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Category Archives: What Works

Winter needle work

It’s been wet and windy here in the Pacific Northwest, so we have been stuck at the Cabin for the last couple of weekends. We decided to try something REALLY different.

Grand Banks ball cap, custom embroidered by Belmore Custom Embroidery

Grand Banks ball cap, custom embroidered by Belmore Custom Embroidery

Ever since we purchased Yes Please, we have had a very difficult time trying to find Grand Banks Logo gear to purchase or wear. We finally threw in the towel and just decided to make it ourselves. Obviously, there’s a bit of a learning curve involved with machine embroidery, but the mistakes have been few and I’m pleased with the results.

If you are looking for personalized embroidered items to go with your Grand Banks Yacht, contact the good folks at Belmore Custom Embroidery. They will put a smile on your face without putting a dent in your wallet.

We also decided to make up some long and short sleeve polo shirts for both “Yes Please” and our favorite cruising buddy/broker, Mike Japhet.

Grand Banks Logo, Eastbay 39 and boat name on a long sleeve polo shirt.

Props, Paint and Zincs

Starboard Propeller before being cleaned and balanced.

With Yes Please on the hard, it was time for some serious boat maintenance. The bottom was sanded down and painted with ablative paint, the propellers were removed, cleaned up, balanced and coated with propspeed. The tailshaft from the starboard engine was pulled so the cutlass (strut) bearing could be replaced. During the purchase survey, it was noted that a chunk of wood had become wedged into the starboard cutlass bearing, which needed to be replaced during the next haulout, and here we are, at the next haulout! 😉

I also took the opportunity to change all of the engine zincs out, clean the strainers, replace hull zincs and inspect the rest of the running gear. Yes Please spent two weeks in the yard before being launched again and put away snug in her boathouse.

Propellers and shaft after cleaning and balancing.

Starboard Propeller mounted back up and ready for Propspeed.

Propspeed applied and cured on the Propeller.

Old and new pencil zincs from the Starboard Engine.

Boat Work

Freshly varnished name boards looking sharp!

Freshly varnished name boards looking sharp!

Life has been keeping us pretty busy lately, but I still find time to run down to the boat during my lunch hour and get a little work done. Those short breaks were perfect for sanding down the old name boards and putting on several fresh coats of varnish. Each coat takes 24 hours to dry, so after about a week and seven coats, I was finally able to put the new Vinyl on the name boards.

Fusion BB-100 control

Fusion BB-100 control

Another, bigger project was to install a new Fusion BB-100 (black box) stereo system in the Stateroom. I installed the “black box” under one of the steps, then mounted the small controller/blue tooth transmitter in the side of the port drawers. Full range speakers were hung and the stereo sounds magnificent. It is easily controlled via Bluetooth and the FusionLink Iphone app, so we don’t even have to get out of bed at night to enjoy our music.

Another, easier project was to replace the Raymarine Depth Sounder Module (DSM-300). As mentioned in a previous post, the old one dropped out and alarmed constantly, which made it useless and extremely annoying. The refurbished unit dropped right into place and works like a champ, as seen in the screen shot below showing Yes Please passing over a wrecked concrete sailboat.

Sonar is now working thanks to a new DSM.

Sonar is now working thanks to a new DSM.

New full range speakers sound awesome!

New full range speakers sound awesome!

Boat Dogs

Our Goldendoodle Puppy loves being on the boat.

Our Goldendoodle Puppy loves being on the boat.

Over the last month, we have taken our eight month old puppy out on the boat, overnight, nine times. We are training him to be a good boat dog, in anticipation of multi-week trips this summer, and I am amazed at how easily he has adapted to life on the water. From his first day aboard, he has never given us any trouble and seems to be a magnet for making new friends on the docks wherever we go.

Yankee's first time in the Dinghy. Can you tell he's petrified?

Yankee’s first time in the Dinghy. Can you tell he’s petrified?

He sleeps through the night without any fuss and will even sleep with Yes Please cruising at 16+ knots, while rocking and rolling to the waves. He has only fallen in the water one time, on his very first day, but quickly learned to be a little more careful and now routinely boards and disembarks with sure-footed grace.

This weekend, while docked at Island Home, all the boaters on our dock kept asking if Yankee could come out and play.

Boathouse

Yes Please parked in her new Boathouse.

Yes Please parked in her new Boathouse.

Yes Please moved into her new boathouse this past weekend. It was a very tight fit, with the anchor only six inches from tagging the plate glass window, but she fits like a glove.

One of the big factors in deciding to purchase the boat was the availability of boat houses in Olympia. I did not want a boat that had so much beautiful teak on the outside without the benefit of covered storage. Parking her in a house means that she will stay clean when washed and means the varnish on the teak should last about three years rather than being an annual battle.

The anchor is mere inches from tagging the glass window to the boathouse.

The anchor is mere inches from tagging the glass window to the boathouse.

Another big benefit, given the rainy weather here in the Pacific Northwest, is that the boathouse makes winter boat work possible and so much easier. It also gave us a good place to store the kayaks!

All of my trucks have always parked out in the rain, but the boat gets her own garage! I must have my priorities straight!

😉

BoatHouse1175

AIS tracking

AIS track of Yes Please

AIS track of Yes Please

After updating the Raymarine AIS transceiver with new firmware and modifying the information being broadcast about the boat, I wanted to verify that the unit was working correctly. When we returned from a recent trip to Hope Island, I looked up the boat’s MMSI number via Marine Traffic to see if they had picked up the new boat name.

