Tarwathie's Crew

Vero Beach
N 27 39.60 W 080 22.24

The statuesque beautiful woman below is Libby. She just looks better year by year. I think she is also testimony to how the active life style cruising makes one healthier.

Me? I'm uglier than ever. What else? However, I seem to becoming cooler considering my elegant beard, my cool shades, and the musical instrument I'm seen playing. Steve Jobs watch out.

I passed a milestone last month. We had guests aboard and they looked at the family photograph we have hanging on the cabin wall. They said they could not regognize me without the beard.

Bird Songs and Wind Shear

Vero Beach
N 27 39.60 W 080 22.24

This morning I got up at dawn and rowed in to the marina for an early morning shower. It is a lovely day.

When I got ashore, I was struck by the beautiful and numerous songs of the birds. I have had it on my list to write a blog about the lack of song birds here in the south. Last year at Cumberland Island where we saw wild horses and armadillos, Libby and I were struck by the absence of song birds. Again, in the McKee Botanical Garden in Vero Beach, we were in a lovely place, but it was totally devoid of birds singing. In the Bahamas, we heard song birds, it seemed to be a mystery why they aren't here. Well, at least I'm glad to be proven wrong. There are wonderful song birds here. Perhaps the mystery is that they don't sing in the heat of midday. Does anybody know?

Rowing back to the boat I watched the sky. It is very lovely this morning, deep blue and decorated with high cirrus clouds. Cirrus clouds are made of ice crystals at very high altitudes. They tend to form in tendrils. Today I could see three layers of cirrus clouds. The lowest and highest layers, were being blown to the east. The middle layer was being blown to the west. That is clear visual evidence of vertical wind shear. In the northeast, such vertical wind shear is usually associated with very high velocity winds aloft and is often marked by standing lenticular clouds. Today in Vero, the winds aloft did not appear strong, just sheared in to layers.

I made a neat discovery rowing back to the boat. The wind was gusting to 25 knots coming from astern of the dinghy. I had trouble steering because the wind would blow on the dinghy transom and slew the boat to one side or the other. I discovered that if I turned the boat around and rowed backward, then I could keep the bow up in to the wind and it was much easier to steer. Speed and difficulty of rowing is no problem when the wind is blowing with you. I'll adopt this rowing backward technique as standard practice whenever I meet these conditions.

Wear and Tear

Vero Beach Public Library
No LL

One of the "features" of living aboard a boat is making do with fewer things. It does make for a very pleasant life style, but there are consequences. One consequence is that things used very intensively wear out fast.

Yesterday, I spent the whole day sewing on fabric tags on to our new anchor chain. These tags mark the length of chain every 20 feet. We use the marks to judge how much chain is let out. I have 1 blue tag at 20', 2 at 40' ... 5 blue tags at 100', 1 white tag at 120' ..., and finally 5 white tags at 200'. No tags are needed at 0' and 225' for obvious reasons. Many people use plastic wire ties instead of fabric tags. With wire ties, I could have completed the job in 30 minutes rather than 6 hours. However, we think that the fabric ones are tougher, and more visible. When one pulls up chain from a muddy bottom on a dark night, then visibility is appreciated.

How long will the new chain last? I don't know. However, since we anchor a lot we should expect the chains to wear out much faster than those who don't. Case in point, our neighboring boat Zaftra. Zaftra spends most of its time at the dock or on a mooring ball. Therefore, their anchors and chain don't wear out so fast.

Another project on my list while in Vero is to refinish the hardwood floor in the cabin. I refinished it once before in the summer of 2005. I use the same hard polyurethane finish that you use on hardwood floors in your house. However, since we have to do all our walking only 30 square feet of floor, it wears out much faster. It's a bit tricky to do projects like that when we live onboard the boat. We have to arrange for a day when I can lay down a coat of polyurethane, then step off without getting footprints on the wet floor, then stay away from the boat long enough for it to dry. For each additional coat, the process has to be repeated.

