Neal will chortle and others will shake their heads...

This isn't a log, just a snippet. I haven't written a log in months, out of
disgust and frustration, not to mention lack of motivation.

This is a reply to friends in Georgetown, who say the bunch there misses us:


I just can't tell you how distressing this past 15 months has been.

Every time we move the boat, some gamestopper breaks.

On the way to our mechanic in Stuart (ICW, yuck, run from Vero), our 4-154
FWater pump gave up the ghost, leaking coolant until it got down to that
level, which resulted in overheating.

Limped in, docked, plugged in, mechanic did his work and broke a line
getting it off; workaround achieved, and 8 days later, we're back in
business. In addition, while we were stuck, I found 3 sources of
NEW-from-Perkins, in stock, no-problem water pumps, where the word on the
street had been that they were unobtainium. All set for when we get back to
Vero.

Not so fast, bucko.

Our 4 L16HC batterie$ gave up the gho$t at the dock, and will no longer hold
a charge overnight. PS our new $ea Fro$t refrigeration is struggling, too,
maybe batteries, maybe the water pump with gunge from our grounding.
Cleaned out the filter, backwashed the line, bled the pump, restart.
Batteries, I sincerely hope, because I don't think I can deal with
refrigeration again so soon (total replacement after 4 months of
troubleshooting, etc. and 10 weeks of fiddling to get this one installed and
set up right, including 2 replacement temp probes, starting over on the
evaporator plates, and a replacement constant pressure valve - the only
significant component not replaced was the compressor, from NEW).

We sailed on staysail alone (did I mention that the furler line failed on
the last trip; new line is waiting for us ashore today) to Ft. Pierce where
we went aground in the channel under Causeway Island. Lots of shifting sand
in there, apparently.

No problem, we were going to get a tow to Vero, anyway; let's just do it
now. TBUS arrives, we're immediately under way (very soft grounding), and
30 minutes into it comes the NOAA 40kt/tornado interruption on the VHF.
Around we turn, and back to the anchorage, scheduling for the next day.

Which went well, until we got to our mooring where we'd left the dinghy to
assure it was available, on the advice of staff, $till paying for it, and
found someone else tied to the mooring with our dink streaming next to it.

No biggie but we had to go forward, secure to an open mooring there, get a
ride to the boat behind us, remove our mooring line from their boat and the
mooring and install theirs, remove our dinghy and returned home. Whether we
can browbeat the staff into abating the rent for that time remains to be
seen; that was a preferable float and a preferable location, so to require
us to pay for the space when we couldn't have it would only add insult to
injury to our gymnastics required.

And that was just yesterday; the entire 15 months has been like that.

See you as soon as we can, but likely not until next season...


This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.

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

When a man comes to like a sea life, he is not fit to live on land.
- Dr. Samuel Johnson

On 3/31/2014 6:34 AM, Flying Pig wrote:

This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.


No, it's worse than that. It pulls all the joy out of the experience
because it morphs a sail or cruise into a Sisyphean Labor.

I never had nearly the issues you guys have had but had one near
experience. My BG autopilot died within an hour of leaving Narraganset.
I returned to get it fixed. It died again maybe 200 miles south while
far out at sea. When I put in, I tried to get it fixed but no fixes
seemed to 'take'.

I ended up replacing the entire unit which failed again within hours. At
that point I gave up on it and decided to make do w/o an autopilot which
was annoying for me, a singlehander, but putting the issue behind me
allowed me to enjoy the time at sea w/o fretting over broken boat parts.

After 1.5 years sailing, I sold the boat and now, if I ever return to
the seas, it will be on a bare bones boat lacking most of the systems
which even can break. After all, things like rigging maintenance is
enough w/o adding another 3 layers of complexity.

I don't think I even want pressure water.

-paul

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 08:34:06 -0400, "Flying Pig"
wrote:

Neal will chortle and others will shake their heads...

Indeed! Skippy, you manage to lend veracity to all
my dire predictions about you.

This isn't a log, just a snippet. I haven't written a log in months, out of
disgust and frustration, not to mention lack of motivation.

This is a reply to friends in Georgetown, who say the bunch there misses us:

You? Miss you? Ha ha! I doubt it. Nobody wants to see a hairy old man
playing volleyball. The probably miss seeing your hawt wife in her
bikini! ;-)

I just can't tell you how distressing this past 15 months has been.

