5 Oceans Race

I've been following the 5 Oceans race for the last few weeks. So far there has been one abandonment, and one dismasting in the Southern Ocean. If you are curious, and like an adventure (which a friend once quipped is when someone else has a bad time), check it out at: http://www.velux5oceans.com/

End of the Season

As of last week, Silence is put away for the season. We have run the "pink stuff" through all of her water systems.

Now it's time to start thinking about next season. We are planning to have new canvas made for the dodger and bimini. I've taken the teak treads off the ladder for refinishing, and I really need to make a centerboard insert for the dinghy, so that I don't have another near sinking... I've had enough bailing in the middle of the Bay!

Maintenance and Sailing

Well, we got the batteries in place back in August, in time for the Labor Day weekend voyage to Oxford. Thanks to Bryan, my brother-in-law, for coming out and helping me to heft them aboard.

The sail to Oxford came the day after Ernesto passed through. He brought 50 knot winds to our slip, with gusts of up to 60 knots! Four headsails in our marina were destroyed, unwrapping and shredding in the wind. Fortunately, Silence rode out the storm with no problems. The wind for our sail to Oxford was 15-20 knots from the NW, which made for a downwind romp, with Silence hitting speeds of 8+ knots. This was great, except that we were towing our dinghy, Silent Partner, which began leaking water through the centerboard trunk at these high speeds. We've had this problem in the past, and we jam a piece of foam rubber and some rags into the trunk to stop the water. There was just too much pressure and so the dinghy took on water and began to sink. This required us to stop the boat, take in sails and I had to get into the dinghy and bail her out. This can be very exciting with 3 foot waves. This happened twice before we decided to shorten sail and keep the boat moving at less than 6 knots.

We came up with an even better fix on our return trip, we lashed an oar on top of the trunk with our foam and rags. The oar kept everything in place, so no more trouble.

The winds were light the rest of the weekend, and we passed a pleasant couple of days in Oxford. The day before we departed, the refrigeration pump gave up. I replaced this pump about 8 years ago, so I guess that's about how long a pump lasts. I've now owned the boat long enough that I'm starting to replace things that I've already replaced once before. I have to tell you that there is no one more unhappy than Suzan watching food go bad in a dead refrigerator. But we had plenty of ice, and the fridge was at 40 degrees when the pump failed, so we made out just fine.

When I pulled the pump out of the boat, I figured that I'd have to order one from the manufacturer. I stopped by West Marine just to see if they might direct me to a supplier, and the rep there said that he thought he had one in stock. Unbelievable, they actually had the exact pump! I was able to get the fridge back up and running in one day! (This rarely happens.)

Two weeks ago, we moved the boat to Annapolis for a week, while our friend Tom renewed the Armada on the teak. Silence is looking very fine now, ready for our annual trip out to watch the Schooner Race. Hopefully, we'll be seeing some of you out there!

Batteries Not Included

I've noticed recently that each time we return to the boat, the house batteries are low. I went over to the boat with a voltmeter last Sunday, and took some measurements. The voltage was 11.5 on both batteries, and under load, the voltage started falling rapidly. Not good. So, it looks like I'll be buying some new batteries this soon... these are big boys, 4Ds, about the size of two car batteries joined together, it takes two guys to lift them into place. Who feels strong today?

Splashed!

Silence went back into the water yesterday morning, after a week on dry land. She has a nice clean bottom, and freshly applied poliglow (special thanks to Joe for his help on Saturday).

We were lucky to be in Annapolis yesterday, since it was also the day of the Blue Angels rehearsal flight at the Naval Academy. We anchored in the harbor for the show, then sailed down to the West River late in the afternoon. We had 15 knots of breeze from the NW, so we saw all points of sail, mostly on starboard. We peaked at 8.2 knots of boatspeed, and spent lot's of time in the mid 7s. Excellent sailing!

Silence once more...

Silence has her name on once again, this time with a new layout. Also today, the mechanic was by and is working on the raw water pumps for both the main engine and generator. The generator pump is in a location that makes it impossible to replace the impeller with out removing the pump, so I generally leave that work to the mechanic. The main engine pump is accessible, but the bolts looked likely to shear off due to rust. I decided to leave it to an expert to extract these old bolts.

It looks like we are on target for relaunching next Monday!

On the Hard

Silence was hauled out yesterday. While she was in the slings, Ted, from Seaside Boatworks checked out the centerboard pendant. The pendant is in great condition, no burrs, no corosion. Pretty amazing for a 10+ year old piece of hardware which spends all of it's time under water.

I stripped off the name and port on the transom, preparing the way for re-lettering. If you ever need to remove old adhesive residue like that left behind after peeling off vinyl lettering, check out Goo Gone. It's magic stuff! The old letters were looking worn and we want to reorganize the transom layout. Accent Graphics will be installing the new letters sometime this week.

This evening I went over to check on the progress of the bottom work and found the bottom already painted. The most important of the maintenance work is already taken care of.

Haulout

The forecast for today was not very promising, however, we managed to dodge the rain and had a nice sail from the West River up to Annapolis. Silence is now at the dock at Jabin's waiting to be hauled out tomorrow. We will be painting the bottom, renewing the poliglow, greasing all of the through-hulls, and checking the centerboard pendant. The pendant is probably 10 years old or more, so we wonder how it's doing.

Volvo Restart from Annapolis

Silence left the dock for only the second time on Sunday, to head out to the Volvo restart. The day began with big breezes, but, by the time of the start at 1:00 PM, the breeze had fallen off to around 10 knots. No worries, these boats still make 10-12 knots of boat speed in these conditions!

