Halifax is the capital city of Nova Scotia, the economic center of Atlantic Canada and home to Canada’s Atlantic naval fleet. The city has done a wonderful job in rejuvinating its waterfront while keeping the flavor of its commercial and maritime heritage intact. After a run south from the Liscomb River, we passed through Halifax…
Uptown Girl at the Downtown Public Piers
Dylan and Dee Dee just finished attending the Hampton, VA Snowbird Rendezvous and have started their official cruise south as snowbirds. There were far too many times they were left alone while Mom and Dad gave their talks and attended events. Let’s be…
Belhaven, North Carolina on a sunny afternoon
Belhaven, NC is a quaint fishing village in Beaufort County, located in North Carolina’s Inner Banks region. I love the town website description. It says “Belhaven, cuddled in the midst of Pantego Creek and Pungo River. Once known as Jack’s Neck, then Bellport, finally the town became known as Belhaven which means “beautiful harbor”. Belhaven is […]
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Annie-Cat – In Memoriam
We had been expecting and dreading this day since this last rainy Memorial Day weekend in Petersburg when it became pretty apparent that our cat Annie was failing on account of kidney failure. We visited the vet with the expectation that she would be euthanized that day.
Instead, with the encouragement of the veterinarian, Dr Ken Hill, we started a program of subcutaneous infusion of Ringers Lactated Solution for hydration. It made a dramatic improvement in Annie and she ably completed this seasons cruse.
But all along, we knew it was only postponing the inevitable. Her weight continued to drop (our Bainbridge vet thought perhaps lymphoma was in play as well) and she was no longer tolerating the regular 2 to 4 minute subcutaneous infusions we tried to perform.
For any pet owner (or whatever the more current euphemism might be) there comes the time to recognize that additional care is not really increasing the quality of the pet’s life. After 4-1/2 months of care since 
that rainy weekend, we decided that Annie was failing rapidly and the best course was to euthanize her.
We had Annie (short for Annapurna) since she was a kitten over 14 years ago. She accompanied us as one of two ship’s cat (Maggie was the other) on every significant cruise we did on our boats. She was always affectionate, fastidious in her litter habits and had the world’s softest fur. We’ll miss her very much.
FPB 78-1 Cochise – After A Very Quick 5000 NM
FPB 78-1 Cochise has just completed a 1832 NM passage, Fiji to French Polynesia, against the prevailing wind and current, …Read More
Oct. 16 – Our Season is Over
Olverson’s Lodge Creek Marina
“Collect memories not things” —Unknown
We left The Pearl a week ago, so I guess it’s about time I do a blog to close out this cruising year. It’s was a great year that started in Marathon back in January and continued up the east coast to Maine, and eventually back to the Chesapeake where we have the boat stored for the winter. We cruised 3434 miles this year, bringing our total miles traveled since leaving Texas in March 2011 to over 17,000…that a lot of miles when you’re traveling at 8 mph.
CONTINUE READING HERE…»
Topical — Ring Them Bells
Nothing to do with boats or cruising around. Just a great Dylan tune performed nicely.Nordhavn Exumas Abacos Bahamas trawler Caribbean Pickwick Boat dogs
Memphis Downtown
RETHYMNO – TECHNICAL AND FOR FOODIES
TECHNICAL
At Rethymno our agent, A1 Yachting organises some servicemen to do a few jobs.
-One of our two 120V aircon units has a sea water cooling pump which is not working. An electrician confirms there is no power coming to the pump from the aircon unit but can’t fix it. His solution is to buy a new aircon unit! No success there and we decide to get it checked by someone we know in Corfu.
-Our washing machine’s water discharge pump, previously fixed by Chris and I fails again. Two servicemen come to inspect it and find it is simply a blocked impeller. A few days later it fails again and this time an AC wire has broken. This wire is too light for its function with the vibration of the machine. They fix it but a couple of weeks later the pump is no longer working. I have rigged up a hand vacuum pump to the machine pump’s water outlet so that we can still use the machine and will get the machine checked later by Miele servicemen in Corfu. Incidentally we are now recycling the machine’s water to clean the boat down, whereas this water normally discharges over the side.
-Our main toilet has had a problem all season. It will discharge into the holding tank (from where we can discharge waste overboard) but will not discharge directly over the side. Experienced servicemen already looked at this in Corfu finding nothing wrong with the toilet. This serviceman does much the same, finding nothing wrong and by a process of elimination the fault probably must be a partially blocked discharge hose to the seacock or a problem with the seacock itself. Since we can still use this toilet (and the forward toilet) this has not been a major problem and we’ll resolve it next time Envoy is on the hardstand.
