December 8, 2022
[Note this post was started on December 8th and published on December 14th. A lot has happened in there, but this is an attempt to capture some of the boat changes. Another post will highlight some of the more human aspects and may copy some of this material.]
We have been in N Palm Beach for over a week now and a lot has been done. As usual, I have notes in my log, but this is searchable, so arguably better.
All of our headliners have been recovered. They look very good. Total for that is about $9,000.
We replaced the anchor chain. We have 400’ of new high test chain. About $2,500 for the chain but then they dinged me $500 to paint depth markers. If I knew it would be $500 I would have said no thanks. Silly me for not clarifying that it was part of the previously agreed price.
Oil was changed in all three engines and the main transmission.
Fuel filters were changed for the transfer pump (2 micron), both of the secondary filters on the main (10 micron) and on the generator secondary filter. Interestingly, changing the fuel filter on the gen (it was really dirty) helped to reduce the throaty sound of the gen even further. (Replacing the impeller was also a big help, dramatically improving the flow of water and fuel seems to be good for an engine. Who knew?!)
I replaced all of the engine room storage and reorganized it, with a particular focus on documenting all of my spares.
We have ordered a bunch of new engine spares to keep us going if something breaks. Including spare alternators, starters, fuel components and so forth.
We replace the reading lights in the salon with sconces from Lowes. I simply soldered in a G4 bulb receptacle in place of the E27 (normal bulb) fitting and then cut the power cord, put on new bullet connectors and plugged it in. Hanging the light was a bit trickier. I think I will still put a soft back on the wall to reduce or avoid damaging the wood. Overall, it was another fun little project that made the salon look a lot better.
Another project has been to ‘clean up’ the lazarette. A lot of the the items stored there have been moved into the master stateroom and put under the floorboards, while engine bits have been moved to the new engine room storage. This makes for a roomier area. We will still work to improve the laz in the coming weeks to increase usability.
Our credit cards are getting a significant workout as we buy stuff to prepare for a move south. There is still more to do and some will be done in early January, some before we head home for Christmas.
I have new solar panels on order (24V-200W) which we will add to the 100W (@24V) we can generate now. That will significantly improve our solar intake when we are anchoring. The goal is to halve our generator runtime, and with a total of 500W at 24V, it may be possible as that would bring in about 15A per hour when there is strong sunlight.
Next up, we have decided to upgrade the sound in common areas of the boat. Namely, the salon, the pilothouse and the forward cabin (‘the office’). We have been so impressed with our Sonos Beam speakers at home (we have one with each TV), that we put one on the boat too. The problem is that the TV is under the counter and there is no place to put the speaker. It was rested on the floor. By coincidence, this purchase included a free stand (designed for a wall), but it is also perfectly adaptable to a TV mount, and so we now have a greatly improved audio system for the salon. This speaker also works well with Alexa or Google Home as well as Spotify. We are old, so we haven’t tested the volume, but it is an improvement over the $100 Sony speakers in the ceiling. Notably, we decided to leave those in when we replaced the headliners last week, because they work with the stereos and removing them would leave a big ugly hole in every room. (There are car stereos installed in the salon, the pilothouse, the master stateroom and the forward stateroom that drive the speakers.)
Ordering stuff from Sonos was a bit tricky (thanks, again, to Craig and Teri on Cala II) and so we have wall mounts for the pilothouse and guest cabin, but the speakers are being delivered to Canada, so that installation process won’t happen for a while. I am looking forward to being able to talk to the boat (Hey Google, or Alexa) and listen to good music from quality speakers.
My engine room continues to get some attention. Things are cleaner and more organized now that I have ample time to spend working down there. It will all look better over time, I am sure of that and the progress is notable.
Jinhee is putting aboard a lot of useful ‘house’ stuff. Lights for cupboards and lockers, kitchen implements and of course food.