Holy Sheet

A window treatment overhaul has been on my list of things to do for quite some time. A few months ago, we tore a hole in one of the makeshift curtains when we tried to slide it open. That hole was incentive enough to finally cross one more item off my "To Do" list. :)

BEFORE:

AFTER:

The Boom-Boom Room

For the past three years, the V-berth has been a thorn in our sides. When we moved into Mo-C in 2008, we knew that our bed was shaped like a V. We were willing to deal with it and we were under the impression that the previous owners had the board and cushion that would fill in the void and make our bed complete.

Apparently, there was no board or cushion so almost a year after we moved into Mo-C, Ben filled in the void himself.

Only problem: we didn't have a cushion for it. From time to time, I'd hitch a ride to the fabric store and price foam, but with our 4-inch tattered foam cushions and another 4-inches of terribly worn foam over top, it felt like one piece of new foam in the void would lay there mocking us daily (and it was really expensive). I'd had all the best intentions of gutting the whole V-berth and buying a completely new bed but without a car, it had always seemed a daunting task. And truth be told, I wasn't ready to commit to the sailing life and spend a good amount of money on a bed I might abandon sooner than later. 

Maybe like A.D. and B.C.E., everything in our lives will forever be designated B.C. (Before Catalina) and A.C. (After Catalina). Maybe it was the faith we grew in the boat or in ourselves or in our relationship during our trip to Catalina. Maybe since Mo-C proved to us she was in it for the long haul, we owed her (and ourselves) a little respect. Whatever it was, I decided we weren't going to spend another solitary night in those creepy little V-shaped less-than-twin beds, reaching out for each other but instead finding a cold, wooden void in the place of a warm body. So I bought two 8-inch (with memory foam) twin mattresses and an electric carving knife and we spent most of Saturday fashioning the first one to fit inside the berth. Once we figured out all the angles, we had the second piece cut in one slice to form our new, giant V-King Bed.

Earlier in the day, Ben had sterilized the entire V-Berth with bleach and water to remove any mold or dust mites and the previous day, I had purchased all new bedding to create our shiny new Boom-Boom Room (as it's become known on the mooring field). Now, our most perplexing thought is how we managed to tolerate those old, dilapidated cushions for the past three years. And Lola seems ultra-pleased that she no longer has to worry about falling into the great abyss.

The Sound of Music

While at anchor in Mission Bay, Ben installed two new waterproof speakers on the stern of the boat. Now we can listen to tunes while we sail, or while we're just hanging out in the cockpit. Everything seems to be coming together nicely of late.

On The Up and Up

Before we left for Mission Bay yesterday, Ben did some quick upgrades and repairs. Here are some pics: 

The inside of our grill was disintegrating...

So he replaced the innards with new shiny parts.

A few days ago, we took down the old, rusty light fixtures in the salon and over the navigation station.

Ben replaced them with these full moon-looking fixtures.

They light up white...

And red... 

The red is helpful for maintaining night vision while on night watch.

The base of our tiller cracked the last time we sailed over to La Playa. Luckily, we have a backup tiller on board. Rather than spending the money on a brand-new tiller to replace the main tiller, Ben decided to dry out and epoxy the cracked tiller. It is now as strong as ever and served us perfectly on our trip to Mission Bay.

Ben also installed an outboard engine mount to the railing on the stern of the boat. Now we can bring his outboard with us when we anchor out so we don't have to row to land. This isn't necessary in San Diego, but it will be when we're ready to travel to places more obscure.

Anchorage: Mission Bay

 We sailed over to Mission Bay yesterday. We left around 1:45pm and arrived around 7:00pm. It was a beautiful day but the wind died about halfway there so we ended up motoring for the last leg of the trip. Adam should be sailing over today to anchor with us. At some point, we plan to dinghy across the channel to check out Markitos's new (used) boat, a Calkins 50'. It's always exciting to see friends fulfill their dreams. :)

In this picture of Mo-C at anchor, you might notice the big blue rectangle suspended from a halyard over the cockpit. Ben dug this sun shade out of our lazarette a few weeks ago and it's been getting good use ever since. To think, it's been stowed for at least two years and we never even realized we owned it 'til this summer. Better late than never!

