It’s Saturday morning and PANDORA IS BACK IN THE WATER!  Yahoo, Yahoo, Yahoo!  It’s been a month since she came out and after so many “I’ll be ready to launch in a few days” I can’t believe that she’s FINALLY in.  And, it’s just in time as it’s late October and it’s getting COLD, in the low 40s outside as I write this.  Yes, it’s high time to head south, so here’s the plan…

Now that she’s back in the water I’ll check all the systems and get the refrigeration going again.   Check, check, double-check…  I’ll begin stocking the freezer and other last minute provisions in anticipation of shoving off when the weather allows, later in the week, for Hampton, the staging port for the Salty Dawg Rally that gets underway in early November.  Of course, if you feel like hearing more, you can sign up under “sign up to be notified when I publish a post”. Pretty descriptive, right?

And, on the upper tool bar, you can also click on “where in the world is Pandora” and see where we actually are or at least where we were when we last “pushed the button”.

As I have been going on and on about my bow thruster for the last two weeks (yes it took that long to do the overhaul) and get it going reliably again, I thought it would be fun to post a video of it going up and down, up and down.  I think that is just so great, and mildly amusing.  Among the nifty features of the unit is the remote-control.  You might want to ask yourself “why Bob, would you need a remote when you are only feet away from the “joystick” in the cockpit?  Just use that.”  Well, that’s so I can control the bow while Brenda does the “forward and reverse thing” as we go up to a dock.  It also made that neato video you just saw possible.  Here’s the receiver and “brains” of the unit.  It was relocated inside the boat from in the “sometimes humid”compartment near the motor.  A much better spot, I am assured. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that it won’t crap out again any time soon. However, I am pretty sure that it’s going to be a lot better as I have worked hard to modify things to keep everything dry.   And speaking of dry, here’s the now dry compartment, complete with dry drive motor.  Let’s hope it stays that way. And, just in case somehow, some way, water gets into here, there’s a pump ready and willing to assist.  But wait, there’s more.  When the above featured pump has done it’s work, this unit is on hand to pump out down to the last teaspoon.  It cycles every few hours, 24/7 “just in case”.   Let’s hope that it lives up to it’s name. And, to deal with anything that might be missed, and to keep things desert dry, I added a decidedly low tech item to catch those remaining molecules of H2O. Fingers crossed that it all works in harmony and, well, continues to work.  If all of this isn’t up to the task, I still have the option of putting in forced ventilation but that’s another project for another day.

Well, there you have it, and as my day used to say, “more than you want to know about penguins”.  A complete rundown of my “for the moment” functioning bow thruster.

Of course, everybody loves photos of boats “on the move” so here’s Pandora making her way across through the marina at a stately pace.  She won’t look so shiny and clean for a long time to come. I guess I’ll close today with Pandora’s first beautiful sunset since being “back in business” again.  Nice spot, nice spot indeed. I am really looking forward to being in many more nice spots in the coming months and I very much hope that you will stay tuned and make the journey with me.

Time to cruise.

It’s Tuesday morning and I am happy to say that the thruster is ALMOST done.  I say almost as everything is set and adjusted but now I am told that the “mother board” is not good.  BAD MOTHER!!!   Yes, it does sound REALLY BAD.  However, because they feel bad for me, and I guess that business is good elsewhere (they are starting a rebuild job on 200′ yacht at Hodgons Yachts, in East Booth Bay), I am not being charged for that, which is good.  I can only imagine what that would have cost.  The new “mother” will be installed on Thursday and I should be good to go.  While the final bill will be a “bit more than estimated”, I am not being charged for all of the “coming and going” over the last ten days.  I have to give them credit as they worked very hard to keep things moving, even though it kept them there on both Saturday and Sunday of last weekend.

In any event, NO MORE FLOODING is allowed in the thruster compartment and I am optimistic that the two, count em, two bilge pumps will keep things in good shape. I’ll also be putting desiccant bags in there to see if I can keep humidity at bay.  If not, next spring I’ll put in a vent system.  More to come on that.

