Scantlings

What is going on here?
Snow in Blakely Harbor?
How come you guys back east have our weather and we have yours?

You just had to go and hum "I'm dreaming of a white Christmas last week now didn't you?"

Well, fortunately it is 34 degF so it is not sticking around.

No snow here. Must be the Blakely Harbor Vortex.

No snow here, but it has been a dark and drizzly day. We served eggs Benedict today, it was magnificent.

Yup, weird here in Virginia. 70's and lots of rain. I keep wondering when I'll need to winterize the boat.

Slick- After New Year's Day, we're supposed to have a string of lows around 30 or the high 20's. I'm planning on finally winterizing after my NYD sail, in the afternoon.

Supposed to warm up the first week of January. I'm postponing the winterizing again!

Joel

Water temp is still 50. I think we've got a few weeks before boat systems are endangered.

I feel like the shallow, fresher waters of my cove don't retain heat that is seen at the bay data buoys. When it gets cold, the cove sheds heat much faster.

Ajax wrote:I feel like the shallow, fresher waters of my cove don't retain heat that is seen at the bay data buoys. When it gets cold, the cove sheds heat much faster.

Good point.

Went for a sail with oldest and youngest sons yesterday - partly cloudy, 70º, reefed main. Lots of fun, but crazy weather.

Light frost here in Blakely Harbor this morning.
It really doesn't get that bad here, so we are not acclimatized to these colder days (34F).
Average winter temp around here is more like lower 40's.
I am very glad I am not commuting across this morning!

We got our first snow of the season yesterday- 6 " or so. About time. When I read about you folks out west where snow is unusual I always start to sing Van Morrison's "Snow in San Anselmo".

"My waitress, my WAITRESS said it was coming down"

Tucky wrote:We got our first snow of the season yesterday- 6 " or so. About time. When I read about you folks out west where snow is unusual I always start to sing Van Morrison's "Snow in San Anselmo".

"My waitress, my WAITRESS said it was coming down"

"Hard Nose the Highway" is one of my all-time favourite albums.

It's been really, really warm here this winter. Like high 20s(f), low 30s(f)! People are freaking out.

29F THIS MORNING!!

We have several CA/Scantlingers coming over to use our mooring buoys today. Maybe 5-7 boats in total. I will post a picture of the now traditional Blakely Harbor New Years Eve raft up..........if I remember.

Nice sun here today even if it is a bit nippy out!

kimbottles wrote:29F THIS MORNING!!

We have several CA/Scantlingers coming over to use our mooring buoys today. Maybe 5-7 boats in total. I will post a picture of the now traditional Blakely Harbor New Years Eve raft up..........if I remember.

Nice sun here today even if it is a bit nippy out!

I wish we could join you. It got to 33°F here last night - which is freeeeking cold for Santa Cruz!!

You all are getting our weather- December was 9 degrees above normal here. I got electric gloves for Christmas anyways- too much playing outside in snow and skating when I was a kid and we got that kind of weather in southern Ohio has given me chilblains and made it difficult to cross-country ski. Based on a couple of cold days, these electric gloves are the wonderful. I gather the snowmobile folks up here plug in whole body suits- I expect sailors could enjoy the same if they were "brave" enough. I see Kim plugged in on his ferry rides.

BeauV wrote:

kimbottles wrote:29F THIS MORNING!!

We have several CA/Scantlingers coming over to use our mooring buoys today. Maybe 5-7 boats in total. I will post a picture of the now traditional Blakely Harbor New Years Eve raft up..........if I remember.

Nice sun here today even if it is a bit nippy out!

I wish we could join you. It got to 33°F here last night - which is freeeeking cold for Santa Cruz!!

Only three showed up to brave the frost and 27F nights. 35-40F during the days. Ice on FRANCIS' decks. Jordan and Kelly are on one of the boats. I rowed out and hung with them for an hour or so. Gave a tour of FRANCIS to some people who had not been aboard before. One person expressed surprise that she was dry below; no condensation. Ventilation is our friend. Jordan and I discussed the furnace ducting, I don't like the flimsy stuff that came with the Wallas furnace, we are considering using exhaust hose instead. Days like these motivate me to finish up the heating system aboard.

Kim, as you experienced when we tested your anchors, keeping the interior heated is THE way to go during winter boating. Even when on deck for most of an outing, the occasional 'warm up' down below is just what one needs to stay happy.

Even if I am just at the dock for some chores, I fire up that heat every time.

If I were you I would drop EVERYTHING else and focus on the Wallace heater install.

Steve

Panope wrote:Kim, as you experienced when we tested your anchors, keeping the interior heated is THE way to go during winter boating. Even when on deck for most of an outing, the occasional 'warm up' down below is just what one needs to stay happy.

Even if I am just at the dock for some chores, I fire up that heat every time.

