What's New With
Sunspot Baby
2010
- Completed what just might be the best Bahamas
cruise yet. One day short of six months from November 10 2009 to May 9 2010.
No major mechanical or boat problems. Se the reports at
Southern Cruise #6
2009
- We love the new Raymarine C120 chart plotter
at the helm. We do wish it had the Explorer chars for the Bahamas instead of
the Navtex.
- Coming out of Myrtle Beach the sail drive that
failed here last year started refusing to shift normally. We stopped North of
Beaufort, NC at Back Marine, our normal boat yard, and left it for repair and
other annual maintenance. Found lock rings missing, apparently left out at
last year's rebuild.
2008
- Our starboard side sail drive failed while
northbound at Myrtle Beach in May so now both sail drives have been
overhauled within the last year.
- In August we pulled both engines and they
went to Atlanta for overhaul by our friend Pat at
Inland Marine Diesel.
- While working on the engines, we decided to
go with high output alternators and got 2 new
Balmar 70 amp units with their
"Centerfielder" accessory so that both alternators can charge at the same
time. Perhaps that will mitigate the loss of our little diesel generator
from a couple of years ago.
- Our old green screen chart plotter
failed on the last cruise so we now have a fancy new
Raymarine C120 mounted
at the helm. We added an
AIS (automatic identification system) while we were
at it. Hopefully that will alleviate some crew consternation when we are in
the presence of large ships.
- George & Lynn will once again be among the featured speakers
again at the Southbound Cruisers Rendezvous' in October
2008. Their program was entitled "From Dream to Reality, Real World Advice for
Beginning Cruisers." See photo at
http://www.stateham.com/skippergeorge/Seminars.htm
- We have the material on hand to replace the
windshield portion of our hard dodger. Plan to have that done before heading
south.
2007
- Our dinghy was stolen from a locked storage yard near the
house and after filing an insurance claim and getting a check we ordered and
received a new
yellow catamaran dinghy. Click on the photo below to see more info.
- Our deadlights (windows that don't open)
have been leaking when it rained. We joke that when we bought the boat, they
leaked a little if it rained a lot. Now they leak a lot if it rains a
little. After numerous delays, we finally replaced them. It was a big project and some photos and comments are at
http://www.stateham.com/sunspotbaby/deadlights/