The Renaming is Complete!

Today the new life of a grand lady began when she was officially renamed The Key of Sea! As I have previously reported, the old name has finally been removed. Unremoved since we purchased it in August of 2009, by the time we were ready to remove the name, the weather had turned too cold for either removal or applying the new name.

In November I contacted local sign company Special T Signs here in Bellingham and asked them to design, create and install the vinyl lettering that would be applied to our boat. Working with one of their designers, we batted around font ideas and color schemes until we found what we liked. The lettering at the top of this entry is design we decided on. We like its style, the classy and classic look and the way the gold edging makes the dark blue pop. The capital letters are 12 inches tall and the entire display 52 inches long which works much better in relation to the scale of the bridge face when compared to the old lettering. So here it is, the before and after. Drum roll please. . .

Before, Nameless






After, The Key of Sea

Dinghy Outboard Motor Project Completed

I am finally getting to some of the photos of our dinghy outboard motor during the refurbishment project recently undertaken. The project as you may recall, began when I got my friend and fishin' buddy to take a look at the old 4 hp Mariner outboard that came with our yacht. At first glance it looked pretty hopeless. The housing was pretty corroded, dinged up and just generally beat up and mistreated. Add to that the fact that I had attempted to start it only once and, though it did start, after very nearly wearing myself out trying, it ran only a brief few seconds and then died. Nothing I could do after that would get it to restart.

Enter Rick, the master outboard mechanic! He emptied the old fuel out, poured in fresh, took out the spark plug, cleaned it and reinstalled it. After some brief confusion over which way the controls should be pointed before starting, he pulled the lawn mower-like crank handle a couple of times and the engine sprang to life. Yes!

So now we knew it wasn't a lost cause and was worth investing a bit of time and energy into. I ordered a couple of new spark plugs, installing one and putting the other aside in my spare parts kit aboard The Key of Sea. I learned early on ordering or buying two of everything, was, like in Noah's time, a good idea. Especially when dealing with older equipment. You never know when it may be impossible or at least very difficult to get a new part. And out at sea miles from the nearest parts store is not the time to find out you need a new cotter pin for your prop!

So I went on a mission to find the local rep for Mariner engines finally discovering that Clearwater Marine way out behind Chambers Chevrolet off I-5, is a Mercury dealer (the makers of the Mariner motors) and therefore the place to order parts for my motor. Order is the word of the day here since this motor was made back in 1988 and therefore parts off the shelf are pretty much not going to happen. I special ordered new zincs which I still wound up having to machine a bit so the flat-headed bolt would seat properly onto the base of the lower unit. I spent a lot of time cleaning off old grease and oil, lightly sanding and double 0ught steel wooling the exposed painted areas of the motor. I spray painted a good bright green Chromium primer paint onto all areas showing corrosion and or rust. Then I sprayed any public areas with Mariner gray paint including masking anything so that there was as little overspray as possible and the job would look as professional as my talents, experience and know how allowed.

I must say I am pretty impressed with the way it looks. Scattered throughout this blog are some photos of the project. Baring any unforseen issues, we should look pretty good out there this summer tootling around in our new dighy and like-new outboard.

Valentine's Day Dinner

Most years we aren't even in the same town for Valentine's Day. Leslie is usually at the Washington Music Educator's Association (WMEA) state convention. I am usually just around the house (or the boat). This year was no different. So we, as usual, celebrated our V-day on the 16th. As I am home AND at least to my way of thinking, this holiday is really about and guy pampering his significant other, I had the time to organize a nice dinner.

So here is the menu for our Valentine's Day dinner.

Salad Course--

Seared Scallops on a bed of micro-greens and served with hand-made croutons and dressed with a balsamic reduction and parmesano reggiano.




Main Course--

Garlic Fettucini tossed with jumbo shrimp, julienned asparagus, capers and tomatoes.



