Yard Sale Complete - finally...........last weekend

The yard sale went very well last weekend but gosh it was a lot of work. We spent all day Saturday creating lots of display surfaces and then dragging all that crap out of the shed and the house. Considering the fact that neither Scott nor Connie had a clue as to what things sell for at yard sales we decided to bring in an expert. Our friend Lindor came by and set to re-pricing and rearranging. By nightfall we were ready and I wrapped the entire driveway full of sale items in big plastic tarps to protect everything from the dew and thieves.

Then Sunday, sans Connie, we started selling... and selling... and selling. As items were sold, Lindor moved things up towards the front, always keeping interesting items close to the street. Lindor approached each customer, gave them the speel and sent them to me with their money. I had to keep going to the house to stash the cash.

Monday with about 70% of everything sold still saw lots of traffic as people searched through the worthless stuff to find something, anything they could buy. By the end of the day we were exhausted.

What we did right:
Advertise in Craigslist... three separate times, Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday.
Put out signs... four of them, leading from two major roads
Priced items correctly... I think
Negotiated when necessary... We had some tough customers
Had some really good stuff.... Can't take it on the boat now, can we?

San Diego - August Trip

Alaska Air Seattle to San Diego and five days exercising the boat.  Met brother Bernie again and we worked, cleaned, fixed, ate, drank, slept and checked the systems.  I reviewed reefing the main. Bernie fixed the reefer thermostat. I spent a bundle getting the EPIRB maintenced with a new 5 year lithium battery and hydrostatic release. We hoisted the dinghy on deck.  Saw fireworks and a rock band.

Traveler's Perkins 4-108 looks and runs great and mostly everything else necessary for a proper sea passage works well.

We got to see the Travel lift hoist all sorts of boats out of the water including this 62 ft monster ketch that had leaking centerboard problems.

Just another hump day Wednesday

And once again, I hauled myself out of bed, made my tea, jumped on a crowded bus and stood in the aisle all the way to the Convention Center station in downtown Seattle.  Then I had a pretty nice one mile walk up the hill to work.

When you are working a real 9-5 job, projects around the house just seem to stretch off into the distance as far as the eye can see. Weekends and week nights are not enough time.  Oh well, I should be glad I have a job and that I have the time to ease into this sailing life.

Now this guy in the picture above is already doing what he loves.  Old Pops here sided up to our table in La Paz last spring and sang us a few tunes before fleecing us of all our spare pesos.  I want his job.

What's left on the refit task list?

Does the list just keep getting longer or is it actually getting shorter?  Seems like as I tick items off the list there are always new ones going on the list.  But assuredly, the major items, the important items are being resolved and we are now getting to the "nice to have" category, which we all know is optional, or maybe put-off-able.

I'm including this picture here so that as you read this very dry list of boring tasks you can feel refreshed looking at this fresh picked lettuce, Connie's mysterious but smiling face, and a her stylish Sponge Bob Square Pants designer smock.

On our next trip to San Diego I'll meet my brother Bernie again and we'll tackle a few chores:

Get engine serial number for Mexico permit.

Visit Conspesca for fishing licenses (or decide to dump the fishing pole overboard instead)

New hydrostatic release and battery for the epirb.

Purchase a bosun’s chair and windex then go up the mast to survey the rig and install the windex.

Practice rigging a preventer.

Practice reefing the main, dropping the roller furler, rigging the staysail. All that silly sail handling nonsense.

Service the watermaker.

Replace the positive battery supply cable with a larger one.

Re cable grounds from engine mount to battery box so my monitoring systems works for all loads.

Check all running lights.

Raise and lower the anchors a few times then remove anchors and rodes and inspect chain. Reeve line at bitter end so I can cut it loose quickly if needed. (note to self: place sharp knife near anchor locker)

Replace the MOB pole.

Replace some portlight window gaskets.

Get rid of the old rusted outboard motor.

Practice putting the dinghy on deck and deflating it. 

Experiment tying the dinghy to the davits.

Measure boat, stem to stern and waterline to masthead.
Take her out and exercise the engine and sails.

And then there are the remaining few big ticket item$ that will just have to wait:  

New Single Side Band radio with antenna tuner and Pactor modem so we can receive grib files.

Purchase and install a Hydrovane self-steering device.

New life raft.

AIS system.

Install a margarita blender

Traveler is operational again

After an extended effort by Chingon fabricators the new exhaust is in place. They finally had to come to the boat, spot weld the connection in place, then take it back to the shop for finishing.

