Pierless Sailing Adventures

Thursday I started on the second portlight that was leaking a little.  Again, it had been caulked with adhesive, so it was a bit of work getting it out.  A couple of the fasteners also need replacement, but that can wait.  This time, I borrowed a belt sander so I could modify the new portlight I had for a replacement.  That worked well, so I was able to install the new (and clear) portlight.  I polished up the frame as well.  It should be good to go now.  It is nice to see out clearly.  I'll have to replace the other ones when I get home. New portlight for Pierless We have a very convenient mini-grocery store at the marina.  Run by a nice couple with a teenage boy and a baby.  The store is small and mostly packed with convenience foods/snacks/drinks.  They do have a limited amount of "real" food and can usually get you items on request.  Their stock is always up to date as well.   Local Store Since they are at the mar...

Today I decided to clean up a bit.  I took my laundry to the marina laundry service.  They do a really nice job.  If you drop your items in the morning, they are ready in the afternoon.  After laundry, I headed out to buy groceries.  I was low on veggies and a few other items, so walked over to Sam's Club and Walmart to resupply.  I rode the bus back.  I have the bus routes more or less figured out - at least the ones that go to the places I frequent.   I finally ran out of water in the larger starboard tank, so filled it up again.  It holds about 65 gallons, so takes a little while to fill.  While filling, I dose it with Clorox to sterilize the tank.  I have two water tanks on the boat.  One holds 65 gallons and the other 30.  When one runs out, I switch a valve and start on the other tank.  It is a pretty good system and is easy to use.  There is an electric pump which keeps the system presurized, so no ha...

Tuesday was a productive day.  I started by checking out my sextant.  Mine is a Davis Mark-15.  It is an older model and came with the boat.  A sextant is used in navigation to find latitude and longitude by the position of the sun, moon or stars at a particular time.  It is a somewhat archaic instrument in today's world of GPS satellite networks, but is a fun skill to master in and of itself as well as being a good backup in case the electronics fail.  I have not done any celestial navigation since I took a class in my college days, so am anxious to give it a go. Davis Mark-15 Sextant I picked the sextant up out of its box and began cleaning off the mirrors, filters and lenses.  The main lens seemed cloudy, so I tried a little alcohol on a Q-tip.  Unfortunately, the cloudiness did not go away.  I think I can still use it, but will want to get a new eyepiece when I get home.  I may try a little oil or vaseline to see if that helps... I h...

 Monday was a warm day.  I had the tarp off for Sunday's sail and the cabin really heated up when the sun came up.  After setting up the tarp I started on the day's projects. First up was to rig my jacklines.  Jacklines are safety lines which are run down both sides of the boat.  Using a harness and tethers, you clip to the jackline when moving about the deck.  This keeps you tied to the boat at all times and prevents anyone from falling overboard.  The boat came with jacklines, but they were getting old, so I decided to install new ones.   Blue jackline on Pierless. Jacklines are usually made from flat webbing.  This is because rope will roll under foot when stepped on, especially on a tilted deck.  The flat material does not roll, so is a safer choice.  I run mine from the forward dock cleat, through a cleat at the mast and then to a stern dock cleat.  I tie it at both ends so there is no additional hardware in the syste...

Sunday was my first single-handed practice sail with Pierless.  I spent the morning getting the deck cleared and checking the rigging.  My friend/neighbor Peter came along in case I needed assistance.  We were up against a noon low tide, so decided to head out between 8 and 9 and be back by eleven.  The harbor entrance is narrow and shallow in places.  I have seen depths of 8 or 9 feet on occasion.  My boat has a draft of nearly 7 feet, so we wanted to be in before the maximum low, otherwise we would have to stay out until early afternoon.   We motored out in light winds of 8-10 knots.  Swells were about 3 to 4 feet and wind waves were around a foot.  This was the first time I used the electric autopilot.  It worked great!  Easy to use, quiet and it does not use much electricity.  While I have my windvane and have used it frequently when sailing, the autopilot fills another function.  It keeps the boat on a heading wh...

