Air Conditioning Blues - Part 2

When you think you have seen everything, you are in for a surprise.

Last week I was up in NC looking at boats. In the process I spent some time with Doug. Doug has many years in the boat manufacturing, refurbishing and service areas. You can read about Doug at the liveaboard boats links web site. I told him about my recent air conditioning issue and asked if he knew of anything I had forgotten.

He immediately asked if I had checked the intake hoses, upstream from the water pump. Of course I said, referring to the purging with the garden hose, but just a little debris and mud came out.

No, "Have you physically looked into the hose for blockage"? "I have seen many boats that had the hoses plugged with grass allowing just a trickle of water to flow".

Well on Saturday, I checked the hoses. I could not believe it!

The salon hose was the worst. Picture a doughnut for illustration purposes. The inside diameter of the hose is the diameter of the doughnut. The grass growing inside the hose reduced the opening to the size of the doughnut hole, roughly 1/2 the original opening. The hoses on the upstream side of the pump were clear.

As the hose was on the suction side of the pump, I needed reinforced hose for a replacement. A quick trip to West Marine and about 1/2 hour later brought water flow that was incredible. The air conditioning was cooling now much better than before.

So, adding to the earlier post about air conditioning issues, be sure to visually check your intake hoses for partial blockage if you suspect a water flow issue. Purging with the water hose will not remove the grass that may be there.

And for Doug, anyone in the eastern NC that needs some help diagnosing a problem, give Doug a call, he'll probably have the answer. If you are out of his area, call him anyway. He'll likely be glad to help a fellow boater.

Liveaboard Test Run

Hello all,

I am up early, 4 AM, as there is much to do today. I've got a lot to do on the web site plus my salon air conditioning needs the intake hose replaced. Since the posting, Air Conditioning Blues, I've found that the hose is full of grass growing inside. That is likely another cause for the reduced water flow.

This week was spent on the road again, this time in North Carolina. I spent several days near Wilmington, NC looking at boats and in particular, sailboats suitable for living aboard. We looked a number of boats that have good potential. A number of you have expressed an interest in sailboats in the 35-40K range.













1988 - Endeavor 34




Most of you have expressed an interest in either trawlers or sailboats for living aboard. In another post, I discuss the advantages and disadvantages of both.

A note worth mentioning is that slip rates for the NC coast were about 50% of what they are in Florida. They have some 1st rate facilities too. If you would like some more details, drop me a line.

As I have said often in my postings, Mary my wife, and I love to share the cruising and live aboard lifestyle with others. As a yacht broker, helping people learn of the lifestyle and explore participating is my way of promoting boating in general. As my profile says, we try to help people realize a dream...one dream at a time.


The photo on the left is Mary. She is a looker, isn't she? Oh and another thing, I might be the Captain of the Patricia Ann, but I know that shes the Admiral!

This week we heard from a old customer, Beverly. I found a buyer for her 38 Catalina last year. She and her husband never did really like sailboats and used it seldom, never taking it cruising. She and her husband had recently been discussing selling their home in Florida, buying a condo in the NC mountains, and moving aboard a trawler in Florida for the winter.

As fate would have it, Bev took a chance and drove by the Patricia Ann at the dock late Wednesday afternoon. Beverly always did like the looks of the Patricia Ann....:) Mary was on the sundeck. They struck up a conversation that ended about an hour later discussing live aboard storage, provisioning, cleaning issues, decorating and other issues of interest to ladies contemplating the cruising/live aboard lifestyle. Mary said they just touched the surface. So it occurred to me that perhaps Mary should contribute to this blog in the future reviewing issues of interest to you ladies out there. Mary has agreed and is excited about helping you learn of the lifestyle. You'll see her postings shortly.

Continuing with the Bev story, I spoke to her upon my return home yesterday. She is both excited and nervous about the live aboard lifestyle. So to help ease her fears, Mary and I have offered to take her and her husband out for an overnight stay on the hook at one of our favorite anchorages in the next few weeks.

Their cruise will be one of participation. I will let them experience navigation, monitoring the boat's systems, meal preparation, anchoring, launching the dingy, and simply enjoying the solitude. They will run the boat, Mary and I will be the crew.

Bev asked, "But how do you sleep with the generator running"?

My response, like a baby.

More to come

Till then,
Mike

Could You Live on This?

At the end of the last posting I made note that I had to make a trip to South Florida to look at several boats. It was a good trip and we looked at 4 different boats for customers.

The prize of the trip was a 83 foot custom-built mega yacht built of all aluminum. Shes powered by twin 1800 hp Detroit's.

