Month: July 2016

Sunday, July 31, Edgewater, MD – Several new things have occurred since my last update.  All good things and we are happy to have these upgrades installed and functional.  The first is the Lady’s exterior look with new canvas for the bridge.  She will also sport a brand new dingy/tender for the rack on her upper after deck.  Our electronics experts have been busy also, installing the new integrated command and control system.  Read on!!

We now have the new bridge canvas system installed.  The photo on the right is the Lady with her old white bordered canvas, and the one on the left is the new Navy Blue bordered canvas.  The new window panels are amazingly clear!!

The Lady’s new canvas totally wraps around the entire bridge section.  New access panels allow us to go out onto the top after deck where the tender/dingy and the davit are located.  For those of you who wonder, a davit is a crane that is mounted atop the yacht after deck that allows us to lower the tender/dingy from the deck over the edge and into the water along side or behind the yacht’s swim platform.  The picture on the left shows the davit, it is the long white arm showing just above the deck rail.  The black thing down on the rail is a weight with a closure hook to grab what ever you are going to life with the crane or davit.  The picture on the right shows a view of the after deck from the bridge and the metal rack where the tender/dingy will be tied down when it is hoisted aboard the Lady.  Just to the right in the photo, note the large metal rack.  This was placed on the yacht when it was being built.  It was designed to carry the Harley Davidson motorcycle the first owner had and wanted to make sure it was available at each and every port he visited.  The davit was used to hoist the Harley on and off the boat.  In the center of the picture on the right is the open hatch that leads down to the main salon.

These next photos are a view of the bridge as it is undergoing the upgrades for her electronics. These pictures are shots of the bridge helm station from port to starboard across the dashboard.  In the left picture is a shot of the integrated systems console, it has a protective cover over it but when underway, it will provide us with radar sweeps, voyage chart plots (works like the navigator system in your cars, but for the water), course headings, speeds, and depth beneath the keel (bottom of the boat).  Since our boat draws about four feet of water, and there are two large stabilizer fins on each side, we must always be aware of how much clearance we have above the bottom or any obstructions.  The systems console is a touch screen command unit.

In the center of the picture is the digital compass and next to that are two stacked units that make up the yacht’s auto-pilot.  The middle picture shows another view of the auto-pilot units and the white covered device just above the towel is the new digital radio with GPS and AIS interface.  The AIS paints the systems console with images of all boats within the range of the radar system and will inform us of what size, the speed and direction of those other boats.  Will help me steer clear of any hotshots with a jet boat and two six packs under his belt.  The third picture shows the radio, but it also includes an image of a teak slab where the old radiotelephone unit was mounted.  That was removed and trashed as well.  On the left side of the bridge next to the system console screen, is another teak mount where the old LORAN computer system once sat.  That unit was also scrapped and the teak mount will now be fitted with a rack to hold my big Keurig coffee maker. (A captain has to have his coffee ya know!).

The two photos below are shots of the starboard and port side of the Lady.  On the port side (has the work rack platform), note that the deck rails have been removed beneath the windows on that side.  Those windows showing above that missing rail were removed when they pulled the starboard engine out of the boat.  The yard technicians then replaced the window to keep rain out, but did not totally secure it, since it was expected that they would be taking it back out when the engine was ready to be reinstalled.

The other photo is a shot of the starboard side, showing the new canvas AND just below that is where the name boards will go when the graphics fellow has them read to be reinstalled.  Note the four dark dots, these are where the mounting bolts will go to hold the name board snug once reinstalled.  The name boards are Teak planks.  A good view of the galley windows is shown in this photo also note how large they are.  That is a good thing, because that is where they used a fork lift to remove the engine.

 

The satellite antenna system was also installed over Thursday and Friday of this past week, the electronic engineers strung cable for the television sets from the antenna mounted on the arch, down into the boat and to the entertainment center in the salon.  They also strung cable from the satellite desk top controller in the entertainment center to the TV position mounted in the salon and another cable run down to the master stateroom/cabin.  TV sets were mounted on the wall in both the salon and the master cabin as well.  Loose television sets are not a good thing when the yacht is underway.

