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| Ladder on the left, compared to the stairs under construction |
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| Deciding the arrangement of the risers on the first platform |
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| I added another platform on top later |
Tuesday, December 25, 2018
New stairs for climbing up to the boat (no more ladder!)
When you're re-building a boat while "on the hard" (not in water), you have to climb up and down a boat ladder many, many times a day. I was sick and tired of the climbing, and it was also dangerous to do so while carrying heavy tools (or my cats) so I decided to build more permanent stairs out of lumber. The boatyard had some stairs available but they were rickety and rusted with sharp bits poking out. Building my own stairs meant I could design them as I preferred too. This consists of two flights of stairs, with two platforms. Since most of my tools were still in storage, I bought a cheap circular saw and drill from Harbor Freight to get the job done. I also placed some rechargeable solar lights on the handrails to light-up the stairway at night. In addition to being able to climb to the boat far more easily, now my cats can climb down the boat to go exploring too.
New workshop shed for boatbuilding
I bought another portable canopy/tent, about 10 feet by 20 feet, as my workshop. My previous workshop was also built using the same portable canopy brand but I shared the space with my friends in the yard, and I generally didn't like the feng shui of the interior arrangement, so I decided to improve on that.
This time for example, the floor is not bare ground that flooded easily; I built it on wooden palettes covered with plywood and a tarp. I also arranged my tools and supplies better this time around, and I got another portable 10x10ft collapsible canopy to use as an exterior workspace, protected from the rain. The shelves are built out of planks on milk crates -- much like in my college days.
I also have my "kitchen" in the tent including the fridge and the electrical stove. Previously the kitchen arrangement was divided between the tent and the boat interior, which made cooking anything a bit of a hassle. After I get my tools and supplies out of storage and arrange them properly, my first project will be to build some stairs to climb up to the boat. No more ladder!
This time for example, the floor is not bare ground that flooded easily; I built it on wooden palettes covered with plywood and a tarp. I also arranged my tools and supplies better this time around, and I got another portable 10x10ft collapsible canopy to use as an exterior workspace, protected from the rain. The shelves are built out of planks on milk crates -- much like in my college days.
I also have my "kitchen" in the tent including the fridge and the electrical stove. Previously the kitchen arrangement was divided between the tent and the boat interior, which made cooking anything a bit of a hassle. After I get my tools and supplies out of storage and arrange them properly, my first project will be to build some stairs to climb up to the boat. No more ladder!
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| Gotta sort through and arrange the tools |
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| Workshop tent, showing the floor made by palettes |
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| Arranging everything inside the workshop... |
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| Painting supplies |
Back in the yard, back to work on the boat!
After an absence of 15 months, I am back in the yard and back to work on the boat. I had left the boat in a rush, thinking I'd be gone only for 8 weeks, but everything was OK and there were no big problems with the boat in the meantime. There was no mold inside, thanks to the new interior paint job with the anti-mold additive, and also thanks to my friends who aired-out the boat for me on a regular basis. About 20 gallons of water hd accumulated in the bilge - more on that later. And the epoxy primer I had put on the deck will need to be redone (it did not fair well under the beating Florida sun, and was cracking/peeling) but that's not really a big deal either. All in all, I am happy to be back!
The first job was to have the boat moved from where the yard management had stored it, to better spot with more room for a workshed This took a few days but was done by Thanksgiving.
The next immediate project was to make a temporary replacement for the fore hatch lid that had blown off in the last hurricane. I had covered the hatch with a piece of PVC board, weighed down with my anchor and windlass, and this had worked for the 15 months of my absence but was now impractical since I couldn't open and close the lid easily. I had to make a quick-and-dirty, slap-dash replacement hatch without my tools or supplies that were still in my storage unit.
Making the temporary hatch was a quick job: Put some plastic sheeting over and around the hatch, drape the fiberglass cloth over it and then wet it out with resin. Repeat a couple of times, then after the fiberglass cures, just lift off the new lid and trash the plastic sheeting under it.
The result wasn't pretty but it does the job for now.
Next, I have to set up a new work-shed area and I've decided to build a stairway to climb up to the boat rather than continue to use my boatladder. Going up and down a ladder 50 times a day, while carrying tools or my cats, is just not practical and there are too many stories of people being injured on ladders in the boatyard...
