Heh.

It's currently preventing me from wearing myself out sanding out the initial
fairing compound treatements on our hull.

However...

Starboard is nearly ready for final fairing - one more day and it will be.
We hit all the "deep" spots first, with our AdTech 621 - but just using a
regular wide putty knife for filling them - compound, and sanded them to
dull.

Second step was to fill all those again (inevitable flattening with a
standard DA/RO sander required a second, much thinner application), as well
as going over the other, much shallower spots, and then pulling a 24" long
paint dodger, pressed into service as a fairing knife, over all of it.

Sanding of that area involved the entire hull, as there were all the other
surfaces which got a very thin skim coat as well as the 'holes' we filled.
However, that knife followed the curvature of the hull, and subsequent
sanding (about half done, the last couple of days' worth of layup having the
sanded interrupted by the rain) is merely to scuff the surfaces - again, the
entire hull, but as there's very little material which needs removal (other
than the inevitable ridges created by the knife), it's actually been easier
than the first coat.

Once we have it all fair, we'll do a bit of fiberglassing on the leading and
trailing edges of the keel, the bottom of the keel, and the very stern of
the boat, over the rudder.

Morgan 46s were built as split hulls, which made for much more effective
layup, as every part of the layup was reachable - and they were laid up
flat, having an assist from gravity. However, of necessity, the mating of
the two parts involved some filler at the edges, before they were glassed
over from the outside.

The hull halves were held in place with special clamps on the molds. Inside
got progressively wider tapes along the entire insides, securing those
halves together. Then the exterior had the molds removed and glass attached
in the same fashion, but not so severely, the interior already having put
the two parts together. After that, the ballast slugs were put in and
secured (the resin and marble dust slurry), and the bilge and mast step
built. All well and good...

But the leading and trailing edges have suffered from multiple instances of
sanding, and are pretty much gone at those surfaces. Also, the inevitable
slight manufacturing irregularities in the edges meant that the factory used
filler before putting on the glass. Anywhere it was less than perfect, I
ground it out, and we've replaced it with new. Once faired, we'll lay on
some more fiberglass on the pointy parts of the hull.

The final step (with some associated minor fairing after grinding/sanding)
will be for us to add glass to the bottom of the keel, and wrap it
substantially, more so on the starboard side which had a lot of material
ground off by the flat rock shelf we dug a 2' hole into during our wreck's
pounding in the 3 days the storm continued before salvage.

So, while progress is slow, it's very definitely moving. We've had several
folks who have done similar work stop by and compliment us on how well it
was going. Given that this is really just the roughing-in, in construction
terms, I'm sure we'll be thrilled with our end result.

That last coat has been occupying a lot of thought time, as I'll want to
long-board it, but am still up in the air as to how to accomplish that.
There's a specialty tool called a power boarder, which one of our previously
active members has offered to rent me. However, it can't do concave
surfaces, and we have an awful lot of that in the turn of the bilge - so
they'd have to be done by hand, anyway.

I'm currently mulling cutting some 4'x4.5" plywood strips, applying three
(the one in the middle for the concave examples) 2x4 pieces for handles,
epoxying them (for a shiny surface), and getting some roll stock of
sandpaper. I'd bet I could pick up 4 day laborers and make short work of
the fairing sanding, particularly, if I can manage the staging right, in
that this stuff sands like butter when it's green - about 4 hours after
layup in this heat! Let it go a full day (or, in the case of the part I was
going to sand today, a couple of days) and it's a great deal harder, but
still not difficult to fair out with a power sander. So, starboard almost
finished, and the port side yet to begin, other than some fairly significant
inside radiuses we did on the strut assembly, and the minor shaping on the
tail of the keel (necessitated by chasing filler and on the starboard side,
some delamination, the first attack on which was 1/4" chop, cavasil [sp] and
epoxy slurry, which built it most of the way out)...

Stay tuned for developments!

L8R

Skip (or maybe "Sandy")


--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Heh.

It's currently preventing me from wearing myself out sanding out the
initial fairing compound treatements on our hull.

Methinks you are lazy, Skippy. Wet sanding is probably easier than dry
sanding. It certainly is healthier as you don't breathe toxic dust. Get out
there in your Speedo and get to work! All the boatyard gals will surely
swoon!


However...

Starboard is nearly ready for final fairing - one more day and it will be.
We hit all the "deep" spots first, with our AdTech 621 - but just using a
regular wide putty knife for filling them - compound, and sanded them to
dull.

