NMEA IN and NMEA OUT

After a day of plumbing yesterday, we are on to a day of wiring today.  We started by running new wire between the electrical panel and the new tiller pilot at the stern of the C'est la Vie. Then on to disconnecting the GPS and pulling those wires into the electrical panel.  The inside of the electrical panel is pictured below.

With all the wiring lead to the panel, we then installed the new network block that I discussed in the May 29th post.  The network block is the green and grey rectangle in the upper right the electrical panel pictured above.

When we correctly connect the GPS, autopilot, VHFs together in the block they should all communicate using the language known as NMEA 0183.  The conversation is a bit one sided as NMEA 0183 will allow the GPS to talk while the other devices listen.  Sound simple enough?  Well figuring out which wires to link together from each device and tracking down all the various wires is requiring some additional research...

GASP!... that is right we are actually reading the manuals.  I sure hope this works...

Running hot & cold...

Today was pluming day aboard C'est la Vie.  A faulty accumulator tank provided the impetus to rebuild the pressurized water system.  The spigots above, located in the portside cockpit locker attach to our shower head.  Years ago we gave up on the shower below decks... not enough room, everything got wet, water had to be pumped from the shower pan, etc.   If you own or travel on a older boat, then I'm sure you are familiar with the issues that drove us to simply rip the shower nozzel and accompanying plumbing out of the head.  The cockpit makes a great shower stall with the only issue being privacy in busy anchorages.

Forward of the bulkhead pictured above lies the guts of our plumbing system.  Originally the area was the port side quarterberth, but the previous owner, who did an amazing refit in the 1990's, closed off the area when he expanded the galley and used a large portion of the quaterberth for the fridge, hot water heater, and plumbing system.  The image below is shot by crawling into the port cockpit locker and looking forward through the small cut out visible at left in the image above.

I post this image with some hesitation.  It feels a bit like voyeurism. Boat publications only illustrate the shiny side of things and here I am revealing C'est la Vie's dirty bits (pause now and share continued hesitation on the author's behalf.) Across the top of the image is the galley counter top. Below the counter top the grey box is our hot water heater.  Underway it uses heat from the engine's cooling system to heat up the water.  When connected to shore power, a rarity, it can use electricity to heat the water.  To the extreme upper left is the edge of our SeaFrost refrigeration system. The Seafrost system is definitely power hungry and the largest consumer of battery power on board, but it has proven to be a reliable system that can deliver ice on a summer day in the Exumas.  Back to the plumbing... the black pump at the bottom right is the heart of the pressurized water system.  I replaced the old pressure pump with a new Jabsco Par-Max 3 pump.  The new pump does not require a accumulator tank and is significantly lighter weight than the old unit.  At 3 gallons per minute (gpm)  the pump is the same capacity as the old pump and seems to deliver plenty of pressure.  Our pressure outlets are limited to the cockpit shower, a sink faucet, and a water filter system for potable water. As part of the project I also replaced all the hoses in the system.  To round out the tour, the hatch to the right in the image is one of three access doors to the engine.

On the shiny side of things, here is the same area as viewed from the cabin...

 Looks a bit better from this angle.  When underway we use the area to store our storm sails.

Pink and Blue - Painting and Sewing

Recently,Anne and I read and discussed a number of posts on the Women and Cruising blog about how responsibilities among partners for the tasks aboard a boat are delegated.  Who assumes the traditional male or "blue" tasks and who assumes the traditional female or "pink" tasks.  The blog posts have provided a launching pad for conversations about how our responsibilities aboard C'est la Vie and ashore are divided.  Admittedly through our 10+ year relationship we have grown into accepting fairly traditional pink & blue responsibilities in our life ashore and cruising.  I'm not going to pass judgement or make any moral statements about our's or any other crew's system of delegating responsibilities.  I chose to begin this blog entry with these observations because on today's projects Anne and I reversed the the pink and blue roles.

I spent the day at the sewing machine.

In the image above I am working on a cover for the rail mounted grill that can be seen behind me to the left. In addition to making the grill cover, I finally completed the aft end of the mainsail boot (a project I started last fall.)  I used a green sunbrella to make identifying the end of the cover more easy and to add a bit of color to C'est la Vie's topsides.

Anne applied the second coat of primer and first top coat to the cockpit lockers...

and the port side salon locker/bench...

What a difference a couple coats of paint can make!  See June 4th & 5th post for some before images of this area.

The slippery slope continues...

The slide into more painting projects continued today as we expanded the locker painting to include the portside salon bench and lockers.  No doubt they need the attention...

Upon attempting to sand the lids to the lockers we discovered the plywood was cracked, so two new lids coming right up.

 We did progress from the prep to the priming stage with Anne doing her time in the lockers.

