Loafing on the boat

1st Bread

So, the plan was to bake Harvest 8 Grain Whole Wheat Bread, it's similar to loaves I have made at home, but this was to be baked on the boat.

Here's my Galley (hope you like the new faucets that I installed about a week ago) 

I keep my tablet nearby so that I can read the recipes, the door with the vent leads to the Aft Berth where I keep, well, just about everything! Including non-perishables.

The Red Bowl is a great mixing bowl, but also serves as a salad bowl or delivery bowl when we take dinner over to other boats.

Friday:

We were rafted up with Dave & Pam on Sjofn at Lake Sylvia

To make sure I had everything with me, I put this package together at home. 

Yeast, 6 Cups of Flour (4 cups Whole Wheat, 2 Cups Bread Flour), mini Tupperware container with a mix of Seeds: Caraway, Flax, Fennel, Quinoa, because I couldn't find the King Arthur Harvest Grain mix at the store, not even Whole Foods!

I should setup a Video camera at the galley, trying to shoot a video with one hand and actually doing the food prep with the other just doesn't work. Hmmm. Amazon shopping is in my future.

The ingredients are enough for two loaves, one for us, and one to take to the Chili Cook Off on Saturday. But the dough mix was much wetter than it should be. And, because I didn't include any 'extra' flour, not a lot I could do. Thinking out of the box, I used an extra packet of Oats (Maple & Brown Sugar) and added that to the mix. Still too wet! I was ready to toss it out, but Peggy suggested that I go ahead and cook it anyway, worst case would be a dough ball.

I let the dough rise in the mixing bowl overnight. It rose nicely!

The No-Knead recipe requires that the risen dough should be De-Gased, and stirred to help develop the gluten strands which give the bread it's crumb.

Saturday 07:30

I used a regular kitchen spoon to stir the dough then left it to rise a 2nd time while I prepared the oven.

What didn't I do? I didn't check to see if the oven would hold 2 bread pans! It doesn't! Grrrr. Peggy suggested that I freeze half the dough, then she thought it would be ok to cook in a larger pan, making one large loaf. So I used the Skillet from my stainless steel stacking pan set. Greased the pan with spread.

It looked as though it would hold the dough and there's room above the pan in the oven for the bread to rise.

Oven set to 400ºF with shelf lowered, it only took about 15 minutes for the oven to get up to the set temperature, another 1st, never had the oven on the boat that hot before.

I had purchased a small oven thermometer a while back, does the job nicely.

I felt a bit like the bakers in the Great British Baking Show as I was kneeling down to check on the temp and to see how the bread was rising.

It looked good even if it's not very clear in the pic.

The recipe said 40mins, I added a few minutes because of the loaf size.

Well, that didn't turn out (pun intended) as planned! The loaf was nicely crusted on top, but the dough was still 'runny' inside as I could see where it leaked out while trying to get the loaf out of the pan. Just as well it didn't release, it would have been a really soggy mess!

Back into the oven at 350ºF, I tested it again after 20 extra minutes, still sticky inside. We had planned to leave Lake Sylvia around 9am and the loaf was still in the oven. I tested again after another 10 minutes, and it's still sticky. We need to cast off and head out onto the ocean. 

Leaving the loaf to cook longer in the oven, we headed out of Lake Sylvia and down towards Port Everglades, we were going to sail up to Hillsboro Inlet rather than motor up the ditch. Dave &Pam were following as soon as they pulled up their anchor.

As we passed under the 17th Street Causeway Bridge, I pulled the loaf out of the oven and decided to leave it in the pan just incase the inside was still gooey. The forecast was for a lumpy ocean sail, so I secured the pan with the Pot Holders onto the top of the cooker.

We had a great Sail! Sure, it was lumpy, but the boat handled it really well and Peggy's tolerance of rougher weather rose several notches, she's becoming a good sailor! (but she still reminds me that she's 'Not In Your Navy' regularly.

When we arrived at Lake Boca for the Chili Cook Off, and were safely tied up along side Sjofn, I pulled the bread out of the pan, it did require a bit of assistance with a knife around the edges, but it came out in one piece.

