Deltaville II (18 - 25 June)

In our last episode, you may recall we were in beautiful downtown Deltaville. We told you why we were there, what we were doing in and around this booming metropolis, and we referred somewhat cryptically to “improvements” we were having made on the boat. Well, if this were a TV episode, it would be called the “reveal,” if it were a little more sophisticated it would be called the “denouement” and if it we had built up the anticipation a little more diligently it would be called the “climax.” In any event, here is the list of projects on which we have asked the Zimmerman boatyard to work while we were in Arizona and where we currently stand:



If you look closely, you can see the stainless
steel protection at the front and the side of the bowspirit

·         Bowsprit protection: As many of you will remember, we replaced our 45 pound CQR-clone (aka hinged plow) anchor with a 66 pound Bruce because I did not believe the CQR-clone was heavy enough to hold a 55,000 pound boat.  When we did so, we did not realize that the sides of the new, larger anchor would come up and bang the bowsprit. In fact, it has severely chipped the fiberglass. So, we have decided to protect the areas where it is being chipped with some stainless steel. Status: Done

·         Salt water washdown. When we were in the Bahamas, the sea bottom in which we usually anchored was sand. So, when we were ready to leave an anchorage, both the anchor and the chain came up fairly clean and ready to use again. Well, when we got to the ICW we learned that there is a lot more mud and gunk at the bottom of the most of the world’s anchorages that there is sand. (Ann swears it is warm, yucky and has the consistently of baby poop. As for me, I try not to play around in baby poop enough to know, but I will admit that is looks a lot like shit.) We also learned that this yucky stuff seems perfectly designed  to stick in the links of the chain as well as to the anchor. So, when we pull up 100 feet of chain that has lain in the gunk for one or more nights, we pull a lot of gunk onto the front of the boat. About the only way to get it off the boat is to go through all 220 feet of anchor and clean it out link-by-link. If you don’t believe me, you can ask Ann; it was not one of her favorite boat tasks. Even worse, unless you remove it almost immediately, some of this gunk can, in fact, stain the bow of the boat. It took several applications of my favorite cleaning product – FSR or Fiberglass Stain Remover – to get rid of the stain.

To eliminate that problem, we are having a pretty powerful saltwater washdown pump put on the boat. (I think it will be about 60 pound of water pressure per inch.) Basically, it pulls saltwater out of the sea and into the hose. All Ann has to do is to aim the nozzle at the chain as we bring it up and blast the gunk away before it gets on the boat – at least that is the theory. Lord, I hope it works! Status: in progress

·         Battery monitor: If you look back far enough in this Blog, you will find a number of references to our battery banks and trying to find out what is happening to them, particularly when we use the inverter. Now we have figured out some of the stuff that is happening, but we have asked Zimmerman’s to install a Xantrex LinkPro battery monitor. It is supposed to tell me, among other things, how many amp-hours are left in the battery bank. Status: Completed

·         Heads: While some of you may have forgotten our Battery Escapades, I am sure none of you have forgotten our Head Adventures. Well, the saga continues, but these aren’t really repairs, these are attempts to get in front of our problems.  First, I have to tell you that, after we spent a couple of boat units on them a couple of months ago, two of our heads continue to work as well as expected, but we have never been able to get the aft-most head (in the master stateroom) to work. In fact, we were told it was beyond repair. Well, after long consideration, much counting of boat units, and a great deal of concern for those of you who will come to visit us on the boat in the future (You better come, darn it!), we have thrown a couple of BU’s at the master head. We are not getting a new Lectra San, instead we are getting a brand new, high tech, Purasan. In a future entry I may try to detail the differences between the old fashioned Lectra San and the new fangled Purasan, but for now, let me just say that while the Lectra San relies on the salt in the sea water, the Purasan does not. Instead, we have to buy tablets to put into the Purasan – and make sure we have enough for a Bahamas trip. That means we will never have to put salt in the toilet again – even in the most brackish of water. (For those who don’t know, the Chesapeake’s water is not very salty; in fact, the further north you go, the less salty it is and the more salt we would have to add.) So, for the Lectra Sans we will have to continue to add extra salt for every flush as long as we are in the Chesapeake, but not for the Purasan. Our long term plan is to replace the other two Lectra Sans over the next two years. Status: Completed

