Zero to Cruising!

Like most cruising sailboats, we use propane. We use it for cooking and we use it for heating our water. It was way back in August 2009 when I wrote about the propane guy telling us that we needed a new tank. Now that we’re nearing the point where we’re actually going to have to fork over some cash for a new one, we have to decide what kind of tank to buy? Do we get a Steel one (the ones that most of us have for our barbecues), an Aluminum one or one of the newer Fiberglass ones?

Steel: Cheapest, heaviest and could rust.
Aluminum: Lighter, resists rust and is the most expensive of the three.
Fiberglass: Lightest, much more expensive than steel but a bit less than Aluminum. These often allow you to see how much propane is remaining, which is kinda cool.

Steel is by far the most common and because it is the cheapest, if we had to swap it with another, we wouldn’t get all teary about it. Given that there is a TON of money going out these days and little coming in, I think we’ll stick with the basics on this one. But you have to admit, those Fiberglass ones sure do look sexy, don’t they?

Note: We actually carry two propane tanks. A primary 20 lb. one, which is what we need to replace. We also have a 10 lb. Aluminum one that we mostly use for the barbecue, but it also acts as a backup when we screw up and let the bigger one run out.

The evolution of navigational tools:

• Celestial Navigation with a Sextant
• Compass
• Loran
• Radar
• GPS
• and now… AIS

The chronology of the above list may or may not be correct, but my point in listing them was to show that there are always new things being developed to assist us in finding our way safely. We may choose to use some, none or all of them, but it does pay to at least know the pros and cons of each of them.

The Automatic Identification System (AIS) is a short range coastal tracking system used on ships and by Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) for identifying and locating vessels by electronically exchanging data with other nearby ships and VTS stations. (source: Wiki)

I am not going to try to do a detailed description of AIS. The basic idea of the system is that AIS can either show you where the big fast-moving ships are, or both do that AND show them where you are too. Hopefully this could help to avoid you getting run over. Sounds pretty valuable in certain cruising areas as getting hit by a tanker going 20 knots would make for a crappy day! If you are interested in more of the details, I found this link was quite good.

Will we be getting one of these? It’s doubtful, at least at the moment. We have countless other more pressing things to invest our limited supply of money into. Did someone mention a Watermaker?

Note: I can’t belive I am still talking about this stupid watermaker thing! We have even updated our wish list (look to the right) to a different, less-expensive model. We really need to get on with it and make a decision!!!

Be warned… this is going to be one of those exciting posts, much like our discussions on the merits of composting toilets!

It was just over a year ago the I wrote about our less-than-subtle introduction to a boat’s bilge during our Fast Track to Cruising course. For those not yet up on their nautical terminology, Wikipedia describes the bilge like this:

The bilge is the lowest compartment on a ship where the two sides meet. The word is sometimes also used to describe the water that collects in this compartment. Water that does not drain off the side of the deck drains down through the ship into the bilge. This water may be from rough seas, rain, or minor leaks in the hull or stuffing box. The water that collects in the bilge must be pumped out if it becomes too full and threatens to sink the ship.
Bilge water can be found aboard almost every vessel. Depending on the ship’s design and function, bilge water may contain water, oil, urine, detergents, solvents, chemicals, pitch, particles, and so forth.

It goes on to say a bit more but you get the idea.

We often hear of people making the claim that their bilge is so clean they could eat out of it. In our case, that is just about true. Unless we leave the hatches (windows) open during a big rainstorm, we never have water in the bilge. (Note that I just did the good luck knock-on-wood thing because I said that). In spite of the fact that we seldom have water in there, each one (we have 2 separate bilges, one in each hull) is fitted with a manual pump to empty it. The pumps are activated by a handle in the cockpit area. We have tested them, after one of the window/rain episodes, and they function as they should. How fast they would work in an emergency situation I am unsure.

When reviewing the manuals left by our boat’s previous owner I saw that he had made himself a note to purchase an electric bilge pump. Curious, I sent him an email to inquire why, thinking that perhaps he felt the ones installed by the factory weren’t adequate. His answer, if I recall correctly, was just to have it as back up, and thinking of the potential benefit of having a very effective electric pump in an emergency situation, he may very well be right.

By the way, although they deny it we think our friends were feeling sorry for us after reading yesterday’s post about our apartment galley. As such they invited us over for an awesome turkey dinner last night. Thanks guys.

Today’s trip to visit our baby…

Sadly, the water is still much too “hard” for boats!

What is this other “dock” doing parked where our boat should be?

Getting inside to check the state of our batteries is a fairly athletic endeavor.

Unless of course you can hang upside down at the drop of a hat like Rebecca!

Check out this cool boat we saw at a different marina! Note the ratlines (steps) leading aloft. Nice!

Reason #2675 why we want to get back on our boat: Cooking!