Oh yeah, remember the “ostomy hole”, the bilge pump outlet installed RIGHT IN THE SIDE OF THE HULL!? Yes, this one. The nasty white “orafice”.  Well, they did a pretty good job of making it look OK with a matching stainless fitting that is of the same design of the smaller one near it.  I had checked into having the hole plugged and repainted, but opted against that as it’s very hard to make a good match on a dark green hull and I expect that the “cure would have been worse than the disease”.  It doesn’t look that bad, right?Anyway, it seems that the issue of the thruster is finally, almost, done which is good.  It’s been painful at best, but at least I now know what to look for in keeping things in good shape.  As an added plus, this “experience” has reminded me, once again, just how important “preventive maintenance” is.  All and all, it’s probably a good allegory for life in general so, with that in mind, a good, if expensive, lesson.

Pandora is now scheduled to go in the water on Friday morning so I can check out the “new” Autoprop and be sure that everything is in good shape.  I’ll change the oil, fire up the freezer and fridge and all the other things that have been on hold while she’s been on the hard.

I had also promised an update on the Salty Dawg “fleet” page.  This is a screen shot of the group as of today.  It looks like Domini and Altera “flew” literally, no doubt with their transponder in their pocket aboard a plane.   Altera started in Cape Breton, NS and Domini in Boston.  I think that Brenda and I know the Altera gang from previous winters as I think that they used to own a SAGA 48.  Note that I have “clicked” on Pandora, in the image below, so she is highlighed.   You can see the actual shared page, in real time, by clicking here.  when you get there, you will have to put in SDR where it says “group” or “Pandora” under Name (you can’t do both).  For the date range, you can either choose today only or a range to see where we are right now.  Of course, I’ll be posting as we get closer to let you know when we are hoping to depart.  If you save this page on your screen,  you can just refresh the page and see, any time, what’s going on as the fleet assembles in Hampton and more sign on.  I’ll also have this link on the “where in the world is Pandora” on my home page.

Yes, Pandora is inching forward and I am getting pretty excited about what the next month will bring.  Fingers crossed that “mother” will check out and we’ll be good to go in a little more than a week.

And as they say “but wait, there’s more”.  And that’s true, but you will have to wait till my next post to find out.

Thanks for tuning in, if there’s anyone out there.  Are you listening?  Say something…please.

It’s Sunday morning and, as far as I know, the bow thruster was finished up and tested last evening.  It’s been a long, expensive process and hopefully the improvements put in place, designed to keep it dry, will avoid a long slow decline again.  If “an ounce of prevention”, no make that “thousands of ounces of prevention” will make things better, than we should be in good shape.  The one remaining item to add will be a forced ventilation system which I expect install in the spring.

This whole issue reminds me of the first time I installed an refrigeration system on my Tartan 37 many years ago.  I really didn’t know what I was getting into but really wanted to have a few ice cubes for my G&Ts.   Sounds simple?  Not!!!

I WANTED A FRIDGE. So, I added a compressor etc.  Little did I understand that this would eventually mean more batteries, a high output alternator.  The list went on and on.

Anyway, those ice cubes cost me big time and now, with all the time the “thruster guys” spent crawling around on Pandora, I am reminded, yet again, of how things can get complicated.   Boats in general and thrusters, watermakers and fridges, in specific, are good examples of how you can take simple things, like docking, plopping ice cubes into your drink or having a cup of water from simple to PLENTY COMPLICATED.  I guess that’s what owning a boat is all about.  Right?

So, now with the thruster back in business I will begin to wrap things up and get ready to launch, probably later this week.

I had a call with my crew for the run to the BVI a few days ago and the question of lee cloths came up.  Of course! I forgot about that.  Oops.  Anyway, lee cloths on the way.  I worked up the basic pieces yesterday, one for the port and starboard main settees as well as one for the forward Pullman berth.  I also installed the hardware and will be working up the rest of the items such as clips and straps, needed to finish the job in the next few days.  Thanks Jim for that reminder.   I’ll post some photos when I finalize the installation next week.  They will certainly come in handy when the going gets “spirited” along the way.

There are so many details to work out to get ready for a run like this, especially with a new boat, well, new to me anyway, that it seems TO-DOs keep finding their way onto my list faster than I am able to check them off.  And sometimes, in my desire to make everything perfect, I end up breaking things and then have yet another item to fix.  I am thinking of one particularly stupid example that I did the other day but I’ll “take the 5th” on that one.  Sorry, no comment.  However, parts on the way.

Changing the subject, I have also set a nominal departure date to head to Hampton VA, October 22nd.  I’ll have Pandora launched around the 15th or 16th, which will give me nearly a week, once she’s in the water, to make certain that everything is in good working order.  I’ll also be able to crank up the fridge and begin stocking the freezer.

