Varnishathon
Dawn paints the hull
Thursday March 12th 2013 through Monday, March 22nd 2013 – Ensenada (and San Diego)
I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything for almost two weeks. It just shows you how crazy busy we are. We get up and head straight to the boat in the morning. By the time we get home at night, I don’t have any writing in me.
Upon our return from San Diego, we started on the varnishing with a passion. We finished all of the sanding and cleaning before we left. When we got back to work, we were ready to varnish. First we put two coats of Deks Olje Matte Finish #1 on the wood. That took two days. It is hard, precise work. We have to get a nice even coat on the wood or we’ll have dark spots, but we still have to be careful not to get the stain on the existing paint.
We debated whether or not to tape the cabin sides before we started the varnishing process, but decided against it. We’re (Dawn is, that is) going to paint the cabin and cockpit as soon as the varnish is complete so I don’t care if we smear a little.
After the second coat of Matte Finish, we had to let it dry for three days before we could start the varnish. Don’t worry, there were still plenty of projects to keep us busy. No one got bored.
Dawn decided to tackle the hull above the water line. She sanded and primed all of the battle scars we collected in the accident. Then she covered the entire topsides with a coat of white. The Victory is starting to look shinny and new.
Life has been such a blur that I don’t remember what I worked on. I organized tools and found places to stow everything in the forward cabin. The forward cabin has been our staging area for all of the work we’ve been doing. All of our tools, paint supplies and building materials are just thrown in there on any flat surface. I cleaned and organized and found homes for everything.
This might sound like a mundane job, but only I can do it. I have plastic bins with tools, engine parts, plumbing supplies etc. I also have all sorts of parts, tools and stuff stored all over the boat and I can't find it when I need it. So I dumped everything out and put it all in the proper labeled bins. Now I feel a little more organized. Who said OCD?
Then I took on the hot water heater. I carefully rewired all the new parts in. It looks good, unfortunately I can’t test it yet, because our water tanks are dry.
I can’t believe I haven’t posted anything for almost two weeks. It just shows you how crazy busy we are. We get up and head straight to the boat in the morning. By the time we get home at night, I don’t have any writing in me.
Upon our return from San Diego, we started on the varnishing with a passion. We finished all of the sanding and cleaning before we left. When we got back to work, we were ready to varnish. First we put two coats of Deks Olje Matte Finish #1 on the wood. That took two days. It is hard, precise work. We have to get a nice even coat on the wood or we’ll have dark spots, but we still have to be careful not to get the stain on the existing paint.
We debated whether or not to tape the cabin sides before we started the varnishing process, but decided against it. We’re (Dawn is, that is) going to paint the cabin and cockpit as soon as the varnish is complete so I don’t care if we smear a little.
After the second coat of Matte Finish, we had to let it dry for three days before we could start the varnish. Don’t worry, there were still plenty of projects to keep us busy. No one got bored.
Dawn decided to tackle the hull above the water line. She sanded and primed all of the battle scars we collected in the accident. Then she covered the entire topsides with a coat of white. The Victory is starting to look shinny and new.
Life has been such a blur that I don’t remember what I worked on. I organized tools and found places to stow everything in the forward cabin. The forward cabin has been our staging area for all of the work we’ve been doing. All of our tools, paint supplies and building materials are just thrown in there on any flat surface. I cleaned and organized and found homes for everything.
This might sound like a mundane job, but only I can do it. I have plastic bins with tools, engine parts, plumbing supplies etc. I also have all sorts of parts, tools and stuff stored all over the boat and I can't find it when I need it. So I dumped everything out and put it all in the proper labeled bins. Now I feel a little more organized. Who said OCD?
Then I took on the hot water heater. I carefully rewired all the new parts in. It looks good, unfortunately I can’t test it yet, because our water tanks are dry.
