Squealing Bilge Blower

The bilge blower announced yesterday that it was time for maintenance.  Access to this item requires me to crawl down into the starboard cockpit locker and then aft into what would be the lazarette on most boats. 

The bilge blower is a healthy piece of gear fastened to a bulkhead with two hoses and two wires leading to it.  Four screws, two large hose clamps, and two quick snips later and I’ve got the thing laying on the nav table.

Surprise, the device is old enough so that it is not a throw away and, instead, is designed to be dis-assembled and serviced.  The motor housing was a bit corroded so I wire-brushed and painted it.  The bearings were very dry so they got a touch of grease.  One of the wires came off the internal brush assembly so I re-soldered both of them.

It all went back together amazingly well and now emits a low, satisfying, rumble and seems to move gobs of air.

Marathon

The whole day yesterday (Sunday) was mine!  I left Crow’s Nest at 10 am and sailed around Brown’s Point and beat all the way up to Pt. Robinson.  The wind was about 10 knots from the north so I was able to use the 150% genoa which gave me 5 knots of boat speed most of the time.  That’s livin!

At Pt Robinson I turned around and put up the light spinnaker.  Even more livin!  The weather was beautiful, clear, about 80 degrees, not too many boats out, a few ships to keep clear of, and a two-hour spinnaker run. 

I ran out of wind after I turned the corner under Vashon so I motored about 30 minutes into Gig Harbor, anchored, and had spaghetti.  After I cleaned up I sat in the cockpit, smoked a cigar, and watched the boat traffic coming and going.  I motored all the way back under a beautiful sunset and ended up at Crow’s Nest just after 10 pm.

Ventilation and Heating

Now that summer’s on us there isn’t much need for a heater on board so I took everything in that category off the boat a couple weeks ago.  I used two, small, oil filled, radiator heaters all winter and that kept everything pretty reasonable – probably not for full-time living aboard but nice enough for doing work during the day and also to keep the mildew down.

I also have a small fan-assisted heater from West Marine that is useful to move air around the cabin.  Moving air – getting fresh air into stale pockets –  is as necessary for mildew prevention as heat is.  I found that I could push air into the forward bilge area, under the v-berth step, and get air circulating through the bilge and through most lockers.  To make the most of this I installed several 1–inch “locker vents” from Perko in various dead spaces.

I laid a West Marine fan-assisted dehumidifier on the v-berth step, upside-down, so that it pushes air down into the forward bilge space and from there throughout the boat.  This kept the lockers dry throughout the winter.  I still have the dehumidifier running in the warm weather and am also using the heater/fan unit, with only the fan running, to push air down into the large part of the bilge.

Now that I’d like to move cool air into the cabin I’ve got a windscoop for the foredeck hatch and two 12 volt fans from Caframo. I took a nice breezy nap the other day in the v-berth under the windscoop.

Chartering

We chartered a Maxim 49 powerboat out of Bellingham last week.  We’re still doing this trip once a year because it’s so nice to have comfortable space for everyone and also to be able to set a fairly concrete itinerary that doesn’t involve the weather as much.  In fact it rained a bit while we were underway and it really meant nothing.  Most of the family naps during this time and I enjoyed time at the helm when there were not too many other boats out.

This boat was fairly new (2003) and therefore very clean.  It’s also a fairly well-built boat (but it’s still a Bayliner).  The sheer size of the thing makes it more seaworthy in some ways.  You’ve got 30,000 pounds and 740 horsepower to punch through seas.  We left Roche Harbor heading for Victoria and went south around San Juan Island (Lime Kiln Point) looking for whales.   It wasn’t until we were well out into the Strait and I stepped out of the pilot house that I realized that there was over 30 knots of wind over the deck.

I was happy cruising at 10 knots.  Slow by most powerboater standards but at this speed the engines are just loafing at 1800 rpm and burning less than 10 gallons per hour.  We only used 170 gallons of diesel for the whole week.  That included Friday Harbor, Roche Harbor, Reid Harbor, Victoria, Sidney, Roche (again) and back to Bellingham.  All of these places except Reid Harbor have pools.

The boat had a bow and a stern thruster.   Too easy.  Bigger boats are easier to handle, in my experience, and thrusters and twin engines mean you can put the boat wherever you think it needs to go.  A guy in a Crealock 34 at the customs dock in Victoria was cringing at all the windage we had but it was my observation that his mast, a bunch of rigging, three roller furled sails, lots of crap on deck (because there is nowhere to store it below), is a lot of windage too.  It may not look that way but it is.  

