ALL WE HAD TO DO...

It all started so simple.... all we need to do is change all the Halogen light bulbs to LED bulbs. Piece of cake........48 bulbs later.......now I need to order another 20 or so and we will have a very energy efficient vessel. So now would be a good time to run the Cat 5 cable for the Wi-Fi antenna.... 

Simple job, no problem, have this done in just an hour or so...  Damn, forgot the 5 factor. (For you landlubbers, it takes 5 times as long to do anything on a boat, as it would take on your house) All we gotta do is feed the cable down from the mast on the flybridge, into the salon across the galley (under the ceilining) up towards the Pilot house, through the existing wire chase, then just feed it to the fly bridge access. 

Ya right!  Three friggin' days later and way too many cocktails, on my part, we have made it to the pilot house. Now all we have to do is feed the rest of the line down the utility tube and job almost done. Time to put the Admiral to work.... She has done very well holding the flashlight, handing me the drill, cleaning up, as well as giving me her two cents worth of technical support.

Who would of thought she actually can chase a wire with the fish tape and zip tie with the best of them... well almost as well as me..... Im just saying... (a Traceyism)  So I'm thinking, since she did this so well, maybe I could show her how to clean the bilge as well...... Hmmmmm, while I'm at it, how about cleaning the black water sensors.......Ya right!

Oh, by the way, did I forget to tell ya, I had to cut the end of the 50' factory cable in order to feed it thru those little access holes..... Now we have to learn a new trade, telecommunication specialist. Thank god for "Water Maker Mike", he is our neighbor and has damn near every special tool you can think of! Ok, when we get our own tools, we'll be ready to start charging $90 an hour to help the newbees out, yep were gonna be rich.

So now that we have the new WI-Fi POE and router installed in the pilot house and it even looks like a pretty damn near professional installation.  Did I mention that it even works? 

We have much faster WI-FI now on Das Boat!

Tracey let me post this one, give her a day or so and she will post a Christmas Vacation entry.  ......Bah Humbug!  However, she will say, I am the one responsible for the absence of the good pictures with the ceiling down because I had her too busy for the photo opps.

Coming soon.... 

Look forward to the heater repair and water maker installation....

FAMILY TIES

Our family got together Sunday, November 22nd to witness and celebrate John and I actually getting married.  Even though we have lived together for over ten years, bought a home, numerous toys, and considered ourselves parents and grandparents of all the children, it was time to tie the knot prior to the next BIG adventure. We enjoyed a simple ceremony with the Justice of the Peace, stopped off at the "Las Vegas Welcome Sign" for  pictures and a finale of an Italian dinner party at a local restaurant. Truly a great day!

Gavin (14), Shay, John Jr, Kally (16), John, Taytem (7), Tracey, Kris, Makenzi (12), Michelle, Seth

TEAM WORK

Last month (October), our time on Pairadice was very productive! John and I drove up together on September 30, with another full truck load of supplies and a kayak strapped to the roof of the truck. After a 17 hour drive, It's always very rewarding to arrive at the boat and find everything in order.

Summer was over and it was time to get to work.  Our lists had lists! My Oct 1st window was only for 3.5 days. We spent the weekend unloading the truck, stocking fridge and pantry. My head was filled with locating and cleaning all the storage spaces. We found the previous owner had left Halloween party decor and favors. We took the evening off to decorate and bond with our neighbors who did the same. It was a lot of fun and row G at Salpare Bay Marina looked great!

John would be on board appx 5 weeks. I flew home Sunday for work obligations. The contrasts between being together on the boat and home alone after work, in a big house,  are huge. All the while looking forward to flying in and out for a 10 day stay later.

When I returned Oct 16th, he had completed all the canvas work. What a major accomplishment! Then there was the dock and fender lines. He cleaned and treated the old  ones, even rewhipped the ends. Re-installed and/or replaced with new dock lines and fenders where needed. He took advantage of rain days by working on removing the old A/V system and installing a new home theater system. Another laborious task with many rewards! We now have appx 22 channels without a cable bill and can easily watch our movies and rock concerts, or listen to cd's, Itunes and sirus radio.

My first priority was to get the drapes cleaned! It was obvious they had never been done. That required removing 16 panels, tiebacks, all the hooks and keeping it organized...room by room, so as to ease the re-install.  The dry cleaners wasn't even sure what to charge us. We left a deposit and the cute clerk hated asking for the balance. Another project came out great!

We shopped for supplies. John fixed the search light and replaced all fire extinguisers, with the exception of the Halon Fire Suppression System in the engine room. That is still on the list and will be forthcoming.

