Mikey arrives on a shitty day

My brother, Mike, has arrived for a three week visit!! We're thrilled to
have his company on Renova. Too bad Tara couldn't join him.

Our first day was pretty relaxed. We sat around and caught up on news, and
enjoying unpacking the treats that he had brought with him from home. We
were thrilled with the books and magazines that he brought for us, as well
as lots of dried foods that will be great for the long sail home next month.
Our first evening was spent having dinner with the yachties.

Wind is light this week, so we've decided to stick around Majuro, until we
have some wind to push us to the outer islands. Even without wind, life
hasn't been dull. Mike's first full day was spent watching John rebuild our
head (toilet)...the most loved boat project aboard. Unfortunately, we
discovered a crack in the pedestal, so we've had to order a new part. Oh
well...it's a good thing we have great mail service here. There was no
shortage of poo jokes around here. Two boys, a toilet in pieces in the
cockpit and the kitchen, and the chief mechanic is also the chief cook. Yep.
Good times.

Shit-eating grin :O)

Oh yeah. And it poured rain for his first two days.

Radio Heaven

We've died and gone to radio heaven.

We've spent the better part of a week or so installing our new radios. First, we installed a new VHF radio. This one has AIS. The picture below shows the display that shows all the nearby vessels that are transmitting an AIS signal (commercial traffic typically), and some killer info...like how fast they are going, what direction they are headed, if and when they will collide with us. Simple things that make life SO much better. And hopefully, safer.

We toyed with getting an AIS receiver, that would plug into our chart plotter software. It would require an extra VHF antenna. No problem, we've already mounted a spare. But...when we're on a passage, we don't run our chart plotter continuously. Saving power. But we do keep our VHF on. So, this was a perfect solution.

Sadly, our old cockpit mic doesn't work with this unit, but no worries. The good folks at Standard Horizon are sending us a compatible one ASAP!!

The other uber-cool radio news is that we are working on a SSB radio!! Andy and Monica on SV Savannah sold us their old radio for a smokin' good price. We (well, mostly John) installed it in only three days (!) with a fair amount of course language that I attribute to years on job sites and fishing boats. But, bad language aside, guess what - it works, mostly!! We are still doing some testing, and it isn't perfect, but we're making great progress.

Life is good. Our projects are coming along well. Departure from Majuro is imminent.

Back in Majuro

Sorry for the radio silence.

We're back in Majuro. We left Honolulu early Monday morning, crossed the
date line, and arrived Tuesday morning. After a passage of 22 days, we
managed to cover the same distance in just 5 hours. Amazing. And no charges
for our overweight bags. Well, unless you consider the rips and tears a type
of fee.

Being back has its pros and cons. For instance...we wondered if Renova
always smelled like this? A bit musty. Even mildew-y. Did her woodwork
always have these worn patches here and there? I suspect so. We've simply
been spoiled with the wonderful new-ness of MY Laysan. Even so, after almost
two months of neglecting Renova, we're glad to be home, and after our
initial day of rest, we're already in frantic cleaning mode. We're anxious
to begin exploring the reputedly phenomenal outer islands of this country.
And...it feels good to give Renova some love.

Renova in a state of disrepair, as we do a mad clean

So far, we've scrubbed, de-cluttered, installed a new VHF (with AIS...yeah),
and dined with our fellow yachties! We've also spent time with our friends
on SV Carina, who were kind enough to help us with some sail repair while we
were away. We had noticed that some of the stitching on our 2009 genoa was
coming loose at the clew, and we had some areas of chafe. Philip and Leslie
did a fabulous job of the repairs and we've learned a lot along the way.
We've got a few more projects on the to-do list, before we leave here. SSB
installation. Alternator install. Provisioning. Immigration. Computer
set-up. And the list goes on.

Leslie and Philip from SV Carina help us with sail repair

I'm sure there are a zillion emails in our inbox. We've been very negligent.
Sorry. I need to spend a couple days tapping out our belated replies. Until
the captain sets me free from cinderella duty, please know that we are
thankful for your emails, and will respond personally asap!
If it is any consolation...I was able to take advantage of free and fast
wifi at the yacht club by uploading pics to our flickr page. I posted pics
of our time at Abemama, Tarawa, Abaiang, Majuro, Johnston and Honolulu. You
can check them out here: www.flickr.com/photos/naomit

Stay tuned...I'm keenly aware that we have more to blog about the rest of
our time in fabulous Honolulu, and some stats summarizing our trip from
Majuro to Hawaii on MY Laysan. Coming soon to a browser near you!
Pics: Leslie and Philip do a fabulous job with our sail repairs. This is
what Renova looks like in major de-clutter mode. Yep - that's my flip flop
collection at John's feet. I've made a major contribution to reducing our
gross tonnage by sacrificing two pair.

