tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89816971310200333472024-03-06T12:00:24.945-08:00Windborne in Puget SoundLife aboard s/v EolianRobert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.comBlogger1072125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-42970749101605618632023-04-23T16:24:00.000-07:002023-04-23T16:24:56.824-07:00The End of an Era I always knew it would be coming some day... "some day in the future", but my last spinal surgery (#5...) has me realizing that the time has come. After 25 years, it is time to pass Eolian on to her next steward. EolianCustom Downeast 45 SPECIFICATIONSLOA: 52’LOD: 45’LWL: 36’Beam: 14’DRAFT: 5’ 6”DISPLACEMENT: 39,000 lbBALLAST: 12,000 lb, Internal LeadRIG: Staysail ketchSAIL AREA:Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-55406000013902363622023-01-27T08:44:00.003-08:002023-01-27T08:53:22.663-08:00Revolutionary Propeller Design I have talked about propellers and propeller design before, here and here. In fact I proposed a new propeller design with a circular rim, but this revolutionary design takes it a huge step further. Called a 'toroidal propeller', this design claims to eliminate tip vortices, consequently delivering a 20% increase in efficiency, and a huge decrease in noise. Tho Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-49190998810810994522022-07-13T12:39:00.001-07:002022-12-29T11:03:11.519-08:00Bullet-proof? Not hardly Not even finger-proofWell, now I have the answer. Remember way back, when I discussed Lexan vs. Plexiglass and postulated that polycarbonate (trade name: Lexan) would lose its properties when exposed to the sun over time? Well here is one of my polycarbonate storm windows, after 6 years exposure only in the winter, on the sunny side of Eolian in her slip. I literally Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-83099797076245504202022-06-16T13:02:00.002-07:002022-12-29T11:23:10.776-08:00Back on the DockWell, here we are back on the dock in Anacortes.The last few days were great. The forcasted blow did indeed come, but in Blind Bay, where the anchor loves the bottom and with 100' of 3/8" chain out in 25' of water, we were more than secure and slept soundly.There were no more sunset moments from Blind Bay (view to the west is obscured by the protecting ramparts of the island), but it Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-49607201880235232142022-06-12T13:20:00.007-07:002022-06-12T13:20:27.780-07:00Finally!This has been the coldest, wettest spring in decades here in the PNW. There has been absolutely no incentive to go out and sit in the cold rain.Until now.We are finally (!) off the dock, anchored out in the San Juan Islands in our favorite anchorage: Blind Bay. But lest you think the rains had stopped... no. One of our days out here (day 3) was spent at anchor, listening to the Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-26886390358130463222022-05-16T12:28:00.001-07:002022-05-16T12:28:45.834-07:00Maintenance Spring ContinuesIt seems that every time we have come to the boat this spring, something has required attention. When we arrived this past Saturday, yet another maintenance item reared its head. When I turned on the power to the fresh water pressure pump, we were greeted with the sound of... nothing. No water pressure.A little bit of diagnostics disclosed that the pump was ok, but the pressure Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-51349352892903613782022-05-07T14:10:00.009-07:002022-05-10T09:33:04.482-07:00Valves, Oh My!Eolian's two valves which select which water tank the domestic supply is drawn from have been getting more and more difficult to turn over the years. This spring, I decided that enough was enough... before I broke something. They were bronze valves, and were as old as the boat.Here's the plumbing tree. Water supply from the two tanks is at the
top left and right. Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-81914897576497362352022-04-22T11:31:00.003-07:002022-04-23T11:00:04.838-07:00No-no Will Be Corrected You probably can't tell from the photo, but that is a no-no.You see, thru-hulls are threaded NPS (National Pipethread,Straight), so that seacocks can be threaded onto them tight against the hull, regardless of the hull thickness. Normal pipe fittings are NPT (National Pipethread, Tapered) so the connection will bind up solidly when things are tightened up.In the picture, you see a Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-5594396870151770902022-03-09T13:51:00.000-08:002022-03-09T13:51:32.501-08:00Maintenance Spring No, not spring maintenance, maintenance spring.It started back in November when one day, when we boarded the boat, the primary bilge pump was running. Huh. After a long afternoon of troubleshooting, I was unable to find anything wrong, so I put everything back together. Weeks later it happened again. I finally concluded that it had to be the float switch, even tho itRobert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-15599917497677088522022-02-09T12:18:00.001-08:002022-02-15T09:41:47.176-08:00Frostline Marine Refrigeration It seems that we are always ready to complain when a business fails to meet our expectations in some way. But then we are silent when things go perfectly... well this is one of those perfect cases.Over the years (23?...) since Eolian's last refrigeration service, things worked well... until the last year or so, when the refrigeration compressor would start, run for a few Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-81646266268274737732022-01-28T08:10:00.000-08:002022-01-28T08:10:00.619-08:00Perkins 4-236 Shop Manual The Perkins 4-236 is one of those small diesel engines that seemingly got adopted for every use under the sun. One of those uses was in boats, and Eolian has one.Because I like to have documentation on Eolian's important bits, I wanted the shop manual for this engine, and thanks to the courtesy of Martyn Lancing of Lancing Marine in the UK, I now have one.If you would like a copy, Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-4880461795104341352022-01-21T09:09:00.004-08:002022-02-15T09:41:59.043-08:00Turn, Turn, TurnBack in 1998, when I was spending my first summer living aboard Eolian, the 12V electric motor which powers the refrigeration system failed. Back then, 23 years ago, I pulled the motor and walked up into the South Lake Union area to a motor rebuild shop. A day later, I had the rebuilt motor back in hand and reinstalled it.Fast forward those 23 years, and the motor has again failed - Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-47450295714455139462021-12-11T09:17:00.002-08:002021-12-11T09:17:57.010-08:00Christmas!...and just like that, Eolian is decorated!Merry Christmas! As in the last couple of years, we aren't going to decorate the outside - the winter storms out here at the far end of D-dock are just too destructive.Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-25427492335824584322021-12-03T13:50:00.006-08:002021-12-03T14:09:34.262-08:00Sea Hood: A Little More Canvas Work Way back in 2004 when we had Barrett Enclosures in Seattle make new cockpit canvas for Eolian, they produced the dodger as a single, complex piece of canvas consisting of three major pieces, all sewn together:The "windshield" portion that provides the forward view,the "roof" which covers the space between the first and second bows and provides shelter when the sliding hatch is opened, Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-89162367616602651182021-11-20T09:05:00.010-08:002021-11-20T09:17:46.505-08:00The Old Ways (Yes, I know it has been a loonngg time since I added to this blog. Life.)I looked back to see, and I don't think I have ever mentioned this topic, so here goes.As a part of owning Eolian and being responsible for her maintenance and upkeep, the beautiful teak and holly cabin sole needs periodic maintenance - more so in the more frequently traveled areas. This involves taping Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-30287392374756176032021-07-16T11:12:00.005-07:002021-07-17T07:47:30.478-07:00Public Service Announcement: Aerosol Cans and HeatSome of you may have heard that we had a completely unprecedented heat wave here in the Pacific Northwest. Seattle temps exceeded 110°F!There are consequences from this kind of heat.These are the remains of a Freon airhorn that we had kept in the cockpit, for decades. It says right there on the can, "protect from temperatures above 120°F". Well, sitting there in the fully Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-31129063337530278902020-11-14T18:50:00.002-08:002020-11-14T18:50:43.772-08:00Apples... Many Apples We have two apples trees on our Camano Island property. If you have apple trees, you'll know that in the fall you get more apples than you can deal with. You give some away (until the neighbors pull their curtains when they see you coming). You make apple sauce, apple crisp, apple cobbler, apple pies. It's a problem like the zucchini one - What do you do with the Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-79717018668377808852020-10-05T08:56:00.001-07:002020-10-05T08:56:01.248-07:00PersistencePersistence pays off in the end, if you don't give up too early. This is one of those cases... Remember this post? In it I talked about using aluminum tape to seal the top of the mast boot to the mast proper...When it was newBackspacing at least 10 years, we have been dealing with intermittent leaks at the mast partners. Each thing that we have done has improved the situation...Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-28020928541034252542020-10-05T07:15:00.000-07:002020-10-05T07:15:30.145-07:00Improved Deck RingEolian's deck ring was not molded into the deck because the Downeast 45 was sold with three different rigs: sloop, ketch (Eolian), and schooner. Because each of these rigs required a different mainmast location, it was impractical to make three different deck molds. Instead, the deck ring was fabricated from two pieces of teak and bolted to the deck in the appropriate position for Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-34093204376679377062020-09-03T08:52:00.000-07:002020-09-03T08:52:36.783-07:00Compression
I count 61 boats...
With the Canadian border closed due to the virus, all the boaters that would normally have made a trip up into the Gulf Islands are prevented from doing so. Consequently the San Juan Islands are absolutely packed this summer. In the photo above, taken while we were at anchor in Blind Bay, I counted 61 boats. In a normal year, on a holiday weekend, we Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-47372211748636145972020-06-22T10:57:00.000-07:002020-06-27T11:10:18.780-07:00Do You Have a Buffing Wheel?Do you have brass items on your boat?
If you do, then you will be familiar with the slow, inevitable change that comes over brass when it i exposed to moisture and sea air... it turns dark and dingy. In fact this is a form of corrosion. And woe unto you if a drop of salt water should come in contact with the brass - the surface layer will de-zincify, leaving behind just straight copper.
Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-11774674644179608282020-06-14T07:29:00.000-07:002020-06-14T09:06:46.725-07:00Cabin Warmth
On these early spring days here in the PNW (actual summer, with temperatures in the 70s, doesn’t arrive here until the second week of July) the cabin is mighty cold when I get up. With outside temperatures in the very low 50s and when there is a wind blowing, the cabin temperature is not much higher than the outside. We sleep comfortably under our (nearly) year-round comforter, butRobert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-56805597653445345662020-05-24T10:50:00.004-07:002020-05-24T11:54:34.869-07:00Preventing Holding Tank CollapseSome time back I wrote a post about filtering the effluent gases coming out the holding tank vent at the stern. As anyone knows, when the breeze is over the stern, the odor can be truly revolting, thus the need for the activated carbon filter.
It works beautifully, by the way. Until, that is, the charcoal becomes saturated.
Then you simply discard the old charcoal and pour in a new Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-31558057717539804242020-05-22T18:14:00.001-07:002020-05-22T18:31:33.596-07:00Starting The Season Right
Although we use Eolian year round, overnighting at the dock at least once a week, there is that special night - the one that marks the beginning of the boating season. For us, that was last night. We are fully provisioned and will leave the dock for 10-14 days tomorrow morning.
And every year, for the first night of the season, it is a tradition aboard Eolian that we watch one of Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8981697131020033347.post-54820699836010863902020-04-24T08:15:00.002-07:002020-04-24T08:15:26.206-07:00Third And Final Hatch CoverThe first two hatch covers that I built were nearly identical, even sharing two of the three critical dimensions. The final cover, the one that covers our butterfly hatch (called that because when the flaps are open it looks like a perched butterfly, I suppose) is completely different.
This cover has two ends which are vaguely "house" shaped and one long piece that drapes from one side, over Robert Salnickhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17236481906016930762noreply@blogger.com2