SV Letitgo

Alternator second installation day.

V&L — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 07:05:26 +0000

Taking a short interlude from the water maker to go back the alternator saga!

The phone rang early on Monday morning, more precisely it went to the voice-mail at 5.40am. And by 6.40am, I was on the road already returning my call! I then discovered later I was speaking with Rob the support gentleman for Electromaax.

His clarifications got me on the right track to start the morning. This coupled with the quick response from Alexandre at Lagoon about the “magic box” and we were set. By now you might be as intrigued as I was with the specific “magic box”! In other words what is it? For us lagoon owners, we all know that we can’t use the windlass without the engine on. This circuitry makes sure we don’t forget this fact and kills the battery in the process, clever buggers those French builder! As we used to say : “En France on n’a pas de petrole mais on a des idees!” (translate: We don’t have oil wells in France but we have ideas!) It is indeed no wonder most Charter Companies choose Lagoons.

As for myself I love working on the 380 because, it is so easy to take apart, and the constructors have left behind messenger lines plus we have room to work. Here are two examples.

Yes that is the master bedroom, propane line crossing.

It kept me awake for nothing, of course they left tubing and messenger line. Thank you.

Now for the installation, is it a simple plug and play?

The Electromaax Alternators bolted on perfectly with the 3YM30. All the sheave and fitting were high precision and made it look like I knew what I was doing, but that’s only the mechanic part. Now let’s talk electricity, the only system that I haven’t wrapped my head around yet. Now I may share with you that electricity scares me to death, its invisible tasteless and if you get in contact Bang! That has scared me since I was a child. Well that’ until today for now it is no more…. I conquered my fear!

I must thank Rob, first and foremost for his patience and expertise. He answered every question I had on the setup, in a clear and comprehensible way. Not an easy feast for any engineer mind normally.

Once you understand the concept, it’s easy super easy. Unfortunately for him, I have never spent time on the university bench to qualify as an electrical engineer. So the learning curve was a little more steep, to be polite. Don’t get me wrong, I understand the concept and have all the tools on board. (To the point that it is taking a lot of space *V* would tell you) If you are not ready to invest some serious time and effort, call your local boat electrician and be done with it. And in 6 months time, when it doesn’t work in Tana Island you will spend some lovely days exchanging e-mail with somebody half way around the globe.

In conclusion if you are system oriented, it’s not difficult. If you think it’s a 5 minutes job, sorry but it’s not.

Now, what do you need to do to get ready?

Take apart half of the boat paneling to gain access for running the wires.
Run 2 lines from each alternator back to the isolator 25 feet for the Starboard 10 feet for the Port 16 gauge cable with fuse on the feed line.
Remove the safe guard over the alternator belt.
Replace the isolator. You may need to re-drill the hole on the cable terminal.
Remove the Hitachi, attention they have a special diode and PTC attached to the B+ (fragile and needed for future re-install)
Install the Electromaax (that the easy part)
Then connect the small red cable attached to the B+ from the factory to one of your wire, this is the sensor one.
The small black comings out of the plug without the diode become your feed, to the second wire you just run.
The grey goes to your Tachometer, same plug type.
Plug-in the two prone plug
The main Feed goes on the B+
Tension your belt, intimidating but actually easy.
Ground cable goes on the side of the body, you provide the bolt.
On the Port side you put the red cable for the magic box to the D+, the Black with the ground
Install a negative wire from isolator to one of the battery negative
Install the 10 cables onto the Sterling Isolator, after you take half of the harness apart to trace them to the source.
Go and buy some stock in the brand of Zap strap you plan on using.
Zap the day light out of this contraption.
Now you know where the dividend come from.
I told you it’s easy, but not quick if you want to do it well. I finally was smiling, beaming and proud one more system conquer. Now some of you may think, I have forgotten to do some comparative testing. Not even a chance, for the result we will have to be patient. My mind and body are shutting down I need to recharge…

Buying vs building your own water maker (Part 3)

V&L — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 14:13:03 +0000

Ready? You are now sitting comfortable for a 101 water maker? As this point we roughly know what the components are and how to put them together. But that doesn’t mean the flow will be correct and the entire element will play nice together. We don’t need another dysfunctional family on board really! We have one already…

Below is an illustration and an easy read to fall asleep, just in case you had some questions about RO.