Yes, life ashore is a real pain in the butt. It's like living in
a madhouse.

Every time we move the boat, some gamestopper breaks.

That's your own fault. You just won't listen to me when I tell
you that you have too many systems that make you a slave to them.

On the way to our mechanic in Stuart (ICW, yuck, run from Vero), our 4-154
FWater pump gave up the ghost, leaking coolant until it got down to that
level, which resulted in overheating.

You should always carry a spare.

Limped in, docked, plugged in, mechanic did his work and broke a line
getting it off; workaround achieved, and 8 days later, we're back in
business. In addition, while we were stuck, I found 3 sources of
NEW-from-Perkins, in stock, no-problem water pumps, where the word on the
street had been that they were unobtainium. All set for when we get back to
Vero.

Not so fast, bucko.

Our 4 L16HC batterie$ gave up the gho$t at the dock, and will no longer hold
a charge overnight.

Batteries are like that. Replace them every three years and replace
them as a group. Don't buy anything but old-fashioned, flooded, deep-
cycle 12V marine batteries. Case size 24 or 27. Nothing larger. Derive
your amperage capacity from getting as many as you require. In your
case, probably about 12 case size 24 or 10 case size 27.

PS our new $ea Fro$t refrigeration is struggling, too,
maybe batteries, maybe the water pump with gunge from our grounding.

I TOLD you not to get Sea Frost brand as it's a POS. Throw it all
overboard and get an Adler Barbour air cooled unit. In your case
you probably need two of them. It's a simple system and quite
efficient. Mine's been working like a champ now for over two years
since I fixed a hole in the tubing going into the evaporator with
electrical tape.

Cleaned out the filter, backwashed the line, bled the pump, restart.
Batteries, I sincerely hope, because I don't think I can deal with
refrigeration again so soon (total replacement after 4 months of
troubleshooting, etc. and 10 weeks of fiddling to get this one installed and
set up right, including 2 replacement temp probes, starting over on the
evaporator plates, and a replacement constant pressure valve - the only
significant component not replaced was the compressor, from NEW).

Throw it all overboard. You'll be shocked at how good it makes you
feel. Go with a couple brand new air-cooled Adler Barbours.

We sailed on staysail alone (did I mention that the furler line failed on
the last trip; new line is waiting for us ashore today) to Ft. Pierce where
we went aground in the channel under Causeway Island. Lots of shifting sand
in there, apparently.

Haven't I told you many times to lose the wind-up sails. They are an
accident waiting to happen just because they are more complicated.
Isn't it bad enough that they are unreliable compared to hank-ons but
worse yet, they are also less efficient/

No problem, we were going to get a tow to Vero, anyway; let's just do it
now. TBUS arrives, we're immediately under way (very soft grounding), and
30 minutes into it comes the NOAA 40kt/tornado interruption on the VHF.
Around we turn, and back to the anchorage, scheduling for the next day.

Which went well, until we got to our mooring where we'd left the dinghy to
assure it was available, on the advice of staff, $till paying for it, and
found someone else tied to the mooring with our dink streaming next to it.

So many stupid and rude, so-called sailors these days. I'd have simply
cut them loose.

No biggie but we had to go forward, secure to an open mooring there, get a
ride to the boat behind us, remove our mooring line from their boat and the
mooring and install theirs, remove our dinghy and returned home. Whether we
can browbeat the staff into abating the rent for that time remains to be
seen; that was a preferable float and a preferable location, so to require
us to pay for the space when we couldn't have it would only add insult to
injury to our gymnastics required.

Next time just set them free since they were tied up using your lines.
They were trespassing and deserve no consideration.

And that was just yesterday; the entire 15 months has been like that.

You're too passive, Skippy. People will **** all over you until
you grow some gonads. You've got to take charge of your life.
You've got to simplify. You are frustrated because you went sailing
for the simple life but somehow you managed to never divest yourself
of the complications. Instead, you managed to bring them all aboard.


--
Sir Gregory

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:28:15 -0600, slide wrote:

On 3/31/2014 6:34 AM, Flying Pig wrote:

This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.


No, it's worse than that. It pulls all the joy out of the experience
because it morphs a sail or cruise into a Sisyphean Labor.

I never had nearly the issues you guys have had but had one near
experience. My BG autopilot died within an hour of leaving Narraganset.
I returned to get it fixed. It died again maybe 200 miles south while
far out at sea. When I put in, I tried to get it fixed but no fixes
seemed to 'take'.

