The "Tango Project"

The upgrades and maintenance are almost complete.  Micky and I are cleaning and polishing the boat for her first guests. 
I thought it would be the time to list all the stuff we've done.
I removed all the old gate valves and untreated wooden backers on truly suspect thru-hulls and replaced all of them with fiberglass-backed true seacocks.  All are bronze with Groco ball valves.
The engine sea water feed was a special concern.  It was a very weak 1/2-inch valve sitting on top of a undersized thru-hull by about 2 threads with a very restrictive elbow on top.  It contributed to the engine overheating if run hard.  The replacement is a Groco bronze seacock, properly backed with fiberglass in 3/4-inch.  I fed it to a Groco bronze 1-inch water strainer and then ran 3/4" hose all but the last foot which runs through an adapter to 5/8" hose to accommodate the Johnson water pump.
The water pump has a new impeller.
The engine and mounts have been painted in every place that I could reach and all the belts are tight.
The hull was stripped of all the old bottom paint down to the gelcoat.  The keel was ground to bare metal and then given three coats of Interlux 2000 epoxy primer.  The hull got two coats.  We laid on 3 gallon of black Trinidad Pro bottom paint at $235/gallon.
The transom was sanded to get the old names (Instead and Malana) off since they both were still visible.  The ladder was repaired and the ladder mounts given internal fiberglass backers.  The davits were reinforced with 1" stainless steel tubing transferring the down force to fiberglass doublers.  Finally the transom was given a fine finish of five coats of Rustoleum Topside paint over their primer.   Eyecatcher signs did the new name in Pacific Blue vinyl.
The electrical system is basically brand new.  I removed the two Group 27 cheapos and installed four GC2's from Sam's Club in great roto-molded boxes in the aft lazarettes.  The batteries are charged by the existing Airex wind generator and solar panel.  The Sunsei solar panel charger is now properly mounted.  The batteries are protected by two 300-amp Class "T" fuses mounted under the aft cockpit seat.  They feed three "Power Post" junctions mounted in the port laz.  The accessory positions on the posts feed the two holding plates for the refrigerator.  All the main DC power cables are new Ancor 4-gauge cable with new ends properly crimped.
The Xantrex ProWatt SW inverter is mounted on the back wall of the engine compartment, directly fed from the Power Post and remotely controlled at the Nav table.  It feed two dedicated outlet pairs in the cabin.  One is in the v-berth for our CPAP's and the other is mounted on the forward wall of the circuit breaker panel box inside the slider.  It can be used for charging mobiles or if we sleep in the main cabin.  I've got an auto switch to install that will allow all the new outlets to switch off inverter power within 80 milliseconds if the main AC comes on.  I'll install that when I wire the microwave outlet.
The whole battery system is monitored by a Victrex BVM-602s monitor with the shunt in the port laz and the monitor at the Nav table.
All of that work was facilitated by the 18" by 32" access port that I cut into the center web of the aft berth.
Also in the port laz is the compressor for the new Engel holding plate in the Reefer.  Two plates allows me to choose between cold and battery efficiency.  I'll work out the details later.
All the cabin lights in the overhead are now Superbright LED's units with two bar lights.  One in the galley and the other in the vanity.
The vanity countertop has been relaminated and the entire head/shower gutted and sealed.  We still have to design and install a furniture structure to hold the new shower head.  The Jabsco toilet is gone replaced by a used Wilcox/Crittenden.  The holding tank now has an inspection/cleanout port to allow for getting the plaster and tampons out of the tank.  Sometimes yachting is an ugly sport!
The air is cooled by a Cruisair C-5000 in the front hatch with the cloth hatch bag snapped to the deck.
The cabin house has seven new Bomar/Gray ports and I had Boatgeorge (Jorg) replace the four tinted plexiglass windows with two longer and thicker windows giving the boat a much sleeker look as well as making the windows basically bulletproof!
I pulled out all the old electronics and installed a new Garmin 740s system with an 18HD radar and XmWx weather and radio.  The 740 is tied in to the AIS-300 VHF radio with AIS (Automatic Identification System).  That allows me to see not only the name but also the speed and direction of AIS-equipped vessels.  Since all the heavy commercial traffic is required to have AIS, life is good.
The 740 is also tied into the fuel gauge and will graphically display at the Chartplotter.  I'm not seeing the depth yet, but a call to Garmin Monday will sort that out.  Probably have to buy another adapter!
Phil Cox supplied new 1/4" uncoated Stainless lifelines with heavy duty Johnson fittings.  Pretty.  Just like putting pearls on a lady!
Finally, I moved the Edson wheel mount from "Jazz" to "Tango".
There's still work to be done, but the heavy lifting is over and we can see the end result of all our work. 
Was it expensive?  Since I figured $100k for a well-equipped boat down here I think I'm way ahead.  I got the basic boat for a steal, she's structurally sound and looks good inside and out.  The repairs and replacements are not unusual for 26-year-old boat.  In the end I've got a modern well-equipped, capable cruiser for around $35k, it's equipped exactly as I choose, decorated as we want, and a thoroughly known quantity.  You never get back full value for upgrades to a house and certainly not to a boat, but I'd get a reasonable amount if I got the normal retail of $25k and I would hold out for $30k all day long.
I really think that delaying going cruising to save up for the "perfect boat" is a big mistake.  Buying an affordable older boat, spending money for upgrades, and equipping it your way seems to leave a lot more in the kitty for other things.

