Shocking.................!

A few weeks ago, Tana and myself attended a bar b que/ family get together with her mom and dad and a couple of  brothers who are local. Now her brothers are interesting guys. They are accomplished professional musicians, ex-outlaw bikers, drop outs, philosophers, survivalists, critics of all that capitalists hold near and dear and gun toting, open commentators of just about everything; they are the kinda guys you want on your side in the event of a ZOMBIE WAR or a RED DAWN situation; aside from this, they are all around tolerable sorts. OH!!, I forgot to mention they are also professional electricians.......this is where serendipity enters the picture..........

It just so happens that Zosha needs some new electrical circuits and some old ones rewired. Well, what do we Pavlov type-trained sailors do when we need some MARINIZED STUFF ?? We go to West Marine.....oh oh....hold it a minute....my wallet is twitching and gyrating ....it always does this when I mention the.....WM word.......OK.....we can continue now.....
Not being an accomplished electrician nor knowledgeable about the secrets that they hold so close like Masonic Rituals.....and after a coupla Busch Lights and a chicken wing or two, I asked these guys...."is there any difference between AC and DC wire? For you guys out there that know the answer to this.....all I can say is ...."gimmie a break, I didn't know" Well, I expected to be laughed off by these guys with that rolling eyes dumb ass look that the possessors of proprietary knowledge reserve for the uninitiated but these guys are pretty cool and just  retorted in unison....
"S__ __ T no dude....wire is wire" ......My point is coming.....hang in there readers......

At this point I explained what I needed to rewire on Zosha and that the jobs would take about 100' of duplex wire that West Marine.....oh oh, that twitching in my back pocket again..... sells 100 foot spools for $109.99 FOR 12GA duplex or $74.99 for 14GA Duplex or $159.99 for 12GA Triplex or $109.99 for 14GA Triplex

 

Triplex above sold be WM-Duplex below-

 As soon as they found out that these were 12 volt, low amp circuits, they informed me that "S__ __ T  Dude you could use speaker wire for those circuits" .......running lights, foredeck, steaming, anchor, and spreader lights. Speaker wire!!! "Yeah dude...that will work fine" 12 Gauge speaker wire is 24 cents/ft, 14 Gauge wire is 12 cents/ft.   Mmmmm very interesting...... I thought.....I've just been let in to the foyer of secret electrician stuff" ......

"The point is coming.....don't bail on me now" .............

After reflecting on this a while, my thinking was that the exterior covering of speaker wire might not be robust enough to endure the physical punishment inherent in the aforementioned applications like banging around inside the mast.   Mmmmmm....what to do?? .....It came to me in a dream.....the one right before Tana dressed up in a CHER costume and the other one of me winning an Oyster 65 at the Annapolis Boat Show.

OUTDOOR EXTENSION CORD!!!!!! A 100 foot triplex 14 gauge outdoor extension cord is $39.99 at Harbor Freight, 12GA is $64.99.....if you can get past the orange color, you have just saved a ton of money on wire......The longest extension cord  that I have found to date is 100'....  the14 GA is more than adequate wire size for most 12 volt low amp draw applications . On larger boats with longer wire runs, 12GA will work.  Directly below is 100" of Harbor Freight 12GA.........under that 100" 14GA......

Home Depot has 100 foot 14GA outdoor extension cords for $39.97 and 12 GA for $69.97...........    14GA below......

12 GA above...................

 



As a dyed in the wool capitalist and card carrying pro-business advocate, I believe all entrepreneurial ventures are entitled to make a profit. The issue with me is when does a respectable and ethical profit morph into a price that no reasonable man will tolerate and force oneself into searching for righteous substitutes? I have no vendetta against West Marine....."be still my beating wallet"......they are just so darned high for so many things that I've reached the point that in all good conscious I must search out ways to circumvent the need to spend my money there. You all know that sometimes WM is the only option. After all it is a specialty marine products company. "OK OK, enough rant dude" you must be thinking......



Until next time.....take care my friends and peace to you all....

Westsail 28 Tour #2- The Head

Hello all- In this visit to ZOSHA our Westsail 28 we are going to take a look at the head which is on the starboard side directly aft of the main
V-berth bulkhead........

 

Take a look..........................................................

 

Plenty of storage.....large bin next to sink and two cabinets on hull bulkhead.....

 

The big white thing in the left corner of the cabinet is the pump out house for the holding tank. Notice those wonderful, no longer manufactured, ABI solid Bronze ports.....this is a six inch diameter with screen...... also notice the AC outlet.......

 

The "takin' care of business" fixture.....this is a new install.....so far #1 only!

Good shot of the SS sink and Finnspray hand pump.....Westsail used only the top of the line components.....look at that 35 year old SS sink.....NO rust,  No discoloration......even the formica is in perfect shape like the day it was installed......!

