Knowing

Just dropping by for a quick update. I'll be posting more when I have time. 

Since Jan 18, we have completed all hull related stuff like:

• Re-engineered and rebuilt rudder shaft.
• Pulled, inspected and replaced perfectly good propshaft, with the proclamation from the prop guy that the yanmar was perfectly aligned. 
• New bronze chainplates and re-engineered G-10 bases and covers over butyl.
• New glass in the port holes, which included sandblasting the ports, installing the glass wrong, taking it all apart, installing the glass and seals right -- Kerry was also a trooper on this job. She did all the cleaning and prep and it was awful, including the second time.
• New padeyes in the forward deck -- bedded to raised G-10 pads to get clear of the teak.
• Rebuilt the anchor windlass (cleaned it and lubed it, basically) saving us the cost of a new one.
• Cleaned water tanks (awful job -- Kerry handled it like a pro)
• Divided the anchor locker and installed new spurling pipe from PT Foundry.
• Solar is ready to go now that the mounts are complete.
• Hydrovane unit is installed and aligned. We still need to sea trial.
• Honda generator is on line.
• Watermaker purchased and here.
• Iridium go purchased and here.
• AIS purchased -- still needs install.
• Honda outboard on Monday.
• Anchor chain goes all new both rodes on Monday.
• Oh yeah, fix the Dickenson stovepipe.
• and more.

Mostly though, after all that was done, there was still the rig. The 30 year old spar was looking pretty rough. Should I paint it? Do we have the time and money. No, aluminum is pretty tough. If you isolate it from other metals correctly, its outer layer of aluminum oxide will protect it better than any paint. Bare mast it is then.

After six hours of sanding, one side.

So I spent the last 40-50 hours sanding 55 feet of mast, turning a faded white, scuffed spar into a nice shiny spar. This included welded aluminum bodywork and everything. It looks awesome. I never want to sand a mast again but, this was so worth it for the finished product.

This was halfway though the process.

Polished and waxed.

And today, after weeks of taking stuff off the mast, I finally put something *on*. I punched the first rivet for the electrical race and the last rivet of the SS sail track that supports our strongtrack.

The last rivets for the sail track.

It was so satisfying, walking away from that mast at the end of the day, knowing the race is done, the sail track is done and we are ready to pull wire and build the standing rigging.

More to do and three weeks to go. My faith in this boat grows every day.

It's the Knowing. That's what all this is about. 

Knowing.

We have bungee!

The great thing about bungees is now useful they are in managing slapping halyards, shock cording tarps, and securing gear. The bad thing about bungees is their life, which is rather short, especially if they are left outside for any length of time. Bungees do not like UV as it eats the stuff up in short order.

It doesn't eat the hooks though.

Now, one can just buy new bungees. That is the West Marine way.

One can buy bungee chord, the hog clips and hog pliers and make your own.

What if the hogs you bought were too small and you don't have the pliers?

This is how they want you to do it. The hog clip holds the bungee down.

But wait, if this can hold sails together...

Simple palm whipping ought to do it.

And done. 

Total time spent: about ten minutes.

Total cost saved: I never have to buy hog clips or hog pliers.

Living on the Cheap. Dying on the Cheap.

Boating, actually sailing, for that matter, is not a cheap sport. The inherent problem with owning a boat is the fact that, unlike cars, they aren't as mass produced. Sometimes, no one has the off-the-shelf part you need, so, you have to have it made. That's even more expensive.

What we have to understand about the prices we pay is that not all of them are unfair, or necessarily a ripoff. When a company does the R&D for an item and only sells 10,000 units, they will recover that cost in the price per unit. Actually, they must recover that cost or they cannot stay in business.  If the same unit was going into 5 million cars, they can spread the R&D out a bit and the cost comes down.

Does this mean that some marine supply stores don't sell the *exact* same thing you can pick up at the local hardware store for what seems like half the price? Of course some of them do. They play on the "everything on a boat is expensive" game and, some people pay it.

But what if you don't want to pay it?