I should note that I have renewed my subscription for my SPOT, GPS transponder and will be updating my position every four hours while I am underway.  This section of the sight is “where in the world is Pandora“.
I also understand that there will be a tracking service that participants in the Salty Dawg fleet will be subscribing to for the duration of the run from Hampton to Virgin Gorda.  It’s Snap Track and it will allow you to see where Pandora is an how she’s doing relative to other rally particpants.  This is an example of what you’ll see when we are underway.  I’ll post details of this as I learn more.

So, to keep things moving along, I’ll continue to provision and stow everything we’ll need for the winter aboard.   No point in putting her in the water any sooner than necessary as it will just mean that there will be more time for the bottom to become slimy before we head south.  And,a clean bottom means and a bit more speed along the way which will make a big difference over a 2,000 mile run, that’s for sure.

Hopefully, this will be the last post that mentions the “thruster guys” and that from here on out, I’ll be able to turn Pandora any way I wish against currents and wind when I am close to pointy and hard things.  Fingers crossed.

As I “gird my loins” in preparation for the “thruster bill”, I need to keep my “eye on the prize” and think about making landfall at the Bitter End Yacht Club in Virgin Gorda.  Yes, that will be very nice indeed.  And, when I arrive, I plan to sit here and have a drink with a little umbrella stuck in it.  That’s of course, if I have any $$ left over from the, well, you know …
Just a few (thousand) details to tend to first.  I’d better get on it. 

 

It’s Thursday morning and I find myself wondering if WILL PANDORA EVER SPLASH AGAIN!!!

For the last few days I have been fussing, no make that “screwing around” with the bow thruster to try and get the frozen parts out.  I have learned more than I want to know about “freeing” up parts which includes a liberal application of heat.  I have been using MAP gas, something new to me, which is way, way hotter than “your father’s propane torch”.  “How hot is it Bob?”  It’s SCARRY hot.    This gas, which comes in a yellow bottle, comes out with an impressive roar and to apply it to the aluminum parts of the thruster, just inches from a “plastic boat” is pretty scary.  As the gas rushes out in a white hot plume, the aluminum and stainless parts crackle and pop along with the smoking lubricant that I have been spraying all over everything.  Doesn’t that sound like fun?

The key to freeing up frozen parts, I am told,  is to get them  plenty hot and then cold, over and over again.  Each time heat is applied, things move around and it gets a little bit better.  It’s quite depressing just how very, very small a “bit better” really is.

With the whole process going ON AND ON, I decided that I had to take over from the “thruster twins” and do some of the grunt work myself.  To that point, I was talking with someone at the Essex Yacht Club bar last night and “spinning my tale of woe” about the thruster and she asked,  “So, who’s doing the work for you”.  I told her the name of the company and then added, in a much lower and barely audible voice,  “And I am doing some the grunt work myself”.  “Oh…”, she said, seeming to say, “you get your hands dirty, for real?”  “I’m at peace with myself, I am at peace with myself”, I chanted silently.

At their daily rates, I would have ended up with a perfectly functioning thruster, compliments of the “paid help” and no “coin” left over to go anywhere.  “I have good news and I have bad news Brenda.  The good news is that Pandora’s ready to go.  The bad news…  We are broke!” So,it’s DO-IT-YOURSELF TIME! Yippee!

“That’s all fine and dandy Bob, but how’s it going, really?”  Well, my mother used to have a phrase “It’s always darkest before the dawn” and let me tell you, I needed a very powerful spotlight to see where this was going for a while there.  I had tried pounding, heating, pounding again and wasn’t making any progress. And to make matters worse, if I broke something, I’d have to have the replacement parts fabricated as the company that made the unit doesn’t make parts for this model any longer.

As I pounded away, knuckles bleeding,  I also took time to soak the parts in penetrating lubricant.  In order to be sure that things got “lubed” adequately, I fashioned a “lube pond” on top of the frozen shaft using a plastic cup and modeling clay.  Very colorful, right?  Then I POUNDED away some more.  Still, nothing moved.  Not after two days of beating.  What’s a grunt to do…?

The “chief thruster guy” had mentioned that, if all else failed, I could cut some parts and take the pieces to his shop where they would press them out with hydraulic ram.  However, that would cost plenty as the a replacement for the “cut” parts would have to be fabricated.   There had to be a better way.

