2-3-07

We left for the boat late as usual. Stopped at West Marine to pick up some aluminum polish and cleaner. While at West Marine I checked their clearance rack and they had a new Origo 3000 2 burner Alcohol Stove on sale for less than half price. What a deal! I grabbed it and now we can have hot coffee in the morning. They didn't have the gimbals for it, so I will be looking for those. We found the boat in good shape, the motor fired right up and purred. I installed the stove in the cutout already in the galley but I think the cutout was for a gimbaled stove so once I get the gimbals it will fit better. Filled it up with alcohol and test fired it. Hey this thing gets hot fast and works good. Next I tried the aluminum cleaner and a scotch-brite pad on a mini sander to clean the boom but it just made the deep pits show up in the metal. I guess the boom and mast are going to have to be bead blasted to get them looking good. It was getting dark and very cold so we closed up the cabin and started the heater. I didn't think it was that cold, I must have got chilled outside earlier but I was miserable and even considered going home. We listened to the radio for a while and I curled up in the bunk to get warm, we started watching DVD movies and finally by the time the first movie was over I was beginning to get warm. For a while I thought the bay was going to freeze solid. HaHa!

New Origo 3000 Alcohol Stove

2-4-07

Got up  this morning about 8 am and lit the new stove up. I boiled some water and made Margie and I some coffee. Hopefully next time we can cook up some breakfast. I went to work installing the VHF chart plotter on the new swing arm. I had to drill several mounting holes in the base plate then I ran some temporary power wires to test it out  It worked good and looks good too. Now we can stay in the cockpit to navigate the channels or swing it inside to plan our next trip. I still need to run the GPS antenna and wire back to the stern rail and tidy up the wiring. We are also planning to replace the VHF coax and antenna when we haul the boat out and take down the mast.  I am also planning to make a top hatch board out of clear lexan that will keep the rain out but still allow me to see the screen.(see rough water photo) All projects for another day. The other projects we got done today were to mount the stereo speakers in the cabin and to install new hinges on the port locker. It was getting late so we packed up the boat, which means I had to take down the VHF chart plotter because we never leave the electronics on the boat. I have a large padded backpack that holds all the electronics and the wires all have quick connections so its easy to hook back up. I hope this helps the electronics last a long time. All loaded up, we head for home.

GPS Chartplotter, Marine VHF, Loud Hailer with Fog Signals all in one package, now that's integration!
 

VHF/Chart plotter swung into cockpit view.

VHF/Chart plotter swung into cabin view.

VHF/Chart plotter in rough water view, hatch boards in place and top covered.

2-17-07

We should have stayed home this weekend. A totally lousy trip. Stopped at West Marine on the way and they didn't have anything good on the clearance rack, bought a GPS antenna rail mount that I paid too much for. We started out really late and got to the boat about dark, it was really cold. The boat was extremely low and stuck in the mud so I couldn't pull it over all they way to the dock, I had to get a 2 x 10 plank from nearby and Margie had to walk the plank out to the boat to release some more rope so it was closer to the dock. We got aboard and too dark to do anything so we watched some movies ate cheese and a little wine and went to bed. I wish I could say this next event happened doing something exciting, but no, sometime during the night I had to get up and use the head and when I crawled back into bed I put my knee in the wrong spot and split the galley table right smack in half. Margie awoke to an instant convert-a-bed with her head and feet up and the rest of her on the galley floor, I was sort of half in bed and half in the cabin floor. Well I ended up making a new bed in the port quarter birth and Margie just curled up and made use of what was left of the bed she was on. I don't think either one of us slept the rest of the night. 

Alma Del Viento

2-18-07

Well since we couldn't sleep we got up at 5am and made some coffee and breakfast. Margie cooked some eggs and toast on the new stove. I guess our first real meal cooked on the boat. We were both tired and didn't feel like working on the boat. I took some measurements of the galley stove area to mount the gimbals I ordered. Margie measured the tiller so she can make a new cover for it and by noon we loaded up and headed for home.