Peter
03/18/2010, MYM

My solar panel deal kind of went sideways on me yesterday. Talk about unorganized and unprepared. I was supposed to deposit 3,840 euros into Deniz Bank so they can send the panels from Istanbul. I get to the bank and they want to see my passport. Passport? I didn't bring no steenking passport!! Now I am faced with taking the daumish (bus) back to the marina, get my passport, and back to town. I am looking at the afternoon going bye-bye. I go to where the daumish leaves and I see Deniz Bank. I say to myself "What the hell. What have I got to lose?" and I walk into the bank to try to deposit again. (This company has multiple accounts with multiple banks.) When the teller asks for my passport, I tell her I don't have one and she goes "No problem." Yeah!!! Cha-ching!!

So I start with my deposit. Well, I haven't counted the money in advance -- only individually when it was given to me. There was this deal involving bottom paint with one of the boats where I had to give them a credit cuz they bought some of my paint. You get the picture? The thing is going sideways fast. I've got 100 euro, 50 euro, and 20 euro bills splayed out all over this teller's counter. I count about 3,000 euro. I am somewhere around 800 euro short. I'm thinking "These panels are gonna cost me about $1,000 each by the time I am done here!!" Then I pull out another 500 euro that I hadn't seen. The teller informs me I am 200 euro short. I go outside to the ATM, withdraw 200 euro, and I am good. But the whole thing was just a cluster fuck. I felt so bad that I hadn't prepared myself better for it.

In the end, I think I will be OK. I put it all on Excel when I came back, and while I hope I am not audited, I think I got it all to within about 5 euro/boat. So that'll be OK. But,geez, what a stresser there for awhile.

Panels should arrive I am hoping on Friday. Saturday I have to go into town to pick up shelves for the closets, standoffs for the panels, team gear, and maybe score some cheap fuel filters. The guys here found a shop that sells Turkish filters for real cheap. I am loading up on the fuel filters. But unlike them, I am staying away from the oil filters. I don't need my engine seizing up on me cuz I put in some cheap Turkish oil filter to save me 15 TL. I don't care how much money I save. I call it an insurance policy. I put in Yanmar filters. If they screw up, then maybe I go back to Yanmar. But they won't screw up, and I know it. Oil filters are pretty simple to manufacture and the failure rate on them is less than 1% probably. The fuel filters is another story. I'll use the cheapies all day long. Hey, if my fuel filters crap out on me all that happens is the engine stops and maybe I have to bleed the system. A hassle, no doubt, but my engine isn't blown. I can't believe the way these guys are going for those oil filters, though. Like rabid dogs!

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Peter
03/14/2010, MYM

We extended our marina stay by one week yesterday. It is getting down to crunch time. I need to wrap up a few of the last projects I have on my list before setting off. Of course, I won't get to the bottom of the list. You can't. It is impossible as long as you own the boat! But I do have a few items I "must do" before departing.

One of them got checked off yesterday. After returning from errands in town in the morning I set about to work on the bloody generator. We have a 2 KW Honda portable as a back-up for 110V power and to help charge batteries when needed. But the bloody bastard has been broken more than it has run. It isn't Honda's fault. Just a series of bad luck.

Anyway, I had been trying to fix the thing but couldn't find the time. Yesterday afternoon I took another shot at it. And with Larry (Robinson)'s consulting, voila! The little baby purrs like a kitten!

That was a biggee cuz I am planning on using the generator when we haulout to power the buffer that will hopefully make our hull look spiffy new and bright...at least in theory! So having the Honda working is a big relief.

I got diverted in town yesterday and went and bought LED navigation lights. I wasn't planning to. But when I put together our energy budget for the boat both at anchor and underway, the nav lights stood out as big hogs!

I ordered new masthead lights from America and will hopefully pick them up in Rhodos and install them. But the deck nav lights -- 2A each x 3 x 10 hours at night. 60 amps total. Ow. So new nav lights will drop that to about 6 amps. On the last crossing we were constantly managing the battery voltage, particularly in the morning because of all the nighttime navigation equipment, and particularly the lights. So this should help considerably.

I think the selective use of LEDs can be very cost-effective. I am not changing out all the lights -- just the big power draws (anchor, nav, and salon lights).

