Unchained!!!

….”And you hit the grown RUNNING!”

Huh??? But what does this mean, you may ask. Well, the “Big Secret” actually works. This song kept on showing up on spotify last summer and got me thinking…. long story short, as of March 1st……I have retired!!!!!! Howdoya like them apples?!?!? Actually, I just don’t work at the Athens Concert Hall anymore. I’ll be retired when the $$ start trickling in…now I’m just unemployed but at least I’m out of the rat race!

And you’d think I’d be writing blogs more often….dream on….So…

Last summer Zoot Allures did not travel. I never got the solar panels on due to physical and emotional exhaustion. But it was wonderful to be back on the water after 3 years. Late October it was time to haul out. The day before I headed out to the main bay for final preps. On the way I tested out the new electric drive, not severely, and it came up as I had expected. 20amps at 3knots, 45amps at 4knots.

Next day the haul out ordeal…. always nice to see the sun rise.

Bug Attack!!

The next day I had my first appointment with the “dude” who let me know I was able to retire now. The following day I helped G.S. with olive picking and in the middle of the night I came down with covid. Emotional roller coaster!

So back in the ol’ yard. Last year I had purchased an all-in-one Chinese diesel heater and got that installed. Its just a temp setup to get through this winter. I also got an exhaust siphon for condensation. I still haven’t thought of a way for a final installation…. the exhaust get really hot and dangerous.

So as you can see, the exhaust goes right up through the ceiling of the pilot house… no new hole, just through an air vent hole. And speaking of air vents, ol’ Zoot has six of them. They are old, rotten and dissolve in your hand. I cant find the same replacements and any other vents go for over 50bucks a pop. That’s 300 minimum so that my farts don’t linger. A college friend suggested I 3D print them. I thought he was mad but after “some” research, long story sort, I started designing the vent in Fusion 360. (I used to be a mechanical engineer and really wish I had this software 40 years ago!) Then I bought a Creality Ender 3 Neo and a kilo of PLA for under 300euro! (I could use other plastics like Petg or Abs but I’ll stick with Pla for starters.) After going through the beginners learning curve and mess ups and tweaking, I got the test prints done and started the main vent. Unfortunately there was no way to print without supports for the overhangs. That support is 1/3 of the material and duration and the first print took 18hours. After learning a lot more I started tweaking in the slicer software, Prusa and/or Cura, and got it down to 14 hours.

the beginning

still printing…

done…many hours later

f-ing support removal

Bottom side

Top side

Before

After

And at long last, I got the Photovoltaic panels on. The old two 50watt panels for the 12volt service system previously on the pilothouse got moved to the rear railings and I installed four 100watt panels on the pilothouse for the 48volt propulsion system. Don’t ask me how….it was a major pain!! But it’s working making free “gas”!!

So now you have to bend over every time you enter Zoot Allures!

So look out!

Stay tuned, Capt Pete

ps…I’ve said it once and a million times, wordpress is impossible to place pic where you want them. I’ve spent more time messing with it than I was typing the post…yeeesh!

pss…. I miss Eddie

Thought you’d never miss me ’til I got a fat city address
Non-stop talker, what a rocker
Blue-eyed murder in a size five dress

Change, nothin’ stays the same
Unchained, and ya hit the ground runnin’
Change, ain’t nothin’ stays the same
Unchained, yeah ya hit the ground runnin’

Dry Bunghole.

But you may ask “how is it possible during the hot summer?”. What you should be asking is why are you asking the author of this post known to be…”An actual bunghole….. which is the tap hole on a beer or whiskey keg, so called because it is sealed closed with a wedge or cork called a “bung.”. And if you wanna see a couple in action…….

So yeah, it seems like Zoot Allures is NOT sinking anymore…. and sorry for letting you all hanging with suspense for the past month and a half. Feel free to use the title, or variations of it, to describe your feelings about me. Because I……..

… haven’t been doing jack shit! Most of my time has been spent in the picture above, reading, resting, listening to podcasts and…that’s about it. The leak problem was fixed after pouring thickened epoxy in that god forsaken, inaccessible cavity, plus sticking some epoxy putty up ol’ Zoot’s bunghole. Now all I have to do is to check on a diaper to sooth my paranoia.

e viola la bunghole!

Fixing the for mentioned and partial rebuilding my mooring really did me in. Plus other stuff have pissed me off, like my genoa roller wouldn’t slide up the furling thingie which I solved with lots of soap and water, but it has be soo windy the past month the genoa sail is still bagged in the v-berth…. along with 400watts of solar panels.

That’s probably why my only visitors are black swans!

I got kinda lonely so I rolled up my new bladder dinghy, stuck it into the back seat of my car and rolled down to the family farm in Nafplio for 10 days. Good times. Now I’m back, the winds have subsided. 10 more days and I’m back at the day job.

Sea trials of the electric motor are coming up so…

Stay tuned… and don’t hold your breath

Capt Pete

ps….day job starts on a Sunday. Sonafabitch!

Welcome to the Dudgeon….

The dudgeon…. under the cockpit which normally is never visited as it has floor boards covering it, utilized for storage. That is where you can access the prop shaft, stuffing box and the bilge. Getting in and out isn’t fun as I realized 10 years ago

Hold on….. lets back up a bit

Zoot Allures was launched last Wednesday after being on the hard since 2018!!!!

A sight for poor eyes. ….which got a lot poor-er when I checked for leaks before the crane let go. We where concerned with the stern tube renovation (cutlass bearing and stuffing box). But there was leakage further up which could have just been trapped rain water. After the mast was stepped I dove in and realized salt water was coming in from somewhere.

It seemed to be from the area forward of the rudder shaft. I used epoxy putty wherever I thought was needed…numerous times… many numerous times, but still it was getting wet. Digging further in I found a pool accumulating behind the rudder post which overflows.

The rudder stuffing box is bone dry and I can’t see where this pool is filling from. I just can’t get that far in, only my arms reach. After 2 days it subsided a bit and seems to be a generous cup of seawater every 24 hours…. much better than the first 2 days. I sponged it out and stuffed a diaper in there and left ol’ Zoot Sunday night with a prayer. And no…I don’t have an automatic bilge pump! Pffffff …the last thing I wanted with a new electric motor… a salty humid interior!!

Speaking of electric motor…..it works! I took it real easy due to not having installed the sails as a back up. I anchored out across from the harbor a couple of nights and my friend Ulbe helped me get the main sail up and then I motored to my old mooring. To get more motor info I need someone to steer the boat while I dig around…stay tuned.

And speaking of Ulbe…. Ulbe and Carla are in town staying on their boat!!. If it wasn’t for them I would have been dead. They calmed me down and fed me…twice!….because I kept on forgetting my wallet. My gratitude to them is endless. They would also come to my mooring area and I’d swim out and hang in the shade with them while eating my mustache wondering what to do about the leak.!

So…yeah…..here we go again. The last 3 years I had erased the boat life from my mind cause it was too upsetting and getting back into it has been a challenge. I guess the first 100 years are the most difficult.

Stay tuned and dry please,

Capt Pete.

ps….the previous post I mentioned a new member of the family

It’s a Aqua Storm 1.8meter, 20kgr …bladder! which is now in the back seat of my car. I haven’t set up a dinghy mooring yet and I’m also afraid of it getting stolen…again!

pss…. this whole leak ordeal has really done me in. How do you leave your leaking boat when you have to hustle to work, like where I am now. Thursday night I’ll be back out on ol’ Zoot. No more surprises please. I’m taking some epoxy with me so this little drama will end. Otherwise……………………