Life has never been better.
I proudly have .62 cents in my bank account. I’m waiting on some cash from running the house and some insurance money for saving that boat from sinking a few months back. But at the moment I have .62 cents in the bank and $38 bucks in my pocket. Guess what, life is grand! Also the car doesn’t run, my motorcycle doesn’t run, and my outboard is shot. My buddy 
Hanz is a good outboard mechanic and is looking into it. I’m so looking forward to splashing the Dyer and rowing, rowing, rowing my way to the shore, minimalism, and health. A rowing dinghy is really the only way to go for me! I’m sick of all the technology, mechanical crap, and complications.
I’m taking this opportunity to restore my old Dyer midget sailing dinghy. The wood under the bumper was completely rotten. I pulled off the rub rail and the wood on the inside, and outside of the fiberglass hull. I pulled out the seats and oarlocks and cleaned her up 
today.
I couldn’t find teak, but found some really nice almond wood. It’s very hard and according to local carpenter very strong and will last in a wet marine environment. As you can see in the photo I’ve wetted the wood and I’m bending it prior to instillation.
I’m going to make a few modifications to the midget. There was foam under the two seats and I’m going to fibraglass them solid and put watertight access to both of them so I have some storage for a 
light, some fishing gear, or whatever.
I’m going to sand, prime, and spray her in the coming weeks. I’m thinking of going with a black hull 
Carla, my bride to be, is in the states visiting her brother for 4 days and returning with the 5/16bbb gypsy for my new/used Lofrans falkon windlass, and the Glacier Bay Micro HPS refrigeration system I scored on eBay. As soon as I can afford the refrigeration foam I’m going to continue building my refrigerator box.
Oh how I cant wait to go voyaging again. I’m sooooo ready to leave Panama and continue on my path with Carla. My list is getting quite small now. I still need a drifter (sail) and to replace my stantions and life lines. The haul out is a big expensive project but I’m sure it will happen in the not too distant future. I need to fix blisters, re barrier coat, replace all the through hulls, and fabricate my sea chest. I’m also thinking of building a keel cooler. Still seems a bit intimidating but my project list is diminishing quickly and Splendid will voyage as soon as humanly possible!
Peace, love, and coconuts guys.
Sail far and live slowly.
– Alex
Hi Alex,
I’m a long time reader (years) 1st/2nd time (not totally sure) commentator. Quick question, would you be willing to take on a would be sailor for a paid vacation/learning experience whilst on your travels? I’ve never been sailing but I’ve been really interested in it ever since college after reading Maiden Voyage by Tania Aebi. From reading your blog I can tell you’ve been open to this in the past.
Thanks,
Josh
Josh, for sure. Send me an email to alexdorsey at gmail and we can chat about it.
I really am the luckiest guy in the world.
My neighbor is low on cash as many cruisers are. He offered me a 2006 Honda 2.0 HP 4 stroke outboard motor for helpng him with a fibreglass project. The funny thing is its the little motor I wanted and they dont sell them in Panama. They are air cooled, super simple, and very fuel efficent
And I just got $150 donation which is going straight into the refrigeration foam fund, thanks Henri.
Alex:
That a boy… Be grateful for what you have and the Universe will provide. I’ve watched it happen to you, myself and others for a very long time. So it is working again for you. Congratulations.
Looks like you are tearing into Splendid still and touching her in all the places that you can. I think they like that and the results are a kick.
Talk with you soon…
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
Hello Alex,
What foam are you using for the refrigeration box rebuild?
Lorry,
i’m using the blue 4×8 closed cell sheets with the foil backing (moisture barrier).
My brother-in-law to be brought me a great present. He had a carputer (12v computer) he wasn’t using with a small 12v touch screen monitor which i’m installing at the helm. It makes a great chart-plotter using onpen CPN.
What I really like about it is it isn’t a laptop (disposable) and one can easily upgrade or replace hardware if necessary.
Peace.
Thank Alex.
