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Getting Ready for SHTP 2021
- Thread starter AlanH
- Start date
I went for a sail, today, figuring it was forecast to be light-ish wind (11-13) in the South Bay. I could get in some spinnaker practice. Well, it was NOT 11-13.
And this happened...
fortunately I had my backup tiller and a couple of crescent wrenches, so I got the bolt out between the cheeks, and duct-taped the e-rudder in there.
i got back just fine, obviously. I just tucked in a reef, rolled up the jib and hobbled home. However, I think my next tiller will be hardwood and have aluminum cheek plates! Also, while I know in my head...wow, busted tiller, not good....having it actually happen has made me think that you know, before Hawaii, maybe I'll have two emergency tillers.
And this happened...
fortunately I had my backup tiller and a couple of crescent wrenches, so I got the bolt out between the cheeks, and duct-taped the e-rudder in there.
i got back just fine, obviously. I just tucked in a reef, rolled up the jib and hobbled home. However, I think my next tiller will be hardwood and have aluminum cheek plates! Also, while I know in my head...wow, busted tiller, not good....having it actually happen has made me think that you know, before Hawaii, maybe I'll have two emergency tillers.
Had a little setback last night... was rear ended driving over vasco road coming back from working on the Piper. Busted out the back window of the truck with the back of my head but just had a little cut. I’m fine but the truck is totaled. The woman who hit me didn’t stop, but she didn’t make it far. Looks like it’s truck/car shopping time.
Black Jack
Pretty Penny, Mull 30
Give yourself time. if your truck was hit that hard - you are most likely going to suffer soft tissue damage. treat yourself kindly for the next weeks, months.
Intermission
Member
A pound of Epsom salts in a warm bath is our friend.
You guys...sheesh. Nothing hurts at all. No aches....no Tylenol, No Advil, no issues. I'm as coherent as I ever have been (whether I'm coherent or not is debatable, I know!)...no vision issues, no coordination issues, no balance, cognition, sensation issues at all. It's been two mornings now, and nothing aches. I slept just fine, the last two nights.
I've taken harder hits, just year before last, doing Scottish Backhold Wrestling. I've taken hits this hard, standing up under a table, or inside the Piper, working up under the foredeck. It was a good crash but no worse than a hundred other I've experienced.
And in other news...
Thanks to the SSS forum, I now have a Garmin Explorer. I need to learn how to use this thing!
I've taken harder hits, just year before last, doing Scottish Backhold Wrestling. I've taken hits this hard, standing up under a table, or inside the Piper, working up under the foredeck. It was a good crash but no worse than a hundred other I've experienced.
And in other news...
Thanks to the SSS forum, I now have a Garmin Explorer. I need to learn how to use this thing!
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1) Okay, another voice. Do get checked out. If your head broke the window your skull took a sudden stop while your brain kept moving. Do it.
2) Tiller: Laminated is stronger than solid. I think you have the knowledge and tools to do that. Good to have 2 wrenches in the kit.
3) Which Garmin did you buy?
Pat B.
2) Tiller: Laminated is stronger than solid. I think you have the knowledge and tools to do that. Good to have 2 wrenches in the kit.
3) Which Garmin did you buy?
Pat B.
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Yesterday I was pretty sore, so I scheduled a "video visit"..since they're not doing walk-in visits, with my PCP. I also had an eye exam. New glasses.
And..
I glued most of the bits of the old tiller back together again tonight, I'll slip a mess of oak splines into it and I bet it'll be as strong as new... AND, epoxied a couple of layers of red oak into a new tiller "blank"...which is kicking off outside in the work area, even as I type. So now I'll have two backup tillers.
And..
I glued most of the bits of the old tiller back together again tonight, I'll slip a mess of oak splines into it and I bet it'll be as strong as new... AND, epoxied a couple of layers of red oak into a new tiller "blank"...which is kicking off outside in the work area, even as I type. So now I'll have two backup tillers.
I couldn't put Joan off forever...
"Honey, who knows if or when the Singlehanded Farallones and the Round the Rocks races will be rescheduled!! We can't plan ANY-thing this summer!"
We scheduled a camping trip, WEEKS ago. So instead of racing around the rockpile, I did this....four days hiking out of various trailheads along Highway 108; Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, the Lyell Meadows trailhead and Kennedy Meadows.
"Honey, who knows if or when the Singlehanded Farallones and the Round the Rocks races will be rescheduled!! We can't plan ANY-thing this summer!"
