Victory Beer!

I knew it was going to be a good day when I awoke to this sunrise.

My mood tends to follow the weather.  I thought this sunrise was so nice I even left the crane barge in it.  I think it adds something to the composition.   Anyway, after a shower and breakfast, I got these loads off the couch.  Who wants to go to the dog park?

That got them to at least open their eyes.   I stayed at the park for a good hour and a half.   They played with all their doggie friends, although Ruby has been kind of mopey since Pam left for Texas and didn't have her usual spunk.  She really misses her mom!

After the park, I stopped by work which is in the marina next to the park.  I had put the seized up hoist motor in the truck (see yesterday's blog) the day before thinking I might have one of the guys look at it, but I was feeling good about today.  I took it to the shop workbench and put the shaft in the vice.  I grabbed the motor and turned for all I was worth.  The shaft slipped in the vice.  I cranked down harder on the vice and turned the motor again.  Again, the shaft slipped in the vice.   I REALLY cranked down on the vice and gave it one more shot.  The shaft slipped a little, but... did the motor turn a bit more?   Suddenly, the motor gave way and it spun easily!   It's free!  Or broken, in which case it's $400 for a replacement motor.   I took it out of the vice and plugged it in and hit the "run" button.   I spun!   It spun so good it spun right off the workbench.  Luckily, I had a good grip on the control box and so I kept it from hitting the floor.

I got back to the truck and drove back to the boat.   I reinstalled the motor and the gearbox cover plate, plugged it in, and hit the run button.  Down the cable came.  I switched it to the "in" position and hit run, and it picked up the cable.  YES!  It works!   I put some motor oil in the gearbox to check for leaks and had none.   This is a two-fer! 

Since I was on a roll, I also decided to start both of Drift Away's engines.   I had tried a month or so ago and got the starboard engine to fire, but the port would not.   Today, the port cranked for quite awhile but finally caught.  The starboard engine started easily, as it always does.  So it looks like we can actually use our floating house as a boat this season and make a few trips. 

And that, my friend, is what I call a good day, and worthy of a victory beer.

YAAAAAAH!!

Today was boat project day.  Pam is still in Texas for her son's graduation from Air Force Basic Military Training.  She called last night, and eventually asked what my plans were for Saturday.

"Maybe I'll take the electric motor off the hoist so I can see why it doesn't work", said I.   I had tried to work the hoist last year but all the motor did was hum.  Either the motor is seized up real good, or the gearbox is jammed.

"Uh huh" said Pam.

"What??"  protested I.

"You've been saying that for weeks!" said Pam.

She was right.  I had been talking about working on the hoist since February.  I want to get the Whaler off the roof so I can sell it, and use the hoist to get the BBQ off the aft deck along with the cabinet it's bolted to.   "Well, the weather had either been too nasty to do it, or too nice to waste it on boat projects" whined I.

"Yeah OK" said Pam, a bit condescendingly, I thought.  Seven times is the rule.  I need to say I'm going to do something, or be nagged seven times before I actually do it.  I'd only said I'd work on the hoist what, maybe five times? 

So Saturday morning I get up, and after breakfast etc. take the dogs to the great dog park in Norwalk, where the dogs spent a few hours playing and getting suitably tired out so as to nap all afternoon.   Back at the boat after lunch.  What to do?  I guess I should tackle the electric hoist on the roof, the one used to lift the 13 foot Boston Whaler.  I'll show Pam.  So up I go, tool box in hand.

13 foot Boston Whalers are not only good boats, but make good storage boxes too.

I examine the motor.  It's held on with a half dozen hex bolts.  I remove them and try to pull the motor off.  It won't come.  Something inside the gearbox is stopping it.  I have to remove the gearbox cover, but first I have to unbolt the electrical box.  No biggie.  Within minutes, the electrical box is dangling from the motor.

Next, I remove the hex bolts holding the gearbox cover on.  I pull on the cover.  It doesn't budge.  I tap it with a screwdriver and my make-do hammer (a big socket wrench.  I never actually use a hammer for much of anything).    The cover starts to separate from the gearbox.  I know this because gear oil starts pouring out, lots of it.  YAAAAAAH!!  Gear oil spreads over the deck, which is rounded so rain rolls off and into the gutter and then into the water.   Gear oil headed for the water!!   I have visions of Encon storm troopers massing over my boat, writing tickets with big fines!  I look around for something to catch gear oil.   The only thing I can find is the back cover for the hoist, which has three holes in the bottom, but it seems like it's better than nothing.  I stick that under the drips and dash down the ladder to below.   I grab a small waste basket and a roll of paper towels and fly back up topsides.   The gear oil is spreading but it hasn't made it to the gutter.  Quickly, I unroll big wads of paper towels to head off the spreading oil monster and thrust the waste basket where the oil is leaking out of the gearbox.   Whew.  BP has nothing on me!

Surveying the damage... yuck.  I spend a half hour mopping up oil with paper towels which I deposit into the waste basket.  I can't get all the oil up.  It's soaked into the fiberglass, I think.