Dive Bar

A while back, we purchased a dive ladder at Minney's. Ben installed it recently so now he can easily climb out of the water after cleaning the boat. It also came in handy for Kristie when she fell out of her kayak on the 4th. ;)

Force 10 Cozy Cabin

Here are some close-ups of the heater install. Ben bought it used on craigslist and it had everything included except the wooden ring beneath the vent, which Ben cut out of some scrap wood we had lying around (yes, believe it or not, we have scrap wood lying around... or more correctly, tucked into random places) on our boat.

This is a view of the vent from the topsides. The vent cap is screwed on to

prevent water leakage but loose enough to maintain the proper amount of circulation to prevent carbon monoxide poisoning. He sealed everything with 5200 and/or epoxy.

Here is a view of the copper tubing running from the heater up through the deck. It has one 45 degree bend in it. The bend is optional, but it allows for more heat to transfer into the cabin rather than escaping through the vent, thereby increasing efficiency. 

Here is a picture of the hole drilled through the ceiling/deck for the vent. The pipe is 1" and the hole is 2", to prevent the deck material from getting too hot. The screws need to be filed down and a little wooden ring would give it a finished look, but today we only care about function. ;)

And here we have a poorly lit side view. This is just to show that the heater is mounted about an inch away from the stainless steel sheet covering the wall.

We have the heater hooked to the same solenoid as the oven in our galley and the oven, grill and heater are all fueled by one propane tank, mounted on the aft transom. For more information on how to mount your own Force 10 Cozy Cabin heater, check out the online manual.

Hot Fun

Just like everywhere else, the weather in San Diego has been atypical this year. We've had some nights in the 30's and some days in the 70's. Recently, Ben installed a Force 10 propane heater in the cabin of Mother Culture and we've been enjoying the warmth on those cold nights. Eventually, he'll build a safety rail around it... as anyone who lives on a boat knows the chances of one of us branding ourselves are pretty good!

In other news, The Little Salty Chihuahua turns 7 years old today!

Neither Wind Nor Rain Nor Dark of Night

It seems the windy season has blown in and once again we're taking advantage of it.  Ben got a steal on this used Air-X wind generator and installed it last week.  Even though last year's microburst was most likely a *once in a lifetime* event for those of us who endured it, this time around Ben is going to install a kill switch to err on the side of caution.  I had planned on sharing a short 20-second video of the [yet-to-be-named] wind generator in action but as usual, my worthless 3G provider (hint: begins with the letter "V") refuses to allow me the pleasure of uploading even the shortest of videos.  So this half-assed picture will have to suffice instead.


The Honeywell generator has been working out perfectly on the calm, cloudy and/or rainy days.  I can actually start it on my own (Toot-toot!) and we found a place to set it where it doesn't cause a clattering reverberation throughout the entire boat.  As far as electricity is concerned, it looks like we've finally got everything squared away.

Danny, Bruce, Chris & Mo

Lately, it seems life has taken on the same pace as sailing. For those of you who’ve never sailed, that means long stretches of relaxation, followed by short bursts of intense action, followed by more relaxation, and so on and so forth. This last week fell into the "intense action" phase. Ben finished installing our new bow roller and anchor last weekend, and I helped him replace all the nuts and bolts forward of the mast. Here’s what our old setup looked like:

Mo-C came equipped with a 22-ish lb. Danforth anchor attached to the bow pulpit (and a couple extra ones stowed in the lazarette).

Danny Boy's been working like a charm for us, but we decided to upgrade and add a little variety with a 33 lb. Bruce anchor. Danforths work well in mud and sand, but not so well in grassy bottoms. Bruces are good for mud, sand and rocks. So far, I'm pretty sure we've only anchored in mud and sand, but I try not to go in the water too often, so I'm not positive about that.

Unfortunately, Bruce can't hang from the pulpit like Danny did, so Ben installed a bow roller to house him.

Now Bruce lays nice and snug at the bow, ready to dive in whenever we nudge him.

Amidst the upgrading and maintaining, Ben's cousin, Chris, stopped by on Tuesday to hang out and check out Mo-C for the first time. We had a running deal that we'd come check out his new house after he came and checked out ours.  Looks like it's our turn to hold up our end of the bargain!

While Chris was visiting, Anna stopped by, followed soon after by Justin. We all enjoyed some cocktails and conversation in the cockpit under the beautiful sunny sky.

I think it was later on that evening when Mo appeared. (Not Mo-C... this is Mo-N... one of Ben's oldest friends from Virginia.) He surprised us with a visit and stayed for a couple days with us on the boat.