A lot of progress on the livability aspects of the yacht were accomplished this week.  And yesterday, Saturday, the diesel engineer who is working on the port engine (the one that still worked) and he installed all new coolant hoses, a new impellor (pulls water into the boat to cool the engines), and was supposed to install a component in the fuel system.  He wanted to do a test to ensure that the fuel system component already installed was the problem.  Imagine, an engine mechanic who doesn’t install unneeded items just to raise the price!!!!

Okay, enough for today.  Tomorrow, Monday, I am hoping to go up to the ALBAN distributor to pick up the exhaust manifold and the parts kit.  The last two items were supposed to be in house Monday sometime.  I will then put them in my SUV, program the GPS system with the diesel guy’s address and then deliver the parts to his shop.  Where I will also look over my engine and get a commitment on delivery and reinstallation.

Have a good week, and keep watching this page.  More to come, we are starting to get into the active stage again and the 1st Mate, our two Sea Cats and the Skipper will be looking forward to finally getting to occupy our floating home.

 

Well, here we are nearing the end of July!  Today marks the end of the third week that we have been waiting for the engine to be prepared for reinstallation in the Misty Lady’s engine room.  Tuesday next, will mark the fourth week since the engine was removed from the boat, through the port windows.  Remember it was to take about two and a half weeks from removal to reinstallation!

The engine technician had contacted me early last week and said that he was having difficulty finding two exhaust manifold units to complete the engine.  He said that he had contacted a company who could forge a new set but it would be September before they would be ready.  Needless to say, I balked!  Unacceptable I told him.  No way were we going to stay in this hotel until September, simply was not going to happen.

I decided to expand the search for engine components, contact other folks to aid in the search along with my own efforts.  I then contacted Alban (which is a national Cat dealer).  One of the boat owners in the yacht center had mentioned that he allowed NO ONE but Alban to touch his diesels.  So, remembering that conversation, I contacted the local dealer.  Now remember that the diesel technicians working on the engine has quoted me from three weeks to two months to get those parts!  The Alban folks indicated that they could have the entire exhaust manifold kit in house for me to pick up within 5 to 8 days!!!  Guess what I did?  Yep, placed the order and got the dealer moving to help us get the parts in and the engine repaired.

Today the temperatures will stay in the high 90s and feel like the low 100s.  So the diesel technician who is taking care of our port engine will most likely NOT go aboard to work on the fuel system for the port engine.  I have asked him to be very cautious about working on the boat in this heat.   He probably will bag it and come back down during the coming week, if the temps cooperate.  Don’t want anyone suffering heat stroke!!

The bridge canvas and the bridge settee was supposed to be installed yesterday, Friday.  But I received a message from the canvas guy that they were 99.9 percent complete and would have the canvas ready for installation on Monday or Tuesday!  This aspect has also been a long running effort, started with just the rear canvas because of storm damage to those panels.  Then the winds and stormy weather continued to tear at the other canvase panels and ripping two more of the larger side panels with gaping holes.

I decided that it was silly to try to stick with the old canvas and ordered a full replacement around the entire bridge.  This also gave me the opportunity of going with a different color scheme.  The new canvas will be navy blue rather than white.  Bring about some color to the outside look of the Misty Lady.  When he does the installation, I will photograph the new canvas installation and post the photos.

The graphics company has been working on the new name graphic for the Misty Lady.  We expect those to be ready shortly.  We will hopefully coordinate that for when the Lady is returned to the water.  Then we will have the renaming ceremony where we pour champagne over the bow sprit to offer Neptune a glass and beseech him for fair winds and calm seas for our seafaring travels.

We have already charted out first voyage, once we have returned the Lady to her home port.  We will be headed down to the area called Hampton Roads and visiting ports in Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk.  Then several voyages on the Potomac to various historical spots in the interim.  Next spring (late spring of course) we will point the Layd’s bows toward the north and visit Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island.

Want to come along?