My wrinkle checker.....look into it every day to see if I still recognize myself.....sometimes I swear it's my grandpa looking back at me ! Oh well, you know what John Barrymore said don't you? ..."you know you're getting old when your dreams become regrets" I'm not there yet.....got plenty of dreams left.....and I know you do too....!!! Notice the 35 year old overhead reflected in the mirror......it's perfect and the wonderful no longer manufactured ABI DC light.....

Some W28 owners install a shower in here.....the grate sits over a sump that has a drain into the bilge.....a shower in here would work for Tana because she is a diminutive 5'1" GODDESS that could maneuver in here easily.....Now myself, I am 5'11" , 200 plus pounds of solid barley, malt, and hops and the shower probably wouldn't work for me...The teak plywood and trim throughout the boat is magnificent and still perfect.....a shower in here would probably mess that up...so, for us, no shower....we'll use a marina shower when available and a sun shower at anchor or just run around skanky.....

Another classy Westsail touch.....bronze hooks for hanging stuff on the head bulkhead......

We lose alot of storage under the sink to the necessary pumps and plumbing that is used to move the head waste around...ZOSHA'S head system accommodates direct overboard discharge and/or discharge into a 13 gallon holding tank which has yet to be used that can then be pumped overboard or offloaded at a pump out facility through a deck fitting.

The only modification we would make is to put a fan in here.....a Cafarmo 757

 

Well, that's it guys.....ZOSHAS head.....we think it's pretty cool for a 28 foot boat.....you'all take care and I'll have the next tour up and running in a few days....it will be the settee/ dinette area......

Peace to you all......

 

 

 

Westsail 28 Tour #1- V-Berth

The other day when the gentle Texas Gulf Coast sun was boiling my gray matter to mush and the SE zephyr was wafting  refreshing 100 degree sticky wet breeze about my lean muscular bod, it suddenly came to me.... in a flash! .......!!
The Westsails specially the W32 and W28 are cult boats. Love em, hate em, or somewhere in between, most sailors have an opinion about these boats. Many of these opinions are very complementary to we Westsail owners....some are hurtful and some are down right insulting.
My boat is the smaller one, the Westsail 28. There were only about 60 of these boats made. Many sailors don't even know that Westsail manufactured a 28 footer. The most well known Westsail is the W32 which had a production run of about 800 boats. Since the smaller W28 is so relatively rare, it dawned on me that maybe you guys would like a tour of the boat? See whats its really like down in the little one. There are tours of the big boy, aka W32, all over the Internet.
Now, there is rhyme to my reason for this invitation! It's time for the annual get down, full on, no holds barred, take all the crap off cleaning of the interior so what better time to take pics and post them......when ZOSHA can put her best foot forward.
Each post will focus on one aspect of the boat starting at the bow and each section will have a commentary gleaned from our experiences indicating the benefits and shortcomings of that particular section. We will also comment on what we have planned to make that section of the boat better and more accommodating......hope you enjoy what we have to say.

Zosha is a 1978 factory finished boat....this layout plan is the of the standard W28 factory interior....

V-BERTH and ANCHOR LOCKER

The anchor locker is fairly large and can hold alot of chain and rode...this picture shows 50 feet of 5/16 chain and 150 feet of 5/8 " rode....the shortcoming here is there is no way to put two separate anchor-chain-rode systems in the locker without them getting all tangled up....One solution is to glass in a bulkhead to separate the locker into two halves.... port and starboard chain pipes are already installed in the deck.......my other brilliant? idea which is also immensely less work is to lay the heavy duty, storm chain and rode system, 50 feet of 3/8" chain and 200 feet 5/8" rode, in the bottom of the locker and then put a 5 gallon plastic bucket or maybe a milk crate on top of this......and use this setup as the every day anchoring system, 75' of 5/16" chain and 150' of 5/8" line......I'll probably go with the plastic bucket idea first because it might work and is immensely less troublesome to implement........One day when there is nothing much to do, a couple of coats of paint will be applied to the inside of the locker....its kinda gnarly looking in there...

Good shot of the v-berth with cushions out...there are port and starboard storage shelves with led lights underneath. The berth is about 6 feet wide at the head and, as you can see, it gets quite narrow at the foot....its about 6.5 feet long so its very comfortable for two people....

 

 Big hatch over the berth.....the green is an awning over the hatch and foredeck to shade it and try to catch a breeze to cool the area down....this will work when its not 105 degrees with 97% humidity....like today!!!

 

Nice 4 drawer system in v-berth area...

 

Starboard side of berth area.....notice large storage bin access underneath....these bins are P/S....

 

13 gallon holding tank under v-berth .....this tank is on center line and has alot of storage all around it.....if you look closely, you'll notice that the tank is held securely in its own bulk headed compartment.....Westsail did it right!! 