Let’s review the fixed parameter for our system, which we are aware of at this time.

We can produce, 110 volts 13.3 Amp rated (meaning continuous use) and 16 Amp Max (meaning 30 minutes max). This is a Honda 2000 Eu our inverter Xantrex MS2000 is above this.
On the other side we need to produce around 20 gph, we decided on a lower production rate to start with as we need to run it on a regular basis to keep it healthy. We will try to keep the ability to add a membrane just in case.

Now what do we put in the middle to make it happen? This is when you realize that it’s easier to just purchase a system true and tested. Done deal, you don’t need to think anymore. Then again now that we’ve come all this way we might as well persevere a tad more… don’t you think?

First selection is the heart of the system the membrane, knowing that all system use pretty much the same. It was an easy choice, SW30-2540 it is. Next step is to review the spec for it, that’s fairly straight forward. You haven’t forgotten that we have pump flow rate that goes from 1.6 to 3.5 GPM, which is right. (we even saw 0.5 GPM at the boat show, Rosa comment CAUTION: The concentrate flow rate is less than the recommended minimum flow. Please change your system design to increase concentrate flow rates. (Product: SW30-2540, Limit: 1.00gpm))

My friend Google when I ask “what the minimum gpm flow for RO membrane” it doesn’t comeback with any easy answer. Only more serving of engineer mumbo jumbo saying “every system is different and you need to really look at all the components, the time of day, temperature of the water and salinity”. Meaning I don’t want to put my ass out, just in case you come back to bite me. Even the vendors do the same.

After a few frustrating hours of Googgling and lots of emails, everything was pointing to Dow site, where you will discover one software called Rosa needless to say she will become your best friend for a little while. In other words you need to get to know each other. Hints read the manual and don’t try to just make it happen, it’s designed for “amateur engineer”… mind you, you still need to speak the lingo. The real one would do all that by hand, not wanting to rely on the manufacturer data, I am sure.

I will share with you the results for a 1.6 GPM report, you can see below that no warning are present. It took me a while to get to that stage, if you change the design to a double membrane one. The warning is loud and clear “This is not going to happen mate!”, more scientific talks but to the same extent.

Project Information:

Case-specific:

System Details

Feed Flow to Stage 1	1.60	gpm	Pass 1 Permeate Flow	0.21	gpm	Osmotic Pressure:
Raw Water Flow to System	1.60	gpm	Pass 1 Recovery	13.00	%	Feed	366.31	psig
Feed Pressure	670.72	psig	Feed Temperature	25.0	C	Concentrate	422.12	psig
Flow Factor	0.65		Feed TDS	35712.60	mg/l	Average	394.22	psig
Chem. Dose	None		Number of Elements	1		Average NDP	275.64	psig
Total Active Area	28.00	ft²	Average Pass 1 Flux	10.70	gfd	Power	0.58	kW
Water Classification: Seawater (Open Intake) SDI < 5						Specific Energy	46.77	kWh/kgal

Stage	Element	#PV	#Ele	Feed Flow (gpm)	Feed Press (psig)	Recirc Flow (gpm)	Conc Flow (gpm)	Conc Press (psig)	Perm Flow (gpm)	Avg Flux (gfd)	Perm Press (psig)	Boost Press (psig)	Perm TDS (mg/l)
1	SW30-2540	1	1	1.60	665.72	0.00	1.39	664.08	0.21	10.70	0.00	0.00	431.02

