…is how you drill holes in your yacht.
pedestal guard mounting holes
Keywords: 1/2″ drill, centerpunch, epoxy, nerves of steel.
Archive for the ‘tasks’ Category
This…
Wednesday, April 24th, 2013Home safe and (mostly) sound
Monday, August 1st, 2011Quixote was delivered by water from San Diego to Sausalito by Capt. Arnstein Mustad, departing July 27 and arriving July 31, 2011, stopping for fuel in Oxnard and Morro Bay. I’d give an positive and unqualified recommendation to anyone to use Arnstein for a boat delivery. He was very professional and clearly very experienced.
Distance overwater: 460 NM
Time underway: 77 hours 30 minutes
Avg. Speed: 5.9 kts
Total Fuel Consumed: 64 Gallons
Average burn: 0.8 phg @ 2800 RPM
There were a few hicups in the delivery which made me really glad to have a top tier crew handling the boat. Most significantly, the injector pump in our Yanmar 3GM30 failed a couple hours north of San Diego. Arnstein sailed her back into the slip, arriving around 10 PM, met the diesel mechanic aboard the next morning, project managed the part replacement, and departed again that same night.
Another unqualified recommendation and thank-you to PacWest Marine in San Diego. They sent a mechanic out at 8 AM and had the job done by the afternoon. Awesome.
Anyone who read my “nightmare is over” posts concerning the delivery of our last boat from Hawaii to San Francisco via Long Beach would probably guess I’d use different vendors and methods this time.
I got a few quotes for both overland and overwater delivery, including listing the shipment on uShip. The costs for overland delivery, from a reputable and well-insured hauler with an appropriate truck/trailer combination, were significantly higher than over-water. In addition, the “boatyard on both ends” factor adds another couple thousand dollars at a minimum.
Overall, a very smooth experience. Thanks again to Arnstein.
Chartplotter and AIS
Sunday, June 26th, 2011Quixote is really a turnkey sailing machine. Several things I would have done for offshore or cruising–like AGM house batteries and a smart charger–are already completed.
The one think I want to do before the delivery is add a better chartplotter with AIS capability. In my opinion, this is poor man’s radar and a “must have” for sailing in/near the shipping lanes.
Although I’m brand-partial to Simrad, I’m leaning toward putting a Garmin 740 at the helm station. The touch screen gives the best ratio of screen real estate to unit size. Plus it has a built-in antenna and a good built-in basemap. For traffic detection, the Garmin AIS class B tranceiver is proably the best bet. Since it includes a built-in VHF antenna splitter, it’s not horribly more expensive than the ACR or West Marine models.
GPS 740: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=37721
AIS 600: https://buy.garmin.com/shop/shop.do?pID=63743
Probably this locks me into a Garmin radar in the future, if that ever comes to pass. On the other hand, for the type of sailing we do, I’m not sure my (slight) brand preference for Simrad or Furuno matters. Or, to be honest, whether we’ll ever need radar on this boat at all…
Diesel tank out
Sunday, February 15th, 2009Removed Shanti’s diesel tank in order to clean it and replace the emergency fuel cut-off valve. Been meaning to do it forever. In the end, it took 2 hours of bruised knuckles and diesel-y mess.
Goodbye SFYC slip 123
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Moved Shanti from SFYC harbor to Clipper Marina in Sausalito.
Post-TP repairs
Saturday, September 15th, 2007So we didn’t lose the mast or keel or anything horrible, but there is a handful of stuff to be repaired/replaced/maintained before sailing starts again. Here’s the the list (ongoing):
Spinnaker pole car, replaceMainsail headboard slug, repair- Galley sink pump, repair, add new hose
- Diesel shut off valve, replace (finally)
- Tactical compass light, instrument power connections
- Re-rewire mast electrics
- Epoxy repair main stringer
MOB
Monday, July 30th, 2007Now that we’re in, I can mention how terrifying the idea of a man overboard on a short-handed ocean race is.
During our initial MOB training in May, Colin the then-neophyte sailor suggested a dedicated GPS near the MOM8 for MOB use. At the time, I poo-pooed the idea a little, but since the TP, I really have been considering it strongly. It’s a great idea.
It also turns out that the big guys (i.e. the V70s and the like) have a single “big red button” dedicated MOB system that logs a GPS position. I’m going to look into getting a low-draw handheld with a dedicated MOB button, hardwiring it to the 12v system and hanging it on the port stern pulpit. The power cable can come up through the obsolete DGPS beacon antenna fitting.
Yard day 10, and out
Friday, June 8th, 2007No posts for a while, since I’ve been spending full days at the yard, and trying to get my “day job” done too. A quick post, now that the boat is in the water, with the mast in. Amazing what one day can bring.
I got so much done. The KKMI guys were great, letting me do most of the work myself, but being there (and being experts) when I started to get in the weeds. My dad came down for a week and installed two bilge pumps, an emergency rudder system, and a backup freshwater system. We also got the bottom painted, shaft bearing replaced, the keel/hull joint faired, the SSB installed, and all new standing rigging and lifelines. And he dealt with me in full pre-race frenzy with his usual calm.
When a sailboat is on the hard, it’s just a cramped mobile home. When it’s in the water without a mast, it’s just a slow motorboat. When the rig goes in and the shrouds tuned and the lines run, it absolutely transforms into a something that dreams are made of. I literally teared up with joy when I saw Shanti back in the water, crammed in between a brand new 40′ Beneteau, a brand-new 45′ catamaran, and a 60′ powerboat. She looked ready to levitate up, hoist the chute on her own, and start reeling off the ocean miles. I wouldn’t have traded her for any other boat in the yard.
Still wouldn’t.
New tunes
Monday, May 28th, 2007Just in case I forget, a project actually took less time than I thought it would. Of course, it was a project that wasn’t even on any of my lists. Once you start pricing standing rigging and shipping a 10,000# boat from Hawaii, a new CD player looks like a bargain.
So I replaced the old Sony tape deck with a new Sony CD player. Pulled the old out, stuck the new in, plugged in the wiring harness, done. 15 minutes.
It will probably catch fire in the middle of the pacific.