LAHOWIND » Just you, me, + the dog.

Notice anything odd about this photo?

Like two same-sized allen wrenches missing from their respective sets?!

😉

That would be because we may or may not have dropped one in the water while installing the final pieces of the roller furling lower drum.  But don’t worry, that’s why we have a backup set!  (Or so we thought.)

I jumped below deck to grab the backup set of wrenches and, as luck would have it, the size wrench we needed was conveniently missing from the backup set! What the hell?  Seriously, what are the odds?

Luckily, the dock master let us borrow the needed size wrench so we could finish this project.

Note to self: Pick up a new (full) set of allen wrenches next time we’re at Home Depot. 

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing.

Jan IronsNovember 21, 2013 - 1:47 pm

Our Allen wrenches are all conveniently attached to a pocket knife looking thingy, so we can’t lose one. Of course we could drop the whole thing in the water and lose them all! Maybe that’s why we have two!

LahoWindNovember 21, 2013 - 2:10 pm

Oooh! Great tip! I just can’t even believe we were now missing two of the same sized wrenches. 😉

Our jib is back up!

Finally!!! 😉

You might remember us taking down both the main and jib sails for a little tlc and restitching work.

Well, we got both sails back from the sailmaker in October, but have been slacking just a bit in getting the jib put back.  This is partly due to the fact that we needed to service or replace the roller furling lower drum (item #24 on the boat project list). Jereme ended up replacing the lower drum altogether (blog post coming soon).

On Sunday, the wind finally cooperated enough for us to go ahead and put the sail back up.

And the whole sail-putting-up process went really smooth, too smooth perhaps!  …Until we realized that the jib sail was rolled inside out!!? How the heck did we manage that?  The sail was clearly put up the right way. Bizarre.

So we had to unroll it, and take it all down again.  And then figure out why it was rolling counterclockwise instead of clockwise.

This became a fun little brain teaser for us as the sun was quickly setting last night.  Especially since we knew the sail was up correctly. After a little pondering, we took down the sail, and simply pulled out all the furling line from the drum and then started spinning the drum the right way (clockwise). And that worked!  So I think we just accidentally spun the drum the wrong way after the install (and corrected it by removing the line and spinning the right way — clockwise).  Seems like a super dumb beginner mistake, but whatever it’s up and spun on right. Lesson learned.

PS – this weekend was so freaking gorgeous here in Naples! November is definitely one of my favorite months.

^^blue skies. mid-70 temps. what more could you want?^^

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing.

[…] steps of the install.  After everything was installed and back in place, all we had left to do was put the jib sail back on!  I think we can safely cross this one off the boat project […]

Happy Weekend!

Hope everyone’s enjoying an equally as gorgeous weekend.  It’s a breezy 75 degrees with sun shining brightly here in Naples. You can’t really ask for much better weather, can you?!  We didn’t even turn on the boat’s A/C…probably first time ever! 

^^caught taking a diet coke break.^^

We’re spending the weekend working on more boat projects — including dry fitting the new head wall, finishing up the roller furling lower drum install, installing a new propane hose, and putting the jib back up (with blog posts coming soon).

Just wanted to post a quick one for now.  Back to work for another few hours of daylight…

^^final two pieces of the roller furling lower drum install. and i swear jereme owns more than one shirt. 😉 ^^

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing.

Gone Fishing?

Um, not exactly!  😉

However, I will be the first to admit that, lately, we have been a little lax when it comes to the bloggity blog.  But, rest assured, we certainly haven’t been slacking off in the general sense.  There’s been no relaxing or cocktail-sipping going on around these parts.  We’ve just been so freaking busy with work, boat projects, life, etc. etc. etc. that we haven’t had even one second to come up for air.

