Monthly Archives: November 2015

Pre Bermuda Thoughts from Kirsten

30 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Bermuda Prep, Favorite Posts

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I learned long ago not to overthink life. It’s not worth the headache and in the end you’ll be sitting on the dock for an eternity thinking through all the ‘what if’s’. Don’t get me wrong, safety and preparation are absolutely paramount. I believe in safety plans, drills, studying forecasts, and being realistic about sailing capabilities but it comes to a point where you’re either willing or not willing to accept the fact that ‘no, you’re NOT in complete control, mother nature is’. Once you pull up the anchor and point the boat out to sea; it’s you, the boat, and ocean.

Mike has sailed from St. Thomas to Bermuda (solo) and from Bermuda to Cape Cod. He’s also delivered boats across the gulf stream and experienced gale winds (although the Captain on board called it a baby gale). Mike is a strong sailor and handy engineer. I, I’ve done a lot of my sailing around the protected coast near Boston, MA. I can handle sailing Gaia solo but I am susceptible to light seasickness. I can see how Mike was okay with going out to sea for 4-6 days….. but me…. What was I thinking?

Well firstly, I’m pragmatic. I don’t think I’m afraid as in terrified, but I am concerned and understanding of the WCSs (Worst Case Scenarios). Mike and I share a respect for nature. We’ve both experienced our share of howling winds that knock you down while hiking Mt. Washington, we’ve both been clipped into the side of a rockface hundreds of feet up from ground. Hiking, sailing, and climbing in particular can be sobering and it’s not a sport to jump into with little more than an afterthought. Strategy, knowledge of your gear, contingency plans, and an awareness of changing landscape are ‘must haves’. This is how I approached the 630 nautical mile sail to Bermuda. Of course I was worried, but I know I’m tough, I trust my captain, and I know I trust my boat. And one last thing, I’m the adventurous type. Leading up to the day prior to departure I’d have sudden ‘realizations’ that I’d be sailing into the ocean blue for 4-6 days and it’s like a firework in my heart. I’d start grinning, my eyes would widen, and I’d shake my head in disbelief that I would actually be able to complete something so……. Rad.

Here’s to all the fireworks that have gone off in the hearts of my fellow hikers, climbers, and sailors.

And here’s to a safe passage.

This Wine Is For The Drinking Not The Discussing

27 Friday Nov 2015

Posted by in Eastcoast Southbound

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Living on a budget has guided my hand to “dollar-conscious friendly” wines. In Boston, I tried the $7 dollar wines but with the power of my biweekly paycheck, I always went straight back to my known Chilean & Californian wines which ranged closer to $10-14 dollars.

Since, we’ve quit our jobs there have been some adjustments. Some luxury items are off the table and others, like wine….let’s just say, you can take the wine glass away but where there’s a way there’s a will. I’ve noticed that I still take my time to choose a wine, if anything, even more-so now. I’ve noticed I no longer talk about the quality of the wine, in fact, Mike & I don’t really talk about the wine, we exchange looks that say oh too clearly ‘yup, it’s that bad but it’s not vinegar or sweet juice’. Recently Mike read the side of our boxed wine for the first time and burst out laughing. The marketing language rang close to home in it’s straight forward message which read: ‘this wine is for the drinking not the discussing.’

We spent Thanksgiving with my parents and family friends The Lainos. Mike and I rented a car and drove down from Beaufort, NC. It was amazing how zoooooming 50 knots down the street; passing stores left and right made me feel ritzy. Living on a boat slows you down, it minimizes your needs, and living space.

I was most excited to hug my parents before Mike & I embarked on a sailing passage of a life-time to the great abyss (aka, the Atlantic, Bermuda)! A close second was the food. I prepared my belly and tastebuds for the over the top banquet that awaited us. My mom really puts forth an effort to get the fresh, the real, true homemade ingredients and Mrs. Laino is a mother who puts great pride into her food and presentation. So you can see how we left the boxed wine on the boat for this excursion.

There was a day for golf and a day for strolling the beaches and a day for meandering the beautiful lands of Brookgreen Garden. Brookgreen Garden is truly an amazing place. The sculptures are life-like, expressive, artfully created so as to leave an impression on you. The entire landscape covers 9,100 acres and was once 4 separate plantations. The philanthropist Archer Milton Huntington was a billionaire of his time in the 1920s and bought it all. He moved South for his wife’ health in hopes the warmer climate would ease her tuberculosis.