We have asked Zimmerman’s to make one other modification to our heads. Both Lectra Sans and Purasans are classified by the Coast Guard as an MSD I’s, which “is a flow through discharge device that produces effluent having a fecal coliform bacteria count not greater than 1,000 per 100 milliliters and no visible floating solids. This type of device is typically a physical/chemical based system that relies on maceration and chlorination.” MSD I’s are supposed to be permitted everywhere EXCEPT in EPA-designated “No Discharge Zones,” where you are supposed to use an MSD III -- which is “a device that prevents the overboard discharge of treated or untreated sewage or any waste derived from sewage,” which means, basically, that you have to use a holding tank. (To complicate matters there are some state and local law enforcement officials who do not understand what MSD I’s are and assume that if you are not using a holding tank that you are dumping your … er … untreated stuff overboard.)

Anyway, we want to make it so we can use our holding tanks, either when we are in a No Discharge Zone or when the Lectra Sans do not work. So, we asked Zimmerman’s to put in a switch that will allow us to do just that. They did so, but in the process they discovered that two of our thru-hulls were frozen open and needed replacement. (Thru hulls are exactly what they sound like. They pass through the hull to either suck water in or blow something out.) It’s always somethin’ ain’t it? I do not like thru-hulls frozen in the open position, so, of course, we had them fixed; it is, after all, only a boat unit or two. Status: Completed



A not-very-good-picture of the new stove

·         Stove: Another major issue was replacing the stove. As most of you know, Ann not only loves to cook, she is very good at it. Me? I am not so good at cooking, but I can be one hell of an eater. Anyway, there were three problems with our stove: (1) It was 20 years old, (2) it cooked around 50 degrees +/- too hot, and (3) it was difficult to keep pots and pans on the stove when the boat tilted just a little. Clearly we needed a new stove.



The old stove

Ann really wanted a ceramic, smooth-top stove.  Unfortunately, the only smooth-top stoves we could find were 30 inches wide (the standard width); our space was 27 inches. No matter how much we looked and no matter how hard we tried we couldn’t fit a 30 inch stove into a 27 inch space. So, we bought a coil-top 27 inch stove. It seems to work okay, but time will tell. Status: Completed

·         Winch repair: This one is a repair/improvement. Most of you remember that the winch for our dinghy went south a couple of weeks ago. The first day Zimmerman’s technicians were here, they fixed the winch. It turns out that it wasn’t the electrical connections at all, but instead was the clutch for the winch. Five minutes after the tech fiddled with the clutch, it worked. Since they had it out and were working on it I asked them to replace the cable that pulls the dinghy up. When they were doing so, apparently the remote switch burnt out – so they replaced that also. Because they had to wait for parts, they didn’t finish until yesterday, but now it is done. Status: Completed.

·         Swim platform rub rail: When we use our dinghy we have to get on and off via the swim platform. The problem is that the darned Boston Whaler is just high enough to fit under the platform. In the past, when one of us got out, it would pop up and catch the rubber protective edging, which we call the rub rail (because it is designed to protect the boat from “rubbing” against the dock or anything else). Well, when it caught the rubber, it lifted it up and started tearing the places where it was screwed onto the swim platform. There were about 50 screws holding it in place and five or so tore through the rubber so we knew we would need to fix rubber, but then we had a bigger problem. If you will recall during the “Big Blow” at Marsh Harbor, the dinghy (which we had tied to the back of the boat), was constantly thrown under the railing, then it would bounce back and up, tearing even more of the rubber – until the rub rail was almost completely torn off. We decided that when we had it repaired, we would have a different kind of railing (stainless steel) put on so the dinghy would never again tear it out. Status: Completed

·         Fuel Tanks: Our boat has two main fuel tanks that carry 200 gallons of diesel fuel each. It also has two auxiliary tanks in the master stateroom under the bed that can another hold 150 gallons each. Several years ago, we were told, the previous owner decided he didn’t want to use the auxiliary tanks and stopped filling them. If we wanted to use the aft tanks, we had two problems.

