Harley’s Bar Hopping Adventure

Yesterday (Labor Day), Lisa and I took Zipply-the-yellow-dinghy out exploring into the flats with Harley. Our original plan was to head out to Snipes Keys a secret local’s hang out a little ways out of Key West that you can only get to by boat.

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Harley, however, had other plans for us. When we got to the sand bars en route to snipes, Harley took one look at the gin-clear water and started whining and bouncing on the bow of the dinghy trying to jump in. I have to admit Lisa and I were pretty keen on getting in as well. It was a PERFECT day to play in the water — sunny and hot.

A fun day lounging on a sand bad was all we got. Our plans for fishing, snorkeling, and lobstering had to wait for another day.

 

 

 

Video: Harley Climbs a swim ladder

One of my biggest concerns with having Harley on board when out sailing is that he will hop off the boat while at anchor and not be able to get back on — without help from either Lisa or myself. I figure if a cat can be trained to poop in a toilet, Harley can be taught to climb a swim ladder.

So when Lisa and I were in Andersonl, South Carolina, about a month or so ago, we visited a her family friends on Lake Hartwell. This proved to be the perfect opportunity to try teaching Harley how to climb out of the water using a swim ladder. If you noticed the video of the sharks at sunset marina, you’d understand why I’ve been reluctant to try this experiment of the boat at the dock.

For those of you who are interested, here’s video of Harley’s first attempt at climbing a swim ladder.

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Backing Your Sea Cocks / Through Hull Fittings

Okay. If you got past the title on this one, you’d probably thing “sounds kinky, and not likely to be fun.” For those of you who are wondering what a “sea cock” or “through hull” is, it’s a tap/pipe fitting that covers up a hole in a boat allowing water (typically) to be taken in or dumped out. For example, there is a sea cock / through hull to pull water into the engine to cool it. There is also one for the sink to drain out. These are arguably necessary holes in one’s boat.

The problem here is that a sea cock is a hole in the boat. If the fitting fails, there is a distinct possibility that the boat will SINK — an unnerving thought at the best of times. I’ve been paying attention to Pearl’s through hulls after recently figuring out that her bilge pumps will not keep her afloat if one fails. I’ve had to replace one sea cock already as a result of a cracked nut, so I think that I should replace the rest with more robust models that and install backing plates to make them more secure.

Here’s a picture of the some of Pearl’s sea cocks without backing under the sink in the head ( a.k.a. toilet) along with the infamous shower pump.

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There’s a pretty good article of how to install backing on though hulls at Jamestown Distributors. It’s something to think about the next time you pull your boat to get it painted.

 

Splicing Ropes — a Handy Guide

Recently, I’ve ended up needing to splice three strand, double braid, and hollow braid polypropylene ropes — though fortunately not to each other. While having the correct sizes and type of fids helps, it’s useful to have a guide to help navigate the complexities and ease frustration.

For the moment, the only tips I can offer is when splicing double braid, sweat the cover back over the splice using a hitch in a bungee cord (this saves your hands), also keep working the cover as you pull the core back through.

New England Ropes has a free handy Guide to Splicing that you can download.

A glitchy shower pump and learning how to stay afloat

Pearl has had a problem with the shower pan in the head filling up for a while. This has driven me nuts. Sometimes it fills faster than others, other times, it’s fine and bone dry. The fundamental problem was that water was siphoning back through the shower pump, but given several other factors, none of this made sense. The problem could be easily fixed by installing a loop with a vacuum break to prevent the siphoning but didn’t answer why the problem occurred intermittently.

A couple of days ago, I decided to dismantle the self priming diaphragm Jabsco Shower Pump that seemed to be the source if the problem. Once taken apart, the problem was obvious and simply resolved. Hair had got through the pump guard (filter) and was breaking the seal on the pump that prevented back flow.

While aggravating, this project taught me a lot. The first is that diaphragm pumps are a pretty good solution for situations where there might be back pressure, as well where the pump needed to be self priming, and/or possibly run dry without burning out. The second, which is more important, is that the same pump (more or less) empties out Pearl’s bilges. The third, is that backing plates on the through hull fittings will be a very good addition when the boat gets pulled to have the bottom painted.

