have long ago been replaced, fixed, or otherwise rendered unto Neptune. It seems that the natural place to put things that you don't know what to do with is the nav station surface. So much so that before you can go for the first sail of the season something must be done or face charts, bulbs, little bits of wire, tape, Eldridge's (last year's), the screwdriver you use when you're too lazy to find a proper tool and whatever else hides in the corners ends up on the cabin sole or in the bilge.

So last weekend while installing my radio/CD player I had to clean it up. The first thing I found is that I have a bunch more spare parts than I knew. The other thing is that there's lots of room there for, well, navigating. Who knew? So, for the first few weeks of this season I'll have a ship-shape nav station while it waits to accrete this year's detritus.

My point here is that it's another spring and the beginning of a new season. There was a lull in work on the boat because it was cold and dark and unfriendly and frankly, all I really wanted to do aboard was sleep. I felt bad because I hadn't gotten anything done.

But in the last few weeks I've installed the new VHF with DSC calling and locating, new self-tailing winches (purchased as a celebration of a new job), and the stereo mentioned before. I'll finish up the holding tank plumbing now and will be setting sail late April for the season's first cruise. I can't wait!

Because of travel plans, I won't get the cover off until April 20 or so. But then, watch out! The weather keeps getting nicer and nicer. I sure do hope work doesn't get in the way of fun this year!

So, installing winches. Here goes. It is my feeling that you can't have enough of the things. Moreover, the standard placement of the winches Pelican meant that you have to go into autopilot to adjust the sails. This is a terrible way to singlehand, especially if the autopilot fails. I know since I've done it.

I recently came into a little bit of money and purchased two Andersen 46STs to use as primaries near the wheel (which I replaced with a 48" wheel). The first thing to consider is the actual placement. In Pelican's case, the mizzen stays and main backstays are right where you'd put a winch in a perfect world. Since it's not, I took a winch out of the box and put a winch handle in it and placed it where I could spin the handle without hitting my hand or anything else. I placed them outboard as far as I could on the coaming. I marked the circle where the base would be.

Next, I looked under the coaming to see if there was anything I wouldn't like to drill into, like electrical or fuel lines. This is a sometimes overlooked step that results in all sorts of grief. I've said it before: Good judgment comes from experience; experience from bad judgment.

Anyway, the winches come with a template, but since you have to take the top off to mount them, I just took it off, lined up the base with the circle I drew earlier, and with a marker marked the five mounting holes.

Since the mounting bolts are 5/16" I drilled all the holes to 7/16", taped the bottom and filled with liquid epoxy. After that set (well, a little longer because the neighbor came over and offered some wine so that pretty well finished that day's work) , I re-drilled the holes to 5/16".



Next I put 3M 4200UV around each hole and put the winches in place. With the help of my aforementioned wine producing neighbor, I crawled in the locker and he held the bolt head while I cranked from below.



Now as you see the picture from below, you'll notice I used fender washers instead of a full backing plate. When drilling through the coaming, I noticed the core was solid mahogany rather than plywood. It was 3/4" thick, as well. Since winch loading is sideways and not straight up I'm not worried. The original winches had no more than a regular washer and a lock washer and they've stood up for 30 years.

Because of the stays, I'll have to put a turning block on the port side to clear all the interference and to avoid the forward winches. I'll do this when the cover comes off later this month.

Soon, we'll be seeing each other on the water! I, for one, can't wait!

A Useful Skill

Everyone who sails can tie or wishes they could tie a bowline without using the rabbit-tree-fox trick. It's true that with much practice even the internal thinking, "Ok, the rabbit comes out of the hole and goes around the tree..." will go away. The point is, the bowline becomes the knot for every purpose - dock lines, anchor rodes, combining lines, tying genoa clews, and so forth.

That's fine, but where a permanent loop is required, a splice is far more professional and proper. The new braided lines take a lot of work to splice and requires special tools in the form of hollow fids. But three strand nylon line - that of the most common dock, anchor, and snubber lines - is spectacularly easy to splice. Eye, end, and long/short splices are quite easy to do and once one is known, the rest are easily mastered.

In my reading about chain anchor rode I found that leaving the stress of anchoring on the bow rollers is considered bad form - the roller isn't designed for that kind of stress and the capstan, if your boat is so equipped, shouldn't be trusted to hold the strain. The solution, of course, exists in the form of snubber lines typically made of three strand nylon.

Snubber lines are deployed by hooking to the chain outboard of the bow roller and led through the bow chocks or hausepipes to the bow cleats. More chain is deployed until the strain is taken up by the snubber lines. Finally, the capstan is locked as a precaution.

This arrangement, although a bit more of a task to deploy, will help the boat ride more calmly at anchor (especially if your vessel has a tendency to sail about the anchor) and provides three points of failure.