Pass Streams (mg/l as Ion)
Name	Feed	Adjusted Feed	Concentrate	Permeate
Name	Feed	Adjusted Feed	Stage 1	Stage 1	Total
NH4	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
K	390.00	390.00	447.09	7.90	7.90
Na	10900.00	10966.80	12583.14	148.64	148.64
Mg	1310.00	1310.00	1504.81	6.16	6.16
Ca	410.00	410.00	470.98	1.89	1.89
Sr	13.00	13.00	14.93	0.06	0.06
Ba	0.05	0.05	0.06	0.00	0.00
CO3	7.86	7.86	9.47	0.00	0.00
HCO3	152.00	152.00	172.97	6.35	6.35
NO3	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Cl	19700.00	19700.00	22605.88	250.92	250.92
F	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
SO4	2740.00	2740.00	3148.75	4.23	4.23
SiO2	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00	0.00
Boron	4.00	4.00	4.47	0.85	0.85
CO2	1.91	1.91	2.20	1.65	1.65
TDS	35645.80	35712.60	40983.64	431.02	431.02
pH	7.60	7.60	7.59	6.71	6.71

Permeate Flux reported by ROSA is calculated based on ACTIVE membrane area. DISCLAIMER: NO WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, AND NO WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, IS GIVEN. Neither FilmTec Corporation nor The Dow Chemical Company assume any obligation or liability for results obtained or damages incurred from the application of this information. Because use conditions and applicable laws may differ from one location to another and may change with time, customer is responsible for determining whether products are appropriate for customer’s use. FilmTec Corporation and The Dow Chemical Company assume no liability, if, as a result of customer’s use of the ROSA membrane design software, the customer should be sued for alleged infringement of any patent not owned or controlled by the FilmTec Corporation nor The Dow Chemical Company.

Reverse Osmosis System Analysis for FILMTEC™ Membranes	ROSA 7.2.7 ConfigDB u392554_148
Project: Water01	Case: 1
,	1/23/2012

Design Warnings

-None-

Solubility Warnings

Langelier Saturation Index > 0

BaSO4 (% Saturation) > 100%

Antiscalants may be required. Consult your antiscalant manufacturer for dosing and maximum allowable system recovery.

Finally, somewhere in all the documents I reviewed in the last few days/weeks it says: maximum flow is 6GPM and no more than 1000PSI. That’s what I call *busted*!

In summary, you can use a 1.6GPM pump for one membrane but may need a little more if you wish to upgrade later on. So now we know two more things for our system, next time let’s see if we can find a matching High pressure pump, that we can power on board.

Electromaax install.

V&L — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 19:46:34 +0000

I know we interrupt the water maker schedule, not to worry it will come back next post. But we have a big project on our hand, understand the electrical system and a few people are waiting for some evaluation, between the Hitachi on the right side of the ring and the Electromaax on the left side.

Gentleman, are you readyyyyyyyyyy?

But before we can make any exciting measurements as promise, a little detail needs to be fulfilled. The installation step and we know what that means on a boat. What surprise we will find once we try to put the puzzle together.

I decided to tackle the swap of the Battery isolator first, didn’t even start that one little obstacle show up. The connectors are not the same size, by luck the terminal have a hole just a little smaller. So with some adjusting, we got everything to play nicely together.

I know, the cables are not secure at the bottom but I have learn to be patient and wait until everything work before zap strapping like a maniac. You know where I am going, are you. That took me a good 3 hours, trying to ensure that I have all the right cable at the right place. And following some previous lesson, I only took one wire at a time from the old one and then directly plugged it in, before moving to the next one. Again some people are smiling, and saying “I wonder how he learn that trick”

The previous Isolator didn’t have any feed line or negative, so I will have to run those once I do the alternator. This now done, I couldn’t push the alternators swap any longer. My multi-meter in hand I ensure that no current was present before I starter. Yes I am a man, but when somebody writes three times make sure to switch and disconnect all battery, I listen.

For my record, I found that the belt was not the original one and had been replaced by a Bando. Model number 3375 size 13mn 984mn equal to Gates 9385. This will be handy the day I am in a store and forget the reference.

Now what did we find once we look a little closer, this is the original setup with the Hitachi starboard.

Once, again my theory of “you see only what you want” was confirmed. I knew it was there, I knew it was white, I knew it has something to do with electric but until today I never paid attention to it. The wife/partner of the world will confirm that a recurring factor for a lot of man, and I am no exception.