Dessert--

Chocolate cheesecake with raspberry sauce

++++++++++

It is all about using fresh ingredients and cooking from scratch. Taking the time to do it that way shows that you care and cooking it with love always makes the food taste better than anything you'll get in a restaurant. And whether or not you can cook as well as the chef at your favorite bistro, I guarantee your efforts will be appreciated.

Renaming of our Yacht

Everyone knows that renaming your boat will bring nothing but bad luck and make your boating experience something that you will want to forget. But what do you do when you find the boat of your dreams and its name, written across the stern or some other very public location, is just not going to work for you. My example, is the name, well, as you will read, I can't actually mention the name. Now I am absolutely sure that the previous owner had a wonderful reason for giving her that name. In fact he did explain that it combined names of family members. Clever!

Our Bayliner 3218 Motor Yacht getting a bath and showing the face of the bridge with the old name on it.



But there was just no way the name was going to work as the name of our boat. It didn't take long for us to come up with a re-name for our boat--The Key of Sea. Since last August when we finally took ownership of our boat, we have been waiting to make that change. But what with all the other more critical needs aboard we just didn't get around to removing the old name and having the new one put on. Then the winter weather came along and it just wasn't the right time.



That all changed this weekend. And today, the last of the name removal took place. I removed the old vinyl lettering on Saturday. Today, I went back to get the residual adhesive taken off. I took along rubbing alcohol and paint thinner which I had heard would remove the adhesive. Turns out the rubbing alcohol wouldn't touch this particular adhesive. But the paint thinner loosened it up no problem. A razor blade helped scrape the stuff right up into little globs that wiped right up. So at this moment our boat sits nameless in the harbor waiting for the new name to be put on later in the week.

As to renaming a boat, it is, according to tradition, not something to be done lightly. At least not if age-old superstitions are to be believed. Since the beginning of time, sailors have sworn that there are unlucky ships and that the unluckiest ships of all are those who have defied the gods and changed their names. So, is there a way to change a name and not incur the wrath of the gods of the sea?

Apparently there is and it is quite an undertaking. It requires getting rid of all reference to the old name from any documents, records, anywhere it might be possibly be found. Then there are the incantations which must be recited in the correct order and in the correct compass direction. Finally, a bottle of reasonably good champagne must be poured into the sea in each compass direction in a prescribed way, leaving only a glass for the captain and first mate. A separate bottle of the bubbly is required if serving any guests.

The ceremony is quite complex and must be followed exactly or it is all for not. Or, you could ignore the entire thing and just get on with things. Personally I'd rather pour the champagne, toast my friends and cast off all lines!

Stay tuned and a post with a photo of the new name will get added to this entry when it gets applied.

Bridge VHF Radio Update

As of today we have added a hand-held VHF radio to our arsenal of electronics on board The Key of Sea. After exploring the options for replacing the aging radio currently residing on our bridge, we finally made what I think will be a good choice.

The options were interesting. After replacing the radio at the main helm I had several options related to that radio for a comm station on the bridge. An extension cable could be run to the bridge where several hand-held options could have been purchased that would plug in and run off the main unit below. Sounded good and with the power and capabilities of that radio, extending its use to the bridge seemed like a good idea. But what if the main radio were to loose its power? Obviously the interconnectedness of the comm system would cause the entire system to go down rendering the boat unable to communicate with the outside world. Not good!

Enter new option. After conferring with a boating friend, who is not only the Commodore of the local Coast Guard Auxiliary, but also owns a Bayliner 32, about potential options, I decided to look into a hand-held stand alone radio that is portable, could be taken anywhere on board or even into the dinghy if needed. In other words, a radio that would offer more options.

My choice was an ICOM IC-M34 with 5-watts of power. This was a concern initially since I knew our main radio had 25-watts of power. Would the hand-held have the power to do the job? It was pointed out that we'd be using the new hand-held primarily on the fly bridge which is 15 feet above sea level. This fact adds to the line of sight broadcast of the radio and increase its range if only a bit. At any rate we don't plan to be out of sight of land so this radio should function just fine for our purposes. The fact that it also floats, though we don't intend to drop it in water, is nevertheless a nice feature.

