Winter in Charleston

Dec 8 thru Dec 12

—Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, December 8

I was up early this morning to prepare our pork and sauerkraut dinner that I am making in the crock pot.  I browned the cubed pork in the frying pan and diced a potato and an apple (the last item was my own addition that worked out well last time).  Mixed with the sauerkraut, it will all cook for 8 hours on the low setting. (This is the first time we are using our new crockpot--it is nearly identical to our old one.)

The sky is overcast today and the predicted winter storm is easily visualized.  Fortunately, the precipitation will be simply rain but lots of it (3 to 4 inches).  North Carolina is expected to get snow, up to 24 inches in the western part of the state.

We took the marina’s courtesy van to the Charleston Holiday Market this morning.

This is an area near the College of Charleston where
King Street crosses Calhoun Street.  Holiday
shoppers were out getting gifts before the
predicted storm arrives   (This is
a painted version of a photo
taken with my iPhone.)

We returned only to take the marina's courtesy van again to West Marine—the van to West Marine was almost full, all cruisers.  We purchased a new 12-foot extension for our shore power cable so we didn’t have to worry about our old used spare shore power cable which wasn’t in the best condition.  I also bought 40 feet of 14-2 marine cable since I have no idea what I will need to fix the (starboard cabin lights) electrical problem tomorrow.

Our new shore power extension cable--it is
only 12 feet long but invaluable when
connected to our 50 foot cable.

Our pork and sauerkraut dinner
is cooking in our new crock pot.
We place the crock pot on a
wooden cutting board to
prevent heat damage
to the formica.

I realize that some of what is included in our blog is somewhat boring to a lot of readers but I try to accurately depict our life living aboard as cruisers--sometimes it IS boring.  Most of the time, it is challenging and mildly adventurous.  Right now, I feel somewhat unsettled.  It's not like we are "on the move" unsettled--we are in one place but some things are strange to us, mostly the terrain and high tidal range.  The people we have met in Charleston are very friendly.  The weather is a bit colder than we expected.  I think that from now on we will go further south for the winter but, who knows, lots of things could change.

Late in the afternoon, I checked the usual places for leaking fresh water: under the floorboard between the galley and head sinks where most of the hose connections are located, under the galley sink, under the head sink, and, finally, around the hot water heater. There were no leaking connections! (Previously, we had checked the cockpit shower and the area around the fresh water pump without finding any wetness.) So, for the time being, this little pesky fresh water leak has beat me. I was hoping for an easy win on this one so I would have more confidence with the more complicated problem with the starboard cabin lights tomorrow—but I guess that won’t happen.

Sunday, December 9

Rain continued throughout the night, accompanied by high wind and cold temperature (low 40’s). According to the latest weather forecast, the rain will stop around noon (but rain is in the forecast again for next weekend!).

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I’ve come up with a strategy for tackling the (starboard cabin lights) electrical problem. I am going to run a new 12-2 cable to a new centrally located 6-post terminal which will feed all the starboard cabin lights and fans. (Right now, the central terminal is only 4 posts and rated at 20 amps.) 

The old central terminal feeding all the
starboard cabin lights and fans.

From here, I will reconnect one light (and fan) at a time while observing the circuit breaker. When the circuit breaker trips, I’ve identified the problem light or fan. (Yesterday I bought 40 feet of 12-2 cable and, previously, I bought a new 6-post 30-amp terminal.) While I am implementing this strategy I will apply labels to all the wires in the area—right now, the only labels on wires are those located behind the main electrical panel. Fortunately, I brought along all the tools I will need for this project.

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The rain stopped around 1:30 PM and we took advantage of the clearing weather and got hot showers--it warmed us up and energized us.  However, we were content to watch a couple football games on our onboard TV.  Since this was Maggie's last day in Charleston for a week, I didn't start the electrical project--it will wait until Monday. 

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I’ve come up with a strategy for tackling the (starboard cabin lights) electrical problem. I am going to run a new 12-2 cable to a new centrally located 6-post terminal which will feed all the starboard cabin lights and fans. (Right now, the central terminal is only 4 posts and rated at 20 amps.) From here, I will reconnect one light (and fan) at a time while observing the circuit breaker. When the circuit breaker trips, I’ve identified the problem light or fan. (Yesterday I bought 40 feet of 12-2 cable and, previously, I bought a new 6-post 30-amp terminal.) While I am implementing this strategy I will apply labels to all the wires in the area—right now, the only labels on wires are those located behind the main electrical panel. Fortunately, I brought along all the tools I will need for this project.

Monday, December 10

Maggie got up at 4:30 AM to catch her 5:30 AM shuttle to the airport—she’s visiting an old friend in Sarasota and her son and his family in Houston. She will be back next Monday.

