Sorry, I have not been blogging much lately but I doubt if anyone cares.  Hello...Hello....HELLO.
Anyway near the end of the season I did not not really go anywhere.  Got the engine rebuilt and running, No more water in oil and oil level is steady.  Getting cold out now.

I have been burning up pump  motors on my water pump and bilge pumps  (I have two).  The bilge pumps are jabsco 36800 series diaphragm pumps that were on breakers but not fused.  The pump was wired in parallel with the breaker.  So the float switch was essentially not fused or on a breaker.  Seemed ok to me until I purchased my third pump motor at $158 bucks a pop.  So now I have a 50 cent fused protecting the motor.  The water pump is Jabsco 36900 series but same motor as bilge.  I found the pressure switch was bad and even though it is also on a breaker, the breaker never tripped until motor burned up (and it was a brand new motor).  So, I also fused it in addition to the breaker.  So all is good.

Made good progress on Hard to Bimini.
I used system three standard color and it looks pretty close.  Windows in but I have a lot of work left to do.  But looking better.  Teak trim on windows helps.
Lesson learned....... Ask me.

My Aching Back

My plan was to go to the boat Friday evening and pull the head and injector pump and deliver to diesel repair shop on Saturday morning.  At 1:30 am Saturday morning I conceded defeat and went to bed.  I had got the head off but injector pump was still mounted.  Only three bolts holding it on to block.  Easy to get to uppper bolts  but third at the bottom not so much.  So new plan was to finish removing pump on Saturday and take parts to mechanic the following week.   Saturday woke up had my coffee and continued to remove pump.  Took two hours to finish but was not that bad.  Bolt at the bottom was hard to get off but after I got a routine down it came right off.  Thank God, no struggle to get the pump off.

Took picture of the pump so I do not have to remember where the pipes go.

Bilge pump problems:

Almost every spring launch I have bilge pump problems.  I have two bilge pumps that come on automatically. I installed the "water witch" (google it) switch type switches in bilge area one for each pump on separate circuits.  Anyway last week I noticed the one of the circuit breakers for pump A was fused.  That means that probably the motor got wet and froze up.  I have Jabsco bilge pumps model 36000 something.  Last year the other one (B) got wet and wrecked the motor.  To prevent moisture getting on it (pump B), I covered it with a plastic baggy.  Worked great, ran fine.  Actually pump A was working about a month ago.  So some how it got wet.  I figure it tried to run and fused the breaker.  When I tried to manually start it a few weeks ago when the breakers was still working, I saw the DC amp meter go to about tens amps but, the motor did not come on.  Anyhow, I noticed the battery switch was on both banks and only wanted one bank so I rotated it around.  When power is restored to the "water witch" ( did you google it yet) bilge switch it is designed to turn on the pump for a few seconds.  So when power came back to DC I heard a pop and saw a large billow of smoke coming from bilge area.  I rotated the battery switch to off to kill power.  Looked around saw no issue and rotated battery switch back to on.  More smoke and I saw the wires to the bilge pump glow to red and start melting.  Not Good.  Turned DC off again and went to the power panel and removed the melted wires from power source.  So bad news I need a new breaker, pump motor and bilge switch.   I do not know how or why moisture is getting to the bilge pump motors but I am going to cover both pumps from now on with a protective cover.  Good news, other bilge pump B working fine.

Spring cleanup and pending projects

My only task this weekend (since I only had one day)  was to power wash, fill tanks, check general condition of boat and run the engine.  The boat was very dirty but cleaned up nicely with my power washer.

 The boat was very dirty but looks good now.  The wood still had varnish but winter is very hard on it.  Multiple coats but, still still lifting in some places.  Oh well....  That can wait.

Checked engine oil and coolant.  Engine oil was over full from my known diesel leak.  Started engine and it started pretty good.  Ran to bring it up to temperature.  Oil pressure looked a little low but was OK.  Shut engine down and looked at oil again.  It had that milky look which means it had moisture in it.  OK, it now means I am going to have injection pump rebuilt as well as injectors.  Also, going to pull the head and have it checked and replace the head gasket.  Man these Delaware winters are hard on the boat and it was not even that cold this year.   Bye $$$$$$$

Note the differenrce in the polished side and oxidized.  You can see it in this photo.

I took a day off to try to finish up the polishing project on the hull.  Came out pretty good so far.  On close inspection of the hull I can see many stains and blemishes that probably only a paint job can fix.

The yard has put my boat on a part of the yard that has a slope.  Makes it really hard to put scaffolding down and keeping from killing myself.  I this blog stops it is because I am dead.  I told them I want to work on the hull and this is where they put the boat.  Oh well I launch next week.

