New Home

Big news in Koan-land! We've found a slip in Santa Barbara, and moved there from Channel Islands Harbor. In a big way, Koan has come home!

I didn't know whether there was an inspection coming up during this move. CIH Patrol did inspect Shadow Line when I put her into one of their slips, so I considered it a distinct possibility. Thus I decided I'd better be prepared and scrambled to make a necessary, but very frustrating repair: the steaming light. Both the deck connection for getting power to it was missing and the existing light was hopelessly corroded and disgusting. After trying out a Hella and a straight up replacement of the classic Perko that I'd just removed, I settled on an Aqua Signal 25 series. This has a deck lamp, as well, but the separate wiring for that wasn't run, so it's not operational. On Friday I did the deck wiring, which took a little creativity, because there are separate ground and hot wires running and it's tougher to insulate the entry of two wires into the connector. I ended up using a bead of polysulfide instead of the existing rubber gasket. On Tuesday morning I went up the mast and tapped two #29 holes for 8-32 machine screws, and installed the fixture. I've just received an LED replacement for the bulb, and once I ascertain that that doesn't nullify the light's USCG rating, I'll install that too. 

After that job was finished on Tuesday I got the boat ready and headed up to SB. There wasn't much wind to begin with, so I attempted to sail, but at 2.5 kts I thought it was impractical. I motored on up until a nice 16 kt breeze kicked up, then close reached in that for an hour and a half or so. The visibility dropped to maybe 1/4 of a mile at some point and I got quite nervous, because I knew there were oil rigs coming up in a mile or two. But the breeze slowly dropped and the visibility improved, so I put the motor back on for another hour. Then within 6 miles of SB another nice breeze kicked in, maybe 14 kts or so. This time I was close hauled and making 4.5 kts, but it was still worth it to sail instead of beating into the wind with the motor on, so I did it. I did a horrendous douse right outside the harbor, then motored in amongst a class of CFJs. I was dying to pee! I went up and got my slip assignment, and we were home. The next morning we did the paperwork for the slip and the rest is history. 

During the previous solo trip up to SB I had recognized the problem with the mainsheet fiddle block and cam. During this trip I discovered a more minor, but still important to solve, problem: the running backstay adjustment mechanism is really jammed. I've actually never successfully operated that thing, but when it's blowing quite a bit, it's absolutely necessary, both to give the boat a little more weather helm, and to tension the forestay and jib luff. I'm fairly sure the boat would point higher and handle better if I could work the backstay, and the reefer assembly would also have fewer problems. So, here's an attempt to list that and other projects I plan to play with next. 

Slip-related: 

• install bumpers
• figure out outboard storage

Rigging:

• fix running backstay tensioning
• put spacers in reefer assembly
• install outhaul
• buy spinnaker sheets

Interior

• Redo electrics
• make v-berth window cushion
• make window shades
• buy stove

• And finally we need a haul pretty badly!

Dogs and boat therapy!

Sailors
Originally uploaded by slampoud

I am so lucky that my dog understands the concept of boat therapy!

Dan and I started acclimatizing Huckleberry (who is 5 months old at the moment) to the boat gradually, a few weekends ago. On the first time there we only walked the docks, tried on his lifejacket for a while, and took him on and off the boat by lifting him. The second time around we went for a sail, and held him a lot, so he could sleep while we were sailing (isn't that a great picture?!). Today there was a fierce Santa Ana wind blowing and I was alone, so we didn't go out, but we did spend the whole day on the boat. This time he got on and off the boat all on his own, met other boat dogs, and generally got comfortable, chewing his bone on the foredeck.

I got lots of little chores done, myself. I uninstalled the v-berth lights, and threw them away. The plastic was melted from, presumably, bulbs that got too hot. I also realized the inside power is on all the time -- no battery switch. I'm lucky something sparked and I realized I was working on a live circuit before I burned myself. I also ascertained that the main cabin fluorescent bulbs are all good. That means the reason the starboard ones won't turn on is that that circuit is messed up. I had brought a multimeter but -- Murphy's Law -- its five year old batteries had died, so I couldn't do any diagnosing. I charged the battery, then I used my new Mastmate to climb halfway up the mast and drop down the spinnaker pole topping lift. I came up with a way to sky that and the spinnaker halyard, and that situation is now ready to roll. All we need is spin sheets and we can RUN!

Back home, I'm almost done with building the 2x2' v-berth insert. Next up, make a cushion for it, and the v-berth will be complete!

More TODO's:
* replace mid-mast running light, connect wiring for it.
* install fuel hose thru-deck fitting
* install rubstrakes for new cam-cleats
* diagnose stbd electrical circuit