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.