Sailing - Reboot (USA 60493)

Newegg Fail #2

2012-01-27T14:29:00.002-05:00

Today I finally got my computer - unrepaired - back from Newegg (http://www.newegg.com). It has been almost a month exactly since I sent it in to be fixed. Then I contacted ASUS and was told that their computer system was down and they could not give me an RMA number until tomorrow. Joy of joys. And oh by the way they forecast a month (including the shipping both ways) for the repair.

Pathetic

You know its time to diet when ...

2012-01-23T20:31:00.001-05:00

OK, so I have been drinking too much beer. My chart table swivel chair mount has once again broken. I had it repaired while in New Bern, but now another part of the moving parts has worn out. Tomorrow I will call Catalina and see if I can get a replacement.

Ugh!

Online Float Plans

2012-01-18T22:45:00.002-05:00

One of the great frustrations of sailing is not knowing if anyone will follow up if you fail to appear at your destination port within a reasonable period of time. The United States Coast Guard and many other maritime safety organizations recommend you file a "float plan." This is a statement of your intended departure and destination. The idea is that if you don't show up someone will start looking for you.

I have always thought it unfortunate that the Coast Guard will not accept float plan filings. After all, they are the men and women who would (if you are in US waters) come and look for you. A few years ago I discovered an online solution to this problem - a web site that permits you to file a float plan and then will notify your contact list if you don't close the plan on time. As sometimes happens I lost the link but did just find it again. It is http://www.usfloatplan.com It only takes a minute or two to set it up and it might save you life.

Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol

2012-01-18T21:05:00.001-05:00

It was a rainy day here at the Naval Air Station in Jacksonville, FL so Ed, Claudia and I went to the movies. Actually, Ed got a front end alignment and new tires for his truck, and then with the pennies left over we went to see Mission Impossible - Ghost Protocol. It was the first time I had seen a movie in "movie theater IMAX" (as opposed to "science museum IMAX.") It was pretty good. The sound system was cranked up and since there were only three of us in the theater it was pretty loud. I did not like the seats, they were very upright and I prefer to slouch.

Anyway, the movie was OK - about what I expected. A lot of action and not a lot of plot. A great rainy day event.

When Ed and Claudia came to pick me up I discovered that they had painted the topper on the Dodge. It is now a nice white that matches the truck rather than a faded red. Then I found out that Claudia had painted it by sitting on top of the topper in the hotel parking lot. You know you are a red neck when ...

Fair winds and following seas.

Bring them home - Throw them out

2012-01-15T08:47:00.002-05:00

I doubt that few people outside of the military are aware that not only are we “bringing them home” but we are throwing them out. The services are unilaterally discharging people, many of whom do not want to leave. Hardest hit are the mid-grade enlisted (E6’s) who have about 15 years of service. By discharging them the military prevents the possibility of retirement at 20 years. If the member is fortunate enough to be able to get into a reserve unit to complete their “20” their retirement starts at age 62 vice at the 20 year mark. The net effect is a saving for the military of retirement benefits that can exceed $500,000 per member. Many of these people have deployed multiple times to Afghanistan and Iraq. Our thank you is to boot them out the door into a terrible economy.

Senior Moment

2012-01-13T12:28:00.000-05:00

Yesterday Ed, Clauida (Door into Summer) and I were running errands when we stopped in a Burger King to grab a bite to eat. I had ordered and was sitting at a table when Ed and Claudia came in from their stop a Lowes. Ed went up to purchase a cup of coffee and I said "please get me one." The young lady delivered the coffee to Ed and volunteered "I gave you your senior citizen discount." Ah, the cruel truth of getting old. What made it worse was that the same young lady had not offered me a senior citizen discount and I am 5 years older than Ed.

The Lost Symbol

2012-01-12T19:33:00.001-05:00

I flew back from Chicago after a thankfully good checkup with my cardioligist and internist. I left the book I was reading in Trevor's car so I ended up purchasing Dan Brown's new book The Lost Symbol. It was a good and fun read. As usual I could nit pick some of the story but why bother - it passed the flight times quite well.