I Can't Paint!

More specifically I can't figure out how much to thin the paint to make up for the wind and heat of Key West.  I was trying to repaint the transom to receive the new name by doing the "roll and tip" technique.  I understood (German George told me) that most people who did it down here ended up with the fine finish of stucco instead of a smooth shiny surface.  The problem is thinning the paint causes it to dry really fast and then add in the 15 knots of wind in the tropical heat and you've got a problem.  The stuff dries so fast you can't keep a wet edge going while you first roll, then tip the paint.  Some of the areas worked fine, but the edges between the areas were stucco.  If you tried to get overlap it just got worse. 
I was standing there wondering how I'd ever get done today so that I could get the lettering on tomorrow, when Cindy Harris and Rich took pity.  I paid the experts to straighten out my problem.
This morning I found my new fiberglass blue ladder lying under the boat.  Someone had unlocked my cable lock and cut the Kevlar rope tying it to the toe rail.  I don't know whether a thief was interrupted or the ladder was just "borrowed".  I do know that Bill, the security/night watchman, was not to be seen today.  Just another Stock Island mystery.
We're going back to Boca Chica in style Friday.  I'm surprised at how much work has been done.  the bottom is nearly perfect with only some pitting of the iron keel betraying her age.  The electronics are almost finished, The plumbing to the engine is all new and much lower restriction.  We have new side windows and much stronger davits.  The ladder has been welded and all the thru-hulls are now fiberglass-backed seacocks.  All in three weeks!

Class Five Women Discovered!

My late friend, Charlie Burkelman, was a keen observer of human behavior and, being a male, was especially interested in female behaviors.  As any sailor knows, the darned boats require maintenance!  So Charlie classified women according to their willingness to do the myriad tasks needed. 
The system started with a Class One gal who would occasionally visit the boat and ended with a Class Four beauty doing the brightwork with varnish on her own.  I've discovered an entirely new class! 
Class Five women are divided into two sections; the Pro and the Am.  I've found one of each during this boatyard session. 
Micky is the first known Class Five (Am division).  I've declared her thus for her dedicated and excellent work cleaning and varnishing the after berth in "Tango".  Now, you must understand that the after berth is not the showpiece of this boat.  It is cramped, barely ventilated, and will be used primarily for storage.  Yet Micky has chosen to clean the fiberglass and wood and then varnish the wood surfaces.  What pushed her over the top into C5 territory is her insistence on varnishing the tops of the furniture.  These are bare plywood tops designed to be hid under the mattresses.
The standards for the Pro division are quite high.  The work must be onerous to point that I, the sole arbiter , chose to pay to have it done.  I thoroughly expected that all the people grinding the bottom paint off my boat would be bunny-suit clad day laborers chosen for their ability to report for work on that day sober.

Cindy Harris is a very curvy, 47 year-old grandmother, no less, with a mean grinder!  And the winner of the Class Five (Pro) division.