Probably cruising’s only great frustration is when supposedly expert people come aboard to investigate a technical problem and can’t resolve it or provide a way forward to resolve it.
At Rethymno our agent, A1 Yachting organises some servicemen to do a few jobs.
-One of our two 120V aircon units has a sea water cooling pump which is not working. An electrician confirms there is no power coming to the pump from the aircon unit but can’t fix it. His solution is to buy a new aircon unit! No success there and we decide to get it checked by someone we know in Corfu.
-Our washing machine’s water discharge pump, previously fixed by Chris and I fails again. Two servicemen come to inspect it and find it is simply a blocked impeller. A few days later it fails again and this time an AC wire has broken. This wire is too light for its function with the vibration of the machine. They fix it but a couple of weeks later the pump is no longer working. I have rigged up a hand vacuum pump to the machine pump’s water outlet so that we can still use the machine and will get the machine checked later by Miele servicemen in Corfu. Incidentally we are now recycling the machine’s water to clean the boat down, whereas this water normally discharges over the side.
-Our main toilet has had a problem all season. It will discharge into the holding tank (from where we can discharge waste overboard) but will not discharge directly over the side. Experienced servicemen already looked at this in Corfu finding nothing wrong with the toilet. This serviceman does much the same, finding nothing wrong and by a process of elimination the fault probably must be a partially blocked discharge hose to the seacock or a problem with the seacock itself. Since we can still use this toilet (and the forward toilet) this has not been a major problem and we’ll resolve it next time Envoy is on the hardstand.
Probably cruising’s only great frustration is when supposedly expert people come aboard to investigate a technical problem and can’t resolve it or provide a way forward to resolve it.
FOR FOODIES
In Rethymno we find a delightful restaurant called Veneto in a 700 year old building which has been a Dominican monastery, a Venetian mansion and a prominent Turk’s residence. This is open-air dining at its best on an ancient stone floor, surrounded by arches, shrubs and flowers in ceramic pots and a water feature built around an old well.
Ancient horse trough is now a feature at Veneto restaurant
The meals are sumptuous but reasonably priced and we share: -Marinated sardine fillets upon crispy bruschetta with freshly-ground pepper and secret herbs for 7.50 Euros (about NZ$12.50).
-Apakia smoked pork with whipped goat’s crème and sweet Vinsanto wine for 9 Euros (about NZ$15. -Stuffed vine leaves (Dolmades) and zuccini flowers with rice and yoghurt for 6.50 Euros (about NZ$11).
Our delicious platters served ready to enjoy
This is washed down with some local house white wine at 5 Euros (about NZ$8) for 500 ml, followed by a free dessert of fresh fruit and local schnapps.
Coinjock – Snap, crackle, POP!
Coinjock has become a traditional stopover. It’s a short day cruise from Portsmouth, it requires passage through a lock and several draw bridges, it’s the only stopoff before Albemarle Sound, plus the restaurant there has great prime rib! Sister Lisa has a beach home near Nags Head, and if they are at the beach, it’s […]
Seven Year Report: the Boat
Furthur hit her eleven-year birthday marking 8049 hours on the amazing Cummins QSL engine, again trouble free. With only 649 hours in the last twelve months. Now that is more than most American boats do in any year, it is a long trip to Alaska or a trip down to Mexico from Seattle. It is our least number of hours in seven years! This birthdate found us in the remote reaches of Indonesia, Raja Amput. This trip was a bit grueling weather and distance wise but Furthur trucked along flawlessly. The only glitch was when I broke one of my Cardinal rules. If one side wears out fix them both! I had done a rebuild of the starboard side stabilizer but not the port. Sure enough the ram seals gave out and we lost hydraulic oil. The local folks really tried to help us and I foolishly let them, a motorbike mechanic has no idea what a stabilizer is nor how to fix it, but they tried. We got the ram rebuilt with motorbike parts and some long traveling to a town by our new friend but it simply did not hold. I eventually did what I should have the first day, disabled the port side by looping the hydraulic hose and off we went. I was amazed how effective just one of the seven square foot fins were, smooth sailing. With worries of pirates on our minds the last two days into Davao were intense. We were all a bit jumpy for sure so when there became a loud howling grinding sound from the engine room smack dab in the middle of the dangerous waters we all jumped a bit. I had bundled a group of hydraulic and other hoses with ties to tidy up the area, mistakenly Including the small hose that provides cooling to the dripless shaftlog, pinching off the water supply. I found the problem fast and fixed it, no more “tomb of the zombie” like noises but a bit of concern about the damage it might have done. This is no place to break down! We made it to the marina safely and began a few projects. Furthur came with exquisite leather upholstery which over time and tropical stress had given out in some well used areas. The two pilot seats in the bridge and the bench in the pilot house for sure needed help. We found a great upholstery guy who replaced them with Nagahide leather look alike for an amazingly little bit of money! I also had a few other cushions done, should have done them all.