It's a big loaf, and heavy due to the high moisture content, but it tastes ok, has a nice crust. I'm glad I didn't toss it out.

My local food critics (Peggy, Pam, & Dave) gave it good marks, but I know that it's not great.

It did make really good skillet toast for breakfast on Sunday.

So, lessons learnt:

• Have extra flour on hand to add if dough is too moist
• Get pans that fit the cooker if I want to bake two loaves (saving propane usage)
• Get a bread knife for the boat. I know, really?
• Use non-stick pans! But I asked other members of the Cooking on Boats Facebook group and the majority of members choose Silicone Bread Pans (Hello! Amazon, you still there?)

There were about 17 club boats at the Chili Cook Off, we didn't win any trophies for my chili, but Katie Sparks (Into the Blue, boat on the left of the three of us rafted up on Lake Boca) did! I'm envious, but she is a pro dietitian and her Chili was really good. 

We left Lake Boca Sunday morning in time to pass the Camino Real Bridge's 10am opening.

Then it was a leisurely motor down the ditch and back to our dock in Fort Lauderdale. That's a long ride down! I'd rather be sailing, but the forecast was in the low twenties and Peggy had earned a break from further rough sea training for the weekend, so I was happy to give her some loafing time.😉

See you on the Water.

Paul

Cooking on the Boat - Bread

Cooking for a weekend on the boat

We're planning on spending Friday Thru Monday on the boat, joining a bunch of sailing buddies for the Annual Chili Cook Off, and I'm hoping to do some cooking on the boat that is not just heat up the Seal-a-Meals we have prepared in advance.

Bread on the Boat.

We normally take at least a full loaf of whole wheat bread, more if over 4 days. That covers Breakfast Skillet Toast and Lunch Sandwiches. This weekend I want to Bake Bread on board.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread (Pan)

I got into bread making about a year ago and just could not bake anything other than Wheat Rocks! They turned out more like Biscotti than Bread. A good friend helped with advice, but I was doing something wrong, they tasted good, but really didn't need to be toasted, they were already like rock the morning after baking.

Over the past weeks, I've been practicing baking bread following Steve Gamelin's No-Knead Bread Cook Book, and very successfully too! So far I have made about 6 loaves of Whole Wheat Bread.

Several of the loaves turned out nice but many had an unintended split. I learned from the Cooking On Boats Facebook Group that it was known as 'Oven Spring' and I figured it was caused by our Oven's 'Convection' setting. 

The bread still tasted great, had a good crumb and was cooked evenly all the way through.

It cut well and toasted well, really pleased

This loaf turned out really well. It toasted really well and with Avocado, Scrambled Eggs, Mini Toms, Cheshire Cheese, it made a great breakfast.

There's something about home made bread that makes a huge difference at breakfast time. Something to do with the fact that it's not from the store and that it was made with that extra bit of excitement as it comes out of the oven.

This was my multi seed bread, no Oven Spring (cooked on regular 'Bake' setting), and was really tasty. Whole Wheat PMDO sCrumbstios Whole Wheat Flour, Bread Flour, Flax Seed, Caraway Seed, Fennel Seed, Oats D-Licious!

Then some good friends invited us for their Birday celebration, their Parrot was 40 years old!

So I planned on taking a loaf to help feed the crowd. This would be my first White Bread loaf. Intimidation was low because Whole Wheat Bread is supposed to be difficult compared to White Bread. 

I started it in the morning, it's Cheesy White Bread, Gruyere Cheese instead of Cheddar (because that's what I had!) 

The dough should have risen within 90 minutes, but did nothing, I was ready to toss it out. Peggy said just let it proof overnight. So we took two bottle of wine instead of one. 

Sunday morning, it had risen quite a bit, not what I have been used to seeing, ready to toss it again. Peggy said 'Bake it!' So I did, it's awesome.

Just cutting the bread brings out the flavor of the Gruyere cheese. 

Now, it's time to get ready to bake a loaf on the boat. This is a perfect time to try it. We're heading up to Lake Boca on Friday for the HISC annual Chili Cook off. We'll be at Lake Sylvia on Friday night with friends coming along side after they finish work for the day. I plan on putting my first Bread on the Boat together starting Friday Night.

