Maintenance

The Garhauer Rigid Boom Vang arrived today. This is the first major system install since the windlass and it marks the beginning of a series of complex installs that will last until we shove off. I didn’t really think it would be all that difficult when I ordered it at the boat show. “Just drill a few holes, tap them, and bolt it on,” I thought. But when I started lining it up I realized I would need to dust off some of that trig that I had forgotten 15+ years ago. A few well written blog posts later I’m feeling much better about the install. I’ll try round two tomorrow (and document it if you’re lucky). ...

I met Kevin Coughlin of New England Ropes (NER) this weekend. New England Ropes is the vendor that will be providing the finished Dyneema® product, and Kevin has been awesome so far at liaising between us and the contest organizers. I finalized our inventory (who would have guessed what a project that would be) and sent it off with some additional questions. From NER the Dyneema® spools will be sent to West Marine in Connecticut Newport, RI for splicing and then out to us to install on Convivia. He expects it to be here in 3ish weeks. ...

So much fun at the show today. Merileigh took care of the kids (awesome!) while we went on our annual date. We picked up our life raft, wind vane, epirb, foulies, keel cooler, and met our New England Ropes contact. Friends are coming over in 10 for margaritas so I’ll leave you with the photos. We’re headed back tomorrow with the kids in tow.

…I’ll have your HAM darling, I LOVE it. I passed my HAM Technician license exam on Saturday. I finished it in something like 10 minutes and aced it. They practically forced me to try for the General as well, which I did… and bombed (50%). I didn’t even think I would bother with the General, but now I’ve got to pass it so I started studying today. After the test I took the kids for a walk in Muir Woods (the test was in Mill Valley). It was pouring rain, but we had a ball splashing in the puddles and doing the treasure hunt. After the kids got worn out we loaded back into the car and headed over to the Ham Radio Outlet in Oakland (by way of Blue Bottle) to pick up my new set. We got an iCom IC-7000 with an AH-4 antenna tuner and a Signalink sound card modem (for email). ...

We just got the word from the contest organizers. s/v Convivia will begin her circumnavigation with all new running rigging provided by Dyneema and their partners. This prize is doubly sweet for our crew. First it provides us with an outstanding spring board of safety and performance for our round the world trip. Second our old lines, which still have some life left, will be outstanding backups. Extreme disasters notwithstanding, we shouldn’t need to buy new lines before we cross our path. ...

Just got the email, the contest is closed! First, thank you so much to everyone that helped Team Convivia to reach the Top 10. It was so amazing to see our tribe come together in support of our dream like this. Truthfully, that was worth more than the re-rig. But since we’re in the top 10, I don’t have to choose. So without further ado here is the final scores for the Top 40 contestants (numbers may change slightly if they still allow activations). ...

Warning: the following treatise is a rather dry and detailed accounting of Convivia’s specs and equipment. If you’re not interested in this type of thing, may I suggest one of the following: Why I love boat life, But Planes are Faster, or maybe even hellO 2011. Convivia is a 1970 CAL 43, hull number two. The hull is round bilged, has a raked stem with anchor roller, an internal lead ballast fin keel, a spade rudder, and a transom stern with swim ladder. There are (natural) teak toerails, stainless steel bow and stern rails, and double coated lifelines. The deck layout is a typical cabin trunk with an aft cockpit. There is a forward skylight hatch, and opening companionway hatch over the galley, and a primary companionway hatch on the starboard side of the cockpit. There are two windows and four ports on each side. The cockpit has coaming seat backs and tiller steering. ...

Sunday morning in Paradise Cove is glorious. The wind and swell from the previous night is gone and even the feeble dawn sun is enough to warm us in our PJs as we lounge in the cockpit. Ruby, Olive, and I eat breakfast and let Vick sleep. The kids dress and ask if they could go in the dingy for a while. Ruby rows (tethered) back and forth to Convivia’s transom while I observe from the cockpit. Within a few minutes she asks to go freely. I hop aboard and let Ruby row me around the anchorage. She rowes Olive and I to shore and we spend a half hour playing on the beach, finding ladybugs, searching for the best sea glass, skipping stones and destroying sandcastles. ...

We’re on our new anchor for the first time. When we started telling everyone that we were leaving this year for our cruise the sailors around us came out of the woodwork with offers of help to make things happen. Over the past few weeks we’ve purchased and installed our Rocna 33, our Lewmar V3 Windlass, and 300 feet of G40 HT 5/16" chain. We bought our anchor used, as a return to the store, for about a third of the retail price. The windlass and chain were also purchased at excellent prices. Still, for the cost of all of this ground tackle we could have stayed in a marina for a long long time. But staying in a marina is not our plan. ...

I was all excited to start working on the new windlass install when I heard Olive yell, “Daaaaddyy. Can you please turn on the light. I can’t do it.” Within minutes I was tearing the boat apart looking for the source of the problem. A problem that got worse as I went. Before the end of the following day we had no lights in the aft cabin or galley. What’s worse, most of the cable for those lights were the original 40 year old run, so it was built right into one of the few parts of the boat that I have no access to. My only recourse was to rewire the whole system. ...

Say hello to a stranger on the street. If they look interesting and willing to chat walk with them up the block. Tucker met Andrea in Vermont many years ago this way and we had such a great time with her. Make friends with a friend of a friend. You see someone at a friend’s party and then the next one and so on. At some point, have dinner with the friend of the friend and see what happens. ...

We ran into Carl early on Sunday morning and confirmed that they would be heading off on their great adventure later that day. We were planning to go sailing too, and agreed to see them off. I had seen Chris and Lisa working on their Ranger 26 earlier in the morning, and we decided to invite them to come along. The day started wonderfully. There was just a puff of air but the sky was blue, the clouds were high and the conversation was easy and light. Around the end of the Berkeley Pier both boats decided to motor until the wind returned. We got just past Treasure Island when we decided we had enough to sail on. By Alcatraz we had about 20º of heel and Convivia was lively and quick. ...

I wasn’t at home when we were tied into slip A58 in Monterey Harbor. I was homesick. Surprising yes, since I was on my own boat, tied up with my usual dock lines, cooking in my own galley, and sleeping in my own bed. I spent my time in Monterey constantly checking the three forecast areas on NOAA to find our perfect weather window to head north. Again, I was surprised at myself. The trip north is usually hard, wet, and cold. Our boat is in great shape and we could actually (foolishly) cash in Tucker’s retirement accounts and head south for at least a year. I always want to go south, or anywhere warmer than wherever I am. But I wanted to go north, to go home. ...

There are dozens of reasons to love living on a boat. Some adore the gentle rocking as they fall to sleep; some like the gorgeous view from their cockpit and decks; some the ability to take their home on vacation with them; and others cherish the simplicity of living small. I’m sure the list goes on. For me though the thing I love most is the dockside social scene. At first I thought I had just lucked into the world’s best marina but now that we have spent a week in Santa Cruz harbor, I’m starting to believe that there is a universal chattiness amongst sailors. ...

Last week I wrote a post on forgeover about the first chapter in my water heater replacement. To summarize, it didn’t go so well. I felt defeated before I even began, and things only went downhill from there. Today was a completely different story. I woke up with the knowledge that I had to install this beast today, and that I was going to have to squeeze the chore in between long anticipated visits with my sister, brother in law, and nephew. Vick got me started on the right foot: “You’re going to do it, it’s going to be easy, and you’re going to feel GREAT when its done.” That was exactly the pep talk I needed and it probably made the difference between 90% success and utter failure. ...