Boat Projects . . .

Well, after our short cruise, we figured out we have a bit of maintenance and projects to complete to make the boat much more livable.  As we spent 9 nights in a row on the anchor, we are now pretty versed in using our anchor bridle, but needed to make something more permanent.  So - off to the store and 25' of 1/2" three-strand nylon rope and an appropriately-sized thimble for the chain hook end.

Well, let me (Joe) say I've never attempted to splice rope before, so this was an entirely new challenge, but after about an hour and a half of tinkering I got it!  We now have a nicely spliced anchor bridle!  Don't laugh at the duration, I had to make 4 separate splices - not too bad for a newbie.

For those of you that want to try your own, I used youtube videos and the following guide to get it figured out.

http://www.boatus.com/boattech/casey/rope.asp

Then came the engine maintenance. I wanted to change the oil and the raw water impeller just to have a fresh start - I'm not sure how long the old ones have been in there.  Well, as most boat projects have a tendency to, this one grew.  I took off the raw water pump (it simply unbolts on a Yanmar 3GM30) and found out the pump was leaking - substantially - to the tune of about a drip a second.  Well, thinking a new seal was in order, I went down to the dealer, only to find they don't have one, and to ship one in would be $10 for the part, and $100 shipping, unless I was willing to wait 3 weeks for the part.  I said no way and set about finding one in town, and tore down the pump for a rebuild.

During the tear down, I discovered that the bearings were SHOT in the pump, which was why the seal was leaking in the first place.  So, out again I go to find the bearings.  After about an hour at NAPA, they have the bearings on order, but they can't get the right seal.. Ugh..

So, online again.  Thankfully I found a new seal that could be here tomorrow!  Finally--I now just have to wait a day and the bearings and seal will be here for my installation pleasure.

Fast forward another day, the parts arrive, and I reassemble the pump, only to get it installed and find out the darn thing will not self prime - thankfully the new impeller I bought came with the impeller lube, and I used it all - so I didn't burn the new one up.  It took about another hour, but I finally figured out how to bleed the system so it will properly draw water and keep the engine from overheating.

So, 5 trips for parts and a total of 3 days, and I now have the oil changed and a new impeller in the engine - no one ever said boat projects were easy!

A taste of the cruising life, part 2

   
     I'm sorry I haven't posted any pictures. I'm still trying to figure out how to get photos from our phone or the iPad on to this blog, plus I admit to being terrible at remembering to take pictures when I really ought to!

A taste of the cruising life, Part 1

     Life has thrown us a few curveballs lately, so we decided to make lemonade--don't you just love my badly mixed metaphors--and really get out on the boat for a while.

It's good to be home

     Well, it has finally happened. I have completely settled in to living on a boat, and I know this because we actually left Kyrie and went on a short vacation for Easter. We spent Easter itself with my parents and sister in Newport, on the Oregon coast, and then drove inland to Newberg (no wonder my kids can never remember who lives where!) to visit a bunch of Joe's family and celebrate his niece's first birthday by going to a Portland Trailblazers game! On a side note, that game was awesome. We reserved one of the skyboxes and let me tell you, with 15 people, 5 of which were children under 9, that was a great way to watch the game.
      It was funny because I remember each night we were away I was thinking, "Gosh, I miss my bed." It also felt a little weird to be sleeping somewhere that didn't move around! Michael Robertson, a writer and cruiser aboard Del Viento wrote a great article a couple of years ago about caring for your cruiser and while it's somewhat tongue-in-cheek, there is a lot of truth to it! We've only lived on Kyrie for a little over two months, but I can identify with some of the suggestions already. The one about sleeping arrangements cracked me up. At my parents' house, we slept on a hide-a-bed, which was hilariously sloped toward the middle, but at least there was space around the sides. At Joe's grandparents' house, I made some comment about how the bathroom was bigger than our galley and dining area combined!
      Although we had a lot of fun and it was hard leaving everyone, it was amazing to me how much I was looking forward to getting home. It really is true that there's no place like home, whether said home has a solid foundation in the ground, or it floats in a harbor.