tearing out the fridge box

When we bought Hello World, she came with an AC powered compressor so large, we suspect it was designed to run freezers in a morgue. All that cooling capacity came at the cost of our batteries. Running the fridge would pull 70 amps DC out of our battery bank. When I tell other cruisers that they always say: "you mean 70 amp hours per day, right?" No, 70 amp hours per hour. About 10 times the electrical draw of other marine refrigeration units on boats our size.

So the compressor had to go.

The fridge box itself was also massive. Given all that interior space to cool combined with the mediocre insulation and the fridge box had to go, too.

So last weekend we commenced to ripping out the existing fridge box. In order to keep destruction to a minimum, we ponied up an exorbitant amount of cash for a Fein Multimaster. This thing made short work of cutting out all the refrigerant lines and fiberglass liner. It's scraper blade went through the spray foam insulation like a hot knife through butter.

When we pulled the foam out, we found alot of moisture in the bottom of the insulation. It probably wasn't doing much for us so we're happy we pulled it out. We also found a 1" x 15" void against the hull which must have been some giant air bubble when they poured the two-part foam at the Caliber factory.

It took a total of 3 days to rip out the previous fridge box, including tenting the boat interior and suiting up in tyvek suits to cut out the fiberglass.


While in Mexico, we got desperate for cold beer so we lined the freezer portion of the box with polystyrene foam sheets and glued them together with spray foam. Hillbilly refrigeration.


New toy!


The divider partition torn out.


Getting ready to chainsaw the fiberglass liner.


Christy getting the foam out of the bottom of the box.


I told you it was a big fridge box.


The void in the insulation next to the hull.


5 inches of insulation on the inboard side next to the sink.


All cleaned out.


Marking the waterline.

RIP Shithead

I wasn't a big cat fan when I met Jason. In fact, I was excited to hear that Shithead was 9 yrs old, thinking that cat life expectancies were the same as dogs and he wouldn't be with us too long.

Of course, I fell in love with the damn cat. Sadly, he wasn't so in love with the boat. Shithead got more seasick than I did. So, before we headed offshore, he went to live in Shithead Heaven in CT with my parents where he was spoiled rotten.

Today he went to real Shithead Heaven.

:(

Dear Pacific Northwest

Oh how we missed you.


Yeah, that's mold.

Our plans - subject to change

Dearest readers,

We have been awfully neglectful of you. For that we apologize. Now that we've caught you up on the past few months, here are our plans for the future:


- Work for about 2 years before we take off again
- Next big trip: Alaska over 2 seasons or until we run out of money again
- Work again for another 2 years? Seems like enough to get really sick of it!
- Eventually sail to the South Pacific and then get to New Zealand and Australia.
- Build an off-the-grid house in Idaho and move back to land

Now, that said, our plans are always subject to change, but people have been asking, so there it is. For now! Currently, we're in exist-a-board status at the marina since we can't sail (Dockwise post to come later) and can't motor (that pesky alternator issue from Mexico is currently in process). So here we sit, awaiting adventure!

As for returning to landlubber status someday, Jason's family lives in northern Idaho, so we think we'll head that way. The current plan is an earth-berm house with a giant masonry heater on 10 acres or so with a giant garden. And chickens (if I have my way).

And to pacify you with some pictures, here are some from our recent trip to Idaho in search of the perfect property:

Not too shabby


But not sure we want these guys as neighbors


And certainly not these guys

oh, hello

Holy crickets, has it been silent around here or what?

Sorry about that. We've been embroiled in all manner of real life. It started with... no, that won't do. Let's skip the details and go right to the executive summary:

• Ran out of money in Mexico (mostly).
• Put Hello World on a Dockwise ship and sent her to Nanaimo, B.C.
• Picked up a damaged Hello World from Dockwise and sailed (actually motored because the rig couldn't be trusted) her back to Seattle.
• Got married.
• Drove cross-country and back in a parade of two and four wheeled vehicles.
  
• Spent a week rafting/kayaking the Snake River through Hells Canyon.
  
• Moved shitweasel tenants out of our townhouse, repaired damages.
• Paid for massive plumbing job in townhouse (unrelated to the aforementioned shitweasels) and spent three weeks replacing drywall and painting.
  
• Got jobs - Christy's traveling around the country training software teams on Agile/Scrum. Jason sits in a cube and codes. Could be worse.
  
• Still need to get the engine permanently repaired from when our alternator tore off our engine in Ensenada de los Muertos.
  
• Still need to get our bowsprit repaired from Dockwise damage.
  

We are now productive, contributing members of society. We commute to work. We pay taxes. I own several pairs of dockers.

Tell me again why we left Mexico?