We scheduled a camping trip, WEEKS ago. So instead of racing around the rockpile, I did this....four days hiking out of various trailheads along Highway 108; Carson-Iceberg Wilderness, the Lyell Meadows trailhead and Kennedy Meadows.
Nice!
Yes, we thought about going up to Sonora Pass and following the PCT south a bit for one afternoons hike, but we had two really good thunderstorms in the afternoons and evenings. These weren't your regular afternoon 3-hour local things, either. The Thursday storm dropped marble-sized hail at 7,000 feet and didn't let up until about 2:00 AM. Not much dinner got cooked that night!. We hiked up the Clark Fork of the Stanislaus one day, then drove over Sonora Pass to Lyell Meadows the second day. The third day (Thursday) was another hike out of the Clark Fork area...which is when it hailed like nobody's business. We decided that even though it was beautiful on Friday, we'd opt for hiking out of Kennedy Meadows, instead.
After a couple of weeks of not really making progress, i got into West Marine and dropped a bundle on s.s. hardware. Today, a bunch of it got used.
I now have port and starboard teak cabintop handholds, all done though the plugs will get three coats of polyurethane, tomorrow. I bought the "three loop", 36-inch long handholds, but honestly the 4-loop would have looked better. These do the job, though. I'm gonna appreciate these at oh-dark-thirty when I have to go forward and do stuff at the base of the mast, or slither forward to pull up fenders, after leaving the marina.
On the way up to The City a few weeks ago for the "Sneak Farallones Cruise", my stern light just quit. OK, well...so I bought another one off of ebay "Perko Style" though it's got LEDs on the inside. It matches the forward lights, so that's kind of nice. The light was just $15, maybe this winter I'll replace the OEM incandescent ones on the bow with matching green/red light. I decided to test the old light while I was sitting in the cabin, with a couple of wires straight from the battery, JUST in case. It lit right up. So that started a little project to trace the wires from the stern light, up on deck, back to the panel. I was just about to tie a string to the wires and pull them forward, to replace them when I thought....."I wonder"... so I went back to the transom, clipped off the old terminal fittings ans stripped back another 3/8ths inch of wire. Sure enough....black wire in there. It's not corroded, it's just coated with "schtuff" from the slowly decomposing insulation. I cleaned up the stripped off end, and sure enough; light! So I pressed on new fittings, came up with a clever way to get everything to go together and mounted the new light on the old wood block that held the old/new/still-works-darn-it light, which I'm now saving for the Piper.
I ran the battery charger from about 1:00 to 7:00 nonstop and the charger kept saying it was dumping 10 amps into the battery. That ain't right. I think the battery has finally given up the ghost. It was on the boat when I bought it, had served the boat for the previous owners cruise through Mexico, and then sat for four years in the yard in Moss Landing, until I bought it, four years ago. That battery is probably almost 10 years old and went without a charge for four years, so it's no surprise.
I have come to the conclusion that I really can't go any further with the windvane until I get the stern pushpit on. Besides, I need the pushpit to mount the solar panels on. I may not have a working windvane by the September qualifying run, so I'll need a second autopilot, solar and two solid deep cycle batteries. Anyway I got two of the stanchion bases on, today, leaving two more for tomorrow, and one run to West Marine or the hardware store to replace/swap the 1/4 inch bolt that I accidentally got, instead of the #12, like the other 15 I picked out of the bin.
In the process of messing with the wiring, I turned on the radio and for the first time really LOOKED at the display. This radio has DSC and GPS, which I knew but I'd never really paid attention to the display. Well, dang. It's giving me my latitude, longitude course and speed (zero in the slip). So, heck.... There's another GPS on the boat. I have..1.) the radio 2.) the Tracphone 3.) the Garmin Inreach 4.) my ancient old Magellan from 2008 which takes forever to get a fix, but will, sooner or later pull one down.
I finally measured the angle of the backstay vs. the waterline, it's 70 degrees so now I can get to work making the little mount and platform that will go on the backstay, that will hold the strobe. Should it be gimballed? Hmm..
I now have port and starboard teak cabintop handholds, all done though the plugs will get three coats of polyurethane, tomorrow. I bought the "three loop", 36-inch long handholds, but honestly the 4-loop would have looked better. These do the job, though. I'm gonna appreciate these at oh-dark-thirty when I have to go forward and do stuff at the base of the mast, or slither forward to pull up fenders, after leaving the marina.