The first job was to have the boat moved from where the yard management had stored it, to better spot with more room for a workshed This took a few days but was done by Thanksgiving.
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| Moving day |
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| My new "backyard" view |
The next immediate project was to make a temporary replacement for the fore hatch lid that had blown off in the last hurricane. I had covered the hatch with a piece of PVC board, weighed down with my anchor and windlass, and this had worked for the 15 months of my absence but was now impractical since I couldn't open and close the lid easily. I had to make a quick-and-dirty, slap-dash replacement hatch without my tools or supplies that were still in my storage unit.
Making the temporary hatch was a quick job: Put some plastic sheeting over and around the hatch, drape the fiberglass cloth over it and then wet it out with resin. Repeat a couple of times, then after the fiberglass cures, just lift off the new lid and trash the plastic sheeting under it.
The result wasn't pretty but it does the job for now.
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| Pretty enough, and keeps the rain out |
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| Made a hatch lid in-situ, using hardware-store fiberglass resin |
Next, I have to set up a new work-shed area and I've decided to build a stairway to climb up to the boat rather than continue to use my boatladder. Going up and down a ladder 50 times a day, while carrying tools or my cats, is just not practical and there are too many stories of people being injured on ladders in the boatyard...
Friday, April 13, 2018
Youtube Channels I follow
I've met the most incredible and diverse group of people in the cruising life. On my down-times, I try to keep up with some friends and acquaintances via their social media including the following Youtube channels that I check regularly:
Guirec and his pet chicken, spent a year in Greenland!
Pete and Kourtney the Accidental Sailor Girl are in a nearby marina
Capt. Liz Clark and Amelia her kitty (RIP kitty!)
And of course Sail Life
Leo, a British sailor who is rebuilding a 19th century wooden ketch in Oregon
The Geordie and his Wench aboard the Sea Witch
Guirec and his pet chicken, spent a year in Greenland!
Pete and Kourtney the Accidental Sailor Girl are in a nearby marina
Capt. Liz Clark and Amelia her kitty (RIP kitty!)
And of course Sail Life
Leo, a British sailor who is rebuilding a 19th century wooden ketch in Oregon
The Geordie and his Wench aboard the Sea Witch
Saturday, January 27, 2018
Working...
Just a quick update: I've been working to pay off bills and buy some more cool boat gear including 1/2" lines and blocks to lead all the lines back to the cockpit, flexible water tank bladders, and I've been reading David Burch's book on marine weather which I highly recommend. I may be back to the boat in a couple of months. Stay tuned . . .
Friday, August 25, 2017
Manual coffee grinder on a sailboat
There is no such thing on sale in the US as a rechargeable, battery-powered coffee-grinder. We have rechargeable battery-powered saws and angle-grinders but not coffee grinders. I don't know why but I suspect a patent troll.
Anyway so if you like freshly ground coffee as I do, on a boat, the options are limited to using an inverter to power an electric grinder -- and a coffee grinder doesn't really burn a lot of power -- or using a manual grinder.
The problem with the manual grinders are that they require two hands to operate, except for the wall-mounted ones which instead are usually very large and ornate pieces with glass bits that would never safely fit on my boat. On a boat, you need at least one hand to hold onto something, so you rarely have both hands available to make coffee.
However I was lucky to find this particular grinder on Amazon, and thus far I'm happy with it but for a single issue: the little bowl that receives the coffee below, attaches to the body of the grinder only with magnets. This means that the slightest bump of the finger and the receptacle and ground coffee it contains goes flying everywhere. I wish instead of magnets, the receptacle was screwed-in. Anyway that's my only problem with this grinder. The receptacle is perfectly sized for a single cup of coffee in my shatter-proof coffee press. The aluminum body can take the humidity of the sea as can the ceramic blades. It grinds coffee pretty fast too, I haven't counted the turns but It doesn't seem to take much more time than using a regular coffee grinder.
Anyway so if you like freshly ground coffee as I do, on a boat, the options are limited to using an inverter to power an electric grinder -- and a coffee grinder doesn't really burn a lot of power -- or using a manual grinder.
The problem with the manual grinders are that they require two hands to operate, except for the wall-mounted ones which instead are usually very large and ornate pieces with glass bits that would never safely fit on my boat. On a boat, you need at least one hand to hold onto something, so you rarely have both hands available to make coffee.
