Update on rear bulkhead

Kerm here,
Done.  While I didn't feel comfortable cutting into the boat and especially doing fiberglass work I'm glad I did it and in the end I increased my knowledge base for doing this type of project.

Project Synopsis-
While Chris was painting the back bilge she noticed water standing back by the steering jack shaft.  I kept an eye on it and found out that water was coming out through a pin hole in the fiberglass.  I drilled a few holes around the area and found that the plywood backer was saturated with water and rotted. 

Holes drilled to see how far the rot went.  It took out the whole backer and sill above.

                            Not pretty but at least the structure holding the jack shaft was OK.

First piece bedded in. Note plate with blue on it to keep water from coming in if there was a wave in the marina.  Also through bolts for swim platform were very close to the water line.  Grinding all the paint off was the most difficult part.  I did find that the structure holding the jack shaft was breaking away from the hull so had to glass that also.

                       All glassed up but still have to drill hole for scupper through hull fitting. 

All but done.  The unfinished portion is where I'm going to tie the new sill into the old but it's too saturated with water right now.  It's not critical and will have to wait. Now I can get the steering chain on and throw on a couple of clamps for the new scupper valve.  The old valve was trash.

I still don't know where all the water was coming from that saturated everything.  I suspect it was from the cap rail or maybe from the euro strut base.  It's just another thing to keep an eye on but at least everything below is sealed in epoxy.  If we not in such a hurry to every thing done before pushing off I think it was a great learning project.

Chris here,
Captain Kerm is going strong!

Prepping for a winter adventure

Patrick here,
I am Chris and Kerm's nephew, and have spent almost two weeks on board Southern Belle getting her prepped for the Exumas. In addition to being the ships lackey, I apparently have inherited the duties of blog updater!

Chris posing with the magic scrubbing compound

You can see reflections in the hull now!

The first thing I tackled was the dinghy. The vinyl was well covered in mildew, and the bottom felt like 20-grit sandpaper due to barnacles. Soap and scrubbing took care of that. Thanks to the full moon and northerly winds, we were blessed with an extremely high tide. We were able to pull the motor and lift the dinghy to the dock so we could scrape the bottom. Some acid and the rest of Chris's kitchen spatulas made for a relatively quick clean up. Cooking dinner has become slightly more difficult, but at least the dinghy looks new again.

Dan Wold (Chris and Kerm's son) visited us over the past few days. He replaced the sink drain and surveyed just about everything else on the boat. I got a crash course in radar technology. Dan also fixed a low-idle gremlin in the dinghy motor.

Kerm repairing the transom

The offending bulkhead is at top center

Kerm has spent nearly two weeks replacing a bulkhead in the transom. Water slowly saturated the wood and turned it all to mush. Replacing it required us to unbolt the swim platform (starboard side) and remove/plug a through-hull fitting 1" above the water line. Holes in boats are never a good thing... But, after many many many coats of epoxy and fiberglass, the hull has been shored up, and parts are back in place. Good job, Kerm!

What else... The top of the anchor has been painted bright red so it will be visible in the murky depths. The radios have been rewired so they can act as an intercom between the upstairs and down, as well as control the PA speaker on the bow. Replaced the dinghy seat with a cooler (for keeping our gear dry). Chris and I took a day off and went to Ft. Pierce to get my Local Boaters Option, as well as some boat part shopping.

I had no idea how much work it is to prep a boat for a winter of cruising - my hats off to all who venture offshore!

Sunset Bay Marina at night (time-lapse photo).

Southern Belle at night (time-lapse photo)

Broke, don't work

 I was cleaning the back bilge the other day and had a real shock.  The steering quadrant was broken and all I had to do was touch a steering cable and it fell off the quadrant.  Dang, I hate when that happens.  So another adventure we have.  The quadrant for this boat is no longer available and whatever we find to replace it will have to be custom AND modifications to the steering system will have to be made to fit the new piece.


The worst part about this is that it probably was preventable.  Mea clupa, last year I noticed that some of the thru hull valves were deteriorating probably from electrolysis and had to replace them.  The problem was that the grounding system in the boat had a broken wire.  This grounding system prevents or at least slows the electrolysis on metal parts.  Remember salt, metal and electricity don't mix.  Anyway, the ground wire was repaired and I checked to make sure all critical metal parts were grounded but I didn't even think to check the aluminum quadrant.  A further teaching moment, aluminum is the most sensitive metal to electrolysis which is why most quadrants today are made from stainless steel or bronze. And another teaching moment, the aluminum quadrant was attached to a stainless steel rudder post where the problem of dissimilar metals creates its own set of problems.  There were also stainless bolts holding the quadrant together that also 'rotted' out the aluminum.

