Thursday, March 28, 2019

Update to Ships Log

Improving our Log Book 

After printing out the log and putting it in a 3 ring binder, and after reading several posts online about the value of a ships log, even for a small sailboat (our's is 34') I realized that the Boat Info sheet could be more valuable.

So, I added to several new fields to the spreadsheet.

Log Book - Boat Info Sheet

I have updated the shared version. It's still available for download and editing.
Here's the URL to the Google Drive Sheet

The reason for adding the additional fields was to make sure I had that data when I take the Log ashore, like to the Customs & Immigration office, Boat Yard, etc. For example, if we took the dinghy ashore and someone stole the engine or the dink, I would have that info with me. (In my log, I include the Outboard model and serial number!

Hope this helps.

See you on the water.

Sunday, March 24, 2019

Ships Log

SV Eximius - Ships Log

We've wanted a ships log for quite a while, now, planning our first decent sized cruise, it's time to get it done.

After looking over the options online, I asked my FB buddies for input and this is what I put together.

Basically it's a Google WorkSheet that has 4 Sheets
  1. Usage - explains how we use it, and how others can download it to edit / use themselves.
  2. Boat Info - Basic Boat info that identifies the Boat, and Important info such as Engine, Fuel, Water, Communications etc. I'll probably modify this from time to time.
  3. Trip Info - My concept is that each time we take a trip, we'll start a new Trip Info page. It includes typical info about a trip, where we're going from, where too, who's going and when. Short trips will only use this page, longer trips will use addtional 'Watch Info' pages.
  4. Watch Log - Longer trips will use one or more of these pages in addition to the Trip Info Page.
Our planned use is to keep the Log Book on the Nav Station in the Cabin, and keep the current Trip Info page or Watch Log page at the helm.

The helm will make entries on either the Trip Info page or the ongoing latest Watch Log page.

On change of helm, the off-going helm will update the chart with the info from the Info Page or Watch Log page. Ideally, the on-going helm will make their first annotation in the log so that they are cognizant of position, sea state, wind conditions etc. Ideally they would get to review the off-going log entries too. As long as the Position Log info is transcribed to the Chart.

Boat Info Sheet

Trip Info Sheet

Watch Log

The worksheet is downloadable from my google drive.

To edit
  • Download it as and ods file
  • Open it with Open office or upload it to your google drive
  • or Download it as an .xlsx file and open it with Excel
I would appreciate any comments about the content or use. 


Thanks.

Tuesday, March 19, 2019

Step up Mate

Refinishing the Cabin Steps - at last!

I'm not a lover of Varnish in any form, but I detest ruggly varnish finish - would much rather have bare wood.

So far, I have sanded and varnished the bathroom cabinet door below the sink, and the cabinet behind the shower seat, they get wet when we shower, no real choice there.

After completing an Engine Oil Change this weekend, I finally accepted that the cabin steps are in the 'Ruggly' category, dark, nasty looking varnish. Time to refinish them - they do get wet when we trapse wet footed into the cabin or if it rains when the dodger screen is not in place. So varnish it is.

Step 1. Sand down the old grotty varnish. I spent nearly 2 hours sanding with 60, 80 and 220 grit, that got the upper step set looking pretty good. Another couple of hours and the lower step was sanded.

Step 2. The old Documentation plaque, it does not meet Coast Guard Documentation standards as it's just, a poorly, engraved piece of plywood screwed to the lower step unit.


Solution: Remove the old plaque and carve the Documentation number directly into the wood of the lower stair unit.

I used my cardboard stencil set to mark out the numbers and then a Dremel  routing bit to carve out the numbers (prefixed with 'NO.' ). Once routed out, I used a Permanent Marker pen to color in the carved characters.


Step 3. Re-varnish the steps.

Result: Not to shabby
The top steps look so much better.
None Skid patches are from Lowes' Hardware, one patch does two steps.

I cleaned the hardware before refitting, even the screws and nuts came out pretty good.

The finish is Satin, water based varnish which is supposed to be unaffected by water of common household chemicals.



The lower steps, including the CG doc number look so much better!

