The Hot Water Holy War.

We find ourselves in the midst of a battle, meet our foe, the excel tankless hot water heater.

At first, we shared the same values and felt we could work together, be allies, we needed hot water, tankless claimed to have the resources to provide this to us, but it made promises it refuses to keep.

At first we thought it was just some minor oversights on tankless' part, you know, forgetting to mention it's batteries were duds and refused to ignite for a week and creating conflicts by requiring hard to procure fittings. But things became much more blatant and we realized some serious fundamental differences in our belief systems, we believed tankless should give us hot water, tankless did not.

We truly became concerned with this relationship when we noticed tankless was overreacted to a slight breeze blowing through the cockpit, and would proceed to shoot flames at us, but its petulant act of aggression wasn't without backlash, as it managed to singe a few of it's own wires in the process. We tried to help it out by dressing it's wounds and building a wind shield around its vents. This sign of good will on our part seemed to be getting through, it gave us a few good days of hot water, but it was short lived, communication began to break down and tankless would give us ten seconds of hot water and then shut off with no explanation at all.

Feeling we had done all we could do to so salvage diplomatic relations between our two nations, it was becoming increasingly obvious that peace would never be achieved but we will not go down without a fight!

 Time to prepare the troops and go medieval on this sucker, no more Mr. Nice guy.

All kidding aside we are still struggling with getting consistent hot water out of this stupid machine, we are getting pretty fed up with it. We are discovering that this is the goldilocks of water heaters, every single aspect has to be just right (and even then it's a crap shoot). With the metal case on the heater as it is supposed to be, the slightest breeze through the side vent, fans the flames and causes fire balls to fly out the bottom. A large breeze through the vents will blow out the flame entirely, thus requiring the faucets to be turned off and on again, usually us only getting a few seconds of hot water at a time and other times it won't ignite at all.

We finagled with the water pressure, we read a few reviews saying the water pressure needed to be consistent and forceful enough so we increased the pressure in the accumulator tank, but this still didn't produce constant heat. But once we took the metal case off completely, the flame ignites and we get hot water, a small breeze will waver the flame but it reignites itself instantly, no turning the water off and on again, but a large gust of wind and we have a flamethrower. 

This is not an ideal situation, we know the hot water heater can work but we don't know if we can create the kind of atmosphere required to make it work.

Who will win?

From Those Who Know.

                                                     A man can only attain knowledge

with the help of those who possess it.

This must be understood from the very beginning.

One must learn from him who knows.

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff

A few weeks ago the local news paper did an article on our family and about us moving onto our boat. It was such a random thing, the reporter happened upon us while we were waiting for the movers to unload our stuff into the storage unit. It was a nice surprise to see ourselves on the front page but the best thing to come from the article was the new friends we got to meet. 

A former cruising couple (I won't print their names until I have permission to do so) had just moved to Coupeville from Maine where they had recently sold their 40 foot catamaran. They saw our story in the newspaper which led them to our blog and they contacted us.

We are so grateful they did!

They have visited us twice, bearing gifts both times, books on cruising and a sailrite sewing machine! I am so excited to use it. And they have opened their home up to us and our rowdy bunch whenever we may need a break from the boat.

They have been a fount of knowledge and entertaining stories and exactly what we need in our lives,

 "A man only learns in one of two ways, one by reading, and the other by association with smarter people." Will Rogers.

and they have provided us with both of these opportunities. We are thankful to have such a resource for the millions of questions we have with fixing and sailing and living on a sailboat, from those who have done it and experienced it before us and also for the kindness and generosity they have afforded us.
What a blessing the unintended consequence of a random newspaper article has turned out to be.

The boys and I are back from our trip to Victoria, BC. Aislinn has decided to stay with Nana for another week until my Dad comes down, he'll bring her back with him. It's strange not having my bubbly, little girl around and I think the boys are noticing her absence more then they thought they would, this is the first time they have ever been away from each other.

The boys get bored, mom and dads bed is always fun to romp around on.

Our v berth may be tiny, but there is always room for snuggling.

While the Cat's Away...

...the mouse works.

The kids and I have taken a few days to visit my Mom in Victoria, BC for a few days while Mark has stayed home because he has to work and having some uninterrupted time on the boat means he can pick away at some projects he can't get done while the kids and I are there.

One of the projects we have bought supplies for way back during our first shopping trip for the boat was a paint kit for the caribe dinghy. 

Our poor dinghy has been kind of neglected since we got it, it came with the boat and we pretty much plopped it in the water by the boat and left it there, every once in a while we'd pump the rain water out of it.

