Picking a date

Aside from many minor projects you can find on our facebook page, updated weekly,
https://www.facebook.com/svunionp
We have been busy earning money for our trip. We have had a few bumps in the road including 1/4 of our cruising kitty going up in flames. We had our RV for sale in New York when a guy parked next to it, and went off to work. Only a few minutes later the truck caught fire. He had Geico insurance that called it an act of God. Do not buy Geico please. I filed a complaint with the state, but that could take ages.
HOWEVER. We have picked a departure date.

April, 2016.
 All we can say for sure is the first stop will be New York. After that, who knows.

The boat is getting ready, we now have our second sail in for repair, and the only major repair yet to be done is a haulout. The engine is in top form, and the generator only requires final tweaking. The rigging is really good, and only needs the thru-deck bolts replaced. The running rigging is in the process of a complete change out, and the deck is nearly finished. Most of whats left to do is pure cosmetics.

 

Even the stern deck is looking awesome now.

More news to come.

DC upgrades

   We are in the process of beefing up our DC system. I am doing an entire rebuild of the system, and when we are done, we will have between 600AH and 1000AH. Union Pacific had 400AH in the original design. However the boat also has a 4D starting battery. This is overkill. I will be switching this out for a deep cycle battery in its place, giving another easy 200AH. I am debating adding two more to the lazerette.

   The alternator was rated at 50-60 amps. Ratings are a funny thing, and once the alternator warms up, it puts out even less. I have purchased a 105-110amp balmar. The biggest issue was installing this huge beast in the spot of the old tiny one.

So the bracket that came with the unit did not work. I ordered the one from balmar, that did not work either.
It was down to me and my brain to make it work.

I set off and made a cardboard template for what would work. After asking around, I found a marine welding shop, just across the river from me, so off I went, cardboard in hand.

After a week I went back, and alas, I had it in hand.
It did not fit. What a bummer.

Before I left New York I had to decide what to bring, and what to throw away. One item I did bring was a battery angle grinder. So I set off to grinding. It took me 4 batteries to get it to the point that it would fit. I must have made 10 trips in and out of the yacht to test fit it.

Installed, very cool. The old red one is to the left, still hooked to the tach.
While I was in there I had an enemy. right above the water pump is a 24 year old hose. It was old and very frail. Replacement is a bugger. Unless you take off the pump, you have to work it in, without tearing the new hose. Well it took me about 30 min, but problem solved for another 30 years. The cost of this little hose from NAPA was $14 a foot. This is the highest quality hose they had, so I went for it. 1', with some left over.

I hooked up the balmar 612 regulator. Nothing, no charging. A bit of trouble shooting told me a fuse holder was corroded. I cleaned it off, reassembled, moved the wire a bit for a good connection, and wala!
She charges.

There are still items to be done. The regulator needs mounting, the tach needs to be hooked up, we need a few new hoses, including raw water hoses from the pump to the engine. I also will install a new fuse holder, I don't need to be messing with that at sea. I will be keeping the well working alternator, in a vacuum sealed bag, in a bin. It will be an at-sea replacement, and is internally regulated, so that covers a balmar failure as well.
I also converted the cooling system to water only, for now. I will be adding some safe anti-freeze soon, once I flush the system a few more times.

Next up on the project list is cleaning the bilge again, yuck, and painting the bilge in this area. I will also be installing more bilge pumps. Right now we have a 360GPH @ 6' head pump, and a 150GPH @6 head pump forward. I will be adding a 600GPH to the engine room, a 5000GPH to the engine room, a 5000GPH to the forward bilge, and a spare 8000GPH pump, with hose, and cable, stored in its own box, for big emergencies. One year into our upgrades, I am very happy with the progress.

Our guide to boat buying

So with so many buying boats (yachts if over 33' in length) I thought I would write a guide for boat buying.
This will be a long read, and is recommended for a serious boat buyer. Points I will cover are as follows.

1. Best way to find your boat
2. A quick personal survey
3. Making an offer, and for how much



 So at this point I will assume you have chosen the type of boat. Motor boats with 2-3GPNM (Gallons of fuel per nautical mile) Trawler with 1-4NMPG (nautical mile per gallon) motor sailor with 6NMPG sailboat with 8-11NMPG.
 Your price range.
New boat 40' for $175,000+ I will not discuss new boat purchases.
Slightly used boat 40' 75,000+
boats over 10 years old 40' 25,000+

So how do you locate your boat.
My personal favorite is http://www.sailboatlistings.com This is the best place to find a bargain.
Second choice is Craigslist.org and  http://www.searchtempest.com/ for looking outside your area.
You can always fall back to Yachtworld.com. The listings are about 2-4 times the true sale price, so offer accordingly.