So with this purchase our absolute needs for electronics aboard are fulfilled. Next, a bit at a time, we'll replace the depth finder and eventually the radar, though it is still working very well. So no rush and that means other items needing attention can be the focus of our limited budget. We need to save towards a Fall 2010 haul out that will include a repaint of the bottom and most likely reseating and or replacement of transponders and other through hulls. A big summer ahead!

Like New 4 HP Outboard

After an hour or so over at Rick's place (no, not the one in Casablanca) he had my little 4 horse power outboard motor running. Replacing the old fuel with fresh, cleaning the spark plug, and a few minor adjustment was all it took to fire it up for the first time. It has corrosion issues on the exterior and the prop is bent but otherwise it will do the job. Today, with a surprise day off, I ran around looking for a few parts. A new prop for one thing. The old one will work in an emergency but a new one is needed. I also sprayed a lot of penetrating oil here and there around joints and moving parts.

I stood the engine up and loosened the lower unit oil plug intending to replace the oil since I have no idea when it was last done. I held a small bucket under the drain and waited. Nothing! I loosened the filler plug and waited. Nothing! As far as I could see there was not a single drop of oil in the lower unit. I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure that is not a good thing. I replaced the drain plug after carefully cleaning the corrosion around the hole and the plug. Then I slowly poured fresh oil into the filler hole and poured and poured. It doesn't take a lot to fill this space, but I sure hope filling it will save the engine.

I replaced the spark plug with a new identical on and tossed the old one since it was pretty fouled and quite rusty. I bought two so I have a back up if and when I need it. I finally was able to pull the old zinc off the lower unit. I took penetrating oil and a bit of a wait for it to do its job. I ordered two new zincs from Clearwater Marine, again I got an extra. When I can I am buying two of every replacement part. Sometimes you need one and aren't in a place where you can get one easily and sometimes they need to be ordered and that can takes valuable time. Nice, very helpful folks over at Clearwater. I even bought a can of good zinc chromate primer paint and a can of Mariner gray. There are several places on the engine housing that have suffer from corrosion, in some places down to the metal. So I am scrubbing and steel wooling these areas. Then a couple of primer coats and follwed by a coat or two of the gray. Where I have done it, it is looking pretty good. Considering I am doing it outdoors and not in a pro paint shop, it looks very good.

I asked Clearwater about a new prop and they want $106 for a new one. So I thought I'd look around for a used one first. Pacific Marine down on Holly Street will be my first stop. If they don't have one I'll go ahead and order a new one.

One last thing. A discovery actually. I noticed a small but familiar symbol stamped on the engine in a couple of places. Then it occurred to me that they are the symbol for Yamaha products. I asked the fellow at Clearwater about this and he told me that for a time Yamaha had made a good part of the Mariner's engine. I hope Yamaha's reputation for quality was also imprinted on my engine. Time will tell.

My wife came downstairs looking for me about 9 o'clock last night figuring she'd find my in the family room watching TV. She was surprised to track me down in the garage still carefully cleaning the grease and oil off off another section of the engine housing. Can't wait to get home tonight and get back at it.

Feels good to accomplish something on my own probably saving myself quite a lot of money. And Rick, I know you read this quite often and get a few laughs. But a big thanks to you and your lifetime of knowledge about boats. I owe you, buddy!

Barcelona, Spain

A new country! We haven't had that happen to us in Europe in quite a few years. Here we were in Kate and Nick's living room in Bristol on Boxing Day 2009. As a Christmas gift to us they presented us with tickets for us, themselves and Nick's folks to take an Easy Jet flight directly from Bristol to Barcelona, Spain. This is a country we have long wanted to explore but for some reason it has remained off our radar.