There is another benefit to this arrangement: You can take one of the snubbers aft to another point to help the boat ride more smoothly in a crossing current/wind situation - instead of rolling with the waves, the boat can be pointed into or away from them.

That's why you want snubbers.

For a very nice manual for splicing, check this out: http://www.gleistein.com/en/files/Splicebook_EN_short.pdf

Here's how to make them (always make two - that way normally two in the bow, but one for the stern if you're deploying that anchor).

First, decide what size line - for my 42 foot boat, I chose 5/8ths inch line - I could have gone to 3/4ths but that would have made them to hard to manage.

Purchase the appropriately sized thimbles and shackles. The hook is a bit more difficult as you have to make sure it fits your chain. Just so you know, there's about a dozen chain sizes in the range we'd use. Mine are 5/16ths with short links - I think high tensile chain. The point is, get the right size hook.

I decided to make mine about 28 feet long. Normally, you'd only use about 10 feet, but better too long than too short. Also, the line can be an extra dock line or tow line or a lifting line.

I put an eye splice on one end large enough to go over my cleats and all the hardware on the other end.

Once you can do an eye splice properly, it should take you about half an hour to make an entire snubber. Don't worry if it takes longer. The more splicing you do, the faster it gets.

I make my own dock lines. Sure, you can purchase them. But can you purchase them exactly the right length? Or with an eye on one end and an end splice on the other? Or two eyes? Whatever you think you need or want, you can make.

Personally, for dock lines, I believe they all should be the length of the boat. If you have custom spring, bow, and stern lines then you have to sort them all out when docking. If they're all the same, it doesn't matter which one you take forward. One line can be a bow or stern and spring line. It's better to sort out the lengths after you're safely docked than when you're in the middle of docking.

Others disagree. But I dock my Pearson 424 alone so this is what works for me.

There is something else to making your own lines: You'll garner awe from other boaters who have no idea how to do it. Here's something to try: work on splicing on deck while at a marina. You'll be surprised at how many people will come over to see what you're doing and exclaim amazedly at your ability to splice!

So - make some snubbers if you use chain rode. Learn how to splice - it's a wonderful skill and fun to do. When you learn it, you can pass on the skills.

It's March today! The season's almost here! Woohoo!

I can't wait to see you on the water!

Requiem for a Friend

How should I start to tell you about Bob Gainer? Should I start with the end? The sadness and empty space caused by his untimely demise? Should I start with the happy times? Or about how incredibly smart he was? His encyclopedic knowledge of sailing and ships?

Bob Gainer was my friend for 30 years. We fooled about with boats together, messed with computers together, spoke about sailing and sailboats over rum and coke and Black Russians. In almost every case, I came away with more knowledge and more esoteric knowledge than I'd previously had.

This was his way, and what everyone I know in common with him felt. He was a master rigger and woodworker. Kind to a fault, with a tremendous sense of humor.

All these things, however, don't go halfway to describing the person he was.

As a teenager, he, um, liberated a small open boat and sailed solo to Nova Scotia and back much to the consternation of the owner who had told him to take the boat to paint it. At 21, in 1974, he sailed solo across to England in a 22 foot Sea Sprite. This was with no self-steering or electronics, save a VHF radio.

Later on, he took a two-tonner out to deliver it to Europe. Here's his story in a nutshell:

"I owned an Allied built Chance 30/30. It was a great boat to sail but had a few
problems offshore if you get into very bad weather.

"Admittedly you wouldn’t make it a habit to sail in a hurricane but it gives you a very good idea of what a boat is capable of in cruising.

"In October of 1976 I was in Hurricane Gloria with 90 Knots wind speed and 45 foot (or better, its hard to tell) waves. Just to the north of me was the 590 foot 15,028 ton Sylvia L Ossa with a crew of 37. She sank with a loss of all hands sometime between the 13 to the 15 of October.

"During the height of the storm the truck fitting failed by cracking between the hole for the headstay clevis pin and the corner of the casting adjacent to the mast. The loss of the headstay was to say the least very awkward at that time.

"In trying to turn the boat downwind after the headstay went the rudderstock failed at the bottom of the bolt under the tiller and the stock sheared off.

"Within the next hour the motion of the boat was so violent that the hull failed with a crack forming between the aft-most keel bolts. You could see the sides of the crack moving up and down as the boat rolled. She started to make water at that point.

"After getting beat up for that hour I had the boat back under control and hove to. Before the storm was fully over the steering was repaired and a new head stay was up. The leak was getting bad so I started for the nearest dry land as fast as I could go.

"At this point Hurricane Holly was predicted to be coming my way. I had enough of bad weather so I sent out a Mayday by SSB and that was received by a Dutch tugboat and they relayed it to the German ship Hagen of the Hapag-Lloyd line. She had passed me in the night some 100 miles to the west but she turned around and came back to get me.