 

 

No, the engine is not back in the boat, the mechanic is still working on it as the components come back from the outside specialists.  But we are making progress, while forward progress is slow, we are moving forward consistently.  The big hurdle is completing the build out of the starboard engine and its reinstallation in the Lady’s engine room.  Once that has been accomplished, the Lady will go back into the water for a sea trial to shake the new engine down and ensure that all is well with it.  We will leave her in the water and move into a maintenance slip for the rest of our stay at the Gingerville Yacht Center.

The Port Engine diesel guy has informed us that things look promising with regard to his tasks and the engine looks well situated.  We also asked him to replace the water pump impellor (it is on the bulkhead side of the engine and difficult to get to) and he is also going to replace all of the hoses to ensure that we have no mishaps with cooling hoses on our voyage home.  In order for the mechanic to access those areas, we will have to remove the galley settee to open the third hatch in the galley floor.  Which means the yacht center crew will have to pull the settee up and cut the covering fiberglass that is over the hatch.  So, for the time that the port engine is being serviced, we will have three large square holes in our galley floor!  Ain’t life grand?

All of our new appliances have been shipped and arrived!  They are currently being stored in the yacht center’s warehouse until the engine work has been completed and the galley floors have been restored (hatches reinstalled).

Most of you have read of my ranting regarding responsiveness of the folks who do the majority of our work to refit the Lady into our vision for her eventual look.  But we have had some really great interactions from some, certainly our electronics guy for one.  He is always responsive and does a timely and efficient installation and check out of any work he does for us.  Tomorrow, Friday the 15th, he will come down to the center and begin the process of installing and check out of the new digital yacht control system with integrates our GPS, Charting, Radar, AIS, VHF Radio and depth sounders into one comprehensive system.  He will also install our satellite television antenna system so that when we are ready to move on board, the old Captain and his First Mate will not have to miss any more PGA golf tournaments.  Other folks have also been timely and exceptional in their responsiveness.

Obviously I can’t say enough about the yacht center’s crew of specialists.  They are always ready and willing to go the extra mile to ensure that the Lady is not wanting for anything from their perspective.

The diesel fuel in the Lady’s tanks had been in there for several years and was in need of “polishing” which is a term for filtering the fuel, agitating the fuel tanks and restoring the fuel to almost new fresh from the pump status, ergo the “polishing”.  The company that was contacted to do this task called me back and scheduled an appointment (HORRORS. an actual appointment?) for 10 am on Thursday last week.  At 10 am exactly, they arrived and began their work.  Within a couple of hours, the approximately 300 gallons of diesel had been restored and my fuel tank was clean of any pollutants or particulates.  YOWZA that’s what I am talking about.  Can you imagine having to remove that much diesel and properly disposed of it, THEN having to fill the tanks with new fuel?  Performing this diesel “polishing” was a true fuel saver for us.  Lucky for us we only have to pump in about 200 gallons when we start our voyage home.  Great service, professional demeanor, good job.

So based on that bit of good news, here is a funny happening regarding appliances for marine environments.  The electric stove and dishwasher were removed when the boat was being prepared to pull  the starboard engine and they were placed beneath the boat for storage, a large tarp was laid across them to protect from the elements.

Once the new appliances were delivered and stored in readiness, I decided it was time to get rid of the old stove and dishwasher.  The refrigerator has already been given to one of the yacht center crew.   There is a business entity here in this Annapolis suburb area that deals in consignment of boating equipment that the owners no longer want or need.  This business basically takes in the items (sails, lines, power cords, you name it, they might have it).  Rather than send the stove and dishwasher to the local landfill, it was thought that this consignment operation might be a place to take these items and let someone else get some use out of them for a very, very cheap price.  So, I called these folks today and described what I had and that any price was acceptable because I really would rather see them reused than trashed.  They did not want the dishwasher at all, but then I described the stove as a three burner, electric marine stove.  The man on the phone said certainly, bring the item down and they has someone who could take it off the truck for me (my yacht broker loaned his large pickup truck).

A small note, today was in the high nineties and low one hundreds in temp and 80 or so for humidity, altogether a pretty crappy day to be out and about period.

