"Legacy": February 2011

Sunday, February 6, 2011

SmartPlug

Yesterday I converted Legacy's shore power plug to a SmartPlug. I have been wanting to do this since I bought the boat and it was one of the things that I was going to do to my 36 before I decided to move to the 400. Fisheries Supply in Seattle had some good Seattle Boat Show pricing so I decided to pull the trigger on it. It is not a cheap conversion since it is a relatively small start-up company with lots of R&D expenses. Getting ETL approval of their system has been a challenge but they received it in October. They are still working on approval for the dockside plugs.

Anyway, I purchased a conversion kit as well as a molded, 50ft shore power chord. My rational for doing this was that I always like having two shore power chords. I'm essentially a lazy person and want as little to do as I'm heading our for an overnight or weekend as possible. It isn't hard to coil up a shore power chord and bring it on board, but I prefer to keep one on the boat and leave one permanently on the dock. Part of the reason is that I'm particular about how my dock chord is attached to the dock. So, I'll convert the end of the chord that I keep on the boat, and use a new molded chord for the one that is left on the dock. This increased the cost a lot, but for me it is worth it.

Changing out the plug on the on the boat isn't that difficult. However, it would have been a lot easier and quicker with another pair of hands. I have long arms, and I'm not sure someone shorter, with shorter arms, would have been able to do it solo. The hole that was drilled in my stern to accept the existing plug (receptacle or boatside connector is more accurate I suppose) is just slightly too small to accept the SmartPlug connector. My Dremel would have made short work of making it a tad larger, but since I had no 120 power on the boat (since it was shut off and disconnected obviously) and I didn't have a long enough extension chord, I had to use a hand file. It took a bit longer but was not difficult. Dropping tools, nuts, and washers down into the aft lazarette and retrieving them took a bit longer as well.

One thing that I didn't have with me and I wish I did was some electrical grease. After wiring the connector, I would have liked to cover the connections with grease to keep moisture out of the connections. That is something that will be pretty easy to do when I go out to boat since the connector is readily accessible to the aft lazarette. Here are some photos:

Interior of existing connector:

Interior of SmartPlug connector:

Exterior, connector installed:

Exterior with power chord attached:

Legacy

My parents taught me to sail at age 5 in Gig Harbor, WA. Much of my childhood was spent going to sailing regattas with my folks. We either were racing boats, or my Father was prepping Clark boats to sell. Selling boats allowed him to afford the sailing habit. Never the accomplished skipper my father was, or as good at sail trim as my mother, I do have a box of old trophies from racing in my childhood.

My folks moved to larger boats as the Clark Boat Co., based in Kent, WA. started to make larger boats. We had a San Juan 21, then raced and cruised on a San Juan 24.

My folks took a break from boat ownership for a while as life got busier and money got tighter. I was busy with school activities and didn't have the time, nor passion, for sailing at the time.

Eventually, my folks got the urge again and bought a few boats finally owning a Cal-29 for some years. They named the boat "Revival" in recognition of both their reawakening faith as well as their return to serious boating. They cruised on "Revival" all over Puget Sound and into the San Juan Islands and Canadian Gulf Islands. All the grandkids learned to sail small boats while living on board "Revival" for a week or two each summer.

As the grandkids grew, it got to be a tight fit to have all 5 of the kids, with them on the boat. My Dad found an older, poorly treated, Catalina 36 and bought it. It took my folks over a year of evening and weekend labor before the boat was fit to sail and cruise on. They named this boat "Vision", both because of what their vision was for how the boat could be used by the family, as well as a nod to my father's and my optometric practice.

My father died suddenly of a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage while my folks were cruising in the Canadian Gulf Islands in 2006.

As the kids left for college, and I got a little more time, we started to use "Vision" more and then started to yearn for a little more space and a rig that was a bit easier for the two of us to sail comfortably. We decided to sell "Vision" and look for a Catalina 400.

Hence "Legacy". My parents have passed on to me, my sister, our families, and our children a love of sailing and being on the water. For us, a boat is more about shared family experience, than anything else. This is the real legacy left to us by my parents, and one for which I'll be forever grateful.