Author Archives: bob

The Dreaded Diesel Inspection

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Ah, well.  Nothing in life’s free as they say.  In this case, we had our diesel “full maintenance session” the other day.  Four hours of work, and the good news is that everything’s now up to date.  “Bill the diesel guy” with me (Bob) watching over his shoulder, did the full maintenance.  Changed the water cooling impeller (the old one was failing-one vane was ready to come off), adjusted the valves (whatever that does), new alternator belt, put on new oil and fuel filters, changed the oil and cleaned the Racor (primary fuel) filter which was very dirty.  Probably hadn’t been cleaned in several years.  So nice to get all up to date.  The bad news: a lot of stuff that needs to be done: new aft engine mounts, new air cooler, new oil cooler.  All have significant corrosion issues.  Couple of boat dollars’ worth.  Ah well, that’s boat ownership.  I used to think flying and maintaining my own airplane was time consuming and expensive.  Not even close!At least I learned some stuff:

  • How to bleed the fuel line (although Yanmar has a very clever hand fuel pump that helps to fill the line when you change the filter)
  • Where all the stuff that breaks is
  • How to bleed the line  by loosening the injectors 

I also found out that probably the boat is “over propped”.  The engine power curve wants to power the boat at 2800 RPM.  However, with the prop we have on, the engine wants to run at more like 2100 RPM.  Too big a propeller means the engine is lugging.  Like driving around town at 30 MPH in 5th gear.  We’re going to have to do some testing while under way to find out for sure, but seems likely we’ll be looking at a new prop as well. Another boat dollar for sure. But, that’s what ownership is all about. Tweaking the boat to get it exactly where it (she) and we are enjoying ourselves to the max!  

Shana On Top Of The World

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Preparing for a trip to the Farallon Islands, which is a 30 mile open ocean sail, we wanted to make sure all the navigation lights were working in case of the need for nightime operations. Alas, the masthead light was out, so the only solution? Shana up the mast in the bosun’s chair. 57feet is a long way when you’re sitting in a canvas seat. Once she got up there, she found the problem pretty quickly…there was no bulb.  So back down and a quick trip to Svendsen’s and back up the mast with the new bulb and success! Now the lights work AND we have some pictures of Shana and Charisma from a great new angle. The finale of the day was a nice dinner on board with Jon and  Heather.                                                                                                         mast-top.jpg   view-below.jpgDinner on the boat

Shanti Sighting!

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Our friend Shanti105_0558_r1_1.jpg105_0559_r1_1.jpg

While we were cruising about, we thought we saw Shanti come out the G8, but what was up with all of the extra (and wrong) numbers on the Main????  It was great to see Shanti and crew, but it would have been better if we were all on the same boat.  🙂

Sunday Sailing with Tom and Marily

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  We took Charisma out for a little stroll out the Gate on Sunday.  Light northerly winds kept us warm until late afternoon when the chilly westerlies took over.   Tom took the helm, Marily worked the traveller (and lunch!), Shana worked the jib sheets, and Bob pointed us in the proper direction (go that way!).                                                                                                                                                                                      105_0541_11.jpg  105_0548_1.jpg  Our secret weapon - the Grampinator

We’ve Gone Dinghy!

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Sure, but y’all already knew that . . .We bought a dinghy for Charisma! – an Achillles LSI-10. We wanted something stowable but functional. It takes about 15 minutes to pump it up – but with practice, maybe we can speed it up a bit.Specs:Beam 5′ 2″Weight 77 LbsCapacity: 4 Persons or 1250 LbsTube Diameter 17″ (Separate Air Chambers 3 + Floor + Air Keel)Stowed Dimensions 3′ 9″ x 1′ 11″ x 1′ 4. It is a 10’4″We have yet to test out the dinghy motor that is flying off the stern of Charisma. Should be fun? I am thinking that Heather needs to be involved with all things dinghy. 🙂                                                          Dingy                                                                                                                                                              UPDATE: FROM CHANNEL ISLANDS VOYAGE, MAY, 2008.  The dinghy was awesome.  Check it out.  We used it to explore sea caves, go ashore, set the stern anchor and it towed fantastically, even with the engine on.                                                                                                The Dinghy  

Fleet Week

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After 2 days of watching the Blue Angels practice outside my office window (niiiice), we took Charisma over to Quarry Point and set anchor – it set the first time.  Although the Island blocked some of the show, it also blocked the wind and the boat traffic.  We were one of the few boats in the area and enjoyed quite  a show and the Blue Angels even flew right overhead.   Of course, neither of us brought a camera this time.

In the Beginning . . .

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 My parents gave me sailing lessons for my twelfth birthday. I went nuts for sailing and after building my own sailboat when I was 14, (an El Toro), sailing my Flying Junior all over the Bay in my teens, international racing on Star Boats and other larger yachts in my twenties I stopped sailing for a “rest”.  I always knew I’d take it up again, just didn’t know when.   My love of sailing re-awakened in 2006 with a Bareboat Charter with friends Jon and Heather to British Virgin Islands.This trip got me thinking that this sailing in the tropics stuff is pretty cool. After coming back I looked around a bit at some boats and decided that the time wasn’t quite right, besides I was having a lot of fun flying to Baja and other places in my airplane.  But Jon and Heather continued in a subversive manner to re-infect me with the sailing bug. They bought their own boat, Shanti, and got me to go to the Grenadines (Caribbean) again in 2007. teamandiamo …and the final straw… Jon convinced me to sail on his boat to Hawaii in the Transpac!bobtranspac.jpgtranspac.jpg Finishing off Diamond Head, Honolulu the-finish.jpg The damage was done. I had to have a boat and sail away to the South Seas.  So, one day while reading Lattitude 38, I saw a Tayana 37 in Alameda for sale.  On a whim, I went to see the boat and immediately fell in love with it and we’re now up to the present (Sept, 2007).                                                      view-aftview-forwardupwind.jpgThis blog, this adventure is born. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I’m enjoying living it. The plan: South Pacific-bound  Around 2011 or so. Stay tuned and see how close (or far off) the estimate is.