On the port side, we have a little “magic box” hidden away, complicating a little the setup. Meaning we have a few more wired coming to the back of the alternator.

You remember those game when we were kids, spot the 8 difference in two photos. Well here is the adult version, look at the plug and the ground cable. We have some extra friends hanging around.

The rest of the process was rather fluid, the old was out in a minute cable marked. The Electromaax took a little longer to install, due to the fact that I needed to adjust the bottom bracket. Of course the “masochistic” engineer from Yanmar batted 100% by ensuring they use three size bolt, needing wrench 13/14/15 on three bolts, a new record for me. Bravo Monsieur.

One thing I have to say, the new one fit like a glove. But before I get any further with the plugging, I will send a request for clarification to the support e-mail of Electromaax.

Update: This was done at 4PM PST in a long document with diagram and photo, by 7PM PST or 10PM EST there time, I had a representative contacted me to review it. Asking a few more questions, and promising a call on Monday with an explanation once they have the time to meet on it. Did I mention this was on Saturday night?

Buying vs building your own water maker (Part 2)

V&L — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:30:06 +0000

As you know in our previous post we were in the research mode, and looking at what was available on the market. Realistically we are not here to re-invent the wheel, rather we can compare/understand and validate the products and design.

Today we will be focusing on the modular types with components, these can be purchased freely ranging from $3500 to $5000. Which enable us to have some rather similar designs within an homogenous group of products. We will stay within the 110 volt system, as I never researched the 12 volt system; the reason being those only produce an anemic GPH flow. I know some people feel that you just run them longer and that’s good for them, but I have heard enough on the battery limitation to understand, indeed you realistically need to run your engine to use them anyway.

Sea clear, The G20 : This one is advertised for $4100, and this system needs a 5kw generator, too bad… I loved the great control panel, fairly complete system and sturdy tubing. What I didn’t like : the feed pump, no mounting bracket for the vessel, and the High pressure pump is to me not up to par and I have doubt on some of the valve.

Echotec : One of the older company in this style of system. It just came out with a new line for small generator, albeit a solid and proven design the price is somewhat higher $5000 if not more… It is also missing the pre-filter gauge, still the rest looks like a good system.

The pioneer of this kind of design for small boat is Cruiser RO, priced at $ 4200 . I needs to validate the 1.6GPM pump (everybody is using 2.5GPM), it is lacking the pre-filter gauge. Having said that there is no doubt in my mind, this is the best service around you will get, the owner is really dedicated to his product.

Aquamarine: This one looks great , has a well thought design, yet when you research more the membrane is $588 a pop to replace! When asked why they were referred as “special”….

We also looked at some others like Pro water maker and village marine but quickly came to the sad realization that service was not their priority! We also discovered at the Seattle boat showUS water maker, however their prices are out of the window compare to some similar ones and at 0.5 GPM which I am not a believer.

So what does that show us, for the components they all have in common?

I am not going to elaborate on the home depot type item, ie: the pre-filter housing, discharge valve, and install small components. Those will be described in the final spreadsheet, once I am hopefully done with this project….

A feed pump some are 110 volts or 12 volts, with feed tube from ½ to ¾ inches
Ac motor going from 1HP to 2HP.
High pressure pumps from 1.6 GPM to 3.5GPM some with over loader and some without.
Vessel and membrane : the non “special” ones are all based on the SW30-2540, that must say something
A control panel : They all have the same fundamentals after that it is a matter of design, pick whichever you like best!

Now that we assessed the offering, in our next post we will elaborate and review the draft to refine our ideal system.

Buying vs Building your own water-maker Part 1

V&L — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:10:05 +0000

In the next few posts, we will research, design, validate and look for products which are available in the reverse osmosis system (this will be done within our parameters of course!)

Sounds impressive, doesn’t it but have no fear I am no engineer with fancy words or obscure magic box! I will share with you what I have learned in the process, which will eventually lead to the install of one on board our Letitgo, hopefully!… Rest assure!