So, wanna know what projects we’ve been busy working on as of late?  Here’s a little update for ya’ll…

^^snapped this photo down at the naples city dock the other day. someone sure had one helluva good day on the water!^^

  1. We replaced our roller furling lower drum — ours was majorly corroded and wouldn’t spin. *Blog post coming soon (I hope).
  2. We rebuilt the new head wall — this was part of our major re-plumbing overhaul.  *Still needs to be varnished + installed.
  3. We’re in the process of a total engine overhaul — we hired a diesel mechanic to take a look at our engine and recommend any needed maintenance and/or replacement of any pieces or parts (along with training Jereme to do the regular maintenance).  *This will cost a pretty penny (but a fair penny nonetheless) and is well worth the money.
  4. We just repacked the stuffing box for the propellor shaft — our diesel mechanic helped out with this one too.
  5. We’re almost finished with our major re-plumbing project — we still need to replace the shower faucet and shower head; install a hose barb fitting on the vent line; and install the new wall Jereme just built.
  6. We’re dealing with a busted seacock — but haven’t touched this project yet.  *Holding off until we get a few other projects wrapped up.
  7. We need to put the jib back up.  *Major slacking here since we got our sails back from the sailmaker in October.
  8. We rebedded another chainplate cover (on the back stay) with butyl tape.
  9. We need to replace the propane hose that runs from the tank to the regulator.

After ^this^ fun list is complete, we have several more projects waiting on deck, including…

Dealing with electrical stuff… like our tridata, the spreader lights, installing some sort of solar system, installing some sort of internet system, and fixing the autopilot.

Oh, and then we plan on tackling and replacing our port lights. Cha-ching!  I can almost hear the money flying out of our bank account.  Unfortunately, that’ll be another pricey project. 🙁

Can you tell we’ve been a little busy???

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing.

J.R.March 10, 2014 - 5:09 pm

nothing like a busted seacock. happy for you two. what an awesome opportunity. remember I was always good at finding and pointing to the north star and screaming when fish were caught on perrinos boat so if you need a hand let me know.

Roger LittlepageSeptember 30, 2014 - 2:07 am

Hey! My wife and I LOVE reading your adventures and the process it took to get to “paradise!” We always had it in the back of our minds to do the same thing. (maybe one of these days). My question for you is, after all the work and $$ do you think you were better off buying an older boat than buying a newer one that may not have needed such major repair? (mainly cost, for I know sweat equity, while crazy at the time, really pays off in ownership and pride in the long run).

Thanks, keep sailing!

Ever heard of a rub strake?

Me neither!  😉

But as the old adage goes… “you learn something new everyday.”  Boy, ain’t that the truth!  And we recently learned about rub strakes.

Since owning our boat, the starboard jib sheet has been incessantly chafing the teak on our cockpit coaming (basically the rail around the cockpit) at every use.

We needed something to fix this chafing issue.  So we added this to our boat project list early on.

^^that shiny piece of metal is one of our new rub strakes!^^

Jereme researched various options to fix the chafing problem.  But, honestly, nothing seemed like it would be the perfect solution.

Then, one day while out sailing on our friend John’s boat (s/v Zanzibar), Jereme noticed that John had these awesome (approximately foot-long) stainless steel pieces screwed into his boat’s teak. Although, John’s weren’t really being used so much for chafe protection, but more so for footing (and aesthetic purposes only), Jereme still thought these metal bars would be the perfect solution to our chafing issue!

So, he went to work searching online for the same piece of hardware he had seen on John’s boat.  He searched “anti-chafe protection,” “sailboat chafing,” “stainless steel hardware thingy,” etc., but had an extremely tough time figuring out what the hell these things were called.

After a relentless search, Jereme somehow managed to stumble upon the same ones he had seen on s/v Zanzibar!  Lo and behold, these babies are technically known in the nautical realm as RUB STRAKES!!!

Accordingy to various marine hardware websites, rub strakes are designed to prevent chafing of dock, fender, and anchor lines.  Yup! Precisely what we needed! 

We ordered two of these rub strakes at $15 a piece. They were a super simple install… three screws and you’re in business! No more chafing on s/v LAHO.

Now you know (if you didn’t already) what a rub strake is.  You’re welcome. 😉

>>Thanks for visiting LAHOWIND sailing blog! We’d love for you to get to know us and follow our story as we attempt to navigate a whole new world of sailing.

Jennifer - Luna SeaNovember 14, 2013 - 3:33 pm

MORE new boat terminology!? Thanks for sharing – I never would’ve figured out the name either, if we were to need one…