Summertime on Kent Island: 7/23 - 7/25
—Blogpost written by Bob
Friday, July 23
This morning, I lightly sanded my teak frame with 400-grit sandpaper and applied the fourth coat of varnish at shortly after 7 AM. (It’s coming along so well due to the extensive amount of sanding I did before varnishing.)
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| The teak frame for the camera cabinet after the fourth coat of varnish. |
As the sun broke through the early morning cloud cover, the outside temperature was a cool 72 degrees with a gentle 5 to 10 knot northeasterly breeze. I sat out in the cockpit for an hour or so with Lola before tackling my day’s agenda. Our flag produced a whipping sound as it conformed to the direction of the wind. The fact that I was hungry brought this peacefulness to an abrupt end.
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Our satellite radio/stereo volume control problem boiled down to the fact that turning the volume control knob didn't necessarily increase or decrease the volume as desired (this was confirmed by the unit's LCD display). Sometimes it went up, other times it went down, and sometimes it didn't move at all. I found an on-line article (I always say that Google is my friend!) which describes how to fix it for a different device. I intended to try the article's solution on our device.
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| Our satellite radio/stereo was installed vertically because of the space that was available. |
Of course, just getting the unit dismounted was a task in itself. Removing four screws and two electrical plugs sounds simple until you try to do it in a small space. Once I got the unit out, removing four more (Phillips) screws, allowed the flush mount bracket to be removed from the unit. Once the flush mount bracket was removed, removing six (T6) screws allowed the face to be removed from the unit. Then, I had to remove the main circuit board--this meant removing about eight more (T6) screws.
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| Our satellite radio/stereo with the face removed. |
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| Removing the elastomeric touchpad exposed the decoder (behind the volume control knob) which had to be cleaned with electrical contact cleaner. |
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| I messed up two of the tiny TORX screws in a "forced removal" effort but I don't think they will be missed at all. |
Saturday, July 24
After another 12 hours had passed since I last coated the teak frame, I roughened it with fine bronze wool this time and applied the sixth coat in the early morning. (Lola was outside with me during the entire time but she stayed in the shade. I planned to install the teak frame on Sunday evening.)
The sun was already pretty intense at 9 AM. (It's good that I was varnishing in the cockpit under our bimini.) At the time the outside temperature was only 75 degrees, headed for an afternoon high of 84 degrees. There was hardly a breath of wind and the humidity had been increasing since yesterday. (When you live on a boat, you notice the weather!)
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You would think that after a lot of success yesterday (fixing the volume control on our satellite radio), I would be raring to go on the next batch of boat projects, but I wasn't. A refreshing shower helped a lot but I was still a little hesitant to start the next project on my list. (I have learned to go with my natural instincts in these types of situations.)
I keep a list of boat projects to be done and completed ones on my iPad--I also have a daily task list that supports those many projects. Many times I have to order materials well ahead of the actual project to be undertaken.
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A partial view of my daily task list before I changed it for today. |
I just didn't feel motivated today--so, I moved around some projects (on my daily task list) to make today a little easier. Previously on my list for tomorrow, was fixing a photo frame for a picture of my Dad that I keep onboard. The frame had a couple of nicks and had to be painted dark green to match the other frames onboard. So, I touched up the nicks with a wood filler that dries in 2 hours--I did this at 4 PM. At 6 PM, the frame was ready for sanding the wood filler smooth and for applying the first coat of paint.
In the evening, I again added a coat of varnish on the teak frame for the camera cabinet--this time to the back side of the frame that will be exposed to the inside the cabinet. (I have one more coat of varnish to apply to the front side surfaces of the frame tomorrow morning and then I can mount it tomorrow evening.)
This evening, I purchased an ST-60 wind instrument exactly like ours on eBay. (I intend to swap out the instrument to see if it solves the "wackiness" of our wind instrument before a possible complete changeout by our boat yard this fall.)
Sunday, July 25
I was up at 11 PM last night to take down our forepeak tent since 28 knots of wind was expected very early the next morning. It was good that I checked the WINDY forecast for Grasonville MD before I retired for the night. (The wind limit for our forepeak tent is between 15 and 18 knots. WeatherUnderground showed winds slightly less than 15 knots but I they were average wind speeds—not the maximum wind speed during a gust.) When I pulled down the forepeak tent the wind speed was already at 13 knots, gusting to 20 knots. I also brought my varnishing and painting projects from the cockpit into the main salon so they wouldn’t be ruined by rain.
I slept until 8:30 AM and I have no idea if we had high winds last night or not. (I must have slept very soundly!) The sky was heavily overcast in the morning and there was a 50% chance of thunderstorms in the afternoon. I moved my painting/varnishing projects back out into the cockpit to complete. Getting right to them, I roughened the surfaces of the teak frame with fine bronze wool before applying the seventh (and last) coat of gloss varnish. I also lightly sanded and applied the second (and last) coat of hunter green paint to the picture frame. (They both looked great!)
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| Painting a picture frame for an old photograph of my Dad. It was painted in hunter green gloss to match the other picture frames we have on board. |
The high humidity had returned by ten in the morning. It became obvious that it didn’t rain last night at all. A steady 11-knot breeze was coming from the south southwest as the sun finally appeared through the cloud cover. (Drying conditions were improving right on cue!)
The tide was very high in the morning—it was nearly a 2-foot drop onto the dock from our boat’s deck. (During a more normal high tide, our boat’s deck is even with the dock.) Well, enough of my lollygagging—I had a lot to accomplish today…
I removed the cushions in the quarter berth and, then, the underlying platform to get access to the pair of port batteries and their cables. Since one of my upcoming projects involved upgrading some of the cables between our onboard batteries, I had to make measurements of the cables so that I could actually make the cables during my next trip to Annapolis (on Monday)--I had to get these measurements done today!
Originally our boat came with two batteries (located in the engine compartment, partially under the quarter berth). Even though I have upgraded the alternator (from the original 35-amp to the current 120-amp), added solar panels, doubled the capacity of my batteries, etc., I don't think I have ever changed these battery cables. (As it turned out some of them were upgraded previously but not all of them.) I'm certain that I'm experiencing some extra voltage loss because these cables have been relatively undersized for the past few years. (It was somewhat difficult staying motivated for this project since we didn't know if and when we will be cruising again. As a reminder, we will be spending this winter in the central highlands of Mexico and our boat will be in storage.)
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| It's almost impossible to get a complete view of the battery cables--this is a partial view showing some corrosion (green powder) at one of the terminals. |
As it turned out, I needed (3) heavy 2/0 cables with crimped ends to fit over 5/16" bolts. The three lengths are: 8-inch long in black, 26-inch long in black, and 20-inch long in red. I only measured the needed cables on the port side batteries--I have two starboard side batteries that may need a similar upgrade but I will save that for another time since they are accessed through the starboard cockpit locker.
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After I made the measurements and while I had the platform under the quarter-berth removed, I relocated the deck wash pump slightly (moved it 3/4' upward) so that it cleared one the batteries and used filled epoxy to tighten up three screw holes used to hold the quarter berth platform down. Even though it is a difficult job removing everything in the quarter berth and then removing the underlying platforms and taking the drawer unit apart for access, it was nice working in the air conditioning today.
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In the evening, I mounted the teak frame in the starboard bulkhead and put the picture frame back together. I cleaned up the cockpit which has been my work area over the past week or so.
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| Our starboard bulkhead, complete with new camera cabinet and framed old photo of my Dad |
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