How Much Is There?

This post originally appeared on Windborne in Puget Sound

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I recently did a post which talked about establishing what the right amount of glycol in a holding plate solution was.  Well, OK, now that we know what we want to have in there, how do we determine what we actually have?  I suppose one possibility would be to simply empty the holding plate and refill it with a solution of known concentration, one that we just made up by careful measuring.  Yeah, that would work.

But what if we just want to add a little water or glycol to what we already have?  For that we would need to be able to measure the concentration in the solution. 

Hand-held refractometer

This is the tool for that:  It is a refractometer - it measures the refractive index of a liquid.

What is that?

All transparent substances slow the passage of light thru them somewhat - some more than others.  The refractive index is the ratio of the speed of light in a vacuum compared to the speed of light in the transparent substance.  So, if I tell you that the refractive index of a particular glass is 1.33, that means that, yes, light travels thru that glass only 3/4 as fast as in a vacuum.  You have witnessed refractive index differences when you, for example, mixed water and vodka, or dove in a place where fresh water and salt water are mixing (at Shilshole, for example).

But for our purposes, it is enough to know that the refractive index of a water/propylene glycol mixture changes in a predictable way with the concentration of glycol.  We don't even have to know the details of that change because the manufacturer has taken that into account in the preparation of the scale inside the instrument. 

All that remains is for us to obtain a drop or two of the solution and put it onto the prism covered by the clear plastic flap, and look thru the lens at the other end of the instrument, for a view like this:

Approximately 33% propylene glycol shown

But there is a catch (isn't there always?).  Before I sample the holding tank solution, I have to completely defrost the freezer.  If I don't, some unknown quantity of the water in the system will be frozen out, which would skew the results in the direction of increasing concentration.  So the refractometer stands ready for duty, waiting for a freezer defrost event.

Who knows when that will be?

LED Light Upgrade Project

It seems that converting your interior lights from incandescent to LED is becoming a popular project, and why not? Here, Rick and DAR of m/v September Dream show us theirs...

Now that the boat is back in the water, it's time to start taking care of some projects that I've wanted to do for a while now.  The first project is an upgrade of the interior lights to LED.

I'm finally getting around to completing the conversion of our interior lights from incadescent bulbs to LED bulbs.  Of course, this would have been a great project to have completed before we left for the trip, when saving amps would have been useful.  Oh well, better late than never... :-)

The first task was to source the replacement bulbs.  Primarily I just use google as my main research tool, but the Dr LED site (http://doctorled.com) is a great site with a lot of information on LED lamp replacement.

Most of the lighting (two double light fixtures in the salon, one double in the galley and two singles in the head) on the boat use a bulb with a model number of 1141 and a base of ba15s.  I found a number of different LED bulbs that would work as a replacement for the 1141 bulbs, but I chose the following from amazon;

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00DDOSNH2?psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s00

Part of the reason I chose these bulbs was the price ($5.00 per bulb is pretty good), but also because of the colour.

When you look at LED lighing, you'll see references to 'cool', 'warm', etc.  This refers to the colour of the light given off by the bulbs.  Here's a good link that illustrates this;

http://www.seesmartled.com/kb/choosing_color_temperature/

We previously had two LED bulbs in the salon, one in each light fixture, so we were able to run low current with our lights.  These bulbs were quite blue though ('cool' white colour according to the colour temperature) and we didn't find they did that good a job providing usable lighting.  I decided to change to 'warm' white colour for the replacements.

The new bulbs in one of the salon fixtures

A nice 'warm' white colour

After replacing all the bulbs it was time to do a current usage test to see just how much of a difference LED lights can make.

Everything turned off

Current usage of the incandescent bulb

Current usage of the LED bulb

As you can see, the LED bulbs are a great deal more efficient than the incandescent.

I still have a couple other lights to replace the bulbs in.  We have two reading lights in the stateroom, and a couple side lamps on either side of the couch in the salon.  They have a different bulb, with a screw in base known as an Edison E26 or E27.  I've yet to pick a replacement LED bulb for these yet, but now that I see the other LED bulbs I picked up I have a reference for what the colour looks like.

