CAPTAIN'S BLOG

IRG Vessel Thunderbird 1

Real-time SPOT Connect GPS position.

Fourth IRG Captain (Acapulco, Mexico): Marta De Madariaga, May-6-13

Third IRG Captain (Zihuatanejo Por Los Ninos operation and on the way down the Pacific coast to Panama): Evelyne Dubuc Dumas Mar-13 to May-13.

Second IRG Captain (San Francisco, CA to Turtle Bay, Mexico): Jack C. Li 1-Oct-12

First IRG Captain (Delivery, San Francisco Bay operations): Evelyne Dubuc Dumas 12-Sep-12

Comment

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Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 13, 2013 at 9:02am

It is steel :D

Comment by Captain Ray Thackeray, IRG on March 12, 2013 at 6:47pm

Is the strut stainless steel? That can definitely be welded VERY strongly and cheaply. Usually they are bronze, and you can't weld that, but it can be braized, which might take a little more time.

The Captain

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 12, 2013 at 5:02pm

Today, they finally took the strut out (it was bedded/ covered in fiberglass from outside AND inside the boat)

So now, we have a hole in the bottom of the boat ;)

After close examination, the strut does not seem to have been ever broken before. The metal is in good condition, no trace of previous welding so everybody around here agree that it can be repaired with welding and solidifying plates on each side.

They also started to work on our new shaft. Here is a picture of our propellor trying to be separated from old shaft:

So this is all good news and if everything continue that way, the boat will be in the water on the 20th as planned!

In the meantime, I started to patch some holes in a kayak that have been donated to us in Cabo. Here is one out of three (first layer of fiberglass):

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 11, 2013 at 5:05pm

Today was provisioning day. I walked to town (1h30) and found a bus to come back thanks to Jack Li

Also got some boat laundry done so new crew can have clean pillow cases, dish towel etc.

Good news is that the work on the prop strut is in progress

Bad news is that I temporarly have no stairs to go inside the boat!

Comment by Captain Ray Thackeray, IRG on March 10, 2013 at 6:42pm

Spinnaker pole to small (I presume you mean length?) - - and we were worried it would be too long!!

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 10, 2013 at 5:18pm

Today, I spent most of the day online looking for crew. I also organized the anchor locker (anchors have been left on the deck) freeing the deck for my yoga. I tested the lenght of our new spinnaker pole and... it is a little bit too small but will do the job!

I also soaked a couple of docking line that stayed in the sun in fresh water to rinse off the salt and dirt and I start cleaning the haul by washing barnacle off the keel.

Comment by Captain Ray Thackeray, IRG on March 9, 2013 at 12:59pm

Lootenant.

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 9, 2013 at 12:15pm

After being interupted yesterday by workers of the yard coming to detach the shaft from the transmission, I resumed my servicing of the head today.

After putting everything back in place, toilet is working smoothly. Pieces C253 and 1228CW will need replacement soon though.

Comment by Captain Ray Thackeray, IRG on March 8, 2013 at 1:31pm

No, you should not need to disassemble the toilet bowl - IF you have been able to see the flapper valve. I'm pretty sure the flapper valve is under the pump assembly. It's usually crusted over with tartar crystals, when that's cleaned off everything will work a LOT better... If you have any grease, put some into the pump piston before re-assembly. Lube is good!

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 8, 2013 at 1:17pm

Now that I disasembled and cleaned all hoses from the water intake, disasemble the handle of the pump, the three sealed part of the pump, scrub off brownish hard mineral crust out of every part with a flat screwdriver head, lubricate every gasket and try to screw back plastics covers with everything sliding in lube... the 100$ question is: do I start to reasemble or do I disasemble the toilet bowl as well?

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 7, 2013 at 4:15pm

This morning, I visited Club Cruceros for their morning social coffee and became a member. I unfortunately found out that our last volunteer crew abandoned T1 dinky at the marina and that the marina took it out of the water and want to charge us a couple of months of docking fee for us to have it back. Apparently, the oars have been stolen :(

At the boat, I authorized the yard to begin their work on the shaft and prop strut, with Captain Ray's permission. It is a two grant job so if you have any idea for fundraising, we will need every penny!

In the meantime, I  scrub off all the mold and most of the rust in the galley. It's a perpetual fight in warm salty air!

Now that I have a clean kitchen and a clean icebox (it was full of dirty water!), I can no longer procrastinate the real work that I have to do: rebuild the head (toilet)!

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 6, 2013 at 2:50pm

Today, I went to the boat to evaluate the work that need to be done.

The shaft need to be changed and the prop strut repaired. I will also clean the bottom and evaluate if it's worth painting.

Main work today was to reorganize the galley, clean, clean, clean, test different systems to live aboard (gaz, tap, head, lights). Everything is pretty much working like it was when I left in november, except the head that need some attention.

Comment by Captain Evelyne on March 5, 2013 at 10:31am

En route to La Paz with T1 new spinnaker pole!

Comment by Evelyne Dubuc Dumas on September 21, 2012 at 3:01pm

The first mission I accomplished with Thunderbird 1 was to sail to Suisun City, in the Delta, to get a new donated boat (see Thunderbird 3 Mission Status page).

Here is a aproximaive map of our trajectory http://goo.gl/maps/f06A3

With Captain Ray and a new volunteer recruited for the occasion, we left Alameda on september 19, at 9h30 AM. We motorsailed with the help of the jib most of the time, deployed the main sail for at least 2 hours and enjoyed the engine turn off at least during one hour, in San Pablo Bay. Wind was blowing 10-15N, mostly from WNW.

Captain Ray installed a brand new depth sounder and acted as a navigator to keep us offground all our way in the Suisun slough. We arrived at the marina at 6h40 PM after nearly 50M on the water.

On september 20th, at 9h AM, will filled the diesel tank of T1 and tied the Bristol 30 alongside of us to guide her in the slough. Thanks to Captain Ray indications, we did'nt ran aground in those verry shallow water. Once in Grizzly Bay, we attached the Bristol 30 behind T1 with a proper towing line to avoid her to bounce on us in the waves. At this point, the tide was comming in and we had to fight a front wind and a 4N current. We were not doing anyspeed and the two times we stopped to make sure the Bristol30 was properly attached, we were deported by the current and lost a lot of ground. We persisted anyway and made it to San Pablo Bay by the end of the afternoon where we deployed the jib to give us a little more speed. The wind was 10-15N, blowing SSW so we had to tack.

At one point, the towing line broke because it was chafing somewhere but we quickly took control of the situation and Captain Ray fixed the line in a better way.

We arrived in Alameda at 11h30 PM a little cold but satisfied of our overall experience.

Comment by Evelyne Dubuc Dumas on September 21, 2012 at 2:24pm

Captain Ray named me temporary captain of this boat the night of my 30th birthday and I moved aboard, helping commissionning her for our departure for the Baja Haha till Captain Jack take over command. See Thunderbird 1 Mission Satus page for details about how the work is going.