Pierless Sailing Adventures

When I bought the boat, it came with lots of spare parts and equipment, some of which I either don't need or don't want to have on deck for the trip home.  I sold the kayak several weeks ago.  Today, I sold the barbecue.  It was a small unit that attached to the handrail, but was awkward to stow and was sooty.  I don't think I would ever have used it. I finished putting together the stern locker, I washed the drogue and cleaned up the cabin.  Early Tuesday, with the help of my neighbor, I turned the boat around so the stern faced the pier.  I have a little more work to do on the windvane and having the boat turned around makes it easy to access from the pier.  We used two long lines, one on the bow and one on the stern then pushed it out into the channel between piers.  Using the ropes, we spun it around and pulled it back in.  Easy when there is no wind. Mazatlan is a dusty place.  It has not rained a drop in the last two months and pro...

  Saturday began with the joys of replacing a bilge pump hose...  It ended up being something of a chore.  Not so much routing and connecting of the hose, but the cramped space I had to get into to work on it.  The section near the pump is fairly easy to get to.  The thru-hull it leads to is in the bottom of the stern locker at the back of the transom.  That end was the difficult one.  For one, the stern locker hatch is not very large, so it is awkward for me to get into it.  Second, there is not much depth, so getting down inside is not easy.  There is a raised plywood floor at the bottom of the locker to make stowing gear easier and to keep things from falling down into the bilge.  The hose is under this floor, so had to be removed.   New bilge pump hose installed. Eventually, after much grunting and some swearing, I had the floor removed and could get to the hose. The hose I was replacing was similar to vacuum cleaner hose....

Friday was a productive day this week.  I started with my Garmin radar and chart plotter upgrade.  I installed the radar antenna (dome) some time ago, but the chart plotter requires a software update in order to integrate with the radar unit and display information on the screen.    Garmin Radar Antenna - Note the dust on the solar panels.  I have cleaned them twice so far... The software upgrade was a few gigabytes, so I went over to the marina lounge to use their wifi for the download.  That went well.  Next, I expanded/extracted the update files, then transferred them to an SD card that the chart plotter can read.  I reviewed the directions, put the SD card in and started the update.  It takes a few minutes, so I made some coffee for the start of the day.  [They have pretty good coffee here.  I have been buying a Colombian brand at SAM's Club.] The upgrade proceeded without a hitch (yes!) and I was in business.  I reboo...

Wednesday found me in a rather down mood.  I slept in, read, took a walk and a nap.  I did not get much boat work done.  My food supply was getting low, but the thought of footing it to Walmart didn't sit well, so I bought a few items at the local Tecate store (small convenience store).  I did some puttering around on small boat tasks.  I adjusted the tarp that shades the deck.  I measured the fuel board I need to cut (more on that later).  One of my bilge pump hoses needs to be replaced, so I measured the size and length needed.  That's about all for the day.  I think I just needed a break... Thursday morning I checked on the cruiser's net to see if anyone had some spare hose I could buy for my pump.  No luck there.  I needed 1 1/2" hose and knew I would not find it at any local stores, so a trip downtown might be necessary.  Not my first choice as trips like that tend to eat up an entire day...  There are a couple of mar...

Monday was splash day.  I had a few last-minute projects to wrap up, so got busy first thing.  The first item was to double-check the knot meter.  It is hard to tell if it is positioned correctly, but it looked good, so we'll see.  I cleaned up the deck and got all the lines ready and put the fenders over the side.  I also marked the correct place for the slings so the lift operator will see where to place them for the lift. There was another boat ahead of me, so I made some breakfast and took a walk.  I also recruited my neighbor Shannon to give me a hand on the boat.  She will help toss lines or fend us off anything the wind might blow us into.  Our turn came about 11:30.  They picked up the boat and as they begin lowering it into the water, they pause so we can climb aboard.  Once in the water, I check all the thru-hulls for leaks, especially the knot meter.  All good!  I fired up the engine and let it warm up a bit, then of...

The local motorcycle rally got into full swing on Saturday.  Music, races, etc.  They all seemed to be having a good time and the music did not play past 11 p.m., so that was nice.  I'm pretty sure I heard a gun shot early Sunday morning, but nothing seems to have come of it. I dug out the main sheet today, got it sorted out and connected to the boom.  It is a little less complicated than the traveler, so it went quickly. The boat has been pretty hot in the afternoons.  Being out of the water, the hull can heat up more, plus I don't have my tarp up to shade the deck.  I usually take an afternoon siesta with the fan on or go over to  the marina where they have A/C in the lobby. I worked on the knot meter today as well.  It is a little paddle wheel that fits through a tube in the hull.  As the water goes by, the wheel spins and activates a sensor.  They can be sensitive to small bits of debris or marine growth, so I cleaned it up well and ...