See that? This is a perfect example of going on the cheap. It's a photo of wire nuts and short pieces of odd spliced wire on my bilge pump. They don't belong there. The wires were also non-marine (not tinned) and were corroded where the wire was nicked. The pump failed. For lack of a handful of waterproof crimp connectors, a crimping tool, and a couple feet of tinned wire, I had no bilge pump. The house water pump was wired the same way too. Someone before me tried to save about $50.00 on a cheaper bilge pump for their $100,000+ boat. If that pump failed to run and Brigadoon had water intrusion while we were away for the weekend -- sunk boat.

The solution is not to "go on the cheap". Going on the cheap bends your sense of reason. It drives you to get the best deal, which is only measured by getting the cheapest price. It frequently means the person going on the cheap has a big pile of rationalizations why their cheap unit is as good as your more expensive unit. Most of the time they are wrong, as they try to defend their decisions.

Price isn't the only factor here, people. Sure, in America, where we value price above everything else. We don't care where our iPads or iPhones are made, or under what conditions, as long as we get it at a good price.

What matters is value for the dollar. How many times have any of us bought the cheaper of two items, only to have it fail or break on us. We get upset. "Damn cheap Chinese crap!"

But, who bought that, "Damn cheap Chinese crap?"

It's taken me a while to get over my early training. You see, my father served in the military in this country for 23 years. We had a family of six. My father worked second jobs. My mother worked. We were military poor. I was raised in an environment of scarcity, of worry over money, for fear of survival.

Fortunately, today, things are different for us. We have valuable skills that we can sell in corporate environs. We are beyond simply surviving and, for that, we're thankful. In our efforts to pay down debt and becoming truly "free", free from the yoke that debt puts on our shoulders and gives our creditors power over us. So, we shovel money towards debt (might be zero in mid to late summer).

I don't live in a environment of scarcity anymore but, that doesn't mean I'm foolish with my money.

So, what does this have to do with "going on the cheap"?

Everything.

My background of scarcity might drive me to go on the cheap. However, I've learned, over the years that quality matters. If I'm trusting my life, I said, "trusting my life", to the safety and seaworthiness of my vessel and her systems, my primary motivation is not to save a dollar today only to die one dollar richer because a cheap unit failed.

There is always something cheaper that you think can do the job my thing does. I will not argue that. I will argue that, if price is your only consideration, you will get shortchanged eventually, perhaps at great cost, maybe a life.

Balance quality in what you do. You invest in quality and buy the best you can afford.

Save money in creative ways. Anchor out. Cook on board. Learn to splice your own lines. Don't buy useless doo-dads to hang fenders with. Learn to tie a round turn and two half hitches -- you already own the line on the fender. Learn how to use it. Save money in practical ways. That way, it's there when you need to buy the best diesel filtration, bilge pumps, safety harnesses, sails, and engine parts you can afford.

How has this worked out for us?

Our battery replacement project coast 5K. It ended up with the right parts, the right install, and a reliable and flexible system.

Our Portland Pudgy Dinghy and Active Rescue System was almost 5K with the electrical system and sail rig. The lifeboat canopy for this lifeboat (more than just a dink) will cost another $2,500. However, a life raft can cost about $5,000 plus an additional $1,000 a year to certify for a one time use item.

Our planned wind vane self-steering system will cost about $5,000, plus install. Aside from steering our boat so we don't have to, it provides a completely redundant rudder for Brigadoon. If our rudder fails, we can still steer. That's value added to the primary purpose of the unit.

Our sails cost about 14K. Yes, I could have paid less. I could have gone to any number of companies that took measurements (some have you measure) for sails made in Southeast Asia. We could have gotten those sails for about 40% off. Yet, our sails are clearly of a better quality. They are made locally, here in Pt. Townsend. Sail material arrives at one end, and finished, hand-made sails of the highest quality come out the other. Our vendor is here. That is valuable to us.

All these decisions were weighed on value. It was value that drove us to these purchases. It was value that drove us to save the cash for these purchases so we aren't in debt. Our money is our life energy. We sell our souls, our time, to corporations so we can have nice things. We won't waste money but we won't be afraid of quality either.

There are many ways to save money, yet still have quality. Yes, the stainless hardware (if it's the right quality) is just fine for marine use. Alkyd Enamel paint from any quality paint vendor will work just fine in marine applications and will be about half the cost of 'marine' paint. Heat shrink from my hardware store is cheaper -- it's still the same stuff. So, there is nothing wrong with finding value at a cheaper price.

