ouch

I turned down a free boat...that's not like me. It wasn't a free toy, day sailer, or dinghy - but a distance proven 37' Steel cruising sailboat. Granted it's very old and needs a lot of work - but hey... it's free !

It would have taken lots of money to re-fit, even more to re-rig, and another  large amount to redo the stripped out interior;But with a few years of weekend and evening hours, help from my friends, and scavenging from scrap boats - this would have made this an exciting and (I feel) doable project.

The problem was moving it. No local marina would accept such a large project boat - so moving it would be a necessity. After weeks of research, I came up with one name - and he was out of town. No one else in the area seems to want to deal with a steel boat that old and large - and if they do, they want an exurbanite amount....the one reasonable quote I did find was immediately overshadowed by unforeseen financial difficulties..

So,  I turned down a free boat - a boat that could have started making our dream a reality!. I guess if it was meant to be, it would have happened.

Down for the count...

  Tropical storm Alex and the following tropical disturbance have brought nothing but rain. Rain, rain, rain and then some rain...I'm more then ready for blue skys and brisk breezes. I've been back to Blew Bayou several times - mainly checking the lines as we are now not only adjusting to a new location, but also to extremely high tides brought about by the recent weather.

 I did find the knock in the engine to be remedied by retarding the timing somewhat extremely ....perhaps I have some bad fuel. Also shined a light back on the shaft while she was running, and noticed that the engine is obviously out of alignment . Although correcting the oil sending unit seemed to take care of most of my leak, with the engine that far out of alignment I would not be surprised if the rear main seal was also leaking.

I need to pull the motor this winter - but until then, I am just trying to get the time down there to align it.

More problems on the Bayou

Although tightening the stuffing box did the trick for stopping the 'big' leak, I noticed a couple other issues yesterday evening. After running the boat for a few hours - oily water is still collecting in the bilge, and the oil pressure seems to drop. There is also a deep knock...never good. It looks like the water is coming from the water pump (not a huge deal), but I cannot determine where the oil is coming from.

I don't think it is a rear main seal because my loss of oil seems to coincide with engine rpm.... hmmmmm.....maybe time to go back to an outboard.

Where'd the old boats go?

I pulled up craigslist, and for no reason in particular clicked on the following ad:

             Cheap Sailboat $600

To my surprise, it was Blue Dolphin - our old Irwin 25. What a shame - apparently she is now in pretty bad shape...but still, $600 - that sounds like a pretty good deal! Maybe I'll post a reference on the Irwin owner's group so that someone else can enjoy her like we did.

Seeing old 'Blue' got me thinking - where have all my other boats gone? Since I've been in Texas I've owned a Coronado 25, Cal 27, Ranger 23,  Pacific Seacraft 31, Islander 24, Capri 15, and the Irwin 25 - and I haven't kept up with any of them. I frequent several marinas, am out on the water quite a bit, and constantly scan the classifieds - although the psc 31 has not moved, the Irwin and the Islander are the only two I've run across again:

With the exception of the psc 31, I sailed these boats frequently and as soon as I sold them they seemed to drop off the face of the Earth. Maybe that's just the way it is with inexpensive sailboats - the idea of sailing often trumps the act of actually using the boat, or maybe I just dealt with a lot more aggravation then the next owner wanted to....

Water in the Bilge

I went down to the boat before work yesterday and she had a lot more water in the bilge then she normally does - almost up to the floor! Apparently the float switch isn't working. Somewhat panicked, I pumped the bilge dry and began my investigation.

All hatches were secure, and we hadn't had much rain - so this appearance of water was very alarming. I grabbed a flashlight and started at the bow. No signs of wetness under the v-berth, no wetness around the head's hru-hulls (mental note: this rusty gate valve needs replacing), no water from the water tank, dry holding tank, dry galley area,empty  icebox, dry through hulls, dripping stuffing box - aha!

