Glow Party Sleepover

My daughter has been anxious for the first sleepover on the boat with a friend, so last Saturday she got her wish. It's winter, and in the Bay Area that still means mostly great weather...but no wind. So we camped out at the dock. 

Which turned out to be a good starter overnighter for me, too, because I learned a couple things. Firstly, our shore power is great, but not for too much at once. It appears we have 20 amps from the house where the dock is, and you can't hope to run a space heater and quick heat water kettle at the same time. After blowing a circuit a couple times and tracing back to two different spots (one at the house and one at the outlet for the extension cable), I know what's what. 

Luckily we brought aboard dinner--pizza and wings--so no power was needed to just eat.

The girls brought a pack of glow bendies for an instant glow party. Again no power needed. Not even an iPad battery was used! Check out the photo if you're not sure what the glow bendies are. 

I also learned that trudging all my camping gear over from the shed at my house to the boat at a different house's dock isn't all that fun. So for $50 or so, I got sleeping bags that can stay aboard Hideaway. And I brought some extra clothes, too. 

I tested the propane grill on the aft transom and it's working but needed a grate, so we got a new one at the hardware store. Thought I'd heat water on that, but the idea of going outside on a chilly morning isn't as nice as staying warm in the cabin. But down there we have an alcohol pressure stove and oven, which frankly intimidates the hell out of me, so I haven't yet tried it. After talking with a few people they all sound confident that we can safely use a small butane canister burner down there (with some hatches open for ventilation) so I have one of those aboard now, too. 

Sleeping on the new cushions turned out good, so that was a little reinforcement of the benefit of that investment in Nov, too. The girls fell asleep at 9, and were up at 5:15 (maybe it was the crew teams going by), but that's cool since I never sleep past 5 or so anyway.  

A good first overnighter. Now I cannot wait to shove off and do this for real somewhere else. 

Proper Dive

Finally, I was able to coordinate with the local recommended diver. This guy is cool. Free dives for all of the services he offers. It means he's a lot quicker and nimble getting right to work when he arrives. So he was in the water and getting the old nut off the prop shaft then the old prop off in no time at all. While our family--including our new pup Ginger--watched from the dock. 

But then we learned that the old prop shaft key would not work in the new Campbell Sailor prop. So the diver went two docks down to do a cleaning on a neighbor's boat while my kid and I visited many marine shops and one great hardware store looking for a 3/16" square bronze key. 

No luck at any of those stops, so we got a file out and clamped the existing key into a locking pliers and then in a jeweler's vice, and went to work. The trick was not to remove enough material and keep it as close to square as possible. A couple hours later, the diver was back and the new, old key worked. 

Didn't get out on the boat yesterday but may do that today. I was able to get the puppy on the boat for the first time while I puttered around. She slept soundly the whole time. Must've been wiped out from all the excitement of the day. 

Then my wife joined me aboard for an evening nightcap. We got to test the wine that comes in stacked cups and it was pretty good. I also tested out the mood lighting of the old oil lamp on board.

All in all a great day, and we never left the dock. Boat ownership is fun even when we're not sailing. 

Winter doldrums and spirits lifted with a new crew member

The Winter isn't really playing along very well. Rain storms a couple weeks ago brought lots of wind. Too much. But then when it isn't storming it hasn't been windy. Except for Christmas and then again on New Year's Eve, which were already busy with other activities. I put a large tarp over the boat and have at least had the excuse to be on the boat a couple times over the holiday break to reattach bungees (some new, stronger ones) since the wind ripped out a few grommets and shredded the cheapo bungees. 

Well, what do you do when you can't sail? 

You buy sailing gear, or better yet receive it as gifts. My wife got me a great Gill foul weather jacket. Nice enough that I can see it being my preferred rain jacket in general. Also got a West Marine gift cert so will do some boot shopping later today. 

What else do you do? 

You expand your crew. Which we did on the 12/29. On the way home from a friend's place in Tahoe, we took at 4 hour detour up North to Red Bluff and visited an amazing Lab breeder, Top Dog Retrievers. They do trained hunting dogs, drug dogs, and service dogs. Our little girl is 16 weeks, had some starter training, and is a very chill pup. She can't really be around other dogs or environments just yet until the Parvo shots take hold. Can't wait to get her onto the boat and acclimatized. In the meantime, here is a photo and video.