I slept in until about 7:30 AM. As soon as I finished a quick breakfast I started working on the (starboard cabin lights) electrical problem. I removed the old central terminal (4 posts and a 20-amp rating) and the 18-gauge power cable. I installed a new 12-gauge power cable (this took a long time!) and a bigger central terminal (6 posts and a 30-amp rating). 

The new 6-post central terminal.

None of this upgrade had anything to do with the actual problem. I was able to identify an old original pair of (blue and black) wires which were a dead short between the blue and the black wires. This particular set of wires came down from the cabin top between the two starboard windows—I don’t yet know what they were used for but I isolated them and left them in place. (The original wires used in our boat were not tinned as modern standards require.)

By the end of today I was able to restore function of everything on the starboard side except a small cabin fan and a reading light on the starboard side of the v-berth.  I will tackle this tomorrow morning.

At noon the small dehumidifier that I ordered had arrived. I picked up the package at the marina office and started the dehumidifier—I hope it reduces the extreme amount of condensation we’ve experienced inside our boat.

Add caption

I quit working for the day at 4 PM--it was a tiring day climbing in and out of the cockpit locker and all the other places I needed to be to run the new wiring.

Tuesday, December 11

I got up early, had a quick coffee and a bowl of cereal for breakfast, and then tackled the remainder of the (starboard cabin lights) electrical problem.  I reconnected all the wires to a terminal block located in the upper portion of our clothes closet.  As I hooked up one set of the original blue and black wires, the circuit breaker tripped—so, I cutoff the connectors on the troublesome wires so they couldn’t inadvertently be reconnected.  Now, everything works except a light on the ceiling near the mast.  

So, the problem was created by two separate sets of original (untinned) wires that were shorted out--both seem to be routed into the cabintop.  I don’t know why they shorted out and if it has any relationship to all the rain we’ve experienced.  It is also unusual to have two identical (but separate) wiring issues.  (I have visions of rainwater intrusion into my cored deck that has shorted out the old untinned wires--this would be a catastrophic problem.)

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I decided to take the 11 AM van to West Marine today.  I needed to replenish my onboard stock of crimp connectors and pick up a few grocery items at Harris Teeter.  In addition I went out for lunch at Jason's Deli near West Marine.  I think I just needed to get off the boat awhile too--there only so much conversation you can have with our two cats (and Captain Jack can't stay awake long enough to converse).

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It was warm enough this afternoon (mid 50's) that I could leave the companionway open to the cockpit enclosure and allow the cats out in the cockpit--they love it!   While it was warm and dry I added a coat of spray waterproofing to my foul weather jacket since it has not been very waterproof lately and the spray is a last ditch effort to save my expensive jacket.

I sprayed the back of my foul weather
jacket with 303-brand protectorant 
as a last resort to making 
it waterproof again.

This afternoon I sat out in the warm sun in our cockpit enclosure and ordered about 10 eBooks, all of them collections of short stories, one of my favorite types of books. This is probably because I can read one story each night and feel satisfied.

Readers may have noticed the lack of my political book reviews lately. It is not that I believe any differently—it is just that DJT simply doesn’t deserve my time. He is a terrible businessman who started out with 440 million dollars of his father’s money (and avoided paying his fair share of taxes on it) and is a terrible president who has zero empathy, knowledge, and understanding of anything but advancing himself at any cost.

Wednesday, December 12

It was sunny from the get go this morning, even though the outside temperature was a bone-chilling and very damp 34 degrees F.  In the afternoon, it warmed up into the mid-50's.

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The small humidifier we recently bought seems to be helping to reduce condensation inside the boat (which is worse when the outside temperature is lowest)—it collects about a pint of water per day. Covering the hatches on the outside with our fore peak tent has also helped to reduce condensation—during the coming summer we are going to construct Sunbrella hatch covers for this purpose (and to protect the plastic from UV degradation).

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On my short trip to West Marine yesterday in the marina’s courtesy van I met an older cruising couple from Bath, Maine. (He wore denim bib overalls and looked more like a farmer than a sailor though you could tell he was very refined.)  They now have a trawler but had sailboats their entire boating lives. I asked them about the transition from a sailboat to a trawler. After discussing the handling differences and the fact that he can’t dock the trawler by himself (but he could always dock his sailboat by himself), he mentioned that they rarely take their trawler out to just be “on the water” like they did their sailboat. His advice to me was to keep the sailboat as long as possible. (I think I am probably older than him.)

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Before noon I was able to accomplish the following small tasks on my list:

(1) install an additional hook by the companionway

(2) order coffee filters for the head

(3) clean battery terminals in starboard cockpit locker

(4) remove ceiling light on starboard side of mast & inspect wiring

(5) purchase the remote control for our autopilot.

I still have 8 small projects (and the number is always increasing) to complete while here in Charleston. (I moved a couple projects to my summer list because I don’t have enough tools with me to complete them.)

I added a second hook by the companionway
for our bike lock keys and washroom keys.

More on this year's adventure in Charleston in the next blogpost...thanks for following our blog!