"When she got to me the wind was climbing and had reached 60 knots. When my boat came alongside the Hagen the crack at the aft two keel bolts propagated along the
entire length of the keel. The bottom of the boat flexed downward and opened up
at the bolts and she started to sink.

"In the hour so before we met we spoke by VHF and they asked for the dimensions and weight of the boat. There plan was to weld a cradle to the deck and if they could, they wanted to pick up the boat with two wire slings and swing her inboard to the steel cradle.

"When we did get together the captain kept his ship away from my boat a few feet and had two of his crew come onboard with wire cutters. They helped me off and then cut the standing rigging while some crew on deck held the mast. They brought the rig on
deck and on the next roll she was out of the water.

"I don’t think she hit the ship but once during the entire time. That one strike crushed about ten feet of hull-deck joint. I had been beat up so much from going up the mast to rig a headstay that I couldn’t walk and that’s why I needed help to get off my boat.

"The entire rescue was over in under ten minutes and they never came to a full stop.

"The bottom line is the keel area of the boat is not strong enough and the rudderstock needs to be solid instead of heavy wall tubing. When the boat was on deck I found that the fairing forward of the rudder had also failed and the keel had dropped over 1/2 inch by digging out the fiberglass under the washers for the keel bolts.

"Other then that I thought the boat was great."

This is pretty typical of Bob. Not that he was a disaster ready to happen, but he took most everything in stride.

As it turned out, he had been declared dead, had his obituary in the "New York Times" and ended up with a book written about the adventure, "Presumed Lost". It's no longer in print and Bob really didn't care for it because it was more about how he ended up on the ill-fated Chance 30-30 than the storm itself.

The sea was in his blood - he was preparing a Tartan 34-C for a trip to west Greenland. He was teaching young people about boats, boat construction and the sea through the auspices of the Hudson Fisheries Trust. He was about to be part of the deployment team for The Beacon Institute for Rivers and Estuaries.

I could write for hours, if not days, about Bob and his adventures, jokes, knowledge and kindnesses. But I think I'll stop and leave you with this quote:

"...The sea absolutely doesn't care about you one-way or the other. But the sea will exploit all your mistakes and weaknesses and is relentless in its probing to find those mistakes.

"...No mater how well you have prepared, no matter how skilled you are the sea will always win.
The sea is very patient and will always win in the end. The sea has all the time in the world to wait for you to make that mistake, your last mistake.

"The sea may give you a free pass a couple of times, if it wants, but when it decides to strike, the sea will sink you. People just don't understand, they can't understand how fast the sea can go from the pretty picture postcard you buy at the beach to the raging devil himself.

"And the next morning, if you are there to see it, can be the most beautiful sunrise that has ever been since the beginning of time.

"I have several friends that have lost playing this high stakes game. Without exception they had the skill and boat that was necessary to do the trip. I don't know why they lost the game; all I know for sure is that the sea won, again. The sea will always win in the end; it's just a question of time."

You are missed, my friend.

(Photo courtesy John Fasulo)

Work Proceeds Apace

There's been a hiatus of sorts. It's been cold, but not really, and the holidays are pretty much over. I've been hunkered down and if I could hibernate, I would.

As February comes to a close and I can feel spring coming, if not externally, certainly internally. I feel pressed to start installing all the things I've purchased. That includes a holding tank, new VHF radio with hailer and fog signals, the TV antenna (which has been shelved since the cover went on), manual bilge pump operable from inside the boat (a SOLAS requirement), a radio/cd player with speakers in the cockpit and down below, and a bunch more stuff.

Anyway, I was putzing around the Pearson 424 site and one of the things another owner did was to put access hatch in the outboard wall of the shower. There is a HUGE amount of wasted space there - I knew it was a big volume, but I didn't realize how big. A small person could live there!

So today, when I got finished installing the new holding tank vent lines and through-hulls and the waste pumpout fitting, I figured I'd install this hatch.

I purchased a 11" x 15" waterproof hatch and cut out the hole for it and installed it in about an hour and a half. There's a tool called a Roto-Zip which is like a Dremel tool on steroids. It fits between the Dremel and a full-blown router. It spins a little bit very, very fast and will cut through fiberglass with speed. The only downside is that until you get used to it you'll cut lines that are as far from straight as they can be. I use it all the time. Of course, it works with wood as well.

Anyway, that's what I used to cut the hole that I marked from the pattern supplied. Cutting fiberglass is a MESSY job. Another tool I bought last year is a wet/dry vacuum powered by a 24v Li battery made by Rigid. They make great battery powered tools that are guaranteed for life. No joke - my friend Leigh had an old one (18V) and the battery crapped out. Rigid sent him a new one, no charge. Highly recommended. I use the vacuum now whenever I work on the boat because it's so easy and I clean up after an awful job like this in a heartbeat.