Second step was to fill all those again (inevitable flattening with a
standard DA/RO sander required a second, much thinner application), as
well as going over the other, much shallower spots, and then pulling a 24"
long paint dodger, pressed into service as a fairing knife, over all of
it.

Sanding of that area involved the entire hull, as there were all the other
surfaces which got a very thin skim coat as well as the 'holes' we filled.
However, that knife followed the curvature of the hull, and subsequent
sanding (about half done, the last couple of days' worth of layup having
the sanded interrupted by the rain) is merely to scuff the surfaces -
again, the entire hull, but as there's very little material which needs
removal (other than the inevitable ridges created by the knife), it's
actually been easier than the first coat.

This morning I motored outside the harbor and anchored in the cleaner water
in the bay to check out the condition of my new bottom paint that was
applied in December. It was in great shape. No crusty stuff at all and just
some brownish slime or stain that came right off using a dime-store,
rubber-dot glove on my hand. And, STILL not a blister in sight. Just a nice,
clean, smooth bottom the likes of which an America's Cup boat would be proud
of.

Once we have it all fair, we'll do a bit of fiberglassing on the leading
and trailing edges of the keel, the bottom of the keel, and the very stern
of the boat, over the rudder.

Morgan 46s were built as split hulls, which made for much more effective
layup, as every part of the layup was reachable - and they were laid up
flat, having an assist from gravity. However, of necessity, the mating of
the two parts involved some filler at the edges, before they were glassed
over from the outside.

A weak and unseamanlike design which put profit over function, I'm afraid. I
sure would not feel very confortable in your boat in a survival storm at
sea. I'd have ten times more faith in my little 27-footer that
was popped out of a mold in one piece, especially as I have foamed her to
have positive flotation.


Snippage of remainder of masochistic tale!


Wilbur Hubbard

P.S. Send cards and letters (checks and money orders) to:

Neal Warren
PO Box 1015
Tavernier, Fl 33070

Thank-ee kindly

Hi, Wilbur...

Sigh...

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
news.com...
"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Heh.

It's currently preventing me from wearing myself out sanding out the
initial fairing compound treatements on our hull.

Methinks you are lazy, Skippy. Wet sanding is probably easier than dry
sanding. It certainly is healthier as you don't breathe toxic dust. Get
out there in your Speedo and get to work! All the boatyard gals will
surely swoon!

LOL! No boatyard gals around - it's storage season, so not even traffic in
and out, for the most part. Those we HAVE seen are mostly geriatric, and,
likely would, indeed, swoon - but as I look about like the storm troopers in
Star Wars (white suit from head to toe, vapor and particulate mask and
goggles), the speedo would be out of sight. Instead, while applying (no
suit, etc.) there's a 40 year old pair of Sportif 4" inseam shorts,
sacrificial to epoxy and, now, fairing compound (also epoxy, but very
flexible).

That (very little traffic) actually works well for us as we'll shortly want
to hang in the slings for a bit to get at the bottom of the keel. The
fairing of the indentations caused on the sides of the bottom of the keel
went VERY nicely, and, so long as I get to it before it cures (5-7 days for
full), it sands reasonably - but when green, like butter. I'll have some
more pix of our progress up in a while, but we are making hay while the sun
shines, so to speak, which was yesterday and for the next couple of days.

I'm not all that fond of sanding with an electrical device in the rain :{))


This morning I motored

WHAT!!?? Philistine!

outside the harbor and anchored in the cleaner water
in the bay to check out the condition of my new bottom paint that was
applied in December. It was in great shape. No crusty stuff at all and
just some brownish slime or stain that came right off using a dime-store,
rubber-dot glove on my hand. And, STILL not a blister in sight.

Not surprising - if you never had blisters, you'd likely not develop any at
this late date. In our case, we didn't have any either - just some weep
spots exposed by all that extra, unneeded, sanding. Of course, when I find
a problem, I fix it, right (unlike some examples, fine for a pinch while
under way, such as sticking some pipes inside a broken boom), during our
infrequent refits, undoing the temporary repair if there was one, at the
time. Thus, I chased any weep spots until there were no delaminations, and
then made sure there wasn't any more WSM hiding to try to make a blister in
the future. Given that the boat had been in the water for 4 years, the lack
of visible blisters strongly suggests that we'll not see any, again, given
the repairs (epoxy), fairing coat (epoxy) and barrier coat (epoxy)
preventing the ingress of water to any which might remain.