That day we started the engine room inventory. We both climbed in and got comfy. I was taking pictures of all the different systems and asking lots of questions.  John has really done his homework!!! I feel confident that we have all the bases covered. The boat had many spare engine parts like belts and filters, but we ordered more. By taking pictures we had all  the reference numbers very handy. We continued by going through the lazarette, pilot house and flying bridge where we identified a leak in the hydraulic steering system. The necessary tools to complete that repair are in Las Vegas, but we have a new switch for the horn!

I completed my time onboard by hanging drapes, cleaning heads (again), reorganizing galley, first aid emergency kits, bunk room storage and the like. We had a neighbor friend over for dinner, trading his IT skills (hooking up new WiFi antenna) for some canvas work.  I think they enjoyed the bourbon more than the task. I was leaving Sunday afternoon and John assured me he would not be on the ladder mounting brackets on the mast by himself. While doing that he would remove the winches and bring them home for rebuilding.

before and after

He worked long and hard on those winches. Testing them with power proved they  came out perfect. The dyneema synthetic winch cable order arrived, as well as, all kinds of other critical supplies. The boxes are piling up in the garage again, getting ready to head north in December. Looks like Santa will be delivering foulies and rain boots this year :-)

WORK HARD / PLAY HARD

John and I have always enjoyed a "work hard / play hard" mentality. We may be busy making the new vessel our own, however, we spend plenty of time enjoying ourselves as well. While in Portland during our last trip in August, we entertained family from Washington again. We always love having them along. We enjoyed several day cruises on the Columbia River, as well as family meals,  fun and games.

We spent the night docked at Government Island, what the locals call the "west dock".

John wanted to test the DC power and the rest of the systems without all the hookups. Sister-in Law, Liz (who lives in Vancover, WA) joined us for the trial run. During that time, Liz and I, explored the island, picked blackberries and spied on curious rabbits.

John enjoying a well deserved moment cooling his feet.

When I jumped in the river for a swim and lounge in the sun on an air mattress, I learned a valuable lesson about the river current. I was swiftly swept away and found it difficult to get back to the swim deck.    Even though John put a line out.... it wasn't quite long enough! I had to decide to swim for the mattress, the line or the boat? I managed all three, but it was tough. Definitely NOT a lake!

We spend a lazy afternoon, telling stories, enjoying a fine meal and a fabulous sunset. Liz and I crashed early. However, John woke us early... the generator was tripping the circuit breaker. He was in a hurry to get back and trouble shoot the problem. We poured coffee and got things ship shape, only to learn the freezer was no longer working. We got back, repacked the yeti with food instead of drink. Grilled lunch, made the most of it.

Enough playing around for today. We had to do the research and make a decision regarding replacing the refrigerator. The logical decision was... stay with the Norcold, most economical, in stock at West Marine and the holes matched up in the existing cabinet. It fit in our truck and the store let us borrow their dolly. I was dreading the extraction and installation of said equipment.  It's very different than just replacing fans.
What ever happened to home delivery?

Fortunately our new friend and neighbor, Mike, is always their to lend a hand. The fridge wouldn't fit in the galley walkway, so the guys had to lift it out over the counters. Next up, new equipment in. I was sure to cover handrails and exposed teak with blue painters tape. Learned that one the hard way. Hooked it up and runs great! Door panels didn't fit, so we will order those when we get home, next week... 

Thanks so much Mike, for all your help!

Yikes, this August trip is almost over :-(  The next day, while John was busy scraping the old fridge at a metal recycling outfit and finishing canvas.... I assembled our "bail out bags". Last year for Xmas, my boss, Danny, gave us an "emergency essential" kit for two. He included a bunch of extra stuff like solar flashlights, water filters, headlamps, etc.  I laid it out in the salon and packed both bags. This is all part of the main goal...
Heading to the Pacific Ocean 2016... 

We had a few more days to enjoy Hayden Island and the Columbia River. Growing tired of the Las Vegas summers, we planned another pleasure cruise.  This particular day, we passed a jetski with a couple on board, just floating on the river. Something didn't look right, we agreed to turn around and make sure they were OK. As expected, they were stranded. We invited them onboard and  placed their jetski in tow. While bonding with our new fast friends, we realized their toy was no longer in tow. The owner's knot had failed! We had no idea when it happened or how far we had traveled since losing the ski. John immediately got on the VHF radio. We received a response within minutes. This guy had found it, abandoned and had it in tow. As luck would have it,  he was taking it to the neighboring marina right around the corner from our marina. The guys checked the fuel and plugs. Nothing! So we secured the craft next to our slip and gave them a ride to a motel. The thing was we are moored at Salpare Bay Marina on Hayden Island. There are no launch ramps on Hayden Island.  Their vehicle was somewhere on the Washington side. The following day, we had to visit the canvas shop in Portland.  Upon returning, we found the jetski was gone and our new friends had left us a bounty of prepared food and John a case of beer. Another rewarding learning experience!