I drove the stove over to the store, a member of the staff came out to the truck to look it over.  Then they told me that they only handled propane stoves, so they couldn’t take my electric stove…..  Bear in mind the old man has been out in the sun, heat and humidity for several hours at that point.  So after a few choice sentences, I closed (gently) the tailgate on the pickup truck and left that establishment.  Need I say that I shall never darken their doors again?

Upon arriving at the yacht center and parking near the Lady, I didn’t see anyone around who could help me with removing the stove from the truck, so, with the use of a boat hook I pulled the stove up to the tailgate and then shoved it off and onto the concrete.  Guess it goes to the landfill now, huh?

Now one other little thing and I will let you go, as you may know our yacht came with a davit (marine lifting crane) and a dingy with an 8 horsepower Honda outboard motor.  I noted that the dingy did not have a cover and was exposed to the elements.  I bought a boat cover and an air pump and decided to cover the boat from these rainstorms.  Turned out there was a lot of old water standing in it, the wooden floor had been water damaged and the float sides were showing leakage of the air.  I asked the yacht center crew to remove the boat and check out the Honda engine, since it had been laying in the bottom of the water filled boat.

Turned out the motor was just fine, it started with the first pull of the starter cord.  The boat itself however, was not so lucky. After taking the dingy to an inflatable boat dealer/repair show, it was shown to have a trashed transom and between that piece of wood and the floor, plus the labor involved in finding and repairing the four pin holes in the outer sections, the bill was just under 1500 dollars.

There was a new inflatable dingy in the showroom, that was the right size to replace our old damaged boat.  The guy sold it to me for just about what it would have cost (estimated) for repairing the old boat and we would have a new dingy for the Lady.  Made perfect sense to me and as a result, the Misty Lady has a brand new dingy with an integrated floor (no more plywood floor to get damaged), plus it has a warranty on the boat and all the attachments.

Yeppers, a new boat will rest in the cradle atop the Misty Lady!

We had a recommendation for a person to come to the Lady and reupholster the settee in the dining section of the galley.  His name was Captain Canvas and he was reputed to be quite the character!  Well, he missed our first appointment on Saturday, and called to apologize, saying he would be at the boat on Monday morning.  After hanging around until after noon. I bagged it, telling the center owner that I was done with this guy.  Turned out two days later, the yacht center guy who operates the huge TravelLift told me that Captain had committed suicide that Sunday.  Oh great, now I felt really bad for all the rotten thoughts I had been thinking about his lack of attending.

Still rather unsettled over this, everyone was surprised saying that he was a strange person, a bit weird but a nice guy and very talented.  One just never knows, do one?

Okay enough for now, we are hoping to have the new bridge canvas installed next week and the engine returned and installed next week and the sea trials done, finishing up with the reinstallation of the galley furniture ad the installation of the new appliances.  THEN the Captain, the First Mate and the two Sea Cats will board the yacht and settle in.  We will still be in this area for a while but will be out of the hotel and on our own yacht home!

Fingers Crossed?  Thanks

 

 

 

On Tuesday this week, the diesel mechanic showed up with a sack of tools and an A-frame to begin hoisting the engine out of it’s mounts in the bottom of our boat.  He had a long trailer attached to his truck and gave me the impression that he might be leaving the trailer in place and removing the engine in actuality on a different day.

The focus he said was to get the top parts off to allow the engine to slip through the window of the galley. and then to lift it up and out of the engine bay.  The picture below shows the engine on the A Frame and note that it is out of the hole!