Harvest 8 Grain Whole Wheat Bread, cooked in a Bread Pan.

The method requires a two step mix. Step 1. Yeast, Salt, Sugar, 8 Grain mix that gets added to the Water and Olive Oil, yeast 1st. So I'll make a baggy of Salt, Sugar, 8 Grain mix, and take along a packet of Yeast and a bottle of Olive oil.

Step 2 is to add the Flour: Whole Wheat Flour and Bread Flour - I'll prep them at home and take to the boat in a 2nd baggy.

I'll need a mixing bowl (don't have one on the boat right now) and a couple of identical bread pans, one to act as a lid in order to create a Poor Mans Dutch Oven.

Maybe the excitement of baking will wear off someday, but for now, I'm happy that it doesn't take much to brighten my day. Heading out on the boat and baking bread - simply pleasures are sometimes the best.

See you on the Water

Paul

Here's a link to the results: Loafing on the boat

Playboy Marina - Review

Playboy Marina

We selected Playboy Marina upon recommendation by many of the Hillsboro Inlet Sailing Club that have used the facility.

In anticipation of our 1st Haulout since the purchase of Eximius in May 2015, we visited the marina which is about 25 minutes away from our home, a trip with which we became very familiar!

The Marina is immediately South of the end of the runway at Fort Lauderdale International Airport, it's easy to get to via I595 just don't waste time trying to go there during rush hours! The traffic on the Turnpike and on I95 can be very heavy early morning and around 4:40pm. We left the marina several times at rush hour in the afternoon and it took us 50 minutes to get home compared to just 25 minutes going to there after 9am.

 My initial trip there was via Griffin Road, but that's the long way! 

Big plus! West Marine, Boat Owners Warehouse and Sailorman are less than 10 minutes away from Playboy Marine Center.

They have a large travel lift to haul boats out and seem very competent in the process. They have a pressure wash runoff drain where the wash the boats down upon hauling. The runoff is filtered to prevent pollution of the waterway.

They also have a large crane that is mostly used to remove the Masts from boats that need that. There were several boats in the yard that were either having new masts delivered or were having work done that required the mast pulled before hauling the boat. There are several Rigging companies in the area that are available to assist.

The office is also the Marina Store. Lisa is cheerful, polite and seems very knowledgeable. They have a pretty good supply of items needed for boat work, and their markup is very reasonable. Our 34' Sailboat was charged $25 per day for the 1st two weeks, then it goes up to $40 per day. They don't want you to keep you boat there too long! We kept Eximius on the hard for 16 days (Monday thru Tuesday Launching Wednesday at 7:30am)

The gates to the marina are open at 7:00am, we never stayed late enough to find out when they close, but the office/store closes at 4pm week days. Still, check their website in case times have changed since our visit.

There are several Boat Service Contractors onsite: Absolute Boat Care, Patagonia Services, Atlantica Marine services to name a few. I found all of them very helpful and noted that some were able to quickly jump in to help solve a problem that a DIY owner might have (for example, the boat next to us were replacing their fixed prop with a folding prop, not as simple as initially thought, Patagonia Services helped them complete the task at short notice)

We purchased the Bottom paint for Eximius at the office/store. They have a mechanical paint can shaker and they can get most paints within a few hours on a week day. eg. Order in the morning and they can probably get it by the afternoon. They stock most of what the DIY owner needs to paint the boat bottom, including safety gear, application tools etc. They have a pretty good selection of promp shaft and hull zincs. 

We rented their vacuum sanders but, sorry guys, they suck (pun intended) I ended up purchasing my own sander and vacuum. I was told that they are going to service the vacuums.

The marina really does try to limit pollution, so they keep an eye out for inappropriate techniques such as sanding boat bottoms without a vacuum sander. They have plenty of Tarps available for protecting the tarmac under the boat from paint splashes etc.

The marina support team, including (L-R) William and Marino, are busy most of the time, either hauling or splashing boats, pressure washing and barnacle scraping boat hulls, preparing boat stands as well as keeping on top of trash disposal. 