Just don't buy crap that fails that you have to replace. Don't be cheap on stuff that can affect the safety of your boat or yourself.

I see it time and time again, in person and on the net. People put non-marine propane installations in boats. Use the cheapest lines they can for mooring lines. Buy the cheapest chain for anchoring. Thin wall stainless tubing is cheaper than thicker wall stuff. It's also weaker. Cheap anchors bend and break. Cheap light fixtures burn up. Cheap electronics fail. If all you look at is price, you will get burned, sooner or later.

Don't be so focused on living on the cheap that you end up dying because of it too.

The 2015 Boat Show...decisions, decisions...

Each year, we make plans on attending the boat show. It's a chance to spend a week totally focused on the boat, our plans, and the execution of same. We can talk about stuff all we want but, if we don't execute on that talk, this will never happen.

This year we were focused on getting information about a few major and projects:

• Water Maker
• Self Steering
• Power generation (alternator/generators, solar, wind, hydro)
• Batteries

The show also provides us opportunities to consider ideas that pop up during the show. Some of these were:

• Honda gas powered generator
• Honda gas powered outboard for Fiona, our Portland Pudgy
• Propane powered outboard
• Electric drive for Brigadoon (flirted with this for a day or so)

So, here are some of the things we are considering.

Water Makers

There are many models out there. They range in capacity, power, ease of use, simplicity vs. complexity, cost, and support. We've heard horror stories involving failed units, lousy customer support and difficulty in maintenance. We decided that we would focus on the systems we could see at the show.

Watermakers range in price from about $4K on up to $11K for one that will fit out needs on Brigadoon. That's a large range. Some of the units are very simple and others have a lot of touch screen electronics. We are wary of this level of features and complexity as we just can't run down to the corner store to get a replacement if it fails.

RO Watermaker

The RO unit is one we have noticed before. It's AC driven. This means we have to power it from our batteries, through an inverter. This is not easy to do and, since pulling AC from a  DC batter pack can lose 15-20% power, it's not a good choice. Well, they have an answer. They power it with a Honda 2000i generator. 

Well, that got us doing down the road that suggested gasoline on the boat. If we go with this, we have to have gasoline for the generator. And the generator can be used to put electrons back into our batteries. That also means that, since we have gas on the boat, we can get a Honda 2hp outboard too. They are great engines. So, by purchasing a watermaker to the tune of about $4-5K, I would also have to purchase a generator for $1K, and end up with an outboard that coasts about $1K. 

It's a good watermaker, but I'm not sure of the path it leads us towards; explosive gasoline on the boat.

ECHO Tec Water Maker, sold by Hydrovane.

 The ECHO Tec is sold by the same company that sells the windvane steering we will purchase next year. The unit is either powered by the DC motor you see here, or an engine mounted pump to the right. Either way, the system is price competitive, simple, and serviceable.

http://www.hydrovane.com/other-products/echo-tec-watermaker/

We don't think we want to load up our diesel auxillary engine with the pump. At only 27 hoursepower, our engine needs all the power it can get and, I don't know if I want to side load the crankshaft to drive the high pressure water pump. This is also true for large alternators.

Then...

Back side of diesel genset, water maker pump, and large DC generator.

Diesel Genset with water maker pump, large DC generator, and refrigeration pump.

We saw this unit a couple years ago and deemed it too expensive. However...

This is a Kubota diesel genset. It's is reliable, is built to carry large loads of the high pressure water pump for the water maker and a large DC generator for topping up our batteries. It's starting to make sense. The cost of this unit is comparable to another water maker, plus generator, upgrading the engine to take the generator loads to fill the batteries to run the DC watermaker motor...it's a rabbit hole.

But this. This is a generator. It's a simple machine. It's not that large. It should fit in the stern compartment, behind the engine. All in all, we are seriously considering this unit.

Why? No need to purchase a Honda generator. No gasoline on the boat. It runs on fuel we already have. We don't need to upgrade our drive motor with a big alternator or pump. That way, the only time we are running the engine on Brigadoon is to -- and this is key -- move the boat.

