boob tube

I'm catching up on some project blog entries I've been meaning to do for a while. Don't be too surprised to see a few boring boat project entries in the next few weeks or so. That's all we're doing right now.

Christy and I haven't owned a TV since we've been together. That isn't really the hardship that it sounds like. We watch Netflix. We have DVD's. We have digital movies, etc. We haven't extracted ourselves from visual pop culture, we just view it through a computer and more recently an iPad.

Now all that has changed. Mostly because I'm tired of staring at a laptop screen only incrementally larger than a phone. We have a great space for a TV/monitor inside of the housing for our fold-up table where our bar currently resides. And if mounted on an articulating arm mount, we can use in a couple different configurations, and then tuck it neatly and safely inside behind the fold up table for when we're in a seaway.

We had two problems to contend with in this arrangement:

• I don't want to drill holes in our bulkhead to mount this TV. If this one craps out and we have to buy a new one, we will likely have to move the mount and drill more holes. Do not like.
• However, even more importantly, Christy did not want to lose her bar. We store bottles of booze in the space I want to mount the TV/monitor and by god - we are not going to diminish Hello World's booze carrying capacity.

In the end, we came up with a solution that makes everyone happy. No bottles of booze were harmed (or even re-located) in this project. No holes were drilled in the bulkhead. And I have a shiny big TV/monitor.


In order to solve the no-holes-in-the-bulkhead problem, I built a fiberglass mounting bracket to be hung from one of the shelves inside the table housing. I made the bracket out of high strength G10 fiberglass with loads of thickened epoxy and some extra layers of fiberglass to tie it all together. Even though the TV only weighs 8 pounds, when fully extended, it will put a fair amount of leverage on this piece.


Mounting the bracket.


The TV in place on the articulating arm.


The arm mounted off the bracket hung off the shelf.


Watching a little Arrested Development.


The TV turned sideways.

The older we get, the more we learn just how hard core we're not. I really love having this TV. Probably more than I should.

(Can't wait to see what kind of search term hits we get based on that blog post title.)

smart plug

We have a few safety rules on Hello World. Somewhere in the top five is: DON'T LIGHT THE BOAT ON FIRE. We had a few incidents here and there (for the record, melting butter in a plastic dish on top of a burning diesel heater is not a great idea), but by and large, the biggest risk right now while we're in a marina full time is our shore power cable.

Our marina is full of stories of boats either lighting on fire or almost lighting on fire from shore power cables working loose and heating up from the electrical resistance in a loose connection. Standard twist-lock shore power outlets are notorious for this.

I finally got around to installing a Smart Plug. Smart Plugs replace the shore power outlet on the boat and boat connector plug on your shore power cable. They provide a much stronger physical connection between the outlet and cable than the ordinary twist-lock plugs. And they have a thermostat inside that will cut the power if the connection ever starts to heat up.


No going back now.


Relieved to find clean copper wiring inside our shore power cable.


Half the plug installed.


After many F-bombs and a couple bloody knuckles, I finally got the old shore power outlet out of the boat.


Wired up the outlet.


Finished.


I did some forensic analysis after I was done. I found signs of overheating on the old shore power plug I cut off. There was some discoloration on the plastic and some melting. I have no idea how long before that would have manifested into smoke and fire and OH THE HUMANITY but I'm pretty relieved I headed off the problem before the boat caught fire.

Disclosure: I have a friend that works at Smart Plug. And yeah, I'd really like to see the company take off and for them to make cement trucks full of money. However, what I'd like more is for my boat to not catch fire. Whether I knew anyone at Smart Plug or no, I'd be all over recommending this product.

Seriously, if you have a boat, buy one of these things.

Viva Mexico!

It's well past time to write a blog post when our tans are completely gone.

We managed to escape to Mexico for 10 days of amazing weather and great friends in January. No, no, we didn't get to hang out in those hammocks over there, we just got to hike through this amazing resort and pretend we had enough dough to stay. In fact, we stayed with Keith and Olina on s/v Anon. They were somehow laid back enough to spend ten whole days hosting us on their boat without throwing us overboard.


(or maybe this was a hint that we just didn't get)

We stayed in a little town north of Puerto Vallarta called La Cruz de Huanacaxtle (La Cruz for short, because seriously, no matter how many Pacificos we had, we couldn't say Huanacaxtle right). It was a quick drive from the gringo surfer town of Sayulita. So we made like locals and surfed. On stand-up paddleboards. Yes, you heard that right. We stood up in the surf. I was never aware that you could do such a thing - I've only ever seen people on these things in flat calm water in Seattle. Fortunately there is no photographic evidence of me attempting (unsuccessfully) to paddle a massive wave (probably a tsunami) and ending up in a complete and total yardsale of boards, paddles and Christy-parts everywhere. Instead, you get this happy-go-lucky shot pre-yardsale.



We hiked



We danced



We crossed dangerous Mexican bridges





And some rivers with no bridges at all



We sailed (without foulies!)



We got to see old friends s/v Bella Star and s/v Ventured



And we drank lots of Mexican beer. Just like the old days.