However I was lucky to find this particular grinder on Amazon, and thus far I'm happy with it but for a single issue: the little bowl that receives the coffee below, attaches to the body of the grinder only with magnets. This means that the slightest bump of the finger and the receptacle and ground coffee it contains goes flying everywhere. I wish instead of magnets, the receptacle was screwed-in. Anyway that's my only problem with this grinder. The receptacle is perfectly sized for a single cup of coffee in my shatter-proof coffee press. The aluminum body can take the humidity of the sea as can the ceramic blades. It grinds coffee pretty fast too, I haven't counted the turns but It doesn't seem to take much more time than using a regular coffee grinder.
Cats on board
As indoor NYC pets, my cute kittens had turned into rotund walking fury cushions that just laid about doing nothing but shedding. They didn't know what to make of the boat. Pasha went out of the cabin to explore at nights, chasing the lightning bugs, but he never left the decktop. Sasha only went out to use the litter box. Two fans constantly blew cool air on them.
The weird thing was their reaction to being shaved.
First, yes, I bought a pet shaver from Walmart and shaved my cats to help them keep cool in Fla. No, it wasn't hard and didn't require restraining them, they seemed to enjoy it. I had already gotten them used to regular brushing, rough enough to remove what seemed like a woven sweater's worth of fur off of them every day, so the clipper didn't make much of an impact...for her. Sasha had no problem and was actually purring while I shaved her so I was able to do a pretty thorough job of it.
Pasha was a bigger problem, he'd sit still long enough for me to do a patch, then he'd pretend-claw and growl a bit, turn around and come back again. He only kinda like-hated it. So he was a little patchy in the end.
The problem was that after this, they seemed to no longer recognize each other. They started hissing and scratching. They went into hiding, each at one end of the boat, eyeing the other one suspiciously from under a bunch of stuff on from on top of a shelf.
I knew things were serious when they fought over the food bowl. Normally, he would stuff his face in the bowl first, gulping what he could. She would wait patiently for a chance to eat her bit, until he pushed her aside again. That was the order of things, it wasn't fair but it kept the peace. Now, they literally fought, hissed and scratched, sometimes both left the food bowl untouched and ran off to hide in their secret spots. Gradually, she came to have the upper-hand over the food bowl, actually.
Anyway, turns out this is a thing that cats do when they're shaved, bathed, taken to a vet, or otherwise separated for a while: they forget each other's scent. Cats are not known for their loyalty.
It took about a week before things were back to semi-normal.
Anyway, after a month, they were pretty much all done with all that. They took turns sitting on my lap on the long slow drive back up to NYC. The process of introducing the cats to the boat was going to go slow.
First, yes, I bought a pet shaver from Walmart and shaved my cats to help them keep cool in Fla. No, it wasn't hard and didn't require restraining them, they seemed to enjoy it. I had already gotten them used to regular brushing, rough enough to remove what seemed like a woven sweater's worth of fur off of them every day, so the clipper didn't make much of an impact...for her. Sasha had no problem and was actually purring while I shaved her so I was able to do a pretty thorough job of it.
Pasha was a bigger problem, he'd sit still long enough for me to do a patch, then he'd pretend-claw and growl a bit, turn around and come back again. He only kinda like-hated it. So he was a little patchy in the end.
The problem was that after this, they seemed to no longer recognize each other. They started hissing and scratching. They went into hiding, each at one end of the boat, eyeing the other one suspiciously from under a bunch of stuff on from on top of a shelf.
I knew things were serious when they fought over the food bowl. Normally, he would stuff his face in the bowl first, gulping what he could. She would wait patiently for a chance to eat her bit, until he pushed her aside again. That was the order of things, it wasn't fair but it kept the peace. Now, they literally fought, hissed and scratched, sometimes both left the food bowl untouched and ran off to hide in their secret spots. Gradually, she came to have the upper-hand over the food bowl, actually.
Anyway, turns out this is a thing that cats do when they're shaved, bathed, taken to a vet, or otherwise separated for a while: they forget each other's scent. Cats are not known for their loyalty.
It took about a week before things were back to semi-normal.
Anyway, after a month, they were pretty much all done with all that. They took turns sitting on my lap on the long slow drive back up to NYC. The process of introducing the cats to the boat was going to go slow.
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