new stainless steel exhaust hose
We hauled out to see about the shaft log and do bottom paint. There had been an increasing leak in the main engine exhaust which I repaired ala Mickey Mouse meets Rube Goldberg, time for a new one. My trusty boat guy found a section of 3 16 stainless pipe about twice what I needed, but cheap. The guys in the yard replaced the shaft log, which required pulling the shaft. They were impressed with the hole in the rudder winhich allows the shaft to be removed without removing the rudder, wow they said. They did an incredible job of fabricating the new exhaust hose and installing it. I also had the bottom paint done while I was at it. Now I have spent half my life around boat yards, seen many a bill that brought tears to my eyes, but I have never, I mean never gotten a bill from a ship yard and laughed!!! The yard charged 500 pesos a day—A DAY labor rates (ten bucks) and these were top guys. The haul out was $400. Aside from that whole—risk your life and being kidnapped in your sleep thing—there is no place I have seen better to get yard work done than Davao. Furthur all happy and us glad to get out of the now gloomy Ocean View Marina, we headed north just before Christmas in the tail of a typhoon. Actually, by plan, as there is always calm seas and no wind a week after a low comes through. We reached Subic Bay at the end of the season. By now the good folks at Wesmar had sent me total rebuild and spare stabilizer parts so the last work was done by our favorite technician, Kua Boggs. When we returned for the longest marina time in seven years I set up a list of projects. None were repair, all maintenance items, mostly preventative maintenance. There are two systems on the boat that all happiness depends, the anchor system and the dinghy. Both had performed flawlessly for years, many years so I decided to rebuild both systems.
pictures sent to get the right size gypsy
I found a guy who could get Muir parts at a great price, so I ordered an entire new motor/gear unit. When I reassembled the system I found the shaft would not go into the motor. I took it to a machine shop and they determined it was twisted beyond repair. I had always noticed a wobble in the gypsy but thought nothing of it. The Muir guy sent a new shaft and as the gypsy was worn replaced it as well. Meanwhile the machine shop guy made me another one for spare. Hard to tell them apart but the custom made one was half the price. So I now have a complete spare motor/shaft/gypsy. Before I left Seattle, seven long years ago, I heard Rule was discontinuing their 24v winch motors so I bought two spares. Again the old ones were working fine but time to change. I rebuilt the old ones as I did the anchor windlass motor. I am fit on spares for these systems.
trusty Muir motor now being replaced
On the addition front; we love the solar panels and the reduction in generator time they provide. We did sit in ten to fifteen knots of wind of about a month once and saw all the happy wind generators whirling about grabbing amps from thin air. So we got one, just installed, now with the power of sun and wind Furthur is greener than ever. Back again to the “all happiness depends on the dinghy” concept, my AB inflatable has had a tough life. Tropical sun has taken its toll as had hours and hours of use and multitudes of dive trips. The hull and tubes constantly leaked, with me, with the aid of my constant repair sidekicks Mickey and Rube, had done some ghastly looking repairs with epoxy and 5200 adhesive to no avail. I looked at a spendy custom made Cadillac dinghy made here, wow! But prudence put me back in a Chevrolet. My friend Peter now owns the local Chandlery and is very high on a budget RIB. The tubes are made of PVC with a special Mylar coating, giving them the same life span as them much more spendy Hypalon. I decided to give it a try, time will tell. The cool thing is I am getting a special made tank rack for the dive tanks also a Sumbrella tube cover. So we hope for years of good service from the new Grateful Diver! We head into the 2017 cruising season with sparkling new dinghy, the power of the wind and Furthur fit and ready for the new adventure! Make Your Dream Your Story Capt. Brian Calvert M/Y Furthur www.furthuradventures.com
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Otto
PS. The manual may be accessed by clicking this link: USER MANUAL
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