I'll take another pic when they are on the boat, she should be happy. Might not happen today as it's pouring outside, and it's a half hour drive to the boat. But they are in the passenger back of the truck and I have a plastic sheet to cover them just in case it's still raining.

This whole job took about 5 hours, most of it spent engraving the numbers. It only took a few minutes to apply a coat of varnish and follow that, when dry, with a light sanding before the next coat. Four coats in all.




Tuesday, March 5, 2019

Making better use of our Fridge

The Fridge/Freezer on Eximius works well, but it's a pain having to dive down into the top loader in order to get anything out that's not on the top shelf, especially if it's a nice cold drink!

Solution: Bottle Bags!
Simple tube bags that will stand up on the bottom of the fridge and be easily accessible and hold 3 or 4 bottles of water, G2 and possibly beer and wine!

Finished Product - it has 2 bottle of G2 inside.

Components

11" by 24" Phifertex®  panels
4 1/4" Circle of Phifertex®

8" strip of Webbing















 Step 1: Turn a seam the full width of one end of the panels and stitch the seam.

















Step 2: Fold the Webbing in half and the panel in half along it's length - the Panel is folded so that the seam is on the outside (it will be turned inside out later)
Sew about 1" of the webbing on each side of the panel and complete the sewing of the panel the full length from top to bottom.













Step 3: Starting at the bottom of the tube, turn it inside out. That will result in the 'handle' being on the inside of the tube. This takes a bit of fiddling to get the tube folded on itself, but only takes a few minutes.















Step 4: Cut tabs into the edges of the tube base circle from the outside to just inside the blue line (1/2" on mine)

Make a cut about every 3/4" around the circumference. These slits will allow for easy sewing of the base into the end of the tube.













Step 6: Position the base on the inside of the tube and sew each 'tab' around the rim of the tube until all tabs are sewn.

That's it! I made three of them in less than an hour










These turned out really well. I'll take some pics of them on the boat to show how they work.

See you on the water.

Thursday, February 21, 2019

Preparing to Cook on the Boat

I enjoy cooking, but I don't claim to be very good at it, but I am working to get better.

We're planning on a 3+ week trip to the Abacos in March/April 2019 and I'll be doing most of the cooking on the boat, that includes baking - I really enjoy baking on the boat.

So, in preparation, I bake at home with an eye to doing the same thing on the boat where there's not as much space, nor as many resources as in our home kitchen - eg. I have a nice KitchenAid Stand mixer at home, on the boat I have a bowl and spatula! And there's not much room for additional cooking/baking equipment.

Here's an example of something I could easily cook on the boat.

The loaf is No Knead - 3 ingredient bread.

The Quiche are prepared using one bowl - I'll have to work on making the dough for the pie base.

The bread cooked at 450ºF and the Quiche at 350ºF both could be cooked in our tiny oven on the boat.





Here's my recipe, developed after baking dozens of loaves and at least a dozen quiche - at home.