It's a nice dinghy and one of the better makes but of course our previous owner had damaged it, I think in a previous post I mentioned the large metal motor mounts he had attached to the stern of the boat, they turned out to be completely useless and on top of that, he drove the dinghy into these sharp metal protuberances and punctures the dinghy. So when we got it, air was leaking pretty profusely out of it, we patched it up and it held for almost a year.

Mark hauled her out of the water once the kids and I had left and spent hours scraping the marine life off the hull, it was bad and we will not be keeping the dinghy in the water unless we are using it.

Once he got it all cleaned up, Mark re-patched the holes and started painting it.

Mark has wanted to do this for a year but I kept putting him off, there were more pressing projects that I needed completed and there still is but since I am away it was the perfect time for him to get this done.

Meanwhile in Victoria... Sprinklers

Washing Nanas car

Watering the lawn.

Body outline chalk drawings

CSI on a summer day.

Fun with faces.

The boys and I are heading home tomorrow, Aislinn is staying with Nana for another week. Mark has taken next week off to hopefully put a final big push on the last of our boat projects, lifelines completed, lazy jacks, trampolines, propane locker built, soft spots on deck repaired, bilge pumps finally wired... It still seems like a long list but compared to everything we have completed and how long the to-do list was a year ago, we can finally see the end in sight.

Next week is also Race Week at our Marina, a yearly event they put on, hundreds of boats will be arriving this weekend and there is always a lot of festivities going on and of course the races. The week after that my Dad is coming down to help finished up whatever projects we don't get done. Hoping to end July on a productive note and have August to relax and finally get out and enjoy some sailing.

On a side note, the hot water heater has been sorted out, turns out the batteries that came with it from the factory were old and we just needed two new D batteries and it works again. Something so simple, wish we had of thought of that a week ago.

A Bath. A Bath. My Kingdom for a Bath!

If there is one thing I knew I would miss about living in a house would be a bath tub. I am a bath person. I would take a bath every night and that was even after I would sit in the hot tub. What can I say? I love sitting in hot water. It's how I would relax and get some alone time, where I would read or recuperate when I wasn't feeling well. I thought within my last month in the house I would get my fill of baths and had resigned myself to living without them, a huge sacrifice for me, but once we moved onto Sweets I foresaw a way I might be able to have my boat and bath tub too, or at least a close facsimile of one.

Yes, a large storage tote is my bath tub. 

Our neighbours, one boat over from us have been living aboard their motor boat for the last four years and while walking down the dock one day I happened to notice a large, black, horse trough with a hose coming out of the bottom, tucked up into the rafters above their boat. When I asked them what they used it for, they told me it was their homemade bath tub.

This was joy to my heart to think of other live aboards, not blessed with a bathtub in their boat, but finding a way to make one anyway.

Of course we don't have a lovely large enclosed bridge with deck space to set up a large horse trough but there is some small floor space in our cockpit, right next to the hot water heater as it turns out, I could make that work.

                                       

And I did. I bought the biggest tote I could find that would fit my small floor dimensions and Mark fabricated a drain out of a PVC pipe elbow that had a cap that threaded onto one end, so we could use it as a plug to keep the water in and screw off the cap when we wanted it to drain. Now as I mentioned before I hate having water pooling in my cockpit so I couldn't just have it drain right out. Mark clamped a piece of drain pipe we had hanging around and ran it over to a hole in the corner of the cockpit so the water drains right overboard. Perfect. As you can see it is big enough for two children to splash around in. As for myself, I had managed to have one bath before our hot water tank broke again, was it the most comfortable bath? No, but I did fit all the way in with my knees bent and it is deep enough that I am mostly submerged, what more could I ask for?

From this bath idea sprange the shower system we concocted. I figured since the hot water heater was right there and had a shower nozzle attached to it and I now had a way to catch the water from getting all over the cockpit and to drain, I saw no reason why I couldn't shower in there too, why pay the marina $0.25 per minute for a cold shower when I didn't have to?

The only problem of course is that our boat is right out in the open at the end of a dock at the entrance to the marina, every boat that comes and goes has to pass by us and our cockpit is not enclosed, yet. 

So for privacy I found one of the kids hula hoops I had made and they weren't using anymore and our old shower curtain from the house. Mark zip tied the hoop to the cockpit roof, I sewed two shower curtains together and attached Velcro to the open sides so it could close completely into a circle and hung it from the hoop. And voila, a private, cockpit shower.

