A Well Deserved Surf

This is one happy guy!

Radar Replace Cont.

I'll spare you the images and language involved with trying to pull wires through the interior of the boat and out to the cockpit, all I can say is that Sasha forgot to eat lunch and was too tired to eat dinner on more than one day this week. If you know Sasha, this is saying a lot. Work was starting at 7am and continued till about 10 or 11pm.

Here is Sasha on the last afternoon of the project. The new radar display is larger than the old one, so we had to rearrange all the instruments to fit it in the same amount of space. Here you can see Sasha with his jigsaw cutting a new teak panel for the instruments. In the bottom of the frame you can barley see the tip of the black vacuum tube- I sat on the sidelines and did my best to "contain the mess" as he cut. We had to make the cuts in the cockpit because it was pouring down rain!

Here I am fitting all the instruments into the new instrument panel (yeah! they fit!).

After I mounted all the instruments Sasha came and connected the mess of wires, and amazingly enough everything booted right up! Wowza!!

We got everything finished just in time for a day of R&R before we take off for St. Martin. Looks like our best weather window is going to be on Monday Dec 12.

Radar Replace

After a year of Sasha trying to trouble shoot and figure out why the eleven-year-old radar unit would not work, it was determined that the dome itself had a bad circuit board. Mind you this is after Sasha has checked all the connections, wires, mailed bits and pieces back to RayMarine for diagnostics, and basically ripped the boat apart a few times. Of course, RayMarine no longer makes the replacement parts we need…. hum. Feel like buying and installing a whole new unit?

Here is Sasha aloft, yesterday. Good thing he doesn't mind heights because he was up there for well over an hour as we worked together to pull the old wiring out of the mast and feed new wires through, raising and lowering tools and parts up and down the flag halyards, and finally hoisting the new radar dome up and setting it on its mount. Really glad that was Sasha's job and not mine. Above you can see Sasha giving me a thumbs up on a securely mounted dome.

Tracing the wires through the boat is easy, it's ripping out the old and installing the new that's a bit harder. One wire plugs into the back of the radar dome up on the mast, runs down the mast into the generator box on the bow, then into the back of the saloon couch (bottom left open panel), then along behind the TV (middle open panel), then up to the instrument panel (top right behind Sasha). I do believe that Sasha is trying to hang himself with the old radar cord.

Here you can see Sasha climbing out of the TV cabinet saying "we're almost halfway there!".

UV Damage on the Genoa

As we were hoisting the Genoa we noticed that the bolt rope was beginning the tear because of UV damage. The protectant wrap must not cover that spot! As we were packing it to take into the sail loft for repair Sasha decided to see how far the tear would travel, about 2 feet is what we found! Glad to have this taken care of before the christmas winds pick up.

Thanksgiving Feast

Though I flew home to attend to some family business over the Thanksgiving holiday, I did not leave Sasha high and dry. I was planning to make a nice dinner on board Soterion, and since I already had the food I decided to cook everything and pack it in the fridge for Sasha to enjoy. Knowing how boys work, I also left him a detailed list of everything and where it could be found (panrty, fridge, freezer).

MOVEMBER!!

To help raise awareness for prostate cancer, many charter captains in the BVI participate in Movember. Everyone has one month (Nov 1 - Dec 1) to grow their facial hair as long/ crazy as they can. Some say Sasha has a head start on the competition, we believe that the other captains show a serious lack of commitment the other eleven months of the year.

Beardy Man # 1

Beardy Man # 2

December 2 shave off ... or... just better groomed.

Boat Show 11 Interior Pics

Cheque little bistro lunch of escargot, gouda cheese, and fresh baked breads.

Saloon snacks were Caribbean mountain mocha fudge, dark chocolate truffles, banana nut bread, and melon salad. Also on display is the first edition of Dining on Deck, a collaborative cookbook published by the Charter Yacht Society. Books on sale aboard Soterion!!

Starboard Forward cabin, set up to look like typical day use.

Port Forward cabin set for the start of a charter.

Master Cabin set for a quiet evening on a mooring.