My camera memory was fully loaded from about 75 shots of the other boats but I did manage to get this shot.

Oh, by the way, we do have the listing and will be developing the yacht's own website and getting it out on the web within a week or so. I'll get some more photos in a few days on another trip back down to her.

Stay tuned

Livingaboard - Things Not to Take Onboard

Whether you are currently living aboard a boat or are still in the planing stages, I am sure you are aware of the fact that boats move and things not tied down will fall and break. That fact then determines what should be brought aboard or left on stable land.

Glass is one thing we have little of on board. Glass breaks into millions of pieces which is a problem to clean up, scratches everything when broken and can cause nasty cuts. There was a story about a year ago of a lady on a transient cruising vessel that was carrying a dinner dish when a large wake caused her to stumble. The glass plate broke in her hand, she received a serious laceration to her arm and had to be taken to an emergency room for treatment. Glass aboard the Patricia Ann consists of 3 Corning wear bowls, 2 small serving bowls, 1 hot pepper sauce bottle, 1 mayonnaise jar, 1 coffee pot and 2 martini glasses. Everything else we buy is plastic. I know there is a trade off by using plastic, but we use plastic dishes/bottles/containers that we can use over again.

Another issue aboard is collectibles or things ladies like to decorate with. Oh we have a few prized possessions placed here and there but none of them can fall over and when we get underway on a cruise, they can be safely stowed in less than 10 minutes.

Items like TVs can be secured with adhesive velcro fasteners made especially for that purpose. You can find them at West Marine.

Storage is an issue that many in the living aboard community regularly discuss. Typically sailboats have much less storage than powerboats, they just do not have the space. So if you are planing to move aboard, make storage one of of you checklist items when deciding on that boat. Our trawler has 22 storage lockers in the master stateroom, more than enough for all the clothes we own.

Well got to run, I'm off to Miami to look at an 85 footer we may be putting on the market. Now that's a liveaboard boat!

Till next time,

Mike

Liveaboard Friends

I heard from some friends just recently that I helped find a boat and make the transition to the liveaboard lifestyle.

Don and Susan are enjoing life in southwest Florida.

Air Conditioning Blues

I noticed yesterday afternoon that the water flow from the aft stateroom air conditioning outflow was not flowing as it should. The cabin was comfortable but something wasn't right, the air wasn't as cold as it should be. There is dredging going on in the marina and that seemed to be a likely issue. I put it on my list to take a look at it Saturday morning. But as luck would have it, the flow was down considerably by 5 o'clock.

I got my tools together and proceeded to trouble shoot. The water coming from the outfall thru hull was abnormally warm indicating a water flow issue, not a refrigerant issue.



Now to get to the water intake thru hull required moving the mattress from the aft bunk and removing an access panel below it. The thru hull and water pump are located beneath this in the lowest part of the boat. It also requires being quite careful as the autopilot mechanical connections, trim tab hydraulics and the 300 gallon water tank connections are in the same place. And yes, I did get dirt on the sheets but they needed washing anyway.

After maneuvering into this tiny place, I proceeded to remove the hose from the intake thru hull. No water flow. I proceeded to dislodge whatever was blocking the opening using the dockside water hose pressed against the fitting. Next checking the strainer, I found lots of grass and mud. Not good! Finally, I used the dockside water hose to flush the system clean of residual sediment. End result, proper water flow and heat exchange.



Marine air conditioning systems operate similar to a typical heat pump with one exception. The heat exchange is by water rather than air. Refrigerant is pumped by a compressor through coils where the heat blown across the coils by a fan is removed from the air, resulting in cold air pumped into your boat. Water passing the coils removes the heat from the refrigerant and is discharged overboard. The number 1 cause of marine air conditioning problems is water flow, probably 98% of the time. Here's what you need to know to resolve most marine air issues.

1. Make a point of knowing the proper water flow from your air conditioning outfalls so you can detect any problems before they shut you down when you least expect it.
2. Always assume the problem is water flow unless you know for a fact that the water flow is adequate. If you find ice on the coils, you have a refrigerant leak, call a technician.
3. Feel the water from the outfall. It should be slightly warm. Hot water signals some blockage somewhere in the system.
4. Check the intake thru hull first and clear blockage by using high pressure water.
5. Next, be sure the strainers are clean. Remember, as a liveaboard you will be using your equipment approximately 720 hours a month versus about 192 hours for someone that uses their boat 4 weekends a month. I check mine every 4 weeks based upon past experince. The dredging obviously has decreased that for the time being. You may find you need to check yours more often or less dependng on the water quality your boat is in.
6. Lastly, flush the entire system by using the dock water hose opened all the way, inserted into the hose that you detached from the intake thru hull. Have someone watch the water flow on the side of the boat and tell you when it runs clear. This may seem unnecessary but what happens is that sediment settles in the lines over time, preventing proper heat transfer. Flushing will dramatically improve the performance.
7. Lastly, drop about two Bromine tablets into the strainer basket before sealing everything up. Barnacles and other clinging critters can not survive in this water.