Greg from Paradise Welding spent the morning completing the polishing work on the gallows.  He does an amazing job and the welds are not visible.

Can you all find Anne hidden in the image above?

Greg also dropped off the tubing arch for the bimini project.  We have decided to go with building a hard bimini ourselves and are awaiting the arrival of some fittings for constructing the frame.  Once we have the fittings in-hand the bimini construction should move quickly.  

A slippery slope...

With the generator box and the boom gallows completed, we are now waiting on tubing and mounting hardware so we can move forward on creating the frame for the bimini.  The lull in projects gave us time to address some lower priority needs... wiring the new tiller pilot and replacing the accumulator tank on the pressure water system.  Both of these project required that we remove all the items stored in the port and starboard cockpit lockers.  With all the lines, blocks, buckets, cushions, PFDs, etc. removed the lockers are large enough for us to crawl inside...

Once inside I was appalled by the amount of dirt, mold, and flaking paint.  My guess is the paint in the lockers and on the bulkheads is the original coat from 1966.

As is the norm with boat projects initiating a minor project becomes a slippery slope.  Using the paint left over from Anne painting the quaterberth area in May, we now plan to paint the inside of both lockers.  Let the sanding begin.

We anticipated sanding would generate a cloud of noxious dust and stream of paint chips so we taped up all the openings to the bilge and cabin area.  I also donned the protective gear.  About four hours of sanding per locker over a two day period and the area is now ready for painting.

We hope that this project does not delay our departure - yes we are still planning on spending the summer traveling aboard.  Waiting on contractors for components of the gallows and bimini project continues to push back our departure date. Greg from Paradise Welding is scheduled complete the polishing of the new welds on the stern rails and deliver the tubing for the bimini tomorrow.  Due to delays with the canvas shop we are now exploring the possibility of making our own hard top for the bimini rather than continue to sit at the mercy of someone else's schedule.

Hanging the gallows

We hung the gallows today!

The act of hanging the gallows, drilling the final four bolt holes and tightening down the bolts, was not a challenging task.  The satisfaction of installing the finished product and nearing the completion of a project started two months ago is a feeling to be relished.

Note in the image above the stern rails originally ended at stanchion (vertical post) that slopes aft.  We added the forward section as bracing for the gallows.  This has the added benefit of providing more security in the cockpit and a great backrest when sitting atop the cockpit combing. There are still lingering aspects of project - polish the new welds and possibly purchase/create some leather covers for the cradle sections of the gallows.

In the images above and below the dodger is missing since we are continuing to refinish the wood on deck. 

To me the gallows looks much larger with the dodger absent.  We did complete all the brightwork this afternoon and plan to reinstall the dodger tomorrow.  I'll post a set of pre  & post gallows images once the dodger returns to the picture.

Completion of the generator storgage box!

The threat of rains deterred us from applying the final coat of finish to the exterior wood.  So what to do when the rains threaten?

Cleaning day, of course.   Anne tackled cleaning the dodger and other sumbrella items from C'est la Vie while I unfolded our Porta-boat dinghy, Origami, which has been stored under the lodge for the last 8 months, and began the cleaning. 

Adding gasket material to the lid...

and buckles to the box were the final two steps in completing the generator storage box.  Here is the finished product...

I've contemplated various methods of testing the airtight seal...  place a lit candle in the box and see if it runs out of oxygen or place a bowl of ammonia and sniff test.  Any other ideas out there?  The lid does fit tight enough to form suction on the box (i.e. I can pick the box up with the suction from the lid.)  This brings up another concern... if the box is truly airtight, then if we seal it up during a low pressure system and then move to high pressure will the lid become stuck?  Hmm.  I will take it as a compliment to my fabrication if we actually face this issue. 

There is a link on the right to a photo album of the construction process of the box. This is my first fiberglass project where I fabricated an original design.  All my previous projects have been repairs to existing creations.  While I am pleased with the finished product, I am also amazed at the time involved.

6 coats in under 12 hours

With all the prep work completed yesterday, Anne and I were able to jump directly into applying Bristol Finish to the brightwork on C'est la Vie.  Anne took on the taping...

 while I began to mix and apply the two part finish.  We also rigged a sun  tarp over the majority of the brightwork to keep the surfaces from becoming too hot.

We've realized much better results, less issues with bubbles, if we can keep the surface in the shade/cool.  With the tape and tarp in place it then became a game of pacing and timing to continue to add wet on wet layers of the finish.  We did get very lucky with the weather.  In the image above note the passing shower in the upper, left corner. By days end we had applied six coats of finish with enough time remaining to avoid losing luster to the evening dew.

  We plan to come back to the larger surfaces (i.e. the companion way cover above) and apply a final topcoat after another round of sanding.