The Great Max-Prop Saga

22 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by in Predeparture

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One thing I’ve always known about Gaia – she’s no race boat.  She always has sailed pretty well on a beam reach (meaning when the wind is perpendicular to the direction we’re pointed), but thats about it.  Any other angle of sail and we’d better have plenty of wind (at least 12-15kts) to go anywhere at all.

A day where the wind is blowing 12-15 is just about perfect, but they’re also way outnumbered by the days where it’s only blowing 5-10.  On those more numerous light-air days, I always looked jealously on the boats with their sails actually up and not motoring along.  We on Gaia, would always be motoring on those days.

Until recently that is!  As part of gear-ing up for this voyage, right before we left we decided to shell out some big $$ for a “feathering” propeller.  This means that when we’re sailing, the propeller automatically turns it’s blades parallel to the flow of water which dramatically reduces drag.

Motoring mode

Motoring Mode

Sailing Mode

Sailing Mode

Meet the MaxProp, it’s fancy:

 

 

 

 

The MaxProp automatically switches between these two positions with an ingenious system of gears that pivot the blades into motoring mode when the shaft turns and then into feathering/parallel mode with the force of the water when the shaft isn’t turning.

I’d heard really good things about these sort of propellers – that they can increase your sailing speed by up to 1kt (thats about 20%).  But I was a hopeful skeptic – I considered it a pretty big gamble – but as soon as we sailed with the new propeller I became a convert.  This thing makes Gaia a whole new sailboat!  I’ve read estimates that sailing with our old propeller (which always looked like the image on the right) is like dragging a 5 gallon bucket through the water.  With so much less drag, we can now get away with sailing on those light air (8-10kt) days.

Sounds wonderful, right?  Well it is now – FINALLY… see it’s been a battle to get this &#$@*(&#! propeller working right!  Unfortunately, it was a battle entirely of my own making.

As with almost all things on Gaia, I decided to install the propeller myself while we were hauled out in Salem just before heading south.  What could possibly go wrong?

The MaxProp on the inside has a lot of complicated gears that let it rotate the blades
from parallel (feathered) to motoring.  These gears also allow you to change the angle or steepness of the blades in motoring version, this is called the pitch of the propeller.  Normal propellers have a pitch as well, but it’s fixed – the blades are cast at a certain angle, so you need to match the right propeller with the strength of your engine and weight of your boat.  The easiest way to understand this is like the gears on a bike (or car) – having a propeller that is too steeply pitched is like riding on a slight uphill in a gear thats too low, your legs suffer to push the pedals down, and the engine struggles to turn the propeller.  A propeller pitch that is too shallow is like riding your bike on a slight downhill in too high of a gear, your legs have to spin really fast to speed up the bike – same goes for the engine it has to spin way to fast.

3b_exploded_view_500x_webWhen you install a MaxProp it involves assembling a bunch of parts around your propeller shaft, and as you assemble it you set two different gear positions to determine the resulting pitch of the blades when they’re in motoring mode.  The combination of these two internal settings determines the resulting pitch of the blades.  The manufacturer recommends a setting based upon your engine and boat, and then if need be you can change it.  Once you get it right you shouldn’t ever have to change it again.

MaxProp Hub, before installing gears, casing & blades.

MaxProp Hub, before installing gears, casing & blades.

Of course, when first installing this thing, yours truly manages to somehow mess up these two settings and get an invalid combination that results in an extremely steep pitch.  And worse, I didn’t spot the fact that the blades were at WAY to steep of an angle.  Kirsten & I happily put the boat back in the water in Salem and were ready to get on our merry way – until we put the boat in gear… KERTHUNK KERTHUNK KERTHUNK KERTHUNK, the whole boat vibrated and shook like crazy as we rapidly pulled the transmission back to neutral.  Uh oh.

So we hauled back out and tried some stuff (not the right stuff), and then put the boat back in the water … same thing.  At this point it was friday late afternoon and the marina was done with us… we could hang out (and pay) at a slip for the weekend and try again monday.  So I quickly got on the phone with the manufacturer and talking it through with them figured out the error of my ways… DOH.

IMG_0329Thankfully, it’s possibly (though very tricky) to disassemble the propeller in the water and change the pitch.  Thankfully I had newly bought scuba gear on board and was eager to justify it’s purchase.. so into the water I go the next day and manage to re-pitch the prop to a much more correct angle, woo!