Additional Web Address

2012-01-12T16:30:00.000-05:00

I have (FINALLY) accepted the fact that I am retired. As a result I am slowly archiving my business web site www.rjjconsulting.com. At the same time I have rejuvenated my interest in software programming, in specific to build some apps to make it easier to both cruise and manage Reboot. My blog has always been hosted by blogger. One limitation is that I have not found a way in blogger to store files and make them available for download. In the past I have done this on the www.rjjconsulting.com site. My solution was to create a new web site. The site is www.sailboatreboot.com. There is not much there at the moment, but it will be the future location for my various programming projects and links to other software I think is useful for cruisers. Since I now have DNS control I have added a new web address for this blog - blog.sailboatreboot.com. It will bring you back to the same place, that is, this blog. You might want to make a note of it.

Newegg Fails

2012-01-09T13:33:00.000-05:00

I was delighted when I purchased an ASUS G74 Series G74SX-XN1 Notebook Intel Core i7 2630QM(2.00GHz) 17.3" 12GB Memory DDR3 1333 500GB HDD 7200rpm DVD Super Multi NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M from Newegg on their Black Friday sale. It is a great machine and I was having a lot of fun with it when the screen started to fail. So I contacted Newegg and they said sure, it is covered by the warranty, send it back and we will take care of it. So I do, and two weeks later they tell me that they will not honor the return because I didn't return the cardboard box. What BS. So now I am going to have to wait another week to get it back and then return it to ASUS for service. Well Newegg, you just lost a loyal customer over a cardboard box. I how you are happy.

The most apt name for 2011:

2012-01-02T06:00:00.001-05:00

A Norwegian new to sailing bought a boat to sail around the world and struck a sandbank outside his home harbor. While he was waiting for the tide to rise, he made himself a cup of tea. His stove caught fire, set the galley alight and burned the boat down to the waterline.He escaped unhurt in a rubber dinghy. His name? Bornt Olose.

Courtesy of John Vigor's blog...

Jacksonville, FL

2011-12-19T21:15:00.000-05:00

I left Southport, NC on what appeared to be a tight weather window and headed for the St. Mary's River on the Georgia Florida border. The forecast was for 15 to 20 knot winds from the North and 3 to 5 foot waves. I got the waves. It was a good thing that I had fueled Reboot before I left because the winds were from 0 to 20 knots, mostly 0 knots. I motored about 85% of the time.

As I went into the St. Mary's River the wind had already started to shift to the East and then the South. I stopped at Fernandina Beach for fuel. I was greatly tempted to rent a mooring ball for the night - get a shower, do the laundry, etc. But I decided to press on to Jacksonville. The wind had shifted to the South so the entire trip down the ICW was with 15 to 20 knots of wind in my face. At least I did not go outside and have to deal with the confused seas.

Once again I arrived just in time to not be able to go under the Main Street Bridge so I hung out at the dock by the football stadium until "bridge hours" expired. I then brought Reboot into the Landing for the night. Tomorrow I will continue up (or down, the St. Johns is one of two rivers in the US that flow South to North) to NAS JAX.

Fair winds and following seas.

Southport, NC

2011-12-16T15:17:00.000-05:00

I am currently in Southport, NC waiting for a weather window. I took one look at the 160 mile ICW route between here and Charlestown I decided I would rather wait a day or two than do the 4 to 5 day inside route. (I can only make about 40 miles inside per day since the daylight hours are so short.)

Door into Summer (Ed and Claudia) left from Morehead City with Reboot. We putt putted our way down the ICW to Wrightsville Beach NC. I had done this trip in the past - Morehead to Mile Hammock Bay to Wrightsville and hated it (as H2OBO and HOBO II can attest - they didn't like it very much either.) This time we were not being run over by other cruisers and the current at the Wrightsville Bridge was only 2.5 knots instead of 4 knots. I also knew not to try the channel where I had run aground the last time,

We collected two Canadian single handers for cocktails in Mile Hammock Bay. Marc then caught up to us in Wrightsville. He missed one bridge so came in a full hour behind us - just as the sun was setting. Ed, Claudia and I dinghied over to the seafood restaurant just south of the bridge and had all you can eat oysters. OK, Ed and I had all you can eat oysters. They were terrific but different. Usually when you get oysters they are single, that is one oyster. These were in clusters - two or three oysters whose shells had grown together. It did not make them any less enjoyable to eat, but our guess was that they are not in demand in the shellfish market so the restaurant can get them for less.

When we were coming into the anchorage at Wrightsville Ed told me that his alternator had decided to stop charging. We agreed that I would leave the next morning while Ed tried to sort out what was going on. As of last evening the problem had not been resolved.