Odin supervises our work
The water tanks are dry because the water here is so foul. I have been told that we absolutely need a water filter system if we’re going to be cruising in Mexico. For the most part the water is safe to drink, but it tastes lousy. With a filter system we can eliminate all of the heavy metals, particles, etc that make the water unpalatable. It’s not that expensive so I’m going to try it.
When I get done, we can fill the tanks and test the hot water heater.
Tuesday came around and we made yet another trip to San Diego. I hoped this would be our last, but alas, I was to be disappointed again.
We started by taking Dawn to a doctor’s appointment in Chula Vista. I did some Home Depot shopping while she was in her appointment. Then we got back to looking for an air conditioner at Sears outlet store. No good. Next we went to Sears in La Jolla to return a cordless drill set that wasn’t working right. While we were there, I picked up some tools to replace those that had been destroyed in the wreck.
After Sears, we beat our way back to Shelter Island and the marine stores. But first, Dawn had to stop and pick up her prescriptions. Then we started filling my shopping list.
It wasn’t very long or very expensive, so I decided to splurge on buying a stereo system for the boat. What can I say, it was on sale and they had a marked down unit with a torn box. I can’t resist a bargain.
Armed with a few hundred dollars worth of parts that would allow me to complete projects, we went on to pick up the dinghy. It looks like the Dinghy Doctor did a pretty good job. We hoisted the boat on top of the Queen Mary and headed to Little Italy to meet Dawn’s brother Dwayne for dinner.
He took us to Fazzi’s (or something like that) in the heart of Little Italy and the food was fantastic. The atmosphere was New York City Italian with checkered table cloths etc.
After a wonderful anti-pasta salad and a great pizza, we headed for the border. This time we were pulled over by Mexican border patrol agents. I felt a sense of panic. Here we were with several thousand dollars worth of boat stuff in the car, going through the line in which we didn’t declare any purchases. This has never been a problem before.
The young lady that was supposed to search our car flashed her light in the car’s cargo area. She asked a few polite questions. We told her that we lived on our boat, which was in Ensenada, and these were parts to replace things that were ruined in the accident. She asked me to open one box, then sent us on our way.
When I get done, we can fill the tanks and test the hot water heater.
Tuesday came around and we made yet another trip to San Diego. I hoped this would be our last, but alas, I was to be disappointed again.
We started by taking Dawn to a doctor’s appointment in Chula Vista. I did some Home Depot shopping while she was in her appointment. Then we got back to looking for an air conditioner at Sears outlet store. No good. Next we went to Sears in La Jolla to return a cordless drill set that wasn’t working right. While we were there, I picked up some tools to replace those that had been destroyed in the wreck.
After Sears, we beat our way back to Shelter Island and the marine stores. But first, Dawn had to stop and pick up her prescriptions. Then we started filling my shopping list.
It wasn’t very long or very expensive, so I decided to splurge on buying a stereo system for the boat. What can I say, it was on sale and they had a marked down unit with a torn box. I can’t resist a bargain.
Armed with a few hundred dollars worth of parts that would allow me to complete projects, we went on to pick up the dinghy. It looks like the Dinghy Doctor did a pretty good job. We hoisted the boat on top of the Queen Mary and headed to Little Italy to meet Dawn’s brother Dwayne for dinner.
He took us to Fazzi’s (or something like that) in the heart of Little Italy and the food was fantastic. The atmosphere was New York City Italian with checkered table cloths etc.
After a wonderful anti-pasta salad and a great pizza, we headed for the border. This time we were pulled over by Mexican border patrol agents. I felt a sense of panic. Here we were with several thousand dollars worth of boat stuff in the car, going through the line in which we didn’t declare any purchases. This has never been a problem before.
The young lady that was supposed to search our car flashed her light in the car’s cargo area. She asked a few polite questions. We told her that we lived on our boat, which was in Ensenada, and these were parts to replace things that were ruined in the accident. She asked me to open one box, then sent us on our way.
Odin checks out the paint markers on the chain
About five miles later, my heart started beating again.
