Winter in Charleston

Feb 13 thru Feb 17

—Blogpost written by Bob

Wednesday, February 13

Today started out with some fog again but the sun was shining through it.  I expect it to burn off soon.  According to the weather forecast, we are heading into a nice week or so with high temperatures in the high 60's and low 70's!  This was the kind of weather I was expecting all winter long.

s/v Rainy Days in Slip J-15 at Charleston 
City Marina on this partially overcast day.
(The concrete wall is the breakwater 
for the original marina.)

The floats under the floating piers are constructed
from hollow concrete.  This is the first
time I have seen this anywhere.

I can't believe that I'm running out of cat food already--another trip to Harris Teeter had to be made today.  (I feel like feeding two cats is like feeding an extra person!)  While at the grocery store, I fulfilled a number of cravings that I've had this week: lots of fresh fruit, cauliflower and cocktail sauce, and hot-n-spicy V8 juice--all of these are high in Vitamin C (to ward off scurvy?).

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By the time I got back to the boat and put all the groceries away, I didn't really feel like sanding and varnishing.  I thought about next winter season and the plans I had already been making for boat maintenance this coming summer.  We decided to replace our old navy blue canvas this summer with toast-colored Sunbrella--this means our dodger windows, bimini, connector and side windows, about $7k worth of work.  I thought about postponing our water maker installation (about $4k) for another year, which means modifying our plans for next winter (slightly).  I considered traveling to Bimini, the Berry Islands, Nassau, Eleuthera, and then through the Abacos for next winter--I can buy water in these areas so I don't need the water maker.  (We could travel to the Exumas the following winter and in this area, the water maker would be invaluable.)  

In the afternoon, I stitched a chafe protector
on the forward spring line.  It's just like
stitching up a baseball.

Tonight's sunset in the marina.

Thursday, February 14

Today is Valentine's Day and I'm all alone this week (but Maggie should be back from Sarasota on Sunday).  It was cool outside this morning but the sun came out and warmed things up nicely.  My plan for the day was to connect the network cable to the chart plotter, put another coat of varnish on the interior companionway teak, and do some interior boat cleaning.

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Before starting on the day's projects I reviewed the list of 20 projects I have accumulated for the summer and prioritized them.  (I moved the water maker to the 2020 list--yes, I'm planning that far ahead!)  High on my list, is adding insulation under the v-berth platform, making insulated Sunbrella covers for both overhead hatches, and refinishing a lot of interior teak (In particular around the dining table and around the galley sink).

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It only took me about an hour to completely hook up the 3-foot long SeaTalkNG network cable to my primary chart plotter.  The new cable was run through a cable covering (carrying other cables) from the back of the chart plotter to the SeaTalkNG backbone which was located inside the instrument pod.  

When the face of the instrument pod is taken
off there is usually some serious
wiring being contemplated.

I couldn't get the cable through the the housing of the instrument pod without cutting the cable and splicing it.  (I spliced all wires in the cable except the red power wire which wasn't needed.)  This is the second time since arriving in Charleston that I have had the instrument pod apart.  It is now packed full of cables and electronic devices--I'm not looking forward to the next time I have to open it up.

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After a light lunch on board I sanded the interior teak frame in the companionway and applied another coat (the fourth coat in this recent effort) of (Epifanes) gloss varnish.  It is starting to look good but it will take at least another 2 or 3 coats, sanded between coats.

Friday, February 15

Today started out as a beautiful sunny day and it is expected to be warm today (near 70 degrees).  The sky was partially overcast (optimistically speaking, it was mostly sunny) most of the day.

This is the interior teak around the
companionway after the fifth
coat of varnish.  About two
more coats to go.

While I continued the sanding and varnishing of the interior teak around the companionway, I started an additional project doing exactly the same thing around the galley sink--I figured this was a good time to do it since Maggie was still in Sarasota.  (I should have thought of doing this sooner in the week because I won't be able to complete it before she returns.)

The varnish on the teak lip (called a fid) on left side
of above image shows the wear that has been
experienced since last time it was 
refinished (maybe 15 or more 
years ago).

I sanded and stained the fid around the galley sink and applied a stain that I have premixed to make all the teak look alike.  I'll be able to apply the first coat of varnish on it tomorrow morning.

The temperature climbed into the upper 60's this afternoon!  It was very comfortable to work around the boat in shorts and a t-shirt.  Well, it's time for today's happy hour...

Saturday, February 16

Somehow I got the impression that is was going to be 28 degrees outside this morning (I don't know how I got this expectation!) but it was 58 degrees when I woke up--what a pleasant surprise!  I have a big list of little jobs to do today and I got a late start.

My first task was to tighten the door hinges for the door to the head and adjust the door stop so that the door is held tightly while underway.

This image is looking down along the door in the
open position.  The door stop (on right side
of image) is mounted on the bulkhead 
perpendicular to the open door.

I managed to get a door stop from another doorway (the one I removed to get the new oven installed) that was unused.  It was a simple matter of moving the hole in the bulkhead to accommodate the different diameter door stop.

After the above was completed, I adjusted a shim that I placed under the floor panel in the v-berth area that had been creaking.  The narrow filler board was rubbing against the bigger triangular floor panel when weight was applied.  This was solved by positioning the shim under both.

In addition, I lightly sanded the interior teak frame at the companionway and applied the sixth coat of varnish--I plan to apply the seventh (and last) coat tomorrow.  It's looking good!

The teak fid (lip) around the galley sink
was sanded and stained yesterday.

Yesterday, I taped off and stained the teak fid around the galley sink.  Today I added some more tape to areas I didn't want to varnish, all in preparation for the varnishing today.  I waited a full 24 hours after staining before I applied the first coat of varnish--it was 4 PM when I applied the first coat of (Epifanes) varnish.  I celebrated today's happy hour a bit later than usual.

Sunday, February 17

It rained very early this morning and the sky
was still overcast as I started my day. 

It didn't seem like Sunday today--maybe it was due to the fact that I treat Sunday like any other day of the week.  The agenda for today was almost an exact duplicate of my actions yesterday.  This meant more sanding and varnishing (plus I got to do some serious boat cleaning).  

The humidity level outside was 93% at 10 AM--I have no idea what it is inside the boat but I assumed it was identical to the outside.  For adequate drying of the varnish I had to wait until later in the day when the humidity level dropped (80% is the minimum).  (I have a small dehumidifier running all the time inside the boat and I used fans to circulate the inside air.)

My sanding on the companionway teak is now to the point where I used 400-grit (very fine) sandpaper.  I decided to use 400-grit right from the start on the teak fid around the galley sink because I sanded the fid very smooth before I stained it and I didn't want to remove any stain during the sanding process.  (This worked out very well!)

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I had an idea today to better organize the "stuff" we store in our quarter berth--the idea was to use Ikea bags (with zippered lids) to store everything in.  This way, to remove everything means simply taking out a half dozen Ikea bags--no more loose things.  We would have to label the bags somehow so that If we wanted one particular thing we could easily find it.

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We now have only six weeks remaining for our winter stay in Charleston.  Stay tuned for more of our Charleston adventures...


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