Our windlass crapped out on us on the long weekend. At first we thought it was the solenoid and we went and bought an auto solenoid and installed it, WRONG, auto solenoids are not the same and would have screwed up the system. So after Barry and a buddy mucked around with the wiring for most of the day we called an expert. He proceeded to test everything and discovered the wire that ran from the solenoid to the windlass motor at the deck connection was badly corroded and falling to pieces. He took the windlass motor in for an upgrade and we had to replace the corroded wire.

It was a real challenge because the wire was buried behind wood in our v-berth so we had to practically dismantle the wood to get at the wiring. I took a series of pictures to show you where the wire went to and what we had to do.

Picture 1 shows you wire coming through the deck and into the anchor locker

Picture 2 shows the wire runningdown the front edge of the v-

berth behind a board. This was the board that caused us the most problems. We had to take it off, the screws were buried under teak plugs, then we had to take a ceiling board off that was holding it in and we had to undo the railing for the shelf that runs the length of the v-berth, NOT FUN.

Picture 3 is this little we hatch that the wire entered when it came from the wall. You had to squeeze your hands in there and manipulate the wire around to get it out.

Picture 4 is off the hatch beside our fuel tank in the v-berth, that is why it is a triangle shape. The wire runs through this hatch and connects to the solenoid.

Picture 5 is the solenoid. It was replaced with the auto solenoid that will not work. We had temporarily put the old solenoid back but on further thought Barry went and bought a new one and will install it. The other wire from the motor is just as difficult to get at. It runs all the way up to the front of the mast under the floorboards. We have got it out but have not replaced it yet. The old wire was all copper wire and we have upgraded it with tinned wire.

Now all we have to do is wait for the motor to be reconditioned and we will head up island with a wonderful dependable windlass. It is just as well we came back to Sidney to get it fixed because we have been to and fro alot to the chandlery.

Lee Cloths

I have finished making and installing lee cloths for the two main settees. There was one already made for the aft cabin and it is recommended that you have enough for all persons that you would have onboard, so I made three more, for the settees and for the quarter berth.

First I measured the settees and figured out how wide I wanted the cloths and then I took our old main sail and cut the sail up into the sizes that I wanted. Then I bought some webbing. I folded a small seam in the sail cloth and then folded it over as thick as the webbing and pinned it. I tried to use regular pins but they wouldn't go through all that tough material, so I ended up using macrame t-pins. I asked around to see if I could borrow an industrial sewing machine, but no luck. I took the pinned lee cloths to a canvas repair guy and he sewed them for $30.00, and he did it in 4 days. I thought that was a real deal.

I bought a grommet kit and put grommets along the top of the cloths. It was really hard to make the holes to get the grommets in the cloth. The punch that came with the gommet kit was not good enough to punch through the webbbing and sail cloth, so we ended up drilling the holes for the grommets. Then I had to trim the holes up with a pair of scissors, this was really fiddily and tedious. I should have used an awl, I think I have one on board. Then Barry helped me screw down the lee cloths into the plywood of the settees. We used really big washers so that the cloth will not rip under pressure. I strung some line through the gommets and hung them from the grab rails at the top of the settees.

I cut the sail cloth 20 inches high and if I had it to do again I would make them a bit higher. I did not take into account the width of the cushion when I was measuring. When I got into the settee and laid down I found that I was in there pretty securely I don't think I or anyone else would fall out, but they do look a little short, although you can see over them fairly well and do not feel like you are in a coffin, which is what it looks a bit like.

We have been busy since we came back from Neah Bay. The sole or cabin floor needed to be refinished. The varnish was wearing out and there were black worn spots on the sole where there was the most traffic. It took 2 and 1/2 days to varnish the floor, we had to do it inside the boat because the most of the floor is permanent. The pieces that we can remove to get to the bilge we took out and put the first 2 coats on the dock since it was nice and sunny, for coats 3 and 4 we took the pieces up to the club house and used the workroom there. While we were sanding there was sawdust all over the place, it was just thick everywhere that we had not been able to cover up. After we had finished sanding we cleaned the boat from top to bottom. We vaccumed and wiped down everything we could find. We took all the cushions out and used Barry's Mom's carpet cleaner to give them a good cleaning. This is what it looks like when you don't have a garage or basement to do any work, just a dock.

I am now on my 4th coat of varnish and the sole is starting to really shine. I am going to put one more coat on and hopefully that should be enough. It has been difficult living on the boat while unable to use the floor so we have come up to Barry's Mom's house and spent the night a couple of times. It takes up to 24 hours for a coat to dry and the last coat we let dry for 48 hours before attempting another. It has been a lot of work but hopefully worthwhile in the long run. I will post a picture once we are done.

THIS BLOG IS ONLY FOR OUR REALLY HARD CORE BOAT BUDDIES.....

We have finally got our new holding tank in. We started the process about the end of January and it has taken this long to line up a contractor and have him come to install it. It is the last major work to be done on the boat, now we will comply with some U.S. port standards where you have a zero discharge of sewage while in port.

