JUST A REMINDER!

I took this shot of a sign in Placencia, Belize a few years ago. Always a good reminder for sailors and landlubbers alike no matter where they are.

JOSHUA SLOCUM MEET MARVIN CREAMER

Often when I'm on BIANKA whether sailing or in one of my favorite anchorages I notice and hear things that might escape me in other settings. It might be the call of some bird or the wave action of the waters perhaps the sudden change in direction or temperature of the breeze.  It's good to pay attention to such things when sailing because they can sometimes tell you things that the electronics you might have on board will not. The journey of Capt. Marvin Creamer on his boat Globe Star back in the 1980's is a good reminder why.

THE LUNCH FACTOR

I do enjoy my life on board BIANKA. Which might seem boring to some who need restaurants, nightlife and the constant companionship of others to feel that they are living well. I can find myself very happy with just sailing, and staring while anchored in some quiet location and preparing my meals.   Living on board for me is never boring and I find it does not have to be expensive either. It very much depends on what you need and not necessarily on what you want as Bob at BOAT BITS points out here and here. I was reminded of this lesson a few weeks ago when I was getting BIANKA ready for launching. The boat was still on land and I had not yet started provisioning her for the season. I decided to take break for lunch and check out a new waterfront restaurant at the nearby Town beach. It was a little more upscale from the snack bar next to it and had a nice waterfront view overlooking the beach. I had an appetizer, fish sandwich and a glass of wine. The bill came to a little over $41.00. A few days later after I launched BIANKA I went to the supermarket and spent about the same amount of money on groceries that I bought back to the boat. But, with those groceries I had lunches for a week as well as breakfast and some dinners including a delicous Lobster Roll for the same amount. Oh yes, I still had a waterfront view while dining in the cockpit.

SATURDAY NIGHT AT SEA

There are some things that I find that are just better to experience on my boat. One of the real treats for me in the beginning of the season is to listen to the  live broadcasts of the annual  Sea Music Festival held at Mystic Seaport Museum . This weekend was the 32nd one held. It is broadcast live on WPKN 89.5 FM in Bridgeport Connecticut. While being at the site does have some advantages as they have various workshops and concerts during the four days of the of the festival. I still find listening to the evening concerts on board BIANKA with a glass of some libation in my hand as the boat swings around in the breeze and my toe tapping in the cockpit to be another one of those pinch me moments. 

FIVE YEARS BEFORE THE NET

Well, hard to believe but, it's been five years since I started my writings and ramblings here on the BIANKA LOG BLOG.  My first post is here. Since that time a lot has happened the Westerebeke diesel was removed and replaced by an electric propulsion system. In so doing BIANKA became the world's first Nonsuch with electric propulsion. I've also managed to cruise or travel to some really nice places in the world and hope to travel to many more before the ride is over.

SPRING LAUNCH: Friggin' Rigging

Well BIANKA finally got launched. The mast was stepped easily enough. But, the rigging took way much longer than usual. I don't know if it was the 90 degree heat along with an ozone health warning and no breeze or it's just that I am getting older. But, I raised and lowered the wishbone several times before finally getting it right. My first major mistake was not checking the choker block on the boom. I had it raised into position I climbed the ladder and attached the hanger lines and was about to install the choker line through the block when I noticed the block had no sheeve. What the...? I know it was fine last year somehow over the winter it fell apart and I missed it. So i HAD TO  unhook the hanger lines and lower the boom and replace the bad Schaffer block with a new Garhauer. I then raised the boom... wait did I put the right block on the boom? So I again lower the boom and inspect the block turns out I did. So it went on like that for a few hours in between stops to rest and take on water in the sultry tempertures. Finally everything was rigged and the sail put on and once out on the mooring all was right in the world as I opened up a cold beer and toasted to the new season.

WHAT WORKS: 3M PAINT AND RUST STRIPPER

BIANKA is about to be splashed so I'm busy putting the finishing things that need to be done below the waterline. There are not too many things to do beyond fresh zincs and checking to make sure the through hulls are clear. One thing that needs to be done is to clean the prop and ground plate of whatever growth still remains. I use to spend a lot of time with a hand scrapper accomplishing this task. Then I discovered that a  3M 7772ES Paint and Rust Stripper and an electric drill makes this task so much easier and faster.