I'm guessing that at least one boat at the yard was in excess of 54'. There was a 54' sailboat next to us and he has used the marina many time (at least once a year to clean and paint his boat hull)

Because we had to do some work on our boat's rudder, we had to have our boat raised after the rudder repair was complete to allow us to re-insert the rudder into the hull. I spoke with Lisa about our need and she advised that it might not be for a day or two as they had a busy schedule of hauling and splashing boats. But she said they would arrange for the lift as soon there was a break. That occurred the next day. The guys came over to the boat earlier than the 3pm opportunity, just after 1pm and said they could raise the boat in about a half hour. I quickly finished off the project I was working on, cleared the area on either side of the boat to allow the boat lift to pass around Eximius. William and Marino maneuvered the lift into position and put the straps in place. I needed to be on the boat to secure the rudder once it was inserted. They called in an additional set of hands to get the rudder in place. Within 10 minutes I had the rudder secure and they lowered the boat and re-positioned the support stands.

During our stay, we needed to paint the bottom where the boat stands were located. The team moved them before we got to the boat that day. It pays to talk to the staff so that they can do what they do when they can.

A mobile catering wagon visits most days after noon, but we took a sandwich after the fist day. They have soda machines outside the office/store and a couple of tables to have lunch. 

Behind the office/store are the bathrooms, they appear to be open all of the time except when being cleaned. It's a DIY marina, don't expect the bathrooms to match the Hilton!

There's a friendly bunch of Cats that hang around the office/store, they're well fed, but I bet they are responsible for us not seeing any rodents during our stay!

We needed a scaffold for working on the hull above the waterline. They have plenty, but planks are in short supply, but mostly because some users take more than they need. Next time we use the marina, we'll probably rent or purchase our own scaffold from Lowes or Home Depot - and chain it to the boat! 

They have some wooden ladders, home grown type, needed for getting up to the boat when it's on stands. We took a folding ladder with us but used their wooden ladders most of the time.

Close to each boat space is a typical Shore Power  & Water pedestal. We only used the 110v 15Amp outlets but they have typical shore power outlets as well. The pedestals have water spigots and there's at least one hose nearby. We took our own hose, but didn't use it at all. 

Remember, it's a Marina, lots of boats (there were 35 while we were there) doing lots of dirty work, and it's nearby a major airport (don't try to make a mobile phone call while the planes are taking off), so you should protect the top of the boat from dirty shoe marks. Next time, I'll put a door mat on the stern entry point of the boat and wash it off daily. Hence the nearby water spigots and hoses.

They only accept cash for payment! In our case, Lisa tallied up the balance on Monday afternoon (we planned to splash Wednesday morning), that gave us time to get the money out of the bank. We paid after lunch on Tuesday, I was only $76 over budget. They have a strict rule of Cash before Splash. There are several banks within 20 minutes of the Marina.

We were very pleased with our experience at Playboy Marina. Right up till the last minute, they helped us achieve all of our goals planned for this haulout, including letting the boat hang in the boat lift while a quick last minute application of paint on the underside of the keel that could not be reached while the boat was on blocks.

I give the Marina and Staff *****  We had to change our plans slightly when we discovered that we needed a part that was not available locally and had to have it shipped from California, that extended our stay from 7 days to 16. Lisa arranged for the later splash day over the phone. I highly recommend the marina to anyone wanting to DIY their boat projects on the hard.

Thanks Guys!

See you on the water.

Paul

Replacing the Rub Rail on C34

Replacing the Vinyl insert Rub Rail 

At sometime in Eximius' past, it had a crunch on the Stbd side sufficient to crack the gel coat above the rub rail and to totally disfigure the profile of the Aluminium Rub Rail extrusion. We added to that when we bumped the Stbd Quarter of the hull against a concrete dockside while trying to avoid an unexpected out flow from a Fort Lauderdale Pump station on the New River just downstream from Andrews Avenue Bridge two years ago.

We left the repair until our planned haul out as it would be much easier with the boat out of the water than trying to do it in a dingy at the dock. 

The vinyl insert is secured to the boat by insertion into an Aluminum extrusion around the entire boat about 4" below the deck on the outside. 

The extrusion is secured with #10 pan head screws that just go into the side of the deck, but also a Pan head bolt about every 12" that has nuts on the inside of the hull, they are part of the deck to hull joint. 