With most of the gear oil gone from the box, I removed the cover and the motor. 

There's a worm gear on the shaft.  No wonder I couldn't get the motor off.  The worm gear is bigger than the hole through the cover the shaft passes through.   The inside of the gearbox is very cool, with all sorts of gear-type things.   I can rotate the gears by hand so the problem isn't the gearbox, it's the motor.

Now what to do?  I put vice grips on the shaft and try to turn the motor.  It doesn't turn, not a bit.  Twenty years of sitting uncovered probably has it full of crud.  The motor is probably toast, and a replacement is $400.  I decide to do something.... Dave-like.  With nothing to lose, I fill the galley sink with water and submerge the motor.  Hey, Pam's not home.   She'll never know.  Maybe the crud will dissolve and the shaft will turn.

Yeah, I guess I should have emptied the dish drainer first.  The electrical box and control were covered in gear oil, even though I wiped them down.  Knowing I'm a clod, I put them in a plastic bag so I don't make too big a mess.  I left the motor in the sink for a good hour.  When I removed it, the shaft still wouldn't turn.   I put the motor on the foredeck to dry out while I consider my next course of action.

By the way, the little rug stuffed through the hawse hole is chafe protection.  Living on a boat when the wind blows 50 MPH sometimes requires diligence.

How to subscribe to a blog

Many people follow blogs by clicking on the "follow" button.  This is fine for blogs you want to follow when you have free time to do so, but what of blogs you don't want to miss?  Perhaps a family member or friend out cruising the Great Loop?    For these, consider subscribing.

The process for subscribing is pretty easy.  Some blogs, like Drift Away, have a prominent subscribe button someplace on the page.   Ours is on the right.  

Other blogs have a small link at the bottom of the page that might say something like "Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)".   Click the subscribe button and you'll be brought to a page that states...

"You are viewing a feed that contains frequently updated content. When you subscribe to a feed, it is added to the Common Feed List. Updated information from the feed is automatically downloaded to your computer and can be viewed in Internet Explorer and other programs."

Below that will be a link that says "subscribe to this feed".   Click it.   A pop-up window appears with the blog name and feed location.  Leave these be.   Check the box that says "Add to favorites bar".

If you use Internet Explorer, you'll notice a new icon with the blog name next to it.   

When you click on the button, a list of blog postings will appear.  Ones you haven't read will be bold, and ones you have read will be grey.   Now here's the cool thing.  The feed will automatically look at the blog and if a new posting is made, the name of the blog will be bold, so you'll know that there's something new to read.   You can change the title of the button by right clicking on it and clicking on the rename function.

On a boat, everything must have a place.

It's even more important when you live aboard. Our trawler is pretty big as boats go and it has a lot of storage space, and it can be a challenge to find things sometimes. I've been boating for 40 years and learned long ago how important it is to be organized and to have things where they need to be when you need them quickly. It's been a challenge to get Pam to learn this. "It doesn't matter where something lives", I told her, "just as long at it has a home." She's been trying really hard, but because she's the kind of person that simply puts something down when she's done with it, it's been a struggle.

Pam's son Sean is graduating from Air Force basic military training this weekend. She's very excited and bursting with pride, and Pam, Sean's sister Megan, and Sean's girlfriend Amirah flew down to Texas for the big moment in Sean's life last night. Pamela actually started packing last week, making sure she had everything, organized and "in its place".

As Pam and I were leaving for the airport, I went through a quick check list of the really important stuff. Credit cards? Yes, in my pocketbook. Cash? Yes, in my pocketbook. Passport for airport ID?  Yes, in my pocketbook.  Cell phone? In my jacket pocket. Cell phone charger? In my bag. Camera? In my pocketbook.  Wow, I'm so proud of her!

Their flight got into San Antonio about midnight last night and they had to be on the base at 6AM to get Megan a pass. Knowing Pam likes to sleep in, I got up early to give her a wake up call. I dialed her cell phone number. Her cell phone rang in a jacket hanging in the helm station. She wore a different jacket.

I recently wrote about how all our critters climb into bed with us, and so we often depart for another stateroom to sleep (an advantage of having three staterooms for two people).  I was reading in bed last night, and Ruby and Chevy the dogs, and Smudge the cat came down to join me. 

I'm lucky I got the little corner of the bed that I did.   And yes, the book "Honey, Let's Get a Boat" is all wrinkled from getting wet.  You'd think the authors of a book about boating would make it waterproof.

It Helps to be Crazy

You don't have to be crazy to live on a boat, but it helps.

Last night was a tough one, sleep-wise. The dogs have taken over the aft master stateroom and Pam and I escape to the mid-stateroom.   I sometimes have difficulty sleeping and I awoke at 2:30.   I moved myself to the aft stateroom with the dogs to find something boring to watch on TV.  As I opened the door, I heard wagging tails slapping the bed.   Thankfully, they knew it was me and not a cat burglar.