Working all day on the hull doing the 3 step prep of sanding with 1000 grit, compound and then polish was a lot of work and I usually run out of steam at the end of the day.  Holding a buffer over your head is also tough on the shoulders and arms.  I was going to do this over a weekend but now glad that I spread it over a few days with  a break in between to give my body a chance to recover.  (Old age sucks)...

I also did some gel coat touch up on some bad places.  I sent a sample to a company to match the hull and it came back pretty good.  You can hardily see where I touched it up.

Getting boat ready for launch hull cleaning

Last weekend  (Saturday)  I drove down to the boat.  The specific purpose was to remove the Polyglo from the hull using the spray can of remover  I bought last year.  I worked pretty well.  First I used the power washer to get as much dirt off as I could.  Then spayed about 4 feet worth of remover swirled with sponge and then powerwash rinsed it off.  The can says do not let it dry and wash within 2 minutes.

Here are some before and after photos. This before note the  shine from the Polyglo.

 Before note the white part with soem polyglo removerd.

 After note oxidized hull.

After .

Next week I am going to polish the hull and try to bring back the shine.  Polyglo was pretty easy but after a few years it shows dirt and stains.

Spring is in the air

I have not posted much to my blog because not much boating activity in winter.  But with the warmer weather in the forecast I am making plans of things I am going to do before spring launch.
1.  Remove Polyglo from the hull.  I got the spray to remove it last years and test on small area on the hull and looks pretty easy.
2. After removal of Polyglo I am going to start the hull polishing task.  Here is a link to what I am going to do.
     http://forums.sbo.sailboatowners.com/showthread.php?t=117266&#post706131   I am going to take a few days off from work to get this job done.  Considered staying with Polyglo but after a few years it looks kinda ratty.  Also considered paining hull but to expensive and does not last.  People that have polished hull say it is the best way to go.  One very thorough cleaning and your good forever as long as you keep it up.  I will try to take photos of before during and after.  After having tested the various steps on a piece of clear Lexan I think I can say the most important step is the finish polishing step.  (fingers crossed)
Also, working that hard for a week I should be able to loose a few pounds.
3.  Wood rub rail needs to be sanded and multiple coats of varnish.

Healthy and Cruising.

OK, I admit it, I am getting old.  I do not at this time have any major health issues that would keep me from cruising.  I work out about an hour a day.  Blood sugar is a little high and doctor wants me to loose weight.  I think that describes 90% of Americans.   I wear contact lenses and it has occurred to me I may have a problem if in a emergency I cannot see.  Glasses are back up but I see better with contact lenses.  Blood pressure is good and Cholesterol is good (thanks to Crestor).
So setting off into the sunset has its risk anyway of all the possible things that can go wrong.  But, you would be in a world of hurt if you had a debilitating injury, head injury, or heart attack.
With that in mind.  There are plenty of sailors out there that sail into their eighties (I do not know about nineties)  I have heard of blind single handed sailors and deaf  single handed sailor .   I do not think I would try sailing blind but it does not stop some people.
So, even though I cannot survive for long without a pharmacy, there is nothing keeping me from heading out.  I figure if I have a coronary while sailing they may find my boat in Spain with one unusually smelly sailor on board.

I am in IT Also

Cube neighbor on phone with IT help desk: I turned off my pc last night and I turned it on this morning and the screen is black, nothing is showing up.
IT: Is your monitor on?
Cube neighbor: Yes.
IT: Turn it off.
Cube neighbor: Oh, wow, it just started working! I wonder what happened?

Hard top saga part 3

Traveled to Colorado over thanksgiving holiday to visit family.  Very Nice.  When I got home and opened my luggage I found a note from TSA that they had gone through my suit case and really enjoyed smelling my dirty laundry.  I really resent the Government going through my things.  Oh yeah, I really feel safer.  Thanks Bush you douche.

Went to the boat to work on hardtop some more.  What a project if I had known it was going to be this much work I might have done something else.

First I am using bondo to fill large sections.  This is none structural stuff and should be OK.  It does not adhere well to epoxy but I think it will be OK.  I really messed up the lexan windows by not protecting them during fitting.  Lots of scratches and dripped epoxy.  Before I lay out the cash to replace I am going to try a product called Novus to see if I can buff it out.  Windows starting to look better.

I do not like the way to top looks.  It sinks and needs support not to mention it is not flat.  I tried using a method called moldless construction but not happy.  I may completely redo this by cutting the entire top off and making a mold.