Columbia River Regatta

Before heading back to LV, there was time to sit on the dock and check out the twilight  regatta on the river. This is the view from Pairadice. Our new fridge was working great and another new friend and neighbor gave us a giant slab of fresh tuna. (So sorry I didn't get a pic of that). We couldn't resist having brother Mat, Liz and neice, Audri, over for dinner on our last night. Of course we grilled it... the fresh tuna was amazing. Thank you, thank you.... Paul! 

Down side was, it takes quite a bit of effort to ready the boat and head to the landlocked life. Saturday, we pump out, stowed the dingy...(lesson, don't wait to the travel day) clean and stow everything. Packed and loaded the truck.  It was 2 pm when we began our drive home. I insisted on a way point for rest. That was Susanville, CA, at 11:30pm. Nothing photogenic there. The drive from Portland to LV leaves a lot to be desired. I resorted to working on the laptop, creating outlines, lists, etc. The positive side of the driving home is...we have so much time to plan!   And the plan is, back to the boat in October. We are focused on getting her ready for the Pacific next spring! John, having been retired for over 6 months now, is ready to live aboard. I have committed to working thru 2015, last day being Wednesday, December 16th!!

NEW CANVAS

Hello Friends,

Yes, I am tardy with the "blog" update, Oh well... John arrived at the boat appx 3 weeks prior to me and wasted no time getting the new canvas going. I'm inserting a post John wrote for trawler forum. The verdict was to buy the equipment, materials and have John's brother Mat's help. I had no idea what to expect when he bought a sewing machine. But upon arriving at the marina, I was blown away by the beginning result !!!

New Canvas

Spent over a month on the boat and did a little canvas upgrade. I had a few local canvas shops quote out the job and was not surprised as the prices, 11K to 14 K. the big problem was when they could get to it. Late November and December or later.

So, I decided to do the job myself. I had done canvas work up on Whidbey Island many years ago while in the Navy. It was a great experiance and like riding a bike, you kind of get back into it fairly quickly. I bought a new Sailrite LZ1 from Sailrite and a few attachments, had it shipped to my home here in Las Vegas. Contacted Vaughn Brothers, in Portland to negotiate pricing and headed North to start work on the canvas along with other projects.

Can you see John utilizing Mat's experience?

I made arrangements with the Harbor Master at our marina to use the community patio that is on the docks. Not the best facility to do a major sewing project but a heck of alot better than working in the sun all day, plus they had several large patio tables to make a usable space to work with. The old canvas was tan in color and over 10 years old. It had many repairs over the years. It was also dried up, moldy and pretty worn out.

                                                                                                              I wanted to make some design changes, but had alot of canvas work to do. Picked up the material from my vendor and started the work. 55 yards of Capt Blue Sumbrella, 15 yards of reinforcement material, Snap setter tool, thread and  much more. With the bimini finished, here you can see the difference between the new and old. Big improvement, and all the neighbors thought so too!

Next was the cockpit panel and seat covers. I wanted to finish off the FlyBridge area and the next job was the Dingy Cover.
The previous cover was not very well designed and it needed some improvements. Because the dingy has a stainless arch over the motor I wanted to have a better fitting cover. Also the previous owner liked to attach the winch line to the dingy. This required a long zipper and a hole for the line to enter the cover. The thing leaked pretty bad so I decided to bypass that. Here is how it turned out. This cover took us 3 days and alot of cold refreshing adult beverages.

So now I had to decide. Work on all the small covers or tackle the aft enclosure. I knew I had another couple of weeks to work on this project, by my other projects were not getting done. So I took a few days to work on those, before tackling the aft enclosure. I had some help from my brother who lives just over the bridge in Vancouver. He still works, where as Im retired, so any day that he has off which is only on Mondays he comes down to the boat and drinks my beer. Was he in for a surprise this trip. I put him to work, and we got a pretty good chunk of the layout done. Several beers and a few days later and it was done.

And the finished Aft Enclosure. Also got most of the Cap rails covers done. Back up next month to finish the one remaining cap rail cover, hatch covers, winch covers and Port and Starboard sign covers. Might even have enough material left to make a couple nice bags to put all the covers in for storing.

MORE CHORES

Having arrived alone at Salpare Bay Marina, Portland , OR.... John was tasked with the burden of unloading the truck. He had a gaggle of supplies packed and it all had to get from the parking lot to the boat. I won't know if it's actually onboard until I arrive tomorrow. You can imagine how excited I am about that!