The next morning we began our varnishing marathon. Every morning we head down to the boat and put on a coat of varnish before we do anything else. After two coats of Matte Finish, the High Gloss Deks Olje #2 takes six coats. You read right, six coats.
After finishing varnishing for the day, we went about other projects. We now had anchor chain, so I painted the chain at thirty-foot intervals (so I know how much chain we have over the side when anchoring) and hooked up the anchor. When everything was dry, we used the windlass to hoist the chain aboard and into the anchor locker.
Next I discovered some electrical problems that I missed before. None of the bilge pumps worked. This is important because we’re getting close to launching the boat. You do not put a boat in the water without bilge pumps.
As I trouble shot the problem, I realized that I didn’t rewire them the way I rewired all of the other electrical connections that had been under water. Because they are in the bilge and out of sight, I forgot all about them.
So, I spent a day crawling around in the bilges rewiring pumps. I’m happy to announce that they all work just fine. I cleaned them out of all the paper and crap they sucked up in the accident, rewired and tested them.
We have four bilge pumps in separate compartments, any one of them capable of keeping up with a hole like we put in the boat by hitting the rocks. I feel very confident in their ability to keep us afloat.
My next project is the water filtration system. I spent most of the morning engineering the problem and deciding how I was going to put it together. Then I made the fatal mistake of cutting an existing copper water line.
The boat has two water systems and I want both of them to run through the filters. The first system is the fresh water tanks. We have two tanks that have an electric pump that pumps water from them and pressurizes the system when we’re away from the dock.
We also have a “city water” system. When we’re at the dock, we can hook up our hose to city water and have all the fresh water we need without using what’s in our tanks. As you know, water is the most precious commodity when we’re at sea. We need to preserve it all we can.
So, in all of my genius, I devised a way to cut into both the city water and fresh water systems and route their water through the filters before it goes into the water lines. It sounded real simple.
I had almost all of the parts in needed. Except a small nylon nipple that screws into a T and allows me to hook up the water hose to the T. I also needed a plug for the copper pipe.
I cut the city water system input copper tube. One end will go into the T that goes to the filter. The other end needs to be capped off so that water doesn’t blow out of it when the system is pressurized.
The next morning we began our varnishing marathon. Every morning we head down to the boat and put on a coat of varnish before we do anything else. After two coats of Matte Finish, the High Gloss Deks Olje #2 takes six coats. You read right, six coats.
After finishing varnishing for the day, we went about other projects. We now had anchor chain, so I painted the chain at thirty-foot intervals (so I know how much chain we have over the side when anchoring) and hooked up the anchor. When everything was dry, we used the windlass to hoist the chain aboard and into the anchor locker.
Next I discovered some electrical problems that I missed before. None of the bilge pumps worked. This is important because we’re getting close to launching the boat. You do not put a boat in the water without bilge pumps.
As I trouble shot the problem, I realized that I didn’t rewire them the way I rewired all of the other electrical connections that had been under water. Because they are in the bilge and out of sight, I forgot all about them.
So, I spent a day crawling around in the bilges rewiring pumps. I’m happy to announce that they all work just fine. I cleaned them out of all the paper and crap they sucked up in the accident, rewired and tested them.
We have four bilge pumps in separate compartments, any one of them capable of keeping up with a hole like we put in the boat by hitting the rocks. I feel very confident in their ability to keep us afloat.
My next project is the water filtration system. I spent most of the morning engineering the problem and deciding how I was going to put it together. Then I made the fatal mistake of cutting an existing copper water line.
The boat has two water systems and I want both of them to run through the filters. The first system is the fresh water tanks. We have two tanks that have an electric pump that pumps water from them and pressurizes the system when we’re away from the dock.
We also have a “city water” system. When we’re at the dock, we can hook up our hose to city water and have all the fresh water we need without using what’s in our tanks. As you know, water is the most precious commodity when we’re at sea. We need to preserve it all we can.
