During a recent update to our analytical software for our blog we discovered that a listed feature began to function in a more useful manner. In the home page for our “dashboard” where it lists all the plugins and behind the scenes software that make the blog run, there was always a field that said “Top Visitors”. There usually wasn’t any data in that field or it was simply an IP address. Apparently, the creators of that function have improved it and now it lists the subscribers by name, assuming you are a subscriber when you visit. In recognition of this development we have decided to give a prize away to the #1 visitor for April…….and that person is……(drumroll please)..
BARRY BRIERLEY!!!!! Congratulations Barry and thank you for your continued support of our blog !!!!….
Barry, send me a PM on Facebook and I can give you some choices for your prize….they do sell Cuban cigars here and there is a brand of Cuban rum available also, I think that’s called Havana Club !!!
Here’s Barry…I’m sure he’s reading our blog on his phone right there !!! And maybe recruiting his couch mates to subscribe too !!!
Here’s the view of the analytical page that generates the stats….better luck next month Jan, Dave, Kevin, Emerson and K Flick !!!
These videos take a while to upload and are somewhat tempermental…..I’ll try and load the others….the longer the video the harder they are to upload…..grrrrrr
Kim was convinced the manatee was about to give birth due to extra girth and slow movement…..they don’t call them sea cows for nothing…..no manatee baby sightings yet
It’s no wonder that Amazon has become the powerhouse it is today. They have the best marketing programs of any online system we have looked into for our blog and they are always looking for ways to make it better and easier for people who operate a blog. Unlike that other company (rhymes with Oogle) we use (which ironically, one of their ads will appear somewhere in this post also) ….Amazon actually encourages people to use the links they provide us…
This month they are offering us a bonus for anyone who uses this link ……
and signs up for a thirty day trial of Amazon music…..we have used it and it is amazing how many songs are available…..we spent an afternoon trying to stump it and couldn’t do it……so, enjoy a month of free unlimited music on us !!!
Here on Kitty Hawk we have 8 boat fenders that we use to protect our topsides (the part of the boat between the waterline and the deck) when docked or tied up (rafting up) with any other vessel. We have four shiny, new, white fenders that are 10″x26″ and four old cruddy looking fenders that need to be covered. Kim found a brilliant idea for how to make them all match….which is key to safety at sea….if all your gear isn’t color coordinated you’re in big trouble….
Kim ordered four pairs of XXXXL sweatpants and cut the legs off. She then inserted the fenders into the legs and sewed a gather into the open end. They turned out amazingly.
New fender covers with marine vinyl abrasion guards
She then used grey marine grade vinyl to make a protective sleeve for each fender to prevent the material from being snagged on concrete or wooden docks. Those attach with Velcro so they can be adjusted up or down as needed. I’m trying to talk her into selling them for $25 a piece. The commercial ones sell for $40 and don’t have the abrasion guard…..!!
The prize is a Conch Republic Conch Horn…..you can hear them being blown all over the Keys every evening at sunset….it’s the unofficial happy hour call…..
You have to have a shell that hasn’t been “hammered” to get the conch out first. Then the tip is ground down to make the mouth piece….and viola….conch horn…..!
Here’s a link to watch our bike assembly video…..a big thank you to Bikewagon.com ….if you’re in the market for a new bike of any kind, try them first…..don’t forget to mention you saw them here on our blog !!
Ok, well, maybe not slimed like Bill Murray in Ghostbusters but definitely mostly clogged with globs of tank sealant.
I think I mentioned that we were having an issue without port side fuel tank not feeding any diesel to our system. Well, after some troubleshooting and consulting with the prior owner we discovered that some sealant had made its way into the fuel tanks when the access panels were reinstalled years back. One glob had shown up in the fuel shut off valve previously…..so guess where I found this one? You got it….fuel shut off valve. I had begun troubleshooting the fuel lines and that was my next stop anyway but it always helps to get a little advice. I had already pulled the Racor fuel filters since I could see some globs of something in those. Our port side filter wasn’t draining from the petcock at the bottom of the fuel bowl so that means they needed a rebuild. Racor filters are amazing pieces of engineering in a pretty simple package. It only takes about 20 minutes rebuild one after you remove it or get the fuel bowl off while it is still attached to the bulkhead. That can be tricky depending on where yours are installed. The bolts that hold the collar on the fuel bowl are 1/4″….although on our older unit they are hex bolts…..not overly convenient…..
This is the nice, clean, rebuilt Racor filter….with a newly installed vacuum gauge…when the pressure goes up you know the filter is getting clogged so you can switch to your other filter……normal pressure is about 6 to 10PSI according to Racor…..it’s an older one but not much has changed……the diesel flows in from the right, down to the turbine which spins off the water and debris in the lower bowl, then the fuel goes back up through a ten micron filter and then comes out the left side. We have another vacuum gauge for the system but I think it’s also clogged with sealant so that gets a cleaning later. I like the idea of having the gauges on the individual filters better, I think.
Below are the piles of what appears to be the Permatex style sealant that also appears around the fuel tank access panels on the tanks. Apparently, some of this got squeezed out of that joint and into the diesel tanks when they were last sealed and has been getting slowly picked up out of the tanks over the last couple of years…..eek….I plan to add a pair of temporary, clear, 250 micron filters to be sure we can keep these out of the Racors until we feel that there are no more or we resort to a fuel polishing system.
That’s is all for now…..it’s happy hour…..next time…I’ll be “bringing in the (steering) sheaves”….
