Survey Says!

We wrapped up our tasks for our rigging survey.  Survey said we had to replace the boots on the upper spreaders, and that meant going up the mast.  All of the other necessities  had been taken care of (cracked swage, locking pins in the lifeline turnbuckles, shortened the backstay, and a cotter pin in the forestay turnbuckle), but we just hadn't gone up the mast for any other reason and the boots were all we needed to do.  So we went up the mast.  Or more accurately, Jenny went up the mast.  She figured it was easier to replace the boots one-handed than cranking Mike up almost 50' with one hand.  No problems, no incidents, everything went well, and our rigging is now insured.

Up the mast

New boots for Abake

We were also able to make a sleeve for the furled genoa and test that out this week.  It looks good.  Then, we started winterizing Abake by taking down the genoa.  Once the sail was down and folded, as Mike was tying it together, Jenny had a brain fart and raised the furler head.  Oops!  Guess who had to go back up the mast (twice in one week!) and retrieve it.  Mike was a good sport and cranked her up again, luckily not as far as before.

Sleeve being raised

Sleeve being sewn

Mike has continued to work on the generator, and the shelf brackets were welded at Gary's house just after we made our last post.  He has cut pieces for the alternator bracket and is waiting to weld them. So Gary, he's not done with your welder yet!

Welded brackets for generator shelf

 In order to mount the new generator, space on the bulkhead had to be cleared.  This required moving the CO detector, the automatic fire extinguishing system, and the auto-pilot control.  These were all re-located in the engine room.  He also converted the 160 amp alternator on the main engine (a Ford Lehman) to use an external voltage regulator, and removed the internal regulator.  Our external regulator will allow us to adjust the programming for charging the battery and has sensors to prevent damage from overheating.  The previous internal regulator only knew one way to charge, had no sensors, and could make no adjustments.

In Maryland for the Winter

Well, we're officially saying (out loud) that we're not heading South this winter on Abake.  (We've known it for a while, but just didn't say it out loud.)  We will, however, drive to FL to visit Jenny's folks and some friends, to get a taste of some warmer weather.  Anyone who has ever retrofitted/rebuilt a boat understands some of what happened.  As we would take things apart, we'd decide to "fix things the right way" while they were accessible.  So, our list of things "to do" would grow, and our schedule would slide.  Don't get us wrong, the boat was in good shape when we bought her, but some of you will understand.  And, there were items that we were not going to install before this winter, that we had planned on adding to Abake next summer, but again, chose to do them this Fall.  Then, there's Jenny's thumb.  She was in denial about how long it would really take to heal.  Now, at 12 weeks after surgery (on Christmas Day), she's hoping she's given the go-ahead to start strengthening her grip with some light pinching and gripping exercises.  There's still no line handling for her for the near future.

Cruising a long distance on a boat with new and unfamiliar electronics as well as new systems, along with sails that have been modified and not tried is not wise.  We originally planned to do shakedown cruises on the Chesapeake Bay this past summer, with a long one scheduled for the winter.  Not having done our shorter shakedown cruises, we didn't think it was wise for us to take off for a trip to Florida or the Bahamas as our first shakedown.  We are back to our original plan, but just a year later.

So we continue to upgrade Abake this winter for what we believe will be our cruising lifestyle.  We can't do everything, because we don't exactly know what our liveaboard lifestyle will be.  But we can upgrade her with the things we're sure we're going to want -- like a watermaker.

Mike, in between other projects, has been assembling a Kubota DC generator that will charge the house batteries, make water, and freeze the cold plate for the refrigerator.  He has most of it assembled and has cut brackets for mounting it.  The next step is to weld the bracket pieces together and mount them on the forward bulkhead in the engine room.  We're hoping to weld the brackets today.

Adjuster bracket

Serpentine belt on DC generator

Angle bracket reading for welding

Also, while he was cutting formica for the aft sink, he also cut the formica and replaced the dark-colored formica on top of the dresser in the rear cabin.  All the plugs were sanded and the rails were re-stained.

New formica on dresser

When Abake was out of the water for hurricane Sandy, we took the opportunity to move the 3 new house batteries (Lifeline 4D AGM batteries) on board.  They've been positioned under the companionway stairs and Mike's been designing the distribution system.  That also means that he had to decipher what the current system was in order to remove the unneeded cables.  What a chore!  There will be quite a bit of re-design because we're adding the Kubota and upgrading the charging system.  Abake was never set up for liveaboard cruising (away from shore, or AC power).

Old house bank

Removing cables

And, we learned that an upgrade is available for our SSB to keep it from "clipping" (i.e., intermittently dropping the voice while talking).  This is a free modification from ICOM, but requires that the radio be sent to Washington state.  We had our previous SSB serviced by them and had great results.  And, to our favor, the radio had not been mounted on the boat yet, so now it is on it's way to Bellevue, Washington.