It looks like a very brief weather window tomorrow to get to Charleston on the outside. My plan is to give it a shot. If so I will be offshore for about 24 hours. This will be my first offshore since my heart surgery - I am feeling pretty confident it will go OK but am hoping Door into Summer will catch up before I go offshore.

Fair winds and following seas...

Mile Hammock Bay

2011-12-13T17:47:00.002-05:00

Stopped for the night. Cold transit today. Hooked up with two Canadian single handers. Great dinner thanks Claudia.

Continuning South tomorrow AM.

Looking for a weather window

2011-12-10T18:23:00.001-05:00

With my unexpected heart surgery I am still in New Bern long after I had intended to depart. Ed and Claudia (Door into Summer) took the run to Bock Marine to get their fuel tanks cleaned yesterday. On the way down they discovered that their wind instrument was not longer working. Since they had just replaced their radar they think that a wire got disconnected while pulling the new radar wire in the mast.

This brings us back to Reboot. I would love to leave but the offshore weather has been terrible and the forecast for the next week is worse. I hate the ICW. It looks like hating the ICW is going to trump going offshore in 7 to 10 foot waves. I am hoping to leave on Monday. If all works out then I would meet up with Ed and Claudia sometime in the following couple of days.

I will keep you all informed.

Fair winds and following seas.

The Elder Scrolls - Skyrim

2011-12-10T13:48:00.001-05:00

When I was up visiting Trevor and Spencer I got involved in the new "Elder Scrolls = Skyrim" game. I have to admit that I have the heart of a gamer. I find myself sitting on Reboot playing Skyrim when I probably should be getting ready to go South. LOL

Fair winds and following seas.

West Marine Price Hike

2011-12-09T10:57:00.001-05:00

Tis the season to be jolly and for West Marine to raise its prices before the new catalog comes out. I expected a little bit of a price increase but $40 on a $159 tri-color (already grossly overpriced for a plastic light fixture) and $20 for a $70 starboard bow light (also grossly overpriced to start.) I did not shop long, nor will I be fast to return without first checking out every other possible option.

By the way, the price increases have already taken place. If you go out to the web site the new prices have been loaded even though the "2011" catalog still has several weeks to run.

Tammy Baldwin - Credit where credit is due

2011-12-03T09:17:00.001-05:00

I rarely write anything political in my blog but as a retired member of the US Military I wanted to share this. Tammy Baldwin is the Democrat representative for the 2nd district in Wisconsin (my legal address) which includes some of the most liberal neighborhoods in Wisconsin (the Madison and University of Wisconsin area.) I wrote her to complain about proposals to increase fees for Tricare and, given that she is a Democrat expected some "we need to give more to government spread the wealth around" response. My surprise when I received the following letter ...

.........................................................

December 2,2011

Dear Mr. Jones:

Thank you for contacting me regarding TRICARE coverage and fees. It is good to hear from you and I apologize for the delay in my response.

Like you, I strongly believe that the United States government has a responsibility to provide our servicemembers, retirees, veterans, and their families with access to affordable and comprehensive health care services and support. Created in 2002, TRICARE For Life supplements Medicare for military retirees and their family members eligible for Medicare, while TRICARE continues to cover servicemembers, their family members, and survivors.

The National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (H.R. 1540) allows the first increase in TRICARE enrollment fees in more than 15 years, including increased prescriptions and co-pay fees. On May 26, 2011, H.R. 1540 passed the House of Representatives, and is now pending in the Senate. You may be interested to know that I opposed the increases in TRICARE fees, and I voted against this legislation.

We call on servicemembers and veterans to sacrifice their safety, security, and, oftentimes, wellbeing and happiness, for the interests of national security and to fight in wars abroad, and the government has a responsibility to ensure that we give back. For this reason, I have and will continue to support increases in military wages, Veterans Administration disability compensation, and Survivor Benefit Plan payments. Rest assured I will keep your thoughts in mind as I continue to fight for full benefits for our nation's veterans and servicemembers.

Again, thank you for sharing your views. Your opinion matters to me. If I can be of service to you in any other way, please do not hesitate to let me know. As a security precaution, all mail sent to Congress is first irradiated. This process causes significant delays. To ensure the fastest response, I encourage all constituents who have access to the internet to contact me through my website at http://tammybaldwin.house.gov/.

Sincerely,

Tammy Baldwin
Member of Congress
........

Credit where credit is due...