It’s been an interesting month on board Kitty Hawk. We’ve been working on her and making some upgrades and trouble shooting a few things in preparation for our trip South in a few weeks.
At first, we had pristine weather, with an occasional shower in the afternoons. We had our first multiple night guest since we moved aboard full time and our first happy hour guest.
Then we had the rain….and the rain….and some more rain….about seven days worth at this point with the first short break today and another break forecast for tomorrow. During the rain we found out about Hurricane Joaquin. We spent a long couple of days prepping the boat for the possible arrival of Joaquin. He was kind enough to stay offshore….thank you for that Joaquin. Some weren’t as fortunate, our thoughts and best wishes go out to them and their families.
Hurricane preparation
And now….the wind…..it’s been pretty gusty since the rain started….but yesterday and today it really kicked into high gear……25kts to 35kts and its coming out of the North and Northeast, which around these parts, means the water levels are going up. Wind from that direction in the Pamlico Sound for any extended period drives water into the sound and then the river and then the creeks. As a result of the strong and incessant wind, we are not connected to shore power. Once the water reaches the bottom of the docks, the Dockmaster has to shut off the AC power to avoid anyone being electrocuted in the event of a damaged wire or connection at the dock pedestals. We are lucky, since we have a wind generator and the wind has been in a very, very giving mood and we have seven solar panels which, despite the cloudy conditions, have been contributing to keeping our batteries charged. That’s key for us since we have a refrigerator and freezer on board and we just stocked them up.
Tonight, the water rose above the docks by about 8″ or 10″. That makes getting on and off the boat a little dicey. I actually took a bit of a spill while climbing off when the step stool we have been using slipped off the edge of the submerged dock. Fortunately, I caught myself by one hand and one leg while holding my iPad and flashlight in the other hand…..I got a nice shin bruise which will probably feel really good tomorrow. Under these circumstances, Kim and I have decided that it is essential that the other know when one of us is going to, or leaving, the boat and the other is sure to watch or check up on the other. It wouldn’t take much to take a serious fall and if you were unlucky enough to take a blow to the head as you fell it could rapidly devolve into a fatal mistake. The other downside of the high water is that the local Copperhead population becomes displaced by the rising water, so you have to keep an eye out for those also. We’ve seen a few crossing roads nearby but none near the marina, yet.
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So, tonight we wait, we have decided to hang out at the marina clubhouse and see what the water does. Since getting on and off the boat is the riskiest part we thought we’d monitor the water from the clubhouse in case we need to move our van to higher ground. The boat is well secured since we were preparing to ride out the hurricane so that’s lucky also.
Let’s hope our next post isn’t from Atlantis…..haha
I’ll be the first to admit, I’m no master mechanic or electrician. I can change oil and filters, bleed a diesel injector, change belts, test a battery, install new house or starting batteries, install a chartplotter, change a fuse, trace a wire or two and find a leak here or there and plug it. I’ve even rebuilt our head (which is not nearly as terrible as folks would have you believe, assuming you aren’t overly squeamish) and clear a capillary tube blockage in our freezer and refrigerator (if you plan to own a boat with 12v or 24v refrigeration, you’ll need to learn what a cap tube is and how to unclog them.
There are times when you’ll (and definitely me/us) will need the services of a boatyard or specialty technician of some sort. I don’t have a HVAC license, so buying refrigerant and some other related items are off the table for me. There will also be times when spending weeks or months in a boatyard on a DIY crusade is detrimental to your cruising dream or at least your spirit. Don’t be afraid to enlist the assistance of a professional, especially if you can afford it, you may learn something valuable in the process, adding to your skills and as an added bonus you get more time to “cruise”.
I try to remember that “cruising” isn’t just about the time you spend on the boat. It isn’t a prison sentence. Getting away from your boat and seeing things is part of the adventure, even if you are going to see friends and family and places you’ve seen before. These times away are perfect for enlisting the assistance of a professional in whatever specially has eluded you in your time aboard. Granted, you’ll get the standard “I like to do it all myself” speech from those that end up being so tied down by their boat ownership it hinders their enjoyment of the experience away from the boat to one degree or another. I don’t let that bother me. We do enough DIY’s as it is and that’s the bonus to cruising, unless “that” person is paying your bills they have no say in how you handle the upkeep.
Take today, for example, we currently have a mystery house bank battery issue. Our house bank doesn’t seem to be charging from shore power. Our solar charges fine. While I am passively investigating the nature of this disruption, rather than spending all day with a voltmeter and sweating through my clothes. I decided to set up a minor test of the system that I can evaluate upon our return and then choose a course of action that might include another such test or answer one question about the “current” (pun intended) issue. I also have a backup appointment with a marine electrician on Saturday. We may need a new inverter/charger for our shore power. So, we went to the pool. If I had been in the bilge and testing wires all day to little effect….I would have missed this….
Don’t beat yourself up…sometimes you just gotta call “the guy” hahaha…..
Hello again…..as a follow up to the update regarding our subscriber database woes, I have discovered that we are unable to import our subscriber database from the old plugin…..I thought I would make it easier to “re-subscribe” by inserting the subscription box in a post…..If everyone could please use this subscription box …..
[jetpack_subscription_form]
We can resume our normally scheduled operations…..haha…..since we weren’t able to have our April giveaway everyone who “re-subscribes” will be entered into a drawing for a prize as described on our home page…..