 Here is the before photo of the prop:

There are few pesky barnacles and some hard sponge like growth. Below is what one of the blades looks like with less than a minutes worth of work using the 3M Paint and Rust Stripper and my trusty Black and Decker Drill:

In five minutes you can have the prop nice and shiny and ready for the water. It might also uncover some important information about your boats prop as I did:

The above shows I have a 16 inch right hand turning prop with a 13 inch pitch. Important info if one wants to change or replace a prop. Props are not the only thing the 3M Paint and Rust Stripper can make shiny and new. It also does a great job on on the boats Dyna Plate grounding bar making it really shine:

My biggest concern here is that some landlubber yahoo wandering through the boatyard is going to think it is a gold bar instead of bronze and try to steal it off the boat. So it's best to get the boat in the water as soon as possible.

HURRICANE SEASON 2011

BIANKA is still not in the water though I am hoping to fix that by the weekend. Part of the reason was my girlfriend needed a vacation so Capt. Mike spent seven days swimming and snorkeling in the Florida Keys delaying BIANKA's launch.  Not that it was hardship to do so.  But, what struck me was how warm the water was. In some locations the water temperature was 88 degrees Fahrenheit. That's pretty warm for spring and bad news now that we have started Hurricane season. The National Hurricane center has this prediction for this year:

"Across the entire Atlantic Basin for the six-month season, which begins June 1, NOAA is predicting the following ranges this year:

•12 to 18 named storms (winds of 39 mph or higher), of which:
•6 to 10 could become hurricanes (winds of 74 mph or higher), including:
•3 to 6 major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5; winds of 111 mph or higher)


Each of these ranges has a 70 percent likelihood, and indicate that activity will exceed the seasonal average of 11 named storms, six hurricanes and two major hurricanes."

Having been on board last year and rode out a brush with Hurricane Earl successfully I am not eager to repeat the experience. I will certainly  be keeping a weather eye to make sure I am not surprised if one should one be making it's way up the coast.

24 HOURS IN KEY WEST

I have not been to Key West in over fifteen years. A twenty four hour stopover a few weeks ago allowed me to get a glimpse at how the city had changed or not changed. We checked into the Westin Hotel and Marina with a great location on the waterfront at Front Street. It's one block from the end of Duval Street and just south of Mallory Square where the ubiquitous Sunset Celebration is held every night. I don't recall the hotel being here on my last visit. I think it was a dusty uneven industrial space with an occasional tug or two tied up and offered a quiet alternative to the carnival like atmosphere of nearby Mallory Square. Back then I recall there was a lot of controversy about cruise ships docking in the city. That controversial issue now seems moot as there is cruise ship pier:

 

But, the good news is there seems to be additional waterfront dockage now for voyaging sailors who don't like sailing in crowds and judging from the name of this boat a reminder of the old times in Key West.

While the dusty industrial lot is gone. It's been replaced by a paved waterfront with a railing. Perfect to lean on and watch the comings and goings of various boats.

We took a nice shady walk down Whitehead Street and stopped by the Banyan Tree Resort a place I had stayed at many times in the past. The Banyan Tree out front seemed to provide shade for the entire block. We stopped by the Tiki Bar in the back which is a quiet and peaceful place to enjoy a refreshing drink compared to the bedlam of Duval Street just one block away.

We then headed up Eaton Street and turned left on Duval. There were a lot more five dollar Tee Shirt shops lining the street but, some old haunts still survive. Like the Bull Bar. Live music still spilled out of the place and the Bull still emerged from it's wall. I think this piece of bar art was supposed to convey an angry Bull (as evidenced by the red eyes) but, to me the Bull always looked bewildered as it smashed out of the wall.

Then of course Sloppy Joe's Bar is still here:

Captain Tony's Bar still survives too though Capt. Tony is gone. Back near the waterfront there is a glimpse of Key West's notorious past as many here made their living off of the misfortune of others using this replica of the wreckers craft.  The Hollywood version can be seen in the John Wayne movie .

Meanwhile outside the Shell Warehouse this fellow is showing the strain of decades of trying to sell natural sponges to the tourists passing by.

Nearby Sponge Bob Squarepants father stands like some creepy Tom Traubert character here in Key West.

Back at nearby Mallory Square the roosters have expanded from  the residential streets to the waterfront. Not sure if this is an improvement or not for the city.

 But, Mallory Square also seems to be more accommodating these days to all creatures who enjoy the fishing lifestyle.