So, a new bronze quadrant is being made but I'm going to have to move a few things around to get the steering cables to line up which involves some cutting, fitting and fiberglass work.  At the same time some fiberglass patch up work has already been done around the rudder post stanchion where the existing fiberglass was pulling away.  This was also probably due to the steel stanchion rusting from electrolysis.

While waiting for the new quadrant I'm also going through the complete steering system and fixing and /or replacing anything that could be suspect which means lots of chain and cable is going to be replaced.  When done this baby should steer like a new boat and we shouldn't have to worry about a thing for another 30 years.

Quadrant with broken cable tang on left and stripped out bolt on bottom left.

Steering stanchion before refurbishment.  Note on sides where fiberglass is broken away.

Refurbished and now to paint the rest of the compartment.

Yea, back at the boat

Kerm here

I had a nice drive down here to Stuart about a week ago.  Chris stayed back in the cities to take care of some financials and to nurse her leg that was badly bruised getting on Linda's sail boat.  On the way down I stopped in Cleveland to take care of some paperwork with son Dan and see his new apartment.  I also stopped in Atlanta to see cousin John and Cheryl. We did some sailing on Lake Lanier on our old J 24 sailboat that John bought from us about 20 years ago.  John and Cheryl are fantastic hosts and 'my' room has the best bed in the world.  Jeez, I sleep later there than anywhere. 

After 3 months away the Belle is a bit shabby.  The wood trim has discolored a bit and everything needs a good wash and wax.  The good news is that the bilge has no smells and there was just a bit of old boat smell in the cabin.  This, I believe is from the salt air slime that builds up on interior panels over a period of time.  Bring out the vinegar water and all will be good for awhile.  For now I'm going to leave the washing and concentrate on fixing and replacing projects.

Its been a good week for boat work.  I built a new hatch for the flybridge when I was in the cities and it fit perfect.  The old one was a sliding hatch that weighed a zillion pounds that slid on wood rails.  Especially when it was humid the thing was a bugger to move.  The new one is light weight and hinges up with the help of a gas shock like you would see for the tailgate on a SUV.  Currently there is a clear plastic top on the hatch but I'm going to put on some plastic tinting film that will probably reduce the appearance of scratches.  This project started the winter before last when I built and installed a new ring around the hatch opening so I'm glad this project is just about done.

Next.  I'm sure that anyone that has a home sees something that is broken or worn that never seems to get fixed and not a day or week goes by that you look at it and figure that you will get to it some day.  On the Belle there was one of these that drove me nuts but in this case I didn't think I had the skills to fix it and could not bare the ridiculous over the top cost of a pro doing it.  In this case the back door had a piece of trim that was broken off and each time I sat on the back deck that broken piece became a focal point.  At one point a couple of years ago I did have a pro look at it and he said that to do the project right the door would have to be disassembled and have a contoured blade made for a router to make up a new piece.  Another option would be to have a skilled wood carver made a piece. $$$ either way.  So I looked at it for another couple of years and then said screw it, I'll do it myself.
I cut out the bad section and glued in piece of teak that had the same outside dimensions and without having the proper carving tools I just started sanding away with sandpaper wrapped around different size round things found in my tool box.  In the end the project turned out so well that I'm now in the process of refinishing the whole outside of the door.  I'm posting a picture but there isn't much to see as the area looks just like the rest of the door.  Sometimes you get lucky...

Everyone is asking what our plans are for the winter.  We have no plans and we're sticking to it.  Just so long that it doesn't include gloves, long pants and windshield washer fluid.

                                    It's the contoured piece just this side of the keyhole

Not yet

After a great time at the cabin we came back to the Twin Cities for doctors appointments and Chris had to fill in as race crew on her sister #1's J 22 sailboat.  She was fill in as sister #3 sprained her ankle and couldn't walk let alone put up a spinnaker.  They had a couple of decent finishes yesterday but Chris (sister #2) fell on the dock and pretty well messed up her leg.  So now with 2 of 4 sisters down sister #1 has run out of sisters and may have to rely on daughters.  There are only 3 of them but with only 5 races left sister #1 just might make it to the end of the season.

Depending on what the saw bones say next week we will be headed back to FL soon.  We miss the Belle and my lists of to do's has probably grown beyond what I can do this winter.  The biggies are new electronics and auto pilot.  We have been using one of our old Garmin GPS units from our now long gone 'Harry" as a primary and the lower helm unit is being reserved for the Smithsonian exhibit on the early history of marine GPS units.  The radar is even older and kidding aside it still has vacuum tubes.  There are so many ways of doing the new electronics from bare bones to full on network systems that will even turn your coffee pot on in the morning.  We will probably go with a main unit that will have network capability and add abilities as time goes on.  And no, the coffee pot will not be networked.

