Meet the new La Rea!

LaRea · January 18

Haha -- some days are better than others! Yesterday with rebuilding the fuel filters, I worked 7 hours to save $650. That's $93/hour. But it doesn't always go that way.

aero3113 · January 18

Very true @rasbury !! LoL

LaRea · March 30

Well, we did it -- finished our second pass around the Great Loop!

Because of obligations here in Virginia next week, we hustled up the coast and finished much earlier than last year. We aren't heading back out until mid-May, so I have 6 weeks to tackle a long punch list of routine maintenance and repairs.

Here's the map of our last 2 years of cruising. Total 11,600 nautical miles, 268 stops, 203 locks, 1385 engine hours. We're grateful to have so many new friends and great memories.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/yf/rexpgaugd309.jpg

mvn · March 30

Congratulations on 2 wonderful years of cruising! So very happy we were able to meet up with the both of you on your inaugural loop!

Here's to a 3rd loop!

Mark

raybo3 · March 30

@LaRea WTG totally awesome.

aero3113 · March 30

Very cool @LaRea congratulations!!🍾

Grahamu · March 30

Congratulations on finishing your Platinum Loop. Look forward to seeing you again when in the Great Lakes.

Ian · March 31

Likewise, great to be able to catch up with you both when you came north - looking forward again this year. Just make it before July 22 and after August 4!

Rich_ · March 31

LaRea said:

Oh - and I've probably saved another $15k on DIY maintenance ... changing fluids, filters, and impellers. I couldn't afford this boat any other way.

Today's project - new seals and gaskets for the fuel filters.

Nice and clean. I can almost smell diesel from here

mvn · March 31

FYI, lockage on the Trent-Severn Waterway is free again this summer to all boaters.

https://parks.canada.ca/lhn-nhs/on/trentsevern/visit/laissez-passer-canada-pass

Mark

captkevin · March 31

Chris you are my hero. Congrats on completing loop #2

LaRea · May 2

This was bound to happen sooner or later ... the aftercooler failed on the port engine. It was original from 2011, and it pressure-tested fine in December. But when I saw white smoke in the exhaust and found coolant dripping from the induction manifold, I knew the cause right away.

The starboard side was replaced in 2023, so this one was living on borrowed time. I added a shiny coating of gloss white paint, and now the boat is ready for another 15 years of cruising!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/mx/eb1ca9xe6plc.jpg

captkevin · May 2

Looks like new

grouch0jr · May 2

Is this a new part, or were you able to have it repaired/rebuilt?

LaRea · May 2

It's new. I wish I could have just replaced the core! Volvo only sells it as a complete assembly, including the two huge pipes on both ends. That was kinda disappointing, because the original pipes are fine. I'm just glad they had one here in the US.

LaRea · May 24

(Cross-post from our blog at LaRea.net)

=================
Confessions from a Maintenance Junkie

This article shares a glimpse of my obsession with boat maintenance. Depending on your point of view, you might find it beautiful and/or disturbing.

Some boaters have chronic bad luck with their boats. Over the years, I observed that those unlucky boaters ignored routine boat maintenance. So I adopted the philosophy that maintenance is how I can "manufacture" good luck. I started paying more and more attention to maintenance, tracking it, trying to make myself luckier. Now the tracking has evolved into full obsession.

My enabler? A computer spreadsheet with thousands of notes, tables and formulas. It summarizes everything: upgrades, repairs, wiring diagrams, costs. And yes, recurring maintenance. The boring stuff -- oil changes, fuel filters, yada yada yada.

There's a maintenance "dashboard" that tracks 29 jobs. Each time I finish a job, I record the date and engine hours, plus service notes such as the condition of spent parts. Formulas calculate the interval since last service. Other formulas tell me when the next service is due, and they automatically flag jobs as yellow (due soon) or red (due now).