Another good improvement is that the city now has a great waterfront walk. People can now walk along almost the entire waterfront from Mallory Square to beyond the Half Shell Raw Bar. With lot's of bars, restaurants,shops and benches to stop at along the way.

It was during this walk we came upon the historic ship Western Union.

 The Western Union was a cable laying schooner that was assembled in Key West back in the 1930's and maintained the communications cables from Key West to Cuba. My girlfriend was working for Western Union International years ago when an upstart communications company called MCI bought them. The schooner Western Union was one of the company "assets" that was sold at the time. We were in Key West a few years later when the Western Union was again sold and left Key West despite efforts to keep her in the city. We did a sunset sail on board her around that time too. It's good to see her back in Key West. She looks in much better shape than the last time we sailed her in the 1980's.

All in all it was a great stay in Key West for Captain Mike. Though my greatest fear was that I was going to be hearing Jimmy Buffet's song Margaritaville (a song I am so sick of hearing) pouring out of the bars all over Key West. Happily, I did not hear it once as we walked around the city. By the end of the day I thought I would get through my visit without hearing it at all. Which was fine by me.  Then outside the Westin listening to a solo musician playing some delightful soothing steel drum music on the dock while we enjoyed our dinner. I saw a dyed platinum blond  grandma in a mini skirt go up to the musician. Next thing I knew he was playing Buffet's Margaritaville while I cringed.  Good thing I was leaving Key West in the morning. 

REBEDDING HANDRAILS: Part 3 Remounting the rails

 Back at the boat I first used a Brad Point drill run in reverse to enlarge the screw holes along the cabin top. I learned about this technique from an informative blog from Compass Marine Services.

When all the holes were enlarged I used another technique from the Compass Marine site to rout out the core material using a Dremel tool with a  115 Dremel High Speed Cutter bit in the now enlarged hole:

As you can see below it fits through the opening and allows you to grind out the core material in between the fiberglass deck and the inner fiberglass. This keeps as much as the deck intact as possible while removing as much core as possible:

The cunning plan I had here was to put the screws that held the hand rail back up through the cabin top and the newly routed core area and then fill area around the screws with epoxy like I did in Part 2 of this project. The photo below shows what I was planning:

Well it sounded like a good idea. Until I found out that many of the screws would never line up with the rail once the core material was removed. The screws did not have enough support to hold them in proper alignment.  Also  in one or two of the holes I had actually broken through the inner fiberglass panel.  To make things even harder the boat's manufacturer had installed a molded inner liner on the boat which limited access to small holes in the decorative liner as shown in the photo above. I decided if I was going to be able to use epoxy to replace the routed out core material I would need better access to the underside of the cabin top. So once again I used a Dremel Tool this time with a 199 high speed cutter blade to cut out a rectangular opening in the inner liner that would allow more room to work:

Notice on the left in the above photo the hose of my  two gallon wet dry vacuum that I carry on board. This really helps in sucking up any dust that comes from cutting into the liner. It's a practice I recommend when working on this project. Below is the cutout ready to be removed:

Once I had easier access to the underside of the cabin top I was able to use a strong gaffers tape to seal the screw holes and fill the routed out area with epoxy from above using the same technique I used in Part 2 of the project.

After the epoxy had set I used a drill with a countersink bit to countersink epoxy a little. If you look closely you can see the countersink in the epoxy:

Counter sinking also allowed me to easily find the center of the filled space. I then used an over sized drill to drill through the epoxy for the screws to fit through before they screwed into the handrail.

 The countersunk hole will also fill with some polysulfide chalking (I used Life Chalk)helping to create a nice seal with the screw threads once the hand rail is tightened down.

TIP FROM CAPT MIKE: I was able to re-install the rails myself. After first aligning a few of the screws into the handrail before adding others. But, it is important to make sure ALL the screws are aligned into the epoxied holes of the handrail before tightening them down. In order to make sure of this I found an inspection mirror laid on the deck allowed me to view the underside of the rail and make sure the screws were aligned properly in the handrail epoxied holes before tightening them down as shown in the photo below:

Finally after several coats of Cetol the handrails were ready to be installed back on board. With the holes on the deck and in the handrail now filled with epoxy I can sleep better knowing that I won't have any wet core in this area and the next time I have to re chaulk the handrails or refinish them it will be much easier to remove them and do the work off the boat.

Click here for: REBEDDING HANDRAILS PART 1

Click here for: REBEDDING HANDRAILS PART 2