Interesting neighbors

We were at the house last week and heard some odd noises coming from next door.  The neighbors now have 4 chickens pecking around their back yard!  It amused us because these are the same neighbors who filed a complaint over our TNR (Trap, Neuter, Release) of some of the neighborhood feline population because the cats "buried poop in their yard which their 9 year old boy would dig up".  I wonder what changed that their now 10 year old boy doesn't pick up chicken poop that is not even buried?  LOL

Autumn roll-up

It has been a while since I last posted so here is some of what has happened.

Portholes - With the close of summer came cooler weather and we could finally live without air conditioning long enough to mount the portholes in the stern.  Julio, our favorite intrepid boat worker, came through for us again.  Of course nothing is ever simple on a boat and in this case the problem was the compound curve of the transom.  Julio made a template then overnight made perfectly curved teak mounting shim plates that gave the portholes flat mounting surfaces but followed the curve of the transom for the sealing faces.  All 6 portholes in the rear half of the boat have now been replaced.  All that is left are a measly 10 ones forward.

Hatch - We sold the too-heavy-for-us RBI dinghy that came with the Morgan and replaced it with the Avon R3.1 slatted-floor roll-up model from our old Horizon.  The newly exposed foredeck was nice but the first rain storm we found the old dinghy had been covering a badly warped and leaky plastic hatch in the main salon.  I was lucky and found a perfectly sized Bomar cast aluminum hatch at Don's Marine Salvage for a surprisingly good price.  Bedding the new hatch in place stopped all leaks from the cabin top.

Rose goes swimming - One evening in October we were sitting in the cockpit, sipping sangria and listening to a Martina McBride concert in the marina park when our black cat Rose decided to join us.  Rose has been out a few times but always before with harness and tether.  This time she slipped out of the cabin under the screen, then her feral switch must have tripped because she decided to make a break for freedom.  She ran down the side deck, realized the deck stopped before reaching the dock, then launched herself towards the boat next door.  She flew about half way across before landing kerplop in the cold water.  There was about a second of stunned silence followed by a cacophony of splashing and caterwauling.  She splashed her way under the swim platform of our neighbor's boat where she wedged herself on a support strut half in and half out of the water.  I got a net under her but couldn't reach far enough back to unhook her from her perch.  By this time our dock mates had mobilized and within minutes Chuck had peeled her loose and pulled her out, and we got her wrapped in a towel.

Windlass - Horizon came with a Quick electric windlass sized for combo 5/16 rope/chain anchor rode, good for little more than a lunch hook.  For cruising I wanted the security of all chain rode and after lots of research settled on the Lighthouse 1501 electric windlass for its size, power, and manual backup options.  It arrived three weeks after ordering it and my hunt for chain turned up 200' of 3/8" Acco HT (G4) chain locally at Standard Marine Supply in Tampa.  We expect to have the system installed by the New Year.

Ham/Marine SSB Communications - At this month's St. Pete Boat Show the first booth we visited was Sea-Tech.  They have a really complete communications/weather fax/email package with an Icom 802 HF radio, antenna tuner, Pactor modem, and all the incidentals to install the rig.  That package has been on the "to buy" list for a while so we went ahead and ordered it.  All the parts arrived within a week so it is now on the "to install" list.

Slot head screws [Rant] - In trying to replace a broken stanchion bolt then trying to mount the thru-hull fitting for the new radio antenna lead, I found my usual sources of stainless steel pan slotted head bolts now only carried Phillips head.  When asked, I was told that they stopped making slotted head because everyone wanted Phillips.  For deck hardware there is no substitute for slotted heads.  Salt water has to be able to flow out of a fastener head and not pool since salt water rusts even stainless steel.  I finally found and ordered an assortment of bolts from what may be the last supply of SS slotted head bolts at Jamestown Distributors. 

Marriage - Our big event was October 29th on the beach in Key West.  Of course we did it for the children; Rose and Ollie cat-nap more soundly knowing they are legitimate.  Our family is now unofficially known as the McHop clan.

Bon Voyage Horizon - Our old Horizon was sold again and is now sailing her way toward the eastern Caribbean and new adventures.

Attack of the crab traps - Our first time out in quite a while ended almost immediately.  We had just cleared the breakwater and were raising sail when suddenly there arose such a clatter (see my holiday spirit?) from the stern.  The entry to the marina is densely filled with lines of crab trap floats.  We managed to hit one exactly right so the prop caught the line and started winding it around and around and around...  Being the right pirate, I gripped my trusty butter knife between my teeth and started down the swim ladder, but the moment my solar plexus hit the 64 degree water I knew it was just not going to work.  We had no damage except the prop shaft collar zinc, but we did have to get a tow then overnight at the pumpout dock until a diver could cut the whole mess loose the next morning.  Sadly we forgot to check the trap for a crab feast but a 12v hookah and full wet suit have now moved to the top our "to buy" list.

PhD

Yeah 

Doctor 

Cate!