The quick personal survey

The quick personal survey can be done in less then 3 hours. I will base my list on a sailboat purchase. All things equal the sailboat is the most complex.

Step one, the bilge visual inspection.

When you crack open the bilge you are opening a window to the previous owners(PO) soul.
This is where the truth is. Did the owner, or broker, tell you he loved the boat? If so you can expect to find a spotless bilge, with no water at all. Everything will be secure. All raw (sea) water fittings will have two clamps on each connection. You should see no rust of any kind on the clamps, and see fresh bilge paint. If the boat is over 10 years old the hoses should be new.
This boat will cost the most. It has been loved and cared for, with every upgrade done, most likely by a shop. If your looking for a bargain, stop now, this is not it.

The next level of care is a normal, but good owner.
All of the sea water fittings will still be double clamped. They should not show any serious rust. 
The bilge should be clean, but not spotless. Its a bilge after all. Expect failing paint if over 10 years old. This will be the type of person that will do most jobs himself. He will have common knowledge of the simple working systems of his own boat.
There are key items to separate the do-it-yourselfer from a bad owner.
The bilge should be well kept, and everything should still be secure, and proper. Finding any garden hose parts (green clamps for example) will tell you the owner was cheap, and didn't care. Finding double clamps on all the lines, fresh and salt, shows he means well, but may be slightly misinformed. If the boat is over 10 years old, expect new lines still. if over 15 expect new wiring. hoses should be flexible. Wires should move smoothly, and not be stiff. All wire junctions should be water tight.

The final level of care is no care at all, and the best bargain.
If you see single hose clamps of salt water hoses, rust, filth, leaks from anything, stiff wires, stiff hoses, old thruhulls, oil in the bilge, old bilge pumps, a high water line (evidence of flooding) then this boat may either be a bargain, or junk. Expect to do a major refit after purchase, with a cost of about $500-1000 per foot.

Step two, the engine visual inspection.

 This is the second heart of a sailing beast, and the only heart of a powerboat of any kind. If it is a power boat, expect much more. Any powerboat beyond 20 years old should not have the original engine. If it does, and you cannot repower yourself, expect to pay about $300-600 per horsepower. Starting at 40HP for $15,000 adding 300-600 for each HP over 40.
The second choice (already repowered) is the best option. Why? because they have paid the hit and will never recoup the cost paid. If the boat is less then 20 years old, then you need to start examining the heart.
Assuming the boat is more then 10 years old you should expect every hose to have been replaced.

The perfect owner.

You should expect to see all new belts and hoses. The paint on the engine will be in great shape, with almost no pealing. The exhaust riser will be newer. When you pull out any dipstick the level will be spot on. Do pull them out. Sniff them. Nothing should smell of burning, or smoke. You should not see a waterline on the engine, and there should be no leaks at all. All raw water fittings will have two clamps, and after 20 years, the alternator should be new. Shut off the thru hull. remove the heat exchanger zinc. It should be new, or almost new. IF it is gone, or nearly gone, you do not have a perfect owner. If the hoses are original, and show signs of paint on them, this is not a perfect owner. Written on each filter, oil, fuel, should be a date and hours. The fuel filter should not be more then 100 hours old. The oil filter should not be more then 100 hours old.

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The good owner.

You should still be expecting a repower if the boat is over 20 years old. Belts should be new, and not show wear. The exhaust riser will be newer then the engine if the engine is over 15 years old. Hoses should not be original. The alternator should not be more then 5-8 years old. There should be no leaks. All raw water fittings should have two clamps. The paint may be worn, and cracking, but there should be no loose paint, as this may fall into the blige and clog a pump, causing flooding. Shut off the engine raw water thru hull. Pull out the zinc on the engine heat exchanger. Note its condition. If it is completely gone, this is not a good owner. If hoses are dry rotted, belts are old, engine is leaking, this is not a good owner.

The careless owner.

This will make for a low purchase price, but it will cost you on the back end during the refit.
Expect to see single clamps on raw water hoses. Expect to see original hoses, worn belts, original alternator,
minor leaks. Pull out the dipstick on the transmission. Does it smell burnt? If yes, then it will need replacement, expect the same from the engine. When was the last oil change? Fuel filter change? Is the zinc gone? Is the oil lower then it should be? Is there water inside the oil cap? Unscrew it and look for a milky white on the inside. If this is the case, the engine is gone.

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Starting the engine.