On the way up to The City a few weeks ago for the "Sneak Farallones Cruise", my stern light just quit. OK, well...so I bought another one off of ebay "Perko Style" though it's got LEDs on the inside. It matches the forward lights, so that's kind of nice. The light was just $15, maybe this winter I'll replace the OEM incandescent ones on the bow with matching green/red light. I decided to test the old light while I was sitting in the cabin, with a couple of wires straight from the battery, JUST in case. It lit right up. So that started a little project to trace the wires from the stern light, up on deck, back to the panel. I was just about to tie a string to the wires and pull them forward, to replace them when I thought....."I wonder"... so I went back to the transom, clipped off the old terminal fittings ans stripped back another 3/8ths inch of wire. Sure enough....black wire in there. It's not corroded, it's just coated with "schtuff" from the slowly decomposing insulation. I cleaned up the stripped off end, and sure enough; light! So I pressed on new fittings, came up with a clever way to get everything to go together and mounted the new light on the old wood block that held the old/new/still-works-darn-it light, which I'm now saving for the Piper.
I ran the battery charger from about 1:00 to 7:00 nonstop and the charger kept saying it was dumping 10 amps into the battery. That ain't right. I think the battery has finally given up the ghost. It was on the boat when I bought it, had served the boat for the previous owners cruise through Mexico, and then sat for four years in the yard in Moss Landing, until I bought it, four years ago. That battery is probably almost 10 years old and went without a charge for four years, so it's no surprise.
I have come to the conclusion that I really can't go any further with the windvane until I get the stern pushpit on. Besides, I need the pushpit to mount the solar panels on. I may not have a working windvane by the September qualifying run, so I'll need a second autopilot, solar and two solid deep cycle batteries. Anyway I got two of the stanchion bases on, today, leaving two more for tomorrow, and one run to West Marine or the hardware store to replace/swap the 1/4 inch bolt that I accidentally got, instead of the #12, like the other 15 I picked out of the bin.
In the process of messing with the wiring, I turned on the radio and for the first time really LOOKED at the display. This radio has DSC and GPS, which I knew but I'd never really paid attention to the display. Well, dang. It's giving me my latitude, longitude course and speed (zero in the slip). So, heck.... There's another GPS on the boat. I have..1.) the radio 2.) the Tracphone 3.) the Garmin Inreach 4.) my ancient old Magellan from 2008 which takes forever to get a fix, but will, sooner or later pull one down.
I finally measured the angle of the backstay vs. the waterline, it's 70 degrees so now I can get to work making the little mount and platform that will go on the backstay, that will hold the strobe. Should it be gimballed? Hmm..
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WHAT DO I NEED TO DO BEFORE SEPTEMBER?
1. Replace the stern light...hopefully $15..ordered 6/10 - $20.70 free shipping ebay. Installed 7/4
2. Buy second 12v wet cell battery…. $160. Interstate. SRM-31 .. 98 amp hours. Hook it up...turns out I need two new batteries
3. Install both batteries, in boxes, on plywood platform, which is bolted down to the old engine stringers. Trim the top of the stringers.
4. Half-Inch bolt through daggerboard case.
4. U-bolt/strap installed below companionway.. ordered 6/10 Defender, got it
6. s.s. eyes installed on each hatch board for lanyard. Make backup plywood hatch boards.
7. Inside handle on hatch
8. replace hose on manual bilge pump. Install electric bilge pump. Test
9. shorten jacklines, use those beefy shackles. Have Leading Edge Sew them
10. re-make long tether with leftover jackline webbing. optional
11. handhold bars on each side of cabintop – ordered 6/10 Defender..installed 7/4/20
12. two used GPS receivers. Maybe one? Radio has GPS, tracphone has GPS
13. Print coastal paper charts Pt Sur to Pt Arena
14. buy/make radar reflector... Ordered, with mounting bracket, 6/10..at the house
15. heavy weather jib from Leading Edge 6/10/2020..in progress, Joe has the old sail
16. rebuild cabintop winch or replace
17. either get a complete backup autopilot system OR finish the windvane and test it.
18. swap cheeks on rudder...replace the current ones with stainless steel, move the current ones to the e-rudder.
19. Garmin InReach, test it ..bought it, 6/20/20m will start subscription second week in July
20. stern pushpit, in progress, 7/4/20
21. at least one solar panel and charge controller installed.
And rent the liferaft, of course.
1. Replace the stern light...hopefully $15..ordered 6/10 - $20.70 free shipping ebay. Installed 7/4
2. Buy second 12v wet cell battery…. $160. Interstate. SRM-31 .. 98 amp hours. Hook it up...turns out I need two new batteries
3. Install both batteries, in boxes, on plywood platform, which is bolted down to the old engine stringers. Trim the top of the stringers.
