Internet on the boat, and Happy New Year!

By Sailor Keddy -
Internet has arrived on the Winchelsea in the form of, well, I'd better not say for fear of my cellular service provider finding out. That should clue you in as to how.

As far as an update from before, the fumes are gone! I had someone come take a look at it while I was gone and he reported no fumes and no leaks in the fuel system, so its all good!

I've also decided to not use a kerosene heater. At $140 (with shipping) for the heater and at least $12 for a Zipcar each time I would need to fill the 5 gallon container. This really puts it out of competition with electric heat. Plus the pain of refilling it every 12 hours of use, and the potential smell, its just not a good idea. I'm hoping for a mild winter and that I'll only need this heat for the next 3 months (optimistically). It is cozy in here with two 1500 W electric space heaters and, most importantly, a large electric blanket. The electric blanket really takes the chill out of sleeping down here.

In other news, there has been much snow fall recently and Winchelsea has a nice thick layer on her. Not sure what this might mean long term, but its going alright for now. I have the cockpit shoveled out and some of the deck.

Well, off to the V-berth for some sleep soon, I'll post later about all the improvements I'll be making come spring.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Great strength of feets: removing the old diesel

By Sailor Keddy -
Image
After a blissful Christmas at brother's house with his family in Stuart, and my new little nephew, I drove back to Sarasota to start working on getting the engine out from under the cockpit. I got to my sweet Soveraine on Sunday morning and, after getting the lock open, couldn't slide the companionway hatch forward. This had never happened before. No amount of pushing could get it over the drop slides, it was as if they had swelled for some reason. I took out my sawzall and cut a tiny bit away from the top drop slide and it slid open. I was dumbfounded. The entire cabin was submerged in four inches of standing water. Nearest I can tell, during the fall the oak tree, that the jackass trailer park owner let the jackass of a hauler park my boat under, had shed all its tiny goddamn leaves which clogged my cockpit drains causing water to spill into the cabin. Luckily my dad was there to keep my spirits high and attitude in check, because I was in a throw in the towel, no good, d
Read more

We Hate Shoes

By Sailor Keddy -
Image
 She doesn't like sailing. And that's fine. It's boring, hot, and slow, says she. I can't argue. My friend Eddie has a 14' Cape Dory in the municipal marina that he lets me use at my leisure. Can't complain about a free boat to use, so I took him up on it. My friends Moose and Danielle, along with Charlotte motored out past the breakwater, set the sails and headed out to the Reggae Fest on the other side of the pier. When we got there, and dodged the sunken boat, we thought we might drop anchor and stay for a bit. I told my friend Moose to take the helm while I figured the anchor situation out up on the foredeck. I found the chain and started to pull it out of the hawsepipe and was surprised to see that the 1/4" chain had been reduced to 1/16" at best by rust. "Nope, were not anchoring today!" I said as I hobbled back to the cockpit, the boat bouncing in the motorboat created chop. We set the sails again and headed back to the dock. This was
Read more

aaand we're back...

By Sailor Keddy -
Yes, I know this is only my second post in 2015, which is almost over. Not much to report on however, just living in New Jersey and teaching math at a local public high school. Soveraine has been on the hard in that trailer park in Sarasota since last November, and I've been down a few times to work on her. As of right now, she is completely gutted with the exception of the engine, which will be coming out next week. Elizabeth and I purchased a new Beta 25 3-cylinder diesel from the boat show in Annapolis in October. I decided a few months ago to go the repower route as opposed to trying to keep up with an aging foreign model for which spare parts are harder and harder to come by. The Beta was our choice for a few reasons, not the least of which is the support they offer along with many options that make a repower from an older diesel a breeze. In addition to the new engine, I will be replacing her standing rigging with new stays and a set of swageless fittings, probably the Hi
Read more