Our apartment galley (kitchen):

• Small bar fridge with TINY freezer
• Tiny microwave
• Electric frying pan
• 1 sink

Our boat galley:

• Top-loading fridge with still small, but larger freezer
• 2-burner propane stove
• propane bar-b-que (outside of course)
• 2 sinks

We use a few other electric appliances in the apartment such as a toaster and an electric coffee maker. Although we could use them on the boat, powered through the inverter, that likely won’t be happening unless we are connected to shore power. Note that in neither place do we have an oven, and to be honest, we really don’t miss it.

Oh, remember how we had finally “decided” to not install a watermaker at this time? First hand reports of water shortages and this article are now causing me to second guess our decision.

Oh, on a different topic, I was inspired by Drew’s list that I posted yesterday and decided to organize my tools. Ever conscious of adding extra poundage to Katana, I was curious to see how much the collection weighed. My guess was 40-50 lbs. Actual weight: 91 lbs. Is that a lot or a little? I don’t know but nothing in my list seems to be too “out there.” They all seem necessary to me, and in truth, there are still some gaps in our tool list that need to be filled.

One of the very cool side benefits to running this blog has been the wealth of information that we have received from regular readers. I know I have mentioned this before but it is so helpful for us. For example, we have received personal emails with advice from Susan and Jeff in Grenada, Mike and Susan in Martinique, Bob and Sheila in St. Croix and Seth and Jamie who, although now holed up in Calgary, have made it part way around the world on their small catamaran (Note that all of those locations are where we think they currently are. Being cruisers they could be anywhere).

This short list does not even begin to scratch the surface though; those are just some of the people in warmer locales. We have had a ton of very cool people from North America adding their valuable advice to the mix too. Thank you so much everyone! Please keep the advice coming. We appreciate it. This brings me to what I wanted to mention today though, which is our acquisition of spare parts.

In one of the very helpful and detailed emails we received it was strongly recommended that we bring a lot of spare parts. Of course, I knew that this was true. Everyone tells you that. But what spares specifically? I posted this question on the PDQ Owners forum and received a couple of good replies.

Terry Green, a PDQ 36 owner, suggested the following:

“Parts are not only expensive, but sometimes you simply cannot get them. At a minimum you should have a water pump, a spare impeller, a carburetor, CD ignition (complete), spark plugs. ignition wires, fuel pump, all filters, oil, etc. In short if you can replace it, bring spares and any tools needed to do the job. Most “parts” places do not have any parts, just a collection of catalogs. After several weeks of waiting, you enjoy paying high import duties for anything brought in. If you have visitors, have them bring anything you need with them. Keep a handy list of sources you use at home, with phone numbers and e-mail addresses, so that you can order quickly and have parts shipped to you. Again, if it is removable have at least one spare (more would be better). You cannot have too many spares or tools onboard.

Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention spares for your rigging and sail handling, your windlass, your watermaker, your lighting, your electronics, and anything else you might have onboard.”

Hmmmm… I can feel our water line going up (or is it down?) just thinking about all that stuff!

Drew Frye, who is one of the very helpful people I mentioned above, posted this very excellent list and suggestions/comments:

The PDQ32 is small. You can’t take everything. What things can wait to get fixed? Quite a lot:
* Windlass. Don’t have one now.
* Most electronics. I’m sure you will have a spare VHF and GPS.
* Winches. I have 4 and I can sail with 1. Grease them before you go, and every year or 2 there after.
* Engines. You have 2 (three, actually).
* Lines. Common polyester lines are widely available, and you will have some spares. Watch for chafe.
* Rigging. Inspect it before you go and keep a good eye out.
* Water. You can easily bail from the tank.

The nav station is now a work area (I replaced the table with a smaller one I can walk by and scratch up) and a lot of the small stuff stays in plastic parts trays (the ~ 10″x12″ flat ones with lids – 3 fit) in the nav station chart rack, along with some charts.

Now, having all of those spare parts and not knowing what to do with them, wouldn’t do us much good. (By the way, that is exactly the comment given by our friend Behzad, a medical doctor, when I asked him about what to stock in our medical kit, but that is fodder for another post). I guess I had better get back to studying!

Remember when I discussed filling the flotation chambers on our boat with empty soda pop bottles? Well, our latest acquision is a bunch of BABY Soda Pop Bottles!

Our plan is not to use them as per their original purpose in life, which is to grow into full-sized soda pop bottles. We will instead use them to store countless tiny items on board (think spices, medicines, fragile parts, etc.) that we would like to keep dry and protected.

Yes, the bottle in Rebecca’s left hand could have, with the right “incentive”, grown up to be a great big bottle just like the one in her right.

We purchased ours from Steve Spangler Science but they are also available here under the name of Tube Vaults. The first place markets to teachers and parents. The second place to… I’m not quite sure.

Anyway, they are pretty cool, and strong (see video below for proof) and no doubt have many uses.

No, not THAT kind of Tide!

A portion of last night’s Seamanship class dealt with the effect of tides (the vertical movement of water caused by the effect of the moon and the sun on the earth) on water levels in certain cruising areas. Although tide is not a factor here it will be once we get to the east coast or further south. There are a variety of ways of estimating the height of the water once you know the high and low water levels from your tide tables. The way that we learned in our Fast Track to Cruising course was surprisingly not mentioned in the Seamaship class. What we were familiar with is called the Rule of Twelfths, described on this page.