Visual Progress

With any complex, multi-phase project the preparation of "infrastructure" and background tasks take the majority of the time.  It seems like forever before you can even think about the finish.  Until the prep work is finished, the boat is just awash in tools and equipment.  To start a task, the first need is to move all the "stuff" out of the way. 
As tasks are done, the "Stuff" that went into the task get installed and suddenly there's room!  I've moved beyond the jobs that brought me to the boatyard.  The thru-hulls are all in and plumbed, the bottom and cutless bearing are being done by pro's and I can't start to repaint the transom until all the bottom sanding is over.
So I've found a short window of time to let me do some of the "fun stuff".  Micky helped me pull in the wires, and yesterday I got to turn on the chartplotter, radar, AIS and XM systems.  Everything worked. 
Today we worked on the battery monitor and started the inverter installation.  The other project today was to finish the engine water feed.  The original system was necked way down to a 1/2 inch thru-hull and a really old Perko strainer.  The new rig is a real Groco bronze seacock in 3/4-inch feeding a Groco strainer.  I moved the strainer to the port side of the engine for access.  Before starting that work, the infrastructure demon had to be fed.  I've been working hard at de-rusting and painting the engine.  Today was the end of that job.  It is very satisfying to have the visual progress of a clean and shiny engine!

New Sport- Ladder Riding!

This morning I put all my skills and talents to work sanding the transom of "Tango".  I did neglect to use any of those attributes in my placement of the ladder, however.  Compounding my embarrassment is the choice of ladder.  I have one of the few ladders to have the "extra heavy duty" rating from OSHA.  A "Little Giant" Ladder system is the most stable ladder around and with the extra leveler leg will even stand on uneven ground.  Too bad I was standing on my folding six-foot lightweight ladder when the leg slipped into the little trench separating two pieces of pavement.

It's amazing how very fast, yet seemingly slow the fall was.  I fact the fall did not hurt at all.  The landing, however, was a bitch!  Couldn't get my feet clear to jump and hung on like the thing would bounce. Neither it, nor I, did so.  During my non-bounce I rammed knees into rungs, my left hand into something sharp, and as a final insult barked hell out of my shin!  As I lay on my left shoulder wondering if all of Dr. Gallagher's good work on that joint had just been ripped apart, I did a quick physical inventory and found all the major parts worked.

The Cubans working on the fishing boat two down heard all the clatter and cussing and were running to help me when I waved them off with thanks.  After that episode, I climbed the much more expensive ladder and went into the cabin to get the Band-Aids from the kit and seal up the leaks.

The reason for today's exertion is to prepare the transom for her new name of "Tango".  Even though the vinyl lettering for "Malana" came off cleanly, The surrounding gel-coat had eroded leaving slightly raised letters. So we sand and paint. 

The davits were installed by morons.  They cantilevered a great pair of Edson davit arms out 12 inches supported only by the thin fiberglass of the cockpit coaming.  They did put backers inside the coaming, but the glass flexed so much the davits couldn't carry any load.  Their solution was two motorcycle straps per arm .  Dumb and ugly. 

My answer is a strut made of 1 inch stainless tubing dropping down to a plate on the transom.  This rig transfers the load vertically and can't punch through on either end.  Should be strong enough to hoist the dinghy out overnight with the engine and accessories. 

In the Yard with Tango.

