Caspian’s Journey

Sometimes I start out feeling excited about something only to have the what have I gotten myself into anxiety take it's place. Occasionally I've had to block out feelings of such anxiety. I am happy to report we've reached the light at the end of the tunnel stage which brings a relieved excitement. Wednesday we closed on the sale of Vela Via adding some much appreciated cash flow. Today I got a call from Race announcing completion of the engine work and he is confident we'll see good use out of them. I am looking forward to a real sea trial when we launch. Work on the transom is progressing. Everything is cleaned up and ready for the new core material to be glassed in. We deliberated a little about using synthetic core instead of marine plywood but decided to go with the plywood. Each hull penetration will be isolated such that bolts go through nothing but glass eliminating the risk of wood being exposed to moisture. Bernie made good progress down the s...

Work underway DC Power Battery charger replacement. Sort out battery connections so that switches agree (Port, Starboard, House banks). Propulsion Port engine low compression issue being tended to by mechanic Race Turner. The cylinder head is off and diagnosis is a bent exhaust valve causing cylinder #5 compression issue. This is great news compared to the other possibilities. Exhaust valve ever so slightly bent does not seat completely. Starboard engine turbocharger to be removed shortly for rebuild.  Replace fuel fill hoses while turbochargers are out of the way. Minor crack - could last another 10 years but convenient to replace now. Fuel fill hose. Filler above, tank ahead. Shaft seals replaced. Drip-less shaft seal. Safety Remove propane tank for re-certification. Aft bilge pumps replaced and rewired. Mid ship automatic pump switch still needs replaced. Johnson pumps corroded internally to the point of splitting their cas...

For me fixing meals is one of the most enjoyable things about cruising. There is something about reaching the destination, fixing and sitting down to a relaxing meal. As soon as we are underway my thoughts almost immediately turn to fixing that first meal at our destination. Princess 3 burner propane cooktop with microwave/convention oven below. I don't need much in my galley. On Vela Via we had a two burner propane stove and went many seasons with a single pot for all cooking. We made bread in it, breakfast, boiled water for coffee, you name it. On Caspian we'll undoubtedly have a bit more cookware but not much. We'll keep it simple. While shopping for Caspian we knew we wanted a propane cooktop. Caspian came with a propane cooktop and an 8KW genset. 8KW Onan genset - headed home for maintenance We've never had a genset so we can only imagine that running that thing will not be to our liking. We come from sailboat culture and long regarded big power boa...

And, that's ok! Because Tony does. He's very in-tune with all the needs the boat has in order to operate safely, efficiently and reliably. I'm so glad too. He loves that stuff and we could just sit and talk about it for hours. True, I might not understand it all, but his enthusiasm and expertise about "all things boat", is addicting. It blesses me so much how excited he gets about a project. I even like it when the project hits a snag and how his mind can troubleshoot things. Tony's amazing! Well, I get jazzed about cleaning, organizing and making Caspian into our home away from home and that's what this post is about. Last week I spent a few hours on the boat alone and was able to get some things tidied up. Before going I remember Tony saying something about ordering wiper blades, but needing more info about them. Whenever I go to the boat and Tony doesn't, there's usually something I'm taking a picture of for him or we're vid...

Time to recap the week. This evening marks one week since Caspian arrived. Sunday Evening and night: Caspian arrived outside of Fred's Marina in Portland, OR. We unstrapped, untaped and moved stuff around to free up the Master Stateroom and tried to sleep. Monday morning: We awoke to the boat hull being inside out. Translation, water on the wrong side of the hull. We were still on the trailer so it was all rain water. Bernie probably mentioned having the fly bridge torn apart plus coming from So. Cali where it rarely rains who knows what had collected in the scuppers. We had a 9 am appointment to launch but this would not happen. Casey arrived at 9:30 and drove the boat into Multnomah Yacht Repair for the launch. We are learning about the concept of "yard time". Debra who manages the appointments at MYR had indicated that our launch would be delayed 15 minutes by their putting another boat ahead of us. That time quickly passed and we found ourselves watching th...

Not a day of boating we're accustomed to, but we woke up in our boat this morning! Yup, it was still on the trailer and parked on the side of the road. Haha! It's a side road near where it will be lifted off the trailer, at least it was a quiet noise of Highway 30 traffic. https://photos.app.goo.gl/GzZpjbe4hn1Si6Gd2 It wasn't the best night of sleep (2, maybe 3 hours ) given the excitement of the day (and we'll definitely need to add a comfy "mattress" pad to the ever-growing to-do list). The little sleep still doesn't hamper the energy we have to get it launched into the Multnomah Channel today for it's  Bacon-owned Maiden Voyage to Rocky Point Marina. That's where all the real work begins to get Caspian in ship-shape. Learned from the ship yard office gal, Debra, that we have time to go eat.  So off we went looking for something quick and nutritious. We found something quick. It was a greasy piece of 7-eleven pizza. We're going with the...

We're so excited!   We'll update again when it arrives.