I’m not about to give up my C&C and lay down the big bucks for a 50’ powerboat, but there are certainly good arguments for that type.  Now that I have the family satisfied with their boating fix it’s time for me to sail my boat.

Chartering

We chartered a Maxim 49 powerboat out of Bellingham last week.  We’re still doing this trip once a year because it’s so nice to have comfortable space for everyone and also to be able to set a fairly concrete itinerary that doesn’t involve the weather as much.  In fact it rained a bit while we were underway and it really meant nothing.  Most of the family naps during this time and I enjoyed time at the helm when there were not too many other boats out.

This boat was fairly new (2003) and therefore very clean.  It’s also a fairly well-built boat (but it’s still a Bayliner).  The sheer size of the thing makes it more seaworthy in some ways.  You’ve got 30,000 pounds and 740 horsepower to punch through seas.  We left Roche Harbor heading for Victoria and went south around San Juan Island (Lime Kiln Point) looking for whales.   It wasn’t until we were well out into the Strait and I stepped out of the pilot house that I realized that there was over 30 knots of wind over the deck.

I was happy cruising at 10 knots.  Slow by most powerboater standards but at this speed the engines are just loafing at 1800 rpm and burning less than 10 gallons per hour.  We only used 170 gallons of diesel for the whole week.  That included Friday Harbor, Roche Harbor, Reid Harbor, Victoria, Sidney, Roche (again) and back to Bellingham.  All of these places except Reid Harbor have pools.

The boat had a bow and a stern thruster.   Too easy.  Bigger boats are easier to handle, in my experience, and thrusters and twin engines mean you can put the boat wherever you think it needs to go.  A guy in a Crealock 34 at the customs dock in Victoria was cringing at all the windage we had but it was my observation that his mast, a bunch of rigging, three roller furled sails, lots of crap on deck (because there is nowhere to store it below), is a lot of windage too.  It may not look that way but it is.  

I’m not about to give up my C&C and lay down the big bucks for a 50’ powerboat, but there are certainly good arguments for that type.  Now that I have the family satisfied with their boating fix it’s time for me to sail my boat.

Tall Ships

Tacoma had the “Tall Ships” in town for the fourth.  Pretty impressive bunch of boats.  We went over to Foss Waterway on Sunday the third and had a look.  The waterway was packed with little Bayliners having a look and the ships themselves were packed with sunburned folks having a look.  We got out of there pretty quick and had a nice sail in just under 10 knots of wind around Browns Point.

We went over to Ruston (Old Town) on Monday the fourth and anchored in 130 feet (!) of water.  The new Guardian (low-end Fortress) anchor works well.  Probably has a lot to do with the 50’ of chain too. 

I retired the too-small Bruce last week and picked up a Guardian G23.  I’ve drug Bruce anchors across every bay within 500 miles of Tacoma.  The catboat I had came with a Danforth Hi-Tensile that never let me down so I thought I’d give that style a try.  The Guardian is nice and light which makes sense for a “performance” cruiser.  It’s also a joy to handle on the foredeck.

Old Town was crowded.  Dinghies zipping all around, little speedboats dragging anchor, great big motor cruisers trying to thread their way through the densely anchored boats.  The airshow was okay but by far the most exciting part of the day was the giant Crowley tugboat gently threading it’s way through the anchorage.   The very definition of powerful elegance.

The fireworks were nice, the kids loved it, and the crow was appreciative with cheering and horn-blowing.  The trip back across Commencement Bay to Crow’s Nest took a lot of attention in the dark with little speedboats, at speed, zipping here and there in the very dark night.

We got the boat put away just before midnight and the kids fell asleep on the 15 minute drive home.

Bridgenorth Bailer

I ordered one of these as soon as I saw it on Panbo.com.  It came last week and it is very well built and works as advertised.  There’s an item on today’s Panbo that Ben Ellison is concerned about service.  I just thought I’d mention that service was fine from the US distributor.

It’s a pretty good boathook but the fact that it can suck up and hold a bit of water is pretty useful.  Scamper gets a bit of rain down the keel-stepped mast and the puddle is too small for either bilge pump to reach.  In the past, when I felt like it, I got out a little Whale pump to get that little bit of water out.  That also requires the hose that came with the pump and the bucket.  The Bilgenorth Bailer lets me stick the boathook end down into the bilge and get the water out in one operation.