Jep is getting shore power for 2010

The national weather service issued a winter strom watch today for Tuesday and Wednesday. The greater Milwaukee area is expected to get a little snow this week. Oh joy!

I can only speak for myself in this regard, but I've found that surviving the winter is much easier if you periodically buy project materials for your boat so you can day dream about installing in the spring. It's funny how big chores such as installing electrical components or refinishing wood seem really fun in December.

I have two major projects penciled in for the spring. The first and most difficult will be the bottom painting job. Since bottom paint and barrier coat has not gone on sale and won't until March or April, I'll have to hold off on buying the necessary material until then. The second major project I am going to undertake is installing a simple shore power system.

After doing some research on various boating forums, I came across one thread that was very helpful. Here is the link. One of the members described in detail a system that would be more than adequate for my application as all I want to add are a couple outlets and a single bank on board battery charger.

The first thing I need is a shore power inlet. I bought a standard Marinco 30A 125V shore power inlet from Amazon.com. It's heavy duty white plastic with a stainless steel insert on the flip up cover. It should look quite nice. I haven't decided on a mounting location yet, but I am leaning towards the very back of the foot well in the cockpit. I don't want to be stepping over the shore power cord every second when we are in the slip!

The next item I purchased is a circuit breaker. In addition to offering my system protection, the breaker will also act as an on/off switch. The switch is made by Blue Sea Systems and is a double pole 30A main breaker. From the breaker, I'll connect a standard GFCI (ground-fault circuit-interrupter) outlet. This will act as secondary protection from shock as most GFCI outlets trip at 15A. Everything wired down from the first GFCI outlet will also be protected. I'm planning on installing 3 GFCI outlets. You can pick these up at any hardware store for about $10 a piece.

The final electrical component that will be wired into the system is a 6A on-board battery charger. I have not purchased this component yet, but I am going to go with a Cablea's Prosport II 6 charger. This is actually manufactured by Promariner and Cablea's just slaps their badge on it. Most of the reviews are favorable, so this should do the trick. Since I'll have shore power, I've decided to only run one deep cycle battery. I bought a deep cycle battery from Batteries Plus last winter and ran it parallel with the battery that came with the boat this past season. It has a capacity of 90 amp hours which is more than enough for my needs, especially if I'll be hooking it up to the charger after each use.

As if I didn't have enough power generation, I'm planning on keeping the solar charge system I fabricated this past season. Not to toot my own horn, but this was a terrific addition I thought of. I mounted a 15 watt solar panel on the stern pulpit and hooked it to a charge controller that ensured the batteries would not over charge or bleed off when the sun went down. Since last season I was dry sailing the boat, I had no electrical connection at the storage facility and no means of easily charging my batteries, short of pulling the batteries after every sail. The solar charger worked beautifully and I never had to pull the batteries to charge them - the entire season!

The last item I purchased for the shore power system is the all important shore power cord! The system is rendered useless without the shore power cord. Again, I found a great deal with free shipping on Amazon.com. It's a standard yellow 50', 30A cord. I was going to try and find a used one on Craigslist but with the deal I got, I'd rather have a new cord! What would I do without the Internet?

The New Halyards Have Cometh

This past season I prayed every time I went out that my main or jib halyard would not snap! From the looks of things, I have to imagine my current halyards are the originals. Lets keep in mind, the boat is almost 24 years old, so I think it's safe to say they are due for replacement!

Two weekends ago, West Marine had a sale on all running rigging. West Marine frequently has sales on their rigging, so I was just waiting for the sale. At 30% off, you almost have to jump on it! I ended up buying New England Ropes VPC line. My halyards are 5/16" (8mm) and have a break strength of 4,000lbs. I bought two 80' lines. The biggest improvement, aside from the sheer strength of the line, is the lines are different color! My old halyards were the same color - old. My new main halyard is a solid navy with white and orange fleck while the jib halyard is solid green with white and orange fleck.

Another much needed upgrade to Jep for 2010 is a topping lift for the boom. Previously, the boom attached to the back stay using a spring clip. It was an enormous pain in the ass to unhook the boom when we wanted to sail. With rigging on sale, I bought another 80' of New England Ropes Sta-Set in solid black with white and reg fleck. The line is very thin at only 3/16" but has a break strength of 1,300lbs.

I've been plagiarized!

This evening I decided to do a Google search of "Captive 240" as I like to see if there are other Cpativa's out there for sale. I do this for a couple reasons. First, I like to see what people are asking for their boat. I've seen a wide range in pricing on this boat and it's nice to know I paid in the lower middle range. Second, I really enjoy analyzing individual rigging on the boat. Yep, It's Jep currently has a pretty basic rigging so it's quite interesting to find a Captiva that's been rigged for racing since I am moving in that direction.

Anyway, while searching the web, I came across a site that had COMPLETELY plagiarized my February 25, 2009 post, "Background info on my 1986 Captiva 240." Click here for a link to the site. I think you'll find some striking similarities in the narrative!

Normally something like this would burn me up, but finding good information on this boat is challenging. At least the owner takes good care of the boat. On top of that, they are asking $7,500! Sweet!

Chili Dump Results

The chili dump was a success! There were easily over 30 people in attendance and the chili was outstanding! I'm looking forward to future O Dock parties!

Cookin' Chili Tonight!