Removing the vinyl rub rail was easy: Just remove the two 1" screws that hold the rubber strip where the two ends join at the center of the transom and then teasing out the ends with a screwdriver and then pulling the rubber strip out, it's about 70' long! (In our case, it was in two pieces as it was broken at the stern quarter right on the corner of the transom) When the first damage occurred, we don't know but when it happened, the owner decided to Glue the vinyl insert to the aluminum as it would no longer 'clip' into the upper and lower edges. We found out when removing the vinyl rub rail.

This pic shows the where I cut out the piece of Aluminum before cleaning up the surface and before chamfering the holes to allow decent sealing where the screws secure the extrusion to the sides of the deck.

I used a 4 1/2" cut off wheel to cut the extrusion on either side of the damage, that was about 2' long.

In this case, I had to remove the vinyl covered piece of plywood that covers the underside of the lamp valance in the aft berth. It's just three 2 1/2" SS screws.This pic shows the where I cut out the piece of Aluminum before cleaning up the surface and before chamfering the holes to allow decent sealing where the screws secure the extrusion to the sides of the deck.

I used a 4 1/2" cut off wheel to cut the extrusion on either side of the damage, that was about 2' long.

I ordered the Vinyl rub rail from Catalina Direct - $248. And, when I found the damaged extrusion and the glued attempt to fix it, I had to order a 6 1/2' piece of the Aluminum extrusion - $31 plus a bunch of shipping, but no getting around it. An expensive bump!

With the rubber rail removed, and the aluminum cut out, it took about 30 minutes up and down a ladder trimming the new piece of the metal extrusion to fit the gap and get the holes drilled to line up with the original.

I used Butyl tape to seal the holes and Peggy helped at the top of the ladder while I secured the nuts onto the pan head screws inside the aft berth. 

When it came to installing the new Vinyl, that's when it got tough! 

I anticipated that the vinyl might have curl memory as it arrived in a coil about 18" in diameter, so I planned to uncoil the rub rail vinyl and secure it to the boat at each stanchion with a tie wrap overnight in order to remove the curl. It's much more flexible than that, and there was really no need to unroll it. Remember that I'm doing this in South Florida in January with temps around the 70ºs.

Starting at the center of the transom, I worked at getting the vinyl inserted into the aluminum for about 90 minutes and only getting the port side and the bow done and my hands warning me that they were done too! Then I figured out how to do it easily! Dang!

To insert the vinyl rub rail into the Aluminum extrusion, simply lay about a foot of the lower edge of the vinyl into the metal rail, don't worry about trying to get the lower edge into the extrusion profile, then push down on the top of the vinyl and get about an inch or so of the top inserted. Lubricate the top edge of the vinyl with liquid soap and then hold the top edge of the vinyl about 1" off the metal rail about about 3 inches away from where the top of the vinyl is already inserted. Now press the top edge of the vinyl with a plastic handle (I used an old chisel) at about 45º off vertical, such that the vinyl bends outward. In doing so, the lower edge is forced into the lower part of the extrusion, and the upper edge pops into the upper part. If I had to do it all over again, it would take more time to move the ladder around the boat than it would take to insert the rub rail!

In order to get the two ends of the vinyl rub rail to meet nicely near the center of the transom, I left about 2" in excess at the start, then when I had completed the insert all around the boat, I trimmed the other end so that it was close to the center line. After drilling holes for the only 2 securing screws, I trimmed the vinyl so that the ends would butt nicely once the screws were holding it in place.

The whole job took about 4 hours, including cleaning out the years of salty crud that had accumulated under the vinyl rub rail. The original was Tan colored, but the replacement was Grey (my choice) and now I have about 10', not sure exactly, left over. But I hope we never have to replace it!

We could have just replaced about 8' of the original in order to repair the damage we caused, but the vinyl looked original, 30 years old and the lady deserves some fresh make up.

See you on the water.

Paul

1st Haul Out - Part 4

Completing the Rudder Bearing Repair.

As mentioned previously, the lower bearing of the Rudder had slop that was reported by the Surveyor when we purchased Eximius in 2015. We dropped the rudder carefully when the boat was hauled out last week and now it's time to complete the Rudder Bearing Repair.