Ready to winterize

I bought 4 gallons of the pink stuff at westmarine and ready to winterize.  But weather was pretty good this weekend so I am going to wait until the last minute to do it.  I have a bypass hose I connect to the fresh water system and pump especially through water heater till I see pink coming out of all faucets.  I put a splash in all toilets and pump  a little and will pump out bilge when it is hauled and put in splash.  I open the heat exchanger anode plug inspect and drain  raw water system.  Wish I was going south!!!!!

Dinghy work at home.

I got the my dinghy home even though the trailor lights were not working for some reason.  (Add to to do list.)
My dinghy weighs in at 450 lbs and motor (30HP Honda) weighs about 220 lbs.  I wish I had thought more about this when I bought them.  That is a lot of weight on my davits which are designed for 250lbs each.  I reinforced the deck and added an aluminum brace across Davits.  I also added a 3 to 1 purchase on one side which lifts dinghy nicely but 2 to 1 purchase will have to be replace.  I can lift motor using mizzen halyard and mount to stern railing but,  With all that weight (dinghy and Motor) boat bow raises up.  When sailing I will distribute weight better maybe by putting motor next to main mast.

Snow Storm this weekend

The freak snow storm hit this weekend and I lost power about 1.  At about 3:30pm I figured I would rather sit on the boat with power than sit in a dark house that was getting colder by the minute.  So I loaded up the two dogs and went to the boat.  It was kinda miserable on the boat.  The heater barely kept up with the cold.  Dogs did not seem to happy but did not voice any complaints.  Sunday was nicer so I connected my dingy to my car and brought it home for the winter.  I need to do some work on it anyway.

Movies and nasty weather

Supposed to be nasty weather this weekend so I may have to change my plans.
Movie rant........
I have been watching previews for some of the latest movies.
First Transformers:
 What a stupid waste of time.  I will never watch those Transformer movies.  Maybe my kid will cause he used to like to play with them but from the previews I just cannot relate to these things.  Am I wrong.?
Paranormal 3:
I don't think so after seeing The Exorcist I don't need that anymore.  My real fear is the IRS and local Cops.
Paul:
I actually laughed out loud at this.  I though it was great and was surprised how much I liked it.

Television on a boat

I am not one to skimp on life's little pleasures.  When I got my boat I had this dome on the mizzen and  could not figure out what it was.  It had no manufacturer stamps or names on it.  Anyway, I bought a small HD TV and also bought a small rabbit ears antenna which did not work to well.  I decided to fix all this and pulled the dome off and sat it on deck.  From web searches I was able to identify make and model finally.  But after taking it apart I saw it was toast.  I pulled the guts and threw them away.  I then bought copper tubing and installed in two halves and mounted inside.  I put it back on the mast and run new coax to a signal booster in the engine room.  Wah- Lah I get great reception now where I got none before.  Cost 10 bucks.  To think I almost spent a couple hundred on a new antenna......

Hardtop saga part 3

I was going to go to boat this weekend but they are forecasting rain.  I need to fill some gaps in front window installs and I am thinking of using Bondo.  I know, I know,  epoxy and Bondo do not work together.  But, this is not structural its like a window sill.  Will ad pics later.  Sanded and added a coat of epoxy to wood side supports last night.  I am going to build up coats.

I have experimented with numerous epoxies and vendors.  I like Aeromarine for its price but it takes a long time to harden and has made a mess on the boat as a result.  

Hard top saga part 2

Its starting to get a little fall chill out.  Wish I was heading south.  I am thinking of moving the boat closer to Philadelphia so when I move aboard I will be closer to where I work.  been trying to contact Anchorage Marina in Essington but so far they have not returned my calls.

Over the weekend I traveled to the boat with two dogs in tow.  I installed the hard top windows and mixed some epoxy to fill gaps in the window sides.  I wish I had done this differently.  I had to splice some lexan in corners where I did not have quite enough width.  Held pretty good.  It is not structural and hopefully will not be to noticeable after I install.  Definitely better leaving an odd looking corner.

Hard dodger part 1

I have been working on a hard Bimini for about a year now.  Even though I am doing all the labor it is still a work in progress.  It is on and mounted.  I am putting front windows in this weekend.  There are alot of things I would do different if I had to do over.  I am putting in lexan windows with a bronze tint.  The windows are 3/8 inch think.  I cut them to fit with my skill saw and it worked just fine.

Water/Fuel in my perkins 4108

Looking at my oil I saw signs of water contamination as well as my oil level increasing every couple weeks when it sat idle.  I sent a sample out to Blackstone Labs for analysis and it came back as contaminated.  Here is the analysis.

Here is what the results could mean.

So this means, I think, that I have a head gasket problem and an injector pump problem (since I inspected the lift pump and it looked OK).  I am first going to try the head gasket leak solution first before I pull the head but an injector pump rebuild looks like it is in my future.