Friday began with washing down the staysail.  To do this, I raise the sail in increments, spraying both sides with water as I go.  Then let it drip-dry in the sun before lowering it and stowing it on deck.  All sails pick up dirt (near shore) and salt when out on the water.  Cleaning this off when convenient helps make sails last longer and look better.  I also made some adjustments to the sail tack hardware (where the sail attaches to the deck. Next up was another radar reflector.  This one I brought down with me to augment the one already on the boat.  The new one was an octahedron style and made of aluminum pieces.  It folds up flat, so is handy for shipping.  I now have three radar reflectors.  Overkill perhaps, but I do want to be seen! Pierless' radar reflectors I spoke with Ruben, a local guy who does boat canvas work and can repair sails.  He will drop by and take a look at my sail and see what he can do.  I also picked...

Today I connected the new topping lift to the boom.  It seems to be working fine.  The old one was wire and broke during last year's trip.  This one is Dyneema.  The Dyneema is stronger, lighter and won't chafe on my mainsail.  I may make a few changes when I get home, but it should be fine for now.  Later in the day I had a friend help me get the genoa (large jib) sail out on deck.  I need to inspect it and it is large and heavy.  I'll take a look at it Wednesday. New boom topping lift I ordered a new bilge pump today.  My old one was not working too well and the float switch that turns it on had failed.  I hope to have the new one in by the weekend. When I put on the mainsail, I didn't get the reefing lines run correctly.  I fixed this Thursday morning, then started working on the staysail.  The staysail attaches to the inner forestay on the front deck of the boat.  It is a smaller headsail and is used when the wind gets...

I posted a few days back about the unusual coincidence of cracking two eggs and finding them both to have double yolks.  Well, I think the yolk is on me...  I appear to have purchased a carton of eggs which are all double yolks.  I had no idea that was a thing.  The packaging must have indicated this, but my Spanish is too limited and I didn't really scrutinize the label.  Anyway, mystery solved. Immigration paperwork has been a little confusing.  They sent me three electronic documents to fill out - two Word documents and one Excel document.  I filled them out and returned them along with English translations for the text.  I thought that might be helpful for other visitors who don't speak Spanish.  Most of the words were unfamiliar to me, so I had to spend some time translating to make sure I filled them out correctly.  Apparently that was unacceptable.  I was asked to fill the form out as is and send it back again.  No probl...

Saturday morning I finished the last bit of teak oiling on deck.  It looks pretty good for now.  Certainly fast and easy to apply. Next I installed my lazy jacks.  Lazy jacks consist of a network of light cord on either side of the mainsail.  Their purpose is to hold the mainsail on top of the boom when it is being lowered.  Without lazy jacks, the mainsail has a tendency to fall all over the deck, creating an unwieldy mess.  My lazy jacks are integrated with my sail cover into what is often called a "stack pack".  The stack pack is attached to the boom and is always ready to receive the mainsail when it is lowered.  No need to haul out a separate sail cover or stow it in some handy spot on deck.  Using this system, it is easy to lower the mainsail while keeping it under control, then cover it up with the sail cover. Sketch of a lazy jack system (minus sail cover) My bilge pump that has been giving me problems was my next task.  I though...

Thursday was a big day:  Time to reinstall the windvane! I picked up my repaired lower brackets on Wednesday, so time to put things back together.  Shannon came by to give me a hand.  I could probably do it myself, but it is a little awkward and I don't want to risk dropping it.  We got the two upper bolts in, then positioned the repaired lower brackets.  Everything fit, so I continued by myself tightening everything, installing the hydrovane, running the control lines and testing.  Here is what it looks like all set up: Monitor Windvane In operation, the windvane on top is set so it points directly into the wind.  In that position it stands up straight.  If the boat veers off one way or the other, the wind comes at an angle over the windvane and deflects it to one side or the other.  This motion turns a pinion gear which turns the hydrovane in the water.  The hydrovane, being in water, has a lot more power than the windvane.  When ...