Thankfully, after the long flight from Seattle to Bristol, this one was short and before we knew it we were banking out over the Mediterranean on approach to Barcelona's massive airport. This place was built to take care of the Olympic athletes and tourists arriving back in 1992. From the looks of it the place was way over built. Huge expanses of check-in desks sat unused as did whole wings of gates darkened and empty. A long walk through the airport took us to a train which whisked us into the city and the central train station.

A six block hike with our luggage and we were at the front desk of our hotel, a very nice 3 star in a good location. It was only a short 4 blocks to the nearest Metro station, an easy to use, inexpensive mode of transport around the city. A prepaid card of 10 rides amounted to around 70 cents per ride.

We took a 2 hour nap after checking in and then rejoined everyone to go to La Rambla, a pedestrian street running about 2 miles through the center of Barcelona and ending at the Mediterranean Sea. Beautiful Christmas lights hung in the trees. They looked like stars and occasionally certain of them appeared to fall out of the sky. Street performers lined the boulevard dressed as plants, angels, you name it. Wandering through the maze of side streets we came upon a small plaza where a line of people were in front of a church waiting for what turned out to be a guitar concert. We purchased tickets for the following evening and enjoyed a wonderful home grown classical guitarist named Miguel Gutierrez. Fabulous player!

A street or two over we found a delightful little bistro with a warm friendly proprietor. The prix fixe dinner was only 16 Euros. We started out with a duck pate topped with a raspberry jam and crostini along with a bit of green salad. The main for me was a steak and eggplant. We walked back to the Metro stop in a warm tropical evening, a far cry from the below freezing temps we left behind in Bristol. I really have a hard time with this continental habit of eating dinner at 10:00 at night.

A nice buffet hotel breakfast and off we went on day 2 of our Barcelona adventure. Explored the Palace of Music the nearby cathedral. Sitting in front of Antoni Gaudi's masterpiece cathedral Sagrada Familia is absolutely awe inspiring. It has to be one of the wonders of the world. Still unfinished after well over a hundred years of construction, this towering tribute to God is not to be missed when visiting this city. It is my numero uno attraction. Each side of the exterior is a different theme. One side decorated to the nativity, another to the crucifixion. There is is still much to be done but this is the work of nothing less than a genius. Several other buildings around the city and a hill top park also display the work of this amazing architect.

Wandered through La Bocheria, the huge public market. I was in my element here. I could have spent the better part of the day wandering the aisles here. Everything under the sun was displayed beautifully and hawked by friendly, smiling folks behind glistening seafood, perfect fruit, brightly colored candies, as well as meat, poultry, eggs, and on and on and on!

Had our first paella at lunch today. The kids and we shared two very different kinds. One a more traditional seafood type and the other a kind of gratin with a sausage, chicken and an egg omelet over the top. Interesting. Had a delicious Tempernillo wine with it. This was supposed to be one of the top 10 paella restaurants in Barcelona.

After lunch I headed back to the hotel for a nap while everyone else went to see the Catylan Art Museum. It was New Year's Eve and after my nap I discovered I wasn't just tired, I was dealing with a gastro-intestinal issue that kept me home from the New Years festivities. Everyone else went out for the evening while I slept and slept in between fireworks explosions echoing down the high rise canyons. From the stories Leslie shared at breakfast the next morning, I hadn't missed much. Not that the family hadn't had a lot of fun, but rather it was crowded, everyone was out very late (2 or 3 in the morning), loud, hugely crowded--in short, everything I have the hardest time dealing with anytime.

Walked up to the Gaudi Park on our last day in Barcelona. Beautiful, crowded but not to crowded and a lovely day. This World Heritage Site is another must see here in Barcelona. The views are worth the climb alone. The Gaudi columns, the fanciful bench seats, little homes and gift shop are all just wonderful stops. Lots of photo ops. Lunch was at Casa Joan, named for artist Joan Miro, right along La Rambla. We all met for our final lunch in Barcelona.

We flew back that evening arriving back at the flat in Bristol by midnight, shivering in the English deep freeze and quickly missing the warmth of Barcelona.