I ended up replacing the entire unit which failed again within hours. At
that point I gave up on it and decided to make do w/o an autopilot which
was annoying for me, a singlehander, but putting the issue behind me
allowed me to enjoy the time at sea w/o fretting over broken boat parts.

After 1.5 years sailing, I sold the boat and now, if I ever return to
the seas, it will be on a bare bones boat lacking most of the systems
which even can break. After all, things like rigging maintenance is
enough w/o adding another 3 layers of complexity.

I don't think I even want pressure water.


Excellent advice, Skippy. Listen to the man. He's
got it figured out. An old-fashioned, mechanical
wind-actuated, steering vane is more reliable than
modern electric autopilots. But, if you are using
electric autopilots ship no fewer than two replace-
ments, preferably three.

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:42:37 -0400, "Sir Gregory Hall, Esq."
wrote:

Our 4 L16HC batterie$ gave up the gho$t at the dock, and will no longer hold
a charge overnight.

Batteries are like that. Replace them every three years and replace
them as a group. Don't buy anything but old-fashioned, flooded, deep-
cycle 12V marine batteries. Case size 24 or 27. Nothing larger. Derive
your amperage capacity from getting as many as you require. In your
case, probably about 12 case size 24 or 10 case size 27.


===

Not good advice in my experience. We're having really good service
out of a set of Trojan T-145 heavy duty golf cart batteries. They
cost more of course but are much better than the standard Trojans and
infinitely better than the Sam's Club variety. We are now at year 5
and they are still going strong.

====
PS our new $ea Fro$t refrigeration is struggling, too,
maybe batteries, maybe the water pump with gunge from our grounding.

===


I TOLD you not to get Sea Frost brand as it's a POS. Throw it all
overboard and get an Adler Barbour air cooled unit. In your case
you probably need two of them. It's a simple system and quite
efficient. Mine's been working like a champ now for over two years
since I fixed a hole in the tubing going into the evaporator with
electrical tape.

===

I agree with that. We have two independent A-Bs which I installed
myself. I carry everything I need to service them including gage
set, vacuum pump, leak checker and extra R-134a. One of the units
has never needed service. The second one had a hairline crack at the
quick disconnect fitting which was probably my fault. Once
discovered, I re-soldered it, and has been trouble free since. We
also have an Engel chest type fridge/freezer depending on settings. It
runs on either 110AC or 12 volt DC whith automatic fail over. It's a
great unit which will keep Hagen Daz ice cream frozen at sub zero.

====


Throw it all overboard. You'll be shocked at how good it makes you
feel. Go with a couple brand new air-cooled Adler Barbours.

===

Skip, check your GMAIL.

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 15:13:56 -0400, Wayne.B
wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:42:37 -0400, "Sir Gregory Hall, Esq."
wrote:

Our 4 L16HC batterie$ gave up the gho$t at the dock, and will no longer hold
a charge overnight.

Batteries are like that. Replace them every three years and replace
them as a group. Don't buy anything but old-fashioned, flooded, deep-
cycle 12V marine batteries. Case size 24 or 27. Nothing larger. Derive
your amperage capacity from getting as many as you require. In your
case, probably about 12 case size 24 or 10 case size 27

===

Not good advice in my experience. We're having really good service
out of a set of Trojan T-145 heavy duty golf cart batteries. They
cost more of course but are much better than the standard Trojans and
infinitely better than the Sam's Club variety. We are now at year 5
and they are still going strong.

Six-volt Trojans are good batteries and they do tend to last a year or
two than your garden variety 12V deep cycle battery but they aren't
cheap compared to the same amount of 12 V amperage. If you've gotten
five years out of them, count your blessings and recycle them
into a new set BEFORE they start going on the fritz.


====
PS our new $ea Fro$t refrigeration is struggling, too,
maybe batteries, maybe the water pump with gunge from our grounding.

===


I TOLD you not to get Sea Frost brand as it's a POS. Throw it all
overboard and get an Adler Barbour air cooled unit. In your case
you probably need two of them. It's a simple system and quite
efficient. Mine's been working like a champ now for over two years
since I fixed a hole in the tubing going into the evaporator with
electrical tape.