4. Half-Inch bolt through daggerboard case.
4. U-bolt/strap installed below companionway.. ordered 6/10 Defender, got it
6. s.s. eyes installed on each hatch board for lanyard. Make backup plywood hatch boards.
7. Inside handle on hatch
8. replace hose on manual bilge pump. Install electric bilge pump. Test
9. shorten jacklines, use those beefy shackles. Have Leading Edge Sew them
10. re-make long tether with leftover jackline webbing. optional
11. handhold bars on each side of cabintop – ordered 6/10 Defender..installed 7/4/20
12. two used GPS receivers. Maybe one? Radio has GPS, tracphone has GPS
13. Print coastal paper charts Pt Sur to Pt Arena
14. buy/make radar reflector... Ordered, with mounting bracket, 6/10..at the house
15. heavy weather jib from Leading Edge 6/10/2020..in progress, Joe has the old sail
16. rebuild cabintop winch or replace
17. either get a complete backup autopilot system OR finish the windvane and test it.
18. swap cheeks on rudder...replace the current ones with stainless steel, move the current ones to the e-rudder.
19. Garmin InReach, test it ..bought it, 6/20/20m will start subscription second week in July
20. stern pushpit, in progress, 7/4/20
21. at least one solar panel and charge controller installed.
And rent the liferaft, of course.
I just bought this...$10.89
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201728579933
It's four waterproof LED strips, five LED's per strip in red and green in waterproof casings. Combined, it's ten red and ten green LED's which is a lot of light. I figure I can find two scrap pieces of plywood in the garage, screw these strips to the plywood, add on about ten feet of hardware store wire to each, drill the plywood for a couple of cable ties and have backup p/s navigation lights. It's a project I can do in the garage on an evening when I can't get to the boat and do something else and will hardly cost anything..
I have a fundamental mistrust of boat electrical systems, and I like to set the boat up so that I can get to Hawaii, with a smile on my face, even if the entire electrical system totally dies on the way over. A couple of 12-volt lantern batteries will power these, and a spare LED stern light, and the strobe, for days on end. I have AA-battery powered cabin lights, and have one GPS that runs on AA batteries. The Garmin InReach can be fired up twice a day to send in positions and confirm the lat/long and turned off the rest of the time, and the charge should last a very long time.
In light of that, I've been thinking for a while about going to Alan Steel and picking up 3 sections of 3-inch aluminum tube, about 6 1/2 feet long. If, God Forbid, the mast comes down (I remember Sparky!) I can assemble and put up a 19.5-foot mast with that, and the three tubes can be duct taped together and left up in the forepeak where they're out of the way. If I put the mast up where the current mast is, and it's on the cabintop, that will result in a 22 foot long headstay, to which I can cable-tie or lash the heavy-weather jib. I'd rig a triangular stay-setup with a headstay and two back-leading stays to the toerail. Stays would be cheap Home Depot galvanized wire rope. This is a Winter project, if I even do it at all.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/201728579933
It's four waterproof LED strips, five LED's per strip in red and green in waterproof casings. Combined, it's ten red and ten green LED's which is a lot of light. I figure I can find two scrap pieces of plywood in the garage, screw these strips to the plywood, add on about ten feet of hardware store wire to each, drill the plywood for a couple of cable ties and have backup p/s navigation lights. It's a project I can do in the garage on an evening when I can't get to the boat and do something else and will hardly cost anything..
I have a fundamental mistrust of boat electrical systems, and I like to set the boat up so that I can get to Hawaii, with a smile on my face, even if the entire electrical system totally dies on the way over. A couple of 12-volt lantern batteries will power these, and a spare LED stern light, and the strobe, for days on end. I have AA-battery powered cabin lights, and have one GPS that runs on AA batteries. The Garmin InReach can be fired up twice a day to send in positions and confirm the lat/long and turned off the rest of the time, and the charge should last a very long time.
In light of that, I've been thinking for a while about going to Alan Steel and picking up 3 sections of 3-inch aluminum tube, about 6 1/2 feet long. If, God Forbid, the mast comes down (I remember Sparky!) I can assemble and put up a 19.5-foot mast with that, and the three tubes can be duct taped together and left up in the forepeak where they're out of the way. If I put the mast up where the current mast is, and it's on the cabintop, that will result in a 22 foot long headstay, to which I can cable-tie or lash the heavy-weather jib. I'd rig a triangular stay-setup with a headstay and two back-leading stays to the toerail. Stays would be cheap Home Depot galvanized wire rope. This is a Winter project, if I even do it at all.
