Would you change seacock valve 65cm below the water line whilst afloat?! It might not be as scary as you think. This valve body seized up (despite only being 3-4 years old) so I unscrewed it, popped in a wooden bung, bought a new one and screwed it on. The trick is to be prepared. I had all my wooden bungs on hand, covered any electrical equipment and was ready for the worst case scenario. Fortunately, because it was a fairly new fitting, it came undone relatively easily and the job was pretty straight forward 😊💦 And what’s the worst case scenario I was prepared for? The worst case scenario is the thru hull fitting itself breaking off when I attempt to unscrew the valve. What would I do about it? Just tap in one of my many wooden bungs and then arrange to get the boat lifted out! That scenario was quite unlikely but it helps to think through what could happen. What also helped me is that, from previous experimentation on another boat, we have pumps that I know could easily outrun the water coming in through that hole. An uncontrolled inflow through that fitting wouldn’t be good as it would spray seawater everywhere but it’s good to know that the pumps could cope. It’s always counter intuitive and panic inducing to see water flooding in to the boat and I know many people don’t like to pull out their paddle wheel log transducers for that very reason however staying calm and knowing that it would actually take quite a long time to sink through a 3/4” hole means it may not be as bad as you think. Always worth thinking what else could help. Whilst away, shopping for parts, I left Kate armed with cushions as well as wooden bungs as a cushion pushed hard over a hole will slow the flow enough that most bilge pumps would cope. Despite my previous experiments I was even surprised how little water we took on but the point is that, with a little thought and prep, changing a valve or pulling that paddle wheel so it doesn’t foul up needn’t be that stressful or require an expensive lift out. Luckily for me everything went super smoothly this time so no need for backup plans! It does get the heart pumping a bit when you haven’t done it for a while though! 😊💦 #followintrepidbear #sailinglife #sailing #sailor #liveaboard #sailboat #boatlife

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CENTRAL CONSOL ANGLER 2500 IN ST MAARTEN

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We decided to quit chasing the "American dream" and instead become students of the world as we travel with our two youngest kids on a sailing catamaran. Join us as we make our way south to Grenada, and reunite with what is arguably the best cruising community in the world. Please subscribe and click the bell so you will be notified when we upload new vlogs. For insider updates, please follow us on Facebook and Instagram, where we post real time updates. https://facebook.com/SailingLifeonMars/ https://instagram.com/Sailing_Life_on_Mars/

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When Deb is not on board and I am working, I will use the large LED TV in the Salon as my monitor and sit on the salon settee. It is a bit more comfortable and I like the extra real estate for the screen. This was the case last week as I was sitting in the salon working. It was a great day because it was still warm but overcast so no bright sunlight for a change, I had the hatches all opened up and had a nice gentle breeze running through the boat. Half way through the call the wind started to pick up, then it started to pick up a lot, and I could hear the howling in the distance as the wind blew through the rigging of the row of sailboats just upwind of me. While on the call, I muted my microphone and closed the large forward hatch. As I finished that the sky opened up with a torrential rain pour. I was quickly closing the 4 hatches in the roof that I had open and another 7 opening ports on the side of the boat. All of this was going on while I was still on this conference call and un-muting the microphone to respond to a question or comment then muting as quickly as I could again. By the time the call ended, the wind was blowing a steady 20 knots and gusting to about 30. The rain subsided for the most part and when I went back up top, the temperature felt like it dropped 15 degrees in that hour. I continued to work the rest of the day on meetings and phone calls remotely, however the wind really had the boat hobby horsing and rocking pretty good. When the wind starts to blow that hard, there are a few interesting sounds that happen on the boat, that we are just used to, but others wonder what they are. I attached a small video below that shows me sitting on the salon settee working. You can get a sense for how much motion there was on the boat this day, and we were tied up to a dock. If you listen closely you can hear a few things in the background. The first is the wind that you can still hear howling if you listen carefully. This is with all of the hatches battened down and closed up tight. You will also hear a bit of a ringing sound or long dull clank. This sound is actually made from two different things that run up the inside of the mast. There are wires that run from the base of the mast to the top of the mast for lighting on top of the mast, antenna, etc. This is combined with the lines that run up the mast for raising the sails. When the boat rocks a certain way they hit on the inside of the mast making this sound. The other is a loud thump , this is actually something that you should not hear, but I still had an antenna for the TV run up on the flag halyard and when the wind would blow it hit the stays (the metal wires that run from the sides of the boat to the top of the mast to stabilize it). It is a lot like a giant piano or guitar string being plucked. So there you have it, a little insight into working from the boat. 98% of the time, it isn't much different than working from your office, but on some -~-~~-~~~-~~-~- Please watch: "How to repair a wooden mast, boom, spar or Bulkhead (Step by Step) " https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Nxr-yxUjvQ -~-~~-~~~-~~-~-

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