Sunday, November 20, 2016

A FEW MORE THINGS

Went back to the boatyard to finish up winterizing the boat and taking off a few of the remaining provisions I left on board. Along with storing a few items. Starting with the outside hatches:
cabin doors

I will store them out of the weather for the winter. I might add another coat of Cetol over the winter if I get ambitious. Though more likely it will be next spring before I get around to it. I also removed the mainsheet line that was connected to the boom no reason to leave it out in the cold winter weather. I'll bring it home along with all the other lines and wash them:
Also note above that I have tapped up the hatches. Since I don't plan on accessing them for awhile adding a little bit of weather proofing. It can't hurt keeping more water from entering the bilge.

I also took the cockpit table off the the steering pedestal:

Like the hatch doors this is done to try and preserve the varnish finish. Like the cabin doors I may bring this home and add another coat before launch next spring:

That pretty much covers the winterizing items I needed to do in the cockpit. I then went to the galley lockers and took the remaining canned items I have left on board:
I'll use them for cooking at home over the winter and I don't have to worry about cans splitting open over the winter. So that wrapped up another day of winterizing. As I took a walk around deck I could not help but. notice that a few of the shrink wrapped boats reminded me of snow drifts:

A reminder that winter is just around the corner in about a month.

Tuesday, November 15, 2016

SOMETHING NEW IS COMING


I've been a little slow lately in putting stuff on this blog. Part of it was because BIANKA did not really do much this summer because of the controller and battery issues. Which kept the boat tied to the mooring. But, I still have a many things on the TODO list and some sailing adventures planed over the winter.  I plan to add more videos to the future postings and on occasion a Video Log or Vlog. So stay tuned.

Friday, November 04, 2016

FINISHING UP!

It was an unusually warm Autumn day.  So I thought it was about time to finishing up getting BIANKA ready for the winter. I stopped at the nearby beach parking lot with my coffee to see what was happening on Long Island Sound. I wasn't the only one getting things ready for winter.
The Harbor Master was out with his crew pulling the last remaining swim buoys from out in front of the bathing beach. I watch them finish then headed for the boatyard. The mooring fields were getting pretty empty. A few boats remained at the dock but, they will be gone in few weeks and the moorings pulled for the winter. I will still still have a pretty nice water view from BIANKA's cockpit over the winter:


Since I switched from having a diesel engine to Electric Propulsion winterizing BIANKA has been a quick procedure. Only requiring that I winterize the fresh water systems on board. Not having to change the oil and run several gallons of antifreeze through a diesel engine leaves a lot of time for staring at the harbor scene and not spending time down below hanging over the greasy diesel engine. I finished up the winterizing and headed to the car. I looked back to see BIANKA nice and snug in her winter location between the other boats in the yard waiting patiently for Spring: