Single Men Living Aboard and Cruising... an honest look.

[weavis]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Ha, Weavis, it was subliminal!! I can't remember what the thread was about but I had said there was a time in my life when I would have gotten on a plane and traveled to meet someone interesting. Not my thing any more as I'm much more focused on getting my boat ready for a huge solo sail to Hawaii this year

Oh great! The not subliminal part is where Im not interesting....

[boatman61]

Methinks 2 people protest to much..

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by Stu Jackson

Maybe I'll change the fuel filter tomorrow. I have 3375 engine hours, the filter says it was last changed at 2613, which means I'm 762 hours on a 30 micron filter and all the books and internet threads say my engine simply shouldn't be working at all!!! Maybe next time I'll change it at 300 hours...

Ugh. The fuel filter. And mine's relatively easy to change. Tomorrow is my last day to change it before 2 days of sailing planned this weekend. It's not possible for me to admit publicly how long it has been....

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by weavis

Oh great! The not subliminal part is where Im not interesting....[emoji3]

Oh, I never said you weren't interesting! I said I don't chase after a man any more no matter how interesting he might be....or how big his boat

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by sailorchic34

I was lucky and learned engines by being my dad's gofer, watching him do mechanic car stuff for 10 years growing up. So I learned at an early age what a open end and box end (or closed end) wrench were. Plus saw how to replace an alternator, water pump, engine head, etc. None of it is all that hard to do.

Having a 18" or 24" long breaker bar is really needed by women to compensate for less muscles. A breaker bar and a socket are used to break free nuts and bolts. If money was no object an electric impact driver (looks a bit like a electric drill), but low speed and used for tightening and loosening nuts and bolts.

Really I had just a very basic set of tools aboard for the great engine rebuild. I had a basic set of open end wrenches and a socket set in metric The type you get at any hardware store. Also had a few deep sockets for a few head bolts. A few ratchets 3/8" and 1/2, a long 18" breaker bar, a 30" cheater pipe (pipe put over the breaker bar for even more leverage and a torque wrench (given to me by one of the sailor guys on the dock, which is needed for assembly. That a few screw drivers, circlip plyers (needed to rebuild a water pump">raw water pump (BTW), a small oil filter band wrench, to use as a ring compressor (works really well btw) and micrometer and a set of feeler gauges was it.

That's all I used for my rebuild my engine. Well and a lot of rags and zip lock baggies to store each pieces bolts and nuts with a black sharpy to note where they go to, a rattle can of purple engine paint, new hoses clamps, etc.

Of course I had friends to hoist the engine up and down. But being a poor sailor, there was no money to pay anyone else to do it at the time. So I just went at it. Figured as the engine was already broken I really could not hurt it more.

It has over 600 hours on it now after 4 years and still going strong. Plus I know I could fix it again if needed. Not that I would want too...

This is really freaking awesome!! What a super dad to provide that mentorship. Amazing rebuild on the engine. Congrats! Maybe we can get together one day a little when I'm ready to do mine. A big THANK YOU, too, for the name of the oil filter wrench. Maybe it wasn't so tight last time, but the air filter wrench I have is not working on the fuel filter. Heading to the store now to get the right tool.

[Larry Florida]

We really need a new thread name here. This thread is hardly about single men cruising ..... an honest look.

Can anyone suggest a new thread name more apropo to the conversation

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by Larry Florida

We really need a new thread name here. This thread is hardly about single men cruising ..... an honest look.

Can anyone suggest a new thread name more apropo to the conversation

Oh man, Larry, you just gotta keep up. We've gone through so many topics we'd have to change the thread name weekly.

[john61ct]

The Almost-Anything Goes Thread

but that might be asking for trouble

[alansmith]

Originally Posted by boatman61

Oh I don't know.. hung out with a lady in Oriental for a while.. order of priorities were.. Dog, Jeep.. then me..

Boatie, that ain't too bad. That gives u a batting average of .333! I know a lot of big leaguers that would love that hitting average. ⚡️

[TJ D]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Ha, Weavis, it was subliminal!! I can't remember what the thread was about but I had said there was a time in my life when I would have gotten on a plane and traveled to meet someone interesting. Not my thing any more as I'm much more focused on getting my boat ready for a huge solo sail to Hawaii this year

Solo to Hawaii? Doing the singlehanded Transpac is totally on my bucket list. I'd probably come in last place (on corrected time-If I'm last over the line on RS, I've really blown it), and I wouldn't mind a bit. It would be a good challenge.

Of course, the boat's on the wrong side of the Atlantic at the moment.

I love your posts, by the way. Thoughtful and really quite enlightened. It's too bad we never met up when we had our boat in the E. bay. You and Jenny would have hit it off, I suspect.

[goat]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Not my thing any more as I'm much more focused on getting my boat ready for a huge solo sail to Hawaii this year

I sure hope you're going to link your tracker to this site, à la boatie.

[gamayun]

Originally Posted by TJ D

Solo to Hawaii? Doing the singlehanded Transpac is totally on my bucket list. I'd probably come in last place (on corrected time-If I'm last over the line on RS, I've really blown it), and I wouldn't mind a bit. It would be a good challenge.

Of course, the boat's on the wrong side of the Atlantic at the moment.

I love your posts, by the way. Thoughtful and really quite enlightened. It's too bad we never met up when we had our boat in the E. bay. You and Jenny would have hit it off, I suspect.

Hi TJD (and Jenny)! Thank you for your kind words. It is unfortunate we never met, but if you two are ever back in the area, do let me know. This area spawns such amazingly fun and generous sailors. I will post a link to the tracker in June (we leave on the 23rd). I do -- and don't -- think about the "race" aspects. It's more about the journey and the adventure, but I'm also fairly competitive so I'll probably push things a bit, too. I'm working with a friend to build an arch for the solar panel right now. There is an astonishing number of projects that still needs to get done!

[Exile]

I've figured it might be 'mildly' interesting to meet TJ & Jenny. You know, a couple who run a big commercial fishing boat in Alaska, and when they're not doing that sail their tricked out custom 55' sailboat around interesting parts of the world. But truth be told, my real regret thus far is not having met Baxter-the-Dog. Go figure.

[daw_two]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Oh, I never said you weren't interesting! I said I don't chase after a man any more no matter how interesting he might be....or how big his boat

In a previous thread, there was mention of Spain and I immediately thought of this song. Of course, traveling to Spain would be by sailboat. Perhaps, weavis, you could have a layover on the West Coast on your travels to HK.

EDIT: weavis --- see how I got the sailboat reference in there.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H1uSxhFcJn4

[daw_two]

Originally Posted by gamayun

Oh my. You have some serious catching up to do. Got time....?

I've been away for quite some time. Since I'm recuperating, reading the past 20 pages of this thread have been used to help pass the time. Getting sick was worth it though. It was the price I had to pay to see this.