FYI about that foam: The previous owners (2 owners ago) of our boat insulated the box to reduce the size and make the refrigeration system more efficient. They used polyisocyanurate (closed cell foam with foil backing on both sides) and good metal foil tape to seal the 90 degree seams and topped each side with a thin panel of pvc (or some similar plastic sheeting) and sealed those seams with silicone. Since then the compressor started to wear out and needs to run continuously to draw enough BTUs to keep the holding plate frozen. Because of that, the next owner (the guy we bought the boat from) from would turn on the fridge during the day when the solar could keep up with the demand of a compressor that was constantly running.
When we took the boat over I vacuumed and recharged the system thinking that would help but it didn’t. We were in the process of cleaning the fridge and discovered that the bottom layers of insulation had been saturated with water rendering them ineffective. The owners who had added the insulation would check the silicone whenever they defrosted the fridge but since the guy we bought the boat from would basically defrost nightly, the water accumulated in the bottom of the fridge and found its way into the foam.
The FYI is that that despite the fact that the foam is closed cell, it can still absorb moisture eventually.
So we basically replaced what was there but did some modifications to the foam panels. We sealed each edge with metal tape and allowed a pathway to the drain at the bottom of the factory built fridge.
Nice find on the carputer. I’ve been trying to figure out something for our chart plotter when the current one craps out or we extend beyond the current chart coverage. Garmin chips are ridiculously expensive. Laptop and tablet screens just aren’t cut out for daytime viewing. I wish someone would use the e-reader anti glare screen technology and make a filter that you could put over a tablet or laptop.
Lorry, the carputer is great and easy to fix or buy hardware for.
Was the foam exposed? or was it covered by fiberglass? It shouldn’t absorb condensation. I’m planning to cover it with 1/4’marine ply with a few sheets of cloth and epoxy paint.
Cheers.
Lorry, the carputer is great and easy to fix or buy hardware for.
Was the foam exposed? or was it covered by fiberglass? It shouldn’t absorb condensation. I’m planning to cover it with 1/4’marine ply with a few sheets of cloth and epoxy paint.
Cheers.
Originally, the edges of all foam panels were exposed with the 90 degree wall-to-base and wall-to-wall edges taped with a high adhesive metal foil tape. This tape wasn’t the regular metal foil tape but ANSI spec’d for heating and cooling applications. I can’t remember the name of the tape.
All of that was covered with the 1/8″ thick plastic (possibly PVC?) panels which had a bead of silicone applied to the wall-to-base and wall-to-wall edges. That worked fine as originally installed and a properly functioning compressor and the problem developed when there was nightly defrosting with no easy path for the water to escape.
We used the same foam and re-used the plastic panels but made a couple of modifications to last for the short term. Because we will be essentially defrosting the fridge every night, we sealed the edge of the foam with metal tape and cut the corner of the foam on the base to allow water to drain to the factory installed drain in the original fridge box. That should hopefully keep the defrost water from penetrating too deeply into the foam on the base.
I had considered a more permanent solution of epoxying and glassing the base foam or of creating a fiberglass tub above the foam with a drain pipe to the factory drain. However, since we diagnosed the condenser to be on its last leg, we will let it limp along until it craps out and then probably do a fridge box rebuild at that time.
Your thoughts of 1/4″ ply with should work to protect the foam. The foam we used had foil backing on both sides, but one side had an almost paper material on top of the foil as well. Also, the foil wasn’t stuck to the foam very well and could peel off and develop and air pocket which would allow condensation to form and possibly soak into the foam over a long period of time. That shouldn’t be a problem in most cases where the refrigerator is constantly on and functioning properly but because ours was (and is) being defrosted nightly, there’s a greater chance for that to happen.
I am not sure what insulation foam/system we’ll go with when we rebuild the box. According to a thread at Cruiser’s Forum (http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/f115/isocast-r-polyisocyanurate-insulation-57486.html#post656211), DOW recommended Styrofoam over polyisocyanurate for a humid environment. I like the R-value of polyisocyanurate so would consider removing the foil backing and painting with epoxy to seal them against possible condensation problems, but DOW recommends Styrofoam, so not sure. For what it’s worth, while we were diagnosing our refrigeration system, a cheap Styrofoam cooler with 2.5″ walls kept a block of ice for 5 days while a standard Coleman camping cooler only kept it for 1 day.
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