Partiotic (?) duty

Well, we did it, rented "The Interview" from YouTube and watched it via our WD Media Player on the home TV.

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Merry Christmas 

Bow Rail

I've managed to spend a little time working on our boat recently.  Latest project was to remove the bow rail and clean up the anchor pulpit teak.  While I had the rail off I cleaned the mounting pads really well and polished everything.

Next project is to get the rail back on and properly rebedded and then I have two stanchions to replace.  In the meantime I'm going to work on a water maker and AIS interface on an IP-380 and put some under cabinet carpentry back together on an IP-32.

Lesley has our Christmas tree up and the reindeer are in place.  Lewis likes the reindeer - would love to get them down of the TV cabinet so he could do some chewing.

Merry Christmas to everyone.

Happy Birthday Lewis

Time has been flying.  This time last year we were in the USVI heading to Puerto Rico to replace a cutlass bearing and continue our trip back to Florida.  Lesley was already cued for a puppy and Lewis was born on the 15th of December so tomorrow is his 1st birthday.

Cyndi, the breeder, sent Lewis a combo Christmas/Birthday present that came in yesterdays mail.  Some stuffed toys, bully bones, and a nice card.

This morning Lewis was lounging and playing with one of the toys.

Bone in ribeye on the menu for tomorrow and will remove the bone before grilling so he can have a special birthday treat.

Happy Birthday to me!

I had a great day today - chalk up another...  Started off the day with a great breakfast and then headed off to work on this years project boat.  Arrived and did some wiring (heaviest gauge wire I've ever dealt with 4/0) and had a nice surprise from Steve and Rob with a Birthday card and bottle of La Crema Chardonnay (one of our favorites from a long time ago and a new story for later).

I worked on the Lagoon till about 1 and then came home to continue my special day.  Preps underway for a Prime Rib dinner and a walk with Lewis.  Dinner is nearly ready and will post a few comments on it later.

Hoping to get our dink in the water in the morning and start waxing the topsides and tackle the teak.  Boat is in great shape - glad it was here this summer and not in the Caribbean - at least I could find time to do some work on it over the summer.

Big project for me now is to finish a fresh water hose replacement on an IP-35 - more on this later as this has been the worst that I've had to deal with to the point of having to remove hull panels!  Photos and more narrative later.  Have another 35 with plumbing issues waiting and also Mike's boat up int Tampa to finish before we take the great winter siesta!

In the meantime - HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME......  

Dinghy Ride

We borrowed Alan's (IP-420 Flatlander) dinghy today so we could take Lewis out and let him ride and run the beach.

He enjoyed the ride and was watching all of the wildlife around us, birds, fish, and fishermen!

We beached the boat and took a short walk when Lewis decided to hitch a ride on a kayak!

Short ride and safely delivered back ashore.


Then we walked out around the corner and talked to some people on stand up paddle boards.  Lewis walked the boards, did some digging, then decided he wanted to take s swim - remember - this breed does not like the water!

He chased some birds and then we loaded up for the ride home.  I didn't get a picture but as we left the island Lewis decided to jump in off the dink and take another swim.  I think he was shocked as we quickly killed the engined and had him swim back to the boat.

The prop is on!

I had some time after my PSA test today so I drove to the boat yard and finished installing the shaft gland and prop.  The reconditioned prop and new shaft parts make me think twice about getting this stuff wet!

After all this work I don't want to loose the shine!

Next, teak and bottom paint and perhaps some Macrolon in the dodger front window.

Minor Electrical Upgrade

I've been spending some time on a Lagoon 450 recently doing some electrical work upgrading the AC/DC distribution system from this:

To something a bit more functional, to this:

The boat was a real mess from the factory.  It had 50 amp service but for some reason only half of it was wired and that powered 4 AC units.  The other half was not wired in.  The remaining AC loads on the boat were powered from an additional 30 amp 120vac service connector.

I'll post more photos later but the major effort at this point is converting the boat to 50amp 240vac, installing a multi-voltage isolation transformer, replacing the 120vac water heater element with a 240 unit, and replacing all the AC unit and pumps with 240vac 50/60hz units.

I've never used so many crimp lugs at one time in my life.

The new power panel is a custom BlueSea 360 series panel made to my design.  The breakers on the left most vertical column are 12vdc with the remaing 3 a mix of 240 and 120 AC.

The lower row of breakers are all DC units.