Tomorrow is the MAST Chili Dump at the McKinley Marina pavilion. Since I have never made "real" chili before, I went to the Internet to find a suitable recipe. I browsed around for 15 minutes or so until I came across a very interesting recipe. Many of the ingredients I would never think to put in chili, but it smells delicious. Here are the ingredients:

2 teaspoons (olive) oil
2 onions, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 lb lean ground beef
3/4 lb beef sirloin, cubed
1 (14 1/2 ounce) can diced tomatoes (I used hot salsa instead)
1 can dark beer (PBR of course!)
1 cup strong coffee
2 (6 ounce) cans tomato paste
1 can beef broth
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons chili sauce
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon cocoa
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon cayenne
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon salt
4 (15 ounce) cans kidney beans
4 chili peppers, chopped

1. Heat oil.
2. Cook onions, garlic and meat until brown.
3. Add tomatoes, beer, coffee, tomato paste and beef broth.
4. Add spices Stir in 2 cans of kidney beans and peppers.
5. Reduce heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours.
6. Add 2 remaining cans of kidney beans and simmer for another 30 minutes.

As I was making this, I couldn't help but picture the Swedish Chef from The Muppets. I had strong urges to just start throwing crap everywhere, but I like my kitchen and didn't feel like cleaning.

I had never heard of a "Chili Dump" before, so I asked John Norman (s/v Corvus) what this whole deal was all about. Evidently, a "Chili Dump" is exactly what it sounds like. Everyone brings about as much home-made chili as they expect to eat (perhaps a little more). You then 'dump' it all together in a Nesco or two, mix it all together, warm it up and then we all share the results. Then we drink beer and talk about sailing. Sounds like a plan! I'll post an update on how the chili was in a couple days.

Congratulations Jeff and Molly!!

While this blog is dedicated to sailing, it's hard not to inject some tid-bits from my non-sailing life. This past weekend (Saturday, October 17th), my best friend of 23 years got married and I was honored to be the best man. We had an absolute blast! It was great to see everyone and meet some new faces!

Photo from left to right: me, Jeff, Molly, Robin, Todd. This picture was taken aboard s/v Blue Pearl (Beneteau First 405) in Muskegon, Michigan after the Queens Cup on June 27, 2009. Since Jeff and Molly live on the other side of the pond, they came up to visit from Grand Haven on Todd's boat while I was in town. I had been awake for 34 hours when this picture was taken. This picture also made the wedding slide show!

Jeff: I drank the Michigan Brewing Company Pale Ale while writing this post. Quite tasty!

Dorking around tonight

Tonight I'm being a loser and staying in. Please note it's a Friday and 2 years ago this would NEVER happen. Most people would assume this is a sign of getting older. Not so fast. Going out would be a use of cash and I'm saving that cash for sailboat crap (i.e. capital expendature - can you tell I analyze cash flow for a living?)! This stuff ain't cheap!

Anyway, with a cold Miller Lite in hand (I know, I know, it should be a PBR), I had a little brainstorming session on how I am going to set up my deck this coming season so that all important lines are coming back to the cockpit. Bear in mind, I was using Microsoft Paint when I made my diagram, so it won't knock your socks off. This is in no way final - just trying to visualize. If you have suggestions, please don't hesitate to shoot me an email. I've got all winter to plan my rig!

To complete this project, I'll need the following:
-Small Mast Step Plate (3 1/2" x 5")
-Ronstan Series 40 Deck Organizer with 2 Sheaves (2)
-Harken Carbo-Cam® Cleat, 1-3/32"H (2)
-Harken Wire Fairlead, 1-1/4"H for Cam Cleat (2)

Of course, I'll need the appropriate line, but the hardware listed should work great. There are currently 2 Harken cam cleats on the boat, so I only need 2 more. I'm planning on buying all new halyards. I haven't chosen a line yet but I'm leaning towards New England Ropes VPC™ Line.

Time to break out the single malt! Cheers!

Jep is resting peacefully for the winter

Today was the most dreaded day of the season. Yep, It's Jep got put away for a long winter slumber.

I woke up this morning around 8:30 and got all of my cleaning supplies and such loaded into my car. I had to make a quick stop at Pick'n'Save to pick up some booze for Chad since he's been such a tremendous help this season. I made my way over to EZ-Storage thinking to myself, "Thank God this is the last time I ever have to come here!" As I rolled my window down to punch in the code to open the gate, the terrible smell of the WE Energies coal plant hit me like a bag of oranges. It took me a few attempts to get the trailer hooked up since I was alone. After I checked the trailer lights and did a final inspection of the rig, it was time to roll.

The drive from Milwaukee to Mukwonago is roughly 40 minutes. Luckily traffic was light. I'm not overly confident in my trailer tires so I try and take it as easy as I can down the highway. The boat pulled well. I made it to Chad's without any problems around 1030.

Chad and I got down to business right away. We finished sanding my hull as prep work for the bottom painting job that will be completed this spring. That took us approximated 45 minutes, then it was on to power washing the deck. Since that is one man job, Chad winterized his motorcycles as I cleaned.

While I was starting to clean the port side of the deck, I looked up and saw two of Chad's neighbors. These clowns were driving their riding mowers over while drinking some delicious beverages. I couldn't help but laugh. Like Harley's, they lined their riding mowers up in Chad's driveway and came to visit for 45 minutes or so. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to take a break and have a couple brewskis. After some talk of sports and politics, Brian and Paul headed back on their "hogs" as Chad and I folded my sails. If I have neighbors like that, I anticipate my transition from city-slicker to suburban delinquent will be quite smooth!

After I washed the hull, Chad got the wood on top of the companionway off. The previous owner must have used a two sided tape or some sort of glue to adhere the wood to the deck. Neither of us could see the logic as all you need to do is put marine silicone in the holes to keep the deck water tight. Nevertheless, Chad got both pieces off. We next used a shop vac to suck out all excess water from the bilge compartment. Finished! We cleaned up and I got on the road over to my storage location.

Once I got to the pole barn, James, the owner, pulled up and helped me get the boat into the barn with his tractor. I pulled off all of the exterior wood so I could again refinish and make look new again.

I pulled away from the barn and sat in silence for a good 10 minutes. Can't wait for spring!