Haulout

We are currently “on the hard” for bottom paint, zincs, and few other little things. It’s been two years since the boat was last out of the water, three years since the bottom was completely redone.

We came back from Poulsbo last Monday morning, stopped at the slip long enough to straighten up the boat and take some stuff off. Then I popped across the lake to Yachtfish Marine while Kim came around the lake with the car.

Along with bottom paint and zincs, Yachtfish is replacing the cutlass bearings while the boat is out of the water. They have a nifty gizmo that will eliminate much of the labor and time for this task. They can press the old bearing out and the new one in without the need to remove the shaft. They are also going to check shaft alignment and motor mounts for us. I don’t know when that was last done. The motor mounts could be as old as the boat.

Getting in the Sling of Things. M/V Archimedes hauls out at Yachtfish Marine Continue reading

Yikes! Faded wood

I removed some old instruments from the salon wall recently. A barometer that said it was always sunny — which is not necessarily a bad thing in the northwest, and a wind speed gizmo that wasn’t connected to anything outside where the wind is. I relocated the clock to a more convenient location. As you can see from the different wood colors, these instruments have been on the wall for quite some time.mv Archimedes BeforeAfter Instruments

Now what to do? I don’t think I can easily make the dark spots light, and I doubt it’s practical (or affordable) to make the light spots (pretty much the whole interior) dark. I guess we’ll just hang a picture.

Replacing the flybridge steering cable

While working on another project, I cleaned up a a fair amount of broken wire strands from inside the bottom of the lower helm. These all came from the steering cable. As you can probably see, it is pretty beat up. I put tape on part of it in the hope that it would diminish damage to the existing cable where it enters the tube until I could repair it properly. I don’t think it really helped.

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Lower helm

It is clearly time to replace the cable. At first, I thought I would need to have this done by a professional. I posted about it on the Grand Banks forums and received prompt responses on how easy it was to do. Don Dahl was even kind enough to send me an email with complete instructions. Continue reading

New Window Coverings

We asked Canvas Supply to whip up some new mesh window coverings for a us a couple weeks ago. With all the holiday activities, we just had the opportunity this past weekend to swing by to check the work out. I think they did a great job.

The idea behind it was to give us a bit more privacy when we wanted it without having to have the curtains closed all the time. We still want to be able to see outside and enjoy the view. We also wanted to be able to decrease the bright sun from time to time and give a little weather protection to the windows and frames.

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The front panel includes zippers to accommodate the opening center window. They fit perfectly. Continue reading

Our windlass ist kaput

Port Madison is a great place to anchor for an evening or overnight. Too bad our windlass decided to rebel the last time we were there. It all started well. Step on the button and the  motor dutifully pays out chain. Then … it all went wrong. The windlass started to spin and chain was roaring out. The 50 foot mark, then the 100 foot mark flew by, and then the 150 foot mark. They were recently repainted and looked nice for the second or so I saw each one. We managed to get it stopped with about 175 feet of chain sitting on the bottom. We were only in 15 feet or so of water.

Well there’s your problem …

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Nifty new kayaks

Our most recent acquisition for fun on the water is a pair of Hobie Revolution 11 kayaks. The Mirage drive is the appealing feature for us. Pedaling instead of paddling. Having both hands free is great for me. I like to take photographs of things while I kayak around.

As luck would have it, Hobiecat Northwest, the Seattle Hobie dealer is about 300 feet from our slip. Dan was very helpful getting what we needed. We looked at both the Hobie Revolution 11 and the Sport. At 9’7″ the Sport was a better fit on the boat, but just not as much fun to use. For me, it felt pretty small. The 11 is actually 11’6″ and kinda big on our our boat, but faster and more fun to peddle around.

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Even more loose ends …

Everywhere I look I find a loose end just lying around. I am trying to sweep them up as quickly as I can. It usually takes three or four tries to complete a project. I attribute this to my general lack of organization.

Truth be told, I get involved in the work and forget to take photos of the important stuff.

I posted recently about our video installation here. At the time, I thought I had taken a few photos that seemed important but could not find. I still can’t find them so I took a few more. I don’t know how interesting they are, but it seems like they should be posted to complete the story.

First, the video amplifiers with all the cabling installed.

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