An Unexpected Outcome

 

2012 Survey Haul Out

 

 

2023-04-08 - destruction complete

 

Due to an unforeseen confluence of multiple unexpected forces in the last few weeks - I have had to make the hard decision to dispose of my boat. 

The boat was removed from her slip on Friday, March 17th - and will be destroyed - as soon as it can be arranged by the service provider I have engaged.

There are lessons in this experience worth sharing.

Why I chose to have my boat destroyed vs. selling it, donating it, or giving it away...

Forces & Constraints:

1. Time is a key constraint - as elaborated in the details that follow.
   
2. My mom's accelerating dementia decline - I can't justify putting more money into the boat - as her level-of-care needs are going to continue to rise. [in Nov'22 - we got her into a facility - but then had to move her to another facility in Jan'23 - and new facility cost is about 2x]
   
3. When I bought this boat - it was the intention of it being my retirement home - as I planned on long-distance cruising as a lifestyle. I deferred quite a few improvements/upgrades - as I wanted to wait until I was closer to retirement/departure. There are several large refit projects that I would need to complete - in preparation for my planned long-distance / retirement cruising plans:
1. Some significant rewiring of the AC and DC electrical systems.
   
2. New standing rigging
3. New running rigging
4. Replace all thru-hulls
5. Deck & hull - repainted 
6. Bottom - repainted
7. Starboard deck leak around a shroud
8. Probably needing to replace/rebuild a cabinet/bulkhead in the v-berth
   
9. Some corrosion around the shaft and coupling
10. Some corrosion under the deck in the anchor locker 
11. Replace the water impeller (very hard to get to...)
12. When I last had the boat in the yard - they screwed-up something with the rewiring of the  batteries, a new charger, and the existing inverter - and now the inverter is automatically turned on (and therefore drains amps from the batteries) - whenever the master switch is turned on. Previously, it was wired to an on/off switch built into the 110v AC socket for the inverter output. 
13. I would really want to have the wooden boom replaced with an aluminum boom.
14. The boom is a bit too low - and can be a danger in a confused sea, or heading downwind. There really isn't an option for raising it further - without requiring some significant work on resizing the main sail. 
15. The canvas on the dodger is pretty worn - and needs to be replaced.
16. The main sail cover  - needs to be reinforced - and probably need to plan on a replacement in the next 1-2 years.  
17. The current 5 gallon holding tank is insufficient for any long distance cruising plans. Installing a larger tank - would be a non-trivial bit of work - IF I could even find a place to put it. 
18. The older (smallish) propane tank on the stern - would need to be upgraded to a larger/newer tank - as the fittings are probably not supported by most refill stations now - and many refill stations will refuse to refill such older tanks.
19. There really is no way to manage keeping a hard dinghy on deck - and getting off the boat - and back on the deck - in anything but absolutely calm seas - could be very dangerous. 
20. When I did the original survey of the boat, before purchase - I verified that all of the deck fittings could be opened for fuel, waste removal, and water tanks. However, what I didn't realize then - was that the water fitting - wasn't attached to the water tanks - it was just a hole above book shelf. When cruising - this would make filling the water tanks (with 5g jerry cans) *VERY* burdensome (vs. being able to use a water hose from a dock)
21. Purchase of a new ePIRB
22. Purchase of a new inflatable dinghy
23. Purchase of life raft
    
24. Purchase of solar panels
25. The toe rail would need some minor repairs
26. All of the exterior wood would need a complete sand/varnish job.
27. The Fast/Slow lever works - but the labels are incorrect/reversed - previously, the boatyard said they couldn't fix the engine control linkage so that the labels would be correct. 
28. When the yard did some previous electrical work - they screwed-up something on the depth sounder's water temperature wiring.
    
4. While I had hopes of doing as many of the boat refit projects as I could personally complete - before embarking on my next major cruise - there are two realities that emerged in the years since I acquired the boat:
1. My back is not what it used to be - and I can't fit into some of the small/tight spaces in the engine compartment.
2. I need to focus my time on billable client engagements - to provide for the increasing levels of additional care that I know my mother will require.
   