While at the dock, I plug into shore power so I can run one bright light and a fan.  Everything else uses the boat's 12v electrical system.  When on the hard (in the boatyard), shore power is usually available as well as water.   The spot I am in now has neither.  I have water, so don't need shore water, but the large fans I use to keep cool require 120v power.  Fortunately, Pierless came with an inverter.  Other than testing it once, I haven't needed to use it.  So, I figured I'd give it a try.  My only concern was how much power it would draw from the batteries.  This isn't an issue during the day when the solar panels are working, but at night I worried it would drain my batteries too much.  Turns out the inverter is very efficient and the smaller fan needs very little power.  I an able to run the fan all night without a power problem.  Nice to know!  One of my first projects was to change propellers.  The thr...

Today was haulout day.  I prepped the boat in the morning, then checked with  the service yard to confirm the time.  They scheduled me for 11:30.  That is okay, except the wind tends to come up by then, making maneuvering more difficult. After the haulout, it felt strange.  The boat is in the middle of the noisy and dusty yard.  No shore power, no water spigot, etc.  It is not nice hanging around on the boat with all the noise and dust, so I headed over to a small coffee shop at the marina.  It is new this year and looks nice.  I ordered a coffee and was pleased to find they have WiFi.  So, I settled in for a couple hours and got some computer work done. Pierless in the boatyard. Later in the afternoon, I headed to the "safety meeting" to see what was going on.  I was feeling a little lethargic when I realized I had only eaten a granola bar in the morning.  So after the meeting, I took an early shower and went to the pizza plac...

A cruising couple here at the marina bought my sit-on-top kayak.  It won't fit inside the boat and it is a liability having it on the deck for a long passage, so I decided to unload it.  They plan to pick it up tomorrow after their boat goes back in the water ("splashes" as we call it).  I cleaned it up a bit for them.  It is looking pretty good now.  My secret for this is teak oil. Apparently there is a motorcycle rally of sorts here in Mazatlan this week.  They started  setting up a bandstand and preparing a large dirt field next to the Marina for the event.  Sort of a Sturgis South I guess.  In any event, it looks like we are in for some more late-night entertainment for a few days.  I believe it starts on Thursday this week and runs through the weekend.  More on this later... My new laptop is working well.  I can't say the same for Window 11 though.  It seems they are making it more and more difficult to set things up ...

It has been a busy and productive day today.  Things have quieted down after the somewhat raucous weekend.  In fact, I don't hear any music at all tonight! I started the day servicing the engine.  My auxiliary engine is a Yanmar 30 hp diesel.  So far, it has been very reliable.  I checked/changed oil, coolant, etc., then fired it up.  It started with no problem at all and I ran it for about 20 minutes to get it up to temp and see that is stayed in the normal range.  To do this I put in gear so there was a load on the engine.  Everything worked just fine, so that was good.  I'm ready for Wednesday's haulout! Today I realized today that my refrigerator won't work when the boat is out of the water.  My unit has a keel cooler affixed to the hull that works as a heat exchanger in the water.  Once out of the water, I have to shut it down.  Consequently, I am eating as much of my perishables as I can manage.  This is the first bo...

It's Easter weekend, so lots of activity here at the marina!  This is an extended weekend for most folks around here.  Many businesses close from Thursday through Sunday.  Parties, music, etc. until the wee hours of the morning.  Not much pious activity observed... Other than engine work, most of my inside projects are done.  I have been putting the cabin back in order and will prep the starboard pilot berth for use so I can open up the aft cabin area to work on the engine.           Engine and aft berth where I normally sleep.        Pilot berth I will use for now. I reinstalled the arch cross brace that had come apart.  These fittings are not too strong under tension, so I cleaned, pinned and epoxied both ends to they will (hopefully) hold up under tension.  So far, it seems to be a good fix.  I also finished polishing the railings around the stern area of the boat.  Looks much nicer now! Th...