Here is a list of engine related repairs completed:

Rebuilt alternator with good spare.
Rebuilt starter/solenoid with good rebuilt spare.
New water pump with good rebuilt spare.
New hot water heater with new hoses to and from engine.
Four rebuilt injectors.
Rebuilt injector pump.
Clean primary and secondary fuel filters.
Heat exchanger serviced.
Exhaust manifold gaskets replaced.
Propeller shaft gland repacked.
Bilge cleaned.
New exhaust system. 

Humpty dumpty goes back together

Notice the four shiny rebuilt injectors, the very shiny rebuilt fuel injection pump, the somewhat shiny starter with new solenoid and those two sexy red power cables.

We had two mysteries going on at once.  Somehow, something nasty was getting into the bilge and somehow diesel fuel was getting into the crankcase.   When we had an oil analysis done they said there was a high level of diesel fuel contamination in the crankcase.  Starting with the injectors and working back to the fuel pumps we found the source.  And by "we" I mean Bradley.

When he took off the fuel injector pump the bottom stud was loose. This was allowing diesel to escape and drip into the bilge.  This loose fitting also allowed diesel to get into the crankcase. While we had the fuel injection pump off we went ahead and had it rebuilt.  And a heli coil fixed the stripped bottom stud.  

     

New exhaust system

During the survey, Bob pointed out the rusting stainless steel exhaust in the starboard cockpit locker. It had been weeping for some time and the steel was starting to go.  He said:   "Stainless steel exhaust pipe elbow and riser (as seen from starboard lazarette) is badly rusted and requires close inspection and repair or replacement as required."

After consulting with a few people we decided to pull it out of the boat and see how much it would cost to fabricate a replacement. Earl from Destache Yacht Service disconnected the long stainless steel exhaust system and through a heroic effort was able to get it out of the boat.  Bradley then took it to Chingon CMF in San Diego for a quote.  Their price is $1940.58, a sizable chunk of the boat kitty... but it is stainless steel!

I had been trying to figure out how the exhaust system worked.  On Platypus the hot gas and coolant mixes in a big mixing elbow on the side of the engine. From there it goes to a big round bucket of a muffler then out through the transom.   On Traveler the exhaust and coolant are not combined near the engine.  The exhaust goes into the center of a jacketed stainless steel pipe and the coolant travels through the jacket.  This jacketed pipe runs all the way aft to the bottom of the starboard cockpit locker then does a 90 degree turn vertical topping out just short of the cockpit seat.  There the gas and liquid are mixed and dumped overboard via a sturdy rubber hose, thru hull, and valve.  Here is my crude drawing. Click on it for a larger view.....

Fix up the house, play a little music

We joined Chris, Bill, Amy, and Maya for the fourth of July at Kingston.

Then we went to work painting in between rain showers.

Meanwhile, back at home

Meanwhile, back at home here in Seattle we continue getting the house ready to sell. The yard landscaping is completely done and looks fantastic. I've pressure washed every inch of concrete and the outside walls of the house. And we've almost finished the exterior painting on the siding. Next I'll do the trim. The house has a new roof and gutters from last fall. So from the outside we are looking good. Inside is another matter. We need to paint but more importantly we need to get rid of all that stuff in all those rooms and cabinets and closets.

Moving from land to sea will be quite the challenge, but I think the purge will prove to be a wonderfully cathartic experience.

The garage sale prep has begun! We've got sticker and have begun tagging items with their prices. Our hope is to fill a couple of rooms with nothing but pre-priced garage sale items. Once we have everything identified we will schedule a Saturday and advertise on Craig's list. What was I thinking accumulating so much crap?

No this is not my stuff but sometimes if feels like this is what my yard looks like.

Engine work

Engine work is proceeding with me in Seattle.  The four injectors have been removed and taken to the shop to be rebuilt.  One of them was way out of adjustment.  The exhaust manifold is off as is the starter assembly.  The starter is being rebuilt also.  Brad's assistant Earl is upside down in the cockpit locker trying to snake the exhaust system out of the boat so we can take it to the fabricator to see how much it will cost to build a new stainless steel one.

This is a diesel injector...

Got a call from the Coast Guard.  It seems that my bilge accumulated some water from the packing gland on the prop shaft dripping and it finally got high enough so that the automatic bilge pump activated.  There must have been some spilled oil in the bilge because it put out a rainbow plume on the water that the Coasties were able to trace back to Traveler.  Coast Guard officer Ashley was very nice but firm in our conversations as we talked about what my next steps should be to prevent more rainbows in the water.  The bilge is now dry and we've got absorbent pads in place to see where the oil might be dripping from.

Here is a picture of the Coast Guard rushing to my boat slip at Driscoll Mission Bay.