Nothing Going On

Dec 5

I tried to tell you that there wasn't much interesting going on here.
Interesting is the key word. We've been busy enough with various boat
projects. But not so interesting. For example, last week I spent 3 days
polishing 2 lamps. Yep. Good times.

Labels: Majuro, Marshall Islands, maintenance, projects

Let there be Light!!

Nov 29

We are slaves to our battery bank. When it is sunny, and the solar panels
are putting in lots of amps, we are happy campers. But (and there is always
a BUT), Majuro isn't an especially sunny spot. I know...we're in the
tropics. Crazy. But still - not sunny. Hot? Yes. Muggy? Yes. But sunny?
Well, sometimes. Good for our water tanks. Bad for our batteries. So, John
happily gets to put our new generator and battery charger to good use.

As a result of the lack of sun, we are miserly with our power usage. We have
solar lights that we use inside the cabin to read at night. And we have a
solar garden light that we use as an anchor light. Both are not so bright.

But, we've found a solution. A local yachtie sold us two strips of LED
lighting. John attached one to a long cable and velcroed (is that a verb?)
it around the mast. The second strip he fitted into our existing anchor
light fixture at the top of the mast. Now, we have SUPER bright lights, and
we can be seen at night. Which is a good thing. Especially on Sundays. When
the locals might be just a bit tipsy. And might rage through the mooring
fields. Mighty Fast. Mighty Close. Sheesh.

Here's a pic of our new light wrapped around the mast, and a pic of the boat
John took while installing the anchor light on the top of the mast.

Labels: Majuro, Marshall Islands, weather, maintenance, gear, projects

Renova's Make-over

Well, as a result of one of our cushion covers looking and smelling REALLY bad when we returned to the boat, we decided to finally recover the cushions. We've always hated our existing cushions, but they weren't bad enough to justify the expense of re-upholstery. SO....this was just the push we needed. We picked out some Polynesian fabric (surprisingly, not flowers), and I spent a full day on the boat with the sewing machine. By the time we went to visit Secret Agent Man for dinner, I had all four cushions complete, and was pretty pleased with myself!! :O)

The new, blue cushions are on the top of the image, the old, yellow-beige cushions are on the bottom. Although they didn't look bad, all the loose cushions were a pain in the butt.

Boat Jobs

John and I had a busy two weeks of boat projects, and exploring San Fran! He was able to replace the worn parts on the steering system, and it now works like new. We also ordered new batteries for our house bank, as our Canadian Tire models seemed to have lost their capacity. John also dove the boat to replace the zinc, which was completely disappeared after only 4 months, and give the bottom of the boat a scrub.
I also winched him up the mast, so that we could further investigate our anchor light. Luckily, it was just a burned out bulb.

Labouring on Labour Day

My folks arrived for a visit on the Labour Day Weekend. For a week, we worked hard varnishing the boat, and other assorted odd jobs. To be honest, Dad put in long hours with the scraper and brush, while Mum and I ran errands, picked up supplies and groceries, and other jobs, before picking up our paint brushes. It was a lot of work, but it looks great. I'm getting lots of compliments on the boat at the marina, and I'm sure Dad could have hired himself out and been able to enjoy the sun for many more weeks!

Although I didn't take any photos of the varnishing process, we did manage to sneak away for one afternoon of the Sausilito Art Festival. We wandered the artist booths, drank beer, and watched the Heros of Woodstock (did you know that it has been 40 years?). Here we are enjoying Canned Heat, and Jefferson Starship...

Oops..

As we were measuring the boat for the new sail we ordered, I didn't do a great job of attaching the tape to the halyard. So, unfortunately, the tape came tumbling down to deck without the halyard attached. There is only one way to get it back... climb up to the top of the mast to get it! Rookies.

Look Ma...No Hands!!

We've finally had a chance to test out our newly installed Monitor wind vane. We sailed...or rather, the vane sailed... almost the entire way from our house to Rebecca Spit. As you can see in the picture, the vane is tilted by the wind, which in turn, moves the pendulum in the water. This pendulum pulls on the lines, which are led back to the wheel. MAGIC!

Now we just have to come up with a name for it. I suggested Hans ...remember Hans and Franz....here to pump you up!! Hans is also the name of the inventor.

Saving Money

I might as well be Scottish...I LOVE to save money. So...when I discovered the price of a man-over-board pole, I decided to build it myself. Thankfully, I enlisted the help of Amy and Strahan over the Easter weekend. We spend an afternoon cutting, filing, sanding, weighting, testing, refining, and finally celebrating!! No major injuries occurred, so we considered this project a success. And...only 6 trips to the hardware store!

The idea is that you throw this pole off the boat, when someone is discovered to have gone overboard. It has a weight at one end, a float near the middle, and (will have) a flag at the top to help you re-locate the person. Safety first...