The autopilot on an old boat like the Belle has it's special problems as the steering is chain drive.  Even when this boat was built in the mid 80's chain drive was out of date so most of the manufacturers don't even make the components to do the job.  Raymarine seems to be the only mainstream manufacturer that does but it is expensive and will take a bit of engineering and fabrication to make it all work.  The good part is that the Raymarine electronics should be able to network quite easily with the new Garmin GPS / hub that we are looking at.  This is important as we should be able to set multiple waypoints for a route on the GPS and the autopilot should be able to take the commands and follow through with steering adjustments.  Even tho both manufacturers say there stuff should be able to communicate with the others equipment it's not plug and play according to comments on the internet.  Again, I'm being dragged into the world of modern technology. 

Chris's big thing that she wants changed on the Belle is the addition of an enclosure for the flybridge to keep us from the cold, rain and /or wind.  They are pretty much standard on trawlers these days and are a nice deal as it would make the bridge much more usable when the weather would normally force us down to the lower helm where the view is poor. 

I just got a call from Tom at the marina and he checked on the boat this morning.  No smells and no water in the bilge was the report.  I like short reports.  I asked him what the weather was like and he said the conditioner in his boat was on.  Nuff said,  I want to go home...

Another boat

Kerm here,

We did buy a boat for the cabin.  It is a used but well taken care of 14' Lund with a trailer, a 15 hp Evenrude outboard and it also came with a boat lift.  We launched it in town yesterday and I took it back to the cabin for fishing expedition outfitting.  In the afternoon Chis and I took it out for a try a and after a bit caught a couple of nice northern pike that were just under 24".  The slot limit up here is that you can keep 3 per person up to 24" and must throw back up to 36" and then keep only one over 36".  My experience is that anything over 36" probably is not the greatest eating so we'll take 23 1/2's all day.

We threw both back.  The object of this trip was to test the boat out, have a pleasant afternoon together and not go out for meat.  That comes later.  Storms are predicted for today so Monday looks like our target day..

Books.  We need books.  Lot's of books.  Not that we would use it much but the TV satellite stuff up here is out of date so it doesn't work and the radio reception is very bad.  The only thing that comes in half decent is public radio and I can only handle some much of that in a day.  One of the nice things about cruising on the Belle is that nearly all marinas have book exchanges so we keep our shelves stocked with plenty of great reading material.  Right now we have 2 National Geograghics from 2008 and a dozen cook books. The next free day we will be going to Cook or Virginia looking for 2nd hand stores to stock up. 

We continue to work a little of this and that but it appears that the major work is all but done.  The roof and gutters have been cleaned but Chris still wants to go up there with moss killer to finish it up.  The deck looks like hell as the finish that dad put on there a few years ago is peeling.  Chris's latest plan is to scrape and sand the old finish off and let the deck go grey.  Perhaps do just a few boards per day. 

Breakfast.  I'm hungry.

Up north take 2

Kerm here,
Still up north and currently have no plans on when we will head back south.  There are still several projects that should be taken care of and I have not caught any fish yet.  Sister Mary came for a couple days along with her husband Cecil.  Cecil and I replaced another section of hand rail, beefed up a falling stringer under the deck and he and Chris got rid of a pile of old lumber in an area that we call the swamp.  A portion of the wood was burned in a wonderful bonfire last night and we probably have enough wood for a couple more fire nights.

 Last night we went over to cousin Janet's cabin and had cocktails before dinner.  She and her husband Norman have been up for most of the summer and will probably stay until fall when they will go back to their new retirement home in NC.  Cousin Bill Johnson came up on Monday to his cabin and has had great luck fishing out on his boat.  For us, we just fish from the shore on the point which has been non productive.  We need another boat as dad's boat, that is in storage, is too big to muscle around.  14 feet is all we need, something we can pull up on shore and doesn't require putting in the dock.

I also got the old Alice Chalmers tractor running yesterday.  It will be needed as we plan to fill some of the pot holes in the dirt road.  How that thing continues to run I will never know.  It has sat outside uncovered year after year for decades and still starts.  The same storm that took out Chris's fishing boat also blew a tree down on it and damaged the seat and one fender.  It just keeps looking worse and worse.  For people who know tractors, it is a WD model made some time in the late 40's or early 50s.  It has a tricycle front end and a hydraulic bucket with a manual dump.  At one time it was red but right now it's a combination of rust colors with spattering s of green moss.  

Another project that I have been working on is to clean out the storage shed.  Dad has been accumulating junk for years and it was to the point where it was hard to get to anything in there.  What does a guy want to do with 35 screwdrivers anyway?  Oh, and nails.  Coffee cans with nails, bottles of every shape and size with nails, plastic butter containers with nails, cardboard boxes with nails, new nails, rusty nails, used nails, railroad spikes...  Let me see, there is a manual cream separator in one corner.  I guess if we ever get a herd of cows it might come in handy.  3 ammo boxes from WWII, empty.  A spittoon made out of what looks like stainless steel.  Dad never touched a tobacco product in his whole life and I've never thought much of chew.  And the list goes on.    

We seldom go out the back door and today when I did I just put my hand on one of the rails and it fell apart.  As it is a safety item it looks like another trip to the lumber yard for some more treated wood.  I will say one thing about the projects up here,  yacht quality is not required.  This ain't the Hamptons.

A different paradise

Hello all, Kerm here,

We're up at the cabin about 50 miles south of Canada near Voyagers National Park in northern Minnesota.  Ah, to wear jeans and sweatshirts again.  70's during the day and 50's at night.  What a relief after the hot weather in Florida. 

This is indeed God's country up here.  This morning there is a slight fog on the lake and as calm as can be.  Later I'm going up to the point and cast for a bit in hopes of catching a sunny or maybe a bass if they are biting.  If nothing has the hunger to bit my hook so be it, as fish cleaning before breakfast is not my cup of tea. 

Today is a tourist day.  We will drive over to see Vermillion Falls, visit the park and probably eat lunch at Melgeorges Resort on Elephant Lake.  We'll bring the fishing rods perhaps wet a lure at the stops along the way.  Unless there is some sort of spectacular catch we'll throw them all back as I don't want those smelly things in my truck.  Tough duty, eh? 

We're boatless up here right now.  Chris's fishing boat was crushed by a falling tree a couple of years ago and with as much time as we spend up here it probably isn't worth it to buy a new one, although I'm keeping an eye on craigs list.  You never know. 

What visit to the cabin would be complete without doing maintenance.  Some people call these places a work farm.  The nice thing is that the quality of fit and finish does not have to match what we try to aim for on the Belle.  Yesterday we replaced some railings and supports for the deck and Chris thought it was a bit of overkill when I brought out the level.  Perhaps, but my sister and her husband are visiting here in a couple days and they are sure to inspect the work.  They know cabin quality but hey, level is level.

When we came up here a couple of days ago the first night temperatures fell into the low 40's and the house was below 60 when we woke up.  Burrrrr.  Nuf of that, start the furnace.  I have never liked starting that furnace,  Scares the hell out of me.  Ok, read the instructions,  call brother Greg to confirm the instructions and give it a light.  It doesn't light.  Call brother again.  It doesn't light.  Too embarrassed  to call brother again.  Re-read instructions.  It lights and furnace comes on.  Yea.  Furnace quits and fire alarm goes on.  Crap.  Call brother.  Troubleshoot.  The squirrel cage fan at the top of the furnace is jammed with the tail of a dead squirrel.  Does anyone see the irony here... squirrel cage fan, dead squirrel, get it?

So, pull out TWO dead cooked squirrels, reassemble and yea it works. Call brother.

Update 23 June

 Kerm here,
It's been awhile.  We have not been sitting on our butts and getting tans but probably slowed down a bit due to hot, hot, hot weather and almost daily rains.  Thank goodness for air conditioning.  I for sure wouldn't be here if there was no A/C. 

Chris left a little over a week ago for Oregon to visit her brothers.  Son Dan also flew in from Cleveland to be with her.  It just happens that Chris's nephew and his wife and kids were also in Oregon at their "cabin" in Newport so it was a mini family reunion.  Chris and Dan loved Newport and have suggested that the next full on family reunion be held their at the "cabin".  The cabin has 9 bedrooms with a guest house so I don't know how it became known as the "cabin".  It's on a bluff that overlooks the Pacific and good crabbing is quite close.  Chris said they had a great time crabbing  and the group all got their fill of "bugs".

Chris is now in Hawaii as she thought that she was "so close" that it was an opportunity to get a couple of things off her bucket list.  Volcano and rain forest.  One must take adventures when the door is open even a crack. 

Me, I'm headed to Mid-Ohio Race Course on Wednesday to watch brother Greg race.  Expectations are quite high as he generally finishes at the top there.  There are a few other people coming from Minnesota to watch also so it looks like a good party might be in the mix.  I know there are some people who look at our site who don't know that the Wold boys have been involved in racing for a number of years. I gave it up almost 10 years ago BUT Greg is racing my old car.  While he may have bought it from me, when I see it out there, it's still mine.  Especially when he's up there.

