Sunset

Sunset on the West River tonight. Our engines ran well today, so we are content.

The Problem

This was the source of our water pump problem. The cam is badly warn, with some breakage of the teeth, which allowed sharp edges to be in contact with the impeller. Very bad. New cam is installed and I'll test the engine again shortly.

Impeller

Here are the rubber bits that the mechanic pulled out of the heat exchanger!

Water Pumps

We pulled the impeller from the port side pump and it's undamaged. That's good news, but it looks like we need a new cam for the starboard pump, because it's way sharper and stands more proud than the port side pump. Our theory is that the cam damaged the impeller, causing all our problems.

Power for Refrigeration

We're moving forward with a project to replace our refrigerators. The current units run on AC power, but our new units can run on DC or AC, so I installed 2 new breakers (the box on the lower left) to supply 24V DC to each fridge. Then I ran the wiring to the location under the cabinet where the refrigerators will reside. Now we wait for our new units to arrive, hopefully next week.

Fridge

The old fridge came out without too much trouble. Our new fridges are expected next week… hopefully that schedule is real. 

Freezer

Just to keep things interesting, our freezer decided that now is the time to give up. It's an old freezer, and not very efficient, so it looks like we'll be replacing this before we leave.

New Impeller

Here's what the impeller is supposed to look like…

Drat!

Well, we have a slight delay. This morning on departure we had our starboard engine overheat, so we had to shut it down and return to our slip. Upon investigation, I found that our impeller has been destroyed. The cause is a bit of a question since it only has 24 hours of use and it's rated for 500. It may have run dry due to inadequate priming. Anyway, we're going to have to do some work before we get going again. Stay tuned.

Loading Up

New Strainer Canister

We found that the original sea strainer canister was cracked on one of the strainers, so we replaced both proactively. So nice to be able to see through them again.

Provisions

Suzan organized our dry goods into the storage lockers today.

Provisioning

Today begins the process of provisioning the boat for our trip north.

GB Badges

Just installed our new GB badges!

Nav Station

Reorganizing the Nav station desk today…

Bimini

The Bimini is back up, so just a few more jobs to do in order to be ready to travel.

New Thruhulls

Our project is complete and the new Thruhulls are smooth operators again.

Solar!

The new solar panels are installed and connected. Project complete.

Thruhull

Here's the bottom (outside) part of the new thruhull. Shiny.

Solar Upgrade

The new solar panels arrived today. Looking forward to some amps going into the battery!

A Hole in the Boat

There's a hole in our boat! This is where the new thruhull will go. Currently waiting for parts.

Thruhulls

Our main engine thruhulls haven't been serviced regularly (maybe never), so they need to be replaced. They had become extremely difficult to operate so I'm looking forward to new ones. These are the kinds of things that you find when you start digging into a new-to-you boat.

Haulout

Sensei is coming out of the water for some work on her thruhulls and to wax her hull. We're also starting the project to upgrade her solar panels. We hope to be back in the water by the end of the week.

New Chair

The chair that came with our boat was showing its age, so we decided to buy a new one. The only problem was that the chairs are wider than the doors! So, we figured out that we could free up the middle windshield from its actuator and use the larger opening to squeeze the chairs through. Mission accomplished.

Old Chair

Solar

Taking care of the batteries on a cold winter day.

Sensei on Ice!

Snow!

'Twas quite snowy in Annapolis yesterday!

Flagstaffs

 

Varnishing is complete, and the hardware has been reassembled. Ready for another season!

Winterized

We finished our winterizing today. Now we wait for spring.