Caro Babbo went into the water at lunch Thursday. The wind had been blowing mid-twenties gusting to 30. The Travelift operators, who I’ve gotten to know across the five weeks, came by often to find out what I wanted to do. Continue reading “Back in the water, again”
Author: johnjuliano
One-third owner of Caro Babbo, co-captain and in command whenever Caro Babbo is under sail.
Five weeks on the hard in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven
Rather than the write book that is the five weeks in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven, here is a gallery of pictures. Much of what was done wasn’t photographed, so I guess the book is on the way.
Caro Babbo is due to go back into the water tomorrow – we’re on standby. And then to be sailed back to Lake union on the weekend. There is no mass transit in Jefferson County on Sundays, so we’ll be in Seattle until Monday.
There is still much work to be done: replacing coolant hoses, installed new fuel filter, replacing heater fan, to name three. Continue reading “Five weeks on the hard in Port Townsend’s Boat Haven”
Replacing Fuel Injectors
When we returned from our trip last fall, the engine had low power after we arrived at Port Ludlow, before we crossed Puget Sound through the canals and home.
I figured and, after speaking with our marina mate, Nate, decided that we had injector problem.
In late February of this year, I spoke with Rick at Seattle Injectors, the company that Nate suggested. They would have time to do our injectors the day after I dropped them off. Continue reading “Replacing Fuel Injectors”
How did they install that Radar cable, and did I just destroy it?
Tomorrow, Gus from Olympic Boat Transport & Crane Service will come to take the mast down. Continue reading “How did they install that Radar cable, and did I just destroy it?”
Hemorrhaging money and getting back to Port Townsend
Today is the day we really start hemorrhaging money.
I ordered the copper coat: seven kits at $120 per kit are necessary to coat CaroBabbo. It is a four-day process, however, this should be the last time I put a bottom on CaroBabbo. Continue reading “Hemorrhaging money and getting back to Port Townsend”
On Board on Lake Union
The journey from the Port Townsend house to Caro Babbo is two buses, then the ferry and a bus. Total cost in this direction: $5.75.
Door to door, it is about three and a half hours.
I was aboard last Wednesday on my way to Port Townsend from New York and nothing much had changed.
The purpose of being here this week is to get the boat ready to be moved to Boat Haven Marina in Port Townsend next week: Fixing the engine.
The demise of the Taylors Stove?
‘‘ Jet A is nothing but kerosene,’’ was a statement that we received over and over again from pump jockeys on our Alaska trip. On the web all the sites I found before we left concurred, JET-A is nothing but kerosene.
[15-DEC-2019 – We eventually tracked all of the stove problems to using the wrong fuel. One MUST use 1-k Kerosene. Nothing else will work. Marine stores carry it, as do most home improvement stores like Home Depot and Lowes.]
However, all three burners on the stove had pretty much stopped working by the time we returned to Lake Union. John Gardner, from whom I bought the stove, had suggested that we not clean the burners as suggested at the websites, and we did not. I came to believe that was the problem.
There are no sailing seasons in the PNW, but there is sure a lot to buy before springtime arrives.
I don’t like to think of sailing as seasonal. Being seasonal is what I think of as differentiating east coast sailors from west coast sailor – 3000 miles, notwithstanding. We keep Caro Babbo in the water 12-months a year and enjoy winter sailing.
This year and last we decamped to Phoenix to work on a house there, making sailing seasonal, even if that was not our intent. Three months prepping a house, only to return to Seattle to spend months prepping the boat, delineates boating seasons as much as I would rather have sailed continuously. Continue reading “There are no sailing seasons in the PNW, but there is sure a lot to buy before springtime arrives.”
2017 Seattle Boat Show – Water Maker and Sailmaker
The boat show was very different for me this year. It was Hilary and me alone. I went to learn about water makers, to see my sail maker, and to meet with Jesús and Zoë, who are friends from the newspaper industry who are planning on calling it quits and move onto a trawler.
Hilary and I are staying full time in the Port Townsend house. It has been very cold (to my PNW/South-of-the-Mason-Dixon-Line self): Highs in the low forties, lows around freezing. It is also 2-1/2 hours from Port Townsend to Seattle. Continue reading “2017 Seattle Boat Show – Water Maker and Sailmaker”
We’re back in the PNW
We’re back in the Pacific Northwest. Well, at the moment, ‘we’ refers to Hilary and me.
Hilary, Jennifer and I spent from October 5th through January 7th in Phoenix working on a house Jennifer owns. It was a time to get fit as Jennifer and I worked 6 to 7 days a week from sun up until we needed to stop.
I got in shape by moving approximately 25 tons of gravel with a wheelbarrow and a shovel. It feels good to carry muscle again. The trick is how to keep it; I don’t belong to a gym anymore.