We've had Tango hauled out at 3D Boatyard on Stock Island.  I've got a long list of stuff to do including replacing all the thru-hulls with true seacocks and painting the bottom.
Getting here was quite exciting.  Before I go into that, my friend John Gill has stopped by on his way from Puerto Rico to help me.  Now that's a stopover!
I can't say enough about his help.  Since he already has owned a 34 for over two decades, he knows the boat!  And he doesn't hold back with the help.  Really appreciated.
I thought we'd be out for three weeks.  May be a lot shorter.  The last time I pulled thru-hulls, each one took hours of pounding and twisting to remove.  John Chamberlain over at Boca Chica told me the shortcut--- Use a grinder to remove the mushroom part outside.  Then the threaded part will come out reasonably easily.  We pulled the boat yesterday, had it pressure-washed and already have all the thru-hulls out.
The exciting part of getting here was that the engine overheated.   The day before I took the boat out for the first time and had an engine overheat  and a smoking wire on the alternator.  The wire was just a corroded fitting.  I thought the overheat was just low flow.  Replaced the impeller, and did a cork seal on the water strainer and ran the engine under load for over an hour with no problems.
We the alarm went off, I had John ready an anchor while I reduced speed.  Shortly, the engine cooled off and we made it in on time, only to sit at the dock baking in the sun for an hour until the boat in the slings could get his propeller replaced.
I can't say enough about the crew at 3D.  Nilo took his time to make sure the slings got into the right position.  This was the first time I've had a boat pulled out by a travelift.  That thing makes life so easy.
One of the problems with the boat was the davit installation.  When they put the Edson davits on, they just through-bolted the base into the weak fiberglass of the aft coaming.  The davits were so weak, the previous owner put motorcycle straps running back to the top of the aft pulpit to take at least some of the load.
I thought that I'd have to make some sort of gusset to transfer the load to the stern, but I ended up just adding a 1-inch tube brace under the mount.  Works great.

More later...

Surveyed!

Today we had "Tango" surveyed by Capt. Dave Ghidoni of Key West Marine Surveyors.  A very pleasant and , as expected, knowledgeable tugboat captain.  We had no surprises.  Everything I thought was wrong, he agreed with and we found very little that I did not know. 
One minor new "thing" is that the wingnuts that come with marine batteries are no longer acceptable for permanent installations. 
The other problem with "Tango" is a basically inaccessible diesel filter.  I've already ordered the solution to that one.  I'm going to install two Racor filters with diverter valves that allow rapid changeover from one to the other without having to bleed the system.  I'm also adding a small boost pump that will allow me to prime and bleed without spinning the engine.  I'll mount the whole affair on a board and put it on the aft engine bulkhead above the rear bunk with a cutout from a diesel can as a catch basin.  Two absorbent "pigs" should handle any drips or leaks.
The boost pump will also allow me to "polish" the fuel by opening a valve to the return line.
The fuel cutoff cable is fixed.  The problem was more than just a bad cable.  The pillow block on the lever at the engine had the screw sheared off level with the block.  I drilled and tapped a new bronze screw in to hold the cable. 
The key switch was easy and getting rid of that wire-nutted rig laying loose in the aft locker was a relief.
As an example of the kind of problem I'm dealing with, the IPO installed a Norcold refrigerator holding plate in the ice box along with the evaporator/condenser in the starboard lazarette, but never removed the thoroughly broken Waeco unit.  It took me all of 5 minutes to snatch it out.  Now access to the lazarette is much easier and there's more room in the ice box.
One trick to keeping the ice box cold is to reduce the cubic feet the system needs to cool, or increase the insulation.  I can't change the outer insulation, but I can get blocks of foam sized to go through the opening, seal them in plastic and fill the voids with these temporary fillers.  That reduces the amount of air exchange from opening the lid and lowers the load on the system.  When you provision for a trip, you fill the box with cold food and store the foamies in the lazarette.
I've made my mind up about batteries.  When we come back down, four new GC-2 golf cart batteries are making the trip along with the watering system.  All the batteries are going in the aft lazarette for access. 
I'm cutting a manhole-sized access into the starboard lazarette rather than risk my sanity with wiggling into that insane top access hole.  Not worth it.  The manhole will be thoroughly reinforced and will not compromise structural integrity, but will allow rapid and convenient access to the diesel tank and even allow for other storage possibilities for necessary, but seldom used stuff like tools and even water cans (best kept out of the sun). 
More when the mood strikes!

Boca Chica Boogaloo!