This has been a very long 2.5 weeks apart. I wish I was there to help :-) .

I may not know what he hasn't done yet, "but what I do know is" (that is a Johnism) he has been sweating his everything... through record high temps for the PNW! He has humped through a long list of "things to do" , regardless of the absence of AC. He wasted no time getting the name on the transom.  I am delighted to see the pics... he took his time and the result was perfect! It was very cool how he came up with the idea, and the LV welcome sign came out GREAT!  He honored me by emailing these pictures.

Great job Crusty Chief !

Thank You.... Love, Trace

Next Post :  Picture our boat with NEW NAVY BLUE CANVAS...
John's sewing ability is amazing ...
I have no doubt that the new canvas is as perfect as the signage!

Please follow us on:
mvpairadice.blogspot.com

All the Best, John & Tracey

NEW SIGNAGE

John getting it done!

After another wonderful day cruising the Columbia River and a fabulous dinner date, the reality of driving home came into focus. Saturday morning we loaded up the truck, cleared out the fridge and went through the check list our broker provided (Thank you again, Jeff) Dingy was cleaned, stowed, secured and covered. That was just the beginning. With all the canvas back in place, it was time for the inside. You know the drill; hatches, check / heads, check / electrical, check... etc.

We headed back to Las Vegas with all kinds of continuing boat projects to take care of, while at home. First we had to get there, appx 14 hrs behind the wheel. Ouch!

John's Man Cave in LV

Once home, John wasted no time with striping the port and starboard name plates.  Our fast signs still had not arrived.  He did a great job refinishing  the placards and we were ready to adhere the vinyl lettering, once it was delivered. We worked together well, preparing for our next trip to Portland and Pairadice.



I spent time shopping for rugs and other indoor essentials, while John focused on the outdoor. He ordered a Sailright  sewing machine and planned the canvas order from my notes. We began the garage staging phase, which lasted until the truck was full. I am continuing to work, so he headed up alone and I will join him for a couple weeks, ASAP. Again we will drive home together and be tasked with objectives for the next trip.

BOAT PROJECTS

At this point the boat projects seem endless.  My lists have lists! One of the best decisions we made was to work hard on the lists one day and take the boat out, enjoy brunch underway, the next day. This worked out very well.  There were many tasks involved to make  Pairadice our own. 

1st, I cleaned every inch of the two heads. John purchased an electric power washer which was perfect to clean all the canvas covers.  He mixed vinegar and water in a spray bottle and doused while they were dry. We let it soak in for about an hour then began the hosing down process. Our rig looked a bit getto with so much canvas hanging out to dry, but the method worked very well. Give a boy a new power toy and watch the magic happen! Great job John.......

Then there was the evening we hauled out all 300 feet of anchor chain to mark it. John measured out 25' on the dock and I proceeded to unleash the rhode a bit at a time, while he laid it out, got it even and marked the 25 foot lengths with orange rustoleum spray paint. He added white every hundred feet. Once dry I loaded it back into the locker. Can't wait for our first night at anchor.....  Thanks Mr. Handyman!

The reward for a job well done was a marina cruise in the dingy and happy hour at our favorite, Hidden Bay Cafe. We ran into our dock master, Justin, who was having a bite to eat with a friend. We invited them over, they were interested in having a look see at our Pairadice. Everyone at the marina has been so welcoming. John used a heat gun and a bamboo spatula to remove the old name. An imprint was left, so we realized the transom would need to be sanded and buffed. We commissioned our friendly and knowledgable neighbors for that. They had all the tools and materials and more than willing to make it happen. Meanwhile, we ok'd the proofs and ordered the new signs. Turned out "Fast Signs" are not so fast. They were not ready on time and we had to head back to Las Vegas without them. The heat gun boogered up the varnish on the port and starboard signs above the pilot house doors, so John packed them up to take home for refinishing. 

This is what cleaning teak looks like!

Yes, it was time to think about returning to the blast furnace.  Before we would do that, there was one last large chore to accomplish.  John had cleaned and oiled the teak in the master stateroom before I arrived, but the rest of the boat needed to be done. Thursday June 18th was cleaning day... all day! With the help of good ole' Murphy's wood soap and much elbow grease, we worked together covering every inch.  I would clean with the soap and John followed with the oil. 

This is what dinner looks like....

We got it all done, but back together and planned to grill pork chops.

During dinner we got out the charts, planned our cruise for the following day and made dinner reservations for Friday, our last night aboard our new home, until our return late July and most of August.  It sure was hard to leave.