From Mid-Ohio I'm headed to MN for the 4th of July on the St. Croix River at Chris's sister Linda's house.  They have been hosting the 4th party for about 35 years.  I think Chris and I only missed once and that was when we were on the Loop.  It is too bad but the river is in flood right now and predictions are that it will remain that way through the 4th so no wake, no beach and probably no sailing.  Nuts.

After beating my brains out on the foredeck calking my carpel tunnel has been driving me nuts so I've just been working on small jobs.  Well, mostly small jobs.  I got bored one day and started to taking the old baby s**t colored coating off the side port windows and couldn't stop until done.  It was going well and Chris wasn't here to pull me off so I went Kerm on it.  My hand felt / feels like crap but dang it looks good.

Like a house, after awhile the little things kind of bug you... well at least me.  An example of one of those things on the Belle was that during a rain or washing the boat water would drip off the top of the boat, down the fascia and for some reason across a small return to constantly keep the rear euro strut bases wet and pour water onto the back deck. Here's my solution:

It's a piece of a thin cutting board held on with double stick.  It's nearly clear when looking at it in person.  Cut, bend, stick and break up the surface tension.  I know, I know, but it works, PFM.

More later, black sky, think we're going to get slammed again...

Kerm

I promised

Kerm here,

Today is Saturday and I promised Chris yesterday that I would not work on the boat today.  We'll see how that all works out.  So, we do Chris stuff.  Take a walk, eat breakfast out, the flea market, etc, etc.  I promised.  I'll give you an update later if there is anything earth shattering happens but I doubt it.

We pretty much finished the caulking and some touch up yesterday.  Now we wait a couple of days for it to dry and then sand it.  I'm sure that as we go there will be other areas that we will notice that will need some further touch up but all in all the pressure is off.  I did notice that one section of board will probably need replacing but I'll need to find a piece that is worn similar to the rest.  In the one piece that I already replaced it doesn't look very good because it's just too nice of piece.  At Linda's, I have the old teak board covered hatch cover from the fly bridge and I'll take a look at that as far as the matching goes.  Right now Linda is using the cover for a step by her back door until her new patio is put in. Perhaps me taking the step will hustle that project along.

We got measured up yesterday for a new Bimini top for the fly bridge cockpit.  The old one was a bit long in the tooth.  It wasn't the greatest when we bought the boat and was torn up but fixed on the cheap when we were in the tornado a couple of years ago.  Then the windstorms Chris and Linda were in towards the end of the Bahamas adventure this year pretty much killed it.  Repairs probably could have been made to keep it going but the UV protection of the material was shot.  You could just feel the UV frying you even under the top.  Mother Nature just hastened the total replacement.  The new top will also have attachment points for doing a total enclosure for the helm area.  Enclosures are now pretty much the norm on the trawlers today.  At this point, an enclosure is not on our short list but I guess never say never.  The upholstery guys will also be repairing the fly bridge cover and window covers that are coming apart.  While the tarp and window cover material still looks good the UV has killed the thread but will be replaced with a new UV resistant type.

Dan is doing well and we are looking forward to visiting him in Cleveland later in June.  He's having a great time flying jets and carrying cattle (passengers).  For years Dan avoided the whole passenger/scheduled airline type of flying but now is having a great time.  Maybe it's just part of getting older.  Right now his wants are to have a permanent station and to buy a house.  He says with a big garage or pole barn.  A chip off the old block he is.  Car, boat, airplane?  I smell project.

Nuff for now.  Chris is up, breakfast, flea market... Oh, boy.

Broken bodies but beat the rain

 Kerm here,

With the exception of some touch up our caulking of the front deck and sides down to the steps is done.  Yes I know we were going to cool it and not work yesterday but our plastic rain covers started coming apart from the wind so we finished up masking and started laying down caulk just after lunch.  We worked until about 8 PM and got about three quarters done before our bodies gave out.  Thank goodness the rain held out.  This morning we finished the job about 1 minute before the rain started.  Whew, that was a close one.  While the dew was burning off this morning I did take off some masking in the area we caulked yesterday and most everything looks good.  Maybe some touch up here or there but not bad for a couple of amatures.

From here we take off the rest of the masking tomorrow, wait a few days and sand the high spots off.  At some point I will also have to fix a few spots where the caulk sagged too much and 3 or 4 small areas where I missed towards the end last night.

So here are the steps.  1. Clean the deck areas to be caulked.  2. Use a mild acid to brighten and deep cleaning. 3. Mask.  4. Caulk.  5. Take off masking.  6. Fix imperfections.  7. Sand off high spots. 8 Fix imperfections. 9. Sand said imperfections.