===

I agree with that. We have two independent A-Bs which I installed
myself. I carry everything I need to service them including gage
set, vacuum pump, leak checker and extra R-134a. One of the units
has never needed service. The second one had a hairline crack at the
quick disconnect fitting which was probably my fault. Once
discovered, I re-soldered it, and has been trouble free since. We
also have an Engel chest type fridge/freezer depending on settings. It
runs on either 110AC or 12 volt DC whith automatic fail over. It's a
great unit which will keep Hagen Daz ice cream frozen at sub zero.

Good for you - you're prepared. Here's something to remember. If one
or the other units starts to act up as in constantly cycling off and
on, and running fast as if the fan and not the compresser is working
and the voltage indicates little or no draw and the evaporator barely
gets cold, then check the gas pressure and if it's right then the
chances are great that one or more of the spade connectors on the
computerized connection block are making a poor connection. Poor
connections can even result it it not starting at all or starting and
running for a short while and then stopping for hours. You might even
feel a lot of heat on one or more of the spade connectors which will
be due to high resistance ane/or arching.

Make a color-doded connection chart and then remove all the
connections. Clean both the male and female side with contact
cleaner (acetone). Crimp the female side a little tighter and,
using some dielectric lube slide them back together. They will
need to feel very tight. This procedure will probably be the
cure.

It cured all my oddball problems which I had assumed to be due
to too much or too little R134a. Turns out that, when running,
7-10 psi on the suction side works great. At 10 psi the copper
tubing commences to feel a little cold about two feet from the
compressor just about where it goes into the insulated sleeve
and the amperage draw goes up half an amp or so but the box
cools faster and more so it's worth it.

I'm convinced that if one has refrigeration one must be able
to caretake it in house. But, all told, the cold beers on a
hot day without having to get ice makes it well worth it.

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:52:25 -0400, "Sir Gregory Hall, Esq."
wrote:

On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:28:15 -0600, slide wrote:

On 3/31/2014 6:34 AM, Flying Pig wrote:

This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.


No, it's worse than that. It pulls all the joy out of the experience
because it morphs a sail or cruise into a Sisyphean Labor.

I never had nearly the issues you guys have had but had one near
experience. My BG autopilot died within an hour of leaving Narraganset.
I returned to get it fixed. It died again maybe 200 miles south while
far out at sea. When I put in, I tried to get it fixed but no fixes
seemed to 'take'.

I ended up replacing the entire unit which failed again within hours. At
that point I gave up on it and decided to make do w/o an autopilot which
was annoying for me, a singlehander, but putting the issue behind me
allowed me to enjoy the time at sea w/o fretting over broken boat parts.

After 1.5 years sailing, I sold the boat and now, if I ever return to
the seas, it will be on a bare bones boat lacking most of the systems
which even can break. After all, things like rigging maintenance is
enough w/o adding another 3 layers of complexity.

I don't think I even want pressure water.


Excellent advice, Skippy. Listen to the man. He's
got it figured out. An old-fashioned, mechanical
wind-actuated, steering vane is more reliable than
modern electric autopilots. But, if you are using
electric autopilots ship no fewer than two replace-
ments, preferably three.


An even better suggestion is to do as some do. Simply anchor the boat
and never go anywhere. Eliminate all the minor giggles like running
aground, furling lines breaking, etc. The only thing he would have to
worry about would be the ezy-boy recliner breaking.
--
Cheers,

Bruce in Bangkok

On Tue, 01 Apr 2014 06:57:35 +0700, Bruce in Bangkok
wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 12:52:25 -0400, "Sir Gregory Hall, Esq."
wrote:
On Mon, 31 Mar 2014 07:28:15 -0600, slide wrote:
On 3/31/2014 6:34 AM, Flying Pig wrote:

This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.

No, it's worse than that. It pulls all the joy out of the experience
because it morphs a sail or cruise into a Sisyphean Labor.

I never had nearly the issues you guys have had but had one near
experience. My BG autopilot died within an hour of leaving Narraganset.
I returned to get it fixed. It died again maybe 200 miles south while
far out at sea. When I put in, I tried to get it fixed but no fixes
seemed to 'take'.

I ended up replacing the entire unit which failed again within hours. At
that point I gave up on it and decided to make do w/o an autopilot which
was annoying for me, a singlehander, but putting the issue behind me
allowed me to enjoy the time at sea w/o fretting over broken boat parts.