As I've mentioned, I've started the holding tank job. There will be a whole entry on that. One of my flashes of brilliance has struck. The holding tank is normally pumped out through the deck. I'll be installing a macerator pump for those times I'm offshore, but what about when the electric pump fails? Ah ha! I'll install a manual pump, too. But get this: when inshore, those pumps will take a suction on the bilge. That way the manual pump serves two purposes!

So far, I haven't thought of a downside. Maybe someone will. Let me know. It seems like such a good idea...

While I'm about the holding tank project - I decide to install the new tank level sensor I got from Sailor's Solutions. You know I've raved about them before. Well, I had a question about the sensor placement and on a two minute call I got the name and number of the person who designed the system. In two shakes of a lambs tail I got the answer and life is beautiful. I will say this: Put the strips on before you install the tank. It will make your life much easier.

It turns out that one of the 424 owners is part of the group SCADtech who designed the tank monitor and Sensi-bulb. That's pretty cool.

Now that I'm on a roll, I hope to get the holding tank installation finished in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, work gets in the way of messing about in boats.

Spring is nearly here. I know it doesn't seem like it. But soon, I'll be seeing you on the water. I can't wait!

Happy New Year 2008!

Here I am starting my third year with this blog - and this year will be an amazing one, I assure you!

More than anything, I hope you all have a wonderful 2008 filled with happiness, health, and the love of your family and friends! Great success would be nice, too.

As I write this it's cold here. Arse biting cold, in fact. Two heaters on Pelican are just barely keeping up so there's going to be an upgrade here real soon now, definitely before the next cold snap. Next week it's going to be in the 50's. Go figure.

I've been to England for Christmas at my sister and brother-in-law's home. There are some lovely places to sail on the Irish Sea and beautiful harbors to stop in. I'm going. What a place! Tentative plans are for the spring of 2009, with fall back to spring 2010. There's lots to do on Pelican and you'll be privy to all that.

Here is an observation I have about the U.K.: no matter where you point a camera you're going to take a postcard picture! You can't help it. This comes from someone who is absolutely incapable of composing a picture.

One of my devoted readers, Brooke, (there are two) offered a suggestion for a new digital camera. My Kodak DC280 is a fine 3 megapixel (MP) camera but it's getting long in the tooth and even low-end digital cameras today have 8 MP capabilities. I like doing panoramas and the Kodak can't take pictures fast enough. It takes about 10 minutes to take the 8-10 necessary.

So on Brooke's advice I purchased a Canon SX100 and a 2GB SD card for saving pictures. Let me simplify this: it's great! I love the thing. It has 10x optical zoom with image stabilization, it has all sorts of modes, does movies and takes terrific pictures (see above). Other than my propensity to push the power button rather than the shutter one (my fault, not Canon's), it's a terrific 8 MP camera. And if you want to play with settings, you have about a bazillion. Almost as flexible as a professional camera. Highly recommended. Thanks, Brooke! You rock!

As I am planning to do all sorts of navigation lighting upgrades I was thinking to myself about how many breakers the nav lights take on the panel - it turns out they take 5 breakers of 10 or 15 amps. Since I want to add, eventually, a Single Side Band radio (SSB), and maybe a watermaker and probably other stuff I'd like to free up some breaker space. One of the participants on the Pearson 424 owners' site mentioned he'd moved all the nav lighting to a new panel.

First, I turned off every DC load and then I turned on all the navigation lights. This resulted in an 8 amp draw. Normally and legally you wouldn't light every lamp because it would make a confusing light pattern. The lighting is as follows:

• Normal low nav lights (two on bow, one stern)
• Masthead tricolor light
• Masthead anchor light
• Steaming light
• Masthead strobe light

Each one with its own breaker! So, I picked a 10 amp breaker labeled 'Nav Lights'. Why so low an amperage? Because I plan to replace all the bulbs in the navigation lights with LEDs from Dr. LED so that the total current draw will be more like 2 amps. I'll buy them in the spring when I can get them in. Now's not the time for climbing the mast.

I got a 6 fused switch panel from West Marine for $50 or so and some crimp fittings to do the job. I installed it next to the main panel and just moved the wires from their current breakers to a switch on the new panel. The whole project took about 3 hours, 4 if you include the schmoozing at West Marine...

The net result is that I have one main breaker for all navigation lighting and each light or light set is controlled from a common panel. I have 4 free breakers now and the last switch on the new panel will be for the compass light. As it is now, the compass light only goes on with the lower navigation lights. It should go on any time I want it on. Or off, for that matter.

The new panel is the one between the main panel and the Xantrex Link 2000. It solved another problem, too. It filled a huge hole in the wood that was left from removing a Datamarine Log instrument. Tada!