For the most part, the Jabsco diaphragm pump is a works well to keep the bilge clear of drips. In the event of a real problem, however, like failure of a through hull fitting, I didn’t think there there is no way it would keep keep up with the influx of water. So, i decided to run the numbers.

On average, Pearl’s through hull fittings are between 1″ and 2″ in diameter, and they are somewhere between 6″ and 12″ below the waterline. My question was how many gallons per minute would that generate, and what sized bilge pumps would I need to accommodate that influx of water. As it turns out, this is the inverse of the “emptying a tank” problem that many of us had to solve in college. I have a vague recollection of how to calculate the answer, BUT as it turns out there is an easier solution, an online flow rate calculator (see http://www.efunda.com/formulae/fluids/draining_tank.cfm#calc).

The net of this story is that I need to size my bilge pump(s) better. Fortunately, this isn’t too hard a problem to solve. West Marine had 2000 gph bilge pumps on sale for $100 ea this week, and the locating them and running the required hose isn’t too much of a problem. This is, however, and important consideration even if you leave your boat parked at the dock and aren’t planning to go sailing.

Depth of spout (ft):
 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00 0.50 1.00 1.50 2.00
Spout exit diameter (in): 1.00 1.00 1.00 1.00 2.00 2.00 2.00 2.00
Exit Velocity, V (ft/s): 5.67 8.04 9.84 11.35 5.67 8.02 9.83 11.30
Volume Flowrate (gal/min): 13.60 19.20 23.60 2.72 54.40 77.00 94.30 109.00
Volume Flow Rate (gal/hr) 816.00 1152.00 1416.00 163.20 3264.00 4620.00 5658.00 6540.00

A “Ghetto-Fabulous” Inexpensive Boat Airconditioner in 5 Steps

Not to denigrate ghettos in any way since several of my closest friends live in them, …. The solution that Lisa and I came up with for an air conditioner with which to survive summer in Florida was literally that: a jerry rigged but very effective, inexpensive installation. Yes, it does make Pearl look a little bit like the Clampett’s truck, but I can live with that for the moment. At least we aren’t sweating.

Requirements for a Ghetto-Fabulous AC

  1. An appropriately sized AC for your boat
  2. A suitable place (like a forward hatch) to install it
  3. A roll of non-marking 3M Duct Tape
  4. A sheet of plexiglass
  5. About 2 feet of bath-liner vinyl (this is pretty wide so you need to cut it down)
  6. Installation Instructions
  • Cut a rectangular piece of plexiglass approximately the width and height of the front of the AC
  • Square the AC off in front of one of the forward hatches so that the plexiglass sits on the hatch at an angle
  • Attach the plexiglass just above the air intake panel for the AC
  • Drape the bath liner vinyl over the AC so that it covers the front of the AC that would be inside the window in which it’s installed and tape it to the AC
  • Fold or cut the vinyl as required so that it can be taped to the deck.

That’s pretty much all it takes to get up and running. You can make the system more efficient by taping the plexiglass to the vinyl sheet. There will be other tweaks you can make depending on your boat, but this is about as quick, dirty, and effective as it gets.

There are several people I know who install window style ac units in the companionway. That turns into a huge pain as you have to clamber over it every time you try to get in or out of the cabin.

We’d love to hear if you have a better idea on how to cool your boat for cheap!

 

Airconditioning — to sweat or not to sweat

Having finally go back on Pearl after essentially six months of traveling around (Portland, Atlanta, 3 cross country trips, South Carolina, etc.,), Pearl is in serious need of some TLC. Given that it summer in Florida, one of the first orders of business as far as I was concerned was to get the boat air conditioned again. Without an AC, working below decks makes working in a sauna sound attractive.

So, on to the ACs. There are three basic options for air conditioning one’s sailboat. The one you choose, as with anything else, depends on a combination of budget, storage space, and aesthetics.

Option #1: Sea Water Cooled ACs

This the ideal. It’s integrated with the boat, making it a magical oasis of blissful cool in the tropical sun. All you need to do is plug into shore power or fire up your generator and the magic will happen — but for a price. These babies cost about $2500 for the necessary hardware and about the same for installation by a professional. As an added benefit, these ACs can also be used as heaters if you happen to be somewhere cold. Check out this handy guide at Dometic for more details.