On which subject, the manager of the yard wandered over with her meter as we
were taking a break yesterday. Meter barely budges everywhere she put it,
whereas before, in most places it was mid range-to-pegged. Your bombast to
the contrary :{)) - I believe we have this in hand. Regardless, this is the
last time we'll address blisters during our ownership...

Just a nice, clean, smooth bottom the likes of which an America's Cup boat
would be proud of.

I'd have been very upset to have seen any more than that - and, indeed, our
bottom responded to just a deck brush, all the way to the end, 4 years after
the application of our bottom paint, the wreck areas aside (which, of
course, needed redoing, making that part only about 3 years old).

And, the undercoat (duplicate applications in two colors) shed even more
effectively than the top coat. So, we'll likely do the same thing this time
around, since we don't know how long it will be before our next haulout.


Once we have it all fair, we'll do a bit of fiberglassing on the leading
and trailing edges of the keel, the bottom of the keel, and the very
stern of the boat, over the rudder.

Morgan 46s were built as split hulls, which made for much more effective
layup, as every part of the layup was reachable - and they were laid up
flat, having an assist from gravity. However, of necessity, the mating
of the two parts involved some filler at the edges, before they were
glassed over from the outside.

A weak and unseamanlike design which put profit over function, I'm afraid.
I sure would not feel very confortable in your boat in a survival storm at
sea. I'd have ten times more faith in my little 27-footer that
was popped out of a mold in one piece, especially as I have foamed her to
have positive flotation.

Heh. Easy to say on a bathtub, as there's no part which would have been
difficult to reach for layup. Top to bottom, it's over 11 feet on ours.
And, after you lay up about an inch of added thickness from the inner joint,
leading to a 3' wide piece of tape (so called only because it's a long strip
of roving) at the top of the buildup, I believe that our hull is sound.

As you rarely leave the dock (or anchorage/mooring, whichever it is) for
more than a day or two, storage isn't much of an issue. Foam-filling
certainly should help you stay afloat in the event of a disaster - but we've
got our spaces filled with tools and supplies which allow us to stay out for
well over a year between provisionings along with having every sort of spare
necessary to meet the realities of aging parts needing attention. If you
had that ability (not knowing what sort of stowage you had before all the
foam), you wouldn't be able to walk inside that lovely home of yours.

Out of curiosity, how'd you do the foam? Injection? Pour-in? Something
else? Our hull-to-freezer section, I used a commercial 2-canister stuff,
name currently unremembered, of some foam which was impervious to epoxy and
water. That led to a minimum of 6" at the bottom to over 13" at the top.
It's allowed our keel cooler, lauded in different parts a while ago, to
continue to keep our cooling working despite not being in the water. At the
moment, it's 9.9° and 32.8° in the freezer and reefer, and, at the heat of
the day, with the sun on that side, the freezer will rise only a few degrees
while the spillover fan keeps the reefer constant


Snippage of remainder of masochistic tale!


Wilbur Hubbard

P.S. Send cards and letters (checks and money orders) to:

Neal Warren
PO Box 1015
Tavernier, Fl 33070

Thank-ee kindly


Was/is Cecil, of the thousands of "notices" herein, your brother? I seem to
recall a tale from Aragorn recounting something (without names) of that sort
during an attempted dinghy sale. From that tale and description of Cut the
Mustard, as compared to your recent postings, I'd say you're back on the
water (sometimes - do you live aboard?) and having a great time, a very good
thing.

Y'all (wait - even the uneducated southerners only refer to plural persons
that way, though I could fudge it and apply it to all the other readers -
You) have a great day. Perhaps we'll share an anchorage some day...

L8R

Skip


--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
Follow us at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/TheFlyingPigLog
and/or http://groups.google.com/group/flyingpiglog

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Hi, Wilbur...

Sigh...

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
news.com...
"Flying Pig" wrote in message
...
Heh.

It's currently preventing me from wearing myself out sanding out the
initial fairing compound treatements on our hull.

Methinks you are lazy, Skippy. Wet sanding is probably easier than dry
sanding. It certainly is healthier as you don't breathe toxic dust. Get
out there in your Speedo and get to work! All the boatyard gals will
surely swoon!