Here’s an idea.  How about a gear puller, a tool that I have used to remove propellers over the years?  So, after consulting with the “chief”, I constructed a modified puller, or in this case a “pusher” that would allow me to put tremendous pressure on the frozen shaft.  Put a wrench on the black threaded shaft and crank away.  And let me tell you… I cranked away plenty and then some, using my feet to apply pressure and turn the screw. “So how did it go Bob?  Get to the point! You sure can go on and on about things.”   Well I was able to move the shaft by 3/4″, and it only took two days!  Yahoo!  And let me tell you, any movement at all is a VERY big deal.  So, I left it last night for another 8-10 hours of soaking with my “cup and clay lube contraption puddle thing”.

So, today the sun is out and I am optimistic.  Now that there is some movement, I should be able to pull it the next 4″ and remove the shaft, once and for all. Fingers crossed.  I still have a few ideas if that doesn’t work, but one way or the other, I am sure I can get it out as the modest movement yesterday seems to suggest that I have finally gotten things headed in the right direction.

Meanwhile, “back at the ranch” I have also been assembling provisions for the winter.  The pantry is filled and this is the stuff that was left without a home.   So, I looked around and made room in one of the lockers. Voila!  It all fit.   Now, isn’t that tidy?So now, with days ticking away I am thinking hard about when I’ll run Pandora to Hampton.  The original plan was to take Pandora to the marina in Hampton,  visit the boat show in Annapolis, come home and then head back to VA around the 24th to begin preparing to leave with the rally to the BVI.

However, given the way that things are going, I am reassessing things and am now thinking that perhaps I’ll just delay heading to Hampton till later in the month as it will save me from renting cars twice.   It will certainly make finishing up Pandora’s prep much easier as she’s less than ten minutes away.

Well, if it isn’t contrary winds, it’s something else.  I guess it will be clearer later today if I am successful, OR NOT,  in getting things back on track.  All of this also assumes that the “thruster guys” can get back down to Pandora and finish their repairs and upgrades.   ChaChing, ChaChing…

Skinned knuckles and all, I guess that I need to focus on the goal.  It’s warm down south, it’s warm down south, it’s warm down south…  The pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  And when this is all done and the bills are paid, I’ll need one. 

It’s Tuesday morning and hurricane Joaquin is only a distant memory.  Well, at least for those of us that were spared the brunt of the storm.  Here on the CT River the worst we were exposed to was higher than normal tides.

Others were not so lucky.  Some in the Bahamas, particularly on Rum Cay, a spot where we spend some time a few years back, really got slammed. I understand that the government pier, the only landing point of any consequence on the island, is gone.  This pier, and it was a fairly substantial one, is just match sticks now.   Here’s what it looked like when we were there.   That pier was the only link that they had to get supplies.  The water leading up to the pier was barely deep enough for the mail boat to power through, leaving huge plumes of swirling sand in their wake. When the mail boat came in during our visit, about everybody on the island showed up to enjoy the spectacle and pick up their supplies.   Check out this link to my post about the mail boat and this important lifeline.

Rum Cay is a beautiful place but I expect that this marina looks very different now, if you can get in at all. Few hurricanes cause much damage in the Bahamas, partly because the residents don’t build right on the beach like we do here in the States.  However, as the islands are so low, most areas only a few feet above sea level, an occasional direct hit, like they got last week, causes great destruction.  It’s going to take a while for them to recover from this blow.

This video gives you an idea of the speed of the winds that battered the islands. This was taken from the second floor of a home and most of the islanders have only one story homes so the flooding hit them particularly hard.There aren’t many photos around of the aftermath but this shows typical out-island homes and illustrates what many are dealing with.  I have heard that in some areas, all of the homes are damaged or destroyed.  So, all of this does make my trials getting Pandora ready to head south pretty insignificant.

As it stands now, Pandora’s bow thruster issues are getting closer to resolution and I am optimistic that she will be in the water by later this week.  Hopefully, we will be able to head to Hampton VA over the weekend, where I will leave her until I return to prepare for the Salty Dawg Rally that gets underway in early November.

It’s sobering to think of what we might be facing here in CT if Joaquin had not veered off to sea after bowling through the Bahamas.   And, to add insult injury, with the loss of the government dock, getting building supplies to the island will be a huge undertaking and getting back to normal will take a long time.

We should certainly count our blessings.