Aboard Astraea | Invest in experiences, not things

Chuck (top) and Dave (bottom) working on the engine aboard Astraea

May 20, 2012
by Nate

The engine runs again!

Thursday I had special liberty and didn’t need to go to work so I could work with Dave the mechanic from Simmons’ Marine. Dave keeps his sailboat at Pier 32 Marina in National City and was an Aviation Support Equipment Technician (AS) when he was in the Navy. He came a few slips down the dock to help me figure out the problem with the engine on Astraea. It would run well for a few minutes, then die at odd times. The oil pressure low alarm was going off in the cockpit and I thought it was because of a loose wire from putting things in the cockpit locker where the wires connect to the control panel. I disconnected the alarm because the oil pressure sender was showing oil pressure at 45-50 psi and thought I can fix that problem when I get to it.

Chuck (top) and Dave (bottom) working on the engine aboard Astraea

Dave said it seemed like a fuel problem, there wasn’t enough fuel getting to the engine to keep it running. Chuck, from down the dock on WindWatcher, came over too to see what was going on. To make a long story short, Dave swapped out the fuel pump to see if that was the problem, then I fessed up about disconnecting the oil pressure switch alarm. He started looking down on the engine at the switch and found a loose wire. After he reconnected the wiring the engine ran perfect for over 15 minutes without a hiccup. Chuck found in the schematics that the oil pressure switch is wired to a timer circuit in the fuel pump solenoid. When the engine is started the timer is bypassed so the fuel pump always works, but after a certain amount of time, about 3 minutes, it dies without a good input signal from the oil pressure switch.

I thanked Chuck and Dave for their hard work helping with the engine and paid Dave for his time. So the moral of my story is to never overlook an alarm, especially if the engine starts dying! Natalie told me that the alarm had something to do with the engine problem so now she’s the lead mechanic aboard Astraea. I can’t wait to get her in coveralls to change the oil!

If you area looking for help with your boat in San Diego I highly recommend Dave Simmons.

May 17, 2012
by Nate

Maternity Pictures

This photo post is brought to you by Grand View Photography. Our friend, Eric Taylor, is a photographer . Last week we went to Balboa Park and Mission Beach to take some maternity pictures. When we were at the beach there were two other couples getting pictures taken that day, even though it was overcast! Below are our favorites from the day’s photo shoot. If you like the pictures Eric took, here’s a link to his site: Grand View Photography or like his work on Facebook.

May 15, 2012
by Nate

We’ve moved aboard!

Finally Natalie and I are living aboard Astraea! We spent the first night aboard May 1. I slept on the top bunk of the V berth and Natalie had the bottom bunk. It feels good to finally be aboard our cruising boat and getting some projects wrapped up. I’ll just try to bring everyone up to speed with pictures of what’s been going on around the boat without going in to too much boring detail.

: Natalie fit the portlights in to place. They’re all custom made so some fit in one spot better than others.

: I put the sealant on the portlights and screwed them in

: Phil came over to help put windows in.

: Astraea looks less like the Beverly Hillbilly boat now. Thanks Jeff for making us awesome dock steps!

: Downright respectable with flags flying

: The marina put up a new American flag and it sure looks nice, especially at sunset

: I learned from Rob that this switch selects charge controller alternator operation or direct connect to the batteries

: I accidentally inflated a life jacket

: We entered a horseshoe tournament on Cinco de Mayo. Eric from Coconutz shows us how its done.

: Natalie works on her form. It’s not easy for a pregnant lady to throw horseshoes!

: I really play horseshoes left handed

: Yeah, that’s how I throw them

: Natalie and I won crappiest team and she won shittiest player. We’re an award winning family. What sealed her trophy was probably the horseshoe that went out of the pit and landed on the rocks, or the one in the bushes.

: I bought a satellite phone but now am considering selling it

: Then we wanted to go sailing for the first time… And the engine died. Why am I smiling when inside it hurt so bad?

: Eric and I changed the engine and racor filters while Natalie and Jaime got Papa John’s Pizza. It didn’t fix the engine :-(

: I sold the old mini fridge that was on Airborne for $50

: And made asparagus wrapped in bacon!

: This is a much better method of grilling the bacon wrapped asparagus

: Airborne is up for sale now, asking $5000

: We went to see my buddy Vince race his car. He crashed it during the first lap, and is OK, but his car needs some work now.

: My mom sent Natalie pretty flowers for her first Mother’s Day

: We graduated from our birth class!

: Natalie putting her first batch of cookies in the oven

: Home baked cookies Aboard Astraea!

We spent a lot of time transferring things from Airborne to Astraea, putting things away and preparing for the baby’s arrival. We did take brakes to have dinner with Eric and Jaime and went out to breakfast with Rebel Heart and they gave us their old baby chair that can connect to our boat table. It’s good to know that even though our immediate family is far away that we have plenty of folks close by to help us out if we need it here in San Diego. Natalie has been going up and meeting with the Pier 32 “Liveaboard Ladies” on Wednesdays and it looks like Junior will have some surrogate Grandma’s when he needs to be spoiled.

We went to Balboa Park and to the beach last week with Eric and Jaime to take some pregnancy pictures. We got some sneak peaks off Eric’s digital camera and I’m sure the results of our photoshoot will be great! In our next post we’ll have some pictures of the boat now that we’re living aboard.