Original plan was to complete the repair while the boat was in the crane straps during preparation for launch, however, after reading the instructions for the repair over several times, I did not feel comfortable trying to get everything back together when we were expecting to put the boat back in the water. The risk of something taking longer than expected was pretty stressful.

So we bit the bullet and had the crane come over and lift the boat so that we could replace the rudder and complete the repair.

Now to describe the repair.

Only the lower area of the rudder shaft housing was worn, there was basically no movement of the rudder post at the top of the rudder shaft housing.

This pic looks pretty simple. That's a bit misleading. The post passes up through the housing, the rudder post stuffing joint and the rudder steering quadrant, none of which are shown in this pic.

This describes the form of the repair. Basically, an Epoxy/Silica/Graphite mix is injected into the gap between the rudder post and the rudder shaft housing.

Step 1 is to remove the rudder, we did that during the haul out before the boat was lowered onto blocks. That gave me the opportunity to repair some damage to the bottom of the rudder that occurred when we went aground in Biscayne Bay last year.

With the rudder out of the boat, the damage repair was easy, just grind away to a solid depth and then fill with epoxy and filler, the area was too small to need much glass. Then the rudder was primed ready for re-inserting into the rudder housing.

The repair kit instructions required that the rudder post be clean, free of any burrs or 'divits' and then waxed. So I used 1200 grit wet and dry paper to clean up the rudder post and felt that it was in good shape.

Step 2 was to Wax the rudder post. I measured the depth of the rudder shaft housing and the depth to the holes drilled in the housing. The holes are about 5" above the lower edge of the shaft housing. So I applied solid wax on the lower 10" of the rudder post. I was concerned that when the rudder was being re-inserted, that the wax would make it awkward to handle. For that same reason, I did not apply Anti Fouling bottom paint to the rudder except for the part that would be out of reach when the rudder was installed.

Here's a pic of the one of the holes drilled in the rudder shaft housing, there are 3. It was really awkward getting into that area in order to apply the epoxy/silica/graphite mixture, but it worked.

Once everything was back together, I spent another 2 hours aligning the wheel so that a wheel spoke was vertical when the rudder was dead amidships. Peggy was watching the position of the rudder as I made multiple adjustments to the wires from the steering wheel to the steering quadrant.



The new flax insert into the stuffing box seems very well compressed, so I really hope we have minimized the risk of leaks from the top of the lower part of the rudder shaft housing.

Lessons learnt: Double check everything before re-inserting the rudder. Get new Bolts and Nuts for any that seem corroded, have a Car Jack handy for lifting the rudder up into the housing. And wear long sleeves, my arms are pretty scratched up from snagging the steering wires while replacing the bolts in the steering quadrant. And - Don't even think of doing this while hanging in the crane straps, The epoxy mix requires 8 hour to cure.

Outcome: The wheel feels much better, less sloppy and is now nicely aligned. I'll have to do a bit of ropework on the wheel to identify the centered rudder position.

See you on the water.

Paul

1st Haul Out - Part 3

We have been balancing working on the boat and spending quality time with our Grand Daughter and with trying to avoid sitting in going nowhere traffic at 5pm each day. So progress is not as fast as originally planned, but then I'm always the optimistic.

Today's big project was getting the Rudder re-installed, it went well but with a minor delay.

The marina team re-positioned the boat stands before we got down to the boat today around 10:45, so we quickly set to work sanding the bare patches previously covered by the stands, ground out the blisters we found and washed them out. We'll let them dry out overnight and apply resin tomorrow.

Around 1:30 today, the Marina crew stopped by and asked if we could be ready to re-install the rudder early, like in the next 20mins! I was confident that we had everything ready, even if we had just painted the parts of the rudder that would be difficult to reach once the rudder was back in place.

We quickly cleared up our tool bags and boxes around the boat so that the boat lift could surround our boat. I moved the truck out of the way and just as promised, they arrived to pick the boat up.

Plan was to raise the boat high enough in order to get the rudder post inserted into the rudder post tube in the bottom of the boat. As it would be inserted, they would have to pause to allow me to put the Steering quadrant over the rudder post inside the boat before the rudder was fully inserted.