LOL! No boatyard gals around - it's storage season, so not even traffic
in and out, for the most part. Those we HAVE seen are mostly geriatric,
and, likely would, indeed, swoon - but as I look about like the storm
troopers in Star Wars (white suit from head to toe, vapor and particulate
mask and goggles), the speedo would be out of sight. Instead, while
applying (no suit, etc.) there's a 40 year old pair of Sportif 4" inseam
shorts, sacrificial to epoxy and, now, fairing compound (also epoxy, but
very flexible).

That (very little traffic) actually works well for us as we'll shortly
want to hang in the slings for a bit to get at the bottom of the keel.
The fairing of the indentations caused on the sides of the bottom of the
keel went VERY nicely, and, so long as I get to it before it cures (5-7
days for full), it sands reasonably - but when green, like butter. I'll
have some more pix of our progress up in a while, but we are making hay
while the sun shines, so to speak, which was yesterday and for the next
couple of days.

I'm not all that fond of sanding with an electrical device in the rain
:{))


This morning I motored

WHAT!!?? Philistine!

outside the harbor and anchored in the cleaner water
in the bay to check out the condition of my new bottom paint that was
applied in December. It was in great shape. No crusty stuff at all and
just some brownish slime or stain that came right off using a dime-store,
rubber-dot glove on my hand. And, STILL not a blister in sight.

Not surprising - if you never had blisters, you'd likely not develop any
at this late date. In our case, we didn't have any either - just some
weep spots exposed by all that extra, unneeded, sanding. Of course, when
I find a problem, I fix it, right (unlike some examples, fine for a pinch
while under way, such as sticking some pipes inside a broken boom), during
our infrequent refits, undoing the temporary repair if there was one, at
the time. Thus, I chased any weep spots until there were no delaminations,
and then made sure there wasn't any more WSM hiding to try to make a
blister in the future. Given that the boat had been in the water for 4
years, the lack of visible blisters strongly suggests that we'll not see
any, again, given the repairs (epoxy), fairing coat (epoxy) and barrier
coat (epoxy) preventing the ingress of water to any which might remain.

On which subject, the manager of the yard wandered over with her meter as
we were taking a break yesterday. Meter barely budges everywhere she put
it, whereas before, in most places it was mid range-to-pegged. Your
bombast to the contrary :{)) - I believe we have this in hand.
Regardless, this is the last time we'll address blisters during our
ownership...

Just a nice, clean, smooth bottom the likes of which an America's Cup
boat would be proud of.

I'd have been very upset to have seen any more than that - and, indeed,
our bottom responded to just a deck brush, all the way to the end, 4 years
after the application of our bottom paint, the wreck areas aside (which,
of course, needed redoing, making that part only about 3 years old).

And, the undercoat (duplicate applications in two colors) shed even more
effectively than the top coat. So, we'll likely do the same thing this
time around, since we don't know how long it will be before our next
haulout.


Once we have it all fair, we'll do a bit of fiberglassing on the leading
and trailing edges of the keel, the bottom of the keel, and the very
stern of the boat, over the rudder.

Morgan 46s were built as split hulls, which made for much more effective
layup, as every part of the layup was reachable - and they were laid up
flat, having an assist from gravity. However, of necessity, the mating
of the two parts involved some filler at the edges, before they were
glassed over from the outside.

A weak and unseamanlike design which put profit over function, I'm
afraid. I sure would not feel very confortable in your boat in a survival
storm at sea. I'd have ten times more faith in my little 27-footer that
was popped out of a mold in one piece, especially as I have foamed her to
have positive flotation.

Heh. Easy to say on a bathtub, as there's no part which would have been
difficult to reach for layup. Top to bottom, it's over 11 feet on ours.
And, after you lay up about an inch of added thickness from the inner
joint, leading to a 3' wide piece of tape (so called only because it's a
long strip of roving) at the top of the buildup, I believe that our hull
is sound.

As you rarely leave the dock (or anchorage/mooring, whichever it is) for
more than a day or two, storage isn't much of an issue. Foam-filling
certainly should help you stay afloat in the event of a disaster - but
we've got our spaces filled with tools and supplies which allow us to stay
out for well over a year between provisionings along with having every
sort of spare necessary to meet the realities of aging parts needing
attention. If you had that ability (not knowing what sort of stowage you
had before all the foam), you wouldn't be able to walk inside that lovely
home of yours.