In 1978 when Pelican was constructed there were no electrical standards for pleasure craft, especially with regards to ground fault interruption. Well, I'm going to add two GFCI outlets, one on each AC circuit. It means cutting out the current outlets because they are siliconed into their hole, adding plastic boxes, and installing the new outlets. I'll let you all know how it goes.

When I purchased Pelican, the main salon table wasn't attached to the cabin sole. It may have been at one time or another but the fittings had disappeared over the intervening 30 years. So, how to replace them? First figure out what they're called and then go to Jamestown Distributors and get them. It took a while, but they're called table leg fasteners. Who knew? Anyway, once acquired I mortised them into the cabin sole and ba-da-boom, ba-da-bing, fuggeddaboudit!

Net result: I can use the table opened without it sliding around and tipping over.

Part of the the joy of boat ownership is doing these small, pleasant, easy, and satisfying jobs that make life aboard a little bit more pleasurable.

Finally! Big News! I am officially a Master of Steam, Motor and Auxiliary Sail up to 50 Tons inland and OUPV vessels near coastal to 100 miles offshore! (Captain's License) I also got my MMD card (Merchant Marine Document) as an Ordinary Seaman. It means I can work on commercial vessels and I can do things like mop decks, serve food, wipe steam engine piston rods, and other very low level stuff. It also means I can go to a military base PX. Will I ever? Who knows? Also, it's a start towards getting my AB card - Able Bodied seaman. That's my next goal. Then I can stand bridge watches.

Ok. That's all the news for now. It's January, so only two months to go! Woohoo!

Mid December, 2008.

Here it is, a month since my last post. I'd love to say I've been super busy doing all the projects I slated for the winter, but confess, I cannot. The biggest project completed so far is the replacement of the 36" wheel with a 48" wheel from a consignment shop in Washington, Second Wave. Also, I've put on the bronze manufacturer's plate from Bristol Bronze.


I heartily recommend both businesses - Second Wave because they were friendly, competent, and responsive. The owner of Bristol Bronze, Roger, will talk as long as you care to about bronze, alloys, corrosion resistance, almost any metalurgy, and the proper application of metals. He's a wealth of knowledge and very entertaining. Plan to spend an hour on the phone.

The boat is covered - the story of the $500 Fairclough cover is legend here at the marina, and if anyone cares, I'll relate it, but suffice it to say, if you're looking for something, check out the ads in Soundings Magazine. Sometimes you find the most incredible deals.

The cover is easy to put on - Herb and I put the frame up in three hours even though we'd never seen it before. It takes longer than that for his on a similar boat (Passport 40). The frame came directly from Fairclough for $1260, and is constructed out of 1" galvanized conduit with special castings for connecting the rafters. It took me about three hours to put the cover on by myself. So, next year, it shouldn't take more than about 5 hours to put up. Not bad, and it pays for itself in two years (it's over $1000 to shrinkwrap my boat! Can you believe that?).

I'm off to England next week to see my sister and brother-in-law and to go narrowboating with a newly found friend. It should be interesting.

Although the winter solstice is just now coming up, meaning winter's just starting, I am already looking forward to the spring. I thought I'd get a lot more done under the cover, but I have to say, I'd rather be off the boat than on - living in institutional green lighting is not conducive to great bouts of joy. The upside, of course, is that the boat is pretty much toasty warm and very comfortable even in 20 degree weather. I have to admit to wearing socks to bed, though, because my feet are near the chain locker which is vented. But it all works out.

Living aboard is turning out to be really pleasant. I can imagine there are those who think it odd, but I do have running water, a stove, a refrigerator and so forth so it's not like I'm camping out. Oh, yes, I have a TV and DVD player which are incredible time wasters.

But really, it's winter. There's time to waste.

We've had a couple of snowstorms here, mostly remnants of the big storms in the mid-west that left so many people without power. We're expecting another big one this weekend, but should be all cleared out by Monday. Good weather for my flight on Wednesday.

I've decided to start practicing my guitar again because it's pretty clear I'm not going to get any meaningful work done on the boat. It's nice to pull it out at dock parties and do a couple of numbers. Get's 'em going every time!

When I come back from England, the days will be growing longer! I can't help but be excited about that. Sure, there's January and February, but I'm hoping (foolishly) that we'll have warm ones and I'll be about taking the cover off early March. That's only 70 days away or so.

It's nice being at a dock, I must say. Very nice. Also, very expensive. But not as expensive as owning a house, that's for sure.