5. The only full-service boatyard in the harbor telling me they are no longer providing services for engines or electrical repair work - and that I would have to find/manage my own contractors for those type of repair jobs.
   
6. The abysmal lack of the boatyards' responsiveness to my request for a quote, haul-out date, etc. I was promised a response within 3 days - and a month later - I still have not heard back from them. They were also non-responsive last year when I called their office to inquire about a haul-out. This time, I went directly to their office in the harbor. They said one thing to my face - and then just blew me off after I left.
   
7. The boatyards requiring owners to find/manage their own contractors to perform repair work. Due to the requirement to perform the work myself - or find my own contractors - this would incur substantial costs for what are called "lay-days" (the number of days the boat is in their yard). 
1. There are a limited number of contractors that have the mandatory Harbor ID Cards - which authorizes them to perform work on boats in the yard, or at your dock.
   
2. Since contractors are almost never 100% allocated/dedicated to your boat project - this will result in unexpected delays with respect to their availability. 
3. A job that might normally take a few days, or a few weeks - can end up taking many, many months. Each day, adding to your lay-day charges. 
4. This is an unknown expense to estimate - and is impossible to manage - as you are at the mercy of the weather, and the availability of the contractors. 
5. In the past, jobs that the yard estimated would be "a few weeks" - ended-up taking ~5 months.
   
8. The lack of responsiveness by the contractors' to my emails/phone calls. 
1. I tried calling several contractors. Not a single one ever returned any of my calls. 
2. I mentioned one of the contractors to the marina office staff (that had been recommended to me by several people on my dock). They said "Oh, yeah. He took a bunch of people's deposits for repair jobs - and skipped town."
9. The insurance company requiring a new survey - which must be completed before June 19th - before they will *consider* renewing my policy
10. The unwillingness of the insurance company to give me more time to get the repairs/survey completed - even after I called and tried to escalate to someone who might have authority to consider my situation (work obligations over the last year - to save money to care for my mother; the unexpected situation with the boatyard's change in policies; and the non-responsiveness of contractors; unable to get a confirmed haul-out date for repairs, etc.). Their response: "No exceptions allowed". This, more than anything, has forced me to take drastic, and immediate, action.
    
11. The recommendation of a well-respected boat surveyor - who strongly urged me to not have the boat repaired any further, nor surveyed - as he doesn't believe the insurance company will be willing to renew the policy after completing my planned refit - as he is aware of hundreds of boats [newer than mine] - not being renewed - due to their age, by my boat insurance company. 
12. Giving the boat away, or selling it (very cheap) - were options I considered - but I was told some very contradictory things by one person's initial statements of their plan to get it documented with DMV - and then subsequently changing their story...to...they had no plans to get it documented with DMV - and were just going to use the Bill-of-Sale to "flip it" quickly. The problem with that scenario: 
1. If they, or the person they subsequently sold it to - decided to just abandon the boat - it would still be registered in my name with the USCG. While the Bill-of-Sale would establish their legal liability - it would be all of the potential claims that I would have to respond to / defend against - if they were negligent, if the boat sank, if they abandoned it, if they damaged some other boat while operating/moving it. 
2. If the boat were sold to someone that did not have the funds to do the necessary repairs - or was inexperienced/unqualified to do the required repairs themselves - there could be a very real risk to their life, the lives of others, and potentially other boats.  
3. If the boat wound up in the hands of someone inexperienced with boats - the boom sits too low - and could be very deadly. On my first voyage aboard her - it unexpectedly swung just slightly - as I was peering above the dodger during a periodic check for ships on the horizon - and almost me knocked me off the boat (my shortened safety tether to the jack-line I had rigged - is the only thing that saved me from being thrown overboard - on a dark and windy night). I suffered a pretty severe concussion from that - and had bouts of amnesia for some time afterward.
4. In the final analysis - even if I gave the boat away, or sold it for $1 - the person buying would likely be stuck with not being able to get it insured (due to its age) - and that would stick them with the same problem. And I could not allow that to happen someone else, on my watch.
   