The picture shows my dashboard as of today. Because I just spent a month in our home port, almost everything is green. Woohooo! Only three jobs are flagged as red. Two are new additions to the list -- red because I don't know when the previous owner did them. The other red reminds me to find an inspector for the fire suppression system, because the DC area has no qualified inspectors.

That's my confession. I'm obsessed with maintenance, but in a good way. The result is hard real-world data based on OUR vessel and OUR cruising habits. It tells me that when I change the generator oil every 280 hours, I get healthy lab reports from the oil testing lab. It warns that my engine anodes only last 9 months, not 12 months. It says "relax for another year before shelling out $550 for new air filters."

The spreadsheet is my factory for manufacturing good luck, and we do seem to have very, very good luck!

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/tl/a9ddidmm7r4s.jpg

rasbury · May 26

You are 100% correct. Now my 270 is much simpler than your ship, when I have a problem it is generally something I knew I should take care of but it "worked last time we were out" .

captkevin · May 26

That is an impressive list

grouch0jr · May 26

I'm also a big fan of using spreadsheets to organize my tasks and notes. Some things I have just lumped into general "winterizing" and "commissioning" lists. Does LaRea stay in the water year round?

LaRea · May 27

Yeah, no more winterizing for me. We go south in cold weather.

I always winterized the Rinkers, so most of my maintenance was annual and I didn't need to track it. I did track impeller changes and water pump failures, especially after I started having issues with the Hardin pump bearings. I also tracked repairs, but not like what I'm doing now.

LaRea · September 20

Latest project: rebuilt the helm switch/alarm interface, which controls bilge pumps, bilge alarm, nav/anchor lights, high water alarm, and indicator lights.

Here's the prototype I built three years ago out of Starboard. It worked perfectly, but it's butt-ugly. I was worried that the appearance would cause too many questions if I ever sell the boat.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/d2/wppdzjg943n6.jpg

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/f3/djrqo4pwcgsl.jpg

Here's the replacement. Better, eh?

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/rg/w64il5dr79cm.jpg

One of the things it controls is this custom LED display at the helm. It has indicators for bilge pumps, high water alarms, nav lights, and anchor light.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/da/eodvipy9ido2.jpg

This was my first time developing a printed circuit board, which is easier than you might think. The software I used to design the board is Autodesk Fusion. I uploaded the design to jlcpcb.com in Hong Kong, and they printed it. Unsurprisingly, I botched my first attempt and had to print a second one. Even with that mistake, the total cost was under $150.

Image: https://us.v-cdn.net/5020499/uploads/editor/te/28m5budjw71x.jpg

Even though this is a dead-simple board, it took me a while to figure everything out. The engineers who work for me could have knocked this out over a lunch break, but I wanted to learn everything on my own. It was a fun experience.

captkevin · September 20

looks amazing

Formulaben · September 20

Dang, that's impressive!

Ian · September 20

LaRea said:

Latest project: rebuilt the helm switch/alarm interface, which controls bilge pumps, bilge alarm, nav/anchor lights, high water alarm, and indicator lights.

Here's the prototype I built three years ago out of Starboard. It worked perfectly, but it's butt-ugly. I was worried that the appearance would cause too many questions if I ever sell the boat.

Here's the replacement. Better, eh?

You’ve been visiting Canada too much….

aero3113 · September 20

Very nice!! ⚓️

LaRea · September 20

Ian said:You’ve been visiting Canada too much….

Take off, hoser.

So now I'm basically wandering around my boat looking for projects that could use printed circuit boards. When you're holding a hammer, everything looks like a nail.

Ian · 1:34AM

Hehehe

grouch0jr · 10:50AM

The PCB looks great. Do you have any concerns about exposure where it is mounted? Did the manufacturer have an option for conformal coating?

LaRea · 12:07PM

It's in a protected area under the helm, so no exposure worries. They do have options for conformal coating if you're paying them to assemble the board, but I didn't do that. I bought the parts and assembled it myself, then applied a brush-on coating on the components and exposed solder joints.

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