Till next time,

Captain Mike

Boating Manners

Spending so much time aboard as a liveaboard requires one to think about how we affect others around us. There are several of us liveaboards on our dock, side by side. As you know, boats are usually close, unlike landlocked neighbors in houses.

Phil is in the slip on my starboard side. He just returned from 6 months in the Bahamas but we'll cover that in another post.

Living close requires some extra effort at first. For instance, playing the stereo with Bob Marley cranked up at 8AM Sunday morning is not a good idea as I know Phil is aboard his sailboat in the next slip, or using the BBQ grill when I know the wind is going to blow the smoke right onto the sundeck of Bob and Cathy's trawler. Mary and I are early risers so we are very quiet when on deck having coffee in the mornings . Its 5 AM as I write this and I know everyone else is asleep.

These are not big things but they are issues that veteran liveaboards learn to recognize. We live as a dockside community so its important to remember others.

That goes for being underway as well. Have you ever been rocked by an inconsiderate boater passing? For me, this is annoying as hell.

Just last weekend, we were cruising along at our usual 8.5 knots and we even had the tide in our favor. The Patricia Ann is a slow mover but what's the rush I say. I spotted a fast-mover, 40 foot class, gaining on me, running right up my wake. I estimated his speed at about 20 knots. I could not back down quickly as he would likely run into me. The 40 Tiara turned to my port about 50 feet off my stern sending a 5-foot wake to my beam, and sped on by. I turned into the wake as quickly as possible but we were thrown around severely. The only casualty was a spilled bottle of salad dressing left on the sundeck table. But it could have been worse.

I gave the Captain a polite "dressing down" on the VHF when I recovered. He turned and looked at me acknowledging my radio transmission.

I often wonder why these boat Captains cannot slow down and respect others on the water. Perhaps its just not in their nature. Oh, he was going to the same marina I was going to and I was in my slip before he was, go figure?

So how should you pass a boat you are over taking?

1. Call the boat ahead on your VHF and let him know your intentions
2. Ask him to back down to a slow speed so you can give him an easy pass
3. Overtake the boat ahead of you with a slightly faster speed, watching your wake
4. The passed Captain will almost always thank you on the VHF for your consideration
5. Resume normal operating speed

Fair winds,

Mike

Clean Water to Drink - A Necessity

Something often taken for granted by all of us is the availability of clean water. One of the issues while living aboard is that you do have a limited supply while away from the docks. On the Patricia Ann, the two of use 12 gallons a day, or enough for 25 days without refilling. That's with a 300 gallon water tank.


You must be sure of your water quality as well. While cruising, you never know what quality your water will be. Several months ago, our marina had a well problem causing the water supply to become contaminated with e coli bacteria. It took over a week to get it cleared up. Some of the marina locals must surely have used the water before the problem was discovered.


However on our trawler, we had ample safe drinkng water. We have a 5 stage filtration system that provides bottle-like clean water from any questionable source. Water goes through 2, 5-micron filters, then a single 2-micron filter, then a carbon filter to remove cysts and undesirable tastes then finally a UV radiation light to kill any bacteria before it enters the holding tank. The power source is 110 vac but can be changed to 12 vdc.

The resulting water tastes a pure as can be.

You can purchase this unit at http://www.rvwaterfilterstore.com/WCUVSystems.htm#UVSystem

Fernandina Beach - Bells Will be Ringing

7/7/07

Up and early again today.

Invited friends, Melanie and Jim aboard to go out on the water for the day. They were right on time but we could not leave the dock until the tide came in a bit more, about 11:30AM. The dredging is underway but until its complete we can't safely navigate the channel. With boats, unlike homes on dry land, everything is determined by the water.

Dropped the hook off of Fernandina Beach at 12:30. Hot today, low 90s, no breeze......glad for generators and air conditioning.

Melanie proceeded to conduct a brief wedding ceremony to allow this ole salt to marry the First Mate all over again; she is a beauty. Mary of course. Mary has been promoted to Admiral to keep this Captain in check....hahaha.

The Captain proceeded then to grill chicken while Mary prepared her famous salad. Lunch was then enjoyed by all.