Necessity truly is the mother of invention and who says you have to do without? All you need is a little imagination and a Home Depot.

Of course two days after we got all this set up the hot water heater stopped firing all together. The first few days it was intermittent, with hot water for about ten seconds before it would shut off and we would have to keep turning off the faucets and turning it on again to get it to flash up for another ten seconds. A few days of this and the heater seemed to sort itself out, we had blazing hot water constantly whenever we turned on the tap, we had baths and hot showers and didn't need to boil water for dish washing. But alas it was too good to be true, a few days after that and the heater gave out. We tried a new regulator and still nothing and finally called the company we bought it from and are working on problem solving or else them sending us a new one.

So for now we are back to paying for cold showers at the marina and boiling water for dishes, but for a few days there I had hot water and it was great!

A New Name.

Up until the 1970s the majority of sailboats being built and sailed were monohulls and catamarans, a cruising trimaran was unheard of. The three hulled sailboats were known for their speed and agility and predominately used in racing. Until the 70s when some trimaran sailors came up with the idea to make a trimaran suitable for cruising, still maintaing the speed of the three hulls but affording a more livable space down below for sustainable cruising.

For runners like Jim Brown and Norman Cross were met with skepticism and concern as trimarans are known to be more easy to pitch pole (flip over back over front) in heavy weather, but they knew the potential in their designs and when sailed properly a cruising trimaran was ideal, with three hulls to keep it afloat the trimaran is very difficult to sink, even with damage to one or two hulls there is still the other to keep the boat on top of the water which lead to the adage, "would you rather be upright on the bottom of the ocean or upside down on top?"

SweetHaven is a Norman Cross designed trimaran.

In the 70's in San Diego, Norman Cross rented a hanger at old Brown Field to provide a space for builders of his designs. 

Several Cross trimarans were built within and the site was a crossroads for the West Coast Multihull Rennaisance. Builders met, ideas were discussed, dreams were shared, and some very good sailing boats were born. 

One visitor to Brown's Field commented that the 37 foot custom cutter design would look better if the main hull transom were extended to share the rake of the aka transoms, Cross agreed and offered the option to builders. 

SweetHaven's beautiful windswept lines are the result. 30 years later the fellow who suggested the transom rake tracked her down in Mexico, test sailed her, and had her shipped here to the Northwest. 

She was inspected, stripped down, a new engine & beautiful Hasse headsail installed, and then health got in the way. She was sold, her refit furthered by two brothers but under their care she was met with tragedy and her entire starboard ama was destroyed. The brothers rebuilt it and sold her to a man in Port Townsend. He had dreams of sailing her down to Samoa and chartering her and began prepping the boat for that venture, he outfitted her with a new jib but while leaving her at anchor in the harbour during a storm, her anchor let go and she drifted into a navy crane and ended up damaging her port side ama. She was then hauled out of the water and rebuilt yet again, the work proved to be too much for the previous owner who listed her for sale again and that is where we found her. Damaged and tossed from one owner to the next we brought her here to Oak Harbor and made her our home. The work we have put into her has truly been a labor of love and today we are thrilled to be able to give her a new name and a new start.

Thank you to all out friends who came to experience and celebrate it with us.

Psalms 72:8

He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth.

Our first crab catch.

Cider and champange for toasts.

All the kiddos on deck for the ceremony.

Mark starting the renaming ceremony.

Some of our guests.

The washing away of the old name. Written on a metal sheet.

Washing away the old name to be stricken from the seas record.

The end of the denaming, the boat momentarily had no name. Pouring champange into the ocean as a libation.

Then comes the renaming ceremony.

Breaking the bottle over the bow.

Took me a few tries.

The official unveiling of her new name.

BBQ and clambake afterwards to celebrate.

Potatoes, fresh caught crab, corn cob, clams and mussels, steamed in sea water and champange.

Gorgeous day!

The adult prize table for draws.

Kids prizes.

Mark enjoying the fruits of his crabbing labor and eating the crab that pinched him.

Our crew of Canadians here on Whidbey.

The first process for renaming your boat is to remove the old name from the boat entirely, anything that had the old name written on it was taken off, for us this meant completely sanding the name off the stern and painting over it, removing life jackets and some fire extinguishers that had the name printed on them.
Next nothing with the new name is to be brought on board until after the ceremony.

Our ceremony consisted of a denaming ceremony.

 In the name of all who have sailed aboard this vessel in the last, and in the name of all who may sail aboard her in the future, we ask The Lord, God if the universe to favour us with his blessing today.