Ed on the half dole

2011-11-30T16:46:00.001-05:00

Ed and Claudia (Door into Summer) returned late last evening. We adjourned to the bar at the New Bern Hilton. George, the food and beverage manager has done a great job of cutting the prices from "Hilton Hotel" to "very competitive with the local market - in fact a great deal! - GO GEORGE!" so we hung out waiting for midnight when Ed would officially be retired from FedEx (aka Federal Express.) Since Ed is a pilot official retirement is at age 60. This also is when retired reserve military personnel become eligible for retirement pay (but not the semi-decent health care. They only get the pretty awful health care until age 65, then the semi-decent care.) So we applaud the fact that Ed is now on the half dole - military retirement and awful health care from the government! At least until the idiots in Washington try to take away military retirement because "it costs too much." Thanks John McCain - but then you have managed to be a millionaire so you really don't care, do you.

The down side is that Ed never got to take his "final flight." Usually when a pilot retires they have a ceremony at the gate when he rolls in the last time. The airport fire trucks spray water in an arch over the plane and so forth. Of course Ed wanted to make sure that he was healthy before losing his semi-excellent FedEx medical insurance and going the the more-than-semi-shitty military health care. You guessed it - Ed had been complaining about pain in his knee - snap - microsurgery. For some reason FedEx thinks that pilots need both legs working to fly so he was put on medical leave for the last couple of days of his career.

The plan is for Door into Summer and Reboot to head out at the next weather window for Florida. The weather here is quite cold - 30's at night and 50's in the day - so we would like to get things wrapped up and head for slightly warmer climes. Also we are looking forward to seeing Bill (KI4MMZ) in Flagler Beach. You may remember that Bill is our voice on shore radio link when we travel offshore. We have a couple of days of projects and then we will be looking for a weather window.

Fair winds and following seas.

Thanksgiving and Flying

2011-11-29T22:18:00.000-05:00

One problem with blogging is that one does not want to disclose one's location if it leaves one's property exposed. (That sure was a lot of "one's.") In the instant case I have been in Chicago recovering from heart surgery while Reboot is in North Carolina. That is, I was in Chicago. The problem of course is exposing the fact that Reboot, although locked and alarmed, does not have someone on board all of the time. It seems to me to be an invitation to theft.

I had originally planned to visit Trevor and Spencer for Thanksgiving. For the past three years they have prepared Thanksgiving Dinner for themselves. Since they only cook one day per year the first two years were quite the events. Having heard such great stories I decided that I had to attend this year's festivities. When I made the decision to fly up at the beginning of November to have my heart checked out I expected that I would be long gone before Thanksgiving. Little did I know that I was moving onto Trevor's couch for the month of November.

Thanksgiving was great. I was sticker shocked by the cost of a turkey. Some of this may have been that all the small ones had been purchased so we ended up paying $50 for our turkey. Since there were only three of us we limited the sides - nothing green - no shrimp or cheese platter before hand. This was actually pretty good since the cardiologist has reinforced keeping a healthy diet. The boys did all the cooking and - would you believe - it all came out at the same time! Wow - I don't know that I could have done that but they did.

I brought XO with me as I didn't know how long I was going to be in Chicago. Since the airlines now charge $200 per round trip for him on top of my fare and I have to return to Chicago a couple of times over the next couple of months XO is now staying with Trevor. What a rip off. $100 per trip, the animal is your carry on baggage - that is it counts for your carry on bag so most people then have to pay to check the bag that would be their carry on bag. I could understand a charge if the animal was traveling as baggage but they are in a carrier under your feet (and for me there is no legroom anyway.) What a massive rip off. XO is at least happy. With Spencer here for Thanksgiving he had three grown men (and Baiyu) holding him, petting him and playing with him all day and most of the night. He is quite content.

I will be meeting up with Claudia and Ed (Door into Summer) and we will start heading South in the next few days.

Fair winds and following seas.

Surprise Visit

2011-11-15T19:49:00.001-05:00

It all started with an abnormal EKG.

How to scare the hell out of yourself. Go in to the hospital for a heart catheterization, have the cardiologist tell you that he almost called in the cardiothoraic surgeon. That is the guy (girl) that opens your chest up with a can opener to work on your heart. And yes, one of the arteries that was badly blocked is know in the trade as the "widow maker." The good news is that I don't have anyone to leave a widow (though I am shopping!) but I have two sons I don't want to stop enjoying. I guess not painting the bottom of Reboot by myself was a good move. I will stay in Chicago/Madison/Milwaukee for a couple of more weeks to heal, the down to pick up Reboot and head for Key West.