Out of curiosity, how'd you do the foam? Injection? Pour-in? Something
else? Our hull-to-freezer section, I used a commercial 2-canister stuff,
name currently unremembered, of some foam which was impervious to epoxy
and water. That led to a minimum of 6" at the bottom to over 13" at the
top. It's allowed our keel cooler, lauded in different parts a while ago,
to continue to keep our cooling working despite not being in the water.
At the moment, it's 9.9° and 32.8° in the freezer and reefer, and, at the
heat of the day, with the sun on that side, the freezer will rise only a
few degrees while the spillover fan keeps the reefer constant


Snippage of remainder of masochistic tale!


Wilbur Hubbard

P.S. Send cards and letters (checks and money orders) to:

Neal Warren
PO Box 1015
Tavernier, Fl 33070

Thank-ee kindly


Was/is Cecil, of the thousands of "notices" herein, your brother? I seem
to recall a tale from Aragorn recounting something (without names) of that
sort during an attempted dinghy sale. From that tale and description of
Cut the Mustard, as compared to your recent postings, I'd say you're back
on the water (sometimes - do you live aboard?) and having a great time, a
very good thing.

Y'all (wait - even the uneducated southerners only refer to plural persons
that way, though I could fudge it and apply it to all the other readers -
You) have a great day. Perhaps we'll share an anchorage some day...

L8R

Skip



Nah, 'Cecil' is some poor schmuck with a record. No relative of mine. Just a
figment of my anonymous stalker's vivid or sick imagination as is his/her
irrational desire to 'get even' for some perceived slight. If he/she wasn't
so dumb he/she might be an irritation but, hey, one can't expect to have
intelligent stalkers these days. I'm not sure who he or she is but I rather
suspect a Scientologist or two since I'm anti-Scientology on the Scientology
newsgroup. I think whoever it is is quiet young. Possible only a teenager.
They just act rather naive and uninformed about many things. Scientology
calls that stalking type of thing - fair-gaming. IOW you are fair game if
you go up against Scientology.

As for the foam, it was two-part urethane foam that creates kazillions of
tiny bubbles that don't waterlog when mixed. Closed-cell, they call it.
Anyhow, my fine yacht has inside what is called a 'component' in the
industry. This is a GRP insert shaped like the hull outside and on the
inside shaped with all the cabinets, furniture, tankage, bulkhead fittings
hull reinforcements like stringers, etc. Also it incorporates the sole which
is the same non-skid GRP/Gel coat as on deck. It is lowered into the hull
before the deck is put on and bonded into place. It acts as a structural
grid to strengthen the hull and does double duty in defining the furniture,
etc. of the accommodation.

Since the hull is round and the component surfaces are flat there is
considerable total space between hull and component in many areas. These
spaces can be and are up to ten inches in width tapering, of course to zero
in places where they contact the hull proper. These spaces are pretty much
worthless for storage but for flotation foam they are ideal. I used a 2"
hole saw to access all these dead spaces and poured the mixed two-part foam
into them. One must be careful as the foam expands quickly 15 times poured
volume and it can create considerable pressure if the space is not
adequately vented. But, I got the knack of it and poured small batches until
the dead spaces were filled to the top. Now my boat is cooler in the summer
and warmer in the winter and doesn't sweat inside in the cold. It also has
about 2,400 lbs of positive flotation which it didn't have to begin with.
The hull is also stronger than it ever was to begin with. It used to oil can
a bit forward when pounding into a steep sea or chop. Since I poured the
foam, it doesn't oil can at all. Nice and quiet and stiff.

Why did you put 13" of foam on top and only 6" on the bottom of your
freezer? Should have done it the other way around as most of the cold will
tend to go out the bottom, not the top??

If we share an anchorage some day, please make sure to anchor downwind of me
so I don't have to smell the 24/7 generator exhaust you probably need for
all your myriad systems. But, do run them so I can visit and sample the
quality of your cold beer. LOL. I recall one time in the Bahamas where some
fellow on a 60-foot Beneteau was jealous because my beer was colder than
his. Mine had ice crystals form in the bottle when opened whereas his
didn't. At that time I had the sole lined with cases of beer. I had to stoop
to walk around but it wasn't all that long before I drank it all up and
could stand straight again. Beer in the Bahamas is just TOO EXPENSIVE so a
prudent sailor carries enough to meet his daily requirements for the
duration of the stay.