One of the downsides to living aboard is that every day you see new projects you want to do - of course, they're all do-able. All it takes is money. Here's my short list for this year:

1. Change my halyards to be internal giving me a spare jib and main halyard on the mainmast and a spare mizzen halyard or mizzen staysail halyard on the mizzen.
2. Install all the hardware for reefing on both booms, moving the sail raising and lowering controls to the masts.
3. Install a new Garhauer traveler for the main. They have a really nice one for the 424. This is sort of a gimme - it's not strictly necessary.
4. Install the new deck fill fittings I purchased from Marine Parts Depot
5. New sails from Somerset Sails.
6. Move all the in-hull navigation lights to the pulpits and fill in the holes created. This is important for offshore sailing and for the longevity of the lights. I'm also replacing all the bulbs with LEDs from Dr. LED.
7. Build new holding tank and install related equipment. Get rid of ElectroSan.
8. Replace failing solar panel and install additional ones on the seahoods of the two companionways.
9. Repair gelcoat on main deck.

That covers it for this year. They're all big jobs and they're not necessarily in order.

In the beginning of January, I will have finished all my paperwork for my Master's license. I've been down to the Coast Guard station in New York City and started all my stuff. I'm a pee in a cup away - that's the required drug test that I let expire. Silly me.

My friend Cory may be getting more delivery jobs and I'd like to go with him - it's an opportunity to go boating and get paid for it. I like that. And I'll get some really good offshore experience.

I guess winter is a time for reflection. Mostly because it's too damn cold to sit around outside. Still, I manage trips to the marina office to shoot the breeze with Rick and have some coffee. He's really good about that. Always a fresh pot. What could be better?

I expect to pick up a more modern digital camera this weekend so that it's not such a big deal carrying it around. My current one is 3 megapixels, and I'm looking for a 7mp one. Two years ago, that would have been $1000. Now it's less than $200.

If this post seems to be all over the map, well, that's because it is. I could go out in the cockpit and measure for my mizzen, but, well, it's hard to get myself together to do it. I'm looking forward to my little vacation. Very exciting.

If any of you are going to be on the Coventry Canal, I'll see you on the water! Otherwise, stay warm (or cool if you're in a hot place), have an extraordinary holiday season. Think about this: we'll all be out on the water real soon!

Kudos, New Stuff, and Where You Can Get Deals

I know I haven't finished the saga of the 2007 vacation, leaving all who care biting their nails to the quick. I will complete the trilogy without a doubt. Before that happens I have some stuff to pass along.

I've moved Pelican from the City Island Yacht Club to its winter slip at Avalon at Stamford Harbor Marina. During a visit by my sister and brother-in-law from England for a family reunion, I got a call from my friend Herb. I'd been looking for a winter slip and the prices for the marinas I know of were totally off the wall.

Herb indicated he'd been talking to one of the people at Harbor House who'd heard about Avalon and their unbelievable rate of $850.00 for the winter plus $300 for electricity (or $50 per month). Contrast that to Harbor House at $50/foot plus $10 per day for electricity - on a 42 foot boat, or Yacht Haven at $60/ft plus metered electricity.

I was leaning towards Yacht Haven because they metered the electricity - if I use $300 per month, fine, I'll pay for it, but if I don't, why should I? That's just stupid. And Harbor House has meters, they're just incapable of reading them.

Anyway, I met with the managers of Avalon, Jacqui and Rick, who are the nicest people you could imagine. Jacqui actually runs the marina and Rick manages the Sailing Specialties brokerage in Stamford. They live aboard their own boat.

So, of course, I signed the contract - $1200 for the winter in water with electricity! Very nice.

Jacqui and Rick have the right idea about marinas and charges. Kudos to them!

Now on to some really good sites:

First, a lot of my deck hardware like fills and so forth are aluminum with plastic caps. They look terrible, and the caps are pretty well destroyed from UV exposure. I decided to look into replacing them. I found Marine Parts Depot who supply a large assortment of really nice stainless steel hardware. They're currently having a sale and here's the coupon number to use if you are going to purchase anything: MPD002. I don't know for how long it's good for, but it's for an additional 15% off already incredible prices.

I ordered deck hold downs ($19 each), two mast steps ($18 each), and four deck fills ($17 each). They're beautiful and perhaps 20% the cost from anywhere else.

I mounted the mast steps on the mizzen so I could reach the sail head without stepping on the winches. The deck hold downs are for the cabin sole openings - I plan on going offshore and it's a SOLAS requirement. More on that in another entry.

I've joined the Pearson 424 mailing list, and from them I got the information for a company (actually one man) who makes silicon bronze manufacturer's plates for Pearsons as well as the funky hinges they had custom cast. The company is Bristol Bronze and Roger is a font of information - especially where it comes to using bronze fittings. I suspect that if you needed custom fittings, he'd be the go-to guy for them. I ordered both the plaque and the hinges. What the hell, it's only money!