Pierless is a fiberglass boat.  The interior is trimmed with teak, but the deck only has a few areas with teak trim.  This wood is subjected to the sun and salt year-round and tends to get dried out over time.  I started the day applying teak oil to the deck wood.  Some people prefer varnish.  It certainly has a nice bright look, but is a lot more work when you need to refinish.  I'll stick with teak oil for now since it helps protect the wood and is quick and easy to apply.  I try to do this in the morning so it has time during the day to dry. Oiling the teak In addition to the relentless sunshine, Mazatlan is a dusty place.  Some of this is just a consequence of the hot dry climate (it is humid, but no rain this time of year).  The other source of dust is ongoing construction.  There are at least three active construction sites I can see from my boat.  The dust accumulates on deck and some of it finds its way down below.  I r...

Monday, May 1st is Labor Day here in Mexico.  A national holiday, so the weekend was a little busier than usual.  Monday too.  People partying, music, fireworks, etc.   I found another small problem with my windvane, so spent some time sorting out the problem.  At first I thought I would have to order a replacement bracket, but after talking with the manufacturer, we figured out a way to make a good repair.  I would need to take the parts to a shop to have some holes drilled for a bolt.  I dropped the part off on Tuesday and should have it back by Wednesday.  In the meantime, I took the device off the transom to make it easier to work on. Transom and windvane One of the issues with the windvane was corroded bolts.  I had two shear off already, which is why I have been replacing them all.  One that sheared off left part of the bolt head which I filed off and was able to disassemble.  Once I had the device off the transom, it was...

I completed my bilge pump test today and found a problem with one of my two electric pumps.  I think it is a wiring issue, so will look into it in the next day or two.  One of my manual pumps needed a new handle, so I made one out of a dowel.  I need to test it to see if it is strong enough for the task. To communicate while offshore, I have a Garmin InReach device.  It is a satellite based communication device which keeps track of my location, gives me weather reports, allows me to send text messages and has an emergency notification function.  It is a reasonably affordable way to have communication capabilities offshore.  It won't give me internet access, so I can not download more detailed weather and routing information, but it is a useful tool nonetheless.   Garmin InReach Mini I have a friend at home who will keep tabs on conditions in the Pacific using weather routing software.  He will be able to text me suggestions on the best course...

 Since departure date is closing in on me (finally...), I decided to head down to the Immigration and the Mazatlan Port Captain in the commercial district to get started on the process for checking out of Mexico.  It seems there is no consistent process, though there are some commonalities.  Depending on what port you are in and even who you speak with, there are differences in the forms and process you are required to follow.  It can be a little confusing and also frustrating, so I did as some research before heading down to the office. I took the "green" bus to "Centro", which is the old part of town.  Being close to where the cruise ships dock and near the big market area, it is popular with the tourists.  The bus ride took 15-20 minutes and follows the shoreline for much of the trip, then it winds through the Centro district.  My first stop was at immigration.  Both immigration and the port captain offices are in the commercial shipping distri...

After my mast climb and sun exposure, I took it easier on Thursday. I decided to get the dodger set up.  The dodger is a an enclosed structure designed to protect you in the cockpit area.  It shields you from wind, waves and spray.  You can keep snacks, drinks and other items safe on deck under the protection of the dodger.  Larger enclosures are also common that connect to the dodger and wrap all the way around the cockpit providing better protection in cold weather. Dodger on Pierless  My dodger consists of two large hooped bars and to smaller straight bars.  Upon assembly, I found some of the screws were partially stripped out where the hardware attaches to the deck, so I masked the area off and applied epoxy and some wood filler.  Once cured, I drilled out new pilot holes and reinstalled the hardware.  There were also two missing snaps on the deck which I fixed.   Once those repairs were finished, I set up the stainless frame then co...

Wednesday seemed like a good day to get high...  When I left the boat last year, I hauled my new halyards up the mast with cheap retrieval lines so they would be out of the sun while I was gone.  This protected the line, but a couple of my retrieval lines did not survive.  Consequentially, two of my halyards were up the mast and I needed to climb up and get them down.  I also had two new radar reflectors to install, so figured I would get as much of this done in one trip up as possible. There are a few methods of climbing up the mast.  Some people have steps installed up the mast, so it is a little like climbing a steep ladder.  Convenient, but it adds windage and weight aloft.  The more common way is to attach a seat (a bosun's chair) to one of the halyards and have someone crank you up using one of the winches on deck.  This is a workout for the person cranking, but works well.  A third way is to use a climbing harness and prusik cords to c...