As you can see, by comparing the engine to the large mechanic who pulled it, the Cat Diesel is a rather large engine.  At the back of the engine, is the transmission.  A friend said that the transmission looked awfully small for such a large engine and boat.  I reminded him that the thing only had two gears, forward and reverse.  D’oh

I spoke with the mechanic at the time of this picture and was given to believe that it might not be removed that day.  Said more work needed to be done before takin it out of the boat!  I left the yard and worked on some other tasks (no not another phone thingy).  Later that afternoon, I drove back to the yacht center and as I drove down the hill into the yard and noted the mechanic’s truck backing up from the hill road, out of the center.  When I got to the bottom of the hill, I pulled over and spoke with two of the center folks asking what he was doing.  They told me that they had already pulled the engine out of my boat, loaded it and the new one I bought on his trailer.  He couldn’t make the hill climb the first try and was backing up to get a better running start.  See with TWO diesel engines on the trailer, along with heads, and other misc components, his truck just didn’t have enough power to move that load up the hill.  On the second try, he made it to the top and my engines were on their way to the guy’s shop.  There he will send some components out to be scanned and evaluated as to whether they are still viable and can be returned to service on the new engine, or if not, they will have to be replaced.  So, because I was not aware that it was coming out, I missed some truly exciting photos of this process.  BUT, you can bet your bippy, that I will be standing there with both my phone camera and m big Canon camera.

At this point we are expecting approximately a two week period until the engines are returned with the new one to be reinstalled and the old one to be sent off to the company we bought the new engine from to receive a refund of my 2,500 dollar “core” charge.

Also, the diesel fuel that had been in the fuel tank for around 7 years was to be polished and prepared for our new engines and our initial voyage home to the DC waterfront.  The fuel service company had scheduled a time of 9 am on Thursday.  Naturally, my inclination following weeks of minimal commitment by contractors, was to disbelieve them.  Funny thing, at 9 am exactly the guys showed up with their trailer and equipment.  They went straight to work and ran my fuel through their system three times, each time getting the fuel more clear and clean.  The entire process tool slightly over an hour and the cost was the smallest fee I have paid yet!  What a day?

The yacht center crew also removed our dingy from the upper after deck and cleaned it up/  The took the Honda outboard engine into their shop to check it for ability to start and run/  The photo below is a picture of the outboard engine on a work rack without the engine cover.  Turns out with all the exposure to rain and wind, that little Honda engine started right up, after they pulled the plugs and cleaned them.

The cover is on the bench right behind the engine.  The floor wood of the dingy was not so lucky.  It was significantly water damaged and will need to be replaced.  Not a costly thing however.

The yacht center crew also started the process of treating the bottom of the boat in preparation to apply two coats of anti-fouling paint.  This will keep those pesky sea critters from attaching themselves to the boat and making a meal out of the paint.

The new washer and dryer have arrived and will be installed as soon as the technicians can get to them and on board the Lady.  Some structural modifications will be required to install these two appliances since the boat was not originally designed for this type of appliance combination.

Then once the engine has been reinstalled, the yard crew will replace the floor panels  install a fiberglass repair to stabilize the panel insertion, we will begin the process of preparing the Lady to receive her owners and the two sea cats.  The yard crew will reinstall the galley cabinet, the new stove, dishwasher and refrigerator in the galley.  We will then install a new granite countertop on the galley cabinet.  The bottom painting will be completed during this phase.

At that point we will then hoist the yacht with the huge Travelift and put her back into the water.  The picture below shows our new GMC Terrain Denali but in the background you can see the actual Travelift.  It is a huge blue beast.

Those big straps will be placed under the Lady’s hull and she will be lifted up into the air and then moved over to the “haul out” slip and lowered back into the waters.  She will be very happy to return to her natural habitat and so will WE!!

Another good thing that happened this week is that the graphics people sent us final proofs for the name plate and the stern name graphics for our new name.  So shortly her old name will be permanently removed and her new legal name will be posted for all to see and marvel in awe.

Our new bridge canvas is scheduled to be delivered and installed around the 15th of July and the Misty Lady will begin to shine under her new color scheme of White and Navy Blue.

We still have some decorative things to accomplish but these can be done while we are back living aboard.  The owner of the yacht center has reserved a slip for us that has a good side finger pier and access to the stern which will accommodate the movement of items from the shore to the boat along with all of our personal belongings.  AND most important, the coffee pot!

More to come as things progress.  We are looking at a sea trial to evaluate the new engines and some refresher lessons for the old man (new lesson for Char) on piloting a yacht of this size.  We will learn how to use the engines rather than a rudder to move into a slip and most daringly, up to the fuel dock for taking on new supplies of diesel.

