Pushing Forward

With the renaming of our boat complete it was time to get back to work preparing her for the fall and our trip. Things have progressed and I have made some ground on the S/V Kainoa. Our new anchor a 55lb Rocna is now attached to 150ft of 5/16 G4 chain and 100ft of 5/8 3 strand line with a Kong swivel and Wichard shackle both with 12,000 lb break strength. This will allow us to anchor with confidence throughout the Bahamas without even using the rode, however having the extra 100ft of strong 3 strand will be nice if we decide to pick a deep anchorage. 

When we bought the boat the navigation lights were on the fritz (surprise, surprise) and I had tried replacing the bulb after testing it and seeing there was power going to the end of the wire, however the new bulb did not do the trick. I had a portable and to be honest we pretty much had decided on day running only so it wasn't a big deal. Well I wanted to replace the old fashion bulbs with low draw super bright LED and while I was in the anchor locker rigging the new ground tackle I realized what the problem was. The wiring and the terminal for the navigation lights was wired into the back wall of the anchor locker and was completely corroded. 

I purchased a pair of navigation lights from work made by Perko, they weren't cheap even with my discount but the savings in energy and life should pay off. I ripped all the old wiring and terminal block out and replaced it with good tinned wiring, a new terminal block and heat shrink ring connectors. I then insulated the entire installation with electrical grease to protect them from future corrosion. The result is a pair of navigation lights that are blinding and yet don't even register on the amp meter. 

I had also purchased a tent type cover for our front hatch. It looks quite a bit better than a tarp and it appears to be made to last, but we will see how it holds up to the blistering caribbean sun. It sure is nice to open the hatch while it's raining, there is nothing like the soft sound of rain and the smell of fresh rain coming in the boat. 

The engine fuel system upgrade is now complete! Today I ran the engine off the main fuel tank without any assistance and it purred flawlessly for 45 minutes. I have a valve that can be switched to send the fuel through the filters and then return to the tank. This allows me to keep the fuel clean, fresh and moving while we are not. It took me longer than expected but I'm proud to say I designed the entire system and avoided going with something pre-made and expensive. It is now overdone and should prevent any problems with dirty fuel in the future. 

BEFORE

Shelf moved and water pump relocated

Mount for new filter, easy access

We are selling our soft bottom Achilles Hypalon dinghy and purchasing a RIB (rigid inflatable boat). It didn't take long to realize that the advantage of having a rollup dinghy was negated by the fact that we had to watch everything from what we put in the dinghy to where we pulled the dinghy up. I can see a place for having a rollup but in my opinion it would be a great backup but not a primary every day dink. I'd also like to buy a Yamaha outboard if I could find a decent deal on one, they are great motors and I'd say probably the most prevalent in the harbor. 

The port window that I had planned on rebedding and putting back has turned into a major project. Originally it was done wrong and now in order to do it right it's been a royal pain in the, well you know. I called the manufacturer of the ports and they were able to pull the records of my boat and which ports were sold and installed 10 years ago. Sounds great right? Only apparently someone wrote down the wrong thing and the records are crap. I waited 7 days for a piece of wood, bought the supplies only to find out it was completely the wrong size. I'm on my second piece of teak spacer from New Found Metals and it does not fit either. When I called after the first one didn't fit, they explained they had just made a mistake and sent out the wrong one, but this time they were sure it would be right. Fast forward 5 days (I asked for faster shipping) and yet again No Bueno. I have a collection of teak building up here and still have a Glad bag and duct tape keeping the water out of the bathroom window. I guess I'll call on Monday and we will try to see if third times a charm. 

Close but no cigar

I got a text one morning early from my boss at West Marine saying "Garmin 740s on sale TODAY ONLY for 799.00 only have a couple in stock" With that I got dressed, grabbed cash and headed to the store. Our main GPS had been a Garmin 441 which is a very small button mashing, yet very capable unit. It has now become our backup and the 740s has taken the helm. This Garmin is a 7 inch, touch screen, radar capable, XM weather piece of heaven. The screen is bright, easy to read, very responsive and detailed. When it comes to navigation on this boat we are redundant as hell and have 3 chartplotters, 2 handhelds Garmin GPS and several Idevices with charts. We also have paper charts and cruising guides for just about anywhere we would want to go. I've got plotting tools, rulers and paper charts where I have no doubt i'd be able to make landfall if GPS were to go down. Needless to say we should never get lost. (famous last words lol)

Some major projects now on the table are replacement of the Y-valve for our toilet (YUCK) It was frozen and while I was trying to move it last week the handle snapped in my hand, it's a shitty job but should be pretty straight forward. It's now time to mount the solar panels and I've decided against mounting them on the bimini and decided to mount them on the lifelines. I plan on replacing the lifelines with 1" stainless tubing and Amsteel line. Amsteel is a synthetic line made from dyneema and pound for pound is stronger than steel cable. A piece of Amsteel the size of cable coax has a > 5,000 lb breaking strength, plus it is easy to splice and replace, is UV resistant and best of all doesn't rust! It is so strong that there are several racing boats that use it for their standing rigging to hold up the mast. Once our solar is completed we will be generating 560 watts of power and should be over 30amps per hour. To put this in perspective our Engel refrigerator uses about 20 amps per 24 hours and we should be able to replace that in less than an hour. We will be upgrading our battery bank with 6 volt deep cycle batteries and should have a battery bank with 740 Amp hours. Our entire boat is all LED and our usage should allow us to both keep the batteries full and allow for a long period time without any sun, of course we also have our trusty Ampair wind generator cranking out the power. 

Top lifeline replaced with 1" stainless rail

Upper line is now rail, below is the old lifeline

Self sufficiency is the name of the game while sailing, it allows you to stay out longer and anchor in more remote areas where others are tethered to marinas, fuel docks and water.. Speaking of water.   

After much research I have decided to bite the bullet and get a watermaker.. I had pretty much written the purchase and use of one of these off until talking to more people with first hand experience and doing hours and hours of research. I've found that the people that have problems with them are the people that don't use them correctly. A water maker wants to be used daily or at least every other day, they aren't meant to be used when the tanks are empty and you need a top off, then sit unused for a week. This allows for growth, nasty tasting water and premature failure of the membrane and filters. 

I've settled on the Katadyn Survivor 80E, which should provide us with the perfect balance between output, power consumption and daily use. This watermaker provides 4 gallons per hour of use at only 8amps. So for a cost of 32 amps I will be getting 16 gallons of water (minus a bit for flushing the system) Again 1 hour of solar should replenish the usage of the watermaker. 

Having a watermaker will allow us to be completely self sustaining, able to shower, drink and even wash the boat with fresh water. We won't have to carry 1,600lbs worth of water, so the boat will be lighter, faster and still carry plenty if something goes wrong with the watermaker.

There are many types of cruisers but there are those that don't want to stay at marinas, don't want to watch TV with AC and a tether of power/water. You see the thing with cruising is it can be as expensive as living on land or it can be done for next to nothing. There are couples out there cruising with a budget of 500 per month. Could you imagine living in an exotic place, moving around where you want and it only costing 6k a year? Well our cruising budget is 1k per month for a family of 4 excluding repairs and maintenance. I carry spares for just about everything and am doing my best to learn how to repair most things myself, or at least get by until I get back. The more we do, the more I learn and the more self sufficient we get. 

The ocean provides my food AND water, the sun and wind my power. All I need is my family, wind and rum!