Wow, the new icebox is seriously amazing!

The two bags of ice AFTER a weekend. 

 This weekend was another real test of the new icebox since I did the major retrofit with better insulation. We loaded it up with a two bags worth of food that needed refrigeration but had grown warm on the two ferries and car ride in between Bainbridge and Friday Harbor. We bought the two blocks of ice on Saturday morning, loaded it all up and took off to Jones as described below.

We had sausages and yoghurt and all the normal stuff. When we got back to our slip in Friday Harbor at around 1pm on Sunday, and emptied the icebox of food. When we got down to the bottom to retrieve the ice, we were amazed to see it was completely unmelted. Like, brand new. The photos below are from AFTER the overnight trip.

Adding two inches of polyiso all around and an inch of pink foam up top has really done an incredible job of it. Wish I hadn't waited so long.

A wonderful get away

We escaped the news and the trauma and busy-ness of our semi-rural Bainbridge Island lives to the more wild and refreshing respite of Jones Island State Park this weekend. Old friend. We went up Friday night as we like to do, and had deep, deep boat sleep through Saturday morning.

I was excited to use our new icebox for the first real trip and to also use the new Racor 500 for the first outing.

A carpet of color. Perfect. 

Amy and the boys were off to Cafe Demeter in Friday Harbor for the num num run after we managed to rise after 9am, and I got the boat ready. We didn't leave until after 11, and the day was gorgeous. Forecast was for rain and SE winds that night so we headed to the north side of Jones.

We were the only boat at the island. Once again. On what turned out to be a beautiful weekend, people stayed away by the millions. We no sooner had anchored than we were ashore and walking around the West side. Every few moments we would stop and just take it in the stunning views, and enjoy the stillness. The embracing of all things. The intricate poetic detail of nature.

Owen on the edge of the world

The boys spent some time chasing each other among the slopes that rise steeply up from the water. Owen's only real chance is patience, since he has the misfortune to have an older brother who runs sprints and the 5K in state qualifying times. But Owen does have patience, and eventually the tortoise caught the hare. They've been doing that since Owen could run, and this is their last year of living together under the same roof as Elliott is a senior. Getting all choked up about that.

When we returned to the dinghy Elliott had decided to once again swim back to Aeolus. He has this tradition now. It was 48 degree air and probably 46 degree water. He stripped down, plunged in, and did it. Some Wimhoff. It was about 100 meters to the boat. Dude is tough.

It poured rain, hard, all night. Some light winds. But we were snug as bugs. On Sunday morning the rain stopped and we had another beautiful day. We played frisbee, and enjoyed the fall colors of the island.

Toward eternity

I walked for some time in rapture at the beauty of the trees. So profoundly beautiful.

Thank you Aeolus, for another magical family trip.

Vastly improved icebox!

The insulation is done and it is glassed. Ready to be painted. 

Finally got around to adding some serious insulation to what we have long called our warming box. The original icebox on the Gulf has paltry insulation and is in a shared space with the engine. A couple blocks of ice might last a day. It's cavernous, but useless. Thanks Don Casey for suggestions of how to do this.

So I added layer after layer of high quality polyiso insulation, in half- inch thicknesses, staggered and interlocking. I added these layers 3-4 deep on all side and the bottom, and added 2 inch pink foam to the top. I also sealed off the so called "day access" hatch as it was just another source of air leakage and absolutely impossible to use anyway.

Sealed the whole thing in fiberglass, used epoxy primekote over it all, and today put the coat of bilge note on it for a nice clean and cleanable white icebox.

On a trial run I added two blocks of ice, and the trip was for 4 days, and damn if that ice wasn't still there at the end. This is a game changer for our ability to store stuff. We gave up probably 25% of the ice box volume, but gained a true icebox. I've left out a lot of detail, but let me know and I can share more about how I did it.

Added an inch of pink insulation to the lid and glassed it all over.  This is before I  painted it. 

A view into the now painted box. The shelves still install and  the drain still drains. 

New Racor 500MA as main filter

Having had two episodes now when a plugged filter left me dead in the water, and one of them even after fully cleaning my fuel tank as I reported here, I finally have had enough and installed a new Racor 500 MA as my primary filter and plumbed the old Racor 220 as my backup. I can switch them on the fly. I also installed the vacuum gauge on the 500, and at cruising RPM it now sits at only 1mm Hg. I'm so damn fastidious about maintenance that it drives me batty to have ever had a fuel filter problem under way.

The source of that hair like stuff must have been from a tank of fuel I picked up somewhere. My pet theory is that the fuel station had a rat get into the tank and die, and those hairs got put into my tank, as there is simply no way in the world for hairs to get in my tank otherwise. And unlike dirty fuel, which would simply clog the filter, those hairs actually accumulate around the check ball and physically block the flow of fuel before it ever gets to the filter. DAMN HAIRS.

So, with the two filters now, I can switch over on the fly and deal with whatever is causing grief in the  other.

The new Racor 500MA

The set up with a view of one of the two three way switches that lets me switch filters on the fly.