Building an Outboard Engine Rail-Mount
Way back in 2014 we bought a used Achillies rigid inflatable dinghy that came with a Honda 9.9 HP outboard. It’s been tied up at our dock ever since. We use it usually during the summer to run around on the river. On our first overnight anchoring trip, we decided to leave it behind because […]
Cockpit Bilge Pump
A few years ago I read somewhere about why it’s a good idea to have a manual bilge pump in the cockpit. I haven’t thought about it in a while, but it’s been on our to-do list since I read about it. It makes sense really. First, redundancy is key on a sailboat. Since we […]
Cutting the Boom
Weather helm is the tendency of a boat to turn itself into the wind (weather). Too much weather helm and she’s not only hard to steer but slower than if balanced. How do you counteract the tendency for the boat to turn into the wind? You turn the rudder. So, the more weather helm the […]
Tank Tender, Dorade Guards and Mast Pulpits
Tank Tender One of the previous owners installed a Tank Tender for checking the level of the diesel tank and the single water tank that was original to this boat. The Tank Tender uses air pressure through a little tube that goes into the tank. The excess air pressure bleeds off until the air pressure […]
Power Management (Victron Multiplus)
Victron Multiplus We bought a new Victron Multiplus 3000 watt charger/inverter in November 2017 and finally finished installing it. Here’s a little video of what we did. CO Detectors Rich had a little time off work so he was able to finished up a few little projects as well. We have two carbon monoxide detectors […]
Rebuilding the Bilge Pump
Several years ago we took the very large manual bilge pump out of the bilge so we could clean and paint the bilge. Then we forgot about it, as it was tucked away in the shop. Last April I decided it was time to take it apart and clean it up. Bilge Pump Rebuild We […]
Lifeline Gates
I feel like I’ve complained about the heat a lot, but then again I’m sure this has been the hottest summer on record. Just this past weekend we hit 110 degrees – miserable. A holiday weekend and we did virtually NOTHING. We hid in the boat with the AC on full blast.
Bedding Stanchions
Have you ever worked really hard on a project and then when it was done you just couldn’t get off your lazy butt to do much of anything? Well, that’s where we’ve been for the past couple of weeks, on our lazy butts.
Mid-summer Project Update
So it’s mid July already and we’re making a little headway on the project list. Our goal this summer was to get the boat put together enough to take it out on the San Joaquin River. Ground Tackle We started with the ground tackle, and have finally managed to get the bowsprit on, the anchor […]
Fall Projects
I know, I know…we haven’t posted in a loooong time. When I sat down to write this post I wasn’t sure what I was going to write about because I didn’t think we had worked on many projects around the boat. I recently bought an Aeropress coffee maker and was going to write about that. […]