Captain’s log
Dateline: 02.08.2022

New pressure gauges

My hydraulic lines for the original propulsion system had two broken 100 psi pressure gauges right above hydraulic oil filters. Since I haven’t installed my electric motors yet, this is what I’m gonna use for the time being.

Don’t know enough about hydraulics to say what those pressure gauges are there really for, but It’s probably to see if the filter underneath is clogged and requires change or not.

The old ones were both all rusty and very dead. I went with 1.5" back-mounted 0–100 psi glycerin-filled stainless steel gauges with 1/8" NPT thread by Measureman. The original ones were 2" 0–100 psi, back-mounted as well, but didn’t look like they were liquid-filled — probably the reason why they got messed up so badly. Sadly, 2.5" don’t even fit in there — Winters makes seemingly very good ones, but brands like WIKA or Measureman should do just as well.

Those damn trees

Used Lee County Property Appraiser to find who could cut those trees that extend into the canal and could scratch my hull or grab my mast as I go through it.

No, this is backwards... first I left a message via web form on Lee County’s website, then called them to ask how long it’ll take to get it done. Lee County’s DOT said they are not responsible for Dawson Canal, and redirected me to the dept of natural resources. There, I was told that owners of those properties that have trees growing on them are responsible for cutting them, and that’s how I was referred to that LEEPA website.

Boats can be forced to move using something called "Lee County code enforcement" (+1 239 533 8895), in case if they take up more than 25% of the width of the canal. Which of course all those boats blocking the way do, but half of them don’t have working engines, owner of one of them won’t be back for like a week, and one guy cooks meth on his boat, which makes coordinating this whole project not exactly very straightforward.

I went to one of the properties across the canal and talked to a lovely gentelman, his wife, and their old senile dog. All of them very very happy for me to get on with my adventure of cruising around the islands and collecting STDs, but they’re leaving for a couple of months before I take off, so won’t be able to see me leave or really do much besides hiring somebody to cut those damn trees. I promised to take a video, gave them link to this website.

Lightning storms

Lots of crazy lightning happening this time of year in this area, last night there was so much of it that it sometimes was as bright as day at midnight.

I’ve never seen anything like that before in my life.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 03.08.2022

Hydraulics! Part Deux

Ken’s help taking and diagnosing the hydraulic motor on the right side was absolutely immeasurable. He had to use his Ryobi impact wrench to take one of the bolts off.

The good news is that the motor is okay, it was rotating just fine in both directions once detachend from the prop shaft. Buying a new motor like that would’ve been at least 2 grand. Anyway, the prop shaft was the problem this whole time. After pouring some linear rail oil that I have for lubricating my 3D printer, and slowly working that shaft bit-by-bit with bare hands, I was finally able to turn it 360 degrees. This means that my cat now officially has two working screws!

The bad news is that the stuffing box was covered in salt crystals and got glued to the stainless steel rotor, and when I set it loose, it started pouring seawater into the bilge. It was a bit scary at first because my floting switch on that side is broken and can only be activated manually, but after a couple of seconds it became more mild and then reduced itself to just dripping. It’s still filling the bilge slowly with saltwater, but I should be fine. At some point I might switch to dripless stuffing box, perhaps even use that as a source of water either for my water maker or to flush toilets, getting rid of one or more through-hulls. Might be a bad idea, dunno yet... something to think about.

Ken’s grease gun worked extremely well on bush bearings. It sealed them well. That grease should last for many years. He said that grease fittings were rusty, which is a very unusual thing to happen.

Ken and Julie also said they know a captain here who operates a barge with two screws five days a week. That could be a good idea to reduce my chance of bumping into something along the way. They also suggested towing me and going through the canal with a range meter to find narrow spots and develop plan of action going through those. And they’ve recommended me to watch Captain Ron. I love Kurt Russell, surprised I haven’t seen that one. Last but not least, Ken used to rewire diesels back in the day, I almost asked him to help me do that to mine so that I don’t have to hotwire it every time I need to get it running, but didn’t want to be one of those people whom you give an inch and they take a mile.

Folks from Bob & Annie’s congratulated me and recommended running the thing for a couple of minutes just to make sure none of the hydraulics "blow up" after being without use for so long. Good advice.

Having good friends makes all the difference in life.

More equipment

My nke autopilot and electronics are finally on their way to Bob & Annie’s, and I’m also in the process of ordering B&G’s AIS, HALO20+ radar, along with their ultra-bright glass helm chart plotter. Randy from Charleston Yachting was of great help to pick, order, and get those toys delivered, so big kudos and shout out to the guy!

AIS will help me see other ships and be seen as well, and chart plotter is just so much better than using iPhone or paper charts, not to mention the ones I have are really dated.

Can’t wait to leave, really overstayed here, plus need to make cockroaches go extinct and avoid letting new ones on board in the future. It’s great that thanks to Bob & Annie’s I had a shipping address and dumpster to use here, will certainly miss those luxuries. I’ll likely soon kill my Amazon Prime membership and rely mostly on what I grow, catch, or print on my 3D printer.

Ultra switch

Replaced broken Rule floating switch with one of solid-state Johnson Pumps’ Ultima switches that I bought months ago. It’s currently used with a 2000 gph pump, and all the old wires seem to be oxidized and became extremely brittle after 24 years. Their silicone jackets are still holding up great though! I’ll have to rewire pretty much the whole boat, good thing that I can do it bit-by-bit and currently have almost everything working.

The switch isn’t mounted yet but seems to be working fine. Found it hilarious how I see pumps and their switches mounted using screws directly to the hull of the boat below the water line, while the very first page of the manual for that switch says how a piece of marine plywood must be epoxied first, and then the pump must be mounted on it using short screws. I swear some people just want to sink. I will of course not use wood, I hate wood. I'll 3D print something hollow but sturdy and epoxy that to the hull.

Captain’s log
Dateline: 05.08.2022

Love letters

My name and hailing port vinyls are done and should be on their way. I used Lettering.com since they seem to have their shit together. Used Arial Rounded in Bold — curvy and serious enough to compliment my cat’s appearance.

CURIOUS CAT

LAHAINA, HI

Didn’t splurge on any kind of fancy adhesives or materials, it’s all temporary anyway since I urgently need to paint the boat, in different color.

Glass helm

Ordered 16" Zeus³S Glass Helm chartplotter from Charleston Yachting. That Zeus was the last one their supplier had, lucky me!

B&G makes those screens in 16, 19, and 24 inch sizes. 24 might be too big for my boat, she’s not a cruise ship, 19 is not that much bigger than 16, and they all have the same exact resolution – 1080p. This tragically means that the larger the display, the worse the picture quality. I also rather buy a couple of 16" screens and place them side-by-side, instead of cramming my chart, radar, and sonar all on the same large screen. It’s also good for redundancy.

If 16" turns out to be not enough, I’ll sell it and get 19", or move the 16" outside next to my helm and keep the larger display inside at my nav station.