WINTERLUDE 2018

It's been about a month or more since I last visited BIANKA. The weather has been cold and the winds blowing off Long Island Sound make it feel colder. But, since the fourth Nor' Easter is about to arrive tomorrow I figured I should make the trip. I needed to make some measurements and check on space availability for some various projects I have planned once the weather warms up.
I arrived at the boatyard a few minutes before Spring or the Vernal Equinox happened. Though it sure still felt like winter. I did the usual checkout of the deck and charged up the batteries. I then moved the piles of cushions, boxes of parts and tools so I could check the space where I planned to relocate the new Jabsco Macerator Pump. It looked very doable and should be a pretty easy job:

Which was a relief. However. the location where I planed to install a new Standard Horizon 2200 VHF radio was not going to go as smoothly.  Behind the bulkhead where I wanted to install the unit was hose and fitting for BIANKA's anchor wash down outlet.

It may require that move the outlet. But, perhaps not I'll know better once I get the unit and see how it fits. But, at least I'll be prepared to do the work.

Not much else to do in the cold temperatures on board once the batteries were topped up except to check the bilge. There was some water there. Not surprising since the boat has weather three Nor' asters and some heavy rains since I last visited. I took out the Micro Wet/Dry Shop Vac and sucked the water out of BIANKA's deep bilge. The small shop vac makes the job so much easier, faster and cleaner. 

   I empty the Shop Vac into a five gallon bucket . One that I had labeled to show one gallon for deck washing solutions.  It showed I had only about a gallon in the bilge.

Having accomplished all I had planned to do. I buttoned the boat up disconnected the power cord and went home to await the storm. Hopefully warmer Spring temperatures will soon be on the way.

THINKING ABOUT THE WEATHER

Color of the sky as far as I can see is coal grey. 
Lift my head from the pillow and then fall again. 
Shiver in my bones, just thinking about the weather. Quiver in my lip as if I might cry.

                                                                                                -10,000 Maniacs

Nothing real urgent is preventing me from launching BIANKA except this cold wet Spring weather. It just has not been very conducive to splashing the boat only to have it sit on the mooring.  I know i'll resist heading to the boatyard knowing I have to bailout the dingy on these cold drizzly days. I don't know if it is my retirement pace or age that is causing this years procrastination. But, I expect I'll soon snap out of it as soon as this unusually cold wet weather passes.

SPRING TAKING OFF

Got back to BIANKA for a quick check after doing some traveling. The sailing season is getting closer from the signs in the harbor. The moorings including BIANKA's have been dropped onto the harbor bottom:

Power boats are also starting to fill up the docks:

All signs it's time to start to get a move on getting BIANKA ready for the upcoming season. I'm starting off with removing some of the items that are no longer needed to have on board. These include the snow shovel I used to clear the deck of snow and ice over the winter and also the spare anti freeze that can be put away until next fall. I'm also taking off the rigging lines that will be washed at home before being rigged  :

Small steps but, at least it's a start.

A TASTE OF SPRING

With the temperature rising into the 70's earlier this week there was no excuse not to head down to the boatyard and check on BIANKA. It had been a couple of weeks since the last visit and despite some nasty weather and a couple of days of high winds I saw no further damage on the deck area. Even the bilge looked surprisingly similar to when I left it. No additional water had entered except the little bit of antifreeze I splashed into it back in February:

Good to see. Apparently the previous water levels I had observed were from snow that had gotten blown in through some of the hatches during the winter storms. All was well so I got to work on starting to implement some spring projects. one was to make some custom seat cushions for the two Engel refrigeration units I have on board in the main cabin. Unpacking some of the patterning material I had bought from Sailrite I quickly made an outline of the Engel tops on the pattern material:

After cutting out the pattern. I'll be taking it home to use my Sailrite sewing machine in fabricating the new cushions. I'm not the only one who will be fabricating some new things this year. The boatyard guys are busy fabricating some new floating docks to replace ones that were damaged when the harbor suffered a quick freeze during a cold snap a few weeks ago:

Spring is just around the corner and I'll be getting busier getting BIANKA ready for the up coming season.

SPRINGING AHEAD

With a temperature finally reaching the the mid 50 degree Fahrenheit range yesterday it was time again to get down to the boatyard. Unlike the last visit Long Island Sound was pretty clear except for a few patches of ice:

But, the harbor is still frozen over:

The good news I was able to pretty much get the last bits of the ice still remaining on the deck off of the boat:

Spring finally seems to be on the way and that means more time on the boat. Which is always a good thing.

SPRING LIES

Yesterday ushered in the first day of spring here on the Isle of Long. A temperature of 71 degrees Fahrenheit made for a perfect day to head to the boatyard to start getting the boat ready for the new season. The winter thanks to El Nino had been snowy, wet and cold in these parts. So much so that I only made a few trips to the boat over the winter to just check on things and not work on any projects. The warm temperature yesterday made me want to put on my sailing shoes and wish the BIANKA was already in the water so I could go for a nice sail on Long Island Sound. That is until the sea breeze showed up:

What started out as seductive warm spring afternoon turned into a chilly reminder around 1 PM. This is what happens when the southernly sea breeze winds start blowing over water with a temperatures in the forties reach the north shore. But, I was still glad to see that the sea breeze was still doing it's thing. Which often makes for a delightful afternoon of sailing in these parts during the summer. Still nice to have spring here again and ole sol starting to warm up the waters.

Winter

And it sure been a cold, cold winter
And the wind ain't been blowin' from the south
It's sure been a cold, cold winter

Winter
By Jagger/Richards

Well, winter is over and many of the projects I had hope to get done including engine repair where put off because of the weather. but, spring has arrived and I went to the boatyard the other day and the smell of bottom paint was in the air. I spent about an hour trying to budge the screws holding the windlass to the deck. In spite of using an impact wrench I could not get the screws to move. So I moved on to reinstalling the water pump that I mentioned below. It took a long time between dropped screws and tools requiring me to squeeze into various contorted positions or go back into the cabin to retrieve the parts that fell toward the front of the engine. Still, it was a warm spring day and the view of the harbor made it a good day in spite of the tribulations.