Making sure to have the thru hulls open, turn the key to the run position. Check your voltage. With glowplugs off it should be no less then 12.6 volts if unplugged. IF the voltage is good crank the engine. It should start within 10 seconds with the throttle set to idle. If it does not start within 30, there are problems. Look first at the exhaust. It should not show any smoke. If you see a bit of smoke, it may have valve seal issues. Is it running smooth? If stumbling, missing, not running on all cylinders, it may have major fuel, or compression issues, warranting a new engine. Allow it to idle for about 3 min. Make sure the oil pressure is good. Make sure it is showing a charge. Make sure water is coming out of the exhaust. If not, shut off the engine. It has issues, and you should assume a replacement is necessary if any issues are seen. It may not need replaced, but for negotiation purposes it needs an engine. 

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The deck

Teak?

Is the deck teak? Unless it is in flawless shape, expect to pay for that beauty. Replacement cost in the USA for a teak deck is $35,000+++ Teak removal is expensive, and may also cost $35,000. There are a lot of books on teak decking, I will not rehash here. Basically it should not be missing any bungs, and not be coming up anywhere. All the calking should be in perfect shape. If you do not see Bristol condition, expect leaks.

Wet deck

 This is only if you suspect a wet deck. Have you found a soft spot? Then do this check.
The deck must be dry, or expect to pay more then the boat is worth, unless you do it yourself. Remove some headliner near the outside of the coach roof. Drill a small hole, 1/4". Drill only into the core, not thru the deck. Pull out the bit and the wood should be 100% dry. If water comes out, the wood is at all damp. You have leaks, and a compromised core. Refill the hole with marine-tex making sure to work it into the void. replace the headliner, and clean up any mess you made.

Thru deck rigging

The thru deck rigging should have been replaced in the last 5 years. It should not leak. There is a ton of information on this topic online, and in print.

Electronics

It is best if the electronics are recent, and from the last 5 years. The old owner has taken the hit for the purchase, and you can use them for a long time yet. Loran-C is no longer in use. If you find one, you will know the owner has not used the boat in a long time or does not care. The autopilot should be of good quality, and properly mounted, as should everything. It should be well laid out, with all wires hidden.

If the electronics are old, expect to pay 8,000-15,000 for this portion of the refit.

This is the end of the quick pre-offer inspection.
If the owner or broker does not want you to do this through of an inspection, move on. Unless your looking at a 300' superyacht, there are thousands of boats to choose from.

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How much to offer.

I do not care what the asking price is, and neither should you.
Here is a general rule of thumb.

Condition, length, age, type.

35-45', 15-20 years old, production sailboat by a good manufacture.
Perfect condition, $2,000 per foot.
Good condition, $1,500 per foot
OK condition, $1,000 per foot
Poor condition, $300-500 per foot.

35-45', 10-15 years old, production sailboat, by good manufacture.
Perfect condition, $3,000 per foot.
Good condition, $2,500 per foot
OK condition, $1,500 per foot
Poor condition, $500-800 per foot.

35-50' 15-20 year old powerboat, anything but custom
Perfect condition, $1,500 per foot.
Good condition, $1,000 per foot
OK condition, $700 per foot
Poor condition, $100-500 per foot.

35-50' 8-15 year old powerboat, anything but custom
Perfect condition, $2,000 per foot.
Good condition, $1,500 per foot
OK condition, $1,000 per foot
Poor condition, $300-500 per foot.

35-65' custom built boat, age 12-20 years
Perfect condition, $1,000 per foot.
Good condition, $800 per foot
OK condition, $600 per foot
Poor condition, $100-300 per foot.

35-65' custom built boat, age 5-12 years
Perfect condition, $1,500 per foot.
Good condition, $1,200 per foot
OK condition, $900 per foot
Poor condition, $100-300 per foot.

35-65' home built boat, age 5-18 years
Perfect condition, $1,000 per foot.
Good condition, $800 per foot
OK condition, $600 per foot
Poor condition, $100-300 per foot.

35-65' unfinished boat
$100-400 per foot. scrap value + 40%


Sailboats have the highest price point.
Starting at a seven seas boat like a tayana 37 and declining to a coastal crusier like a hunter 35.
Custom build sailboats are only worth about $1,000 per foot in good condition.

Powerboats that are semi-displacement and coastal trawlers (less then 3,000 mile range) are some of the cheapest boats out there. This is because they are lightly built, have no redundant propulsion are not very stable, and are not sea worthy.

The lowest price belongs to planning boats. These use so much fuel you should only expect to use them once a month for a short trip. A weekend of fun may end up costing you $1,000 in fuel. They are dock queens, and can be had for about $500 a foot, but carry the most ridiculous asking prices. I have seen some 32' planning powerboats for $120,000 that were 15 years old. In reality, unless a sucker is found, a boat like this may only sell for $25,000 in great condition.

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Always be polite, smile, and keep a good attitude, even when they say mean things. Remember they think their boat is worth a lot of money. Your just now breaking the news about how low boat prices are today. This is not 2006. When your talking about a powerboat, fuel is not $1.50 a gallon at the dock anymore. Its creeping up on $5 in many places in America.

Take your time. Allow your low offer to sink in, but call them back in a few weeks with the same offer. Let them know you are interested, at your price, not theirs.

Generator updates

So I needed to move a 200# generator into the lazertte. I racked my brain how I might do this. Finally one day I said, "don't I own a crane?". So I removed the sail from the main boom. I got the old boomvang from the cabinet, and rigged it to the boom via a line. I pulled and pulled, and it would not rise up. :P It was caught under the lip of the hatch. LOL. Once free it rose right up, and I slowly lowered it down, as I climbed down into the lazerette. I love the size 70 hatch.

Now that it was down I had to slide it to the new home.

A week ago I rode a bike home from Home Depot. Under my arm was a 4'x2' sheet of hardwood plywood.

It took a few days to paint it with bilgecoat paint. Then today I drilled holes and installed lag bolts with 5200 so they were sealed, and will not come out.

It looked great. The 3/4" plywood should stand up for longer then we will ever own the boat, maybe 20 years :) When we do sell her in 3-5 years and build our larger boat, the new owner will have an awesome generator setup.

Out with the old

In with the new

Whats left to do? A LOT. First I must somehow get the 1" exhaust adapted to 1.25". Then I can connect it to the water lift muffler. The intake for the raw water pump is 5/8" the hose coming from the strainer is 5/16" so another adapter. Then I must supply fuel. I will change the racor filter out for a 2 micron, and that will be an easy hookup. I must plug in the wires for the harness, mount the new battery. Connect 12 volt power to the unit. Then hook up a charging line so the battery stays charged. I need to secure the unit to the plywood. I need to install the copper strapping to keep the unit in the zinc protection of the rest of the boat. THEN... I need to install a filter system, That must be built from scratch, so I can filter the oil and not change it every 10 hours. I must sound proof 3 sides, building a door so I can check and add oil as needed. I must install the blower to cool the generator when the sound proof enclosure is on. I must run a new power wire from the unit to a new power selector  switch. This will then be run into the new inverter when I buy it. Whew, thats all. So expect at least 4 more updates. For now the aft deck is less cluttered, and the unit is protected from the rain.

Cool it!

   Its been getting hot in here. the days are in the 80's and the temp in an uncooled, closed up boat with teak decks can climb into the 100's. The bad news is our AC was on the way out, and now its dead from the dock power issue. I went and got a new start solenoid, to no avail. The start coil was dead as far as I could tell, and the unit was in bad shape mechanically anyway after 20 some years.

Timing (and Christ) were on our side again. I needed an 18,000 BTU unit to replace our main. I started to look online at the usual places. Then I checked the local craigslist. There was a newish unit here in town!!! $550, with pump and all. I investigated by only sending an email. I waited 3 days before heading off to sailors exchange. When I got to the exchange I asked about getting a unit, I was told there was a unit that did cooling only on the shelf for $600. Bummer, because we need heat as well. Just so happened as I was doing my regular deal browsing I was approached by an employee. He told me he had a unit for sale and once he described it, I knew it was the one on craigslist. We got to negotiating, and when we were done he was going to keep the pump I didn't need, deliver it, and the unit was mine for $350. WOW!!!

 It worked great until a few days ago. It was a really nasty hot day, and it just could not keep up. Then came the error message for overpressure. This basically means there is not enough water flowing to cool the refrigerant. So I took my little cleaning snake, and I ran it thru the tubes, in a 90 degree cabin. Nothing. Then I reversed the flow. It worked! now the unit is flowing nicely, along with the aft AC unit. And in the first hour the two working together have dropped the temperature at time of writing to 82. we will see how it holds out in the long term. Even if it breaks, being a new digital unit, it will be worth fixing.

The new unit is actually smaller in size. It looks like it was just designed in a better way, but with newer technology also so the compressor is smaller. The compressor does run very very hot, not sure how the old one ran, but ouch, its hot. Now I just need a way to utilize the extra room that is left over. I still have to secure it, and because its not 100% yet, I am waiting until I know its all done, before I secure it once and for all. 