 The repair on my cross brace for the arch went well.  The epoxy solution seems to be doing the trick.  I need to find the right sized bolt to put it back together - the original one broke.  This got me busy sorting the stainless nuts and bolts so I can find what I need easier.   I filled my small water tank Thursday and found the access hatch still leaks.  Friday I made a silicon rim to see if this works as a gasket, similar to what I did not my large tank.  I don't feel as optimistic about this repair, but am keeping my fingers crossed. My neighbors, who are leaving Friday, invited me out to dinner Thursday night.  We went to a local waterfront restaurant that had nice live music.  I had a calzone that was quite good.   I have been thinning out the items onboard.  The boat came with lots of parts/pieces/spares/tools and some things I really don't need.  This will save weight and get rid of some clutter.  I am a...

Easter is coming up this weekend.  The celebrations start as early as Thursday, with banks and other institutions shutting down until next week.  Anticipating this, I dropped by the boatyard and scheduled a haulout for next Wednesday.  I need to inspect the bottom, service my thru-hulls, change my prop, install new zincs and see if bottom paint is needed.  Having a fixed date will motivate me to get my engine maintenance done. With the help of my neighbor (Ed from Edmonds), we installed my new deck blocks.  Two people are needed, one on deck and one in the cabin.  It only took a few minutes, though the prep before did take a while.  I'll let it sit today and tighten it some more tomorrow.  Looks good! My new laptop arrived yesterday and I picked it up this morning.  It is a lower-end Lenovo.  Seems fine.  I am running the seemingly endless list of MS updates now.  When that is done, I'll load some more apps and get to work!...

I enjoyed breakfast burritos again Monday morning.  Not that I don't like my cereal,  but the variety is nice. After eating, I grabbed my tools and the vacuum and started drilling holes through my epoxy plugs.  This went well.  The epoxy had set up very nicely.  All the bolts fit well.  So far so good.  Next I cut out two rubber gaskets from stock I have onboard.   This will help seal the deck and keep the deck from getting scratched up by the base of the block. Two of my neighbors left today for places farther north.  The pier looks a little empty now.  The ebb and flow of the cruising community. I polished more of my handrails too.  That Barkeeper's Friend sure works well on stainless!  The rails were looking a little neglected.   Now they are polished and shiny,  I advertised my propane BBQ on the cruiser's net.  I don't think I'll ever use it and it takes up a fair amount of space.  No nibbles ...

Still getting used to having a properly functioning stove.  It is a welcome adjustment though! My first project today is to mix epoxy to fill the holes in my deck - the ones I drilled as well as the original holes.  Eight in total.  I masked them off yesterday to protect the work area.  I also taped them off in the cabin so they won't drip inside.  After putting on water for coffee, I put the epoxy in the fridge to cool, then made breakfast. The only epoxy catalyst I could find here was the fast cure type.  Fast cure wasn't the best option for this project.  It sets up faster and can get pretty hot in thick applications.   To offset this and have more working time, I cooled the materials before mixing them.  I also added some thickener so it wouldn't be too runny.  I mixed the materials, then went up on deck to fill the holes.  I used a large syringe to inject the epoxy into the holes.  After filling them, I went below to ...

I finished my stove repairs last night, so celebrated by making my first hot meal this morning - breakfast burritos!   It felt so liberating to be able to walk away from the stove and have it stay lit.  Sometimes it is the little things... My recently acquired (though dubious) stove expertise has gotten out a bit.  I was recruited to help a neighbor who is having problems similar to what my stove had.  He has a newer model, but they are basically the same.  Unfortunately, he had the same problem disassembling his stove that I encountered:  stuck screws!  I shared what I learned about troubleshooting, possible causes and remedies.  I left it with him to decide whether he wanted to break it to fix it as I ended up doing.  Another neighbor gave me a spare burner for my stove, so I have added it to my larder of parts I may someday need...  They also gave me a pile of charts for northwest waters.  They will come in handy for local a...

My big news today is I got the stove working (mostly)!  The problem, as mentioned before, was that the stove would not stay lit after warming up.  Normally you would hold the burner knob in until the thermocouple warmed up enough to generate a current to activate a solenoid valve.  This kept fuel flowing to the burner.  If the flame blew out, the thermocouple cooled, the electric current stopped and the burner turned off.  Overall, a clever safety device.  In my case, the only way to keep the stove running was to keep holding the knob in by hand as long as you were cooking.   Not exactly convenient...  So I set about getting the stove opened up to sort the problem out.   The screws were all corroded, so I drilled them out.  This took some time.  Once apart, I could see corrosion around the thermocouples.   Each thermocouple has a wire that runs to the solenoid.   This powers the solenoid when the unit g...