Option #2: Portable ACs

This was the first option I tried. The basic idea is that you park the air conditioner some place in the salon or head, run the ducting to a port light, power it up and you are off to the races. Sounds simple enough, and really is — until you get hit by rain, have to close the port light so the boat doesn’t get flooded, and en up broiling below decks.

I was really pretty excited about this option (actually used it for most of last year) and it worked pretty well until Lisa and Harley came on board. Adding two more bodies seriously cut down on the available space and increased the heating requirements. Next.

Option #3: Window Unit

On first glance, a “Window Shaker” seems like the least attractive option for adding AC to the boat, but as it turns out, this solution has great merit. Firstly, this is the least cost per BTU if you get a household unit from Home Depot. Secondly, you don’t lose interior space. Thirdly, if installed correctly, it works great even it it’s raining! Ok, so it looks a bit “ghetto,” to have an AC strapped on deck, but for the price, I can live with that.

Summary

Initially, I was really keen on getting a sea water cooled system, but given a choice between spending $5000 on an AC or comparable amounts on either a water maker or upgrading the navionics, I decided to choose the latter. My rationale here is that if we are cruising, we aren’t likely to be using the AC too much as I don’t want to add a big generator, the fuel to run it, blah, blah. Quite frankly, I would rather have balmy tropical breezes at an anchorage. Air conditioning, however, is mandatory when you are at a slip where there is access to shore-power etc. If we find ourselves at a slip outside the US for any length of time, my guess is that we would be able to replicate the window-shaker solution for relatively low cost.

More shortly on how to I handled installing a Window Shaker Air Conditioner on Pearl….

Wild ride on Zipply — Pearl’s new dingy/tender

Pearl has had a nice little dingy/outboard combo for a while — a Honda 5hp outboard with a West Marine PVC inflatable with a slatted floor. It’a a great combo if you are just trying to get to the dock or to go ashore for the evening, sort of thing. It doesn’t work so well if you’d like to take longer fishing trips or go exploring without moving Pearl.

Enter “Zipply” an AMI (Advanced Marine Inflatables) catamaran inflatable which I picked up while in Portland earlier this year. AMI is a Chinese built catamaran/tunnel hull style dinghy. Paired with a 20hp Yamaha outboard, she just about flies. Check out the video below.

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As you can see, this isn’t your grandma’s tender. At some point, I will explain the rationale for why I picked this combination, along with more tech details (for those who care).

Harley the Boat Dog

For those of you who haven’t met Harley, he’s my dog, a Lab x Pointer, who weighs in at around 90lbs. In my mind, Harley is a an expensive poop generator who only rivals the boat in terms of being the source of costly repairs. Most people who meet him think he’s adorable, but then again everyone’s entitled to their own opinion.

Anyway, since I will be in the US for the rest of this year, I decided to bring Harley out to the boat with me. A part of this was prompted by Lisa who met him while helping me sort out my house in PDX and fell in love with him.

While I had some concerns about integrating Harley into life on Pearl, my fears proved unfounded. Harley seems to have taken to life on Pearl like a Lab to water. He springs on and off the boat from the dock without a problem — no stairs required. He seems to be quite comfortable traveling in the dinghy. Most importantly, as far as he’s concerned, he’s decided that his bed is the tiny bit of floor at the foot of the V-berth.

Here are some pics of Harley in his new environment.

 

 

Feeding with the Fishies ….

The Marina at which Pearl is located has a bunch of different kinds of fish — typically very large Tarpon. Recently, there have been several bull sharks that have shown up, along with Eagle Rays.

Here’s some footage of some of the local fisherman feeding the sharks!

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Returning To Key West

PDX-EYWIt’s going to be a pretty long hike back from Portland, OR to Key West, FL. We are about 10 days late on our departure — I feel like I’m stuck in groundhog day. The first leg looks like a straight shot to Atlanta, GA. Stay tuned for updates from the road. T-3 hrs and counting. This is going to be an interesting new chapter in the Pearl Saga with Harley on board!

 

Hurricane Season is Officially ready for Business!

Back again after a long silence …

Hurricane season in the Caribbean seems to be open. Tropical storm Andrea is spooled up and running. Fortunately, it’s north and west of Key West.Time to bug out of Portland and batten down the hatches.

Watch the trough inbound from Africa. Stay tuned for an entertaining Hurricane Season.