Four down, 12 to go

Our Morgan OI ketch is 30 years old and she was built with plastic portlights.  The decades have taken their toll and many have broken parts, some leak, and some look like they would break if we tried to open them.  At this year's Miami Boat Show the folks at New Found Metals made us an offer for new stainless steel portlights that we just could not refuse.  It was not an insignificant order, Horizon has 16 portlights, but in the end we placed the order for the 4x14 portlights, screens, template, arbor, and Butyl sealant. 

The first shipment of 4 arrived in early April but it took a while to find time for the project.  We decided to start with the 4 coach top ones since we can easily get to both sides from the boat and do not have to use a dingy or work from the dock.

The videos on their web site make it look so simple; it takes them minutes to cut through the drywall panel they used for the demo, drill the holes, fair the cutout and mount the portlight.  Real life is not quite as easy though and we found that after 4 installs, each portlight still takes 4 hours working plus 1 hour cure to install.  I was lucky to get a referral for Julio, a fantastic worker we hired to help with the project.  Well, he was hired to help but he has so much more energy than I that he ends up doing the majority of the work and I help him.

A hacksaw and chisels make short work of getting the old plastic portlights out but even 30 year old 5200 can maintain a tenacious grip.  Then the template is used for drilling the screw holes and to mark for the slightly larger cutout.  We used a RotoZip to cut through the 1.5" to 2" coach top and each portlight chewed through 1 or 2 cutting bits.  Superbond Epoxy filler from Fiberglass Coatings is used to fill any voids then we wait an hour for it to cure.  After that, a little shaping and re-drilling and the hole is ready. 

Next comes the fun part: the cabin sides are not parallel and an odd thickness so we have to custom cut each of the 8 through bolts for length.  The videos didn't show that step but I think we snapped one of the gussets on the inside of first trim ring before we figured that out.

We did use the Butyl sealant but found that making the smaller sealant "string" they show in the videos is NOT easy so we fudged that part a bit.  I hope that stuff holds up as well as 5200.

The new portlights are sturdy, look nice, and pass a lot more light than the old hazed plastic ones.  We now have the procedure down so the more difficult hull portlights may not be as impossible as they appear.  While we can get within reasonably easy reach of 11 of the rest, the one in the galley is arms reach.  That will be the toughest one!

Bittersweet

Yesterday I helped deliver my old boat Horizon to the yard for bottom paint.  Her captain was Eoin, her new owner, and it was the first time she has been commanded by anyone other than myself for probably 20 years.  Horizon did great, and her new captain did even better.  She is in very good hands.

The Horizon clan is officially living aboard.

As of Sunday, the human and feline components of the Horizon clan are now united aboard. Like our attempt a week before, the move was not without tribulations.  It involved variously: a not too comfortable mid-afternoon nap wearing a long sleeve jacket and kitchen gloves (to mitigate the blood loss problem of the prior week), getting a small wire mesh dog crate/cage, and scattering lots of towels and blankets around the house to be able to swoop Ollie up easily wherever he decided to perch.

In the end the nap didn't help draw him out from hiding and the towels were not needed.  After the prior weekend, Ollie had come to associate being drugged with impending skinning so to get him to appear at all we had to leave him alert.  We set up the cage in the living room and randomly tossed cat treats into it.  Ollie, too savvy to use the cage door, would reach a paw through the bars to snatch up treats Rose missed.  But eventually there was one he couldn't quite reach and as he slid in to get it Cate managed to latch the cage door behind him.  Some quick sprays of feline pheromone spray and his yowls subsided.  We quickly scooped up Rose and our gear and started them off to their new home.

Within minutes of arrival Rose was carefully exploring every inch of her new home.  Ollie played osterich with his face buried but his body in plain view for the rest of that day.  The last couple nights though they have used the hall as a drag strip so we think they are getting acclimated although Ollie does still burrow behind salon cushions whenever there is an odd sound.  Also, just like Ginger before, they love watching the marina life beyond the portholes at bed level in the stateroom.

Cat Scratch Fever?

We are really close to the final move onto Horizon.  This weekend we gathered together most all our clothes and sundry from condo and house, then went to corral the cats for the trip to their new home.  Ollie has never lost his feral switch so on Saturday morning we dosed him with Quiet Moments calming aid for cats.  An hour later he was about as relaxed as I have ever seen him so I picked him up and had him within inches of the carrier before he realized what was happening and went into "they are skinning me" mode.  He dug in his claws and spurted out then hid for the rest of the weekend.  I expect my wounds will heal in a few weeks :(

We went ahead and continued to spend our nights on Horizon but stop at the house to visit the feline part of our family at least once a day.  Rosie, always open to anything, plays around and jumps in and out of the carriers and generally shows us she would rather be around her humans 24/7.  But even today, 2 days after his scare, Ollie ran and hid when he heard my voice and no amount of coaxing lured him out.  We thought about just bringing Rosie with us until we can figure out what to do with Ollie but they have been together since kitten-hood and we worry what he would do if left for periods with no companionship.  For now we will try to figure out how to get them both to their new home.