Sewing Project: Shower Caddy

Livia and Carol cruising aboard s/v Estrellita 5.10b have a little project that any tropical cruiser is going to love...

So, perhaps a bit of TMI, but we are cockpit shower-ers. In close quarters with other boats we wear swimsuits or wait for dark, and when not in close quarters with other boats, as we like to say “What you see with binoculars is your own damn fault”.

After years of dealing with shampoo and soap bottles jammed into the small opening where our cockpit shower exits the cockpit combing, with our new sewing machine I made a caddy for our stern pulpit using Sunbrella, a UV resistant mesh product like Phifertex and some 2” velcro. I measured the distance between bars, added the circumference of the bars (twice) and velcro width (four times) and seam allotment (twice) and that was the length of the sunbrella fabric to cut. For the width I measured between our dinghy engine hoist and dinghy engine bracket (plus seam allotment – twice). After that I was really free handing the mesh and the pockets look a little lumpy close up. Good enough for us!

Inside the caddy fit 4 reusable squeeze bottles I picked up at REI.

Sometimes it is the little boat improvements that are the most exciting. Our cockpit transformation is 2/3 of the way done: cockpit cushions (check), shower caddy (check) and now we need new mesh pockets near the dodger to replace our shredded ones.

Galley Work

This post originally appeared on Windborne in Puget Sound

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Back in October, I re-designed the curtain tracks on two of our aft ports in order to allow them to open more completely.  The results were so nice and professional looking that the remaining six ports just begged to be upgraded too.  So I ordered more curtain track from Sailrite.

This last weekend I got around to making the installations.  But because there were six to do, a little manufacturing engineering came into play. 

First, at home I cut and trimmed the track with my trusty hacksaw and vice. Then I set up a work station at the galley sink for drilling - the sink traps the drill swarf and keeps it off the floor where it would damage the finish. Above, you can see that I have marked where the holes go on the tracks and am busy drilling them with a 5/32" bit.

After finishing the manufacture of the tracks, the work fell naturally (that is, unplanned...) into four workstations, each with its own dedicated tools:

• Station 1:  At the current port.  Tools here were a #2 Phillips screwdriver, a 3/8" box wrench, a small flat blade screwdriver, and a small #1 Phillips screwdriver.
• Station 2:  The galley sink. Tools here were the drill, water and a sponge
• Station 3:  The saloon table.  Tools here were Meguires plastic cleaner, Meguires plastic polish, and some rags
• Station 4:  The saloon settee.  Tools here were a #2 Phillips screwdriver and a 5/16" nut driver.

And so the work went like this...

• At Station 1:
• Remove the existing curtain track and curtains from the rusty spring clips and set aside
• Using the #2 Phillips and the 3/8" wrench, remove the nuts and screws holding the port hinges together.
• Remove the port lens.
• At Station 2:
• Carefully wash the port lens using water and the sponge.
• Transfer the hole locations from the track to the port lens and mark with a Sharpie.
• Drill two 5/32" holes.
• At Station 3:
• Apply polish to the inside of the lens and turn it over
• Apply cleaner to the outside and rub vigorously to remove the oxidized lexan.
• Remove the cleaner with a rag and apply polish to the outside of the lens
• Buff the outside of the lens.
• Buff the inside of the lens.
• At Station 4:
• Now that the lens is clean, it won't dirty the settee cushion, and it needs protection.  Working on the settee is perfect.  Install the track to the lens with two 6-32 screws and nylock nuts, using the #2 Phillips and the nut driver.
• Back at Station 1:
• Insert the lens hinge plates into the hinge plates on the port frame.  
• Use the small Phillips screwdriver to align the holes.  It is perfect for this - the shaft is exactly the right diameter and the tapered tip allows easier alignment.  I struggled mightily with this step before I stumbled across the use of the screwdriver.
• Insert the screws into the hinges and add the nuts.
• Using the small flat blade screwdriver, remove the stop screws from the ends of the old track.
• Remove the curtains from the old track.
• Install the curtains into the new track.
• Install the stop screws in the ends of the new track.