All done?  Nope.  There are many dowels that need to be replaced as the expansion and contraction of the deck have loosened them in there holes.  These dowels cover the countersunk screws that hold the deck down and prevent water from leaking down into the subdeck.  Bad deal as the decks then become spongy.  When we were looking at boats of this type they fell into categories.  Spongy decks with teak coverings or solid decks that had been replaced $$,$$$$.   And, very, very few with teak coverings with solid underpinnings.  The 'Belle' was one of the few with decent teak and solid a substrate.  All this work is intended to keep it that way.  It was hard last night at 8 o'clock when we were too tired to eat but it will all be worth it in the end.

All of this work has been quite a show for our stable mates here in the marina as most people have contractors do the work on their boats.  It's like a traffic jam in the morning as the boat cleaners, mechanical dudes and electrical guys come down and keep the fleet going.  This is not the best place to look for advice on this or that from other boat owners.

As a final word,  many of you may ask is all this work worth it?  Why don't you get a newer boat without the teak and not a traveling 30 year old antique?  Stupid?  Glutton for punishment? Perhaps but wherever we go people keep telling us what a beautiful boat the Belle is.  It's the wood, the old school styling and the condition we keep the boat in.  While there is great personal satisfaction for us in keeping something old looking good those compliments are icing on the cake.

                                                          Tape on, goop on, wait

Working the decks

 Kerm here,
Every few years the calking between the outside deck boards need to be recaulked.  The old caulk gets hard and brittle from the UV and breaks away from the wood, creating paths for water to get below the boards and eventually rot the deck below.  It's a rotten job especially when the heat index is crazy hot.  Yesterday I took off my sandals while working and burned the bottoms of my feet from the hot deck.  Crazy hot.

Up to the point of starting last Friday I did my research on how to remove the old caulking and purchased the tools of choice.  Waste of money.  None of it worked and I basically had to use ground down screwdrivers and an X-acto knife to pull it out.  As the old gardening song goes "inch by inch, row by row".  So, Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday, Tuesday and all I got done was the front deck and side decks just down to the steps.  Less than half done.  I drank more Gatorade than the whole Oregon football team playing in the Rose Bowl.

The good news was that wood repair was minimal although when the caulking is all done I may go back and fix a couple of cracks and perhaps replace a couple of partial boards.  All in all, considering the age of the wood and the climate it lives in, it's going to look pretty decent when it's all done. 

Today is a down day.  We covered the deck with plastic in case there is rain.  Let's hope the wind stays down so the plastic stays in place.  Tomorrow I'll mask off the boards and then let the caulking begin.  I figure 20+ tubes with the caulking gun.  The tendons in my carpel tunnel will be screaming by the end of the day.  After caulk dries the tape gets pulled off and lastly the decks get sanded. 

 

All buttoned up waiting for a new spurt of energy

Git'n in the groove

Kerm here,

The first project this week was to put hinges on one of the floor hatches to the engine room.  In the past we had to remove the hatch to go down there.  It's heavy and we probably put some nicks in the area where we set it aside.  All in all a pain in you know where.  This has been on the list since we bought the boat but as the hinges needed to be chiseled into the parquet floor I procrastinated as it takes a bit of skill that I did not have plus it's easy to screw up.  With a bit of a push from Chris I finally bit the bullet and took the challenge.  It took a day and turned out better than I expected.  Sometimes I surprise even myself.  The easy part of the install then turned out to be the most difficult.  We both thought it would be nice if we used a gas spring to assist in raising the hatch and as a prop to keep it open.  This was a fail for various reasons and we ended up using a hatch rod like is used on a deck hatch.  With this we still have to raise the hatch by hand and twist a knob to lock it in.  Sometimes simple is best.  As we sat admiring the completed project Chris mentioned that it's one down and one to go.  The hatch further forward.  No rest for the wicked, but I think I would like to bask in the first install for awhile before tackling the next one. 

                                                                        What a ham

No sit'n around here.  Next, the teak cap rail around the boat and the bow pulpit was looking bad so we decided to refinish it.  Normally you wouldn't have to take it all the way down to bare wood but we sort of neglected it.  You are supposed to recoat it every 6 months or so but we ignored it in favor of recreation duties. 
As with most projects there was a fly in the ointment.  There were black stains coming from the bow rail stanchions where they attach to the cap rail.  Seems that there are weep holes at the stanchion bases where water and dirt can drain out of the stanchions. Also, improperly bedded bases collected dirt that would weep out when it rained.  The starboard side was the worst so I took off the rail and bases for re-bedding and blocked the weep holes.  We'll see if that comes back to bite me in the butt.
Then it was wash, acid and sand.  Not so bad.  2 days.  And now we let it sit for a few days before we put on a couple coats of Semco wood preservative.  I hope we learned our lesson.  The instructions say "recoat when necessary".