Microbes, in the form of bacteria and fungus, are present in all diesel fuels. Long periods of fuel storage can create ideal opportunities for microbes to grow in fuel tanks. After they reproduce, the microbes die.  As they die, they fall to the bottom and form a “gunk” at the bottom of the fuel tanks. (This is, of course, not to be confused with the “baby poop” gunk that comes up with the anchor and chain.) Over a period of years, a lot of this dead-microbe gunk can form at the bottom of the tanks. So, before we use the fuel tanks we had to have them cleaned out. Moreover, since the tanks had not been used for a long time, we did not know whether microscopic cracks and pits had formed in the tanks and the associated hoses, so we had to have the tanks pressure tested to make sure when we put fuel in the tanks that it would stay there. The total estimated cost would be $2000 - $2500 dollars.

So why, you ask, did we care about carrying extra fuel? As we cruised up the ICW we learned that fuel costs can vary by as much as a dollar per gallon depending on where you refueled. If we could carry 700 gallons, we could fill up at locations where fuel was least expensive and skip those marinas where it cost a lot.  My back of the envelope calculations showed that we could probably save $750 for every thousand miles we traveled. Since the distance from the Chesapeake to southern Florida is about 1200 miles and since we go up and down every year, we could save $900 each way. Moreover, in the Bahamas, fuel costs at least a dollar more than the highest price in the US. Since we thought we might cruise 1000 miles after we get to the Bahamas, that would be another $750 in savings. In a year, we could save somewhere in the neighborhood of $2550 – which is more than the cost of the improvement – or more than two-and-a-half Boat Units. Status: They are pressure-testing the tanks even as I write this sentence. I am writing another sentence and they are still testing. Still … still … Ok, it is going to take maybe 24 hours so I should probably move on.

·         Water maker: Do we need a watermaker? No. Do we want a watermaker? Yes. Let me explain our thinking.

We have three options: (1) No watermaker, (2) Have our current watermaker fixed – assuming it can be fixed, (3) buy a new watermaker.

In the Exumas (the portion of the Bahamas where we plan on going next year) and further south in the Caribbean, water can cost 50 cents per gallon or more. A new watermaker, however, costs $10,000 (no, that’s not a misprint, 10 whole boat units) – plus another BU or two for installation. You can buy a whole lot of water for 10+ BUs – even at 50 cents per gallon.

Over a six day period, Ann and I use about 200 gallons of water – which is about the capacity of our water tanks – including water for washing dishes, cooking, and taking some very short showers. It does not include water for washing clothes – which is a big water user. Typically, we would spend 6 days at anchor, then go to a marina for a day or two and use the marina’s water to clean the boat, take long, hot showers and do the wash. Let’s say that comes to another 200 gallons. So, we would spend $200/week on water. Now let’s be very optimistic and say that we might have guests come to visit for two weeks out of a month, and that they, too would use 200 gallons (that is not quite true, but I am trying to keep things simple). That means we would spend $800 per month on water for Ann and me and another $200 for guest water. In a month, therefore, we would spend in the neighborhood of $1000. Since we plan on spending about 4 months or so each year in high-cost-of- water-area, we would spend abut $4000 per year on water.

A second problem with having no watermaker is that we lose freedom. Let’s say we and another couple are on a cruise. Our tanks hold only 200 gallons, so at least once during the week and more likely twice, we are going to have to visit someplace and take on water. Even if it is only Ann and I, we would have to stop for water every 6 days.

Between the financial cost and the loss of freedom, we are not big on having no watermaker. A new watermaker can run on batteries, so we could have it on most of the day. It can produce 10 – 15 gallons per hour which means that we would never run out of water. In fact, we would produce excess water. (I already thought of it. No, we can’t sell the excess; it is against the law for us to sell anything in foreign countries.)Anyway, it would pay for itself in three or so years.

Our watermaker is 20 years old, runs only on AC (i.e. when the generator is on) and produces only 7.5 gallons per hour (at best). However, we have to run our generator about four hours per day anyway (to charge the batteries). Four hours at 7.5 gallons per hour amounts to 30 gallons per day.  Over six days, we would produce 180 gallons – or almost half of our total weekly requirement. Over four months, the cost of water would be $2584; we would save $1416 per year with a repaired watermaker.  Since the cost of repairs would be ~$1500, we would pay for it in about a year. Moreover, while Ann and I could stay out for quite a while alone, even if we had guests we could stay out almost six days, or we could run the generator just a little bit longer each day and stay the whole week. 

Bottom line, we are trying to get our watermaker fixed. Status: In process.

Some of the new eisenglass on the flybridge

·         Eisenglass Replaced: In our last entry we told you about replacing the eisenglass – the clear plastic surrounding our flybridge. Actually, eisenglass is supposed to be clear. Ours is very foggy, foggy to the point where sometimes I can’t see through it well enough to drive the boat. It was also so old that it was cracking. If that wasn’t enough, it wasn’t configured the way we wanted it. Normally, when we are on the flybridge, the weather is good and we like to open the eisenglass and let the glorious breeze flow through. It was configured in such a way that we couldn’t open it up as much as we wanted; some of the panels didn’t open at all, and some of them didn’t open enough for us to enjoy the breeze. So, we asked the folks at Custom Canvass to replace the eisenglass with a combination of new eisenglass and staratglass. (Strataglass is similar to eisenglass, but is thicker, lasts longer and is generally better.) The job is now finished and it looks great. We are satisfied. Status: Complete.

·         Cushions: We have eight outdoor cushions, all made of white vinyl. We keep the two cushions for the bow seats in the salon behind the sofa so they are in very good shape. The six cushions for the flybridge, though – maybe not so much. Because they are in the weather a lot, mildew grows on them, they get stained and because they have been used for twenty or so years, the fasteners that are supposed to keep them in place do not work. In short, we needed to do something about the cushions. Ann thought the best solution would be to get them covered in sunbrella fabric which is the same fabric that we use for canvass throughout the boat.  On the bad news front, the lady who does cushions is semi-retired and works only occasionally. On the good news front, she has agreed to do our cushions. On the bad news front, she had some members of her family come to visit and she has not yet finished them. On the good news front she should be finished next week. Status: In process.

·         Entertainment Center and Wet Bar: In our saloon we have a large cabinet that is about waist-high and stretches across the width of the room. It contains a wet bar and an entertainment center. We are completely satisfied with the wet bar and, though I add shelves to it once in a while, don’t want it touched. The entertainment center is a different story. Right now, it is configured to house an old-fashioned Sony TV and three stereo components – a receiver/amplifier, a CD player and (are you ready for this?) a four track cassette recorder-player. (Remember the boat was built in the 1990s.) And, for us, it is good that it has the four-track. The best way for us to play our iPods is to plug them into a gizmo that connects to the four-track, which in turn is connected to the amplifier. The music comes forth loudly and clearly. The system itself is connected to four very good speakers, two in the salon and two in the galley, which can be used together or separately. The bottom line is that the set-up we have is very usable, though I must admit that we kind of want to get it updated with a larger flat screen TV and 21^st Century entertainment center components.