Busy Busy Busy

   Wow, no updates in a long time. Sorry. So we have been busy saving money for the trip, and at the same time I have been working on repairs, small repairs, major changes, and major rebuilds.
Where to begin. Ah yes, the generator.

   I for a long time had been looking for a generator. I had made about 15 calls in about 6 months. I had spent a lot of time online, reading stories of failures, reading what people hate about the generator they have, what do they love about it. I eliminated one from the start. I would not buy a 3600RPM unit. They are very loud, and vibrate a lot. In fact the one we had was 3600, and for the short time it worked for us, I found it very loud.
The next item on the list was what power we needed. I found a slew of 8000 watt units, I quickly realized with everything on the yacht running we only can use 5000 watts, if we try very hard. So 8000 to do simple things at sea like charge batteries, make water, make hot water, was overkill. I realized on most ocations we would use no more then 2500 watts, only using slightly more on very hot, humid, windless nights to run the AC unit. At 1600 watts when running it is the single biggest power consumer on the yacht. We have a second AC unit as well. It uses 1200 watts. so with just those two running for a nasty night we are looking at 2800 watts.
The next issue was fuel usage. The very slow 1800RPM units have a big displacement. the fuel usage I read about was in the 0.5-0.8GPH range. However I heard about one more generator, with a Kubota engine that ran at 2400RPM.
The smallest unit that has been made, and made well, was 2500 watts. these are very rare. I however found I could buy a new unit from Phasor that was 3500 watts for only $4500. This is a 2400RPM unit, properly fresh water cooled, and the fuel usage was 1 gallon of diesel every 5 hours under 1/2 load. 1 gallon every 4 hours under full load.
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So begin my search for a Phasor Generator. Every day I scan the boat classified listings for things that are a great value, and snap up any I can find and I can use. One morning I saw her. "Phasor 3.5 kw marine diesel gen set" It had been completely rebuilt. Asking price was 1200, firm. Well, lets say I nearly dropped out of my chair. A unit I was about to pay $4500 for, had just fell on my lap. The catch was I had to drive half way to New Orleans to get it. No problem. For $3300 I would drive half way to Fiji.

More to come!

Our new, fun, multi-color tender

Well, after a long long time of working on it, I can now say it runs nicely.
However let me start with this:

FREE CRUISING GEAR!!!!!

I was given an engine that does not run, with a good condition lower unit. This was issue number one with my outboard.

When I was sold this outboard I was given the nautical equivalent of the "old lady driving to church" story about this engine. That it had been on a sailboat, and shop maintained. I can slice up some fine German or beef baloney, but I cannot fill an order that big. First, they had not lubed the lower unit in who knows how long. When you turn the shaft by hand, its actually hard to turn. That explains why the engine was hard to start, didn't want to run, randomly shut off, would pop out of gear, ECT.

This may also be why I was never able to plane.

Once I changed it out for the free one, MAGIC!!!!! This thing runs pretty good now.
It is UGLY, but functional, just like the rest of the dinghy.

I tried it out, taking it the entire way out to the municipal mooring field. Where I had a job diving on the Chris Lea.

Success! Glad to have a great working tender!

Amazing oven

Well today we ran out of propane for the stove. Normally this in itself wouldn't be worth a blog post. Except for one detail: we've been using the same tank for 5 months! The last fill was when we left New York.

The oven we had before we moved onto our yacht ran on propane too. Propane also fueled our heat so the tanks never really lasted long. A month in the summer is how long we could count on it to last and a week or so in the winter. We didn't cook as much with that stove as we do with now so we figured this one would last about a month at the most.

After the first month we rethought that. The second month went by and we still didn't need to fill it. The third, fourth, and fifth month we didn't need to either. We were starting to wonder if it would ever run out. Apparently we have a very efficient stove. Other then not having enough room in/on it sometimes it's a great little stove. It's gimbled too so that came in handy when we were sailing.

Needless to say we still had complaints about it. Actually it wasn't until a few weeks ago that we figured out how to use the oven part correctly. It used to be that after we were done with the oven to turn it off we would have to turn the gas off. It turns out that the knob was stripped and wasn't turning like it was supposed to. Duh! Now the oven works perfectly. We can't fix the "too small" part of it though. All in all, still a great stove.

Joshua went out to change the propane tank. I had him get a new one before we left Charleston and it's been latched to the deck ever since. All shiny and new with readable stickers. The one he pulled out of the propane locker has seen better days. In fact, it looks like it's been through war! I commend it for holding up.

Bottoms clean, engines junk.

   Well after we earned our diving certification things have slowed down a bit. To be honest I, Joshua, have been a bit lazy. I say a bit because I have cleaned the bottoms of 3 boats now. Cleaning the bottoms of boats is about the hardest job imaginable, and by far the hardest job I have done.

