Aaron's blog

Tonight Aaron started to put the lifeline netting up. Once it’s finished, Louise can roam freely when out on the deck.

We installed the dingy davits (lifting arms) over the past few days, and yesterday uncrated the dingy and motor and hoisted them up to test it out.

The first coat of bottom paint was put on today.

First fiberglass job today. This is just a thin piece of about two layers of chopped strand mat and poly (instead of stronger and more expensive epoxy). It will be glued onto the back of the dashboard where some old instruments were cut out, and then we can fill the old holes in against that backing and drill holes for the new instruments.

Progress today:

Put fiberglass panel back on the cabin roof, had to be careful to seal some screw holes to be watertight.

Installed new navigation table light. The old one didn't work, this one can be either red (to preserve night vision) or white and dims. The kit I ordered was not great so I rewired some of it and put a different switch on it.

Installed new VHF radio at nav table. There is one at the binnacle but it doesn't seem to work. I suspect the antenna on the top of the mast is gone as I can't see it from the ground. It will be good to have access to the VHF from inside, and the binnacle will get a remote microphone so will still have access there.

Wired in the charger for the handheld VHF radio. Now we don't have to plug in a wall-wart to supply 12V to it, it is wired directly into a 12V circuit.

After a couple days of part-time poking and exploring where existing instrument wires go between working on other projects, today I got serious about getting some wiring done. Almost all of the floor boards were taken out at one point and there was some delicate wire fishing. But here is the first indication that I am on the right track with the new NMEA 2000 instrument network. That little 4" display shows changing numbers when I spin the paddlewheel sensor with my finger (normally would be spun by water).

Next up is to extend the network to the cockpit where it will provide the same data to the chartplotter and 2-3 4" displays.

Another big hurdle will be to get an instrument installed on top of the mast and then connected in, which will probably be in a week or two.

I removed the two old transducers. One was for sending speed and the other for depth. The nut on each was size 2 1/2" so I needed a huge wrench. The remaining hole is a bit bigger than it needs to be for the new transducers so I will need to research whether that can be safely filled with sealer or should be filled with fiberglass and then drilled at the proper size.

Digging into the electrical panel for the first time today. Removed what appeared to be an old cable TV amplifier and the old navigation table light, both were poorly wired.

We have a boat! I repeat, we have a boat! The 1996 Hunter 376 named Retriever, not sure if we will keep her name or not, is ours. Yesterday we received a call from John telling us the boat was unlocked and we are free to do as we like. We stopped by West Marine to pick up some cleaning supplies and a padlock for the companionway. Next we went to Lowe’s and picked up a few other supplies. Then we grabbed Louise from the camper and headed off to the boat. Louise was pretty apprehensive and skeptical of everything at the marina from the oysters on the dock pillars to the boat itself. Once lifted onto the boat she walked around and explored a little. We did find out that she will need loads of training in becoming a proper boat dog. The areas that need the most work are getting on and off the boat and going up and down the companionway stairs. We’re hoping with time she will learn to love the sailing life as much as we do.

Last night we spent four hours bagging up and throwing out things the previous owners had left behind, which was a lot! We filled up 12 trash bags full of mildewy sheets, sunscreen with an expiration date of 2014, the full bag of trash left in the trash can, and lots more. Now that the boat is rid of the items we did not want to keep, it is time to start cleaning! Over the next few weeks we will be spending our time cleaning, updating, and making the necessary repairs to the boat. After the repairs are done and Aaron’s parents come to take the car and camper back we will start heading south on the ICW.

Saturday morning we went to check out the south beach on Tybee Island. There is a big pier there and it was a little cold but there were still 20-30 people fishing. One person caught a 40" red drum while we were there. We also saw many jelly fish in the water when looking down from the pier. Back on the beach we lounged on a hanging bench for a little bit. Aaron decided to walk back to the campground along the beach. Anna read a book for a while and then when she started the car to drive back to the campground the check engine light went off. Anna picked up Aaron who had made it halfway back and went to a mechanic who diagnosed it as a misfire on cylinder 4. We had noticed a slightly rough idle so that explained it. The mechanic figured we could wait and see if it would trigger the light again.