I was pleasantly surprised that they were tracking the boat so far South in Puget Sound and that they had the new boat name registered. I’m always impressed when new technology works the way it is supposed to!

Name Change

Yes Please, new boat name, is applied to transom.

Yes Please, new boat name, is applied to transom.

The sun briefly appeared on Friday, so I stopped by the boat at lunch time to remove the remaining vinyl from the transom and clean up the goo with some Acetone. After work, Sherri and I positioned the new graphics on the stern and began peeling and rubbing the new boat name into position.

The larger Yes Please name went onto the transom pretty easily, which was surprising given it was three layers of vinyl. The home port graphics were a little trickier (Olympia, WA) due to the small letters. I’ll have to replace the “O” in Olympia at some point, but I am pleased with the results.

After the hard (not) work of renaming the boat, we braved the Fourth Ave Tavern to watch Andrew Landers and the Strugglesville Band. The music was magnificent and that part of Olympia is always entertaining, to say the least.

Bed Time

Queen sized bed with 3 inch memory gel topper.

Queen sized bed with 3 inch memory gel topper.

Our first night on Yes Please was a little restless because the mattress was thin and a little on the hard side. A quick trip to Costco for a 3″ memory foam topper along with a down mattress pad/cover and we were off to very sound sleep.

The memory foam was a little difficult to work with as it had to be shaped around the odd corners of the mattress. Sherri took a new serrated knife to the foam and it turned out really well. The fleece sheets also made the bed super comfy and toasty warm.

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Stoopid Owner Tricks

Barnacle encrusted Gori propeller on the Wing Engine.

Barnacle encrusted Gori propeller on the Wing Engine.

We all make mistakes from time to time and my Stupid Owner Trick this year was not using my Wing Engine enough. DOH!!

After reading the James Knight interview on Pendana’s blog, his answer to the question, “if there was one thing Nordhavn owners should check religiously and don’t what would that be?”, really hit home. Yep, it’s the Wing Engine, specifically, exercising the Gori folding prop. I put my dive gear on to check mine, and sure enough, it was a mass of barnacles and muscles, so fully encrusted that it was stuck in the open position. Damn It Scott! Thirty minutes of chipping away at the growth underwater didn’t rectify the situation, so it was time to pull the boat.

Nordhavn 47, Sea Eagle, on the hard at Swantown Boatworks.

Nordhavn 47, Sea Eagle, on the hard at Swantown Boatworks.

Swantown Boatworks was pretty busy, but they squeezed me in (literally) right in front of their office. Once the boat was up in the slings, I was impressed to see that my underwater work had allowed the folding prop to fold-up, but it still wasn’t really functional. Compare that to the main propeller (see photo above), which had been coated with Barnacle Buster last year. I had mistakenly left the Gori prop bare and you can see that the marine growth LOVED it!

They pressure washed the hull and running gear for me, then set the boat on the hard about one foot from the front door of their office. It was rather funny to watch the yard workers ducking under the swim step in order to get to the restrooms.

All cleaned up and ready to launch.

All cleaned up and ready to launch.

I spent the next few days chipping, grinding, sanding and eventually painting the Gori Folding propeller with outdrive paint. It was a bit of a miserable job, with air temperatures around 40° F and rain squalls every hour or so. Once the prop was good to go, I lubed up the mechanism and then went to work cleaning the keel coolers, replacing zincs and touching up a few spots of bottom paint that were bare.

Prior to putting Sea Eagle back in the water, I pulled and replaced the 7/16″ packing on the main shaft and inspected the shaft/bearings/etc., finding it all to be in excellent condition.

Launching Sea Eagle back into the water.

Launching Sea Eagle back into the water.

For those that didn’t see James Knight’s interview, here was his advice on what Nordhavn owners should check relegiously: “I would say that placing their wing engine into and out of gear while its running is something most are guilty of not doing. When we pull boats from the water we often see that the wing engine propeller is jammed i.e. the propeller doesn’t fold / unfold correctly.” Busted!

Clean and functional Gori Prop, like it should be.

Clean and functional Gori Prop, like it should be.

LED Navigation Lights

New LED Navigation Lights on N47, Sea Eagle.

New LED Navigation Lights on N47, Sea Eagle.

During a recent daybreak departure, I noticed that my masthead light was burned out. I took this opportunity to continue my project to replace all the halogen and incandescent bulbs in the boat with LED’s. I’d been wanting to do the anchor light for a LONG time, since it consumes lots of battery power during our long winter nights in the Pacific Northwest.

I have had very good luck with LED replacement bulbs from Marine Beam. They make excellent constant current replacement bulbs that are a very pleasing color and have performed flawlessly on the boat for the last two years. Their “Idiots Guide to Marine LED’s” is also a good read. I ordered some new Navigation bulbs and as usual, they priority shipped them the same day.

The bulbs arrived on a sunny, but very cold day, so I took the opportunity to climb the stack while it was dry and replace the navigation bulbs.

Bright LED anchor light on top of the mast.

Bright LED anchor light on top of the mast.

I was pleasantly surprised to discover that even though I’d carried a bag full of tools up with me, not a single tool was required and the bulbs were very easy to replace. MUCH better than my previous boats. They had Nav lights that were very difficult to replace.

At sunset, I turned on the new lights and was very pleased with how bright the Anchor and Masthead lights were. I’ll sleep easier at night when the Anchor Light is on, knowing it is easily seen and very easy on the batteries. I think the only Halogen bulbs left on the boat now are the Spreader Lights, Docking Lights, Search Light, Microwave and Oven. Good Progress!