Close your eyes and imagine not being able to see anything but dark brown. While you see this dark brown, you are swimming into a current, pushing yourself away from the bottom of a boat with your hand as you swim towards it. Inside your wetsuit are small shrimp, 1000's of them. All crawling, biting, squirming. In your hair, nasty little bugs. Yeah, its gross, hard work. When you have spent 2 hours, kicking like crazy you have a last effort to return to a boat. Only you weigh 400# now, with all of your gear. I enjoy punishing myself.

 

  

   Here I am cleaning our boat bottom. So far I have done 3 types of bottoms. The first one was ours. Its a fin keel. It has a very long waterline, but only a 12' keel in the center jutting down into the blackness. Our bottom paint is somehow still good after 5 years in the cold New york waters. We only had a layer of silt. It has not been cleaned in a year, so I have no idea how it only has silt on it.
   The second was a 26' sailboat with a wing keel. Not only did it have two keels, but it had bad bottom paint. I ended up scraping all of it with the 6" knife. In the end he lost a lot of paint because those hard shelled critters don't let go. I also think the paint was poorly applied, It seemed to not adhere to the bottom of the boat. After this I reserve the right to adjust the price according to how bad the bottom is. This was badly neglected.
   The third boat was a full keel 43' spindrift. The bottom was covered in small shrimp, like I told you earlier.
 Its not that it was bad growth, It was just living growth. No fun. I came out covered. The fun part was chasing Dana while covered in bugs.



   Engine. I found a great deal from a marine repair shop

Or so I thought. I got a 1970-80 johnson 9.9HP, for $375. It came with a 30 day warranty . So I was having an issue with it, so I took it back to the dealer. It is the boat repair place at riverside marina, St Augustine. This guy is unbelievable. He said it was the water pump, and the water pump is not part of the warranty. wait, WHAT? In some stretch of the imagination he thought I sucked up a plastic bag, or mud and it would not be covered. I said, you gave me 30 days, he says "It does not apply to this"

Oh, so that 30 days has some exclusions that are not mentioned until I have an issue? AVOID!!!!
I have spare time, and will take him to small claims. He has not heard the last from me.
   So after this discussion, with him becoming irate, he goes and now you owe me two days storage on the dinghy...... Really, he asked me to bring it in and leave it.... I said, oh yeah how much is that... he said take your (expletive) and get out. Class act. This guy is a serious looser, and is not knowledgeable in, well, anything except how to be a jerk. He speaks fluent jerk. I ordered the parts from west marine, hopefully this fixes the issue of it skipping out of gear when hot as well. Guess I am learning outboard repair...


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Dive! Dive! Dive!

We are so excited because we just got scuba certified! I (Dana) did it mainly for the enjoyment factor but we made sure to get Joshua certified for many reasons. One being: he needs to learn to be more comfortable in the water. We live on it! He doesn't enjoy swimming or getting wet. I am the complete opposite. Another reason was so that we could have the ability to clean the bottom of our boat. While you may be able to get some of it when you hold your breath you won't be able to get it all. Plus, what people charge for a cleaning is a lot. Within a few months our investment will pay for itself. Plus, Josh will be able to make a business cleaning bottoms, installing zincs, and doing emergency underwater repairs.

Our research also told us that in order to be able to get a tank filled you need a certification. So there we were, with many reasons to do it. Our next decision was where to get certified. You can Google search all you want but ultimately it comes down to word of mouth. We asked our friends at St. Augustine Cruisers Net to suggest somewhere and the answer was unanimously iDive.

His prices turned out to be one of the most reasonable when we did our research too. When Joshua called the owner, Ken, he was pleased with how he responded to his questions. They offer a mini class called "Try SCUBA". So we did! We don't have any pictures from that class but we immediately went after the class to sign up for certification.

 

See how happy and excited Josh was for the class? He made sure we were early. I was excited too but I was concentrating more on getting us there. ;-) 

Ken (left) and Josh demonstrating good buoyancy control

Dana!

 Here we were demonstrating skills. Josh did well on his buoyancy control here in the pool. I struggled a bit.

The second dive wasn't in a heated pool :-( but in a spring. DeLeon Springs actually. Here it was quite smaller then what I thought it would be. We got to practice our "giant stride" getting in though. It was fun! I struggled a bit this day but it turns out I didn't have enough weight. Once the instructor gave me more I was fine.

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We didn't get many pictures this day because the visibility wasn't great. What is weird is that some of the pictures came out with a blue tint while most of them were green (see above-ick).

