August 9, 2010

Yesterday Garrison Keillor and I celebrated our birthdays. He took the day off and simply replayed old segments for the Prairie Home Companion show.I enjoyed champagne and gourmet food with Carol on the aft deck of Circadian in her new home berth at Hidden Harbor. It was a lovely way to cap off a very hectic nine days of frantic work getting Circadian launched and prepped, and then bringing her up-river to her new home. Here's the actual list:

Here's a few highlights from the list (Okay; more than a few):

• Set up rope rode with short length of chain and connect to anchor so I don't destroy the new bow paint with the chain the first time I anchor in the strong reversing and swirling river current.
• Touch up bottom paint after stands have been moved.
• Replace zincs on hull and prop shaft.
• Lube and secure seacocks.
• Install new propane system. (Gotta have hot coffee in the morning!)
• Fill hydraulic reservoir.
• After launch, align engine, change oil, filters, engine zinc.
• Install cotter pins in rigging screws.
• Install and check compass, sounder and vhf.
• Get and load charts, plotting tools, gps, clothes, manuals, galley gear, sleeping bags, provisions etc.
• Measure mast height and calculate required bridge clearance.
• Pump out holding tank.
• Fill fuel tanks.
• Bring dog to vet for boarding.
• Confirm ride arrangements with Jim.

To make it all happen, I was up at 4:30 am many mornings, working ten hours and then doing the 90 minute drive back. Fun!

Here's a pic of the propane tank through bolted (with wingnuts) to the cabin top. The hose goes through the deck through a vapor-tight seal and the only connection below deck is to the stove (per ABYC standards). I pressure tested the system and it held pressure for several days. Actually, it never lost pressure, but I needed to use the stove! No electric solenoid to cut off your propane supply when there is an electrical failure. Instead, I simply reach through the doghouse window and open or close the tank valve right from the companionway next to the galley. Of course the window has to be secured to avoid any vapor blowing through should the tank vent when the gas gets hot and expands or if there should be a leak.

Here's the launch sequence from Monday, August 2nd:

Well, mostly. I discovered that the cooling water hose for the shaft packing gland was not connected to anything, and so was allowing water to come through it into the bilge. Consensus was that with a slow-turning engine like the Beta, I could just use it as a vent hose by bringing the open end above the waterline and didn't need to connect it to the engine cooling water system. I bought new hose that was long enough to do that, replaced the old short hose, and ran and secured the new hose with the opening far above the heeled waterline.

By Thursday, August 5th, I was just about ready to go. I cajoled some of the yard crew to give me a hand getting Circadian to the fuel doc. Since I did not yet know how she handled or backed up, I wanted some help getting her safely docked. I pumped out, filled up with a hundred gallons of diesel and headed up river. The plan was to go about half way and anchor off Benicia, which I did without incident. I've anchored pleasantly before on the east side of the harbor entrance, and thought I'd try the west side this time. The chart warned of tidal bores around the rocks about a quarter of a mile west of where I dropped the hook, but I figured I would be alright in the broad open area near the harbor entrance. Wrong. Circadian was swung around the anchor rode all night by strong swirling currents. The good news was the anchor held firmly, which was no surprise, and that, because I had used all line rode, the only consequence was rubbing off a bit of my new bottom paint and having to listen to the line twang as it cleared the keel after the boat was pushed against the taught line. Next time the east side! Still, it's a nice place to hang out for a night, and the weather was delightful:

In the morning, I brought up the anchor using the the new windlass and continued my journey home. Everything worked fine, and it was a pleasant and uneventful trip. As I neared my destination, I phoned Scott at Hidden Harbor and asked him to catch me when I came in to land at the new slip he and brother Jeff had made for me. When I arrived a few minutes later, both he and Jeff were there to greet me and lend a hand. Once I was securely tied up, I invited them to join me in a celebratory beer, and catch me up on the latest dock gossip. In the course of our conversation, I shared my dilemma regarding the big generator on Circadian. She has an big old 4.4 kw Westerbeke that was never completely installed and has a broken manifold. I don't really need or want a generator, and to finish the repair and installation would take quite a bit of effort and several hundred dollars. Furthermore, until it was all done, I wouldn't know if it was in running condition or not. To remove it would also be a lot of work, since it weighs nearly 600 lbs and would need to be partially dismantled to get it out the hatch. I told Scott and Jeff I'd be willing to just give it to someone if they would remove it. About twenty minutes after they left, Scott returned with Bill, the local professional marine diesel mechanic, in tow. He showed Bill my generator and let him know about my offer. Happily, Bill went for it! Bill has both the equipment and expertise to do it right and without causing any damage. So hopefully some time in the not too distant future, I'll arrive at the boat and discover my generator has disappeared. That would be great, since the space could be much better used for a small workbench and storage area in the engine room. Here's the beast in the flesh:

Stepping where it now says "NO STEP" is how the p.o. broke the manifold.

I spent what remained of the day (and my ambition) sorting out the dock lines and attaching the new rat guards to them. As you can see in the photos, they're pretty simple: just a cheap frisbee held between two PVC slip couplings with a couple of pieces of 1/8 inch line to hold them in place. There's a short piece of PVC pipe that gets glued into the couplings that sandwich the frisbee. It just has to be short enough to allow the couplings to squeeze together enough to hold the frisbee snugly. Of course you also have to drill a matching hole in the middle of the frisbee first. I've found a Forstner bit works the best. If you decide to make some, be sure to use pipe with large enough i.d. to accommodate your dock lines!

To keep those pesky rodents from jumping on top of the big fenders and then climbing up the fender rope to get aboard, I made additional guards for the fenders from plastic funnels. I just cut off the small ends, tied a knot at the desired place in the line, and slid the funnels onto the lines:

By the time the sun was setting, I was more than ready to settle down and enjoy the lovely spot Scott and Jeff had created for me....Thanks guys!!

Saturday, Jim came out to Hidden Harbor, picked me up and drove me thirty miles to Napa so I could pick up my truck. We enjoyed a pleasant lunch and good conversation at Moore's Landing at Cuttings Wharf, and I headed back to pick up my dog who had been pining away at the vet's for two days. Thanks, Jim!

Sunday I was back at Hidden Harbor cleaning up and getting ready for Carol's visit. I also managed to salvage some nice teak drawers, a teak grate, and two teak-framed mirrors from a boat Scott was sawing up and junking. All for the price of a few beers!

When Carol arrived later that afternoon, I was more than ready to kick back and enjoy the view from a Circadian's aft deck and celebrate my birthday with good food, good booze, and a good woman.