Our sailing experience on a 1987 Catalina 34 which we named 'Eximius' which google showed as the Latin translation for 'Special' We hope that our posts will help others looking to take their boat beyond the local waters as well as provide entertaining reading. I'm a Brit, so my view of entertaining may not match yours ;) See you on the water. The Journey Starts Here Paul
Saturday, January 1, 2022
2021 New year's eve Cruise 12/31
Thursday, December 30, 2021
New Year's Eve Cruise 2021
HISC New Year's Eve Cruise 2021
With the boat fully loaded by end of day Wednesday, we planned for an early rise to get down to the boat before high tide at 6:30am. An early night for the 4am alarm and we quickly put the last few things together - clothing, Peggy's Travel Guitar, and our tech stuff - Computer, Tablets, Phones plus a thermos of Coffee.
Ok, I rarely sit idle on the boat. The Radar data connection to the Chart Plotter was showing signs of wear (it really was bent in too tight a radius), that got fixed with some Rescue Tape. The cabinet in the bathroom was not properly attached since the last time I removed it. I took the chance to check on the fuel tank and it's drip cloth lead detector. All's well. Lastly, I had started on the install of the new Nav Station goose neck lamp, so I completed it's installation leaving just the electrical hook up for another day.
- Install an Engine Area Lighting fixture - can't see squat when it's dark outside.
- Install a Cockpit Light - it would have helped when we were setting up the instruments in the dark this morning.
- Apply new Shoud Turnbuckle Cover top end Tapes - the old tape has long gone.
- Get a decent head lamp, I could not see the keys when trying to unlock the boat lockers (3) in the dark. Yep, we haven't made a dock departure on a long while --- if ever!
- Get a new service kit for the bathroom toilet --- we used most of the spares last time we were out, how long ago??
- Get a new Camera mounting - the old one is so corroded that it will not tighten enough to hold the action camera in place.
- Relocate the Mini Inverter - I had to remove it from it's home in the aft berth as it was too close to the newly installed EV1 sensor for the new Auto Pilot.
- Replace the Starboard Bow Nav Light. - The port light is fine, the Stbd one is not. Might be just a new LED lamp that needs replacing, I have spares.
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
New Asym Spinnaker Turtle Bag
New Turtle Bag for our Asym Spinnaker
- Needs to have a top that will open and be out of the way when extracting or storing the sail from/in the bag.
- Because the sail could get wet, the bag must have some ventilation. Only on one side so that the outboard side of the bag has no vents.
- Must have some line holders at one end for the Tack line, Port & Stbd Clew lines and the sock mouth hoist line.
- Must have a method to attach to the lifelines so that the bag doesn't need management while being busy with raising or lowering the sail.
- Some rigidity along the top of the long sides would be nice to help while storing the sail into the bag
- Must have handles on the end to ease storing or extracting the bag (it's probably going to be stored in the Aft lazarette).
Cut out the fabric on the outside face of the front panel to make a 1/2" hem around the edge of the Vent hole. Sew the hems onto and through the Phifertex.
Step 5: Sew the End Panels onto the Front Panel.
Step 6: Sew the zipper to the inside of the Front Panel and the Inside of the two End panels. Sew the Rim to the top edge of the Zipper.
Step 7: Sew the Tube holders to the inside of the Front Panel just below the zipper and to the Back Panel the same height up from the bottom of the panel as the Front Panel.
Step 8: Sew the Line holders to one end, sew a piece of webbing with a snap hook for the Head of the sail at the other end.
Step 9: Sew the Top Front and sides to the Rim.
Step 10: Sew the Back to the top and two ends.
Step 11: Sew the Bottom, first to the Front, then the end without the line holders, next to the back and finally to the End with the line bags making sure not to sew through the bottom of the line bags.
Step 12: Cut the pieces of 5/8 external diam pex tubing to fit the tube holders and insert into the tubes.
All done!
Thursday, November 25, 2021
Dinghy Inflator Carrying Bag
Replacing the Dinghy Inflator Carrying Bag
The last time we inflated the Dinghy using our West Marine Dinghy Inflator, the bag zips had siezed and I had no choice but to rip the top open in order to be able to use the air pump. Grrrr.
It's been a few months, the inflator, in it's defective carrying bag, has been sat on a shelf in the Garage. Every time I saw it, that guilty feeling would rise and I would mentally take a note that I needed to fix that bag.
It's Thanksgiving, I have a few hours to use and figured now would be a good time to stop those guilt trips. I had a few yards of Sunbrella and a new Zipper. Spent about a half hour designing the new bag. The old (original) bag was not big enough to hold the Pump, the Extended power supply wire and the air hose because I had extended the supply cable by about 20' when we purchased Eximius as the pump would not reach to the foredeck where the dink is located and back to the 12v outlet in the cabin. The new bag is 12" wide, 9" tall and 8" deep, there's a divider between the pump and the other stuff (wire and air hose0.) I used the original bag's shoulder strap.
It looks a bit 'baggy' no pun intended, but the extra space ensures that all of the equipment required to inflate the dinghy are all in one bag.
The strap is the original
The zipper is a YKK #10 Black single pull.
All seams are 1/2" bottom and sides are all double stitched.
The top has a 5/8" rim so that the zipper goes around the corner rather than around the top (that would be a really tight turn for the zipper)
Despite the extra space in the bag, the air hose still requires a fight to get it inside.
I never did understand why West Marine did not include the adapter from the hose to the dinghy air valves. So the adapter has been secured in place using rescue tape.
The power cord extension wire was crimped and waterproofed with heat shrink. There's a quick disconnect at the pump end of the wire.
We'll take it down to the boat on Friday when we install the new Nav Table light.
See you on the water, please let it be soon!
Happy Thanksgiving everybody.
Paul
Tuesday, November 23, 2021
LED Nav Table Lighting
Replacing the original Navigation Table Lighting
The instructions are confusing "Loosen the button and turn the knob to adjust brightness" Not sure how to "Loosen the button"
Mounting is a slight issue. I'm pretty sure that the space to which the existing lamp is affixed is not 2.6" wide and the screws being on the sides would prevent securing it in that spot. So it will have to be mounted elsewhere. That's not a bad thing as the corner location is not ideal primarily because not reach most of the Nav Table.
(The white battery lamp unit is long gone) With the new lamp mounted there, the light can illuminate the Nav Table, all of the Switch Panel, it can even light up the shelf behind the plastic sliding shelf doors.