Captain’s log
Dateline: 12.07.2022

Keelcrab

The tide was high this afternoon, so I gave my Keelcrab a try.

Installed metal brushes to get rid of barnacles, connected everything up, and the thing chooched! My cat's hull is extremely round, so it was very hard to keep the crab "glued" to it, but I've managed to clean part of my port hull. Wish the water here was less muddy, instead more clear and blue like in Hawaii — it's really hard to see where that little robot is, and even its camera can't see far in that nasty brown water.

Later it turned out that I removed some kind of foam flotation devices from Keelcrab because I, of course, didn't read the fucking manual and thought those were there to prevent something from breaking during transportation. In my defense, they looked ghetto af. I'll put them back in and give it another try sometime soon.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 13.07.2022

USCG documentation

Turned out to be that documentation for my vessel won't be mailed for at least four more weeks. Another thing to delaying me, but it's okay, it's all part of it.

Long story short is that the USCG have changed their forms at the end of April, and my paperwork was submitted right before then, so they had to re-fill and re-submit everything. Bad ~~timing~~ luck. Despite my boat being in the registry, I have no papers on hand that prove that I own the vessel, ergo unlikely to be able to pass through the Panama Canal until I get my papers together, but we'll see.

Will likely have to ask UPS to forward me those papers from Hawaii to wherever I'm gonna be at in 4+ weeks.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 14.07.2022

Rain shields

Curious Cat has six portlights: one for each stateroom, plus two midship. They’re Lewmar Atlantic Size 32, 400mm (15-3/4") by 200mm (7-7/8"). Originally the boat had four or five rain shields that weren’t even for rounded portlights, they were for rectangular ports, and to be honest, looked a bit out of place: old, dirty, mounted on 3M double-sided tape. Likely a wave big enough could easily knock them off — perhaps that’s why there wasn’t six of them in the first place. I removed all of that beauty, took them to Hawaii, and donated to Salvation Army in Lahaina.

They were all PortVisor™ 18-R by Seaworthy Goods. One of the previous owners likely didn’t like rain getting into the boat every time it poured, and closing those portlights and removing flyscreens is no big fun, hence I get the desperation to put at least something and call it a day. I see they have 17-RE today for $43 a pop, it’s a buck cheaper than 18-R, and fits the shape of the portlight much closer. Maybe that model wasn’t around back in the day, who knows. Have to confess, it’s very tempting to splurge a couple hundred on new rain shields, but I’m going to sail back to Hawaii soon, so it’s not a good long-term investment. I’m thinking of 3D printing something like a flyscreen with that rainshield built into it, so it’d only be there when the portlight is open, not at all times. My boat is wide enough without those plastic things hanging off her sides. Maybe I’ll design something compact that gets permanently attached to my portlights and won’t get knocked off whenever I dock or do crossing.

On a side note, it's really shocking how much stuff can be simply picked off by passer-byers on dinghys with little to no effort: parts of winches, helms, sun covers, rain shields, personal flotation devices, fishing rod holders, solar panels, lines, fenders, wind turbines… even propellers can be detached easily from the outside, all you need is a wrench and snorkel mask.