Here is another diver harassing a turtle. It didn't much like the attention! Later she went on to try and pick it up but the turtle escaped her grasp.

The last day, our check out dive, was at Devil's Den. It was supposed to be at another location but they had what is called "brown out conditions". I think you all can guess what that meant. So our instructor had us go here. Unfortunately it cost us more money to dive here then the other spot but Ken promised us we would love it. Let's hope so.

Here's the view looking down. It is impressive to look at, very pretty. It's quite a ways down so I had a little bit of trouble getting down the stairs (fear of heights). Ken, ever the patient guy, talked to me the whole way as he had been the first down. I was fine once down. The water was a bit chilly but not bad.

These last two photos aren't as great. The light was poor and GoPros don't fare as well in low lighting. This one above is a still taken from the bottom of the stairs.

Here's the other side. Hi guys! This is Ken on the right and another instructor (I'm sorry, I forgot his name!) on the left. The other instructor ended up being my dive buddy at the end because Josh got too low on air and I hadn't been able to explore the whole way around. I wanted my moneys worth! Haha...again, we were shocked at the price but I enjoyed it.

When we came up we were officially certified, we passed!! So exciting! Ken cooked for us and we hung out until the woman threatened to lock us in ;-)

Certified!!!

Waiting for food

Grill master Ken

I'm going to post a video on Facebook so make sure to hop over to this link and check it out. While you're there please give us a "Like"! In case you want to know Ken is on FB too at this link> iDive.

Thanks for the great dives Ken, hopefully we can do more with you!

New but old-Dana's view

I have a few things to say about our old dinghy. More then a few actually but in addition to being old, small, and a bit of an eye sore it was reliable. It got us out of a jam when we were in NYC and Joshua had many fun adventures with it but it wasn't really meant to be a dinghy like we were using it for. In fact, it was actually a child's sailing dinghy. I never stepped foot into it. It was too tippy and wasn't meant to hold much weight. It also leaked a little. As I said...many things to say about it.

We have been looking for a new one ever since it was obvious we would need a bigger one. When you are on anchor not only will a dinghy get you to the shore from the boat while holding you but also any laundry, groceries, and water. We knew we wanted it to still fit on the foredeck when we made any passages and it also needed to be durable. Inflatables are nice but made of plastic and tend to deteriorate quickly.

So we needed strength, longevity, a good size, and most of all-a decent price. You would not believe how hard it is to find each one of those things without having to sacrifice another. But we did it! It kind of just happened. Joshua was skimming the local Craigslist and came across an ad for the dinghy that was docked on other side of our slip. Imagine that, it was right under our noses.

Joshua said he looked at the ad before but for whatever reason skipped it. He showed me and I told him to just shoot the guy a quick email. The guy mentioned he was actually going to be stopping by the marina that day-perfect!


I wasn't present for the whole conversation but Joshua has a way of dickering with people so I knew he didn't need my help. By the time I had gotten out there he worked it out so that not only were we going to get it for less then listing price but he was also going to take our old dinghy. This was a big weight off of our shoulders as we weren't sure how to get rid of it. Who would want such an old boat?

Apparently there is always a person who has a need for old boats as the day after our deal some people were there picking it up. They said they were very happy because they had been looking for one. When asked what they were going to do with it they said it will be their new couch. Ok, to each their own! It was finally off the foredeck from when we lashed it down to go offshore and would actually have a purpose again.
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I'm sure that Joshua will have an interesting story to tell regarding my issue with small boats but I finally conquered my fear and got in. I'm proud of myself!

Out with the old....

...In with the new(ish). 

I want to thank everyone for reading and following our adventures. We have many more in store so stay tuned! Also, we have a Facebook page now so please give us a "like" and share with your friends!
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We were blown away

   Who has not been to West Marine? I do not think you can own a boat without a trip here. Not because the prices are good, but because its like being 8, and going to Toys-r-us. My parents never bought anything from Toys-r-us, the prices were better elsewhere. That's the same thing for us. Its a great place to visit to look, and maybe buy a hose clamp, a few feet of wire for a project, or a fender. Otherwise most things are overpriced by 20-40%, and the draconian price match policy makes me not buy as much there. Don't get me wrong, we drop $1500 a quarter in the store, but we would probably spend more like $4000 if they matched the occasional internet price. This brings us to our trip to Jacksonville 2 weeks ago.

