Part 2 of renewable energy on Iemanja...wind....

The location of the SuperWind 350 wind turbine was pretty straight forward but as with everything on a boat, getting to the end result always offers some challenges. The 9' mast from PYI in Washington along with all the adapters and supports was easy. The marriage of the mast base to the stainless steel support on the starboard corner of the boat was another story. It required a special 1/2" SS plate to bolt into 4 existing metric holes onto which the movable base was mounted. Again this had to be drilled and tapped for maximum strength. A local machine shop helped out with this component but getting wrapped up in the thanksgiving holiday added a twist. Anyway......wiring was completed over the holiday weekend so that when I got the plate it was a matter of bolting on the mast and plugging in the turbine. Not much wind today for a good test but all in all, things went according to plan and we now are reading some additional amps going into the battery. This will become increasingly more important when we get down to the trade winds in the Bahamas, which blow pretty consistently from the east..at 15-18 knots.

Ok.....it's not even 8pm and........burrrrr

Yards and yards

We've added a Sail-Rite sewing machine to the long list of equipment to keep on the boat. We had gotten yards of garden shade fabric from Home Depot and Bette put the finishing touches on shade awnings for the fore and side decks. We used the rough cut pieces last year in the Abacos and loved how much cooler the decks and cabin were with the addition of shade. But the rough cut pieces needed trim and better attachments.

Sewing in the cabin, well, it is a lot of fabric in a fairly small space, but we made it work out.

They're done; but now where to store them?

Another one bites the dust

Our shower sump pump was not working. Ernie, aka Sherlock, got out the multi-meter and started checking to see where the fail was occurring. The pump itself worked, and the motor worked too, so off to check the breaker in the electric box. It was the last item in the loop and was replaced.

Job done!
P.S. This nicely organized electrical panel was not the work of the P.O.(previous owner).

Bottoms

Last weekend we hauled Iemanja to paint the bottom, replace some zincs and then popped her back in a few days later.
I know you all feel this way: can't get enough of looking at your boat and how much you love her lines and are particularly proud when people stop by to talk to you about your boat.
Well, that happens to us too:

We had a few barnacles on the prop shaft, and a little oyster farm on the very bottom of the keel, but overall, not bad at all. Other boats we saw being hauled had the marina workers using shovels to remove everything that attached to boat bottoms. We felt good that wasn't us.

Nice travel lift! We left the aft mast for the radar up and had only to remove the backstay. Job done!

Orb weavers

Back in my Entomology days, I wrote a paper on orb weavers. Fascinating critters. I recently saw this work of art and am now wondering, so many years after college, if the size of the web is driven by the size of the spider, or by the size of the boardwalk fencing openings. Hmmm.

Baby it's cold outside

You know when it's cold in the boat when the closest weather indicator is your cat and she's buried in the blankets. One ear is down to keep it warm:

And then she let's you know she means business when she covers up her nose moments later:

But the sun is out and it's a beautiful day here in South Carolina.

Who knew?

Did you hear the story that Ernie and I found out about Passport 40's through "Art of the Athlete" whereby Dawn Riley who was a San Franciscan sailing coach lived on a Passport. The televised program showed the boat, her sailing, and the interior. We were totally hooked and started shopping for our own Passport with Jeff Hill's help. Yeh Jeff!

Who knew that the boat would have a live aboard cat and that the design included a cat-ass wide walkway for her (the cat) to travel around the main salon above the settee cushions. Too funny.

Vereen Memorial Gardens marshes

The Vereen Gardens are right at the NC and So.Carolina border. We've been doing a lot of beach walks and opted for a marsh walk day. The Vereen Gardens were just the gem we were looking for.

Lots of kingfishers, herons, egrets, and the like were out this beautiful sunny day. The boardwalk bridges in the park are really nice to get into and around the marshes.

We happened to be in the gardens at high tide, so we missed the beach along the ICW.

The beauty of tides:

The original Varin family (Vereen derivation) came to So Carolina in 1680. A daughter married into the Horry family. Little River, where we're located, is Horry County.  A few generations later, a Vereen son  (Jeremiah 1706-1768) had children that settled in the Little River area and the Gardens are so named after this historical family.