Repairs and Upgrades

Buying a boat is not unlike buying a home.  You look at a ton of prospects and when you find one you like you make a formal offer with subjects.  One of those subjects is always the marine survey - the boating equivalent of a home inspection.  Our inspector was very thorough and reported a few things we didn't know about the boat.  Fortunately there was nothing serious but the items he noted factored into our negotiations.

Now that we've got Ge Mara home we can turn our attention to addressing these things.  First, the lifelines are worn and corroded in places.  This is a must fix for safety's sake.  Interestingly, the white plastic that covers the cable is actually detrimental as it holds water inside and speeds the deterioration of the lifeline.  The riggers who bid on re-doing the lifelines advised against using that style of cable.  We have a guy coming this week to get that job done.

The only other immediate repair is the hot water heater.  It actually works great but the inspector said it is badly corroded on the bottom and could spring a leak at any time.

Then there's the optional upgrades.  It goes without saying that the sky is the limit on these.  Cushions for the cockpit, upgraded prop, an electric windlass (to raise and lower the anchor), and on it goes.  For the most part these will have to wait while we focus on the important things.  We did make a few minor optional purchases though.

When we pulled up to our new slip in Vancouver for the first time we discovered that the cement dock they use sits much lower in the water than traditional wooden docks.  As a result it's an uncomfortably big jump from the boat to the dock and visa-versa.  I knew we'd be having many visitors to the boat very soon so rather than risk an injury we bought a plastic dock stair from West Marine.

Another item we splurged on is an upgraded stereo.  The boat came equipped with an AM/FM CD stereo but unfortunately it has no provision for playing music from an I-Phone.  These days virtually all of our music is stored and listened to that way and the ability to use one will give us access to a much wider selection of music without the need to store piles of CD's.

We could have used an accessory that transmits music from the I-Phone to the FM band of the stereo but a brand new one with a plug for the I-Phone/I-Pod is actually quite inexpensive so we went for it.  I took the new unit back to the boat to see if I could replace it myself.  This was probably not the best idea.  I managed to get the old one disconnected but I couldn't make sense of the wiring so I was unable to connect the new one.  So now we have nothing until I get someone down to finish the job.  I suppose there is goodness in this insofar as I've now decided not to attempt replacing the hot water heater myself.  No doubt my lack of experience could have much worse consequences with that project.

The Trip Home

After sailing GeMara home almost a week ago I've been caught up in work and other distractions.  But the important thing is she's home in one piece in her new birth at Coal Harbour Marina.

Going back to my last post, I think I retired very shortly after writing it - my first night on the boat. I'm sure I was a little wired with excitement about sailing home the next day but I also discovered that the diesel heater on board is pretty noisy.  So much so in fact that I couldn't even contemplate sleeping in the aft birth as was my plan (David was already out cold in the V-birth).  Whatever the reason, I had a fitful sleep and woke up at zero dark thirty the next morning.  David was up early as well and before long we had the coffee pot on and the marine charts out.  A little later Michele, our sailing guru for the trip home, had arrived at the marina and I got started on a bacon and eggs breakfast.  

With the requisite mariners breakfast out of the way we headed out of Departure Bay and pointed toward Vancouver Harbour.  As we expected there wasn't much wind in the strait so we motored for a good couple of hours.  David and I had plotted a course on the chart that morning but our heading seemed to be at odds with what we saw on the horizon.  After a bit of head scratching and consulting with the chart plotter/GPS we realized that our plot was correct and the fog on the horizon was distorting our view of our destination.  After a while the wind came up sufficiently to take a crack at sailing and soon we traded the gurgle and throb of our 24hp Yanmar diesel for the blissful near-silence of running downwind under sail.  We took turns at the helm the rest of the way home, enjoying our first sail on our new boat.

By the time we got to Point Atkinson in West Vancouver we had burned up most of the day but thankfully the fog that had hung over the city that day had burned up too.  The wind died in English Bay so reluctantly we brought in the sails and motored the rest of the way home.  It was an impatient ride home as we raced the sunset at a ponderous 6 knots.  As we finally rode beneath the Lions Gate bridge we were treated to a dramatic red sunset - a sailors delight as they say.  Unfortunately have I have no further photos of the evening as my phone died.

It was after dark when we finally rounded Prospect Point and pulled into our slip at Coal Harbour Marina.  David's daughter and her boyfriend were there, along with his young son, to welcome us.  We managed to get her into the slip and tied up without much drama and so ended a long awaited day.  One of our best in a long while.

First Night on the Boat

I'm sitting in Ge'Mara's cabin and finally feeling toasty after running the heater for a while. I'm down to one cabin light and an ounce or so of Lagavulin with a few potato chips.

The day went well. The previous owner was good enough to stay after handing over the keys and answer all of our inane questions. I envisioned him driving off leaving me feeling like I still have a million questions. Instead I feel confident in the boat and my understanding of her.

I'm not sure if its the diesel heater or the scotch but I've got kind of a warm fuzzy right now. I think this was a good decision.



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Location:Nanaimo, BC

Heading Out

So today is the big day.  Or rather tomorrow is but we're leaving for Nanaimo today to meet up with the previous owner and get a final run-through from him on the various systems on the boat.  We'll spend the night on the boat in Nanaimo and leave first thing in the morning for Vancouver Harbour.  It's a trip that takes less than 2 hours on the BC Ferry but on Ge'Mara we'll need every hour of daylight we can get.  The math is simple:  It's 38 nautical miles to Vancouver and our boat cruises under power at 5kts.  That's 7.6 hours.  With a nice puff we could make 6.5 or 7kts but unfortunately there is a big fat high pressure system sitting over the Georgia Strait and winds have been calm all week so it'll be the "iron sail" at least part of the way.  

There has also been a temperature inversion this week which, for the sake of anyone reading outside of Vancouver, is a common thing this time of year.   Temperatures aloft are around 10 degrees C but at sea level it's 2 or 3 in the morning.  Partly as a result of this we'll likely have fog patches in the Strait to deal with as well.  Our boat doesn't have radar but our GPS and charts will help us keep clear of the BC Ferry routes.  We also have an I-Phone app called "Shipfinder" that provides a dynamically updated view of commercially registered ships in the area and their heading.  

The Strait of Georgia with the most direct route marked.  We will likely steer a little more clear of the Ferry lanes

On the matter of seamanship, I have my CYA certification, along with introductory and intermediate cruising courses and time on the ocean in chartered boats.  To be safe, however, we have invited an expert along for the ride.  Our friend and previous co-worker Michelle previously owned a sailboat for many years and has generously offered to accompany us on the trip home while we get comfortable with the boat and I dust off my basic mariners skills.  I don't think a day of chugging under power on calm seas at 5kts was what she had in mind when she accepted the offer to join us but she's a good sport.  We'll have dinner at the Crow and Gate tonight and tomorrow we sail.  Can't wait.

Waiting to bring her home...

About 4 years ago, a good friend asked if I would consider joining him on a week long "cruise and learn" sailing course.  He'd been riding along with his brothers on sailing trips for a while and he decided it was time to learn how to be a proper sailer.  At first I balked at joining, mostly because I thought I'd sink a bunch of money into learning only to let it all slip away because it was too expensive to charter boats.  In the end I relented, and in the end I was right.  But fortunately (or unfortunately) I caught the sailing bug in the process so I did the only thing I could do:  I found a willing accomplice and bought a used sailboat.  That accomplice is my friend and colleague David, also an enthusiastic neophyte sailor.  This is the story of our boat acquisition and our unfolding adventures on her.  I invite you to laugh, cringe, judge (if you must) our experiences with us as they happen.  Thanks for visiting.