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...

Compass

I took the compass out of the binnacle a few weeks ago to explore why the oil has leaked out. It turns out that the plastic dome has fractured around the joint to the bowl. The compass is a Ritchie D-615 which lists for around $1800 new. Soooo, I called the factory for replacement parts today. Cost so far: $55.

Bilge Pump Update

At this point I have replaced all of the bilge pump hoses and fittings, and rebuilt the pump with new gaskets, and cleaned everything up. The pump still won't prime. The pump in question is a solid vane type, and it's probably too high above the water level for it's specs (it's only rated at 20"). My next plan is to get a Water Puppy flexible vane pump which is reputed to prime up to 4 feet above the water level. This is the type of pump that was installed before I replaced it 3-4 years ago. Now I know why...

Bilge Pump

I checked out the bilge pump on my workbench this week, and it seemed to be working OK, but a little weak. I took it over to the boat today to reinstall, suspecting that that the real problem lies elsewhere. While I was attaching the pump to the bulkhead, one of the hose fittings broke off. The fitting is actually a garden hose that was cut up years ago to rig the pump. The fitting was corroded at the joint where it was hard to see. It might have been leaking air, so this might be the problem... off to West Marine for some new parts...

Silence is winterized as of last weekend. We've run the pink stuff through all of the systems and the sails are stowed away. The electric bilge pump isn't working right, so I've brought it home to work on. Another winter project...

As of April 6th, Silence is in her new home, down on the West River. We have a great view of the river from our slip. Last weekend, I took the boom off the mast, in order to service the furling motor which isn't working at the moment...

I went to check on Silence yesterday and noticed that the new rub rail has been installed. It's a beauty. There is still some work to finish the scarf joints and then there is the metal rubstrake to reinstall, but it's very close to being done.

Silence will be moving to her new home in a months time, down to the West River. We're looking forward to some fresh sailing adventures departing from our new home port.