Chevy and Ruby pretty much take over the whole bed, sprawling both on and under the covers.  This is typical sleep style.

I managed to wiggle my way in and started channel surfing, finding something appropriately dull and boring.  After an hour or so of Chevy snoring loudly and Ruby running in her sleep, and Smudge the cat sleeping on my chest and purring loudly,  I decided to move upstairs to the couch with a book.    Within five minutes, Chevy was on the couch next to me.   ~sigh~

Back downstairs, quickly followed by Chevy the dog and Smudge the cat.   Back to positions everyone!   I finally fell back asleep around 5, and up at my usual 6 AM.

Coming back from the showers, I was met with this sunrise... I love living on a boat.

Pam has replaced her daily workout in the marina gym with walking the dogs to the nearby beach.   She said she saw geese that she hadn't seen before, with a funny kaa-ronk call.   A check of the bird book shows it to be Brant Geese.    Cool.

Then, back on the boat, the dogs assumed the couch position of using me as a pillow.  Both dogs are sound asleep.  The old bald dawg wishes he was.

It looks like I'm staring off into space in that photo.   I'm actually watching the Today Show, incredulous that an investment advisor just told a sixty year old Utah woman that her $750,000 in retirement savings isn't anywhere near enough based on a 4% investment return, without asking about the woman's lifestyle.   Maybe she lives on a boat with a couple of dogs and cats.

Nature Thrives in the City

Most of us know that living aboard puts one in close contact with nature.  It's one of the cool things about living aboard.   What I didn't realize was how much was around us.   I've written previously about the Canada Geese, Sea Gulls, Hooded Merganzers, Mallards, and other waterfowl.   We've seen deer here at the marina, which is surrounded by the city, and a nearby park even has turkeys.  I've also written about Monk Parrots (sometimes called Monk Parakeets).    Yesterday (Saturday), walking the dogs, I passed by a ginko biloba tree with a Monk Parrot nest.

Several squawky pairs let me know they didn't like me or the dogs.

We crunched through oyster and clams shells that littered the path.   Sea Gulls will fly high above the paths and parking lots dropping shells to shatter them below.   It would be wise to park your car under a tree when visiting the beaches here.

I let the dogs off leash on the beach.   They love to run and wrestle.   There's a sign that says that dogs aren't allowed on the beach, but I'm guessing that's only during the summer.

Pit Bulls certainly look vicious when they play, but dispite the fangs and biting each other's necks and legs, they've never so much as left a mark on each other.

I am sensitive to the fact that many people don't like dogs and some are afraid of Pit Bulls because of their reputation, so I keep them away from others when off leash.   In reality, they're both sweethearts.
 

They both like the water.   I had to call them off the sea wall with my gruff voice NOW!

Back at the boat, the wind really started to kick up.   It was even ruffling the feathers of the Canada Geese.

This morning (Sunday) brought another very nice sunrise.  I rated this one an 8 out of 10 mainly because of the low scudding clouds.

Behind the low scudding clouds are big nasty rain clouds, so I got the dogs off the boat for a good romp to tire them out.   Getting back on the boat, Pam and I saw what I think was a mink.   It swam from the far shore, behind our boat, and into the rock wall.   It disappeared before I could get the camera.  I'll have to be on the lookout for him.

So the rest of rainy Sunday living aboard will probably be some movie watching, some book reading ("Honey, let's get a boat" by Ron and Eva Stob), and some jewelry making.

Pam has a large collection of sea glass that she's accumulated over the past couple of years.   She has decided to make jewelry with some of it.  She practiced with german silver, and then bought some silver plated wire.   She bought a couple of small diamond drills for the Dremel, and putting the glass on a small piece of wood in a pan of water, successfully drilled holes in a few pieces.

The secret is to not apply pressure, and to let the drill do the work.

I think these are very nice pieces, colorful and interesting shapes.   Pam has a good eye.  The one with the ladybug is for a friend.  I wonder if she can make a manly one for me?  

The World is Waiting for the Sunrise

"The World is Waiting for the Sunrise" is a great tune written in the early 1900s and popularized in the early 1950s by Les Paul and Mary Ford.  I remember listening to the 45 RPM record over and over again when my mom played it on her little portable record player (remember them)?   I blame this song on my penchant for watching sunrises.   There's something about the early dawn and the quickly changing light and shadows that draws me.   I'm usually compelled to arise well before dawn so I can make coffee, shower, and enjoy some quiet time with the sunrise.

There was nothing special about this morning's sunrise, really, but I decided to photograph it from the same view over the course of an hour or so, just the same.

I also enjoy sunsets a great deal too, but sadly we have an office building blocking our view from the marina.

For all you old timers out there, here is the great Les Paul and Mary Ford playing "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise" courtesy of YouTube.



And for all you Stan Freeberg buffs, here is a comic version of the same song, another I used to listen to on my mom's record player.   Living on a boat requires a sense of humor.   Sometimes, a really, really strange sense of humor.  :)