And it Starts again, then Stops, then Starts, then Stops, then...

I'm reminded of a variation on a warrior theme.   That which does not work makes you stronger...

Things started off well enough though we did finally get aboard later on Wednesday than anticipated.  We'd spent a lovely day in two Drs appointments, then visited some dear friends, Jack & Kathe.   Then we hung out with Kippy & Deam at a wine tasting at Long Cellars in Woodinville.   My sister, Jenn, & Marcia joined us there and we six had a rollicking good time.   Jenn & I were essentially Kippy's neighbors when we were still all in diapers.   Yup, we've known each other for a very long time.

I came home with 4 cases of wine.   Did I mention that I really think Jason Long is one of Washington's finest winemakers?   www.longcellars.com.   Check them out.

What's the first thing I do when I board the boat???  Make sure we aren't sinking.   A quick tour of the bilges and all was good.

Then I checked the electrical system; all good.

I noticed that we had no fresh water, all tanks were empty.   OK, Karen & I got out the hose and filled-up the tanks.   It takes a while to take on 500 gallons!

And that's when things started going all wonky (technical term).

I closed all freshwater taps and spigots, then pressurized the system.   Hmmm, the pump kept running.  Not good.   There is a leak somewhere.  It turned out it was in the galley (kitchen).   The filtered-water spigot was spraying water out from under the sink.   Quickly shutting off that valve stemmed the flow.  When the yard winterized the boat, they must have missed this fixture.   It froze and split the 3/8 compression nut on the bottom of the "tee".  Fixable.

On Thursday midday, we got to visit with Vann and Christine in Anacortes.   What great people!   Jenn & Marcia, and their dogs, Red & Jack, came by to visit us on the boat.   We had a great time catching up, and it was a welcome distraction from boat chores.

On Thursday afternoon, my old college roommate, Mark, & Arleigh came by for a visit.   As we were getting ready to head out for dinner Karen noticed the engine room floor had standing water about 1" deep by the entrance.   I tasted it and it was salty.   Very bad!   Not knowing from whence it came, I shut off all thru hulls.

Next problem - why wasn't my bilge pump pumping?   Isn't that what pumps are supposed to do?

Yup, it was powered on and running, but it wasn't pumping.   Time to call a friend, Brent of WavePoint Marine.   "Help!"   

Brent (Pictured) is not only a good friend, but the real deal when it comes to boats and I've come to rely on his expertise and advice.   Another friend, Art showed up with Brent and together we (read Brent and Art) diagnosed the problem to the hose.   It ran from the bilge up and over a stringer and then down to the floor, then up and overboard.  Just a note, all saltwater belongs overboard!   Per Art, this caused an "air gap" problem, and the bilge pump couldn't overcome that.   Raising the hose to take the dip out of it worked.   I don't really understand why though.  The bilge pump should have been able to push the water all the way through.

Insofar as the source of the leak it was my newly rebuilt sea-strainers.   One of the long keeper bolts had failed so the top and bottom of the sea strainer weren't firmly attached.   Fixable.  You can see the new stainless keeper bolts in the picture.

The next issue was my Starlink.   When I left last October, it was working.   Now it isn't.   From Starlink's side I could see my dish.   From my side, I could see my router.   But the dish and the router weren't communicating.   The obvious answer was the cable, but I mis-figured that that couldn't be it, so I rebooted, then reset everything, reconfigured, called Starlink, sacrificed a virgin rubber chicken, and otherwise tried all of the usual IT stuff.   Brent to the rescue again.   He found that the Starlink cable had been damaged.   A bit of bending, filing down a burr, straightening some pins and voi-la!  Success.   You can see the damaged/repaired connector in the picture.   Thanks Brent!

   

When I had the stabilizers upgraded (another long story) the installer mounted the multi-axis compass/sensor box (white box on the floor) right where all the cables for the Starlink enter the controller and router.   He did admit that he accidentally unplugged the controller and router.   It happens.   Glad we found it.

So, Friday afternoon, it's sea trial time.   I need to test the new bow and stern thrusters (awesome!!!), stabilizers (also awesome), and my new 5-blade prop (another long story).   All was not so good...  Well, the thrusters and stabilizers were good.   The propeller, not so much.

My old 4-blade prop was the source of a major vibration that drove me nuts last year.   

Remember, I even hauled in Wrangell thinking I must have hit something and dinged my prop - but it didn't even have a scratch on it.   Turns out that 2 of the 4 blades were different lengths.   And 4-blade props have an inherent problem when coupled with a full-keel boat.   When 2 of the blades are vertical, they are behind the keel, so they are starved of waterflow.   The other two blades are not so they can generate full thrust.   This natural imbalance causes a vibration and sometimes this vibration is very serious as in our case.  The solution is to go to a prop with an odd number of blades.   In our case that was 5.

Our new prop was super smooth, no problem there, sort of.   The old prop was pitched at 28.5 (meaning the prop would travel 28.5" forward for every revolution).   When we moved to the 5-blade prop, they recommended reducing the pitch to 27.5.   Well with that, the boat feels very sluggish, and I've lost about 1 knot of speed and most rpms.   Not good.

And there is another problem.   Have you ever run your finger around the rim of a wine glass and made it sing?   Apparently, props can do the same thing; it's called prop-sing (look it up).   So, we had an unwanted and loud harmonic noise that followed the prop speed at most all rpms.   Intolerable.

Hopefully, we will get hauled on Tuesday, swap out the new prop with the old prop, send the new one back to the shop to be adjusted (maybe to 28.5" pitch and modified to eliminate prop-sing).   BTW, the picture shows my old prop, looks like new...   38" diameter 28.5" pitch.   Maybe I'll get a picture of my new prop when we haul on Tuesday.

So, we are stuck at the dock for the week until we get the new prop fixed.

Last night, we hung out with more dear friends, John & Teri at their place.   A nice relaxing evening of home made Chicken Tikka Masala.   Darn good!

Today, we did some major provisioning; after fixing the water pump on the freezer...   It wouldn't prime.   The solution was to use a shop vac and suck the water through all the hoses.   Crude, but effective.   The picture is of the little freezer water pump.   Note the freezer heat exchanger is water cooled, and this little pump supplies the raw (sea) water to for the cooling.

And then it was on to Costco for provisions.   $950 lighter.   Right, good thing we don't have inflation!!!   Shesh!

Tonight, even as I write, it's sausage ravioli in a Bolognese sauce paired with my favorite scotch, Westward American Single Malt Scotch.   They distill this in Portland OR and it is fabulous! 

I've cut down on my drinking alcohol, so it's only Fri, Sat, Sun now.   Fewer meals with wine or anything else this year.   Apologies to my fellow winos, but I just can't do that much anymore.   Dr. Rosen is much happier with my new regimen and my weight (I'm down from 195 to 177 and trying to get to under 165).   Maybe tomorrow, I'll buy a scale.   Or not...

Good Night!