We were positioned south of the starting line, which also served as a downwind gate before the racers headed down the Bay. We got lucky with our position and the boats came through the spectator fleet not far from our location. It was a great day for everyone aboard.

Signs of Spring

I went over to the marina this weekend to visit the boat and begin the process of recommissioning for the season. It was a sunny day, in the 60s, with winds from the West at about 20 knots. It felt good to be on deck.

I re-installed the compass, and polished the binnacle and the wheel. Then I moved on to add some coolant to the engine and generator, opened the seawater intakes, and started them up. They both sprang to life immediately, awakening from their winter slumber.

The Volvo is Coming

The Volvo Ocean race is coming to Annapolis in April, and will restart on May 7th. We have social obligations during the time of the inshore race, but we plan to be out for the race restart. These boats are fast, (40+ knots in the right conditions) so we don't expect to see much of them as they head south, down the Bay.

Haulout This Year

We plan to haul Silence out this year for bottom painting and maintenance. We checked into hauling at Hartge's, but the problem there is that they won't let you do any of your own work. So, we plan to haul at Jabin's in May. In addition to painting, we plan to have the centerboard pendant checked and maybe replaced, renew the Poliglow (it's not a wax) on the hull, and replace the lettering on the transom.

Polarity!

Of course, where LEDs are concerned, polarity matters. I discovered that I wired the connector backwards when I plugged it in at the boat. I had a 50/50 chance of getting it right, but Murphy's Law prevails in these instances. I've rewired the connector and it works fine now.

Compass Light

Since I have the compass binacle opened up, I figured I might as well replace the old incandescent compass light with an LED. Ritchie makes a replacement kit, but it costs $16 dollars + shipping, which seems like a lot to pay for a couple of LEDs and a resistor.

So, I went to Radio Shack, and bought two LEDs for $2.00 (which is exorbitant), a a package of 560 Ohm resistors for 99 cents, and a small perf board for $2.00. First I cut the perf board to shape and drilled mounting holes which will use the same holes as the old light. I mounted the LEDs, and one resistor on the perf board. Then I wired the LEDs and the resistor in series. I tested it with 12v, and it works great. I put it next to the compass and turned out the lights. Ooooh, pretty. And it only draws 18 mA!

End of the bubble...

...well, almost. By now I figured that any air inside the compass would have worked it's way to the top. The bubble grew the first day, but since then it's been the same size. This evening I put the compass back on the bench, opened the filler hole, leveled the hole to get the bubble as close to the hole as possible, and injected a small amount of oil to top it off. I ever so carefully put the filler plug back in place, and returned the compass to it's upright position. There is still a really small bubble, about the size of a pencil point. I'd like to get it out, but it might be too much trouble.

Light Crude

The new compass oil arrived today, and I replaced it tonight. It was just as tedious as the first round, but I was rewarded with a working compass. The compass card stays perfectly aligned with North as I rotate the body of the compass. There is still a very tiny air bubble which I intend to try to remove tomorrow. Presumably, any additional air in the compass will work it's way to the top in 24 hours.

Bilge Pump

I went over to the boat on Saturday to install a new bilge pump. The winds were howling over there, and the boat was heeling in the slip. The new pump is a flexible vane type (Water Puppy), which worked perfectly once it was wired in and hooked up to the bilge hose. It's quiet too. Almost too quiet, as I won't be able to hear it running from on deck, which is how I used to keep track of any excess water coming aboard.

No ice in the river yet, it's been way too mild here for that. Maybe we can get through the winter without the de-icer.

The new compass oil should be arriving at my office today, according to the UPS tracking system.

Prospecting

I went looking for mineral oil last night. First I went to the hardware store, but they had just discontinued carrying it. Then I went to the local CVS. They had it, but it was about the same viscosity that I found in the grocery store. (BTW, I found out the medicinal purpose of mineral oil. It is used as a laxative. It's good to know that we will have a lifetime supply on board, stored conveniently in the compass).

So, I caved in and bought "official" compass oil from an online site. Cost: $30.00/gal. I don't need a full gallon (I need 66 oz.), but a half gallon wouldn't be quite enough. I'll have plenty to spare for refills down the road. At this point, my total repair cost is $100, including the cost of the oil that was too thick.

Compass Oil

The compass has a very small fill hole, so I decided to use a syringe to insert the oil. The compass holds 66 oz., so this turned out to be a tedious procedure. It took me about an hour last night to fill it up.

A friend told me that I could use any type of odorless mineral oil for this purpose, and not to bother buying expensive "compass" oil. I went to the grocery store and found some in the first aid section. "For intestinal use" it said on the bottle. (Someday I'll have to investigate what the medical condition is that requires such a use.) One thing that I noticed right away is that the new oil is more viscous than the oil that came out of the compass. I didn't think that would matter too much.

After filling, I noticed that the compass is almost unresponsive to rotation. It takes forever for the card to respond to a 90 degree turn. So long in fact that I got tired of watching it and came back this morning to see if it had found north. It had. Anyway, my conclusion is that viscosity matters a lot. I'll have to see if I can find some thinner oil at the drug store or hardware store. If not, I'll be buying some of that "special" compass oil from the compass manufacturer.

Compass Work

Over the weekend I removed to old dome and gasket and replaced it with the new one, carefully torquing down the screws in the retaining rings. It looks like I have a good seal now, so I should be able to replace the oil next. My only worry is whether I got the retaining rings back into the correct orientation for the attachment of the binacle cover. There are several holes where the screws will go, and it isn't obvious which holes are the important ones. I should have done a better job of marking the alignment. If I got this wrong, I'll have to disassemble the dome again, which means draining the oil and starting over.

Parts are in!

The parts for the compass have arrived. Now I have to get busy...