Seasonal maintenance, projects and upgrades

[TollyWally]

Once again it is time for me to concentrate on maintenance for my beloved old Tolly. The mild winter we’ve been having has tempted me to forgo pulling my boat this year. Once hauled it takes forever to get the projects buttoned up and put her back in the water. With this weather…well sometimes the best maintenence a boat can get is to use it a couple times a week. LOL

I’ll probably do a quick in/out in the slings for my zincs. But other than that, my bottom paint looks good for another year, hoses and manifolds are all fresh from last year and we’ll see if all goes according to plan.

As those of you who have already helped with input and mechanical wisdom know, I have been fooling around with my carburetor. Finally solving an idling problem that has been annoying me for far too long. I’ve got a vacuum gauge to install that goes along with that little project. Another long standing problem was my Espar furnace. I had a really knowledgeable tech dude come down and give me a hand. We got it going but it soon failed. Those Espars are nice when they work but are over engineered. LOL just a little too safe! And are those Germans ever proud of their parts. I was resolved to yanking it out and starting all over again.

I picked out a nice diesel stove/fireplace, almost bought it. BUT it was going to take a considerable amount of part time remodeling to shoe horn it in. At least 2 days of dedicated carpentry, probably more. My brilliant furnace tech gave me the inspiration for one more try. I spent an afternoon rewiring it from the battery out. I clipped all the clickety click quick connects and soldered the connections. I remounted the various relays and control boxes. SUCCESS! At least so far, maybe 20 hours running time. As long as it keeps running I’ll keep it, sure works well when it runs. The cost of parts will mean a different system if it fails.

This years projects include actually finishing some of last years, LOL. I still need to install new handrails. New Found Metals in Pt. Townsend has some dandies. I have a few new cleats to install. I really shook up my tanks in what passes for rough weather in Puget Sound a few weeks back. I have been having some filter problems. I swapped everything out but it is going to take a few tanks of fuel to stabilize it. I went down to Williams Filter and got a cool 2 way valve. I’ve fabbed up a double filter system. If one clogs a swish of the handle takes the clogged filter offline and puts a new filter into play. I’ll try to upload a pic.

I have a few electrical upgrades planned. I’d like to install a parallel redlight cabin light system. I’m going to use DPDT switches so I can control the color mode from the helm and keep the 1st. mate from blinding me at night. I’m also going to put fairly extensive engine room/lazerett lighting in. I want to control that with 3 way switches so I can light it up from either helm or hatch. I want to bring power back to the stern for another downrigger too. And my anchor winch could stand a rewire job.

Time will tell. I never actually complete one year’s list entirely and other little projects will come up. But making progress is what counts. A boat is never actually completely fixed at any one time! Success is measured by how much beer, ice, and gasoline one can burn through with out downtime during boating season. Which with the furnace now working combined with our mild weather is 365/365

Wally

[bradvo]

Nothing like a working furnace just to get ya started , no furnace makes for a even tougher time to get motivated to work on the boat during the winters.
I also like knocking something out every week- might be small but it is progress, sooner or later though I need to do a fun job, like adding LED's
have fun
Brad

[heymagic]

We have dual red/white ceiling lights in the Chris. I've heard that blue lites are better for night vision though. We're going to add an Electro Scan waste treatment this spring, maybe bottom paint. Next winter though I want to make a hardtop like the Tollys had. Then maybe remodel the galley and add teak/holly flooring.

[TollyWally]

That's interesting about the blue lights. I hadn't heard that. Night vision is what I'm after. hmmmmm I'd like to know more

Wally

[Go Aweigh2452]

Blue lighting has been used in US subs since WWII. Blue lights used in CIC's aboard ship is becoming more common. Using blue lights has to do with the visibility of radar scopes and panels in shipboard control spaces. Blue lights have been determined to give the best visibility of equipment while still not reducing the night vision of people who pass through these areas to the outside of the ship to stand watch or duty during the hours of darkness.

A long held belief, probably not true, is that the use of red interior lighting created somewhat of a hostile environment while the use of blue was calming... based on some "study". Of course you have to ask yourself... hmmm, I'm on a warship, I'm suppose to be "hostile" right?

[SomeSailor]

Blue light is also on the opposite end of the spectrum from infrared. Pilots can wear NVIS gear in the cockpit with blue lighting kits installed and still see all their equipment. In the past, they'd have to shut down most all of their instrumentation and illumination.