The Bread

  • 1.75 Cups of warm water (Graduated Cup measure, Instant kitchen Thermometer. 
  • 2.25 tsps of Yeast ( I keep it in a Jar in the fridge, at home and on the boat)
  • 3 Cups of KAF All Purpose Flour
  • 1/2 tsp of salt.
Preparation:
  • Store the water and yeast in my bread mixing bowl (It's a big red plastic bowl with snap on lid)
  • Let them proof for 10 minutes, bubbles will form on the surface.
  • Add the 3 Cups of Flour
  • Stir it all up with the handle of a spatula (because it's easier to clean the handle), doesn't take much stiring, perhaps a minute, just enough to make sure there's no dry flour in the mix. The result will be really sticky and soggy!
  • Cover the bowl and let it rise for about an hour - check it often, if it's in a warm area, it may double in size, cooler and it may take longer, but 90mins is the most I have let this dough rise.
  • Meanwhile spray a bread pan (9.5" x 4.5") with oil (pam)
  • Once it has doubled in size (or after 90mins) prepare a clean surface.
  • On the boat, this is on one of my Starboard sink covers. I have it clean and ready to go, then spray a mist of oil (pam) on the surface and on my Dough shovel (that's what I call it)
  • Pour the risen dough onto the surface and use the shovel to turn the dough onto itself 2 or 3 times, basically I'm trying to make a really soggy log about the length of the bread pan.
  • Now use the shovel to scoop the dough into the prepared bread pan.
  • Preheat the oven! It takes about 20 minutes for my oven on the boat to come up to 450ºF 
  • By the time the oven is up to temperature, the dough should have risen to the top of the bread pan. (some times, the dough rises quicker in the pan, I can normally tell if that's going to happen because the 1st rise was less than an hour! In that case, I'll heat up the oven before I transfer the dough to the bread pan)
  • With the Dough risen the 2nd time and the Oven up to 450ºF it's time to put the pan in the oven. 
  • I set my timer (my phone's alarm clock) for 30 minutes, after which I use the Thermometer to test the bread temp, I'm looking for 200ºF in the middle of the loaf.
  • As soon as it gets up to temperature, typically 30 to 40 minutes, turn the loaf out to cool.
  • On the boat I turn it out onto the cleaned surface then onto a small wire rack.
  • Let the bread cool completely, then I keep it in a 1/3 food container, but it has to be cool first, or the container will get condensation on the inside, that reduces the life of the loaf.
The entire loaf prep takes about 15 minutes to collect and mix everything, 60 mins to let it rise and 20 mins for the oven to heat up and finally 30 minutes to bake. Just over 2 hours with only about 15 minutes of actually doing something other that watching the bake plus the time to let it cool


The Quiche
  • 2 Pie Frozen Pie Crusts (I've yet to try making them)
  • 6 Extra Large Eggs (or 7 Large Eggs)
  • 2/3 Cup of Egg whites (out of a box)
  • 1/2 Cup of Half n Half (or Cream, your choice)
  • 8 oz of grated cheese
  • 1/4tsps ground black pepper
  • 1/8tsps sea salt
  • 1 Pack of Prosciutto thin sliced
Preparation
  • Preheat oven to 350ºF (I try to make the quiche before I put the bread in the oven, saves propane, and the oven is quick to get up to 450ºF after the quiche is cooked, ready for the bread to bake)
  • Lay the thin slices of Prosciutto to cover the still frozen pie crust (takes about 3 slices)
  • Mix the Eggs, Egg Whites, Cream in a bowl.
  • Sprinkle 4oz of the cheese into each pie crust to just about cover the Prosciutto.
  • Pour half of the egg mixture over the cheese in each pie, it should come to within about 1/4" from the top of the pie crust edge.
  • Salt and Pepper each pie to taste (well, I guess you won't figure that out until the 2nd time you make these.)
  • With the oven up to temperature, slide the pies into the oven they barely fit into my oven at the same time.
  • Bake for 35mins
  • Test for 190ºF and then pull them out.
  • Ready to serve hot or let them cool for later with a salad. 
Time to make the quiche is about 5 minutes of prep, 30mins of baking and a few minutes to keep the hungry crew away from them until they are cool enough to eat.

Hope you enjoy them as much as we do.

See you on the water.

At home, doubling the Ingredients for 2 loaves. (boat oven too small)

Friday, February 8, 2019

Dink Cover

New Cover for our Dinghy

When we purchased our New Mercury Marine 8' Dinghy at the Miami Boat Show a few years ago, the Mercury Dealer (in New York) sent us a plasticized canvas cover. To be blunt, it was a POS, but it did serve to keep the dinghy out of the UV when inverted on our foredeck, which is where we keep it all of the time when it's out of the water!

Over the New Year's Eve Cruise with our sailing club (Here's a link HISC),  the cover disintegrated! It literally tore to shreds. Time for a new cover.

I had some Sunbrella available, not the same color as the rest of the boat canvas, but neither is our Helm cover! So we started the project.

Step 1 was to make a template, I use Dura Skim from Sailrite for the more complex canvas tasks, but this was comparatively simple (Ha!) so I used Builders Tyvek wrap (purchased a 3' x 100' roll last year). Because the dink is pretty symmetrical along the keel, I only made a template of one side.