Instead of the standard 2 or 3 drip per minute, there was a constant dripping. Not having a decent pipe or spanner wrench on the boat, I reluctantly left - as I was already late for work. I decided that I could take care of it today - but now it looks like home chores and tasks are keeping me away. Hopefully it is just a matter of tightening the nut, because I have no idea what size stuffing material I'll need.

...I sure hope it can wait a little longer.

Plans Change

Blew Bayou as a world cruiser - I don't think so. We are, though, considering the idea of modifying her for the occasional offshore sail. She may even be enough to spend a year on cruising the coasts of the United States - bouncing in and out of the ICW, hitting the great lakes, the keys, and maybe even the Bahamas.

The benefit of this idea is that we have the boat and can leave now, if need be. This will not put as much pressure on us to sell our house, and (maybe) I could pick up a 'work from home' contract programmer gig.

She is very small for 5 people, and storage will be next to null (meaning more money in shipping stuff to and from home). It's a fun idea, though.

 I don't know - we'll have to do some extended local cruises and see how we do. 

Sailing Blew Bayou

Our first sail was an adventure. My mother-in-law ans brother-in-law came along for the ride, and we headed out to the bay. The motor did great on the hour motor out to open water, although I was on pins and needles watching the guages - finally relieved to raise the mainsail and kill the motor.

The sail was great! We stayed out a little later then anticipated, and came back into Clear Lake under darkness. This was fine, until we got to our end - where the channel markers were unmarked.

I never worried much about the motor on my sailboats, but our current slip is less then optimal. Where I could have sailed back into my previous marina, the boat's current location is a mile up a narrow inlet directly upwind. Before even reaching our inlet, the navigable water is narrow and (as mentioned earlier) unmarked at night. Which is why we ran aground...

We managed to escape the shoals later, but in the process of revving the motor - we lost a lot of oil into the bilge. I'm not certain what caused this, I'm guessing a bad oil-sending unit - but I'll look at this next weekend.

Blew Bayou Projects

Since acquiring our little sailboat, I've spent what little free time I had preparing her to sail.

The first thing I did was inspect the broken chainplate. I found that water had leaked down and helped rust it at a crack. When I took the chainplate off - I was able to break it in my hand. I ordered stock stainless flat-bar from onlinemetals.com and fabricated two new chainplates - as I'm certain the other side wasn't far behind.

Secondly, I painted the deck. Hardcore sailors should avoid reading this paragraph - as you will not like the way I did this. If you are still reading, let me note that I was painting not for cosmetic or resale reasons - but so that my family would come spend time on the boat with me. As it was, they didn't want to come down because the chalky old paint would get all over their clothes - even after washing the boat. The fact that I hand sanded the entire deck, to avoid getting paint dust on the other boats around the marina, has a lot to do with the end results. Ultimately I did not sand the brush strokes out from the previous coating, but removed loose paint and created a rough surface on which the paint would adhere. I painted the deck with the single part polyeurethane I already had - white and honey beige for the non-skid. The Beige was darker then I prefered (hot on the feet), but it was what I had. The paint job serves it's purpose, and (from a distance) looks really good! If we have Blew Bayou this next winter, I will haul her and paint her completely - but for now, we need to get some sailing in!

Next, the little atomic 4 inboard motor. Although it spun, the motor had no compression in two cylinders. After freeing valves, replacing the head gasket, intake manifold gasket, coil, ignition switch, and rebuilding the carburetor - she runs! I probably did more then needed to be done to get the motor running, but I learned a great deal about the little motor with every task - so it was all worth it.

I took the sails home, and cleaned and inspected them. The 150 genoa is well worn - but useable, the main looks good, and the drifter and smaller jib look great! Not much to be done here.

Lifeline netting. With kids that love riding on the bow, and a baby that will soon be walking - this is a necessity. I found a great deal at ondeck sports, and installed 63' of lifeline netting around the boat.

Blew Bayou

Pushing forward - No Matter What

A lot has happened in the past couple of years....