Only this time, it was cold :)

putting a lid on it

Our original fridge had two lids side by side. There was an air gap between the lids so there was never any reasonable way to seal the lids. The lids also were held open by those collapsible springs that always seem to collapse when my head or fingers were in the way. So we decided to build a new lid and ledge for the lid to sit on.

The original lid was covered in a laminate that matched the galley counter top. We stood no chance of finding a match for that laminate and were not going to re-laminate the entire galley. Instead, we decided to make the fridge lid out of a butcher block material. We found a eucalyptus butcher block counter top material from Wood Welded. It was not cheap but looks pretty cool and matches the teak interior well enough. We could only get the butcher block in 24"x36" sections - which cost $200 - so we made sure to use up the off cuts. I made a matching cutting block that drops into the sink.




The matching cutting board built from the off cuts from the fridge lid.

The R-value of hard wood is negligible so we had to insulate the underside of the lid. I used the same extruded polystyrene (XPS) insulation that I insulated the fridge with. XPS (or blue board) foam cuts and shapes really well. I was able to shape a reasonably complex piece out of the foam. After getting the shape I wanted, I fiberglassed over the foam with 10 oz. cloth.


The blue board insulation cut down to the shape of the lid insulation. The piece of foam that's cut out is where the gas spring attaches to the lid insulation. I dropped some marine ply in there so the screws were going into wood, not foam.


After fiberglassing and fixing some sanding mistakes with thickened epoxy. Our fridge is composed of approximately 35% thickened epoxy.

We also had to build a new ledge for the lid to rest on. Our new lid was a different depth than the original and I had cut away the original lid ledge in the early days of this project. I built the lid ledge with the same process as the lid insulation. I added a few more layers of fiberglass on the lid ledge since it had to withstand the weight of the lid and whatever else I drop on it.


Assembling the foam to create the lid ledge.


Fiberglassing the lid ledge.


Dry fitting the ledge along with the freezer bin.

Both the lid insulation and lid ledge were finished the same way I finished the interior of our fridge box. I mixed West Systems epoxy along with a white pigment and coated the bejeezus out of both pieces. After the 10+ coats of epoxy cured, I faired the surface down and sanded it smooth. Then I wet sanded it with every grit of paper I could find between 400 and 1200 grit. Then hit the pieces with rubbing compound followed by 3M Glaze and a shot of carnuba wax.


Working on the epoxy finish.



The last piece of the lid puzzle was how to hold up this lid that weighs 20lbs without dropping it on my fingers or head. I installed a gas spring on the lid to give an assist in lifting the lid and keeping it open while I rummage through the bottom of the fridge for the just the right can of beer. Calculating the dimensions of the gas spring was a bit more complicated than I originally planned on. It involved trigonometry, Excel spreadsheets, and a dash of wild ass guesses. In the end, the spring I used worked great. It lifts the lid with virtually no effort, holds it open, and lets you effortlessly close the lid.




The gas spring attachment to the lid insulation.


The gas spring attachment to the fridge box.


The lid insulation.


Actual food actually being cooled by our actually operational fridge!

I still haven't put a gasket on the lid. That's on my list, just haven't gotten to it yet. I will also add a blog shortly on the refrigeration system we chose and how we installed it. Phew, good times right?

The tradition continues…

Jason and I have a yearly New Years tradition to go sailing (or at least boating) on Jan 1 – we’ve done it since our first year together and I’m happy to report, this year we made it out. The fridge wasn’t done done, but it was done enough to keep our beer cold frozen. Woohoo!



Morosaurus (formerly known as Pisces) brought us a special present for the occasion.




That’s right. That’s a scale model of the fridge. Made of gingerbread. Apparently we should have insulated our fridge with raisins and fiberglassed with frosting – much faster to work with.

2 nights at Blake Island Marina were great. We hadn’t been there in ages, so it was good to get back.




We had planned a circumnavigation of Bainbridge Island, but got a call from the Coast Guard to help find an adrift sailboat in our area. Hello World sprung into action! We had visions of salvage rights….

Until we saw the boat.


Jacob and Julia volunteered to board s/v Otter and steer her home as we towed her the 2 miles back to Manchester. They regretted that decision as soon as they stepped foot on the boat. It turns out that s/v Otter was home to a very dead flounder and lots of bird shit. 2 miles is a long way when you’re sitting in poop.



We got Otter back to her owner who was appreciative, but a little perturbed that we brought the boat back to the wrong dock. Or maybe he was upset that Jacob got rid of the dead fish.

Off we went to Manzanita to meet up with some of the Shilshole folk, Palarran and Andante.


A night in Poulsbo was fun and donut filled, as always.


And then Port Madison for New Years Eve where Bint al Khamseen joined us too – quite the party! With a floating sparkler show! Instructions for floating sparklers: 1) get far away from the boat(s) 2) insert sparklers into old floating cushion 3) tow said cushion around the anchorage with dinghy

All in all, it was a great few days on the boat. It makes us long for cruising again, which is handy since we’re headed to PV on Friday to visit Anon.

Feliz nuevo ano!