I am organizing the next order of solar panels for Marmaris Yacht Marine cruisers. 80W panels from Istanbul for 240 euro ($350) each including tax and delivery. Tough to beat. I'll put in an order for 14 of them (2 for us!) middle part of this week.

They are Chinese-made. That is a bummer cuz I am trying to boycott anything made by China -- partly out of human rights/food issues but mostly cuz it scares the living daylights out of me to think of them as a world power!! But I am making an exception in this case. Hopefully the panels won't come with dog food or plastic or whatever!!

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Peter
03/12/2010, MYM

Sometimes it is just better to be lucky than good! Some days are just like that. Right now I am riding a little high after a very productive day. It didn't start out that way.

I decided in the morning to tear into the plumbing of the heads to replace the shower/faucets in both the port and starboard heads. But in the middle of the project I got called away to the Skippers Destress Forum (SDF). Now the SDF has been running continuously every Friday at noon for the past year and a half. Someone who thinks they know something about some thing will volunteer to share what they know. All the other yachties gather in the bar to listen and learn.

This week's SDF was a big one. It was on safety and featured blowing up a liferaft. None of us had actually seen one get blown up. So after a short discussion in the bar we all headed out to the swimming pool where there were not one but two rafts ready to be blown up.

They were well past their service dates (3 yrs. and 8 yrs.) so we weren't sure if we would even have ignition. But they went up like they should. It was good to see them go up -- much better to see it for the first time in a swimming pool than in a Force 10 with 15 meter waves!!

What was particularly interesting was how hard it was to climb in the raft from the water. My original evac plan had me leaving the boat last. You know, the chivalrous "the skipper will go down with the ship, if he must"! This chivalry thing is way overblown and sucks...at least if you are the captain!!

But when we saw how difficult it was for a couple of volunteer swimmers to enter the liferaft from the water, my evac plan quickly changed. Now I get to enter the liferaft first -- and then cut the cord!! No, wait. That isn't how it goes. I remember now. I am supposed to help the other crew members in. Yeah, that's it.

After SDF the North Americans had a nice little potluck while the rest of the yachties chowed on the potluck the restaurant provided. That was yummy. But I couldn't stick around and socialize because I had the plumbing system opened up back at the boat.

So off I trudged to my "other job" -- working on the heads!! (Sooner or later this has gotta stop!) Anyhow, after dropping a small wad of dough at the marina chandlery getting some plumbing parts, I started working on installing the new shower/faucets in the heads. To my utter surprise, the dang things went in without a leak and only a few cuss words! It was amazing! Of course, I haven't given them a full chance to start leaking, and with this boat it will only be a matter of time. But for now the victory is mine!

The coup d'gras was when I decided it was too late to install the new galley faucet BUT I could at least try to figure out how the thing went together. ($500 doesn't buy much these days -- 3 faucets without installation instructions. I think instructions must have been extra!)

So I start to put the parts of the galley faucet together and gradually I am figuring this jigsaw puzzle out when I discover I am missing a special plumbing nut. Now this is no ordinary nut you can get at a chandlery or something. No. This would be something I would need to have sent from America. A very big deal!

But as I am walking to the dumpster to throw the old shower faucets away I glance down at one of them and notice a plumbing nut. I start thinking "Maybe, just maybeee......naaaaaaahhhhhh!" But on a 1,000:1 flyer I keep the faucet, bring it back to the boat and sure enough -- the dang thing fits!!! I am simply ecstatic! I can't believe my luck.

So today was a good day.... a very good day.

Next up is getting the generator going. And I am still trying to decide if I want to drop 850 euro ($1,200) on a new salon table with a compass rose inlaid on it. It is a big bite, but it would also set off the salon soooo nice. So I dunno.

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Peter
03/11/2010, MYM

"Turn and face the change" is what David Bowie would say. And I would echo his advice! Change is not something easily accomplished by any of us, nor dearly desired by nearly all of us.

Yet change is what we are faced with constantly. As a result, it puts stress on us; stress that affects our lives, our health, our relationships with others, and our everyday activities. And change is best handled by facing it, not from running from it. Try to run from it, and it will catch up with you and take control of your life. Face it square, and you can master the demon!