The main question is what to buy? do we build one ourself or buy a package/kit?

First and foremost what are we looking for? The goal is to have a 20 GPH of production of fresh water. We need the entire thing running out of 14 Amp max so the Honda 2000 or inverter can run it. Deal! now, let’s see how far we are going on this project… Sorry I forgot to mention it needs to fit within our cruiser budget of course….

No $1500 is not possible ladies and gentlemen! Indeed, for a sturdy and long term daily used one, stop dreaming right now if this is the case… Yes I know some guys can sell you a plan on the internet for $25, and show you how to do it. In that case send me $100, and I will show you how to make a million out of it!… (this is my wicked sense of humour!)

But why am I putting myself against the wall for something that is well over my head? because :

I love challenge, learning something new and why not saving money at the same time. In other words, we are going to find out really fast, aren’t we genius!!!!
And also because I am a crazy French man!! remember….

Above all you may be wondering why didn’t we jump and sign a credit card receipt already?

Simple, all the wonderful machines available to us on the market at the moment are all electronic and fancy. And needless to say we don’t trust them lasting long under the heavy toll of blue water cruising and to top it all up they are super expensive. Please note that the following picture is for illustration only, to show small and electronic one’s, not a judgement of quality.

The modular system with “specialty” membrane will cost $600 a pop. What do you think? Am I stupid.
As for the system with all proprietary parts, good luck sourcing them from the middle of nowhere and at what price.
Finally a lot of small companies have emerged over the last few years, but we couldn’t find a system we entirely loved at first sight. And they are still all asking around $4200 $4500 for a basic system you have to install yourself in the end and add a few hundred dollars to fit your needs.

In other words how do we get started with this project? Google! Of course, my friend and we found a great article to get the brain in gear.

I will leave you with this good reading material for tonight, don’t dream too much about it. Next time we will review what is the offering out there and what are the components?

Our Seattle boat show report.

V&L — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 07:18:11 +0000

An early start accompanied with a rainy day welcomed us to the Seattle boat show. Some might think :”Easier than trying to work on the boat!” Although it still takes some dedication… This year was our third time around for us with two other major ones, which gave us the ability to compare and a good a perspective point of view. Please note that the following reflections are from sailboat owners outfitting and upgrading their vessels with hard earned money.

Our first observation would be regarding power boats and the cliche that comes along with it… Basically if I ever found myself living with two teenager step sons whom I need to impress with my youth/muscles and testosterone levels. Then the mother would be a blond bimbo with emphasized lungs wearing a tight blouse, and she would love the full sleeve tattoo, I would wear a $200 t-shirt and I would be loaded with cash to burn. Then the Boat show would be the best place to be. Back to reality, with a pinch this is not our case… yet!!

In this full day of touring, we saw a higher percentage of sleazy used car salesmen per square foot than at the auto mall on a busy Saturday afternoon. The only difference probably is that they wear dockside. We saw lots of sad looking booths, some designed like a grade 7 science project from an elementary school. *Wink to *B** While others had nothing to do with nautical theme, not event remote. Worse! some were still unsupervised two hours after the show had opened, if that doesn’t tell you something what will?

So our visit was pretty much confined to 15% of the total exhibit. And within this we found only a hand full of genuine service and equipment providers ready to answer our questions in an attentive manner. Needless to say very easy to find valued service.

This picture summarizes the show for us, big arch big speakers in your face, major rack powerboat. You may notice the rather small number of visitors in the aisle behind.

We had come prepared with only a few objectives in mind and a list drawn. Our rule was no impulse buying, no running around trying to find the impossible. So what where we after you may wonder?

Research the offering for life raft fitting in our alcove. We found the right manufacturer and model, boat show special $2800, internet “me” price $2400.
Find two cruising books on specials. They were 15% off, and I tried for one year to find second hand ones to no available.
Have a look at drogues to slow the boat down! (Thinking about that may be I could use a drogue to slow myself down… Luckily *V* puts me into check regularly!) We did look for a second hand one for the last two years though unsuccessful. So we got one, at the cheapest price around for that model.
Review with Navionics how to ascertain the chip we purchased, is post new design.
And have a chat with a young man, about some e-mail we exchanged in the last few weeks.