 

This let us leave Salem and get underway, we quickly raised sail and found delightful new sailing performance due to the reduced drag… score!  Unfortunately, the pitch was still wrong – like riding the bike in too high a gear up a slight hill.  So I’d have to dive again, and also it the whole boat was vibrating some while in forward…

A week or so later I went diving again and re-pitched the prop this time too far in the other direction, now it was really easy for the engine to turn the prop – too easy.  Worse, the vibration was still there.

At this point it was time to leave Boston on the way south, so in consultation with the guys I bought the prop from and others, we decided to make due with it as it was until we hauled out in Oriental, NC to inspect the rudder (a whole other story).  This was a bad idea, we should have tried to solve the vibration at once.

IMG_6978So we motored our whole way south up to this point with a wobbly prop – not wanting to go too fast as a wobbly propeller is likely to wear out the cutlass bearing, which is the thing that holds the prop shaft in place.  The whole time the cause of the vibration was a mystery.

 

 

 

Fast forward to our recent haul-out in Oriental, NC…

First thing we did was to take off the MaxProp and at the distributors recommendation package it up and send it back to Washington State to have them take a look and try rebalancing it.  Waste of time… a week later when we got it back, they said it looked fine and they didn’t change a thing.  Sigh.

Hacksawing out old cutlass bearing

Hacksawing out old cutlass bearing

IMG_7032

Removing prop shaft

Once we got it back, as I was reinstalling it I realized the cutlass bearing was indeed pretty worn and would need to be replaced.  Sigh again.  So I got to it, I’d done this once before but it’s a process that involves removing the entire propeller shaft and hack-sawing out the metal sleeve from inside the strut.. no fun.

 

Once that was done, I went to finally reassemble the whole thing and we were going to splash into the water the next day.  Putting the prop shaft back in I realized.. oh jeez, the shaft alignment is WAAY off.   Prop Shaft/Engine alignment on any boat is very important, essentially the propeller shaft has to bolt directly on to the transmission and it has to line up PERFECTLY.  If it doesn’t line up, the whole engine needs to be moved to match the position of the propeller shaft.  Now in our case this was a little different as we have a V-Drive, which is a gearbox that sits in-between the engine and propeller.  So in our case it is the V-Drive that needs to get moved.

This unfortunate discovery starts causing lightbulbs to go off in my head – the alignment being off probably caused the vibration in the first place, but how did the alignment get off?  The alignment was perfect with the old propeller… Duh!  Of course!  The alignment got off due to my original mistake of wrongly pitching the new propeller ridiculously steeply making the whole boat go KERTHUNK KERTHUNK…  All that torque caused by the prop probably shifted the V-Drive a little bit and threw off the alignment – so the propeller was fine all along, and we could have solved the problem all along without hauling the boat…  So the final solution was get the boat back in the water (you can’t accurately align the shaft on the hard because of slight hull deformation) and realign the shaft to V-Drive, which really just amounts to slightly moving the V-Drive.

Once I did that, we put the boat in gear at the dock and eureka!  Finally we have a non-wobbly, correctly-pitched MaxProp… for the first time ever, Gaia sails fast AND motors fast!

If you got this far in my diatribe/essay, you’re a brave soul (or a parent) and let me assure you that none of this was anyone’s fault but my own, and I strongly endorse MaxProp… so much so that I’ll say anyone with a heavy cruising boat with a 3 blade fixed propeller should absolutely start saving up now for some sort of a feathering or folding propeller…. or you can just continue sailing around towing that giant bucket of drag under the boat.. your choice!

 

 

 

The Beautiful Truth of Being Hauled Out at Oriental

16 Monday Nov 2015

Posted by in Bermuda Prep, Eastcoast Southbound

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The title of this post says it all but it’s rainy and cold outside and I’m a wordy writer. Let me start this post with the P to B ratio of Oriental (the Population to Boat Ratio)… 1:3ish. That’s right, 900 people and just about 2,500 boats.

IMG_7058

Our two weeks was made wonderful by the amazing establishment and closest bar, IMG_7057‘Silos’. Open Tuesday-Saturday there’s always something on the calendar.   Tuesday was BOGO day (Buy One pizza Get One free), Wednesday was open mic night, Thursday was dollar drafts, Friday was live music in the back yard (Lake Street Dive played there), Saturdays are party nights. For a community that is increasingly becoming dominated by retirees looking for a good town, this place was wildly fun. Tuesday pizza night was easily the towns favorite. We went into the hardware store and the clerk felt it necessary to alert us ‘transients’ of the phenomenal BOGO day. We also ran into two separate friends who informed us we should get to Silos early tonight to secure a good seat for BOGO. It’s pretty great to see a community come together over pizza.