Sunday we moved the camper back to Charleston, and the engine light came on again. The James Island County Park is very nice, with amazing bathrooms. There is a holiday light show going on in the park with all sorts of illuminated displays along the road and people pay to drive through and look at them. The campground is full many nights while this is going on. Even the campground guests seem to be in the holiday spirit, as many of them have Christmas lights up and a bunch of inflatable decorations. The park has a huge dog park that we spent about 90 minutes at. It was very busy and there was tons of dogs! There was a dog named Kirby that looked very similar to Louise so naturally we talked to his owners for a while. Their Sunday tradition is mimosas at the dog park--two bottles worth of champagne apparently!

On Monday we took the car to a Mazda service center. They checked it out and told us the ignition coil was broken and the spark plugs were at the end of their life. The failed ignition coil had resulted in a buildup of gas residue in the throttle body. They fixed all of those issues while we cruised around in a new MX-6 loaner car. Anna loved the head-up display and Aaron was excited about the automatically adjusting cruise control. While we waited we walked around a nearby mall while it poured cats and dogs outside. Both of us got haircuts from a lady who's daughter is an anchor for a news station in Bismarck. Don't worry, Aaron's hair is still long, it just has a little more style now!

On Tuesday we did the boat survey. We met Randy (seller's broker) on the boat at 9:30AM and motored 30 minutes up-river to the Cooper River Boatyard. Their pier for the travel lift had collapsed so they used a huge crane to lift the boat out of the water and place it into the travel lift. This process took three times as long as it normally would because the employees were hung over, stoned, and unorganized. Once the boat was out of the water we could see that the bottom was as unmaintained as the top. It was covered in barnacles, oysters, and other growth. There were even crabs crawling around on the propeller. Nick (the surveyor) and Randy were unimpressed. We were informed that the bottom will need to be scraped and repainted. After Nick tapped on the hull to verify it's basic integrity they put the boat back into the water and motored back to the marina. During that trip, both of the sails were raised and the autopilot (broken) and instruments (some broken) were tested. After we docked, Randy left and we followed Nick around as he surveyed the deck and interior. We will have the full written report of the survey by Saturday and will proceed as needed.

Today Aaron went to get coffee and a newspaper and came back with a vase full of beautiful flowers. Then he went over to the lake in the park where he had seen people setting up their remote control sailboats. After watching for a few minutes, one guy walked over and asked Aaron if he would like to try. Aaron sailed the boat around for a few minutes and then gave the controller back as they were starting a race. After the race Aaron sailed some more including 5 races, each about 5 minutes long. Most of the time he placed in the middle of about 10 boats except for one humbling race which he didn't even finish before the next started. Then Anna, Aaron, and Louise went to the dog park and played for about an hour. Louise was terrorized by two Boston terriers but there were some other good dogs for her to play with. She was so exhausted that she actually stopped running and just stood next to us as the other dogs played. After that we went back to the camper and made mac and cheese with brats for lunch. Then went to a place that sells a few brands of dinghies and learned a lot about them. We stopped at a dessert place after that and they happened to be filming an episode of season 6 of Southern Charm there (TV show on Bravo about the socialites of Charleston…I guess). We signed some waivers so that if we are in the background of an episode they won't have to blur our faces. It was dark by the time we got home so we drove around the full park loop to see the holiday light display.

Tomorrow we will do laundry and get groceries. Friday we will check out of the campground on James Island and check into the Mount Pleasant KOA which we stayed at a couple weeks ago--same site even! Louise will go to the vet Friday evening to get boosters for the shots she received three weeks ago. We are trying to set up a time view a used dinghy in Mount Pleasant on Saturday. We are planning to visit James Island County Park again on Sunday to check out the next RC sailing event which will have larger boats, and to check out the dog park again as there will be many more dogs that day.