New Helm Seat

Helm Seat

One of the realities of living on a boat is that everything wears out much more quickly. Salt water in particular is corrosive. Over the years my helm seat has worn out (must be my fat a&*) so I decided to replace it.

I was stunned to find out that helm seats cost from $60 to $300. We are not talking about fighting chairs for fishing, just helm seats. Needless to say this is the $60 model.

Installing was easy once I figured out that the screw holes from the previous seat were 1/2" further apart than the new helm seat. That handled and a little bit of red loctite and we were ready to go.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Fun Night at JEB Little Creek

I am currently visiting Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek - Fort Story in Virginia Beach, VA. This is a big base and home to several Navy Special Warfare commands. Tonight XO altered me to something going on outside. I stuck my head out of the hatch only to find 3 guys in a blacked out rib, one of them climbing up the dock next to Reboot.  A few minutes later I heard noise again and again looked outside. The rib was picking up the third guy. As I looked out into the basin there were several patrol boats. It turns out that NSF was having a night exercise and the water was filled with swimmers. One came about 5 feet from the stern of Reboot. Even though I knew he was there (the swimmers all had safety flashers so that the boats would not run them over) he was almost impossible to see.

Interesting.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Cascade 29

Part of my time over the last two weeks has been driving first to Annapolis (twice) and then to Rock Hall, MD to help Ed Hart, my dock mate purchase a Cascade 29. This is a sister boat to the one that Ed used to solo circumnavigate about 15 years ago. That boat cost him $5,000. This one only $1,500. I could see by the gleam in his eye that he was seriously considering using this new boat to set off again this coming November. It does not seem to be in the cards. The boat needs too much work to be ready. So now it is on the hard in Rock Hall while each of use continue to work on our respective boats getting ready for a November departure to the Caribbean, and if things continue OK to the Panama Canal and Hawaii.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Love that Tricare

The most significant retirement benefit for my 30 years of service in the United States Navy is medical coverage. Full coverage started when I was 65. Within a month I had 5 stents placed in my heart, not an inexpensive operation.

Last night I woke at about 1 AM. My eye was burning. This morning my friend Ed Hart took me to the Hospital. Diagnosis, a small scratch on my cornea. Not real dangerous but believe me, pretty painful. So I have been treated and it a couple of days if things progress normally I will be all healed up.

That brings me back to Tricare. Since I have Navy medical coverage I never considered the cost of going and having my eye treated. Now in my opinion I earned this with 30 years of service - I am not a big fan of universal free healthcare and certainly, after my many years working in the Insurance industry and getting my driver's license renewed, I can think on any organization less qualified to provide health care than the United States government. If you don't agree consider the wonderful job the government has done for my brothers and sisters getting care from the VA. But it is nice to know that you can get the care you need without worrying about the cost.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Backing off

With another news story about password hacking on the Internet I have decided to reduce my on line profile. Since frequently I am not online for days at a time I have little opportunity to notice problems in my accounts. As a consequence I have deleted my Facebook and Google + accounts. I will continue to blog here. I hope that some of those who "followed" me on Facebook and Google+ will find their way here.

Update on news ... I am starting to assemble a crew for the transit to the Caribbean in November. In the meantime Reboot continues to get fixes and upgrades and I do get to do some sailing when the weather is nice.

Fair winds and following seas :)

Cleaning the kitchen

The reality of getting ready for cruising has started to sink in. Today I spent several hours cleaning the kitchen and inventorying the contents. Deep down in one locker I found some food from Tenerife. Even though the packages were all sealed tight I decided not to risk it so off it went. But what I found most interesting is the number of excess pots and pans I have accumulated over time. It seems that each new crew member didn't find the storage so went out and purchased another pot or pan. Of course a couple of them have been good cooks so I presume that you need some extra cooking pans to prepare more than simple meals.

Since I am solo most of the time my cooking is very simple. This makes for quick but boring meals. One problem (that has nothing to do with being on a boat) is that one has to purchase very small quantities of food or it goes bad. Fortunately my refrigerator has been (finally) working OK. This has given me a little more flexibility. But I note that the transition from having a crew of 3 aboard or doing long transit to having easy access to a food store is quite remarkable.

Fair winds and following seas :)