To catch everyone up, Micky and I bought a well-used 1986 Hunter 34 named "Malana" ( Hawaiian for "buoyant") in January.  We got a great deal, The boat includes a slip in the Boca Chica Marina (winged conch on the burgee) aboard the Naval Air Station in Key West.  The boat is structurally sound and very well-equipped for cruising (solar and wind generators, radar, and good ground tackle.  We also got a dinghy with 6 hp motor and even a 94 Firebird Keys Cruiser!
Now the reality check...  The boat is 26 years old.  The previous owners lived aboard for years with the wife being very sick for last few.  As a result, boat maintenance was not the highest priority.  Even though the marina has a great shower facility, she was hampered in her mobility and showered below decks. 
Combine a lot of water and poor maintenance and you get wood rot.  The rot is confined to the head and lavatory.  My predecessors had tried to hide the problem with some cosmetic cover-up.  They covered the walls with self-stick floor tiles.  We stripped out the tiles and dismantled the furniture today.
It's amazing what you find when you dig around in older boats.  There's a theory of mine that most boats have an IPO (Idiot Previous Owner).  It seems harsh, but when you look at some of the things that are done to boats, you either chalk it up to ignorance or sheer stupidity.
"Malana" has her share of mental toe-stubs.  One of the the scariest was the wiring to the inverter.  Picture heavy battery cable routed direct across the top of an engine and in direct contact with the hot exhaust.  If the insulation doesn't melt, it chafes through.  The fresh water pump had a switch hidden under the settee.  The water pressure switch seems to work well and the circuit breaker is a switch itself.  WTF!  Apparently, the engine key switch was vandalized.  Instead of replacing it, a rig involving a switch, electrical tape ( a favorite splicing device for all serious electrical duffers) and scrap wire was devised and hid in the aft starboard lazarette.  Exposed joints and all.
Today's whopper was a double whammy!  Both safety and sanity are strained by this one!  The purpose of a siphon breaker is to prevent water from siphoning back into and flooding the boat if the intake valve in the toilet pump should fail and the boat is heeled, placing the toilet valve below the waterline.  It takes a lot of work to install a siphon breaker, since the inch-and-a-half hoses used are very stiff.  It really wastes a lot of effort to put the breaker in the wrong lines.  The last owner put the breaker inline with the overboard pump!  He acknowledged the malodorous error by attempting to seal the anti-siphon valve with tape.  The reason behind the tape was that with each stroke of the pump a small geyser of human effluvia erupted behind the head furniture!  Yay!
All this awe-inspiring work is eminently do-able and not terribly exotic.  In fact, I bought the boat knowing most of this and expecting all of it.

What a gorgeous place to get hurt!(Late Entry!)

Pelican's Roost RV park on the Naval Station at Mayport is one of the best places to spend a little time that we've found. Originally, when the reservation was made, the staff said that we'd be "on the grass" between two regular spots and sharing a sewer hookup on the third row back from the water. The park stretches along the south jetty wall at the entrance to Mayport's naval basin on the St. John's River. Every ship and boat that uses Jacksonville has to pass right in front of us. We're not more than 75 yards from the edge of the channel itself. Close enough to see the expressions on the sailors' faces behind their M-60 machine guns as they leave. A quarter-mile out is the main commercial channel going to Jaxport and the Blount Island terminal. If your car or truck was shipped in to the East Coast it came through here or St. Mary's, Georgia', with the majority going here. And that includes Detroit "iron"! The "Green Bay" is US-flagged and hauls US production exports to Europe and South America.

But when we got here, they placed us right up on the front row under three palms facing north.

Micky and I enjoy riding our bikes. We bought two "Giant" 'comfort' mountain bikes a few years ago. Micky has a very short inseam so finding an adult, 14-inch frame, high-quality bike, cheap was a treat. We try to be careful and insist on helmets and proper reflective stuff. On military bases everywhere, pedestrians have right-of-way on even the main streets, and we take advantage of the crosswalks by dismounting and walking the bikes across. We were doing just that yesterday around noon. I went to mount the bike and pushed off with my right foot when I heard a distinct "pop" followed by pain severe enough to nauseate me. I mananged to get out of the street to the Navy Exchange gas station, pulled my helmet and backpack off and sat on the curb. A Navy Master-At-Arms (MP) had seen me go down and came over to ask if we needed help. I knew that I'd probaly torn or otherwise damaged the Achilles' tendon. Acceptance of help was willing and immediate. Two ambulances and two fire trucks later, Mayport loaded me into the ambulance. Micky assisted in carting the bike back to the motorhome and given a map to Baptist Beaches Hospital. "Beaches" is closer than the Naval Hospital and the clinic on-base doesn't have an emergency room. X-rays and a fiberglas splint, crutches and a painkillers. I didn't separate it from the bone so they call it a rupture.

The doctor didn't want to let me ride home and be seen Tuesday