Cushions in place......

This is a very comfortable v-berth.....if its not too hot and with the port covers on and a black out curtain on the hatch and a cool breeze blowing through the boat.....this berth is heaven!! You don't just sleep in here...you hibernate!!! It can be dangerous though....why? you ponder......because you're so snug in this cool envelope of darkness that you forget time...you can't tell if its day or night....Westsail built thick hulls! that coupled with all the teak on the interior and the 5/8" plywood deck core covered inside and out with layers of fiberglass mat and roving makes for a an interior that is somewhat impervious to ambient outside noise,  its quiet in there.....so ....the v-berth is large, dark, cool, comfortable, and quiet !! What more can man or beast ask for in a sleeping den?

 

The only 2 modifications that we would make to the v-berth area is to add 2 more DC fans.....I've given the 'wet finger test' to just about all of the marine and RV DC fans and have decided to purchase the Carfamo 757..... They are $60 at West Marine but you can get them on Amazon for $39. They are 2 speed and draw 1/2 amp......

 

The blades are finger safe and these babies  MOVE some air!!!!

In my opinion.....a lot more air than the revered HELLA that's in there now

 

Here's a shot of the HELLA fan that , no matter how valiantly it tries,  just doesn't put out enough air....

The little art piece underneath is a Dia de los Muertos infant angel that I bought in Mexico City a number of years ago.....it brings us good luck...!

 

The only other change that we want to make in the v-berth area is to change out the overhead lights to LED......the old, wonderful, beautiful, no longer manufactured ABI lights put out too much heat and draw too much power.

I forgot to take a photo of the ABI lights but my plan is to devote another blog to their conversion to LED.....so you guys will get plenty of shots of these classic boat lights..........

Well, our job here is now done. Hope you enjoyed the blog.

 ....Peace to you all and to us all in this world that has gone a bit askew of late....

Take care my friends....

 

 

 

"Summertime" and the livin' is .........SWEATY!!..........

Its summer on the Gulf Coast of Texas.....100+ degrees and 90+ percent humidity with daily intermittent rain showers that bring more heat and steamy wetness.....AAHHHH.....Paradise !! For mold, mildew, fungus, stinky green stuff, fetid air and gargantuan mosquito's, no seeums, and roaches the size of Almond Joy bars!! For most normal human beings this is... The Living Pit Of Hades!!!!!.....  You can't get anything done outside on the boat except squirt it down with the hose when not dousing yourself down with the semi-clear tepid marina water.  My decks are ready for painting but my epoxy paint is temperature sensitive....90 degrees max......well, its 90 degrees at 9am and 100+ shortly thereafter. Being a vintage adult, I can't take the heat like in my youth. About now you're probably thinking...."enuf whining dude.... man up and get to the point."  Ok-Ok-Ok...................
Some of the fancier boats on my dock have thermostatically controlled air conditioning and humidifying systems that automatically come on and off when the temps and water vapor dictate. For all I know they are Internet controlled by apps on I-phones or Samsung galaxy's or some other wonderful Android device which I don't have....the owners can be at home or traveling the world and sleep sound because they know that their boats are comfortable and not suffering in this climatic misery. All I know is that after over a year on this dock some of these guys never or hardly ever come down to their boats but  their climate control systems click on and off like magic whenever the weather gods get spunky.  Oh technology,  is it not wonderful?  Its amazing what you can buy for $10,000......or  $20,000 as the guy 2 boats down told me he spent!!. 
Me? Well, as some of you have heard before, being sparse of purse, I put up the awning, open the ports and hatches, turn on my extremely powerful DC fans and go down below and sweat like a Turkish weightlifter!......all the while feeling guilty because nothing is getting done on my neglected ZOSHA!

 

K-Dock- been here about 1.5 years-the blue building to the immediate right is the head and showers....

 

Climate control at work for an absentee skipper......Tayana 42

 

A big Hunter 47- never have seen this guy in a year and a half...ever ! His climate control systems works flawlessly though.....so far!

 

A really nice Passport 41- this guy comes down every few weeks....

 



A beautiful Hanse 37....to his credit this skipper comes down every weekend and spends alot of time taking care of this boat....his climate control system works great all week....I walk by this boat every day and can only imagine on the hottest, miserable days how comfortable it is down below....!

 

A magnificent center cockpit Catalina/Morgan 50....this boat is right across the finger pier from me...the owner comes around every month or so...all the while his climate control system is doing battle with the local elements and winning.....!

 

 Now to ZOSHA.........

 

 

Zosha's climate control system..... 

 

 

You can feel the cool breeze blowing through now....can't you??

 

Take care my friends....seeya all in the Caribe one day....that's a promise....