So, in all of my genius, I devised a way to cut into both the city water and fresh water systems and route their water through the filters before it goes into the water lines. It sounded real simple.
I had almost all of the parts in needed. Except a small nylon nipple that screws into a T and allows me to hook up the water hose to the T. I also needed a plug for the copper pipe.
I cut the city water system input copper tube. One end will go into the T that goes to the filter. The other end needs to be capped off so that water doesn’t blow out of it when the system is pressurized.
Odin has the run of the boatyard
You would think it was pretty simple. In Seattle, I would have gone to Fisheries Supply and walked up to the shelf where they keep these parts. I can picture it in my head. But, eeez Mejico. . .
I went to six different stores looking for the parts. Finally at Ferrateria Villareal, the put together a jury rig for me that will do the job for the nipple. I still haven’t found the cap yet.
Today I will install all of this stuff and have the filter system running.
We’ve never been happy with the water system. Sometimes it works fine, and sometimes the pump runs and runs and never manages to build up any water pressure. I suspect that the distance from the main tank to the pump is just too great for the pump to prime itself.
So, I’m going to try a SWAI (Simple Wild Assed Invention – read Rube Goldberg here). When we bought the new compressor, it had a built in water pump to keep the cooling water flowing. The old pump had to have a dedicated pump for that purpose. Now that the new compressor is installed, I have an extra pump.
I’m going to move the pump near to the main water tank and use it to pump water up to the existing pump to prime the system. If my logic is correct, once we have water running up to the main pump, I can shut off the auxiliary and water should keep flowing. We’ll find out.
Remember I said I had hoped that this would be our last trip to San Diego? Well, as usual, I was wrong. We walked out of West Marine without our new stereo. We got the wires and the speakers, but somehow we didn’t get the stereo. We need to go back to pick up my bargain. We also didn’t get to stop at Costco. There are several things that we can’t get in Mexico that I would like to stock up on. Life wouldn’t come to an end if we didn’t go, but it’s nice to have your little luxuries on an ocean cruise.
We have selected our crew for the next portion of the voyage.
We’ve already seen most of the coast of Baja and we just want to get to La Paz. So, we’re going to sail hard. We’ll stand off shore twenty-five miles or so and sail round the clock until we reach Abreojos. We have to stop at Abreojos to show our friends that we made it and to thank them for all of their help in our time of need. After a day of so in Abreojos, we’re going to sail straight to Magdalena Bay.
We’ll spend as much time exploring Magdalena Bay as we can and still make it to La Paz by the 18th. Mag Bay was my father’s favorite spot on earth. If you haven’t read my book (Blue Water & Me, Tall Tales of Adventures With My Father) shame on you. Go get a copy today and read the section about Magdalena Bay to see what I’m talking about.
From Mag Bay, I don’t expect to stop again until we get to La Paz.
So, since we’re going to be off-shore and running twenty-four hours a day, we need crew to stand watches.
I’ve had a couple of dozen applications for the spots, but we’ve chosen three people.
Ben is a young novice. He doesn’t have much sailing experience, but wants to learn. I figure with a couple of other seasoned hands aboard, we have room to teach a green horn. This sounds suspiciously like one of my father’s adventures. Still haven’t bought my book yet? Shame on you. Order a copy today and read the chapter on the Sea Wolf and you’ll see what I mean.
Bill is our second crew member. He is a more seasoned middle aged sailor. He has lots of sailing experience, but not much off-shore cruising experience. He also owns his own 39-foot sail boat in Detroit.
Lourdes is our final crew member. She has lots of experience, has done several ocean crossings and worked on a charter boat in Greece.
I’m hoping that we can all come together into a coherent crew. If everything goes according to plan, I want to take the crew out for a day sail or two to familiarize them with the boat before we put them through the rigors of going off-shore sailing.
We are getting close to launching the Victory. The bottom has been faired and painted. We had one last little problem area that got patched yesterday. I expect that we will be ready for the water by Tuesday or Wednesday.