13. Given that:
1. It is extremely unlikely that I could...
1. Get the boat into the yard before late April / May
2. Get the necessary / minimal refit work completed before June 19th
3. Get the required survey completed (satisfactorily) before June 19th (and any additional repair/maintenance findings would have to be addressed)
2. All of this would incur significant time & expenses - with no guarantee that the insurance company would even approve the renewal.
3. I would have to closely manage this effort - as the boatyard has stated they do not do that anymore - which would prevent me from taking client engagements during this period.
   
14. Therefore:
    
1. Peace of mind is worth a lot to me. 
2. In this case - it is easily worth $7K to have the boat destroyed. 
3. The cost to have it destroyed is slightly less than what it would cost to keep the boat in a slip for 7 months. 

 

After my mother has passed away - I will find another boat...and I will voyage once again upon the deep ocean.

[image credit: jplenio on pixabay.com]

2023 - 20th Annual International Ocean Film Festival

April 13-16, 2023

Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason

San Francisco, CA 

https://intloceanfilmfest.org/

https://intloceanfilmfest.org/2023-film-schedule

https://www.latitude38.com/lectronic/international-ocean-film-festival-celebrates-20-years/ 

"Thirty-three films representing 11 countries will screen at the Cowell Theatre, Fort Mason, across four days from April 13–16"

Desalination - Research Notes

 There are some interesting research efforts underway to provide alternate ways of performing desalination of seawater (vs. the energy-intensive reverse-osmosis mechanisms carried aboard many cruising boats).

This blog post is intended as a helpful collection point for organizing the links to articles I happen to come across, from time-to-time

2022

• https://interestingengineering.com/science/membrane-desalination-potable-water-seawater
• "Researchers have developed an ultrathin polymer-based ordered membrane that can effectively remove salt from seawater and brine while allowing quick water transport. The KAUST-led team showed their separation membranes could offer a viable alternative to the water desalination systems currently in use."
• "as reported in Nature Materials [Shen et al. Nat. Mater. (2022) DOI: 10.1038/s41563-022-01325-y], the use of 2D conjugated polymer frameworks (2D CPF) to make membranes was investigated as they offer high molecular permeability and their sub-nm channels provide a sieving effect for high selectivity."
  
• https://scitechdaily.com/new-device-purifies-saltwater-over-a-1000-times-faster-than-standard-industrial-equipment/
• "The researchers developed test filtration membranes by chemically manufacturing nanoscopic fluorine rings that were stacked and implanted in an otherwise impenetrable lipid layer, similar to the organic molecules found in cell walls. They developed multiple test samples with nanorings ranging in size from 1 to 2 nanometers. A human hair is almost 100,000 nanometers wide for comparison. Itoh and his colleagues evaluated the presence of chlorine ions, one of the major components of salt (the other being sodium), on either side of the test membrane to determine the effectiveness of their membranes." 
• Refrence: Ultrafast water permeation through nanochannels with a densely fluorous interior surface” by Yoshimitsu Itoh, Shuo Chen, Ryota Hirahara, Takeshi Konda, Tsubasa Aoki, Takumi Ueda, Ichio Shimada, James J. Cannon, Cheng Shao, Junichiro Shiomi, Kazuhito V. Tabata, Hiroyuki Noji, Kohei Sato and Takuzo Aida, 12 May 2022, Science.
  DOI: 10.1126/science.abd0966
  