                                                                   Ready for Semco

The next on the list was an easy one but for some reason I procrastinated for a whole year.  The weather station panel had been kicking around on counters getting in the way where ever it sat but for some reason I didn't take a few minutes an attach it to a wall.  Linda bought the station last year and it has been a wonderful tool.  How did Columbus every get by with out one I will never know. Attached is the install along with the working part on the mast.  It's on the left mounted on the spreader.

                                                  We once saw 34 knots for wind speed

                                              The mast on the right is somebody else
                                     Also note the new LED spreader lights installed last year
 
Chris here-

Kerm is back 'on the job'.  Lots getting done...my studying is suffering a bit (also my gossip sessions with the guys around the marina) but it is wonderful to have him home again.

I snapped a couple more pictures for you

Boat Jewelry

Transom door and cap rail

Cap rail waiting for Semco

new transportation

The diver cleaned Belle's bottom on Thursday and said our paint is looking good.  He will replace Zinc anodes next month when he cleans again.  We are having a new Bimini top made.  Existing one tore a bit when we got that 34 knot wind Kerm mentioned and the fabric's sunblocking capabilities were shot.  That work should be started this week.

That's all from here this morning.  Take care all.

Back in the saddle again...

 Kerm here,

The battery charger install was a challenge.  The old charger had wires about a quarter the size and did not have circuit protection at the batteries as code requires.  When I built the new battery box last year I did not leave enough room for all the breakers, fuses and switches that are required for the main DC system plus the upgraded battery charger.  The old system had either none, were painfully undersized or just plain c**p components.  The photo below was my solution but again, I did not leave enough room to do it as well as I would have liked. 

The circuit breaker / switches are for the alternator main run, house batteries and engine battery. The thing in the middle controls the alternator charging for both circuits.  The plastic covers are over the fuses for the battery charger circuits.  Ain't no mo room.  Have to get a bigger boat if something comes up.  To service the batteries the cover with the holes hinges up and I added a prop to keep it up when doing my due diligence.  The black squares are non slip as this is where I step when getting down into the engine room.  Nice touch if I do say so myself plus I had been carrying that c**p around in the boat for years and I wanted to get rid of it once and for all. 

After firing up the system all worked well and we're finally getting a good charge on the batteries and with the remote feature we can keep an eye on the capacity and health of them.  Done.

Now the propane monitor / safety system.  Last summer I installed a propane fume monitor/alarm combined with a solenoid valve.  We don't want to wake up dead or blow the boat up.  Problem is/was that the sensor is so sensitive that we get a lot of false alarms that trigger a painfully loud alarm and the propane shuts off which tends to ruin the souffle.  After several phone calls to the manufacturer and 'interwebing' the problem we're moving the sensor.  It seems that there are just too many smells in the bilge that set it off.  So more wiring as we will be moving it to the sleeping area although I wonder about smelly socks.

While there are a multitude of other small electrical and mechanical fix ups plus fluid changes that are on the list I'm moving on to cosmetics as the UV and salt is setting us back a couple of steps.  The next boat will not have wood anywhere.  It may have the pizazz of a plastic bathroom shower stall but I won't need even one piece of sandpaper on board, nor varnish, nor stain, nor chisels, nor routers, nor doweling equipment, nor saws and on and on...  What do those people do on those boats anyway?

Kerm is back on the Belle!!

A Happy Man sitting for a moment

Kerm returned to the Belle on Friday, May 9 at Sunset Bay Marina, Stuart, FL.  He left the Belle on February 26 from Black Point, Exuma Islands in the Bahamas.  That's a long time to be away from home. He has gone through lots of craziness. But now he is back...

and doing what he always does...working on the Belle.

He likes the marina, as I was sure he would, and we try to get a morning walk in every day before work begins.

Right now he is installing a new battery charging system to replace the original one that was woefully undersized.  The new 40 Amp charger also has a remote panel that will be mounted on the steering console above the generator and inverter panels.  The remote will provide diagnostics on both house and engine battery banks.  A very nice upgrade for the Belle.  We will be able to monitor everything 'battery related' from an easily accessible remote instead of having to go into the engine room and monkey around with things down there.

New charger on the right, inverter to the left.

Remote...not mounted yet but look at all those pretty lights.

The marina is emptying out as cruisers head north for the summer.  The free marina-provided bus trips around town are suspended until the busy season begins again in September/October.  Cook-outs and free movie nights are also on hiatus.