After 1.5 years sailing, I sold the boat and now, if I ever return to
the seas, it will be on a bare bones boat lacking most of the systems
which even can break. After all, things like rigging maintenance is
enough w/o adding another 3 layers of complexity.

I don't think I even want pressure water.

Excellent advice, Skippy. Listen to the man. He's
got it figured out. An old-fashioned, mechanical
wind-actuated, steering vane is more reliable than
modern electric autopilots. But, if you are using
electric autopilots ship no fewer than two replace-
ments, preferably three.

An even better suggestion is to do as some do. Simply anchor the boat
and never go anywhere. Eliminate all the minor giggles like running
aground, furling lines breaking, etc. The only thing he would have to
worry about would be the ezy-boy recliner breaking.

Says, Bruce at the Bangkok dock (for twenty years) - the voice of
experience.

I've sailed many a mile already this year. No fuss and no muss.
Nothing but enjoying the perfection that is my fine yacht and
my finely-honed sailing skills to match.

Few things are more enjoyable than short, coastal sailing trips
and anchoring out for a night or two in the wilderness.

--
Sir Gregory

On Monday, March 31, 2014 5:34:06 AM UTC-7, Flying Pig wrote:
Neal will chortle and others will shake their heads...



This isn't a log, just a snippet. I haven't written a log in months, out of

disgust and frustration, not to mention lack of motivation.



This is a reply to friends in Georgetown, who say the bunch there misses us:





I just can't tell you how distressing this past 15 months has been.



Every time we move the boat, some gamestopper breaks.



On the way to our mechanic in Stuart (ICW, yuck, run from Vero), our 4-154

FWater pump gave up the ghost, leaking coolant until it got down to that

level, which resulted in overheating.



Limped in, docked, plugged in, mechanic did his work and broke a line

getting it off; workaround achieved, and 8 days later, we're back in

business. In addition, while we were stuck, I found 3 sources of

NEW-from-Perkins, in stock, no-problem water pumps, where the word on the

street had been that they were unobtainium. All set for when we get back to

Vero.



Not so fast, bucko.



Our 4 L16HC batterie$ gave up the gho$t at the dock, and will no longer hold

a charge overnight. PS our new $ea Fro$t refrigeration is struggling, too,

maybe batteries, maybe the water pump with gunge from our grounding.

Cleaned out the filter, backwashed the line, bled the pump, restart.

Batteries, I sincerely hope, because I don't think I can deal with

refrigeration again so soon (total replacement after 4 months of

troubleshooting, etc. and 10 weeks of fiddling to get this one installed and

set up right, including 2 replacement temp probes, starting over on the

evaporator plates, and a replacement constant pressure valve - the only

significant component not replaced was the compressor, from NEW).



We sailed on staysail alone (did I mention that the furler line failed on

the last trip; new line is waiting for us ashore today) to Ft. Pierce where

we went aground in the channel under Causeway Island. Lots of shifting sand

in there, apparently.



No problem, we were going to get a tow to Vero, anyway; let's just do it

now. TBUS arrives, we're immediately under way (very soft grounding), and

30 minutes into it comes the NOAA 40kt/tornado interruption on the VHF.

Around we turn, and back to the anchorage, scheduling for the next day.



Which went well, until we got to our mooring where we'd left the dinghy to

assure it was available, on the advice of staff, $till paying for it, and

found someone else tied to the mooring with our dink streaming next to it.



No biggie but we had to go forward, secure to an open mooring there, get a

ride to the boat behind us, remove our mooring line from their boat and the

mooring and install theirs, remove our dinghy and returned home. Whether we

can browbeat the staff into abating the rent for that time remains to be

seen; that was a preferable float and a preferable location, so to require

us to pay for the space when we couldn't have it would only add insult to

injury to our gymnastics required.



And that was just yesterday; the entire 15 months has been like that.



See you as soon as we can, but likely not until next season...





This, too will pass, but it's very tire$ome.



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



When a man comes to like a sea life, he is not fit to live on land.

- Dr. Samuel Johnson

All in a days work. Sorry to year of your problem. it seems they have a way of ganging up on you especially when you least expect them to.

Concerning 'unobtanium' parts. I tell people, "well, somebody's got them" But it still comes down to 'seek and ye shall find' There's no magic wand to wave and have them instantly materialize.

Yes tiresome, but probably worth it in the long run...