LIFE: Part 2

Archive for the ‘The Boat’ Category

In 2001 we had the boat painted with Awlgrip – decks, coach roof, and everthing else on top. That turned out to be a big mistake. ‘Perfect Finishes’ in Trinidad did a far-from-perfect job – so much so that we had to come back the following year to have it re-done. One of the challenges (Click to Read More...)

Our vinyl bimini had done remarkably well, but at 14 years old it was end of life – especially when Ceu put her knee through it. So it was time for a new one, and we decided to build a nice new hard top from scratch. Documented here is the process we went through: Stage (Click to Read More...)

We use OpenCPN  as our primary navigation tool, running it on a Raspberry Pi 3B using OpenPlotter as the basic platform. Although OpenPlotter has a lot of additional features, we don’t actually use them, just OpenCPN as our chartpolotter. We have an Eyoyo LCD screen at our helm station. It all works well, except that (Click to Read More...)

Current Location: Guana Island, British Virgin IslandsCurrent Position: 18 28.41 N 064 34.61 W Click to view map. Distance sailed since last post: 421 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track hereIt is time for s/y Ventus to have new rigging. So our friend Nick asked me if, starting from stainless rigging, I (Click to Read More...)

Having had them on order, we finally picked up our new anchors in Syracuse. As you can see, the new Rocna 33 – which weighs, uh, 33kg – is quite a bit bigger than our hydrobubble. And, as you can also see, it has a concave shape rather than a convex shape to it. There (Click to Read More...)

Current Location: Cartagena, Murcia, SpainCurrent Position: 37 35.78 N 000 58.79 W Click to view map. Distance sailed since last post: 112 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track hereStainless steel rigging is subject to crevice corrosion. The problem with that is that you cannot see it until it actually breaks. Then it (Click to Read More...)

Life Part 2 was bought out of a charter fleet. That means it was pretty basic in its equipment – but its price reflected that. Now, chartering for a week or two is one thing, but living on a boat is very different. It is, after all, HOME! So like any self respecting home owner, (Click to Read More...)

Current Location: Road Town, Tortola, BVICurrent Position: 18 25.56 N 064 37.01 W Click to view map. Distance sailed since last post: 90 nautical miles. View the map of our voyage track hereHow many times Noel had to go up the mast to complete installation of the radar??? The same amount of times I had (Click to Read More...)