Polished and Prepped, Kelly's Almost Ready - May 14, 2011

These past three weeks we got a lot of additional work done, especially when Tom Raidna joined me for a very full day on Saturday, April 30th.  Tom and I de-winterized the plumbing system.  This

involved filling the water tank with clean water and flushing the pink glycerol mixture from both the hot & cold lines.  Once the anti-freeze was clear of the lines then we removed the hot water tank bypass and tested the water pressure throughout the entire system, including the hot water tank.  Of course this necessitates one person on deck filling the water tank while another person is 100 feet away to turn on and off the water as the water level reaches the top.  The next trick came when we had to empty, then crawl into, the starboard lazarette for removing the hot water tank bypass.  Of course, last fall I forgot to mark the lines so that we could easily identify how the lines were to be reattached to the hot water tank.  One line was to be attached to the cold water inlet, while the other connected to the hot water outlet.  Since the water pump pushed from the location of the main water storage tank, the pressure would push from the cold into the hot water tank.  So Tom would briefly turn on the water pressure until we could see where the pressure came from, fixing the identity of the cold water inlet.  That done, we merely had to run the clean, fresh water through the entire system, head and galley and water heater, to confirm that all worked as designed.  And it all did!  :-)

Since the boatyard's scaffolding wouldn't be available for a couple hours, Tom & I decided to tackle another task, removing the stern transom ladder.  Since this utilitarian stainless steel ladder would not be able to be used with the solar panel and dinghy in the way (on its new davits) we needed to remove the ladder and plug the bolt holes where it was held in place.  As with anything involving

boats this wasn't anything as simple as removing the 8 bolts that held it in place.  The bolts were all in the aft lazarette so all the gear had to be removed and I had to crawl into the space while Tom teetered on a wobbly ladder.  Bill recalls that great fun!  And we worked from our respective positions to loosen the bolts or nuts, depending on whether you were in the lazarette, remember this great joy, Guy?  :-)  or trying to keep the ladder on its feet while torquing a wrench.  Well, it took a couple hours, but the job was done, the ladder was stowed in the car for later storage at home and the nuts & bolts were stored in their respective spare parts bins.

The scaffolding was now available, so we began the simple and tedious effort to clean and wax the topsides (the outside hull above the waterline and below the deck).  It took a few hours of hosing, scrubbing, rubbing, waxing, and buffing, but finally Tom, seeing his reflection in the shiny blue topsides, declared "job well-done"!  Given that Kelly was now every bit as pretty as she was last year after the same waxing & buffing, I agreed.  We wrapped up the final mission by 8pm and grabbed a well-earned meal at Joe Roots, the local dining establishment on Peninsula Drive.

The installation of the new radar, depthsounder and chartplotter, was mostly done by Rich Keller, long-time boat service technician, based in Erie.  This past week Bob Arlet, Erie-based Shipwright and former Niagara crew member, led the work installing the two solar panels and the new MPPT charge controller that manages the battery charging of the solar panels.  While doing the work on the solar panels, we discovered that the 32 year old aluminum tank was leaking diesel fuel.  We couldn't launch until that was resolved, so Bob led the way as we removed the old tank, cutting away the fiberglass and marine plywood that held the old tank in place.  We'll be installing 2 new tanks in the place of the old tank so the fuel capacity for Kelly IV will increase from 22 gallons to 36 gallons!  That means our cruising range under power will increase from roughly 44 hours to about 72 hours.  When you add the 15 gallons additional diesel in the 3 jerry cans we carry, our range increases to almost 100 hours.  At our typical cruising speed of about 5 knots our motoring range is now over 400 nautical miles!  Of course, as a sailboat, we expect that means we'll be able to buy fuel less often and not worry about filling up at every diesel dock along the way.

Other tasks accomplished over the past couple weeks include building a new bag for stowing the dinghy anchor and rode, and sewing Velcro onto the cabin cushions so they stay put while we're underway.  We also installed a new outboard motor mount on the stern rail for storage of the new electric outboard while underway and replaced the old AC outlet in the galley with a GFCI outlet.  To get the galley in working order the propane bottles were filled and stowed, then the stove and oven were tested and they work as designed.  Several additional small, one pound propane bottles were stored on board for the trip, the two diesel jerry cans were filled and stowed, as well as the computer, printer, paper and DVD drive.  I'll be adding zippers to the bimini canvas so the Bimini can easily be removed or installed without removing the solar panels.  Once Kelly is launched next week, I'll be able to test the lifesaving features of the dinghy, use of the new dinghy davits, and complete the initial provisioning.

I have moved my clothing and toiletries on board, so I'm almost ready for the big cruise!