Loop Prep has Officially Begun!

Loop Prep has Officially Begun!

 

May has been a very busy and eventful month! 

We finally got Knot Again out of winter storage on May 2^nd and brought her back to her home port in Manistee, Michigan.  So happy to have left that storage facility – what a nightmare that turned out to be!

May 2^nd was also my last full-time day at work!  Although I have agreed to go back a day or two a week to train my replacement for a little while; retirement is in sight!

Spring Rendezvous

Although we were anxious to get started on our long list of projects needing to be done on the boat before our departure date; we traveled to Norfolk, Virginia the first week of May to attend the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers Association) Spring Rendezvous. 

 

It was a great experience where we learned so much about the loop and we met many great people – from those like us in various stages of planning for their loop; to those currently in progress on their loop; to “Gold Loopers” –  or those that have completed their loop.   We highly recommend attending a Rendezvous if you are in the planning stages of your loop! We hope to attend the Fall Rendezvous in Alabama – and by then we will be able to say we are “in progress”!  You can see some more pictures from our trip in our gallery page HERE.

 

Enough Fun – Time to Get to Work!

After returning home, we started our long list of boat projects that we had been compiling all winter long.  We have managed to cross several items off the list and started working on several others.

First up; Scott finished wiring up the SureShade retractable awning.  Scott; being the expert DIY guy that he is, modified a “new old stock” SureShade that was manufactured for a larger boat, and resized it to custom fit our upper deck off the back of our flybridge. 

As always, the modifications and install were completed without a hitch and it works flawlessly! We love sitting on the upper deck and this shade will provide some much-needed shelter from the hot sun.

Take a look at the video below of the first time we powered up the shade.  Kudos to Scott for yet another perfect execution of one of his great ideas.

 

 

Getting her Ship Shape!

While Scott was busy with the SureShade, my first order of business was to give Knot Again a much needed bath! She was filthy after having been stored at the winter facility – it was a construction zone and she was covered in so much dirt it was embarrassing.  I did my best to get her cleaned up; we are still hoping our detailer will be able to get us fitted into his schedule to give her a complete detail and wax in the very near future. 

 

 

Reducing our Air Draft

Next on the list was to replace the anchor light with a new, much smaller LED light. As the anchor light is the highest point on the boat, this allowed us to cut 8” off of our air draft.  (Air draft means the height of our boat above the water line.) Our previous air draft was 19’-3” – only a couple inches shy of the maximum allowed height of 19’-6” – which is the shortest fixed-height bridge we must be able to fit under in order to complete the loop.  Our new height comes in at 18’-7”; which gives us quite a bit more breathing room under that bridge!

 

 

 

Electronics upgrades

To finish up the work on the roof of the boat, Scott has installed the new AIS antenna and will be installing the AIS transmitter/receiver soon.  For those not familiar, AIS stands for “Automatic Identification System” and it allows boats to exchange navigational information and identities with other vessels and shore-side traffic monitoring systems.  AIS is required for the larger commercial vessels, but optional equipment for recreational boaters.  This will allow us to see other boat’s positions and information on our chart plotters; and as we will be transmitting our data as well – will allow other vessels to see us.  With all of the commercial traffic on the inland rivers – and often times no visibility around the twists and turns of the rivers – this equipment will be essential for us to be prepared with what is around the next bend and plan accordingly.

We also have installed the NeboLink device; which provides automatic voyage logging for our trip, and will also allow us to be seen by and see other loopers that are using the Nebo program to allow us to connect during our journey.  Additionally, the NeboLink has allowed us to share a link on our webpage so that everyone can find us on a map with one click of the mouse – the link is now in our top menu bar but can also be found HERE.

Batteries, Batteries, and More Batteries!

This past weekend, we replaced all 4 of our engine batteries as well.  Although this was on our list of things to do before our trip, it got moved up to the top of the list when the batteries on the starboard engine decided to give out and we weren’t able to start her up. These 4 batteries are only a small portion of the total batteries on the boat – Knot Again has a total of 13 very large batteries; 4 engine batteries (2 for each engine for starting), 1 for generator, 2 for bow thruster, and 6- 8D batteries for house and stern thruster.

We have been contemplating upgrading our electrical system/batteries this summer prior to our trip; but we have not made the final decisions on that project yet!

 

Engine work has also been started and he will be replacing all hoses, coolant, oil change, filters, etc.  We also have a CAT mechanic coming out this week to pull the aftercoolers and get them pressure tested and serviced.  Fingers crossed they pass the testing and are able to be serviced and reinstalled – rather than requiring a much more costly replacement.

Although we have a few other projects that we have started on, I will save the rest for another post.  Time to get back to work for now!

 

 

 

 

Erin Jaehnig

www.LoopTheKnot.com