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cha-chinggggg....
$200 worth of stainless steel for rudders, tiller and the stern pushpit, plus one 8-inch bit of aluminum tubing to repair dads old trekking pole that I busted on a day hike two weeks ago are sitting on my front porch!
I have....new 1/4 inch thick s.s. plates for the tiller cheeks for both the main rudder and the backup rudder. I had aluminum ones (still have them) and they worked for a couple of years but they are distorted. The bolt pattern of the aluminum ones, which were on the rudder, is replicate on both sets of the new ones, so everything is interchangeable.
I have new 1/8th inch tiller reinforcement plates, 6.5 inches long, which I will bolt to the sides of each tiller; the primary and the first backup tiller. I figure that I can take off the second backup tiller cheeks, if the tiller self-destructs, and put them on the second backup tiller, if I have to. There's only so much stainless steel...aka "weight" I need to carry on the boat.
I have four, .065 stainless tubing for the stanchions for the pushpit. Once those are all assembled, I will cut a 1" length of PVC pipe into 5 foot lengths and fill them with sand. I duct tape off the ends.Then I fill the pipe with sand....heat with a heat gun, and gently bend around a 6-inch radius form to create the model to take to Chris at Svendsens.
How to bend PVC.
$200 worth of stainless steel for rudders, tiller and the stern pushpit, plus one 8-inch bit of aluminum tubing to repair dads old trekking pole that I busted on a day hike two weeks ago are sitting on my front porch!
I have....new 1/4 inch thick s.s. plates for the tiller cheeks for both the main rudder and the backup rudder. I had aluminum ones (still have them) and they worked for a couple of years but they are distorted. The bolt pattern of the aluminum ones, which were on the rudder, is replicate on both sets of the new ones, so everything is interchangeable.
I have new 1/8th inch tiller reinforcement plates, 6.5 inches long, which I will bolt to the sides of each tiller; the primary and the first backup tiller. I figure that I can take off the second backup tiller cheeks, if the tiller self-destructs, and put them on the second backup tiller, if I have to. There's only so much stainless steel...aka "weight" I need to carry on the boat.
I have four, .065 stainless tubing for the stanchions for the pushpit. Once those are all assembled, I will cut a 1" length of PVC pipe into 5 foot lengths and fill them with sand. I duct tape off the ends.Then I fill the pipe with sand....heat with a heat gun, and gently bend around a 6-inch radius form to create the model to take to Chris at Svendsens.
How to bend PVC.
We are now the owners of a 2013 Subaru Outback. I wanted a truck but Joan seriously did not like the single post-design-makeover-of-2015 GMC Canyon/Chevy Colorado I could find for <$20,000. I had to admit, it was bluidy expensive for what you got, the "glance-over-your-shoulder-when-changing-lanes" visibility was awful, and it had more miles, for the year/model than I was happy with. So an Outback wagon, it is, at $6k less than the truck. I'll be getting a trailer hitch put on it, and will build up one of the little $300 Harbor Freight 4 x 4 trailers to haul tools, paint and the generator. It'll pull the Piper around the yard, when the day comes, which is good enough. This little 4-WD Outback actually has a towing limit of 2700 pounds. That's a lot more than my old '99 Chevy S-10 4-cylinder.
Progress is happening on the stern pushpit. Last week I bought the s.s. for the stanchions...the upright supports you see in this picture. The heavy stainless "joints", I've had for several years. Today I took some PVC pipe down there, filled with sand. I heated it and bent it, with middling success around a form, to make a model of the upright railing that I'll have Chris at Svendsens bend for me.
I thought about whether to take off the "handhold rings" that are currently on the boat, but decided that they're pretty darned strong and I can just attach the pulpit to the rings. Welding would be nice but I'll probably wind up with some 1" s.s. hardware.
Progress is happening on the stern pushpit. Last week I bought the s.s. for the stanchions...the upright supports you see in this picture. The heavy stainless "joints", I've had for several years. Today I took some PVC pipe down there, filled with sand. I heated it and bent it, with middling success around a form, to make a model of the upright railing that I'll have Chris at Svendsens bend for me.
I thought about whether to take off the "handhold rings" that are currently on the boat, but decided that they're pretty darned strong and I can just attach the pulpit to the rings. Welding would be nice but I'll probably wind up with some 1" s.s. hardware.
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