Category: By John

Threads reweave, one ends

Port Hardy, BC Canada, 6-MAY-2018 – I spent a good part of Friday at the top of our mast reinstalling our antenna and the cable that leads from it through the mast through the engine compartment through the bilge and into the basement where the cable connects to a signal splitter.

I spent enough time at the top of the mast that another boat owner spoke with Jennifer and offered to pay me to go to the top of his mast. I was flattered, but not tempted.

In Friday Harbor, we had bought and installed an 8 foot whip antenna as a temporary solution for our failed masthead antenna. We started showing up again on AIS. The harbor master in Port Hardy, where I sat atop the mast like a Christmas Angel, spoke to us through our VHF. Continue reading “Threads reweave, one ends”

We left three weeks ago while CaroBabbo.com was down

Billy Goat Bay, Johnstone Strait, British Columbia, April 30, 2018 – thanks to John Vins, CaroBabbo is back on line.

I don’t have a good explanation about why I wasn’t writing posts to put online all at once when CaroBabbo.com was back online. I didn’t, and here is a fast catch-up.

We’ve been on the trip twenty days so far. Alone, just Jennifer and me. It has been a lovely trip with unexpectedly good weather. We been taking our time and are just entering Johnstone Strait today. Continue reading “We left three weeks ago while CaroBabbo.com was down”

I can see your house from here…

28-MAR-2018, SEATAC Airport – …and other views from up high.

The items highest in my mind are three:

  • I haven’t found the leak in the aft cabin starboard locker. Mogens Winther in the Maxi 95 group has suggested that the water is getting in through the cubby on the starboard side of the cockpit. I can’t see anything there, but I haven’t looked as hard as I might. This could be the entry point.

    The leaky locker. Water is visible, lower left. Despite all the caulking water rain water still enters.
  • The fuel line still seems to be getting air in it despite having replaced everything from the injection pump to the tank including the filters, filter holders, all lines and the valve at the tank. The engine started fine several times in a row over a few days, but on the sail to Port Hadlock, starting was difficult with all the earmarks of air in the lines. The next stop is an electrical pump to push the fuel forward. I’ve resisted, but I’ve run out of ideas.
  • OpenCPN for Android is no longer speaking to the Vesper AIS. We’ve upgraded everything in one go, so it is difficult to pin point what the problem is. I suspect it is the new OpenCPN for Android release, since OpenCPN on my mac works fine. John Register, the author of the port to Android, has been providing fast, intelligent support.

Continue reading “I can see your house from here…”

The fresh water leak that won’t stop

I’m at a loss.
Water leaks into the starboard locker in the aft cabin. I can’t find the leak and it is making me insane.
There are two parts to finding the leak: how the water gets into the locker, and how the water gets into the boat.
This is a fresh water leak: the locker only gets water when it rains.
The locker is under the starboard sleeping area in the aft cabin.
This is what I know: Continue reading “The fresh water leak that won’t stop”

Back on Caro Babbo; Purchases start arriving

I wonder whether this annual buying spree will ever end.

In the last few days bunch of things have arrived. Today, a waterproof tablet arrived and graphics for the dinghy and for CaroBabbo.

I knew there was some sort of screwup at boat US when my contact there called to make sure that I had not placed my order twice, intentionally. Apparently, the double order wasn’t caught until after the graphics were cut: Ron didn’t charge me for the double order, and he was nice enough to send me everything. Continue reading “Back on Caro Babbo; Purchases start arriving”

Paducah, Kentucky

6-MAR-2018, Interstate 24, heading west – Paducah Kentucky is a long way from Caro Babbo, but not too far away to spend money.

Jennifer closed on one of Hilary’s houses this week, and signed all the paperwork for the second closing, so we needn’t return for it.

We’re riding in a Budget 12-foot box truck, driving some of Hilary’s belongings up to Port Townsend.

Continue reading “Paducah, Kentucky”

Caro Babbo Youtube Channel? I say no, no, no *

27-FEB-2018, Jet Blue flight 598, SEA-BOS – There will be no Caro Babbo Youtube channel for the few people who asked for one, and for everyone who didn’t.

I did want one. As a narrative mechanism, videos are a great contrast to written words. There are two major, equal holdbacks: The amount of effort to edit a video and the amount of video content that must be captured to generate a good video episode. Continue reading “Caro Babbo Youtube Channel? I say no, no, no *”

The Less I write, the More I must write

Lee’s Landing Marina, Lake Union, Seattle, WA USA, 22-FEB-2018 – One of the faults I’m least proud of is falling out of touch with friends. I stay in touch with friends generally by writing to them. In this world of instant written communications, a phone call has become too intrusive, and by corollary Skype, Whatsapp, and Facebook messenger. So writing is the method through I use to keep in touch with friends.

Keeping in touch with friends is important. When I am overdue to communicate with friends, whether to initiate a written exchange, or respond to a message, I put myself into a spiral: it has been a while since I have written, therefore I can’t write something small. I need to write something that has taken some effort to make up for the amount of time that has passed. But, the amount of time to be put aside never appears, and the amount of effort that should be put into the correspondence grows, and along with it the amount of time necessary to expend that effort.

Recently, this blog is fallen into this trap, only more convoluted. Because, excessively long blog posts are not good either.

So please accept my apologies for the amount of time since the last post and either the large number of things that I leave out of this blog, or its excessive length because of the number of things that I do include.
Continue reading “The Less I write, the More I must write”

A new mainsheet traveler

14-FEB-2018, Lake Union, Seattle – A mainsheet traveler adjusts where the mainsheet connects to the boat.

The mainsheet is the line (rope) that pulls the main sail towards the center of the boat. (It also places some downforce on the sail, specifically on the boom, but that is really a side effect.)

When CaroBabbo was originally sold the mainsheet connected to an eye in the center of the cockpit table. The problem with this is that when sailing very close to the wind, the boom should be very close to, or on the centerline of the boat. To make the boom come to the center line of the boat the attachment point of the mainsheet has to be past the centerline of the boat. The problem is that the attachment point must always be to windward. Continue reading “A new mainsheet traveler”