Misty had to quit her job because of medical problems, we sold the Pacific Seacraft, and baby Eddie was born.

Our adventure was put on hold, but now that the dust has settled - we are more determined then ever. Our budget is tighter, our family is larger, and as wise old Mr. Zimmerman said: 'The times, they are a changin' "

Quick answers to common concerns

No, we don't have a large nest egg to come back to. And No - I don't plan on raising my my daughters in a cardboard box!!! (duh - cardboard doesn't float...)

Yes, it is a risk! But if we are prepared, cautious, and careful - it is probably less of a risk then I took while driving 70 mph on that two lane highway to work everyday.

No, I don't think we are being irresponsible. The fact that this isn't the lifestyle that our neighbor lives, does not qualify this as an irresponsible action.

No, we do not have plans for our return - it would be nice (and maybe by the time we leave we will), but as of now that is completely up in the air. None of us know where we will be in 5 years. 5 years can pass in the blink of an eye, or it may never pass. Whether we stay here or sail the oceans of the world, in 5 years anything could happen to our jobs, house, health, or lives....

Yes, we've considered pirates, floating debris, whales, sharks, capsizing, hurricanes, iceburgs, typhoons, cyclones, vessel construction, political unrest, the cost of living, health insurance, boat insurance, life insurance, retirement, safety devices, college costs, family death, family illness, mysterious dissappearances, dangerous sea life, the panama canal, the red sea, immunizations, lice, etc., etc., etc. We are, and will continue, to do research and planning for as much of this as we can. Some questions don't have easy answers, some don't yet have any - but none of them seem to outweigh the benefits that we will gain as a family from such an adventure.

To tell or not to tell (more rantings...sorry)

I've always had ideas. From inventions, to movie scripts, to massive home improvements. I'm certain many of them would work (as some of them have - just not for me). I am infinitely guilty of sharing plans to carry out ideas that are way beyond my capabilities and/or financial means. These plans (initially) met that description - and for this reason, I did not want to tell anyone about them until they became a reality.

Well what if this is another one I don't carry out - why the blog ?

Because our entire reality has become entangled in these plans: Misty is now homeschooling the girls- which is the way it will need to be at sea. At holidays or birthdays we find ourselves limiting gifts to what will fit in the space of our future home(boat). All extra time is spent preparing the house to sell; or studying boat classifieds nationwide; or learning about seamanship, ocean routes, distant lands, intrepid voyagers, vessel design. Strangers we meet seem to relate in some way to our future travels. Movies we watch always seem to somehow relate to our plans... And as I research and plan - this is no longer beyond our capabilities, or even our means.

So, needless to say, the cat is out of the bag - and so far the response from strangers has been great. The response from family and friends? Not so.

To all those of you that know us but not our plan,

to those that don't know us but have similar plans,

and those that know our plans but end up frustrated when discussing them with us

- this blog is for you.

'Blue Dolphin'

Ironically, our second practice cruising sailboat (after Menehune and before Blew Bayou) was a 1974 Irwin 25'. After reading all that we did on Irwins, this was a good opportunity to see if the critics were right.

Our first overnight trip was a cold weekend in March 2008 - crossing Galveston Bay to Double Bayou. Our plan to leave early Saturday was thrwarted by a day's worth of unforseen boat repairs. We didn't end up leaving until about 16:30- but, oh, what a beautiful evening it was. This was what we had signed up for!

The sky was clear, the breeze was brisk - and several other boats were sharing the evening sail with us. We fired out across the waters, everybody jubilent with ideas of what we would do in the bayou the next morning - and how many more of these beautiful experiences our near future might hold.

