Here are the latest blog posts. For older posts click here for the previous blog site. Eventually we will bring all the old posts over once we automate the process.
new head installed! 8 Oct 2013
so i was able to finish up the head first thing without too much pain. i must say i highly recommend this raritan model. even better than the vacu-flush, larry, quieter, minimal water and no extra vacuum tank. i added a switch to give flush dry function but normally you just press the push button for about 5 seconds and woosh! everything is gone with pressure fresh water flush! i spent the rest of the day working on various other projects including rewiring the 12 volt outlet i added for the cockpit engel freezer. aimee spent the day...
read morehooters wing monday!
so today i worked all day on the head, cross checking the fedex website waiting on the 10$ per foot “super flex” hose that was necessary for the head project completion. i got everything in place replumed for pressure water to the forward heard, drilled holes everything. then at 430 my final part arrived. it took me another hour to get the hose installed and the head bolted down. aimee had been working topside cleaning the boat and as i came out to invite her in to check out the new head i noticed the bilge pump pumping out...
read moreanother palapa happy hour – 6 oct 2013
so this morning at our morning meeting i put pool on the agenda for 1600. we had been here for 5 days and had yet to find the pool. around 2pm i decided we needed to push the pool event up to 3pm. just to confirm this decision one of the marina staff stopped by to let us know there was a pool and recommend we check it out. apparently we where working too hard! just to cement things he offered to return to give us a “ride” in the deluxe golf cart. he did and we jumped on board with our 6pack cooler and a baby bag of chips. the...
read moretable project! 4 to 5 oct 2013
not having the head to work on allowed me to focus most of my energy on building a new cockpit table to house the new engel freezer. for as long as i can remember i have dreamed of being able to flip up the table and pull cold beers and ice out of the cockpit table. but as i had always feared this is easier said than done. first i removed the table from the cockpit and put it on the dock. this caused aimee a bit of angst as i dont think she really believed i was going to undertake (or finish this project) then i began cardboard mockups...
read moreback in the usa – 3 oct 2013
we had an amazingly fast passage and arrived in the usv just after sunrise. i had some great wind and was flying along at more than 10kts before i finally took the poled in geono down. i was treated to a great sunrise and a rainbow over the little island i had picked for our breakfast stop and final swim. aimee got up long enough to pick up the mooring and then went down for a nap. after a relaxing morning we decided it was time to head into the dreaded marina to pick up all our stuff and get going on projects. the marina is very 5 star and...
read morefinal rib day in st martin! 2 oct 2013
any day when you get ribs and caviar has to be a winner, especially if you through an amazing sail in on top of it! that pretty much sums up our final day in st martin we did spend the morning getting my ENG1 physical so i can now drive mega yachts for hire, not sure how mega i can go at this point but for the time being i just need to worry about palapa. after aimee checked us out in our new super dingy we headed over to mullet bay for our 2$ beer and 5$ rib lunch. we where a bit concerned there might not be ribs but as we approached we...
read moreBack to the Driftwood Boat Bar, 1 Oct 2013
so after bit of confusion getting together with aimee (the mc Donald’s with free internet only opens at 10am) we finished up yet another charter prep email to our broker. i think we finally have our rates set and out “romance” package defined. it remains to be seen if any of this gets out to the customer. i think we will end up doing our own marketing! after this we headed over to the french market on our “rocket ship”, aka dingy. what a blast, makes going places fun again! i rapidly lost interest at the...
read morehunger stike! 30 sept 2013
we got back to palapa and got under way for st martin. it took me several beers to get over my caviar depression and for a while i told aimee i was going on a hunger strike until i could eat 2 euro caviar and bagget. this lasted until about noon when she made me a delicious wrap. so much for principal. we got into simpson bay at around noon and this time i had decided we would check in to “practice” for our eventual charter. aimee is doing all the checkins so while she did this i worked on reinforcing our dingy davits for our...
read moreno caviar for you! 29 sept 2013
well he day started out perfectly. i got us under way just before sunrise for a 70 nm run to st barts. if you recall the last st barts event was quite expensive so i had planed this one to arrive at sunset then then aimee was to go in and stock up on the subsidized 2 euro caviar and baguette and be under way by 8am. all went according to plan initially. we made great time with the polled out genoa and got several hits, lost one lure but d and almost got a Dorado but he slipped the hook as i was pulling him in, man thoes guys can move!! we...
read morebarbuda ho! 28 sept 2013
we left early for barbuda as it was a 30nm sail and i wanted to make sure we got to sail even if it meant going 4 kits in very light winds we have been seeing. alas after the first hour we had 10 to 15 kts n the beem in flat sees and where blasting along at 7.5 kts. aimee of course got the lines out and of course in quick succession we had 3 hits. the first was a beautiful Dorado but under 2 feet so i released it. no sooner had it hit the water than we got another tuna. this guys was a keeper and we tried some new techniques to improve the...
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