Sitting in Silos, everyone is in the boat world, you work for the boat yards, you work as a fisherman, you teach boating, you race, you do canvas or boat related services (West Marine / Radio Shop). In some capacity EVERYONE we met in town is tied into this interwoven community.

In general, a great thing about boat yards are seeing  all the other boats and if you’re lucky enough, meeting the owner and having a few beers together. We met a fellah named Mike from Canada and he was finishing up his entire interior. He bought his boat as a fixer-uper and the entire below deck had mildew problems (ceiling, floor, and cushions). He was a wealth of knowledge and we were grateful for all his tips on engine alignment.

DSC_0118   DSC_0119DSC_0149

Another character and incredible wealth of knowledge was the fiberglass genius, Turtle. One day I was half way on my mile walk into town to get a propane regulator when he pulled over and offered me a ride. I said sure. He pointed out historic sites in the town and recited the history. He drove me to the hardware store and then drove right past it saying I had to cross the town bridge and get a good view of the entire town. I learned  his great great grand daddy founded the town and the origin of the town name came from a Civil War era ship! A few laughs later and a great tour of the town I found myself at the the hardware store.

I was wowed by the random yet sincere kindness and it didn’t stop there. Yes, my small town story continues with the hardware store…. Our propane regulator failed on us the night prior and I found two identical products that would work for the propane tank but wasn’t sure about the sizing. The owner agreed it could be either or and after a few minutes of deliberation he set his car keys on the counter and said ‘Why don’t you take my car to your boat and test out which one is right for you. When you’re done, just come back with the packaging of the one you need and the one you didn’t use. I’ll be here until 5, so no rush.’ My jaw dropped. I’d just like to mention, I’ve been living in cities for the past 13 years and am in no way accustomed to an offer as this. I let him know, I was perfectly okay with walking. My legs worked  fine, it was sunny and warm… why was this man trying to lose his car and give away his products…. I would never dream of stealing a car but still…. this kindness didn’t sit right with me, it felt bizarre. And yet…. 10 minutes later I drove into the marina where Mike had a few questions for me… Yes we fixed the regulator to the propane unit. (As a side story, the damn thing began malfunctioning on the coldest night of our entire trip so far. I was going to fight the cold with BAKING! Terrible timing but that’s the way the cookie tends to crumble on a boat).

Lastly and the greatest news in our haul out was the fact that everyone said our rudder was fine ….. and we should stop being a pair of Nancies about it and sail on over to Bermuda already.

A few months earlier before our shake down sail in September, we hauled out in Salem MA. The inspector mentioned a bit of “play” between the rudder post and rudder and saw water bubbling out of the post. We had a wet rudder and he showed concern about it. We contemplated and researched all our venues of possible outcomes on the way down. We learned that FossFoam (in FL) was our go to for a new rudder. And if they had a mold already set for a Pearson 424 they just had to reconstruct the rudder which would be a HUGE cost savings. Unfortunately (or fortunately …) Pearson boats aren’t known for rudder problems. We have a skeg rudder that is essentially built solid with epoxy on the perimeter and has two or three metal arms attached to the rudder post and act as the skeleton of the rudder. Next to the metal skeleton is foam. The concern would be if the welds attaching the arms to the rudder post were corroded and broke in heavy weather. Then we would be left with a free spinning helm and no Shit-happens-cough-it-uprudder control. We drilled a hole in the top outside of the rudder in case of a rudder
emergency. The idea is to tie a rope through the hole and steer Captain Ron style. The following day we also asked if Turtle, expert mariner, would take a look at our boat. He did and explained how boats like ours were born (made). The woven fabric of fiber glass allows the boat to heave and move with the ocean whereas the epoxy acts as the solid rigidity. Both sides of the equation will change meaning your hull will change and you’ll see “age lines”. Over the years, your boat takes hull shuddering hits, enormous gusts bending and testing the rigging and the keel. What I found interesting was the fact that the hull shape will change when it moves from water to land. You’re engine / Vdrive shaft alignment is different on land than it is in the water. After looking Gaia over, and talking to us about boat construction for a better half of an hour, he looked at us point blank and spoke honestly. He said ocean worthy boats like this are overbuilt. The boat will last, it may sail differently if the hull were to be waterlogged balsa core but she’d still sail. He looked at our rudder and shook his head. “I wouldn’t touch the rudder if it’s working right now. If it’ll help you sleep at night, then sure. Do it if you want for that reason but other than that, you’re fine to go to Bermuda.” And it dawned on me, most of my fears were mental or because I was still novice.

