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Bikes and Boats, Better Together, Chapter 2

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 Chapter 1 of Bikes and Boats, Better Together is here . Cargo bike hauling a cargo bike. We pared down our bicycle selections to just one cargo hauling bike for a wide range of reasons. A cargo bike is a lot like a bicycle saddle: one size does not fit all, and what worked perfectly in the past might not fit so well when things change. We replaced two cargo bikes with one electric-assist Hase Pino tandem. This is the second semi-recumbent tandem we have owned.  Bilenky Viewpoint custom semi-recumbent tandem The Bilenky no longer fit our needs at the time, but we really should not have sold it. Despite this repeated lesson, Wayne still tends to purge things the moment their usefulness isn't immediately apparent. We also would probably never go with another fully custom build: custom bike, custom problems. This issue applies to just about any mechanical thing, not just bikes from Bilenky. We combined the Hase Pino with a Surly Bill longbed trailer . Now, we can haul things that don&
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To Be Faaaaiiiiirrrr

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  Sanding and fairing, fairing and sanding... We're finally starting to put things back into the boat! Well, it's fairing compound to make the surfaces sealed and smooth. Fairing compound is a thing , right?  The inside of the hull is unsealed fiberglass, which tends to shed glass fibers and absorb liquids that land on it. In addition to the lack of interior coating, there are a lot superficial voids in the layup (think: nooks and crannies of your favorite English muffin) and globs of polyester resin from the original construction. We removed the 40 years of funk from the hull interior with a combination of TotalBoat EcoSolve, denatured alcohol, and copious elbow grease. The left test section was faired; the middle and right sections were not. We did a test with fairing, then high-build primer, and compared that with just high-build primer. Maybe we could get away with less work (HAHAHAHA!). The picture above kind of shows the difference. The area that was faired is way less p
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Location: Port Townsend, WA 98368, USA
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Construction Zone Ahead

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  Almost all of the furniture is out of the saloon. All of the fuel and water tankage has been removed. We will be replacing the rotten water tanks. After we clean 43 years of schmoo out of the bilge. Then we fair and paint the hull and bilge. We will replace the old stainless steel water tanks with flexible tanks. Why flexible tanks? So that we don't have to tear apart the boat again if a tank fails. Like a NYC street when it rains, the schmutz in the bilge makes a muddy paste when cleaner touches it. The experience is just as disgusting as it sounds. "Why does the picture of your saloon look weird?" It's a 3D model built up from many photographs ( photogrammetry ). If you care to install Blender  (it's free, open source software), I'll send you the model so you can "walk" through the boat for yourself. Also, if you own a Formosa 46, the model may be useful for your own design work. Ultimately, the entire boat will be modeled in Blender and Invento
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Galley Remodel Part 1: Emily The Destroyer

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Original galley: too small, inefficient use of space Kill all the foam! We decided last year that we wanted to move and expand the galley. We also planned to replace the existing wiring and plumbing throughout the boat, so we knew all of the current infrastructure had to go. Over the summer, Emily started hacking away at the galley, removing a pickup truck load of foam insulation from the old refrigeration compartments. So much foam! 8 layers of 2" thick foam under each refrigeration box and 2-6 layers on each side. Forty years of water damage had worked some evil on the plywood sink surround, but the cabinet face and drawers were still solid. The drawback to all that hardwood cabinetry? It was built to stay there forever, solidly glued and nailed, thus no small feat to extract.  Previous owner covered the water damaged wood backsplash with plastic laminate. The cabin sole is 3/8" of teak and holly, glued onto 3/8" of marine plywood, which is in turn glued onto the floo
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Back in the Reading Groove

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After two years away from the bookstore, I finally fell back into reading every day in 2021. As of October 1, I had over 60 books under my belt this year. Audiobooks make up the bulk of them because I can work on noisy and/or mindless boat projects and read at the same time.  This list includes every book I finished this year, in order of completion. I often have more than one book going at a time. Sometimes I'll download the library e-book of something I'm reading in paper so I can carry it with me or read in bed without turning on the light.   I enjoyed some of these more than others, but all of them were worth seeing through to the end.  Reminder! libro.fm sells DRM-free audiobooks and supports the independent bookstore of your choice. Buying through them means a portion of your purchase price stays in your community, and another portion supports a small company in Seattle. Subscription is the way to go, but you can also buy individual titles without a membership. Scamazon
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Our Highly Opinionated Restaurant Guide

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"Where should we eat?" This question recently prompted a firehose of recommendations via text. Spreadsheet to the rescue! Most places on the list are in Puget Sound, but there are a few entries for Las Vegas, Portland, and other cities. Our favorite grocery stores and other markets for comestibles are also included. Have we missed your favorite place? Want to know if we've tried something? We are always happy to share our opinions about food and drink! World class lamination at Saboteur Bakery in Bremerton, WA.
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Hello Port Townsend!

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  Getting towed to Port Townsend for haulout Coming into Port Townsend mid-evening We are onto the next stage of getting ready for the next stages. Cascadia  is in Port Townsend awaiting haulout. We will be in Boat Haven to finish re-powering, re-wiring, re-rigging, re-modeling, re-everything-ing.  Port Townsend and Boat Haven are more amazing than we ever imagined. As we were getting towed into dock, we were greeted by loads of boat tenants, invited to check out their similar installations. And then, two slips away was another Formosa 46, SV Grace !  We will be landlubbing for the next six months, so that we can tear into boat projects without having to worry about clearing a space to cook dinner and sleep. Stay tuned...
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