Pelican's wheel is too small to sit comfortably and steer her. It's 36" diameter and with the dodger, I can't see where I'm going. More to the point I like sitting either on the windward or leeward combing to steer - I wanted a bigger wheel so I could reach it from there. There's more than enough room in the cockpit to put one in, and when I met the owner of hull #1, I saw he had a 48" wheel. Edson wants something like $900 for one. It's still cheaper than modifying the dodger, but it's a lot of money for a shoestring operation.

I found one at Second Wave Marine Consignment and am currently awaiting it's arrival. They are nice, knowledgeable, and helpful. Also, the cost with shipping is less than 1/2 a new one - and wheels that aren't bent or broken don't wear out.

Finally, for today anyway, my friend Laura gave me a copy of her friend's book, "Offshore Sailing" by Bill Seifert. I know he's gotten Laura's boat ready for the Newport- Bermuda races and Marion-Bermuda races, and I agree with just about everything he has to say (anyone who agrees that silicone sealant has no business on a boat is a-ok in my book).

Highly recommended.

I'm hunkered down for the winter where I'll install all the goodies I've purchased. Including my extraordinary deal for a Fairclough cover. Amazing. More on that later.

Since it is that time of year I won't see you on the water, but I will see you in the bar, no doubt!

Hadley Harbor and The Sucking Muck of Death

When last we left our intrepid travelers, they had just arrived in Hadley Harbor, about a mile and a half southwest of Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute. It consists of a small harbor surrounded by Naushon Island to the southwest, Nonamessett Island to the east, and Bull Island to the north.

There are people who live on both Naushon Island and Nonamessett Island and there is a something like a commercial dock on Naushon.

We arrived around 11am before the crowds and as I mentioned got moorings. Laura and Cory immediately set to go fishing and I kyacking. I circumnavigated Bull Island and went nearly out to the channel to Woods Hole.

On the way back, I was going down a channel to explore and I noticed two signs - "Cable Area - Do Not Anchor" and right smack in line with the two signs was, guess what?, a great big powerboat with it's anchor down. "Nice", I thought to myself. I wish I could be so oblivious.

It was a beautiful day! Incredible blue skies. Puffy white clouds. Colors so sharp and crisp. Like being in a different world.

Soon we all returned to our boats and decided to go clamming. The tide was ebbing and we left in the dinghy through the cut between Naushon Island and Uncatena Island towards a beach we knew of.

Cory decided to stop where we saw some shells indicating there may be clams. When we got out of the dinghy we sank up to our calves in mud. Very carefully we waded ashore, but in the meantime I had had to remove my sandals because they were getting sucked off in the mud. Just so you know, I hate mud. I really hate sinking in mud. Keep that in mind.

Anyway, I left my sandals in the dinghy and when I got ashore, I found that walking was difficult on shells barefooted. Cory and Laura went farther on to another beach and since they had already started looking for clams, I decided to go back and bring the dinghy around to them.

Mistake #1. Recovering the dinghy alone. If you're with people, they should know where you are - and what you're doing. Duh.

Mistake #2. When you're walking in snow, walk in someone else's footsteps. When you're walking in mud do not do that. Of course, that's what I did. Halfway to the dinghy I was up to my crotch in mud and every time I tried to get one leg out, the other would just sink farther. This caused great consternation because when your legs can't shift your balance is affected.

Now, I was crotch deep in mud, and worried about falling over because putting my hands out would not stop me as they would just stick in the mud, too. Even though the water was only about six inches deep, I was getting concerned about this - well, more than concerned. It would be a less than spectacular ending to a great vacation - this drowning in muck.

You're probably wondering how I got out. Well, sir, I didn't.

Just kidding. Here's how you get out of that amount of mud: very carefully. The key is to get one leg out by moving it slightly right and left and fore and back. Point toes down, and slowly draw that leg out. Move it to where no one stepped. Be careful because if you fall, getting up will be difficult. The biggest thing is: Don't Panic.

Eventually, I got out and got to the dinghy where I used its buoyancy to get the heck out.

So, I brought the dinghy around to where Laura and Cory were and washed off all the mud. Here the seabed was sand and it was much easier to get around. Off to the west was Buzzards Bay. It was stupifyingly beautiful. You just had to look there slack-jawed.

As it turns out, we couldn't find any clams. Apparently, someone had looked there and decided it wasn't a good spot. But Cory found mussels and oysters! Woohoo! We love them! So we picked a bucket full of both of them - leaving the small ones and the very large ones. Not that there was a dearth of either. But I never knew where to find them and now I do! What a lesson!

After a while we headed back to the boats where I volunteered to host the party, as I had a grill. So I set up, and we had a blast! Melted butter, grilled oysters, and steamed mussels. Then I made a mussels marinara with spaghetti. We ate like kings and queens and went through three bottles of wine! It was terrific. And messy. Very messy. But great fun. I learned how to get oysters open.