On another front, we decided the original propane stove with no automatic thermocouple gas shut-off was just too much of a safety risk so we ordered a new Force 10 3-burner stove.  We did finally get that mounted, but not without a great deal of contemplation and head scratching.  Of course everyone knows that no boat project is ever simple.  We first found that try as we might, the new stove just would not fit through the companionway to the galley and main salon.  And, while it would fit through the aft companionway, the walk-thru to the main salon was too narrow.  After hours of careful measuring and judicial dismantling I found we could get it into the main salon through the walk-thru if we:

1. Took off some teak molding

2. Removed the door to the aft stateroom

3. Removed the cover of the electrical panel

4. Removed the door to the upright refrigerator

5. Removed all unwelded/pop riveted pieces from the new stove

After all that, Eoin and I managed to get it into the main salon for reassembly.  Of course the new stove had different mounting locations from the old stove so the mounts were moved to where we thought they should be, but when we tried to drop the stove into the mounts it would not seat - the gimbal pins on the new stove were slightly larger than the old ones.  Measured some more and used the mounting plates that came with the new stove and viola, it was mounted!  The next morning Cate fixed a fantastic biscuits and SOS breakfast on it.  We still have to do some woodwork on the hinged cabinet cover to let the new stove gimbal fully but for now it is very useable and nicely shiny.

Ginger aka Green Eyes 1995?-2011

Our hospital cat, the one neighbors left in a box on our front yard last November, has passed away.  We don't know her birth year but the vets told us she was 15-18 years old.  When we got her, Ginger was diagnosed with many problems but the biggest were severe (6 of 6) Arrhythmia, and kidney failure.

For the past five months she has thrived and had been gaining weight.  But about a week ago she stopped eating despite being plied with all kinds of fancy cat and human foods though she continued to look happy and still purred contentedly around her adoptive litter mates.

Friday she went with us for a weekend on Horizon and she loved it.  The aft stateroom was perfect for her - the port holes on the stern are inches above the berth and she spent the nights peering out at the water and all the goings on around us.

She was failing rapidly though and yesterday exhibited labored breathing.  Today we made the difficult decision to prevent her further distress and had the vet send her on her final journey.

Ginger had endeared herself to us and will be missed greatly.

ACT's Facebook photos of Ginger

Horizon is in her new home

Saturday was a really great day.  It started with the JSI Marine Flea Market where we scored two treaures I have wanted for quite a while: a pair of Dahon Stainless Steel fold up bikes!  They are in immaculate condition and we got them for a really good price.

After the flea market we met up with Eoin and Devin for breakfast at Skyway Jacks then we all headed off to Maximo to get Horizon.  She looked great and we spent only a little time getting the gear ready for her maiden sail.  The first 2 hours were motoring through the inland waterways, then motor sailing until we rounded the point at Fort Desoto.  At that point we started to get some breeze so we shut the motor off and sailed most of the rest of the trip to the marina.  She sure sails nice!  The most wind we had was probably 15 knots but the GPS showed she held 7.3 knots for long periods with less than 1 kt flood.  We had a beam reach to the Skyway, then were hard to after the turn north.  I am actually really happy with the way she sails.  I was a little worried about the lack of feedback with hydraulic steering but didn't miss it a bit.  She balances well with the 135%, main, and mizzen - and with the hydraulic steering I didn't have to touch the helm for minutes at a time even with pretty significant changes in wind speed.  Anyway, everything worked great and I was happy as a pig in ... well, lets say I sported a SEG ...  lets say I was happy!

On Monday we got the new LED anchor/tri-color light and the anemometer mounted at masthead.  Now to figure how to run those wires to the engine room...

So this entire week we have been busy scrubbing and working on Horizon, trying to quickly get her ready for whatever her future holds.

Red, White and Black

Yellow was also in there as masking paper when I arrived this afternoon which made for a set of very loud but interesting colors!  It felt a lot like Christmas watching Bob, the paint maestro, unveil his work.  The time and attention he took to fair out 30 years of stressful life resulted in a really smooth underlay for the Awlgrip paint and the results are fantastic.  Thanks, Bob, for making her so beautiful!

I just talked to Patrick, the artist doing the boat name.  So long as the front that is due here on Thursday is not early, he should have Horizon and port emblazoned across her butt by tomorrow afternoon.  He will be working on the stern while yard workers give her bottom a fresh coat of bottom paint.

 

Assuming that all goes as planned, Thursday she gets a thorough scrubbing from top to bottom.

The ulterior motive here is we hope she will be ready for us to sail her away on my birthday this Saturday.  Don't ask how many years...

 Update 3/9 - Splash time!

The planets must have been in alignment because all the painting is done and she looks beautiful.  Tomorrow they mount the boarding ladder then she gets a thorough scrubbing.  After that she sees sea water for the first time in 2 months.

My she has a wide butt! I think the red pin striping around her name is a really nice touch.