This has been a good year for visitors. And we're still waiting for the rest of you to come on down and play pirate for a day... ;)

Spring Break Continued...

When we returned from Vegas on Thursday, Ben finished switching out our energy-sucking halogen spreader lights with these new energy-efficient blue LED lights.

Then Ben's cousin Ken arrived from Colorado to spend a couple days with us on the boat... Our very first overnight guest aboard Mother Culture!

Chillin' Like Dylan

I guess I've mentioned our reefer (aka refrigerator) a time or two in one posting or another.  Mo-C came equipped with a reefer/icebox which we've used from time to time.  The problem with it was... well, let's be honest - there was more than one problem.  First, it was wasting energy.  Ben suspected it needed a freon charge because after a couple days of use, the fan would remain on 24/7.  We considered fixing the problem, but that's where the other problem came into play: Location. It is situated beneath the only counter space available in our galley.  Besides that, it is very difficult to open and, because of its depth, even harder to find stuff in. This means every time we open it, we're in a race against the clock to find whatever we need without wasting precious energy.  It's a race we'd never win.

Ben did some research and came up with the Engel MT35 Fridge/Freezer (pictured above).  It uses between 0.7 and 2.5 amps (even at start-up) and we placed it where we can easily open it, find what we're looking for and close it without wasting energy.  He hooked it up yesterday afternoon before the sun went down and we had solid ice cubes in it when we checked at 7:30 this morning!  And this new addition frees up our old icebox for much-needed dry storage in the galley. 

The Fridge/Freezer only works as one or the other, so we'll use it as a freezer and keep the cooler for refrigeration. Now that we have ice on-demand, we can rotate ice packs from freezer to cooler each day to maintain a cold cooler for refrigeration.

Oh, the money we'll save not having to buy ice every other day and waste food that's gone bad from lack of refrigeration!
Now... I've gotta make a trip to the store to stock up on some frozen foods and ice cream!...

A Pirate's Boo-tea

Good organization is one of the most important elements of living aboard.  With limited space, we need to make good use of every cubic inch, but of equal importance, everything must appear neat and orderly or it can drive a person crazy.  (Or at least it can drive me crazy.)  Feng shui is the only way. 

Last week, I created this hanging box to organize my teas.  Previously, they were all tossed into a hammock (shown in the upper right corner of the photo to right), which not only looked cluttered but was also difficult to reach into. 

My new box is a simple planter box with holes drilled into the ends for 1/2" sisal twine hanging lines. In the future, I'll add a couple lines to the bottom to keep it from swinging while we sail. It looks much better than the hammock and is a lot easier to reach and find what I'm looking for.

Got Gas?

We do.  Propane gas, anyway.  And a working oven and grill.  I'm baking some stuffed shells as I type this.  Last night we baked some cookies with Adam.  Only thing we need now is some cookie sheets and pans.  It's kinda tricky baking on tin foil all the time!  Here are some pics of the newest addition to our family:

Power To The People

Last night, I worked online 'til well after the sun went down.  When I finished working, the charge on our batteries had dropped down to 12.28 volts.  Ben had to work last night, so I also stayed at the hotel.  When I woke up at 6:30 am, it was cloudy and raining.  When we got back to the boat this morning, the meter read 12.85 volts.  Thanks to our new wind generator! 

[This is for the record... for those skeptics who told us a wind generator was worthless and we should instead invest in a gas generator.]  

Movin' On Up

It seems summers here are filled with sailing adventures while fall and winter are filled with repairs, renovations and upgrades.  Ben installed a wind generator a week or so ago.  He is still fine tuning some of the details but here are the specs on our new wind thief: 


Rutland 913 Windcharger

Low wind speed output: The Rutland 913's high inertia generator starts producing power at 4 MPH. At 10MPH it produces 2 amps@12v and 4 amps at 15 MPH increasing to 7.5 amps at 22 MPH. The Rutland 913 outperforms all others in real cruising conditions yet withstands gale force winds unattended.

Quiet - The Rutland 913 produces only 75dB at 11 knots, by far the quietest generator on the market.

Size - 36" blade diameter won't dominate the stern area of your boat, less windage and weight aloft. Easy installation on mizzen masts or stern post.

*****

Weeks ago, we upgraded from a 1980's FM stereo/cassette player to a more appropriate AM/FM/USB capable stereo (w/remote control!) and booming speakers.  We can finally listen to Dr. Laura the way she's intended to be listened to.