We don't know right now what our summer plans are from a cruising standpoint. We do know we are heading up to MN (minus the Belle) for family festivities over the Fouth of July holidays. We will drive Kerm's truck and on the way stop in Cleveland to visit Dan and Carrie.  Another stop will be at Mid-Ohio raceway to spectate/crew on Kerm's brother's Mini for the big MINI 50 celebration in late June.

That's my news for now.  All is well on the Belle.  It is great to have Kerm home again.

Until next time,
Christie

Happy Easter to all who celebrate, Happy Spring to all...

April 21

Chris here at Sunset Bay.

Loving my accommodations and getting some tasks completed on the Belle.

• I fixed the head!!! Yay for me. 
• The propane alarm system that fuels the stove is wanky but I have the microwave, crockpot, electric frying pan, toaster and outside grill so I am not uber worried about it.  Plus, there are oodles of good restaurants within walking distance.
• Every day I am trying to polish one inside porthole so by the time Kerm gets here we will be looking great.
• The woodwork inside the cabin gets sticky from all of the salt and human oils in the Bahamas so I am working with vinegar and water to renew the teak.
• Starting the motor every week for one hour to charge up the batteries.  It is sooo nice when the motor pops right into action when I turn the key and press the start button.
• Continuing to learn more about the systems on board every day.

In addition to my 'daily work' I have to get morning coffee from the ship's store and blab about the weather, town events, marina gossip, etc.  I schmooze with other cruisers and learn more about places to anchor in the Bahamas, interesting things to see and how to catch spiny lobster and conch.  The people here are very friendly and there is a lot of fixing, replacing and cleaning going on.

Our friends on 'Blue Bay', Dick and Nancy, have been very kind to me and we all went out to Easter dinner yesterday.  Ham dinner was great and then we walked over to the ice cream shop for dessert.  Hey, it was Easter and the Bunny didn't hide any eggs for me...although Dick says they are actually underneath the Belle. Dick and Nan are leaving Tuesday for Ft. Pierce to have 'Blue Bay' pulled and stored for the season and then they are headed home to Minnesota.  They are planning to race on the St. Croix River this season so 'Irish Temper' will be seeing them pretty soon.

Nancy and Dick at Duffy's

 Kerm has been calling me for measurements in the bilge ...we are installing a new battery charger when he comes down.  Also, we plan to re-caulk the teak decks.  That is a big job but very important for maintaining the integrity of the fiberglass decks below...spongy decks are death to a boat.

Weather good here and I hear things are getting better up north.  That is good for all.  Take care all...

Christie

My new home (for a while) Sunset Bay Marina and Anchorage Stuart, FL

Chris here....

Thursday, April 10

I am now safely installed at a great marina in Stuart and the Belle is working well.  Life is good.  Better if Kerm was here but he will be soon, we hope.  After the drama of Kerm's medical emergency, getting him safely to a health care facility in the States,  the Belle's electrical emergency and getting her safely to the States for needed electrical surgery it is wonderful to rest for a while and not have to worry every minute. 

I have learned a huge amount about the boat and had to dock her numerous times with no assistance from the captain.  It's been a huge learning experience and I have really enjoyed having a chance to handle things by myself.  I shouldn't say by myself, however, because Linda has been with me the whole time and she is an exceptional crew.  She has been steady, willing to work hard and open to all the learning opportunities that presented themselves.  She stayed on the boat and weathered a huge blow in Black Point when I flew out to Miami to check on Kerm's progress.  Without her the Belle would probably still be in the Exumas.  She is awesome.

Pat, Linda's son, came to visit us here in Florida and has been a great help on the boat, washing, waxing and polishing.  The Bahamas salt and sand are almost all gone by now.  Linda and Pat are renting a car and heading off to Minnesota on Sunday...I am going to tag along to Atlanta and collect Kerm's pickup truck which is at his cousin, John's house.  Then I will drive it back here.

Here are pictures of our new home for a while...

We are on A Dock ...closest to the bathrooms, office and ship's store and cruiser's lounge

Our exact address.  Slip A-19 is in a nice protected spot

The Belle...sitting pretty

Office, ship store bathrooms, lounge and dinghy dock

Tuesday and Friday there's free bus service to area shopping spots...a wonderful convenience for cruisers

Laundry room and bathrooms are new and cleaned every day...not always the case at all marinas!

Harbormasters Sam and Buzz great guys and very helpful

Hibiscus all over the place

Air conditioned lounge with TV and lots of books

The lounge is a nice place to read the morning paper

On site restaurant...quite good

Nice ship store with coffee every morning

That's the Belle with the blue lee cloths by that orange thing.

Marina has about 240 slips

Mooring Field has about 40 mooring balls.  Our friends, Dick and Nancy are here!

Bird of Paradise...need I say more?