Self Steering

Hydrovane Self Steering unit

Beautiful workmanship here in the guts of the Hydrovane.

Self steering is crucial to crossing oceans. There is not way a person on watch can steer a boat the whole time. You need the machine to do that for you. Because Brigadoon is a pilot house sailboat, with two separate steering stations, we need a unit that is independent from out steering. A regular system that attaches to the wheel in the cockpit is likely to have issues with friction in our steering system.

http://www.hydrovane.com/

Besides, what do you do in a boat with a rudder failure? If you have this, you don't worry about it. The Hydrovane has a separate rudder that hangs off the back of the boat. If our main rudder fails, we can use this one. The black handle you see in the second picture is the emergency tiller. 

We have little doubt we will put this system on the boat in 2016.

Lighting

Replacement Spreader Lights

Our spreader lights are really crappy old Perko units. They are dim, corroded and incandescent. We want all LCD lighting on Brigadoon so, I looked at the new LED lights flooding the market. Many of them use only a few watts but put out impressive amounts of light. Well, we found a model we like at a good price. Stay tuned for the pictures of me climbing the mast and installing these. 

Batteries 

We need electrons on Brigadoon. They need to be held in large batteries. When it comes to power, where you might pay cents for your kilowatt hours, on boats they are more on the order of dollars or tens of dollars. Generating power and storing it takes money. You need a place to store it and a way to make it. 

We took a great class on boat systems from Nigel Calder on Saturday. The three hour talk was well worth our time. We learned about the requirements and complexities of generating and storing power on board. After attending that seminar, we don't think bolting large loads on our ICE (Internal Combustion Engine) just to make water; that doesn't make that much sense. 

Battery technology is really gaining ground. There are flooded batteries (cheap and powerful but not a long life along with requiring regular maintenance). There are AGM (sealed batteries, sometimes called gel cells, that are more expensive and require almost no maintenance. Then there are Lithium Ion batteries. We agree with Nigel that these are not suited for boats. They are too prone to suffer from thermal runaway for our taste. I don't want an unbalanced battery to set itself on fire and burn a hole in our boat while setting the whole thing on fire.

AGM technology is getting there in capacity and cost over flooded. We have about 500 ah (amp hours) in flooded cells right now. There is newer technology on the way for AGMs that looks promising. They can accept a very high charge rate and perform well over many discharge/charge cycles.

We will likely replace our flooded cells with newer AGMs in 2016.

Wind Generators

We know that wind turbines get a bad rap due to the noise some models make. And yes, the winds (10-15 knots) make for good wind but not a good anchorage. Where there is good anchorage, there is little wind. So, why get one? 

The wind, my friend, it is free. It's not a major component of our power generation but it may supplement. I like power from multiple sources so...

Hydro Generators

These are really coming to the fore. Since water is denser than air, the generator is smaller and can generate more power. The nice thing about this model is it's being sold by the Hydrovane guys. They even make a bracket that attaches the generator to the post for the self steering unit. 

Now, this unit is not cheap. It costs thousands but, it's extremely reliable and it generates a lot of power. The fact that it's used on the Vendee Globe and other ocean races speaks to the capabilities of the unit.

We are watching this one too.

Solar Generation

We will get solar. We just haven't decided on which unit yet. Since electronics, especially solar, is making such huge gains over the last couple years, we feel good about holding off on this one until 2016.

Electric Drive for Brigadoon (no -go)

Yes, we actually thought about this. There are some boats out there that have electric drive setups. It makes sense for sailboats because, most of the time, the engine is used to get in and out of a harbor, or through a canal, or a set of locks. That usually doesn't take much power. An electric drive might work. 

All you have to do is tear out the diesel engine (no more oil changes, no more diesel fuel, no more maintenance), build a huge batter bank, and find a way to charge it. Unfortunately the technology isn't quite there yet. Power generation and battery storage needs to catch up the new motors before I'm willing to cross the globe with such a setup. It was a good exercise but, it really came down to putting a large generator on board - much larger than the Kubota above. 

Why tear out one diesel engine to simply replace it with a generator of the same size?