If I were you I would drop EVERYTHING else and focus on the Wallace heater install.

Steve

Well we actually have a little portable Origo space heater called a "Heat Pal" we can use, but the Wallas project is on the front burner. The Origo is alcohol so put out moisture whereas the Waalas is diesel and creates drying heat.

kimbottles wrote:

Panope wrote:Kim, as you experienced when we tested your anchors, keeping the interior heated is THE way to go during winter boating. Even when on deck for most of an outing, the occasional 'warm up' down below is just what one needs to stay happy.

Even if I am just at the dock for some chores, I fire up that heat every time.

If I were you I would drop EVERYTHING else and focus on the Wallace heater install.

Steve

Well we actually have a little portable Origo space heater called a "Heat Pal" we can use, but the Wallas project is on the front burner. The Origo is alcohol so put out moisture whereas the Waalas is diesel and creates drying heat.

I'm with Steve - MORE HEAT!!

MAYAN's diesel heater gets flipped on every time I'm aboard. I also run a 750 watt heater on a thermostat, set to 60 F, while we're at the dock. In winter the heater seems to run all the time and only gets the boat up to about 55-58 deg. But this has kept the boat dry and mold free. We also keep the porthole in the shower open, if it rains the water just goes into the sump and gets pumped out. Dry bilges really help, thanks to Wayne if there's water in MAYAN it's because I've screwed up somehow.

The time the diesel heater REALLY pays off is on a night passage when it's toasty and warm below and the watch on deck and take turns going below for a warm up. Once the harbor gets dredged again we'll head out for a weekend and probably run the diesel heater the entire time. Heat is such a luxury, particularly as my bones get older and feel the chill more.

OK, I spent some time mapping out the duct paths and came to the conclusion it would be way easier to just move the furnace!

Why did I have the crew put it way back under the tiller when there is plenty enough room on the starboard side of the engine room only three feet from the heater outlets??

Dumb!!

So now I will get to work on relocating it where I should have had them put it all along!

Dumb!!

Be sure to check the maximum allowable run for the exhaust pipe.... don't ask me how I know about this....

I have an older Ardic semi-hydronic system. It has water & blowers. It plugs into the engine cooling so that I can get heat if I've been running the engine without firing up the heater. At some point I will supplement it with a Refleks. Dry heat totally transforms the comfort of the cabin. How did I sail for so many years without it?

BeauV wrote:Be sure to check the maximum allowable run for the exhaust pipe.... don't ask me how I know about this....

The current location has the exhaust at max, the new location will be shorter. Another reason I decided to move it.

kimbottles wrote:OK, I spent some time mapping out the duct paths and came to the conclusion it would be way easier to just move the furnace!

Why did I have the crew put it way back under the tiller when there is plenty enough room on the starboard side of the engine room only three feet from the heater outlets??

Dumb!!

So now I will get to work on relocating it where I should have had them put it all along!

Dumb!!

Stewart Brand, of Whole Earth fame, wrote a nice book called "how buildings learn" or something like that, with a whole section on the big house, little house, back house, barn New England homestead. You are finding the great benefit to fitting out slowly- I guess boats "learn" too:-)

The furnace got partially relocated today. Almost everything was removed from the far aft of the FRANCIS and relocated to the engine room.
Not mounted in the engine room yet, but it was held up in place and the new location is SO MUCH BETTER than the last location it makes me wonder what the hell I was thinking when I had Jordan put it way back there under the tiller.

The exhaust exit fitting still has to be removed from the aft compartment, but I need to turn the boat around for dock access to it and get the thru-hull that will replace it first.
Fortunately it is very comfortable down below in FRANCIS even way back in that aft compartment. I did wear a headlamp because it was raining so I kept the cockpit hatches closed.

Here are pictures mostly of the old installation before and after I removed most of the system.

The last picture shows the new location. Note the nice extra height for the exhaust loop. Note the lack of anything in the way. Note that the exhaust line will be half as long as before.
This location is within three feet of one and six feet of the other heat outlets. The previous location was 20 feet and 23 feet from the outlets!! (What the hell was I thinking?)
And the old location had to run the ducting through those round access holes! (What the hell was I thinking?)

But as Tucky suggests, the boat steward is a slow learner. Thankfully I am retired and the boat is here at the house.

I meant no disparagement Kim, I'm a slow learner too- meaning if I can I work on a project slowly and often better answers to my problems come when there is a gap in my work. I'm going through something like this on my Caterham right now. I tore a fender off and need to mount a new one (fiberglass fender on the aluminum body). Several of the original mounts were blind and I tore those out so now I need a way to get at the back of several closed off places in the body. Better and better answers come to me as I work on the easy part and stare at the difficult part. Some people are skilled at getting to great answers quickly the first time- they usually get paid for it. If I had the opportunity I'd be doing just what you are doing- I can't think of more fun.