End result :

Did we achieve all this? Yes we did 100 %.
Did we see anything else that would warren more than five minutes of our attention? A big fat NO!
Was their deal you had to have? Once more NO!

Now for the fun of it, we will share with you what we thought were the “most recession proof “product. First the seabreacher, any “pilot” with $100K will buy one of those, no trouble… It even looks like an orca!

The second one is the Helicat, so useful the market must be amazing. So profitable, they have set up some fancy e-mail.

And last but not least we now have some serious boat jewellery! We pimped our ride, check out that shackle if that doesn’t give you some serious envy I don’t know what would?… And if we lose it we will cry… don’t even touch it! Am I starting to sound like one of those wake board, loud music type? Seriously let us introduce you to the rolls-Royce of all sea-drogue!

Long gone are the day of dragging tire with a chain on them.

Time to come back to our world, and salute the courageous exhibitor from Gig Harbor boats lost in the middle of this consumerism and superficial one… Thank you for such beautiful boats.

News flash, Alternator testing and sail delivery.

V&L — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 22:15:29 +0000

Two big arrivals today on Letitgo, one with no stress and one with just a little more spice but all have to do with power.

We received our asymmetrical spinnaker from voyager sail, first of all I would like to thanks Dale. During the entire process, his communication was perfect answered all question in detail and on time. He followed up during the production and delivery schedule. Respecting all his promises, looking back it took 16 e-mails and two phone calls, from first contact to delivery one month, in my book not bad.

We took it out of the box but had no time to play with it. We were chained to a project yesterday; sorry couldn’t resist the bad joke. We just took a glance, it looks good and *V*’s first observation was : the sail bag looks well finished inside and out, a good sign! She is the sail expert on board, ( editor’s note : no not quite….) all we need to do now is recruiting Rae to get out and see for the rest of the equation. How does it fly?

The second one is the arrival of the alternators from Electromaax, well packaged and looks well built to my amateur eyes. But with a suspicious cloud on top of them following the last few days event.

I knew where to go, so decided to make a run for the closer shop with a bench test. Not a fancy shop, but the owner seems to have seen a few devices in his career. Well what was the result?

On start up, once he turned a knob we saw 80 Amp at 1800 rpm he let it run for five minutes and we saw a decline but nothing under 75 Amp. I didn’t want to abuse his generosity and ask him his opinion. In a strong accent, his answer was simple “It’s all good, somebody knows how to built this thing”. Thank you sir and free of charge, if the sign would have said marine on it, I am sure it would have cost me $$$$.

So it seemed to confirm the original report that came with the unit. Max 120 Amp output, at 2000 rpm 73 Amp and 5000 rpm 116amp but that last one we hope to never achieve it on the boat.

Now the real test, will be coming in the next few weeks when I mount them on the boat. I will review the document for wiring, I will not hide you, that I am a little worried for that part and then we will benchmark with the Hitachi. My idea would be to keep an old one on one engine and install a new on one the other, run both at the same RPM and take measurement. Let me know if that is a good idea or not.

Seattle boat show this week end, see you all out there!

How internet spoiled my day?

V&L — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:16:42 +0000

It’s a “love hate” relationship… What are you talking about? Since when Internet is love? Well, you love it for the easy access to amazing informations and user friendly yet you hate it when you read something that doesn’t support the cause. And few days ago, you may remember that we announced our decision on the brand of Alternator.

For a whole year, in fact, I researched and read everything internet would provide me. Finally my decision was made, so at 5:00pm I placed my order. The deal was sealed, ordered and paid. Not even 2 hours later as I was reading one of my daily forum, a new thread on alternators was started! That same company was the main target… A little confusion during the order process by a dealer made my gut feeling turned sour and by then I was second guessing my judgment!

What did we do? Did I miss something? Did we make the wrong choice?