Fair winds and following seas

On the dole

2011-11-11T20:15:00.001-05:00

Today is my 65th birthday so I am officially on the government dole - Social Security and Medicare. Work hard all you young people to keep my life funded. LOL

Fair winds and following seas.

Remember, remember the 5th of November

2011-11-05T10:23:00.000-04:00

Tonight Trevor and I will watch V for Vendetta for Guy Fawkes day.

Cruiser's Health

2011-11-04T18:12:00.002-04:00

One unfortunate fact about many cruisers is that we are old - most of us have worked a career and raised our families and then upon retirement moved on to our boats. This means that like many "old people" health issues tend to muck up our plans.

After returning Reboot to the New Bern Grand Marina XO and I flew up to Chicago to visit Trevor and Spencer and for me to sort out some problems I have been having, in particular a irregular EKG, a very deep cough, and minor chest pain. The long and short of the story is that I am now on antibiotics for the chest cough, have had another irregular EKG, and am scheduled for a stress test and a follow up visit with my internist next week. My plan is to stay here until I get this all sorted out and then return to transit Reboot to Florida - probably Key West for a while this winter.

The good news: XO is having a great time running all over Trevor's apartment. It is a much larger space than Reboot. He also fooled both of us in finding a toy mouse that we had purchased for him to play with when I was up for Spencer's graduation in the late Spring. Trevor and I also took in Puss in Boots. It was fun but not as much as Shrek.

Bock Marine #5

2011-11-04T18:03:00.001-04:00

Reboot's "availability" in the yard is over. She spent a night in the slings so that the bottom of the keel could be painted with Interlux Micron 66 and it had time to dry before launch. We put her back in the water and I left in the mid-morning to take advantage of a favorable current up Adams Creek. Reboot is back at the New Bern Grand Marina in New Bern.

One of the most frequently asked questions on cruising web sites is the cost of cruising. This "availability" cost about $4,500 US. The breakdown was:

$500 Haul, power wash, block on jack stands, daily rent, re-launch.
$2,500 Clean, and sand the bottom down to the barrier coat, apply two coats of Interlux Micron 66. This could have been much cheaper if (a) I had used a much less expensive bottom paint and/or (b) I had done most of the work myself rather than letting the yard do it. More on that decision below.
$500 Repair several gouges in the external fiberglass. I was going to do this work myself. I am glad that I contracted it out. It is very easy to fill the holes and scrapes. What is hard (and beyond my skill level) is to finish the surface so that it looks like there was no damage in the first place.
$500 Build a protective enclosure around the autopilot steering ram. I have been hesitant to put much in the stern lockers for fear that something would shift and jam the steering ram. The enclosure will make it possible to store a lot more stuff in the stern lockers.
$500 Remove the fixed prop, clean, lubricate, and install the Max-prop.

I have rounded all of these numbers. They include the costs of materials and labor. We did some other minor things the cost for which I just added to the above.

I decided to let the yard do almost all of the work. My decision was based in the fact that I was having terrible bronchitis and was concerned about chest pain. I did not want to over strain myself and end up having a heart attack. If I had contributed "sweat equity" my guess is the cost would have been about $3,000, the high cost almost entirely driven by the cost of the Interlux Micron 66. This stuff better work real well!

Fair winds and following seas.

Bock Marine #4

2011-10-25T08:44:00.001-04:00

Yesterday was repair the leaking fixed window day. Reboot has three fixed Lewmar windows about two feet above the water line. One of them has been leaking while underway. The particular location of these windows means that they are frequently assaulted by passing waves. I have not wanted to work on the window with Reboot in the water for fear of dropping parts into the drink. I have been working on unfreezing the screws that hold the windows in place and finally got the last frozen screw to release. As I started to take the window out I was greeted with a randy smell. When I popped the window out from the outside I got a small cascade of very dirty and smelly water.

I let everything dry out. The hull is sealed with epoxy so there was not water infusion into the hull The design of the window is terrible. The lip is only about 1/2 inch and the hole is not perfectly cut. This makes positioning the window back into the hole critical.

I have heard from several people that butyl rubber tape is a better sealant that silicone. Ed, one of the other cruisers in the yard game me some tape and I sealed everything up. The tape is more like a putty but comes in a roll. You can form around the edge of whatever you are trying to seal. We will see how it does.