My neighbor, Don on Zaftra, is also involved in projects. For the past 4 days he has been engaged in re-plumbing his engine. That means, fuel lines, cooling water lines, and exhaust piping. That's another thing that needs to get done every 5 years or so.

Interior paint lasts about 3 years. Slip covers on cushions wear out, cockpit cushions wear out. Bottom paint every 3 years, and redo the hull barrier paint every 10 years. Replace the rigging every 15 years, and the sails every 5 years. In 10-15 years, we'll be in need of yet another new engine.

The point is, when you live with fewer things, you must plan on those things wearing out more rapidly than you might expect. Plan on renewing and/or replacing common things frequently. If you don't like the idea of having a bottomless list of chores, then the cruising life may not be for you.

Many experienced cruisers concentrate these jobs in batches. They cruise for 5 years, then spend 6-12 months on shore while the boat is put up on land for a "refit".

On the positive side, thanks to the endless maintenance and renewal, there is no upper limit on the effective lifetime of (non wooden) cruising boats.

Re-Chained

Vero Beach
No LL

Well, the deed is done. Today I rented a car and drove to Fort Lauderdale. My friend George from Sea Otter II came with me. We had a bit of difficulty finding the place so I dialed the local number of the owner. He answered his cell phone, and gave us directions, but he mentioned that he happened to be in Ecuador this morning. Wow, the technology is great. Anyhow, we found the garage front operation and picked up the chain. I bought two pieces, one 50 feet long and the other 225 feet long. 5/16 chain weighs about 1.5 pounds per foot.

I'm worried about the quality of the chain I bought. It is imported and it does not have the G4 stamp embossed on each link. Nevertheless, we learned a couple of things from the man who helped us load the chain. First, he said that the owner should have refused the $2/foot price quoted on their web page because it costs $1.75 wholesale. Secondly, the primary customer of this company (and of all the other small companies in the industrial neighborhood) are the nearby ship yards that build and maintain super yachts. If the ship yards buy this stuff, it can't be too bad.

We drove back to the boat, and without much trouble we were able to load the chain in to the dinghy and I rowed it out to Tarwathie. Then I rowed the old rusty chain back to shore and threw it in the dumpster.

No more rusty decks when we anchor. Horray!

Enough work for one day. Now it's time for my nap.

E Commerce

Vero Beach Public Library
No LL

E-commerce is the reason why we have to stay in Vero Beach for a while. At least that's my excuse. Actually, we've spent so much time here that it embarrasses me and makes me search for an excuse.

Yesterday I ordered a number of things essential for the boat. I ordered new anchor chain, new zincs, a backup VHF whip antenna, and Slimy Grimy. It will take some time for all that stuff to arrive, so we need a fixed address for a while.

Yesterday I also ran in to George and Jackie on Sea Otter II, and I heard from Ray and Pat on Reflection. Reflection is on its way to Vero. Add that to the crews of Zaftra, Blue Topaz and Twin Spirits that I mentioned before, and I see that we are going to have a very full social calendar while we're here.

My anchor chains had lost their galvanizing zinc coating and turned rusty. I wanted to replace them a year ago, but I didn't. This year, the rusting has accelerated dramatically. Every time we lay the chain on deck it makes a mess of rust dust. I have 50' of chain on our Danforth (secondary) rode, and 225' of chain on our CQR (primary) rode. That's 275 feet of 5/16" chain -- a lot.

I shopped for chain and I got sticker shock. I found prices as high as $4.50 per foot, plus shipping. I found a better price, $2.00 per foot, and ordered the chain yesterday from a company in Ft. Lauderdale for $550.00 total.

I'm afraid I wasn't thinking clearly. First, I accepted their quote for $299 for shipping. Last night, it occurred to me that I could rent a car and drive to Ft. Lauderdale much cheaper. I called them this morning and changed the order. The man told me that if I called 5 minutes later, that it would have already shipped.

Next, as I looked up the address, I note that the full name of the company is Best Marine Imports. Uh Oh. I wonder if imported chain will be as good quality as American made chain. I hope so, because now I'm committed. This is a big investment.