We also discussed tidal currents which is the horizontal movement of water caused by the tide change. On the practice chart we were using, which shows areas around Vancouver Island, the currents are sometimes 7 knots or higher. We definitely don’t want to try to navigate through those channels when the current is at its peak!

During a break in studying for my HAM radio license yesterday I contacted Pride Marine, our local chandlery, to order some braided polyester line for our new Seabrake drogue. When I told them that I wanted close to 200′ of 9/16″ line I think he thought that I was a little crazy as that is fairly big line. Who am I to second guess the manufacturer though as that is what their specs call for. I was adding up all the line (rope) that we will be carrying on board Katana and there is a LOT! A lot meaning a lot of space required to store it and a lot of weight. I guess it’s all necessary though.

When I spoke with Clive at Pride I told them that I would be needing some eye spices on the line. Rather than just paying them to do it for me I asked if they would teach me how to do it. Although I know they are busy, and will only be getting busier as the season progresses, they agreed. Splicing polyester braided line is significantly different than splicing three-strand rope. While I can do the latter, thanks in part to my friend Peter’s instruction, I think with a bit of help from the guys at Pride I will be able to figure out the other technique too. There are some downloadable instructions here on this page but nothing beats hands-on instruction from a good teacher.

Yes, now we’re going to talk (briefly) about a real Ham (instead of the radio variety). The following story is paraphrased from Zig Ziglar’s book See You at the Top:

A wife is in the kitchen getting ready to make the Christmas ham when her husband walks in just as she’s cutting off the ends of the ham. He asks, “Why are you cutting of the ends of the ham?” She replies, “I cut off the end of the ham because my mother always cut off the ends of the ham.” “Well”, he says, “Mom’s in the living room, let’s ask her why. Mom, why do you cut off the ends of the ham?” Mom replies, “I cut off the ends off the ham because my mother always cut off the ends of the ham.” The husband says, “Grandma is long distance, but let’s call her and get to the bottom of this three generation mystery.” On the phone, “Grandma, why did you cut off the ends of the ham?” Grandma replied, “I cut off the ends of the ham because my roasting pan was too small.”

Countless times throughout the years I have had to ask myself “why am I cutting the ends off the Ham?” There are so many things that people do, for no other reason than that’s the way they have already done it! I was reminded of this last night when I shared our plan of switching out the traditional MSD (marine head) with a composting toilet to someone who works in the marine industry. Obviously this guy has more experience than I do but I have done my homework on this subject. Instead of being curious about my reasoning for making the switch I was instead presented with all the reasons why it would not work (reasons which, to my knowledge, are not based on facts).

I think this type of behavior, which I am guilty of at many times too, comes from one of two sources:

• Lack of information
• Fear of change

If presented with a new idea, or a problem which perhaps needs a new solution, and you lack information on the subject, get out of the box and do some research. There is this thing called the internet which makes sourcing information pretty easy these days! If it is number two, make a conscious evaluation of whether the pros of the change will outweigh any possible cons. And if they do, go for it. Just don’t keep blindly following the status quo because that is the way you, or everyone else, have always done it!

Now, perhaps the people who administer the HAM radio licensing will read this and change their stupid testing requirements? Uhhh… not too likely!

On a much brighter subject, check out this coming week’s weather forecast. Come on spring!!!

That’s right folks… there’s no more screwing around. Yesterday, March 1st, was the first day I have been “unemployed” in 25 years! Some of our friends like to use the word retired instead of unemployed, but the result is the same. It’s kind of a scary situation but of course, it was inevitable, and necessary. Rebecca will be continuing to work at our old gym, helping with the transition to the new ownership, until the end of April. I, on the other hand, will be… hmmm, what will I be doing?

If Katana was back in the water, or even if it was a bit warmer, there are a number of upgrades that I could be working on. We’ll see how the weather cooperates on that front. It is supposed to be warmer and sunny later in the week!

In the meantime, one of the projects that I have committed to is finally acquiring that HAM radio license. I have had the study resources for a long time but have procrastinated on studying. I wonder why though? I can’t for the life of me understand why anyone who simply wants to use a radio like this, as opposed to building one, would need to know all this stuff. There are areas of the material to be studied which are just plain old memorization (why not just have a little list beside the radio?) and there is also some serious electrical and electronics theory. I went to college to study this stuff so it’s not way over my head. Had I not though I think it would be crazy!

Ham Abuse is making me memorize all this stuff!

Speaking of electronics, the guys from Bebi Electronics in Fiji contacted me last night to say that the lights, which they told me wouldn’t ship until near the end of this month, left there yesterday! Contrast this with the Garmin chartplotter that I ordered from a supplier not 3 hours away from me here in Canada. They charged my credit card for 100% of the purchase price and now 3 weeks after ordering it they still haven’t even shipped it yet! WTF? Do these guys need to go to Fiji or Australia to learn about customer service? Or perhaps I should start posting the names of the companies that give crappy service instead of just the good ones?