Mighty father, king of all that moves in or on the waves and guardian of the winds and all that blows before them.

We offer you our thanks for the protection you have afforded this vessel in the past, her unrelenting spirit to overcome catastrophes and sail on. We voice our gratitude that she has weathered tempest and storm and enjoyed safe passage to port.

Now therefore, we submit this supplication, that the name whereby this vessel has been hitherto been known as Aukai, be struck and removed from your records.

Further we ask that when she is again presented for blessing with another name, we ask that you provide her with your protection, defence and shelter.

In return for which, we re dedicate this vessel to your domain in full knowledge that she shall be sailed in your will and subject as always to your immutable laws of wind and sea.

In consequence whereof, and in good faith, we seal this pact with a libation offered according to the hallowed tradition of the sea. Cheers!

Immediately after the denaming ceremony we had the renaming ceremony.

I name this vessel SweetHaven.

May she bring fair winds and good fortune to all who sail on her.

To SweetHaven!

And now that she has her new name, the old name is never to be uttered in her presence again.

Making a Home. Awning.

I am discovering my biggest pet peeve on the boat is water in the cockpit. I know this sounds ridiculous, it's a boat! But when we are alongside I need the cockpit as another living space. If the salon is my living room, the cockpit is the family room and I don't want it to be wet.

We have plans to save up over the summer and have a custom dodger/enclosure made in the fall but for right now I just needed something to cover the areas around the cockpit, I was sick of having dew settle over everything and then everyone's dirty feet would walk in it and leave dirty, wet foot prints all over the deck and when it rained it was near impossible to make it onto the boat without getting everything soaked from the puddles that collected on there.

As I had discovered in our first attempt at trampolines (still an ongoing project) my juki quilting machine was not up to the task of thick sunbrella fabrics and sailmakers thread just jams my bobbins, but it is the only tool I currently have until I can get set up with a sailrite machine so I had to skimp on the materials I used.

The underside of the awning, aft.

I bought a roll of duck canvas which is not has thick or difficult to work with as sunbrella type fabrics, it is water resistant, though I am assuming I will need to spray it with the scotch guard every few weeks.

The corners.

My machine could only handle normal thread so we expect this awning will only last until the fall before it starts to deteriorate. That's a shame because it turned out so well. I took some measurements and concocted a pattern out of thin air and it fits like a glove.

One of the side wings.

Our cockpit has a hard Bimini over head where we have the solar panels but the seats extend beyond this and when it rains the water just runs right into the cockpit or blows in. I have grommets along the top hooked over some screws and grommets in the corners to bungee over to what few life line stanchions we have up.

It does the trick, gives a nice bit of shade, protects from the rain, but is a bit hard to crawl in and out under, but small sacrifices are worth not having a wet/dirty cockpit.

Penelope's grass patch amidship.

As for everyday living, things are still going smoothly, the kids are getting used to the long-ish trek from the truck to the boat. I went in search of our own dock cart and saw these plastic gardening wheel barrels at Home Depot, it's a perfect size and easy for the kids to tow but it is so loud rumbling down the docks. It has tiny plastic wheels, so I'm not sure if we can make it work.

Aislinns school room. Yes we are still not finished school for the year, I'm trying but we have completely lost whatever little momentum we had, we'll be lucky if we get done by September in time for the next grade.

Finn helping with invitations.

Marks latest, most pressing project is the hot water heater (still), We had a few days of hot water, where it worked great, but now it won't light at all, back to boiling water for dishes and the marina for showers. 

My most pressing project is the renaming ceremony where s/v Aukai officially becomes s/v SweetHaven. The marina only had one Saturday available for us to use the park facilities this summer  and it turned out to be this upcoming Saturday, so I've had four days to prepare a party for 70. With the such short notice only about 25-30 can attend which probably works out for the better, not sure how we would have fit that many people on the dock.

Invites ready to go.

Finny in a time out.

On top of the new challenges to living on a boat we still have the normal ones of parenting, the adjustment period to any kind of change, whether it be a move or company coming or going, is always difficult for Finn and the dog, apparently. Penelope seems to be having the most trouble, she at least has the potty system down now, but she is a ball of nerves, doesn't like being left alone on the boat and when we do take her off it's hard to get her back. I took her up to the park last night for a walk and on the way back I get down to our dock gate and she is no where to be found. I had to walk back up to the office and found her hiding by the bathrooms. But we are only on day ten, she'll adjust, we all will.