   Jacksonville, FL has the second biggest West Marine in the country. They even have a tuna tower in he store... They also have a huge selection. 30 Day FREE amazon prime membership!!! Sign up now for this special trial. Cancel anytime.
Me and Dana both like to play with things, and touch thins we ought not to. So in my playing I played with the fans. We had been looking for some new fans to replace our aging units that are quite noisy. All was going well until I played with a fan called Taku. It has a 5 min burst mode that nearly blew our faces off. It was blowing things on the shelf across the isle. We were instantly sold. We didn't even know the price yet. $200!!!!!! For a fan? They must be insane. Alas, they were not.




   With a 5 min search online i had found it $50 cheaper. $150 is a ton of dosh for a fan of plastic. However we were already sold. Life on anchor requires some items we may otherwise dismiss, but on a 100 degree day this fan will be a gem.

   Installation is so easy, that it is too easy. In fact I would prefer a permanent mount.
Four suction cups hold it to the hatch, and a 20' cord plugs into a cig lighter. Instead of a 2 hour installation I plugged it in all lazily. I convinced myself it may be nice to move someday when needed. My plan is to install a cig lighter plug by the forward hatch, then zip tie the wire so it looks decent.

   So that's it. Our swanky fan. In the background is the old fan. One upgrade at a time we are bringing this old yacht up to today's standards. Until next time!

Small upgrades

What can i say, minor projects get procrastinated. Some of them so long, it is scarry. The faucet was one of those projects. The old faucet was leaking. not just a little leak, a major one. It leaked every time it was used. I even had a rebuild kit for it. I just never got to that project. So now it is finished. Here is the new faucet.

   Its made by an Italian company called Scandvik. Its a nice heavy unit. Dana, the cook, loves it.

   The next project,was a macerator. The old one died long before i bought the boat. I removed it the first week. There is a big tip here. I shopped around, sure i could find a price better then $125-150 everyone charges. They sell them on ebay for $72. Shipping was very fast. No photos on this one, as they are quite gross.

   Next up was the genoa. It tattered on my trip home, and when i tried to use it again, the sun cover came off a bit. I found a shop in town called something like Sails ECT?  The owner was very nice, he gets a lot of points for this, he knew his stuff. His price started out good...
  
   The sail shop was about 3/4 of a mile away.

   One thing I have promised myself is that I would work out more. This is exactly what I meant. Dana helped a bit by holding the bottom now and then, but it was mostly me. This sucker is heavy. 80-110#.
We got it there, by free foot transport.

   The sail came back yesterday. The quote was 1-2 hours labor. The bill came back as 4 hours, plus materials. When I called him on it, he said he will put half of it toward the next project he did for me. A bit odd I think on this one. He said he had been doing it for over 20 years. To stop in for a free quote. I stopped in for a quote, he was not there and would call me when he returned. About an hour later I walked back because he had not called. There on the sail loft was my sail, opened and being worked on. :Roll eyes: I asked the price and that was when he said 1-2 hours. He did not demand instant payment. That too is odd to me. Unless this is some ploy to get more business from me by keeping a 50% off tab.... Its just weird....

   More drama to come.

Playing the fiddle for the first time, and upgrades.

Yesterday I played the fiddle for the first time.

   The first one was very bad. I failed to get the core inside the cover. The second try was better. I found out I was missing a "pusher" This is a crucial item. I did not have a screwdriver long enough for the job, so I ended up short of the interlace distance needed to do the splice. On the second attempt I was determined. It must have taken me 2 hours. but i got the cores where the should be, and this thing is strong! So this was the first splice I have made. I am a fast learner. Starting on 5/8 line was my mistake. It cost me $3 in line to learn, lol.

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The next task of the day was engine work. I have a multitude of projects going on at one time. Project 1 is repair. There are questionable hoses on the engine that need replaced before a trip to Antarctica. I can't just ring up the local chandlery and ask for a hose. So I will be buying two of most parts I replace.


The engine looks bad. The paint is peeling off most places, and there is a small oil leak.

   Not wanting to pay a dear amount of money, I tried my hand at making my own.

   So i mixed up a batch (too bi a batch) and painted the area I had just sanded.

 Results another day.

The next project of the day was alternator installation.

   I scored a 100 amp Balmar alternator and a Balmar MC-612 multi-phase charge controller. Total price? $225. I had it tested and it came back very good. The bearings whine a bit, but not so much as to warrant $100 replacement. Besides, I will have a spare that is self regulating, so even if both of these fail, I have a backup. The setback was my adjustment arm was straight, I needed a curvy one, so I ordered a Balmar adjustable arm. Best price after an hour of research was $36. ouch.

   That's it for today, don't forget to help support us, any way you can. Thanks!
We have a new facebook page, just for fans of the Schooner Union Pacific!!!

https://www.facebook.com/svunionp