Wilbur Hubbard

Hi, again :{))


Haven't you learned how to clip the stuff you're not responding to???

"Wilbur Hubbard" wrote in message
news:4e1a0dd5$0$2622

Clip of my prior entirety, your comments, and my reply...

Was/is Cecil, of the thousands of "notices" herein, your brother? I seem
to recall a tale from Aragorn recounting something (without names) of
that sort during an attempted dinghy sale. From that tale and description
of Cut the Mustard, as compared to your recent postings, I'd say you're
back on the water (sometimes - do you live aboard?) and having a great
time, a very good thing.

(clip of your response to that question, but noting that you didn't respond
to the question of your living situation)


As for the foam, it was two-part urethane foam that creates kazillions of
tiny bubbles that don't waterlog when mixed. Closed-cell, they call it.

(more clippage, of description of a Coronado 27 construction)

pretty much
worthless for storage but for flotation foam they are ideal. I used a 2"
hole saw to access all these dead spaces and poured the mixed two-part
foam into them. One must be careful as the foam expands quickly 15 times
poured volume and it can create considerable pressure if the space is not
adequately vented. But, I got the knack of it and poured small batches
until the dead spaces were filled to the top. Now my boat is cooler in the
summer and warmer in the winter and doesn't sweat inside in the cold. It
also has about 2,400 lbs of positive flotation which it didn't have to
begin with. The hull is also stronger than it ever was to begin with. It
used to oil can a bit forward when pounding into a steep sea or chop.
Since I poured the foam, it doesn't oil can at all. Nice and quiet and
stiff.

I'm not surprised. However, if you're expecting that to float your boat,
unless it weighs less than that, you're out of luck.

However, I appreciate the insulation and stiffening you accomplished. Our
fine yacht has had, in the past, much of the interior (where there used to
be the ubiquitous cane-look vinyl over the interior of the hull) laid up
with 16"OC 1" radius omega-shaped stiffeners tabbed to the hull,
interspersed with 1/2" neoprene foam, surfaced (using the omegas for screw
mounts) with oak strips.

It makes it stiffer, quieter, and better insulated, not to mention dresses
up what used to be pretty awful looking-after-30-years vinyl .

Why did you put 13" of foam on top and only 6" on the bottom of your
freezer? Should have done it the other way around as most of the cold will
tend to go out the bottom, not the top??

Well, if I stood the boat on its head, it would work out that way. However,
my boat, like all the others I've ever seen, expands outward from the keel,
not the other way around. Thus, the bottom is less wide than the top. I
built the box in a rectangle for more efficiency - so the exterior (all 5
other sides, of course, being inside the living space) insulation just
worked out that way :{))


If we share an anchorage some day, please make sure to anchor downwind of
me so I don't have to smell the 24/7 generator exhaust you probably need
for

Heh. Once again you conveniently forget all the solar and wind we have.
Our Honda 2000 gets only occasional use, such as when it's overcast and
still, and then, just to top up our 880 (not counting the start and windlass
batteries)AH bank, which has plenty of staying power for our systems, all of
which are extremely green (read, low draw).

all your myriad systems. But, do run them so I can visit and sample the
quality of your cold beer. LOL. I recall one time in the Bahamas where
some

Indeed. Our reefer is set for 32 (2° hysteresis), and my gatorade, next to
the spillover wall and in front of the fan, sometimes freezes - but the beer
and coke, not so much, just icy cold.

fellow on a 60-foot Beneteau was jealous because my beer was colder than
his. Mine had ice crystals form in the bottle when opened whereas his
didn't. At that time I had the sole lined with cases of beer. I had to
stoop to walk around but it wasn't all that long before I drank it all up
and could stand straight again. Beer in the Bahamas is just TOO EXPENSIVE
so a prudent sailor carries enough to meet his daily requirements for the
duration of the stay.

No kidding. 24s of even the island beer are mid-to-high $30s, and the US
brands are more than $2 a can in case lots.

We use our bathtub for the coke and beer supplies - about 4-5 months' worth
at our rate of consumption.

Coke's abominably priced in the Bahamas, too, but, if one stays out for
years at a time as we do, sometimes it's going to just have to be that we
pay the price!


Wilbur Hubbard


L8R

Skip, about to put on the last bit of fairing on the first round on the port
side...


--
Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
See our galleries at www.justpickone.org/skip/gallery !
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"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you
didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail
away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain