1/31
More dinghy engine break-in. I boosted the engine with crane and block and tackle. Fun! Gotta take it in for warranty service on a faulty tilt lock.
1/29
More dinghy-engine break-in.
Got the sails back from Mack.
Need to find a diver to look at our prop.
Dad discovered stinky propane fittings.
1/28
More breaking in the dinghy engine today. Fun to experiment with how much throttle is takes to get on a plane and stay there.
Spoke with my engine guy Darrel about getting ole Perky to run over 2000 rpm in gear. I need to get a diver down to check for growth on the prop and then get back to him.
1/25
So we got the outboard into the dink finally and drove her around a little. Now of course we need to get over to the DMV and take care of that end of it. I revved the outboard up to full throttle just for about 30 seconds as part of the breaking in schedule and it sure was fun when we started planing.
1/22
The outboard is resting securely on the stern rail. There are several very handy items aboard Lark from previous owners. One is the swing arm on the wind turbine mount that allows hoisting and lowering things over the stern with a block and tackle rig. Another is a sweet little threefold purchase block and tackle rig with a jam cleat. Hooking up that rig to the swing arm and the oatboard made hoisting, swinging it overboard, and positioning it on the rail a breeze. Thanks POs!
1/21
We got the inflatable launched and have been paddling around the marina and having a blast. We have yet to get the outboard mounted on the inflatable. I've been really puzzling over how to do that and without dropping the darn thing in the drink in the process.
We got an Alfa booster which is actually giving us a useable wireless connection in the boat.
I finally got done with replacing all the gaskets on the other head pump and reinstalling it, and it works like a champ, but it seriously squirts seawater all over the place like some crazy little pet. I guess that's what sump pumps are for.
You might be a liveaboard
Did you ever have one of those days when you told everyone not to use the toilet because you had the pump pulled apart because it was splashing salt water around the bathroom whenever anyone flushed it? But then they all forgot and used it anyway? So then you needed to pump out a day's worth of pee but when you went to get out your handy all-purpose pump it was still oily and I mean really oily from a couple days ago when you changed the oil in the old tractor engine that you keep in the living room? So then you cleaned that thing up and made a trip over to the neighborhood hazmat dump to get rid of the oil and came back and pumped all the pee out and took it over to the neighborhood shower and poured it into the toilet there and then you were rinsing the bucket on the pier and your brand new flipflop ended up going for a swim? And it was low tide so you couldn't reach your flipflop from the pier even if you were lying on your stomach? And then by the time you got back with the boat hook you had to fight a catfish who had plans for the flipflop and kept starting to swim off with it?
And the toilet was still busted?
If so, then you just might be a liveaboard.
1/10
We did some cleaning today above and below. I've been puzzling over how to attack the head repair job. At least it's not disgusting-- just leaving intake water.
Personal Mini-Happiness Project
A few years ago I was briefly part of a book club of fellow Ned Mamas and I enjoyed it. The book club fizzled, but in our short time together I read several good books that hadn’t originally been on my radar. I really enjoyed The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin. I felt like it was important and something I wanted to do for myself, but I wasn’t in the right frame of mind to start it. I recently re-discovered it on my Kindle and started re-reading it. I asked Jacob to get me the audio companion for Christmas, so I have been listening too.
It has really been resonating with me, and I have decided to do my own mini-happiness project. I am excited to make time for the parts of my life that I allow to often sit on the back burner even though I would like them to play a starring role. I’m going to copy Gretchen’s structure (and some of her goals) and make a few behavioral changes each month in hopes of bringing out my best self. I will try really hard to keep it simple, obtainable, and measurable.
I have been working on a little project for the past several months that ties beautifully into one of The Happiness Project’s central themes for success, ‘Act The Way You Would Like To Feel’. It felt ‘meant to be’ when she said that phrase, as I have been doing a ton of research on that exact subject lately. I have had so many different things pointing at this basic message in my life, like flashing billboards, saying ‘walk this way’
For January I’m focusing on organizing, and energizing.
Daily Goals
- 10 minutes of tidying - spend 10 minutes tidying each day in order to avoid giant messes that spiral out of control and feel unmanageable. In this tiny space if the mess gets too out of hand everyone is immediately affected. We can’t move around the boat, or use our table, open the refrigerator, or get to our clothes. I think with just a few minutes daily we can get into some better habits, and avoid the bad moods that accompany a big mess.
- Go to bed on time every night - I rarely feel like I have enough alone time in my life. With homeschooling, and very few babysitters around after the girls go to bed is MY TIME. Sometimes I stay up until midnight just goofing around, but I always pay for it the next day. I am the type of person that really relies on 8-9 hours of sleep a night, and when I don’t get it I start to feel bad. I’m going to try and get to bed by 10:30p every night so I can get at least 8 hours before the girls get up at 7a.
- Practice Yoga - I always feel better when I do yoga, but I have not been doing much of it lately. I would like to fit in 2 or 3 practices a week. Eventually I would like to try and make it to a class or two, but for now, I will be satisfied even if it just out on the pier.
Projects for January:
- Organize the kitchen cabinets.
- Buy nets for the kitchen and girls room.
- Make chore chart for girls.
- Clean the boat so we can make a tour of the boat video.
School 1/9/2015
Audrey reciting The Little Elf:
Lorelei reciting The Little Elf:
Science pictures to go with earth science on rivers
Audrey's original story:
Math:
1/9
We went to the marine flea market in Vero today. It was kind of weird. Honestly, it was mostly souped up cars and funnel cake vendors. There was one guy with actual boat stuff, and we were able to get a pretty good deal on an extra set of braided dock lines.
Cap'n Jack came by and suggested that when I need to do some grinding for this fiberglass project, that I can just take the boat to the anchorage right outside the marina and grind away. If it's going to take awhile then so much the better: we can develop our life-on-the-hook skills out there and dinghy in and out from our slip.
1/9
So that big blow the other night seems to have worked some gunk loos in the fan. It's spinning at the slightest ever since...
1/8
Big blow last night. Everyone in the marina was up at 3 retying dock lines.
I did some more spelunking this evening to try to get a handle on the cockpit fiberglass situation, this time from below. What I saw looked surprisingly solid. Not sure what I was expecting but I feel a little better having seen what I did. I still think some tapping is in order as my next step.
1/7
Mack picked up the main and jib today. I discovered that the second to the top batten was missing its paddle and was poking a hole through the luff end of the pocket. So they'll take care of that too. Colin said that the sailmaker should have put a batten car on to prevent that, so maybe we'll spring for one.
April picked up the set of new gaskets and seals for the Raritan from Marine Liquidators so I can dive into that project at any point now.
The whole wet core thing has thrown me for a loop. I've read Casey on how to attack the problem but he's pretty high-level about it. I'll need to watch some videos on it I guess.
I'm puzzled about how and when to do "grinding" and what that even means beyond the fact that the marina will almost certainly not let me do it in the slip. Head over to Cracker Boy I guess? The girls will not like that.
It's so tempting to just lay down some plywood and try to forget about the problem, but I'm not going down that road. As a stopgap, yes I will put down plywood, but I will not let this thing drag on unaddressed.
For now, I'll get started with tapping.
April picked up the set of new gaskets and seals for the Raritan from Marine Liquidators so I can dive into that project at any point now.
The whole wet core thing has thrown me for a loop. I've read Casey on how to attack the problem but he's pretty high-level about it. I'll need to watch some videos on it I guess.
I'm puzzled about how and when to do "grinding" and what that even means beyond the fact that the marina will almost certainly not let me do it in the slip. Head over to Cracker Boy I guess? The girls will not like that.
It's so tempting to just lay down some plywood and try to forget about the problem, but I'm not going down that road. As a stopgap, yes I will put down plywood, but I will not let this thing drag on unaddressed.
For now, I'll get started with tapping.
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