In the water for the summer.......

....and perhaps longer. We're dialing in on the line in the sand. With luck, this will be the last time that Iemanja gets launched after a winter haul out for a while.

Dick beats us in the water......again

Our dear friends Dick and Ginny Walters once again get the fine yacht Impetuous in the water before us. We sail with Dick from the Champlain Marina up to Shelburne and her summer mooring at LCYC. A glorious spring day fines us on a great reach up the lake.

Out with the old

We dismantle the old yanmar engine and remove parts and peices from the boat.

Late winter in the North Atlantic

This is a powerful storm that circulated around out in the NA. We're on the outer edges and we had some nice wind and snow. I was happy to watch this one from the armchair.

Frigoboat systems

We are installing new refrigeration in the boat this winter. Bette is working through adding insulation to the existing box, vapor barrier, new PVC lining and eventually 2 separate evaporator coils with 2 separate condensers. This 12 volt setup will draw minimally while giving us a separate freezer and frig. Until we really need freezer, the we'll use both as frigs or even just one. Also gives us a backup should one poop out. We like the redundancy. We're counting on the 300 watts of solar power from the Solbian panels to keep these guys humming.

Winter projects

We continue with upgrades and changes to Iemanja. Nav station will see an upgrade to house the Pactor modem which will be used to receive email over SSB radio. Hooking up the SSB along with its tuner. AIS will be allocated a aspot but will have to wait until spring when the radar mast is back in position. Some woodwork for our man Steve and lots of winter tinkering.

KC1APO and KC1APN here

We take a two day marathon ham radio class here in Essex jct. Bette passes both tech and general first try, while I get my tech Nd have to go back a couple of weeks later to retest for my general. We're good to go now and both can use the SSB radio for more than just basic usage. With ham licenses, we are able to sign in to many more frequencies.