Man, that is living!

The next day, we hopped fooled around in Hadley and then headed for Onset, MA, only about an hour away. There was no wind. We had arranged for a slip at the Point Providence Yacht Club which is a great stopping point for anyone. They are very friendly, fairly priced, and they have Friday night fish fry dinners for like $15.00. Drinks are 2 or 3 bucks at the club bar. Man, oh man, we ate like there was no tomorrow.

But for lunch we had steamed mussels left over from Hadley Harbor - Cory towed them behind in a mesh bag. So, I guess I'll have to get one of those.

Cory and Laura's friends were going to meet us for the weekend, this being Friday, and sail around and meet people in Sandwich. Laura knows people everywhere. Amazing. I decided to ride my bike to the store to get some supplies. There is an easy way to get there and a hard, dangerous way. Guess which way I took. The way back was much less frightening.

Saturday morning, Laura's friends showed up and we left for New Bedford. As we were leaving the harbor I found out my autopilot wasn't working as whenever I put it on "Auto" the boat would go in circles. Not terribly helpful. So I had to hand steer downwind all the way in light winds.

When I finally got there 6 hours later and rafted up with Cassiopeia, I had only two things on my mind - peeing and eating in that order. Laura and crew went to tour the harbor and I had a bit of a nap. I was awakened by talking right near the boat - too near. I popped my head out and I met the owner of hull #1 of the 424s! We talked for a bit and then he was on his way. He had never met anyone with a hull number close to his. Mine's number 8.

We later had dinner aboard Cassiopeia, and while the guys watched "Borat" and drank, the women went to bed. They were the smart ones.

Next morning: Off to town for breakfast at a little hole in the wall that made really good food. I had eggs and linguica, pronounced linguisa. It's Portuguese sausage that tastes like Slim-Jim. Good. Mmmm.

After breakfast, we left to go through the Cape Cod Canal to Sandwich where we were meeting Laura's friends for a barbecue and no small amount of drinking. More on Sandwich in the next vacation installment.

Winter is coming and Pelican is safely ensconced in her winter slip at Avalon Marina, in Stamford, CT. What a lovely place! The managers are boaters and amazingly friendly people. They are the best! I may stay here in the summer so I can finish Pelican's upgrades. More on that later, too.

The potable water pump failed the other day and I replaced it with a Jabsco VSD pump. It's quiet, and varies it's speed according to the demand. It's really great and it's worth every penny. Here it is from Defender: http://www.defender.com/product.jsp?path=-1|51|299222|121271|316442&id=121735 If you have to get a new pump, this is the puppy. If you've already have pressure tank, then just get a regular pump. But if you've been haunted by a cycling diaphragm pump, this is a good replacement.

Sadly, I probably won't be on the water for a while - so I'll see you on the dock!

A Plug

I know you're all breathlessly awaiting the next vacation installment, but in the meantime I've been working on the boat doing various projects.

Power usage has always been a bugaboo for me. Since I live aboard and aboard in the summer is on a mooring, I'd prefer not to have to run a generator or the engine every night. So until I got some new lighting, I was being very cautious with my use of internal lighting.

The Pearson 424 has a number of standard overhead round lights, as well as some classic vintage '70's lights made out of what looks like small Clorox® bottles. They have Edison fittings (like you have with screw-in incandescent bulbs at home) and they draw about an amp and a half each. The overhead lights only a little bit less.

So to have a cheery interior you're looking at a current draw of nearly 10 amps! That is more than the autopilot, instruments, and radar all together draw!

I've mentioned Sailor Solutions before. They have lots of neat and useful stuff for boats that you can't find elsewhere. But their big product is their Sensibulb™ , a LED light engineered to provide very nearly identical light as an incandescent at much lower temperature and 1/10th or so the current draw - which means I can light the whole boat up like a Christmas tree for just about the same current draw as one of the old bulbs.

I now wallow in light. Read for hours. I love it. You can check out what I did with the normal white LEDs on Inertia on a previous post. As pleasant as that was, this is doubly so.

The only downside is the cost: They are about $40.00 each. However, if you take into account they're rated at 10,000 hours and the wear and tear on your generator or engine they save will be paid back. Also: you don't have to purchase new bulbs every couple of years.

They provide a warm, soft, yellow light that is nearly indistinguishable from normal lighting. The Sensibulb™ plugs into a normal halogen bulb socket. Sailor's Solutions provides socket adapters for all types of sockets at a reasonable price (although the Edison ones are becoming rare). They also provide full light fixtures with dimmers (yes! they can be dimmed!)

If you're thinking of updating your interior lighting, these are the bulbs. I can't recommend them enough. You'll be happy as a clam bathing in your low current light!

See you on the water!