VHF Radio

Our current VHF is a decent radio. It has never failed to perform. However, we don't have AIS capability or DSC ship to ship capability. This radio has that. This means that, even though we will add an AIS transponder to the boat, this will give us an additional AIS receiver, along with a RAM (Remote Access Mic) for the cockpit. We picked this up at the show and will install it this week. The other radio? It gets boxed as a spare.

SSB (Single Sideband) Radio

This a mainstay of cruisers around the world. VHF only reaches so far and, it can't pass data. SSB is long range and can pass data (with the right modem), which means you can get weather charts and email. The system were more complex and expensive but, we think we found a simpler install method that is less expensive, while still using a high quality radio. This is another 2016 item.

In Summary

It was a good show. We made some good decisions around systems, gained some good knowledge from Nigel Calder, got new spreader lights, a new VHF radio, and some galley sundries.

It's a real challenge, figuring out what to do. There are plenty of people out there who are more than willing to sell you something you don't need for a price you can barely afford, to laugh it off as, "well, you need this or you can't go cruising and it's always expensive."

Sorry, not playing that game.

We are going for value, usefulness, simplicity, ease of maintenance and I think we are on the right track.

Winches Installed

Brand new, right out of the box.

I have finally completed the installation of new winches aboard Brigadoon.  These are five that I picked up from Defender at about 1/2 off. We saved thousands of dollars (literally), because they were demonstration models returned from retail stores. This means they were abused by people touching them and making them do "clicky" noises in the stores. We purchased five in total; mainsheet, two Genoa sheet, and two Staysail sheet winches.

Do you know how the story goes, that no job is easy on a boat? This install supported that story -- in spades. It basically boiled down to two things; 1) everything is hard to reach and, 2) everything is really hard to reach.

If it weren't for that, this job would not have been that bad.

The original and very nice Barients.

The first thing was to remove the old Barient non-tailing winches. That was actually not that difficult. They were sealed to the caprails with 5200, so the bolts were fixed security in place. All I had to do was crawl down inside a very small space and get the bolts off. Once that struggling and cursing was over, all that was left was the prying, the cursing, and the careful work with a chisel to get the winches and pads off.

Large winch removed.

I had planned on reusing the large pads, as they were fine for the larger genoa winches. I needed to use larger pads for the smaller staysail winches.

Staysail winch on new pad.

The gray stuff you see is butyl tape. I've decided to go with this instead of 5200 or some other adhesive because the adhesive is: a) messy, b) not necessary and, c) dries out over time. Butyl should perform better in a bolt-on application.

The view from underneath.

This is the underside of the caprail. This is the easiest spot to reach. All the others were harder. Each winch got brand new stainless hardware and nyloc nuts.

To put on one winch?  That took all damn day.

What it takes to install one winch on a boat.

But, after a few days, we had a finished product.

The finished product.

Port side install.

Varnish stripped, new pads installed for the staysail winches, and all four winches installed and bolted down.

Overall, it was a really tough job. Words cannot express the difficulty of fitting my body into very small places, the numerous cuts and bruises I have and how much I appreciate the help of my daughter, Sarah. Simple fact is, I can't tighten bolts when I'm deep inside the aft compartment without someone above to keep the screws from turning.

Thank you, Sarah.

So much going on

So much going on on Brigadoon.

• new winches
• new bimini
• bedding stanchions
• went to the Perry Rendezvous
• had a great sail back, with a reefed main, at 6.2 knots
• Kerry drove the boat better than I ever have
• things are good, plans made, plans executed, debt being paid off, and visions of the oceans of the world in our heads...

and more...

This boat, my home, is wonderful.

And Miles to Go Before We Sleep...

Brigadoon underway with her new sails.

Upgrades, upgrades and more upgrades.

Captain Fatty Goodlander, one of the penultimate sea-gypsies of our time, speaks frequently about building boats that are safe and strong.  It's our goal that Brigadoon will be as safe and as strong as Bob Perry originally designed her to be, along with anything we can do to enhance the already excellent design.

It's said, by Beth Leonard, I think, that buying a cruising boat more than ten years old means you are going to end up committing to a set of upgrades.  The estimated cost of those upgrades is likely to approximate half the value of the boat.  