That evening the wind picked up, and we anchored in the open Bay outside of the main channel - as I was worried about navigating the shallow and (to me) unknown approach at night. The growing waves and  howling kept me up all night checking the gps and making certain that the anchor line was not chaffing through. This was much more weather then I had expected in our little bay. As waves  lifted and dropped Blue Dolphin, she struggled against her anchore rode - and the battle reverberated throughout, as her hull 'oil canned' intensly. Every negative thing that I read about Irwins began haunting my tired mind: flimsy hulls, weak hull to deck joint, poor fittings. We'd sailed through rough spring weather in the Islander, but it never shook or vibrated like this...had I ended our dream before it started?

Throughout the tense and turbulent night I stressed to the point of nauseau, while the rest of my crew somehow managed to sleep. At the break of dawn, I climbed out of the cabin and started the outboard and pushed forward so that I could pull the anchor.

The waves were still about 3-4' (bigger then I'd really seen in the bay), but the wind had fallen to about 15-20 knots and the sun was out. I managed to pull the anchor and motored into the quiet waters of double bayou. A few miles up the bayou we pulled against the shore and enjoyed the remainder of the cold, gusty morning.

We made our first, rough, overnight passage - and (all in all) it went fairly well. Although it was nothing compared to what we would face on open water, it was an experience. The boat held up, and so did we .
It was a learning experience, for sure. Next time I would plan arrival time better, have emergency supplies, bring chaffing gear for my anchor line (which was so worn it would now need replacement), and pack warmer clothes!

Although on this boat I decided Irwins weren't worth the risk: oil canning hull, broken lifeline, poor downwind tracking in heavy wind - our next Irwin (two years older) has none of these problems....so my opinion on Irwins seems more dependent on the specific boat then the make.

Finding the right boat to not be the right boat

The weekend after our idea hatched, we drove down to Galveston and to look at a 50' Ketch. The boat was listed for $5000 - and in need of spars and rigging. This 1929 vessel that had been fiber glassed over a few years before - and although the interior, cockpit and engine were impressive , it had several soft spots. Luckily, we were able to resist the urge to immediately jump into such a project (helped immensely in this demonstration of will power by our lack of finances) - but this first glimpse into any vessel over 30' gave us a good idea of the room that we would be looking at.

Novices in the art of yacht purchasing that we were, our first 'serious' consideration was an Irwin 44'. This was a beautiful boat - and the price was extremely decent for such a large, well equiped vessel. We were ready to sell the house, move aboard - and finish preparations from aboard -but, again (I'm proud to say) we showed some restraint. This boat threw us into research mode. In no time at all we learned that not only was the vesell lacking in several desireable offshore features, we also found that Irwin's were hit or miss when it came to construction in the mid 80's. Still enamored by the size and price - we continued our search.

We began to accept that project or not, a decent vessel would most likely take another $20000 in funds just to be ocean worthy :( If we were to survive for 5 years on our liquidated assets, that meant we had to look at boats $20,000 less then our original (and very low) price limit.

So, a little disheartened and more undecided then ever as to which boat would be our new home, we turned the majority of our attention to the liquidation of our current assets and gathering of much needed information.

Cruising crash course - web, books, people

I've been sailing since I was very young child - and was naive enough to think that I was an expert on the subject. I believe that I am a decent sailor, but I am not a very knowledgable sailor ...especially when it comes to cruising vessels.

Our plan has always been to research the vessel, and have one picked out and ready to purchase by the time we sell our house. Researching the vessel brought me into a whole new world of sailing! My idea of the perfect cruising boat would soon be rewritten. Anchor wells, long overhangs, huge cockpits are a few examples of things that I looked for in my little weekenders - but were suddenly on my 'no,no' list. Those huge roomy cabins I had planned to place my family in were generally at the expense of important seaworthy aspects. Phyew!!! The choices and decisions seemed endless.

I started buying book, after book. Living aboard books, Heavy weather sailing books, anything by Nigel Calder, and every work I could find by a 'been there, done that' sailor.

I bought 'Cruising Routes of the World' and learned the times of year to travel to different locations, and spent a while schetching out our course.

