Delphini

A couple of weeks ago we had a curious experience that I thought the list
might enjoy hearing about.

We were anchored for the night in one of our favorite small bays in about
18 feet of water. We have a Delta anchor with ten feet of chain and 175
feet of three strand nylon rode.

After we had gone to bed, but before we fell asleep, we heard a scraping,
grinding noise echoing through the hull. Of course, we bolted up, thinking
our anchor must have dragged and we were rubbing on the rocks. But all was
well; no wind and the boat was floating peacefully in the middle of the
little bay.
A few minutes later, same grinding noise! This time Susan raced up on deck
with a flashlight to see Bucky Beaver swimming away from the bow of the
boat! Next morning when we hauled in the anchor there were two spots where
the anchor line had been chewed. In one place, one of the three strands was
nearly parted. The damage, of course, is nearly in the middle of the 175
feet of rode!

We had to wonder what might have happened if Bucky had come along later when
we were sound asleep and chewed all the way through. Certainly we would
have lost the anchor, at the very least.

We have since ordered 50 meters of chain and a spare anchor so that we can
sleep soundly on the hook again.

Sailing in Northern Ontario has its unique challenges.
Regards
Bob

Bob Skene & Susan Wall

Here is a description of some more projects we completed during the winter.

Our yacht club does not have shore power and we only anchor out in wilderness anchorages, so we needed to improve the charging system on Delphini. Refrigeration is a nice thing to have but it is a hog on batteries. We run two group 27 deep cycles and one group 24 starting battery

We bought a 65 amp Balmar 812 alternator and an ARS-4 multistage digital regulator. The installation was straightforward and we can now charge up our batteries by running the engine less than an hour a day. We also installed the Blue Seas Dual Circuit Plus battery switch, the Digital Duo Charge II.

This combination means we just turn the batteries on or off and don't ever have to worry about switching banks. Our A4 engine handles the system fine but you can hear it lug a bit when the regulator kicks the alternator in, so we can tell there is some series battery charging going on.

A major clean-up of the wiring has greatly improved things as well. It seems like I spent weeks crammed into unlikely and inaccessible spaces in the engine room and the cockpit lockers ripping out old wiring and running new circuits. At one point, having crawled into the lazarette head first, I seriously wondered exactly how I was going to exit again. I always wear my cell phone for just such emergencies, but this time I was able to

successfully extricate myself without assistance. I added a third six

circuit fuse panel to give a lot of the equipment its own circuit. There were many sins, like appliances connected directly to batteries with neither

switch nor fuse -- pretty scary! Everything is much better now. I would

like to install new breaker panels but a quick look at the prices suggested we will live with what we have for a while longer.

A new masthead anchor light was needed to so we chose a LED fixture from OGM. We haven't needed to use it yet so I can't report on how bright it is.

At this time of the year, at our latitude, it hardly gets dark anyway!

Susan sanded down most of the exterior woodwork, including the teak cockpit gratings, and finished everything with WoodMate. This is a product that goes on similar to Cetol but has a much nicer appearance. It looks closest to varnish as anything I have seen. Susan's handywork is spectacular and we have had many compliments about Delphini's appearance this spring.

There are still lots of things to do and some minor projects may or may not get done during the summer. On the other hand, summer in Northern Ontario is a short-lived event and we may just concentrate on sailing. There will be lots of time next winter to work on the boat.

Way to go Bob, now you work in a warm place. Thanks for sending along the pictures. Good

Not everybody has a large heatable building sitting vacant and some heavy equipment. At any rate it went very well and I now have the boat in a heated building where I can work on it. I am currently in the middle of about eight different projects, most of which are waiting for parts and materials to arrive. So far I am tackling installing a Balmar alternator, digital regulator and new battery switch, doing a ton of rewiring, installed an OGM LED anchor light, changed the stove from alcohol to propane, building a propane locker, still a bunch of replumbing to do. Launch day is May 13 -- it will be ready.