You got me right.  If you buy a used yacht for $100,000.00 you will end up spending another $50,000.00 on necessary upgrades and maintenance.  Why so much?

It's unlikely the sails on your yacht are new, or even in very good condition.  The cooking range is years old.  The batteries in the house bank and to support engine starting are a few years old.  The wiring to support the current house bank may not be up to snuff.  Hoses get old.  Faucets corrode. The cushions are likely old and shot. Stainless steel standing rigging gets brittle with age. Running rigging does not last forever and, especially if you live in the Northwest, do you really want sheets and halyards that are green from mold and mildew over the winter?

We've had Brigadoon since November 1, 2010.  We are over two and a half years into ownership. When I heard this number I started thinking about all the projects we have tackled in that two and a half years.  I talked this over with Kerry, my wonderful first mate. 

We added up the following changes to Brigadoon:

• Brand new hand made sails from Carol Hassee and crew of Port Townsend Sails.
• Haul-out and new bottom paint completed at CSR Marine, in Seattle.
• Removal of old head/hoses and the installation of a Nature's Head composting toilet.
• Fuel polishing to clean up the fuel system so we don't have yet another engine outage while under sail, like what happened on our first big vacation.
• Replacement of every single piece of running rigging; all the sheets and halyards.  Every.  Single.  Piece.
• Installation of a NMEA 2000 network, along with new hull fittings and mast instruments, including three Garmin GMI10 displays.
• Brand new interior cushions, all custom made by Pam at Vashon Portage Canvas.
• Brand new PFDs (6).
• Two new memory foam mattresses.
• Dyneema-based lazy jacks, designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Jack lines, designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Topping lift for the boom, designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Dyneema-based lifelines designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Dingy motor by Electric Paddle along with a new 35 amp/hour battery.
• Ground tackle upgrade with the installation of our shiny, new and very functional Ultra Anchor.
• A new faucet for the galley.  The old one was clogging and difficult to use.
• A new range for the galley. The old brown porcelain Hiller range was literally rusting out on it's mounts, didn't cook very well, was untrustworthy and ugly.  We replaced it with a beautiful, brand new stainless steel Dickenson Caribbean two burner stove.
• Bimini frame, free-sourced and installed.  I still have to hand-sew the cover. 
• This does not count the numerous tools, shackles, pad-eyes, screws, nuts, bolts, and sundries to allow us to complete small repairs and maintenance.

We added this up.  When we got to the number, I watched in amusement as Kerry's eyes got wiiiiiddddeeee.  It was really funny.  But it made sense.  This was all necessary.

This all cost real money and, we are not, in any sense of the word, rich, or made of money.  But we had a plan.  The costs are not being piled on credit cards.  We paid for most of this with cash;that we saved and planned to spend.  Most of these were not surprises in any way.  The ones that were -- well, we paid that purchase off quickly.  It's the whole idea of making her better, but not going into debt to do it.  The Freedom Project is about, at the end, owning a safe and strong boat and not owing anyone any money -- anymore -- ever.

And we are not even done.  We still have to:

• Replace all the stainless steel standing rigging.
• Replace every single hose on the engine and all the belts (possibly upgrade to a serpentine belt.)
• Replace the alternator with a more powerful unit.
• Replace Wee Brigadoon, our beautiful little lapstrake dingy with an active rescue Portland Pudgy dingy/lifeboat.
• Remove all the old and blistering bright-work (varnish) and decide how to finish the boat.
• Reseal the decks before it's too late to do so.
• Rebed and reseal every single stanchion to stop leaks into the boat.
• Install a new, heavier duty, bimini frame that can stand up to offshore conditions.
• Solar power.
• Wind power.
• Windvane steering.
• New digital Radar.
• and so on as we discover what we can do to...

Make Brigadoon as safe and strong as we can, making her as capable as she can be, so the only weakness is us; our skills, our knowledge, our commitment to the Freedom Project and our goals.  That we are working on too.

There lots to do and still time in our plans to do it.  Brigadoon can take us far -- and she will.   We only have to prepare her and ourselves and the world will eventually be ours.

A sense of accomplishment.