Searching the web I found http://www.cruisersforum.com to be the most helpful resource out there. This is a site I would recommend to every sailor looking for a tested, and true answer. Everything is layed out in an easliy navigable manor, and broken up into logical sections. Experienced and unexperienced alike swarm this site ready to swap useful info and answer questions almost as quickly as you can post them. After spending a small fortune on books, I think some of the most useful information that I have acquired was from this site.

a few other websites:
http://noonesite.com
http://ssca.org/cgi-bin/pagegen.pl?pg=home&title=Home
http://cruisenews.net/db/region.php?region=
http://www.everythingboats.com/ryob/ryob_search.pl?type=list

Menehune

As I said, this plan is a year old - so I'll spend a lot of blog space catching up. Everything will be summarized, but I may reflect back on details - oh well, it's my blog so deal with it!!

Our plan grew

We decided to buy a boat and take some practice trips, so we purchased an Islander 24'. This was an excellent old boat - fully equiped, and very seaworthy. The problem was that it was used for racing and very rough and basic in the cabin - not comfortable for overnight trips with three females! So we used it to practice some light heavy weather sailing! We were the fools you see going out right before the big storm while the small craft advisory flags are waving in all their glory. Unsafe, sure - but the boat was solid and we wouldn't be able to avoid this weather if we did end up going to sea. I wanted Misty (and myself) to get a little bit of an idea of what we would be in for. I was convinced that when I explained to her that conditions at sea could be much rougher and for extended periods of time that it would change her mind - and I wanted to do so before I got too attached to our plan myself.

But she loved it - and so did the girls! For someone who gets car sick simply reading directions in a moving vehicle, she was doing incredibly well.

We took several rough weather, cold weather, and evening trips - and it was still a go. All the while we were picking up valueable sailing experience!

The problem now was overnight trips - we decided to sell the boat and focus on something a little more suited to trips. This was a difficult step, as all of us had really become attached to our little islander.

The plan (.. and Ed's idealistic rantings!)

OK, we've been planning this for about a year - it is about time I start documenting it:

We are in the process of getting rid of the house, cars, and superfluous belongings in order to start a 4 (or 5) year circumnavigation. That's the plan - beautifully simplistic, ironically difficult.

I think it all started with the quickly rising fuel prices (utility prices, grocery prices, service prices, taxes, etc, etc) of 2006-7. Our budget, however poorly constructed it may have been, was starting to crumble because of our failure to consider these creeping costs; we found that we were making the choice we promised each other we wouldn't make: we were cancelling vacation plans in favor or more 'sensible' expenses.

OK, you say - that makes sense. Who wouldn't do that?! We wouldn't...

Life experience is what we were (and are) about. We've worked to purchase a house, some property, and a couple of vehicles - but we don't feel the need to go further. We have all the 'stuff ' that we could want. Whatever little extra money we might acquire now, we invest right back into vacations, museums, parks, experiences, recreation. We savor the easy and difficult moments together while basking in the glow of our excited children, still able to look back with appreciation to times that they weren't too excited. Experience - that is what life means to us. To hell with the new car, or the 'comfortable' career that will secure us for tomorrow - if Misty and I have learned anything in our adult lives, it is that tomorrow may never come! Many times we regret ed spending our money on a big screen t.v. or that much needed appliance - but we don't have a single regret for spending it on a vacation (despite the fact that we have had our share of 'bad' vacation experiences)!

...anyway....

We had to cancel our vacation, and apparently that got us both thinking. Driving to the bookstore one evening, Misty turned to me and asked: 'Do you think we could travel on a sailboat?'

'We could... but I really don't think you'd want to do that." This had been my dream (unmentioned for the last 8 years), not hers.

'No, I think I would. I want to show the girls the world while we still can - with the way the economy is going, that is only going to get more difficult.'

'Yeah, but it still won't be easy...' I spent the rest of the weekend providing very compelling arguments AGAINST my dream, somewhat irritated that she would tease me like that. After a couple of weeks, I realized that my dream was now our dream ... apparantly it was contagious!