There parts to the template. Stbd Side, Stbd Cone and  Transom, I cut the Side and Cone pieces, inverted them and cut the Port side and cone from those, then cut the Transom piece.

After joining the two large pieces with a Counter Seam, next the Cones were added to the back end.
At that point I took the canvas to the boat and did a trial fit, marking out the transom piece connection and the lower hem all the way around the dinghy.

Back home, attached the Transom piece too the cones and back of the main pieces with a Mock French Seam.

Finally, trimmed the bottom edge to the marked line with a 2" seam allowance and then machine sewed the hem with a 6' piece of 1/4" Shock cord inside the hem, secured at the front centerline and the aft end where the hem included the Cones.

Back to the boat and here's the result. Fits like a glove, the shock cord nicely pulls the lower edge beneath the Dinghy's rub rail to keep the cover secure. It's time to make a new securing line to hold the covered dink to the deck, the old lines are getting tacky.


It looks a bit Baggy in this photo, but the dink has not been inflated since Dec 31st. 

Wednesday, January 30, 2019

Pre New Years Eve Cruise

This year's New Year's Eve Cruise is at Lake Boca

Because of the tide times, we decided to spend the night at Lake Sylvia after an easy motor from the Dock.

The following morning, we left the lake early, it was low tide and we nudged the bottom despite hugging the East side of the canal. As we headed out of the lake, there was a Forty something sailboat listing heavily, they had an 8' draft and were way to close to the canal center line even at high tide. They acknowledged that they had about a 5 hour wait. Hope they got off easily without any damage.

We motored up the ICW, making all of the bridges, we did cut it too close to the inside bend before the Hillsboro Inlet Bridge and came to a smooth, sandy bottom, stop. It was a none event, we had turned towards the deeper part and easily motored off. Gotta pay attention

Diversion was already at Lake Boca when we arrived, not many other boats, so we had the pic of anchoring spots. We backed down hard knowing the weather might kickup over the weekend.

As the afternoon wore on, more of the club boats arrived and we prepared for the Champagne Party that evening aboard Into the Blue and Chesshire.

We took a dish of appetizers made at the last minute from what we had onboard. Cocktail sticks, Cheese, Grapes, Slice of Ham on  a piece of Cucumber. Worked out great, they disappeared.

We took a dink ride over to the park and Peggy practiced her Dinghy exit plan - success, her workouts are having a very positive effect, we even went for a 20 minute walk to the bridge and around the park. We also dumped our trash. There's Water at the park if we had water containers to fill.

Sunday We had the chance to chat with Halabaloo and some friends of  Jeff Miskin's but everyone else abandoned the lake by Sunday afternoon. By Monday we were one of the few boats left on the lake despite it being New Year's Eve and the promise of a great fireworks display close to the lake.

So we left the lake Monday morning and took the inside route back to the slip. We were home with time to prep dinner of Crab Cakes (Thanks Shawn!)


A fun weekend, even if we didn't get to sail. But I'd rather be on the boat under motor than mowing the lawn!

Looking forward to getting out there, hope to see you on the water.

Next Club trip is the Chili Cookoff on Feb 9th.

Meanwhile, we're still prepping for our trip to the Abacos in March/April.
Shopping list includes:
  • AIS Transponder (replacing our AIS recever)
  • New Fishing Gear: Rod, Gaff, Lures, Fillet Knife.
  • New Cabin lighting to replace those that have failed in the past few months. (Galley lamp, Reading lamp, Aft Berth lamp).
  • Holding tank Beckson access plate (I know, never want to use it but need to clean the tank)
  • Add rail tubes Port and Stbd sides for Fuel & Water tanks.
  • Purchase 4 x 6 Gallon Water tanks
  • Make Covers for new Water tanks and remaining Fuel Tanks.
  • Top up Propane tanks (1 is already full)
  • Clear up the Tool storage area to enable Non-perishable food storage.
  • Gearbox Oil Change
  • Clean out Water tanks & replace all water filters (3 on the boat 1 on the boat refill assembly)
  • A few other things that might get done - crack the list above first.
Sailing - It's fun even when it's just time preparing.

See you on the water.