It's not often we get this opportunity.  While Brigadoon is a "well found" boat, we have quite a large list of items, some large, some small, that we are focusing on to make her "safe and strong."  Safe and strong, in the words of Capt'n Fatty Goodlander, equals seaworthy.  Seaworthy makes Brigadoon a better boat.  It makes her better able to take care of us.

So we have this list, a prioritized list, of things that Must Be Done, things that We'd Like to Do, and things that we Will Do After All the Others Are Done.   You can call it, Must, Should and Maybe lists.

As of today or tomorrow, we will have crossed off three Must Be Done things off our list.  They are pretty big things.  The details are unimportant for this post but, what is important is we did them.  That's right. We can have all the lists we want, all the wishes we care to plan on but, if we don't execute those plans we will fail.  The most important thing, our goal, our path, is to make Brigadoon as solid, secure, maintainable, and up to date as we can.  It means spending our dollars very carefully, in a clear priority, with a clear goal in mind.

That means work -- hard work.

The thing is, after each job is checked off, no matter how large or how small, it's an accomplishment.  That means, for me, that it's now Something I Don't Have to Do!  It's Done!

And that is worth the work.

More to come on Brigadoon Upgrades soon...

Listing to Port -- not so much anymore.

In a previous post I wrote about getting my tools on board.

Brigadoon has always listed slightly to port. Not as drastically as the big Beneteau in our marina, but enough to notice, especially when we are laying in our bunk.

After our long vacation in August, one of my goals was the get my tools on board.  I had two large tool boxes located in storage.  They were still there after nine months on Brigadoon because a) I had most of what I needed on board and, b) I was too busy/lazy to drag 300 lbs (yes I'm not kidding) down to the dock to sort through and bring aboard.

I finally got to storage and, after a rather dramatic struggle getting them from Smartie (our little Smart Car) into a really crappy dock box, Kerry and I were able to get them down to the dock.  She helped me as I sorted though hundreds of wrenches, sockets, screwdrivers, pliers, wire cutters, needle nose, specialty tools and such.  It was a long, hot sit in the sun but, in the end I had a bunch of stuff I needed, and a big pile of discards.

And this is where they needed to go.  It's the space under the pilot house chart table.

About 18 cubic foot of space, stuffed to the top with everything.

And the slight list to port becomes worse.  You see, I had about 200 lbs of tools there, under the pilot house seat, and way to port, right above the 60gal fuel tank.

That lasted about a week or so.  It made sleeping harder as I rolled into Kerry during the night.  Now, that isn't necessarily a bad thing, until we want to actually sleep.  

So, time to change the plan.

I got home the other day and emptied the entire storage compartment out, moving every single toolbox to the salon cabin sole.  Then I started loading them into the strorage space under the starboard sette.

Better picture to come later but, it's the bench on the right.

Moving all the tools below the sette changed everything.  Brigadoon sits almost level on her lines now, pretty balanced between port and starboard.  I now also have easy access to all the tools without having to dig into a deep box.  They are now spread out under the cushions where I can get to them easily.

Boat in balance.  Sleep in balance.  Life in balance.

Houston, we have Tools

It's been challenging, being on the boat without my tools.  I came from a home in the suburbs, with a two car garage, a huge workshop, and over 30 years of accumulated tools.  Even though I sold off the drill press, the grinders, and a host of other tools I thought I would not need as a City Mouse in Seattle, I still ended up with a two very large and heavy tool boxes.

Those have been sitting in storage since November 1 of 2010.  You see, I could not see how I could get to 50+lb tool boxes on Brigadoon.

Then I discovered a little organizing skills.

You see, this is my tool storage:

The space under this chart table holds ships spares and tools.

That space isn't very large or easy to access.  Putting two huge tool boxes, especially a very heavy and unwieldy one with drawers just didn't make sense.

The huge tool box worked great on my twelve foot long workbench.  Not so much in the space you see below:

This is the chart table seat with the cushions removed.

As you can see, there is a larger space below.  I call this deep storage.  I think it can hold about two to three bodies.

Deep storage, under the chart table seat storage.

Brigadoon is like a puzzle, where you find space for things.  Kind of like a Tetris game, where you get bonus points for putting everything in the right place.