• https://news.mit.edu/2022/portable-desalination-drinking-water-0428 
• "MIT researchers have developed a portable desalination unit, weighing less than 10 kilograms, that can remove particles and salts to generate drinking water."
• "requires less power to operate than a cell phone charger, can also be driven by a small, portable solar panel" 
• "unlike other portable desalination units that require water to pass through filters, this device utilizes electrical power to remove particles from drinking water. Eliminating the need for replacement filters greatly reduces the long-term maintenance requirements."
• "The research has been published online in Environmental Science and Technology."
• "Senior author Jongyoon Han, a professor of electrical engineering and computer science and of biological engineering, and a member of the Research Laboratory of Electronics (RLE).. Joining Han on the paper are first author Junghyo Yoon, a research scientist in RLE; Hyukjin J. Kwon, a former postdoc; SungKu Kang, a postdoc at Northeastern University; and Eric Brack of the U.S. Army Combat Capabilities Development Command (DEVCOM)."
• "relies on a technique called ion concentration polarization (ICP)"
• "ICP does not always remove all the salts floating in the middle of the channel. So the researchers incorporated a second process, known as electrodialysis, to remove remaining salt ions." 
• "The resulting water exceeded World Health Organization quality guidelines, and the unit reduced the amount of suspended solids by at least a factor of 10. Their prototype generates drinking water at a rate of 0.3 liters per hour, and requires only 20 watt-hours per liter." 
• "The research was funded, in part, by the DEVCOM Soldier Center, the Abdul Latif Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab (J-WAFS), the Experimental AI Postdoc Fellowship Program of Northeastern University, and the Roux AI Institute."
• ... 

2023

 

 

Master and Commander

[image credit: cocoparisienne on pixabay.com]

 

I do not enjoy living in apartments.

I do not like signing leases - or having landlords.

I do not like the restrictions (of what I may/may not modify - or of what decorations I may hang on the walls - and the prohibitions against modifications to the exterior - or what furniture I can have on a patio, etc.)

 

I do not want to have a 30 year mortgage - stuck in one place - and forced to work at some corporate job I hate - so that I can pay a mortgage that will eventually cost me 3x the price of the property.

 

I do not want to be forced to endure living next to neighbors I may abhor - and having no option but to sell my property and move away. 

 

I love living on the ocean. 

 

I love the simplicity and self-reliance of depending on my own skill to maintain a boat. 

 

I love the freedom of being able to untie the dock lines - and leaving at a moment's notice - whether to sail across an ocean - or move to another slip - or another marina. 

 

I love the fresh wind that greets me every time I leave the cabin. 

 

I love my interactions with fellow boaters in the marina - and even more so - the interactions with fellow voyagers that pass through, from time-to-time. 

 

I love the sound of seagulls, the crash of waves, the marine layer that drifts upon the water - blanketing the sun.

 

I love the ability to observe marine life up close - whether it is harbor seals, dolphins, bat rays, starfish, or squids. And even the occasional whale that wanders into the harbor.

 

I love the gentle rocking motion of my boat tied to a dock, at anchor, or gently dancing over the waves. 

 

I love the sound of rain lightly falling on the deck.

 

I love the glint of the freshly polished stainless steel shining in the sun. 

 

I love the act of cleaning the deck of my boat.

 

I love the maintenance tasks - that keep my vessel seaworthy - and give me confidence to cross oceans.

 

I love the small actions - that add up over time - that maintain my vessel. 

 

I love the feeling of arriving in a new port, harbor, bay, anchorage, island.

 

I am the master and commander of my ship.

Upon the open sea - my law is absolute onboard. 

 

I am responsible for the navigation - and safety of my ship & crew. 

 

She is a modest ship - small in size - not fancy - not modern.

But, she is MY ship - owned outright - seaworthy - and well-found.

 

There is work yet to be done to prepare her for another voyage.

But when that work is complete - I will sail her far & wide.

Confident in her ability to take care of herself - and her crew.

My Winning Submission for the March 2023 Latitude38 Photo Caption Contest

[image credit: Latitude38.com]

 

The March 2023 issue of Latitude38 sailing magazine is now available online.

My submission for the photo caption contest (see p-50) was picked as the winner for March.