ARRRG, THE BILGE!
The bilge on any boat is a horrible ship-hole. A stinky, oily, mildewie hole, and in my case, my bilge is 40 years old. All the paint has chipped away and it catches every piece of gunk that falls through the floor boards, and has been doing so for four decades. Whenever I have extra epoxy paint I will take a section and give it new life.
Well, I’ve glassed the cat pump and electric motor into the engine room and it was time to mount the hi-pressure vessel for the water-maker membrane. I decided to mount it in the bilge by the forward head. It took 3 days as I had some repair work, but Carla and I managed to transform this section of bilge into 
something usable and clean. As you can see we’ve built a mount for the pressure vessel and it is ready to accept another vessel as soon as we can afford one, doubling our fresh-water output to about 40 GPH.
Carla is the organizing tupperware queen and likes to maximize every square inch of 
space on Splendid, I like it 
.
All I need to finish the watermaker now is plumbing. I have a new (used) feed pump in Panama City and I need to have some hi-pressure hose made up and to buy some belts and fittings. It shouldn’t be long before we’re making 20+ gallons of fresh water an hour.
I just got news. A friend of mine is coming on the 10th for a surprise visit. I don’t know if you remember Gary on “Plan B” but we transited the canal years ago and spent a lot of time bumming around Panama together. Gary sold “Plan B” a few years back and may be 
looking for another boat.
I just had to post this funny picture of Carla, she looks so sleepy. Carla isn’t finished with her first canvas job, and she already has her second. Our friends were having dinner with some Italians from a 72’ boat. The Italians saw Carla’s cool fitted sunbrella table cover and asked for our number. Well we had to go bid their job early in the morning and neither one of us is used to getting up and about that early. The Italian job is a big one and they need their bimini re-stitched, new cockpit cushions, and everything covered below, it’s a big boat and Carla has her work cut out for her. I was teasing her about this photo as it looks like she is off for her first day of school with her little backpack.
Sail far and live slowly.
– Alex
Published in Alex Dorsey
alex, love the pictures because they really compliment the journal entry. they always say a picture is worth a thousand words. good luck with the water maker, looks like you are doing some good work. just curious how much water pressure do you need to push saltwater through the membranes? we run up to around 300 psi in the winter time when the water is cold with fresh water. i bet you might get up to around 600 psi or so and if you head up north to the mediterranean in some cold water you might be pushing 700-800? sounds like carla is going to have here hands full with the canvas work and wish her the best.
Do you ever keep up with lee winters sailing for SOS? sounds like a pretty hard core sailor. He’s off the coast of africa getting ready to cross the atlantic
Roy,
For sea water in this temperature 800psi is about right although my vessel is good to work at 1000psi (more water). Carla is going to do very well with the Canvas as she really loves it, but not keep her hands too full :) It is a nice business as she can work in any port in the world.
I do know Lee, he’s a good guy/sailor for sure.
I’m really, really, really looking forward to making water, then its off to the refrigeration project. I’m going to build the system from scratch around an open drive Bitzer compressor as I don’t like disposable components. The first thing I’ll do is tear apart the icebox and re-insulate with 6” of foam. We are going to have a big, deep freeze holding plate system with a smaller spill box refrigerator and keel cooler. I’m all about doing it once, and doing it right.
I’m really shooting for some distance voyaging next season. If we can get a few more charters and Carla can make a few bucks we could pull it off, lots of work but we are in the final leg and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Peace
Hey Alex,
After all these years of lurking your blog, I finally took the plunge and bought myself a little RK20 sailboat. Actually, I traded my ancient KLR650 motorcycle for it after I convinced the guy that I was mad about sailing. It’s a 20′ flush deck cabin boat with a swing keel that gets a 1.6′ draft with keel up – talk about gunk hole capability, lol.
Now I know it might not seem like a big enough boat for a ‘cruising lifestyle’ but you’d be surprised. For its size, the layout is very spacious. It can comfortably carry gear and at least 6 weeks of food. And except for the headroom space, the living space is quite sufficient for me. I guess I’ll learn to deal with the lack of stand-up room. Anyway, it’s like the Army. You use what you’ve got. Right?
As far as engineering goes, it will take a few months to replace the interior and the completely rotted deck core as well as the standing rigging. I will be manufacturing a brand new interior because, thank god, my dad’s a master carpenter. He can pop in a brand new interior in about 10 days using back stock in his shop/warehouse. Yay for family hookups! The deck might take a little more thinking because I want to re-engineer some additional bad weather capacity into the boat. The standing rigging is about $80 to $120 of wire and clevis pins. Maybe another Benjamin for someone to put it together.
Anyway, after a couple of false starts in the cruising lifestyle, I hope I can finally make it work. Honestly Alex, I’ve just about given up on cruising by now. (I think I even made a rather smartypants post about just not being cut out for this kind of life, right here.) This whole thing just kind of fell into my lap and I honestly think six months from now I might not even have had the initiative to pursue it. I guess it was the last minute for me, lol.
It’s funny how life is, right?
Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for kicking my butt on here a couple of times and keeping the fire going in my belly. I really don’t think I would have done it without ‘ya.
Yoda mouse, good on ya brother. You said you wanted to drink cold beer and play video games, you can do both in a boat :)
Check out my friends cool sailing video of Greenland:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fL_Nfoqqvhw
Peace
Hi Alex, this was posted on sailnet and I thought of you. Do what you want with it.
——————————————————————————–
I received this email today:
If you think you qualify post your info here in the thread.
Phil MacGregor
“We are a major television company developing a documentary series about what’s it like to live off the grid on a sailboat. Do you know of any salty sea dogs who live on the hook in North America, Hawaii or the Caribbean who might be good characters to feature in the series? If so please contact us”.
Have at it you Salty Dogs!
Good Phil, put ’em to work. Alex, you’ve got a lot to say. Bet of luck.
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
Alex,
Thanks for sharing that Greenland video.. I dont know if you remember but that is my first destination place to sail to when I leave.. I think I would be in constant awe the entire time..
with the summer so short there I dont think it would be to hard to go there and then head south before the real summer is over..
Wow, Just wow..
Take care man, and say hello to Carla for me..
Steve Wilson
Talked 2 bob ( bitchn ) @ the miami boat show. he said u were writting 4 his new mag?????
Talked 2 bob ( bitchn ) @ the miami boat show. he said u were writting 4 his new mag?????
Chuck,
Hummmmm, haven’t talked to him about it?
Kind of bummed I cant find the right plumbiung in Panama city to finish the wtermaker, will have to order from the states.
ARRRRGGGGGGGGGG!
Alex get in touch with http://www.trotacmarine.com/ in Victoria BC. I can pick up and bring down what ever you need at the end of March,
I can even go to West Marine if that work out better for you. Just email them and they can call me when the parts and pieces are ready to be picked up.
Curtis
Alex get in touch with http://www.trotacmarine.com/ in Victoria BC. I can pick up and bring down what ever you need at the end of March,
I can even go to West Marine if that work out better for you. Just email them and they can call me when the parts and pieces are ready to be picked up.
Curtis
I wasn’t going to say anything, but since this post is still happening….
WHY, Alex, WHY did you send sweet Carla to the bilge??? And then you got her a gig in an offshore sewing sweatshop??? Shame on you!
I just pulled my Perkins 4.108! Giving her a face lift (main oil seals ++). You should see my abyss of a bilge. Diving in this weekend. Considering building a jacuzzi and going engine-less, or a pool table. But then again, I love the old grunt!
P
Curtis,
I may take you up on that, I’m going to work on a list this weekend.
Peter,
Don’t you know anything about girlfriends? Man, keep’m in the bilge and working, never let them know they are special, and give them a good flogging every once in a while. Otherwise they just get out of control.
Curtis,
I may take you up on that, I’m going to work on a list this weekend.
Peter,
Don’t you know anything about girlfriends? Man, keep’m in the bilge and working, never let them know they are special, and give them a good flogging every once in a while. Otherwise they just get out of control.