So, I pulled the two tool boxes from storage and spent a very long afternoon sorting, categorizing, and discarding, tools I didn't need.  I mean, how many needle nose pliers of exactly the same size, with cutting feature, does one need?  How many 13mm sockets?  How many 10mm open end wrenches?

The answer, simply, is two.  You can get by with one but, if that one breaks, you can't always go to the store.  So, the exercise was: find one 10mm socket in 3/8" drive.  Find another of exactly the same type.  Lather.  Rinse.  Repeat.

You do this until you have examined every tool you have and decided what you need and what you don't.

So, now I'm down to a separate toolbox for the sockets, one for the wrenches (including allen wrenches), another for screwdrivers and pliers/needle nose/diags, and other miscellaneous tools like the tiniest hand plane you have ever seen and a huge drawknife (made a boat oar with it once).

The collection has been vetted and now all it needs to be is stowed.

This is where you play Tetris:

Huge metal toolbox hidden behind wrenches, sockets, ships supplies, spare parts, and work coveralls, along with storm trysail.

It's done.  I ended up sitting in the sun for a couple hours, staring at wrenches and sockets.  Too tired to eat dinner, all I could do is sip on a cider and eventually go for a walk.  However, as I type this, I'm sitting six inches above every tool I own and it's all aboard Brigadoon.

Now, where to put that underwater welder...

Line and Knives

No More Old Halyards!

Somehow I imagine Joan Crawford saying that.

Brigadoon now has all new running rigging, sheets to halyards.

These filthy, fuzzy, moldy old halyards had to go.   So...

I replaced them all with some really nice XLS Extra.  The stuff has a Dyneema core and polyester cover.  It should last me a decade.  It better.  Even off the clearance rack in the rigging department, the total cost of all the running rigging approached a grand.

I also received my Hook Knife.

It's for clearing lines/rope off the prop shaft or prop.  Yeah...that's exactly what it's for.  It's for safety.  Yeah.

And in the artistic yet functional department...

My old French Country knife, with a square sennet lanyard.

I feel accomplished.

Stuff: for a boat now

Warning: long somewhat poseur philosophical rambling follows.

As I look at the systems on Brigadoon and my plans on going places in this boat, I have thought a lot about systems that I have, which ones need an upgrade, which ones I need to obtain, and which I need to junk.

I mean, I could load the boat up with the latest in chartplotter/radar/AIS/VHF/depth/fishfinder/watermaker/inverter/tv/vcr/dvd/blueray/blender/microwave/hot tub/etc/etc/etc

I could spend a fortune loading the boat with gadgets. I could also have to quadruple my battery bank to support them. I could get ridiculous with it. Or not...

So I'm looking at what is really necessary, what can be re-purposed, what can be used for dual purposes. In this I'm examining *if* I really need to get an outboard (which requires a place to stow, a lock so it won't get stolen, gasoline, gas/oil mix if it's a two stroke) for the dink. The thing is, as you add one capability, you have to take into account the infrastructure to support it and then, maybe those things need additional infrastructure, etc, etc, etc....

It can be a long and winding road of this thing, supporting that system, requiring an upgrade of another and pretty soon you are so surrounded by what you *have to have* to support something maybe you really didn't need in the first place.

I understand this is blasphemy the manufacturers out there, who want us to consume their "marine grade" pens, pencils, log books, and toasters that they are very very proud of -- just look at the co$t. Well, I don't have to buy all their stuff just because it is shiny and new, because it was reviewed in the latest issue of SAIL, or I think I have to keep up with the Joneses when at anchor.  Frankly I don't care what the Joneses think.  All I care about is whether I have what I need on Brigadoon.

So every purchase is backed up by some questions.

Do I really need this?

Can this capability I'm acquiring be done another way -- especially one that is less costly?

Do I need additional infrastructure to support the shiny new thing and, how much is that going to cost?

What are the unintended con$equences (costs) of the addional infrastructure?

For example, I have looked at a really nice little Honda outboard for my dink. Before I buy that, though, I'm going to get the thing off the davits and row it around for a while before I shell out the money for an outboard. I may find out I don't need it. If I find I do, then at lease I've asked and answered the right questions about it.