The Horrible Truths of Living on the hard

15 Sunday Nov 2015

Posted by in Bermuda Prep, Eastcoast Southbound

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Oriental NC had previously been this unseen golden city that boaters would wistfully sigh over and preach the good works of the peerless marine services conducted here. It’s where anyone with major boat issues trudged their vessel to so the expert mechanics, riggers, glass workers (fiberglass), and electricians could work their magic. So when we arrived in Oriental, I could finally feel our goal, Bermuda, was within reach! Our rudder would be new our propeller would be fixed and our boat would be prepped for departure!

We chose SailCraft Marine Services, known for their fiberglass work as opposed to Deatons. The two rivals sit literally within throwing distance of each others travel lift.

Upon entering the SailCraft dock, Alan, the owner, showed us the layout, the bathrooms, amenities, the different offices and tool sheds, he introduced us to the employees, and other boats hauled out from our neck of the woods! Really above and beyond and we learned of the catastrophic boat overhauls they had completed. One man, came in days earlier with a keel partially torn off. Remember the Dismal Swamps we went down and my post on watching out for deadheads (= dislodged logs pinned to the bottom of the canal pointing upward)? Yeah, the boat hit a deadhead straight on and busted a hole in the boat. And if your curious, yes it was a fin keel.

IMG_6983  So being on the hard, on the stilts, stuck on the dirt… it’s not fun. The marina backs you up into a slip where they lower two thick nylon slings and synch it snug around your 22,000 lb vessel and hope the sling is far back enough it doesn’t catch on your ruder, prop, or shaft but not too far back that the slings don’t capture the weight of the boat evenly. And then you watch as your 22,000 pound home is raised, above your head; OUT of the environment you’ve learned to keep your boat safe and protected. And then you watch as your baby is driven away by a complete stranger from you, it’s very emotional (*this end part was overdramatized by the author in case you’re not familiar with her*).

But really, Alan, was very professional and maneuvered the travel lift perfectly. He’s been around boats his entire life and it shows. He put us down on the block and put a few extra stilts under the hull than what we’re used to. I tell you, it’s like he was reading my mind! I know, I’m being paranoid but with prior yards, I always wished there were two or more stilts than what they provide. As someone who has slept on a boat on stilts… let me tell you, it can be REALLY unnerving when you first feel the boat move on land, so I was quite pleased to see this added comfort. Alan mentioned they do this for protection (but I knew better, he was a mind reader).  He also kept the boat level on the blocks which was nice.

DSC_0150 IMG_7049Now for the every day life. You walk up and down a ladder to get to your home, get a drill, forgotten power cord you name it. DSC_0111Every morning you wake up get dressed climb down the ladder then walk to go to the bathroom. Since the plumbing filters out into the yard gravel; I’m not a fan of brushing my teeth where I work. It’s not a far walk to the bathrooms thankfully but enough to make you skip your polite hellos to friends and power walk if you really have to “go”. Most people understand. When we did dishes, we carried the dishes in a tub down the ladder and past the docks. When we showered we climbed up and down the ladder with our shower bag and towel. And lastly, the little problem of having NO cell phone service and little to no internet.

I took a few pictures of our work in the yard seen below. We also varnished the bowsprit and toerail, rebedded the stanchion and inserted epoxy in the deck to reinforce soft balsa wood, install new aft cabin and kitchen lighting (led strips!), there was a bunch of parts ordered and one passport expedited. Thankfully, there was a car at the marina we were able to use to drive 30 minutes into a neighboring town for the nearest CVS for a passport photo.

Dust and woods bits will inevitably find there way into your bedroom sheets, kitchen and salon with any form of drilling or sanding. To unearth needed power tools, epoxies, varnish, sanders, and materials you need to tear through cabinets & mattresses to access storage units. All of this equates to a temporal work room war zone. I’m sure we’ve all been there whether it be moving, or buying a new house, it’s the first week of sleeping on a few cushions or camping gear. That was us for the past three weeks. But to be honest as sour of a situation I paint, I love the people, I love the stories, and honest to god I even love the work (Sometimes. As long as there’s a good podcast. and it’s sunny. with a beer. and beer koozie. and I have help…)