The tank is only 10 gallons so it would probably only last 4 days or so and then we would have to have it pumped out. We had the tank installed in the head and it just fits in a storage area beside the toilet. We did not have to alter the cupboard in anyway, which was a relief, the old cupboard doors fit back on and it is hidden completely. The tank is made out of special holding tank plastic and will keep the smell enclosed in the tank hopefully. We did not put in a macerating pump, and there is no electric pump to pump the sewage overboard. It is a hand pump, so that the whole system is really simple and there is very little that can go wrong and if something breaks, Barry should be able to fix it.

Our wet locker is where all the lines for the tank are located; it looks like an octopus is residing in the cupboard. There are lines that go up to top of the locker to vented loops to prevent siphoning from occurring. There is a vented loop for the toilet and a vented loop for the holding tank, then there is a line to the pump and I don’t know what all the other lines are for but my goodness it is a mess of plumbing lines.

For the last few days we have been servicing our winches. There are a total of 9 winches on board, 6 self tailing, two speed winches and 3 two speed, non self tailing ( they are on the mast.) They are all Barient winches, 2 are quite large and they are 28 Barients and they rest of the self tailing are 23 Barients. I took apart a 23 first and Barry tackled a 28. We both followed the directions very carefully, Barry had to spend a little more time putting his back together as it was much more complicated and had 3 sets of gears which had to fit together. The next day we switched and I tackled a bigger one. I put one set of gears in the wrong order on the deck so when we had put it all back together it would not work, damn, we had to take it back off the deck and fiddle with it , put the bottom back on and it still didn't work. Then Barry remembered that I had switched the gear casings so we took all the gears back out and changed casing and VOILA it worked. It was a relief when it finally worked. Barry did the three winches on the mast today and he said that they were quite easy.

The winches were in pretty good shape, there was some grease in them, although in some spots the grease had become gummy and needed special attention to get it off. The 23's that are on the top of the cockpit roof were in the roughest shape. There was lots of salt in them and some of the brass parts showed some pitting, nothing to worry about as long as we continue to do regular maintenance on them. The palls were all in pretty good shape except for one set that Barry had to scrape the crud off of to make sure it would catch again. We were both pretty much covered in grease and oil by the end of the day, but after potting I didn't think the mess was too bad, except trying to get it out from under your fingernails is a real pain. .

Today I went over to Lorna Hughes house and sewed up some new curtains for the aft cabin and over the quarterberth. Living on board at the dock you feel like you are in a bit of a glass bowl, someone can walk up beside youand peer in the portals. Mostly people aren't so nosy as to peer in, but it is coming up to busy season here and you can get " dock gawkers" cruising around the marina. Curtains are just a nice touch. I attached them with this curtain wire through the top, you cut off the wire in the length that you want and then screw in an eye and then put a cup hook on the wall and you are in business. I put weighted curtain hanging stuff in the bottoms to make them hang nicely. I have kept with the blue and yellow colour scheme. I took a bit of the material Mom had used to make the hanging curtains to match the colours. It's pretty loud, but I really like it and it's me!

Securing the inside of cupboards

At one of our Bluewater Cruising meetings, someone said you have to imagine your boat upside down and think about what is happening. You have to think about what will have fallen out of the cupboards, what will have come out of the bins that are under the seats, which are now the ceiling, and what has come off the shelves. To combat this we have screwed down the lids of the bins that hold the batteries and I have devised a way to keep the stuff in the cupboards.

I bought some netting and using cup hooks I fastened the netting inside all of the cupboards and shelves. It has kept all our shoes in their spot below the navigation table and once a cupboard opened and the dishes inside stayed there. I am not sure if the cup hooks will hold the netting if there was constant pressure on it, but the teak is a hard wood so I am hoping the cup hooks will hold.

I was trying to think of a way to positively fasten the cupboards but I have just fiddled with the closing and now most of them are fairly secure. I did not want to spoil the look of the cupboards by putting fasteners on the outside of them or drilling holes in them so that you could put a different fastener inside. If anyone has any ideas about this please let me know.

Why ME

When we were out sailing in that gale last week, the wind blew of our windex so it had to be replaced. You have to pay a rigger a minimum of $75.00 to go up your mast so I bit the bullet and let Barry and John & Gail Borkovik haul me up. It wasn't too bad, the boat did not move around like the Annoe used to when someone stepped on and off of it. Our mast also has three steps at the top which I stood on when at the top. I had Barry haul me right up to the top so the harness I had on basically was holding me up and I could work with two hands to put on the windex. (I wear a climbing harness with the main line attached and then a sailing harness around my mid section with the safely line on.) Barry had hauled up a bag of tools on our spinnaker halyard so I just had to root around in it to find what I wanted. There was a great view from the top. It is nice to know that I am able to work up there, I am sure it will be a different story when we are at sea and there are just the two of us aboard, that means I will not have a safety line as well as the main line. I wasn't even shaking too badly when I got down. If you have any questions, we'd love to hear from you.