Here is the problem. The cabinet is custom-made to hold the components we have. Flatscreens do not have the same dimensions as the televisions of yesterday, so we would have to modify the cabinet significantly. Now I suspect you are beginning to get the picture; custom modifications to a custom cabinet call for some serious woodwork – especially when we want all the varnishes matched – and serious woodwork means big boat units. The estimate we got for that and a few other little pieces of woodwork was five-and-a-half-boat units. To be honest I think that estimate was high. We are not going to need much material and 60+ labor hours seems a bit high to me. Needless to say, we are not going to get the work done by Zimmerman’s. Instead, I am going to look around and try to find someone who can do the work for less. Meanwhile, we will continue to watch our old-fashioned square TV and listen to our iPods on our four-track. Status: On Hold

Unfortunately, when people start taking apart your boat to make improvements or repairs, they frequently find other things that need to be fixed. We had two things happen: (1) The techs found that many/most of our sacrificial zincs were worn out, and (2) we need new cutlass bearings. What are sacrificial zincs? Any time you have two different metals that are physically or electrically connected and immersed in seawater, they become a battery and some (generally small) amount of current flows between the two metals. The electrons that make up that current are supplied by one of the metals giving up bits of itself-in the form of metal ions-to the seawater. This is called galvanic corrosion and, left unchecked, it quickly destroys underwater metals.

The most common casualty of galvanic corrosion is a bronze or aluminum propeller on a stainless steel shaft, but metal struts, rudders, rudder fittings, and even engines are also at risk. The way we counteract galvanic corrosion is to add a third metal into the circuit, one that is quicker than the other two to give up its electrons. This piece of metal is called a sacrificial anode, and most often it is zinc. In fact, most boaters refer to sacrificial anodes simply as zincs. It would be hard to overstate the importance of maintaining the zinc anodes on your boat. When a zinc is gone, the metal component it was installed to protect begins to dissolve-guaranteed. Now zincs cost a little bit and so does the labor, but the cost isn’t that bad – especially compared to the potential consequences. So we had them replace all the zincs.

They also noticed that our cutlass bearings are failing and sadly, they are not quite so cheap. On boats with inboard engines, the engine spins the shaft which, in turn, drives the propeller. A “strut” – usually in the shape of an inverted “V” sticks out from the bottom of the hull and holds the propeller shaft in place. The job of the cutlass bearing is to fit between the shaft and the strut to reduce friction and to hold the shaft steady  as it spins. As the cutlass bearings wear out, we will feel more and more of a vibration as we increase the RPMs. Unfortunately, each set of bearings cost about $1500 and the labor to put them in is probably another BU each. Moreover, we have to have the boat hauled out of the water so the workmen can get at them. Overall, when we have them replaced it is going to cost us in the neighborhood of 5-6 BUs. Because we are spending so much money on all these other repairs/improvements we deferred having the bearings replaced. We’ll probably have to have it done this fall.

We still have a few more things to do. We have to sell our current dinghy and buy another one, we have to get someone to look at our generator, we have to sell our CQR-clone anchor and probably buy another (bigger) Bruce, and we have to buy and install a new electric oil changer. We’re not quite where we want to be yet, but we’re getting there.


Ann's Notes: Michael sure did alot of typing in this edition of the addition of the blog...I don't think I can match the amount of words he used.

I must say my new stove is very pretty...I did try every which way to get a new flat ceramic cook top and I could have -- but at the cost of many more boat units. It is hard to believe that none of the big companies make 27 inch ranges, the standard size is 30 inches. I guess I will just have to wait and get the flat-top range when we live back on land . I did however learn ALL about the different types of ranges, there is the drop-in,which is what we have, the slide-in and the free standing .They also have a Sabbath Mode in some ranges. Look it up, I found it very interesting so I even learned something new about the Jewish religion.

I think all the repairs and improvements will make our time spent on our beautiful floating home much more pleasant and safer. Please do come and visit and see for yourself how much fun it is. We will welcome you with open arms and a drink of your choice.
Traveling Soul...
Out...