And then move on to the next port...

Tho having these four stations pretty much occupied the whole boat during the work, it completely eliminated all movement of tools except for the small handful used at Station 1.  For me this is a huge advantage, since otherwise I am always looking for one tool or another.

It took all afternoon, but only one beer.

Honey, They Shrunk the Captain!

Making a boat yours is important, if for no other reason than emotion. But making it fit is critical. Drew shares an example with us...

Touring the Annapolis Spring Boat Show and researching for an up-coming article on access for decrepit (bad knees, like me and my wife, and an increasing number of friends getting hip and knee replacements) sailors, we came across some good things and some unbelievable things. Honestly, how many folks get $500,000 together for their dream boat before their knees start to hurt? Not so many that the designers should ignore the reality. Or like me, the knees are fine when you buy the boat, and then a lifetime of vigorous activity starts to catch up with you.

And some things are just funny. This really belongs in Disney Land in the "Honey, Who Shrunk the Kids?" theme area. The seat is 8 inches too high and 8 inches too far back; as it is, the driver has no leverage on the wheel. At the very least, it needs a foot rest or fold-down runt board. And we saw this same problem on every single helm seat. Comically unsuitable for a long turn at the wheel.

Kinna reminds me of this, early in our ownership with a temporary runt box in place. It worked, giving her something to brace against.

On Shoal Survivor we eventually added a proper runt step, and it is still a little tall for my daughter (20 years old, but somewhat vertically challenged). Our feet now touch the floor, we have leverage, and an added storage spot to boot. And the wood was salvaged from the sole replacement on a Prout.


                                           

Corners

This post originally appeared on Windborne in Puget Sound

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Have you ever done fiberglass layup? If you have, then you know how difficult it is to get the wetted cloth to follow a sharp outside corner tightly, with "sharp" being a variable depending on how heavy the cloth is.  It tends to spring back, leaving a gap underneath.

Well, boat manufacturers have the same problem you do.  And on Eolian, there was a place where the cloth pulled away from the gelcoat-sprayed mold corner, leaving a gap between the gelcoat and the cloth.  This revealed itself over the years by the gelcoat cracking up in the bottom of what was now an inside corner, because it was unsupported.

 

The problem area was on the aft deck, where the coach house meets the deck.  Sadly, I did not take a "before" picture...  but this one shows the extent of the area to be repaired after I ground out all the loose gelcoat flakes with my trusty Dremel tool (the perfect tool for this job!).

Now, gelcoat is formulated for application by spraying.  That means that it is quite fluid, tho the thixotropic agents included mean that when you stop disturbing it, it stays put (unlike epoxy, which continues to run and drip, seemingly forever).  But that fluidity makes it quite difficult to control the application accurately.  I mixed the gelcoat in a small cup with a tongue depressor and then used that same tongue depressor as an applicator - the radius of the end was close to the radius of the inside corner of the repair area, if I tilted the stick at the right angle.

After the gelcoat had gone off I sanded it using 220 grit wet/dry sandpaper (wet), a small piece wrapped around the end of another tongue depressor, to knock down the areas that needed to be flat.  For the radius in the corner Jane donated an old Chap Stick container, which turned out to be a pretty close fit.  Sanding is tricky.  You want to knock down the high spots and get nearly level with the surrounding area, but you don't want to cut flush until you are working on the final coat.  The original gelcoat, tho much thicker than a paint layer would be, is quite thin and easily sanded thru.  So you only want to sand flush once.

Because of the fluidity of the gelcoat, it took several applications to get the surface brought up (oh, how I wish that there was a gelcoat formulation even as stiff as, say, Greek yogurt!).  In the beginning I applied a lot, but at the end just a dab here and there to fill the hollow spots.

For final finishing I went over the area with 400 grit wet/dry (wet), and then used some polishing compound.  It comes out as shiny as a factory finish.

And done.

Again, major kudos to Fiberlay for such an amazingly perfect color match.  If you can see any color difference at all in the picture, it is because in the area where I was working the oxidized gelcoat got cleaned off, brightening the color.

(And yes, replacing that fixed port is on the list.)