Sundown Sailing Adventures

It has been a busy week! It started with water system leaks, a motor that was not completely bolted down, no tender, no outboard, no lifelines and no dodger.

Today we have a 99 percent complete water system. We filled the tanks, fixed leaks, filled the tanks again and fixed a couple other leaks.

We finally wired the hot water heater and it works awesome! I actually took a shower on the boat for the first time! (I won’t insert the photo.) Kim rebuilt the faucets in the head and kitchen, and while the ones in the head work great, the ones in the galley just weren’t cutting it. The faucet neck was shaped in such a way that water would inevitably spray back on the counter behind the sink, the hot water handle wouldn’t engage 70 percent of the time and getting the hand pumps to work would have been another huge chore not worth the energy. So we decided yesterday that the beautiful Chicago brand brass faucets and hand pumps in the galley had to go, as function was more important the form in this case. Now we have a new brushed Delta stainless faucet, spray nozzle and soap dispenser. I think the compromise worked out okay.

We had Squalicom Marine give us an estimate and start work on our new cockpit canvas. The dodger, a windshield for the boat and cover for the companionway, is well under way, but not finished yet.

We started to tackle the lifeline project ourselves with hand crimps, but found that to really do it right (with the highest safety outcome), we should have a rigging company machine swage the ends in a way we couldn’t by hand. Northwest Rigging sent Quinn up to measure and he returned the next day with our new safety lines.

LFS Marine & Outdoor, a nearby chandlery, has helped us outfit the last bits and pieces we have needed including selling us our new inflatable dinghy. We decided to name our little boat “Lightfoot” and we intend to paint him (yes, he’s male which is contrary to most marine inanimate objects) like Eddie Van Halen’s Frankenstrat guitar to make him easily identifiable, less likely to be stolen and way cool.

A trip to West Coast Marine Services Inc. got us our little Honda 2.3hp outboard to push Lightfoot around. Honda’s reputation and this engine’s light weight (28 pounds) were the selling points. Watching a demo of the engine in a tub of water was kinda fun.

We accomplished many other other small projects, too. We took apart the ends of our booms for sandblasting and painting, inventoried the cleats for the mast and ordered new ones, attempted to debug the engine’s warning lights and buzzer without luck, finished making curtain rods for port lights, bolted down the engine completely (but now we need to re-check the shaft alignment) and debugged issues with a tank gauge in our aft water tank.

Our to-do list is still long, but shrinks all the time. What’s up next? Building two propane tank racks for the pushpit, wiring the charging relay, fixing the engine wiring, reinstalling all the hardware on the mast and booms, sanding the cockpit and get some more varnish on the outside trim. That being said I need to get to work!