While *V* was reassuring me, and trusting me, we thought : ” Let’s wait and see, and sleep on it.” It seemed wise at this point to have these alternators bench tested once they arrive. If any sign of trouble or under performance were noticed, we would send them back to the manufacturer and a full refund would be requested. We crossed our fingers that we would not have any problem, and that the service would be there when we needed it. John had been amazing so far, granted it was not a smoke screen during the pre-sale phase…!

On my second point here, I want to emphasize on the sailing blogs written by young couples. Those are always fun to read, filled with wonderful adventures, great photos, good advices and sunshine (perfect for us dreamers). Unlike ours they are riveted and full of interesting topics for future cruisers like us. How do they turn into a “baby” blog after a year? My guess is : something in the water, the close proximity in a restricted space or the hot weather they need to get naked! Or is it like most of us, they fall in the trap and now they want descendants, inevitably their sailing priorities are gone… and somewhat different! No more secluded anchorage, fun escapes in the middle of the night because they wanted to leave the swell.

Now we get the day by day, sequence of events for 9 months and finally they disappear into suburban land leaving us with nothing to read but the retired couple blogs and not such attractive pictures. So, here is what I have to say : young couple out there no more babies! If I can say one more thing, don’t forget to focus on what’s important and have an exciting life aboard your boat and write about it. We need you, the productivity at work depends on you, in other words you are keeping us awake!

For our readers not to worry the chance of this happening to us are rather limited now! Oh wait a minute! we will have a 19 year old on board. No, no… wrong thought, indeed it’s impossible our baby is perfect. You should have seen her when she was first born, our shy sweet one openned up to a very beautiful rainbow shining! During her first days she wouldn’t eat as she was a premature baby……… Oops! See how easy that is? So for you young couple, we understand the joy you are living but please don’t leave us so dry now!

And last but not least internet gives us way too much information! When was the last time you decided to validate a home-brew engineering design? Because this is my next challenge… Once I analyzed my first offer, I indeed, decided that I should try and build our own Reverse Osmosis system. Why not? I have time, energy and realistically I want to understand the concept so I can do the repairs myself while on route. This should actually give us a few good posts and certainly give me a better appreciation for the research and development engineers out there.

Dad! you would be proud, I am even using skills you tried to teach me 25 years ago! I didn’t follow in your foot steps in the tool and die industry, and albeit all my resistance to it some of your advices are sticking to that small brain of mine…

Nothing to say….

V&L — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 02:33:37 +0000

Planning was perfect, sunny and warm for January in the PNW. We have now two anchors setup one with 100ft of chain plus 100 ft of rope, and the main one with 250 ft of chain.

If you ever done it, you know what our day was like, from the supplier shipping dock to the car. From the car to the floating dock (low tie, expert know what that mean) from the dock to the boat (we got the good idea to use the windlass), marked and yes the bitter end is tied up. Nothing else to say, no gym for us today…..

How did we get this reputation of “Crazy Frenchman” I wonder?

V&L — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:53:10 +0000

Ever since we immigrated few years back we have heard regularly sometimes under the breath, sometimes directly : “Wow! Crazy Frenchman”….

Somehow difficult for us to understand! You see when you are surrounded by them you don’t notice it… It must come from that proverb “Imposible n’est pas Francais” an expression we can translate literally (for once) “impossible is not French”. Indeed it’s casual to cross the Atlantic in a kayak, build your boat in your backyard, drink and eat for 6 hours nonstop and call it a special occasion, have a different kind of cheese every day!…

So this morning it was no surprise, when we heard that one French and one Swiss sailor went around Cape Horn in a catamaran. And in fact not any multihull, one that we could be qualify as a beach cata : “Nacra 20″ in other words the older brother of our previous one! At the moment we have friends preparing to round the cape with their sailing boat and simply admire their determination and amazing trip. And now imagine that on a 20 Ft open concept vessel, don’t you think they are pushing their envelope? They are living on the edge…

If you are still septic just have a look at those videos:

Ok now we don’t want to leave the rest of the world out of this madness equation why don’t you check out the tough mudder ! For the next time you need a little spice in life, go for it…