Bimini - re-sewing the stitching while house sitting - 2015

 

We took our bimini off and are (Debbie) is re-sewing some of the stitching and repairing a patch.

Varnishing stateroom - around drawers, drawers, louvered doors ets - 2015

End of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico

The prepping of the area around the drawers in the storeroom. The prepping is not easy at times and it is summer so it is HOT. Cold put on the AC but we are in and out so much while working it is a pain to open and close thongs up. Wa Wa

Lewmar H3 anchor windless back from Machine shop 2015

End of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
As you can see we cleaned up the anchor locker and painted out the space for the Lewmar H3 anchor windless before we re-install it.
Also we did the same for the windless. We used bilge paint as it was a good match for the color of the windless and the only white paint we have, I think :)

Kato Marine Island Davit electric lift motor wiring 6 of 7 - 2015

End of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
Debbie installed this 30 amp breaker switch along with the other winch wiring.

Varnishing salon area, mirror and storeroom shelf etc - 2015

End of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico

Here you see the section of the galley peninsula on the salon side we have done in satin...three coats.

La Cruz Mid-summer Swap Meet, roller blades a no sell - 2015

End of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico

We are selling our roller blades. Yes, the time has come. A local taking a test drive. Debbie's size 8's will sell but my size 11's may never sell as the shoe sizes here generally do not go over maybe 10.  

Dingy davit block loops welded on for a place to clip dingy blocks when leaving boat - 2 of 2 - 2015

Middle of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
Back from the Machine shop. We sized the top cap so the supports fit tight into the brackets and set the set screw and marked them up for the U brackets. 

Kato Marine Island Davit electric lift motor wiring 4 of 7 - 2015

Middle of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
The instruction.
We added a switch, a 30 breaker switch. Just to make sure the winch would not take off on it's own and rip the transom out of the dingy.

Kato Marine Island Davit electric lift motor wiring 5 of 7 - 2015

Beginning of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
We have completed all the wiring (Debbie did) on the davit winch. 

Davit electric lift motor - Amsteel gray Sampson line purchased - 2015

Middle of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico


 This line has the same breaking strength as the winch, 2500 lbs. 

House sitting, Boat cleaning, Sorting lines and thinning them out - 2015

Beginning of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
We narrowed these four bags down to about one and a half bags.
 We decided to go through our four bags of lines and get rid of as many as we could. We have way too many.

Machine shop for Lewmar H3 anchor windless - 2015

Beginning of August 2015 -At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico 
We disconnected the windlass from the house batteries and then from the breaker.

House sitting 12 chickens, Debbie in the chicken coop - 2015

Middle of August 2015 - s\v Elegant'sea is at private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico


Now who woulda thought that Debbie would be carrying a bucket of swill out to the chicken coop, rounding up the birds for the night...but hey, we get cage free eggs! We are supposedly cruisers in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico!

Got another positive buss finally wired up for the house batteries! - 2015

Beginning of August 2015 -At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
We opened up the house batteries (four 6-volt Master Volt Marine battery) so we could disconnect the Lewmar H3 windless power before disconnecting the H3 from the breaker.

House sitting in Nuevo Vallarta - This is how we roll now! - 2014

Beginning of August 2015 - s\v Elegant'sea is at private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico as we are house sitting there
 This is how we roll now for the summer. Our house sitting gig allows us the use of a newer Toyota Tacoma PU with great AC! Our old Ford KA better (with NO AC) sits languishing for the summer.

A view of s\v Elegant,sea from Jacuzzi at Nuevo Vallarta house sit - 2015

Beginning of August 2015 -At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
Sitting here in the Jacuzzi looking out over s\v Elegant'sea  just enjoying life. Things can be really good when they are good and not so bad when they are bad. Live in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico while house sitting the palace.

Fresh water rinsing for anchor washdown and HVAC etc. - 2015

Beginning of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico

 Debbie and I just installed our fresh water flush for our anchor chain wash down and our Mermaid Marine Air 5200 btu HVAC unit.

Finished washing and marked up the anchor rode

Beginning of August 2015 - At private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico

Hot day and most of it spent on anchor rode.
Debbie mad a couple custom markers because the ones we bought went to 270' and we have 375' of rone.
 The material we got from the dumpster, or it was on it's way. It was by a trash can. The material was covering a bladder that was not any good. We stripped the material from the bladder and are using some of it to make a new dinghy seat cushion with foam we got from to old live vests that came with our used kayak.
 New BBB Acco chain, made in with our washed up 8 plat Lewmar line and all marked up and ready to go cruising again!
In the chain locker and ready to go. We did not connect it to the 45 lb CQR as this way is stays dry and protected from rust, and dampness for hurricane season. 
 Acco chain is made by Peerless Chain in Winona, Minnesota USA
This does pile a little high so it might stalagmite up under the windliness when retrieving it. This would make the chain start kicking it's self out of the gypsy. If so we will remove the emergency rode form underneath this one and store it in the bilge.

Washing down our anchor rode 2015

Beginning of August 2015 - Currently in Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay Mexico
Here is our new 125' of Acco chain 3\8 BBB spliced to our 8 plat line. 
But we have not measured it yet so we will see if it is 125' for sure :) The new chain  Jorge at the SYS chandlery at Paradise Village Marina in Banderas Bay brought down from San Diego for us, we purchased it from Jorge.

Garmin Drive A unit installed corectly 2015

End of July 2015 - t private slip in Nuevo Vallarta in Banderas Bay, Mexico
 Picture of the rudder stops and Garmin Drive A unit attached to the quadrant.
My question is:
Is there room for improvement on this installation?

Should we try attaching the drive A unit to the outside of the rudder stop on the quadrant?  Say we weld an extension on the SS bracket that is holding the rudder stop onto the quadrant and attach the Drive A unit there? It may not work as it could hit the rudder stop attached to the quadrant. But if it did work it may have more leverage? There is no room for a rudder arm. Or would this make any difference. 

From Garmin support:

"Thank you for contacting Garmin International.  I'd be more than happy to help you with the installation of your steer-by-wire system.  As far as myself and others on my team can see, there is no issue with the installation of your system, nor is there anything else that should be done differently."

 This is good news and gives us peace of mind.