Ten Year Plan

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Ten Year Plan

New Radio Cabinet

For the holidays last year, my good friends, Al and Amie surprised me with a Raspberry Pi kit.

I’ve had an idea for a while now to put up a panel or screen that ties various boat systems together and displays relevant information, such as location, boat speed, ais information…etc.

Yes, there are turn-key solutions for this, but I would also like to have a system I can tinker with and make my own.

Ornament

A friend gave me this cool metal sailboat ornament to decorate the boat for the holiday. Love it! I’ll have to find it a permanent home.

Rigging repairs on the boat are done. Nothing major, I had a short list of items I wanted repaired/replaced. The secondary supports for the port and starboard spreaders, and the running backstays. All done and everything is looking great!

The work was done by Jason of Argonaut Rigging. Great vendor! Highly recommend him.

Ten Year Plan Number Plate

s/v Ten Year Plan received it’s official number plate today. U.S. Coast Guard documented boats are assigned a lifetime documentation number. The requirements are the number be affixed to the interior of the boat in such a way as altering them would damage the numbers or the hull. Folks solve this problem in a varieties of ways, including wooden plaques, plastic or metal carved plates.

A friend of mine, Al, owns the AutoMetalSkin company, and offered to make a number plate for me. Using a jewelers saw, he cut out the numbers from a sheet of metal, then using his unique finishing process, coated the number plate with brass. He left it exposed, without a clear coat, so we can watch the metal patina over time. See the video below to see more of the reveal process.

New Boat Arrives

My new Tender arrived today. So of course I had to set it up in my living room. 😁

It’s easy inflate and it all fits in the provided bag. It’s the PHP-310 Air Floor Inflatable from West Marine.

Looking forward to many years of service from this great little boat.

The question has come up several times regarding what to call the little boat. Is it a tender, or a dinghy, a zodiac or a skiff? Here’s a rough definition of each as I understand them:

Comfort Without the Bulk

When I was looking to redo the V-Berth on my boat, I researched mattress options, and ran across several ‘under-mattress’ systems and ended up going with the Froli Modular SleepSystems.

The big challenge is ventilation under the mattress.

Affordable and well made
Easy to follow instructions
Easy to assemble and use
Comfortable and adjustable
Great ventilation.

As others have noted, it can be a wrestling match with the Froli to get to the lockers under the cushions in the V-Berth. What has worked for me so far is keeping the overall pieces small enough to handle, instead of creating one large connected piece, I have three smaller pieces: One on port, one for the bench starboard locker cushion, and one for the center key piece.

Boat Renovations

Since purchasing the boat, I’ve been focusing on internal renovations and minor updates.

The first big change was getting the v-berth updated. I took out a couple of small shelves, refinished the drawers, and made a key board and mounting rails. The biggest job was making the cushions.

The next big project was ripping out the cabinets on the starboard side of the main cabin and creating a pilot berth.

Ten Year Plan Boat Cards

Thank you to Lindsay S. Powell Designs for the great boat cards. Another item checked off the list on the Ten Year Plan 🙂 I’m very happy with how they turned out.

Amateur Radio – W4MTP

“It’s all part of the ten year plan.”

So part of the plan, along with learning sewing and canvas work, sailing, diesel repair…and many other things, I decided to get my amateur radio certifications to improve my communications options on the boat.

Amateur Radio (ham radio) is a popular hobby and service that brings people, electronics and communication together. People use ham radio to talk across town, around the world, or even into space, all without the Internet or cell phones. It’s fun, social, educational, and can be a lifeline during times of need.
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Ten Year Plan: Annapolis Boat Show 2015

What a great way to spend a few days of vacation! Annapolis in October is beautiful, and the boat show is amazing.

I learned a lot, and will plan to go again in the future. Someday, I’ll get to attend on my own boat.

Here are all the pictures I took during the event in one gallery.

Enjoy!

Ten Year Plan: Annapolis Boat Show Day 1

I’m using my vacation time this year to check out the Annapolis BoatShow. I drove up yesterday, 10/8/15, and hit the show early this morning.

To be honest, I was almost as excited for the long drive as I was for the boat show. I love long road trips, and this was a great opportunity to chill and listen to podcasts. It was a nice drive with little drama. The only challenge was I-95 closure in South Carolina. But Waze routed me around it without any issue.

Hawaiian Classics Shirt in Green

I found a really cool green and white stripped seersucker fabric and had to dosomething with it. So I made another shirt using the Hawaiian Classics pattern. I’m really happy with how it turned out. I’m getting the hang ofcollars finally.

I also went back and fixed the hems on the first Hawaiian shirt, and now both are very wearable.

This learning to sew stuff is fun. Making a shirt is very much an engineering project. It’s turning into a great way to spend my spare time.

Hawaiian Classic Shirt #2

Time to start a new shirt. I purchased the Hawaiian Classics 220 shirt pattern from the Victoria Jones Collection. This is my first ‘non-beginner’ pattern. The instructions are great, and the construction is pretty straightforward. I did end up making several learning mistakes on the muslin, but the real shirt is going great. That’s the whole point, in my opinion, of the muslin. Yes, check fit and adjust, of course, but I also find it a great learning experience figuring out the nuances of the pattern.

Learning To Sew

Part of the ten year plan is learning some independence skills. For example, I want to be able to repair and create cushion covers and sail covers. This means learning some basic sewing skills and learning to work on a gear driven sewing machine.

Enter my beautiful Singer 15-91. What a wonderful machine! I bought it from a sewing machine expert, the-treasure-cellar on ebay, and couldn’t be more pleased. From 1952, this single-stitch machine is smooth and wonderful to work with.

Clutter and The Ten Year Plan

I have a lot of stuff. Not nearly as much as some, but still plenty. I’m not a hoarder, so don’t expect to see me on any reality TV shows anytime soon. During my last move, I took the opportunity to slim down how much stuff I cart around, and I have a pretty good handle on the clutter, but I still have a ton of stuff. Far more than I need and far more than will work for my ten year plan.