That went perfectly to plan! then, as quickly as they arrived and put the straps around the boat's belly to lift her up, they lowered her back down and re-positioned the boat stands before removing the straps and driving the crane away.

Then I realized that I had not put the Rudder Post Stuffing cap onto the post prior to the Steering quadrant! Dang!!!!

Solution? I lowered the rudder to the ground, that left enough gap at the top of the rudder post to remove the steering quadrant and install the rudder post stuffing cap.

Deep Breath! all is ok.

Having fixed that little issue, I set about reconnecting the steering cables to the steering quadrant and securing the Emergency Tiller Cap at the top of the rudder post which actually stops the rudder falling out of the boat.

Phew!

Planing to get the rudder re-installed was a stressful process, so getting it taken care of was a big relief. I spent a short while re-connecting the steering cables to the quadrant and bolting the emergency tiller cap in place. Then a quick cleanup of the cockpit and around the boat, we were ready to head home and avoid the 5pm traffic

Well! Nearly! It seems that the Turnpike and I95 both get blocked every day around 4:30, patience ruled the day and we made it home safely. Time for a Shower, Dinner and a glass of wine!

Making progress.

See you on the water - next week!

Paul

Whole Boat Filter

The fresh water plumbing on Eximius is old. If it were copper pipe, that would not be an issue, but it's plastic hose, aged, can't see through it even though it's supposed to be transparent, and the Filter is from the dark ages. Time to re-plumb the Water works.

We installed a new Galley Sink Faucet, but in the process had to change out the fittings where the faucet attached to the Hot & Cold water hoses. It seemed that every connection that I touched started to leak!

And that water strainer! Yuk!

Looking for a replacement water filter online it cost $47.99 and I could buy a pretty decent water filter for the same price.

I decided to go with this product. It's an Under sink filter but is actually $10 less than the strainer, I guess it's because it does not have the word 'Marine' or 'Boat' in the product title.

The guys at Lowes were really helpful and we figured out what fittings to use to convert the filter to the 1/2" hose barbs that will connect to the boat plumbing.

While in there, I also replaced those awful water tank selector valves with Ball Valves.

1st Step was to cut out all of the hoses from the existing system, leaving just the Tank Supply lines from the Midships and Aft Water tanks.

Next, time to install the filter housing. It fits just behind the outboard edge of the Hot Water Tank on the bulkhead between the galley and the salon dinning seating.

Here you can see the Drinking Water Filtration system covered in an earlier blog post.

I know, it looks grotty down there.

The hose that goes off to the right connects the Midships Fresh Water Tank to the Vent Stanchion on the Starboard side deck.

The Yellow foam on the right is additional Fridge/Freezer insulation applied by a previous owner of Eximius

The ply board on the lower right is dirty, it cleaned up a bit, not much, really needs a paint job - one day when I have a can of white paint open!

Here's a schematic of the Fresh Water System.

The physical installation is pretty much similar.

There's a 3 port Cold water manifold made from 3 Nylon T connectors and hose clamps. The Selector Ball Valves are connected to a Nylon T Connector.

The New Filter is connected before the Pump so that all of the Fresh Water supply to all of the faucets is filtered.

Installation complete.

The left hand selector valve controls water flow from the Midships Tank, the right hand selector valve controls the water flow from the Aft Tank

The new ball valves make turning the water supply on and off a breeze, much easier than the old mis-matched valves.

The Blue and White ring wrenches are for the two filter types.

Spare filters are kept in the under seat locker in the Aft Berth.

The Cold water supply manifold is simply Barbed Hose T Connectors with a really short piece of hose between each.

The white hose on the lower right is the cold water supply for the bathroom.

It took about 2 hours to re-plumb the fresh water system. I did not replace the hoses to the bathroom or from Midships and Aft fresh water tanks.

And here's the final result!

We replaced both the Drinking Water faucet and the Galley Sink Water Faucet - they were only about $30 each from Amazon.

Very pleased with the result of this plumbing re-work, the flow has increased at all of the faucets, including the Sink Faucet in the bathroom. So having more, easy control of the galley sink water flow will help save water.
And they look really good!


See you on the water!

Paul