This bit of philosophy has been brought to you by....Time Warp! That's right. She just keeps finding new ways to leak as a way to resist 'change' to being a dry boat. Earlier she was leaking from the water heater into the engine room which then drained into the bilge sump and got pumped out.

I fixed that problem by turning down the system water pressure at the water pump. Well, now the ole girl has found a new way. After installing a new shaft seal, sailing it across the Atlantic and the Med, and after 18 months of "dry" performance, this girl has decided it is time to start leaking water at the shaft seal.

Now it is nothing in itself to get alarmed at...that is if you are used to your bilge pump going off every couple of hours! And the remedy is fairly straightforward. Indeed, when I discovered the new leak a couple of days ago (after hearing the bilge pump do its thing over and over), I went in there and "fixed it". Or did I? The girl is not going down that easy!!

Sure enough, when I heard the bilge pump go off again this morning and checked the engine room for the possible, er probable, cause, there she was a-drippin' at the shaft seal! Grrrrr! I couldn't believe it. Change is hard -- even for boats that are used to leaking! This girl will become a dry boat - but not without putting up a fight first!

I'm sure this is not the last battle. There are many more leaks to come! But those will be saved till when we are under way, no doubt. In the meantime, I will just have to learn to change with her...and keep fixing her dang leaks!!!

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Peter
03/09/2010, MYM

We are busy little beavers getting the boat ready before we leave the marina. I am trying to get projects wrapped out before we head out. And there are several still to do.

Now that Jeff has gotten the on board computer system back up and running I have been able to turn my attention to fixing the generator (again!), installing shelves in the hanging closets to turn them into shelf closets, get some solar panels, maybe put some Rocky Horror lips on the kite, new leather covers for the steering wheels, install the iPod docking station, and maybe get a vinyl window for the section between the bimini and the dodger. It's a pretty heady list and if none of them get done then that is OK, too. I mean, it isn't like we are talking critical systems here.

Elise from the ARC crew sent me the link to a youtube video clip from the Rocky Horror movie showing Magenta and Rip Rap "doing the Time Warp again". It brought smiles to our faces seeing it play again. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yarYjuN-m8I

Will and I are sportin' our new doo's. OK, they aren't "new". But at least we got haircuts. The photo today is titled "Like father, like son!" Pretty cool matcing Fiji Worlds t-shirts, eh?!!

What you can't see is where I took a big gash of hair out of the back of Will's head! The clippers were acting up so I tore them apart. And when I put them back together I forgot to put the #2 on the clipper. So it was like literally shaving the back of his head!!! Oh well -- it grows out, right?!!!

Well, that's about it for now. I'll keep you posted (as usual) of stuff as it comes up!!

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Peter
03/08/2010, MYM

I was able to get with a fellow yachtie today. He is an (older) computer geek. We are/were having problems with our onboard nav computer. It has always been sensitive and Will went and clicked on something and ka-pow!! There went the system. Since I figure navigation might come in handy somewhere down the line, I put a high priority on this task.

He brought over another monitor cuz our computer was hanging up on start-up and we couldn't see where it was hanging up. The Mimos run off a USB port and apparently they don't get energized until well into the start-up process. Anyway, he spent the afternoon playing around on our computer. He got the system up and running pretty good. But then the rum I was pouring him (straight -- he's Australian!) started having its effect, I think, and we took a small step back.

But no worries, for he is planning to come back. He was able to figure out what the Raymarine techs here at the marina were unable to figure out. And that is how to get our instruments data (windspeed, boat speed, etc.) out of the Raymarine chartplotter and into the PC. It turns out our good friends at Raymarine put a couple of characters at the beginning of their data sentences to make sure their data is incompatible with everything other than Raymarine electronics. (Gotta love that line of thinking, eh?) So he has figured out how to delete those characters so they can be imported into the PC and incorporated in with the navigation software. Pretty cool, eh?

This stuff is so far above my head! But Will had a good lesson in computers today watching and working with our geeky yachtie!! Just as well since we had to postpone his lesson for today to take care of this rather daunting and important problem with the nav system.

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