Stay tuned for these upcoming events, should be interesting.

 

 

Well quite a few things have happened with the Misty Lady since our last posting.  Let me bring you up to date.

First, the saga of the IPhone.  I am now using IPhone number 4 since I purchased the first one at the beginning of May.  I know, what the heck right?  Anyway, phone number one suffered a cracked face when I was talking with the yacht center manager and a boat owner brushed by me heading into the office.  My IPhone was bumped out of my hand and wouldn’t you know, instead of landing on the protected back, it fell face down on the gravel lot.  CRACKED face lens,,,,

I foolishly took it to the Verizon store, expecting that they would immediately replace this new phone (paid 700 dollars for it).  Was told that I had to file a claim with the insurance company, Assurian.  Suffice to say a lot of back and forth, a remanufactured IPhone from the insurance company (was a piece of trash), and finally the acquisition of a new phone from the Apple store and their protection program ensued.  During this process I let the phone store manager know that they were in danger of losing a 35 year customer.  Since he was less than 35 years it evidently didn’t matter to him.

The replacement phone sent to me by the Verizon insurance program insurer was a REMANUFACTURERED device, not a new phone.  So I paid them 199 dollars as the difference requirement (the phone wasn’t worth the deductible amount actually).  I gave them a phone that was less than two weeks old and they gave me a piece of garbage with a failing internal component.

Now, I am on IPhone number 3 at this point!!!  When the Yacht management indicated that we would haul the Misty Lady out and put her “on blocks” for the major tasks of removing and replacing our starboard engine, the yacht broker and I began the process of removing the lines, disconnecting the shore power and preparing to drive the boat out of the slip and into the haul out slip.  While coming down the ladder on the afterdeck to get to the swim platform and remove the stern lines, I head a clunk noise and turned in time to see new IPhone number 3 bounce once and drop into the water off the stern of the Lady.

Was I upset?  Of course.  A thousand dollar’s worth of phone (not counting the original 700 for the first phone, was just swimming down toward the bottom of the slip.  YIKES!  Well you can imagine my consternation!!  Had a couple of cards (not credit cards thankfully) in the phone cover (nice well constructed leather case).  After we got the boat out and on blocks, I left to see what Apple was going to do for me.  NOTHING unless I brought them the phone!  Seriously?  The fact that I informed him that the phone was in the water?  Said he needed the phone, no matter what it’s condition was.

I purchased an ultra cheap phone at the Verizon store and I noted the store manager stayed very far away from me.  I didn’t realize I was that angry but I guess it showed.  One of the folks at the yacht center saw the new phone and asked about the Apple IPhone.  When I told him the story, he said surely I wasn’t going to just leave the phone in the water.  Told him that I really wasn’t ready to go swimming looking for that phone.  He then introduced me to the benefits of DIVERS!!!

Gave me a phone number and when I called the guy actually came out that day!  Wonders!  We now refer to him as Diver Dude.  He pulled out his equipment, put on his wet suit, tossed a “bell” anchor into the water at the spot I indicated the phone went in.  He then put on the air mask and jumped in the water.  After about five minutes, he started to surface and I though that he couldn’t find it when he actually popped out of the water and slapped my IPhone on the dock beside me.  YEA!!!  I wrote him a check for 150 dollars and took my soaked phone back to Apple.  They actually gave me a brand new phone and helped me set it up.  I had to take it back to Verizon to get the phone number reset from the cheap throwaway phone to the new IPhone and I was back in business. Now am using IPhone number FOUR!!  Four IPhones within less than a month.  Should have stayed with my old standby Android Samsung units!  But also, now I know that if I ever get another cracked phone screen, I will go to Staples and pay them the fee to replace the screen instead of paying hundreds upon hundreds for a series of new phones.

But thanks to Diver Dude, we are back in business with our IPhone and IPad duo.

More later about the boat, but folks were telling me that I should relate the IPhone experience!  Really?