Repairs

One of the best descriptions I’ve heard of cruising is “doing boat work in exotic locations”. Our visit to Clayton New York was no different.

Our refrigerator and freezer had been pulling too much power and something had to be done about it.

I went to the Island Packet user forum to see if anyone else had this problem and how they fixed it. What I discovered was EVERYONE was having this problem. It was a poorly designed fridge and was very inefficient. I never noticed because I day sailed. In the evenings, I’d return to my dock and unlimited power.

Scott, another IP 380 owner in Milwaukee, tried to warn me about it. He keeps his boat on a mooring ball and doesn’t have the unlimited AC power. He described the symptoms that I never had. I chalked it up to his boat being a year older and IP figured it out by the time they built mine. Nope!

While in Cleveland, Sue and I rode our bikes to Home Depot to try to find some 1″ insulation board. Our plan was to add more insulation, dry deck to the bottom for better air circulation, and build a lid for the freezer section.

The the insulation board I was planning on buying is sold in 4×8 sheet. I was planning on renting a Home Depot truck to drive it back to the boat.

When we got there I saw they also sold it in 2×2 pieces, which is perfect for us. We ended up buying 4 of the 2×2 pieces and used twine to tie them to Sue’s backpack. She looked like a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle riding her bike back. I wish I would have taken a picture but I had my hands full trying to ride with the other bits we bought to fix the fridge.

We didn’t have time to do the fix in Cleveland and it would have to wait until our next multi-day stop, which was Clayton.

Here is a picture of Sue working on the insulation

The other maintenance we needed was a fender board. We got lucky that we could raft up to another boat in the Welland. They had fender boards and I saw how important they were. So, my other task in Clayton was to make a fender board.

A block from the marina was an Ace Hardware. I thought this was going to be easy. Nope, they don’t sell any lumber. Steven and I walked 2 miles to a lumberyard so I could buy a 2x6x8. Why didn’t I ride the bikes? I had no idea how I’d get the board back on the bikes, and it wasn’t a Home Depot, so no rent a truck.

Again, I got all the parts, but I didn’t have time to build the board. Plus, Clayton is a fancy place. I didn’t think they’d appreciate me setting up a wood shop and running power tools while Richie Rich was having cocktails.

I waited until we were on anchor tonight and fired up the generator. Fender board: Done.