The last thing that the boat yard has to do is replace the piece of the stern cap rail that was rotting. The carpenter has removed the offending wood, but hasn’t been back in weeks to finish the job. It must be done before we splash the boat.
It’s getting late and I need to get down to the boat and start my day’s work. I plan to finish with the water system today.
I went to six different stores looking for the parts. Finally at Ferrateria Villareal, the put together a jury rig for me that will do the job for the nipple. I still haven’t found the cap yet.
Today I will install all of this stuff and have the filter system running.
We’ve never been happy with the water system. Sometimes it works fine, and sometimes the pump runs and runs and never manages to build up any water pressure. I suspect that the distance from the main tank to the pump is just too great for the pump to prime itself.
So, I’m going to try a SWAI (Simple Wild Assed Invention – read Rube Goldberg here). When we bought the new compressor, it had a built in water pump to keep the cooling water flowing. The old pump had to have a dedicated pump for that purpose. Now that the new compressor is installed, I have an extra pump.
I’m going to move the pump near to the main water tank and use it to pump water up to the existing pump to prime the system. If my logic is correct, once we have water running up to the main pump, I can shut off the auxiliary and water should keep flowing. We’ll find out.
Remember I said I had hoped that this would be our last trip to San Diego? Well, as usual, I was wrong. We walked out of West Marine without our new stereo. We got the wires and the speakers, but somehow we didn’t get the stereo. We need to go back to pick up my bargain. We also didn’t get to stop at Costco. There are several things that we can’t get in Mexico that I would like to stock up on. Life wouldn’t come to an end if we didn’t go, but it’s nice to have your little luxuries on an ocean cruise.
We have selected our crew for the next portion of the voyage.
We’ve already seen most of the coast of Baja and we just want to get to La Paz. So, we’re going to sail hard. We’ll stand off shore twenty-five miles or so and sail round the clock until we reach Abreojos. We have to stop at Abreojos to show our friends that we made it and to thank them for all of their help in our time of need. After a day of so in Abreojos, we’re going to sail straight to Magdalena Bay.
We’ll spend as much time exploring Magdalena Bay as we can and still make it to La Paz by the 18th. Mag Bay was my father’s favorite spot on earth. If you haven’t read my book (Blue Water & Me, Tall Tales of Adventures With My Father) shame on you. Go get a copy today and read the section about Magdalena Bay to see what I’m talking about.
From Mag Bay, I don’t expect to stop again until we get to La Paz.
So, since we’re going to be off-shore and running twenty-four hours a day, we need crew to stand watches.
I’ve had a couple of dozen applications for the spots, but we’ve chosen three people.
Ben is a young novice. He doesn’t have much sailing experience, but wants to learn. I figure with a couple of other seasoned hands aboard, we have room to teach a green horn. This sounds suspiciously like one of my father’s adventures. Still haven’t bought my book yet? Shame on you. Order a copy today and read the chapter on the Sea Wolf and you’ll see what I mean.
Bill is our second crew member. He is a more seasoned middle aged sailor. He has lots of sailing experience, but not much off-shore cruising experience. He also owns his own 39-foot sail boat in Detroit.
Lourdes is our final crew member. She has lots of experience, has done several ocean crossings and worked on a charter boat in Greece.
I’m hoping that we can all come together into a coherent crew. If everything goes according to plan, I want to take the crew out for a day sail or two to familiarize them with the boat before we put them through the rigors of going off-shore sailing.
We are getting close to launching the Victory. The bottom has been faired and painted. We had one last little problem area that got patched yesterday. I expect that we will be ready for the water by Tuesday or Wednesday.
The last thing that the boat yard has to do is replace the piece of the stern cap rail that was rotting. The carpenter has removed the offending wood, but hasn’t been back in weeks to finish the job. It must be done before we splash the boat.
It’s getting late and I need to get down to the boat and start my day’s work. I plan to finish with the water system today.