Pilots are flying more and more on night vision gear out there. Also... exterior red shipboard lighting is REALLY visible to night vision gear the bad guys are using.

If I were gonna refit something for night lighting, I'd opt for the blue myself.

[TollyWally]

Well that's a relief,

Can't have any hostility on a warship. Excuse my ignorance but what is a CIC?

I've been fooling around a bit with leds. I've installed one to illuminate my switch panel. It's not perfect, you might call it the mark 1. I picked up a few misc. red units that I've been toying with. They are courtesy, side marker, trailer light bars, etc. Easy to come up with and fairly cheap. This blue light thing intrigues me though. As I get older I find I need much more light. LOL

Have any of you guys much actual time with these? What are your impressions? One thing about the red leds is the chance of them being mistaken for running lights. I had to make an obscure little shield for my panel illumination. A few weeks after I installed it I was surprised one night on the dock. At a certain angle you could see it quite distinctly through the window in the salon down below even though it was in the house above.

Wally

[TollyWally]

oops, SS snuck in a message while I was composing mine. At least one vote for blue. Maybe I'll have to do a bit of internet sleuthing and source some blue.

[Go Aweigh2452]

The Combat Information Center, referred to as CIC or “Combat” for short, is the communications and electronics hub of the ship. During normal operations, CIC supports the bridge and the OOD (Officer Of the Deck or Day, basically the Capts watch relief) by tracking and identifying surface and air contacts, coordinating with shoreside command centers via satellite communications systems, and communicating with other vessels via maritime radio traffic. Combat operates a variety of encrypted communications systems, surface search radars, fire-control radar(s), and an “identify-friend or foe” system, known as IFF. The CIC personnel also maintain the Shipboard Command and Control System (SCCS) and the Joint Operational Tactical System (JOTS) which provide real time navigation and tactical information to the watchstanders in Combat and on the bridge.

[SomeSailor]

Coolest place on the boat (other than flight deck). All the cool toys are in CDC/CVIC. They've got all these HUGE plasma displays now. Realtime video and data from planes right in the thick of it.

There's a system called JTIDS (Joint Tactical Information Display System) that I maintained that allows video from "over the shoulder" to be sent back to the ship in real time. Very cool watching how busy thse kids are when they come up on the back of the shipfor landings. Not something I'd wanna do.

You real quickly realize how well trained thee kids are and why they deserve the big bucks.

[heymagic]

I dislike red lighting a bunch. I find it irratating and seems "fuzzy" , hard to describe. Everyone likely sees differently. Blue lights though...I just like them. We have blue Xmas lites on the house and tree both. We used to use blus Xmas lites inside the boat at nite. With bulbs readily available I'll be changing the Chris out when she comes home.

Well maybe not...I was just doing some research and found this http://www.mdsupport.org/library/hazard.html great..everything fun makes you go blind 8)

[Go Aweigh2452]

Unless your eyes are diseased, I wouldn't worry about blue lights unless I had the Admiral at K-Mart.. then it could get expensive checking out all those blue light specials... ;) I'd be more worried about flash photography and going blind that way... I won't discuss any other ways of going blind... :oops:

Now if you are riding your vessel (the Chris) 24/7... then I'd worry...

Just an idea... Maybe we ought to get all stop lights blue instead of red?

[SomeSailor]

if you are riding your vessel (the Chris) 24/7... then I'd worry...

I'd worry alright..

I'd worry that you're living a MUCH better life than I am... :)

[bradvo]

I do like the red night lighting on my B&G vhf radio, looks cool.
I have now noticed my starbord gage lights are all out, wonder where that wire is.
The reason some projects just do not get down is new problems keep arising. Oh crap.
reading this post on lighting reminded me of my current problem. Not only that I forgot to put it on my "to do list"
Now where did I leave that list........
Brad

[Go Aweigh2452]

Not only that I forgot to put it on my "to do list"
Now where did I leave that list........


I have a white board that you use erasable markers on that has my list posted on what needs to be done when... Including car oil changes, etc. It goes back to 2002... I think it needs updating... currently on the list is plug and oil/fuel filter change for boat with next oil in Spring...

[Randygh]

My boat had a small, red overhead spotlight that was used to illuminate my dash gauges. Unfortunately it was DOA when I purchased the boat. It looked like a piece of crap so I removed it. When I ran in the dark last summer I turned down the GPS and FF illumination; they were much too bright to see anything outside. My question--if you run in the dark with a red or blue nightlight, can you view the LCD radar, GPS and FF screens without turning on their backlights?