thump thump went the helm. i had gotten used to it, but it was disconcerting nonetheless as it could mean very big problems. and since i could still steer the boat there’s no problem. anyway, as if i don’t have enough on my plate i pulled apart my binnacle and hauled my ass down below into the “hole”, and after an hour or so found the problem. thank god it’s a bolt-on part and not something nasty like a rudder bearing. anyway, here is the story:

first thing is that access to below-deck steering gear is through the port lazarrette. that sucker is only about 18″ across. 

and of course it’s full of crap (except the beer – that’s not crap.)

you empty the thing and down you go. afraid yet? not a job for the claustrophobic.

and there’s the steering gear. it’s hard to tell in the pic. but the quadrant is the grey wheel (seen edge on) in the middle of the pic behind all those wires (not my job and you have to love the mounting for the exhaust hose). 

you can just make out the aircraft cable coming off the wheel. the quadrant is about 5′ into the stern. there’s at most 18″ of height there, decreasing as you move aft. see the seacock? there’s another one to port and a third one so far aft you can’t even see it. I had to replace all three as some twit put in plastic valves. it’s a good thing i’m not fat.

the glassed-in aluminum box to the right carried the ram for the b&g autohelm; the rusty bar deeper in above the quadrant is where the arm for the unit mounts. you can just make out that 3rd seacock for the exhaust.

and here’s the culprit. i still have no idea how an electrical/hydraulic ram could go thump thump as the piston is moved back and forth by the helm. i guess i’ve got to do some research about hydraulics so i don’t have to pay someone to fix this. it’s a few years old so i won’t even bother with b&G -besides if if they have them they’ll want a mint for it.

this just in!

it’s official and women the world over are celebrating. italy’s highest court upheld an earlier conviction of indecency to an italian man for grabbing at his testicles in public. apparently this is a traditional “ward off the evil eye” kind of behaviour. the poor sap got busted to the tune of around $200.00.

you know women are behind this. what’s the world coming to when a guy can’t scratch his cojones? does pocket pool count? how about if you’re wearing a speedo?

for anyone who wants to see where we live, as it happens! here’s the link to a webcam set up in the inner harbour.

victoria harbour webcam

we’re down there, near the top of the picture. it looks pretty grey right now because a front is blowing through. should be nice tomorrow.

god damn it. our big electric heater packed it in the other day and i was going to bypass the switch today but they used “custom” screws so you can’t get into the damn thing. adn now the propane just ran out! that’s twice when both modes of heat packed it in at the same time. at least it’s not too late to refill the tank and tracy is picking a new heater up, but still… i’m not getting out of bed. we bought a 12v electric blanket for $20.00 at a california truck stop and it has the bed nice and warm.

It was a chilly night here last night. The power switch blew out on our largest electrical heater (late of course) and the little 650 watt jobby from the v-berth just couldn’t compete with the 7 degree water surrounding us. I remember waking up and wishing for a toque. This morning the hatch above us was covered in condensation; I haven’t seen that since November

The funny part of this is that upon returning from our trip, we both commented on how the season had “flipped” in our absence. It is really spring, and just the other night we got too hot and turned off the small heater, and there are times when I have turned off the big one. I have taken to sitting back out in the cockpit again (at least when it is sunny out). In terms of winter, that really was nothing and no where near as tough as I thought it would be.

Now if that heater going had happened a month ago, it would have been damned cold in here. I think I will pick up an extra, small one for next year.

I can see how there is an age limit to what we are doing, at least for a sailboat. When my mom was visiting she had two accidents –the first when she was climbing aboard: she wasn’t expecting the movement when she stepped on deck and she was already a little off balance and she fell off onto the concrete dock. Fortunately  it was mostly her pride that was wounded but it scared the crap out of me. I had never seen her fall before and I guess she has become more frail than I was aware.

And then to add a nice coda to our holiday together, as she was leaving she accidentally dropped her new laptop into the chuck. If got it in a zillion pieces on the nav station right now. I’ll go at it with a swab and clean off all the salt, but I don’t have high hopes.  

I was offered another job yesterday, which mostly entailed fixing old electronic systems on navy vessels. Spare parts?Nope. Can I replace this? You have to get permission; fill out this ten-page form and send it in and we’ll let you know within 6 weeks. What the hell do you mean it isn’t fixed yet?

That was the idea I got when I went for the interview. Plus the shop was a disaster. Plus they would pay me less for much more difficult and stressful work. So I guess I’m destined to be an honest to goodness boat rigger. The good thing about that is the experience will be invaluable for when I take off and head south. I’ll be able to pay my way fixing up other people’s boats. If it wasn’t for that key element I’d be looking at a social services job.

it’s amazing how things have changed over the last decade. I sent out three resumes and within a few days got two job interviews (one still pending), and one job offer. the job i accepted pays 50% more than any other job i’ve ever had, which in some ways isn’t surprising since my last job was in the non-unionised social services. i’ve never found it so easy finding work even though it’s been eight years since i last held down a regular job and ten since i last looked for work. i was concerned that it would be difficult finding my way back into the workforce, barring a mcjob of some kind or other.

i have a great number of skills and years of training, but past job experience has traditionally been vital and i’ve never worked as a boat rigger, at least not professionally. it seems that labourer shortages have really swung the power back to the worker after a great many years of people living the mercy of the bosses.

it makes the government of bc look like a bunch of fools that they are passing legislation allowing businesses to hire workers for a minimum of 2-hour shifts, down from a previous minimum of 4 hours. it is only a desperate attempt to swing the power back, like a few years ago when they lowered minimum wage to 6 dollars an hour. fortunately, there is such need out there that people can pick and choose, and my kids can flip the bird at any company that wants to give them that kind of wage or those kind of hours. that was the kind of wage i started at almost 30 years ago.

when my son first started working at mcdonalds he was paid that and it was exploitation, nothing less. now he makes $17.00 an hour, and he’s worth that and more. the only folks working for less than $10.00 an hour these days are those with no experience and just starting out. even tim hortons pays better than that.

anyway, i’m supposed to start next monday and i feel mixed about it. i am grateful for the opportunity to pay off debts and to learn another trade, but it means surrendering the freedom i’ve enjoyed over the last several years. I swore i would never go back into the salt mines, but tracy needs my help and once we pay this boat off we really will have the economic freedom that i’ve been dreaming about.

i suppose i’m also afraid. i’m from blue collar stock and i learned the morality of labour growing up, so although i paid my way and more over the last number of years i didn’t do it through traditional wage labour as my forefathers did. i’ve always felt guilty about that, even though i understand the screwed-up politics and corrupt history of that peculiar morality. i know it’s a lie, but all the men i’ve ever admired were blue-collar and i unconsciously assimilated the ethic. work meant more than just providing for family, it was a moral good and even a definition of manhood. i developed more brains than ethics it seems and turned my back on that value, but it’s been an uneasy road.

i am weary of walking a solitary path. sure it means the view is often personal and  unique, but there is so much both internal and external that are always pulling me back into the fold, and i could easily return to that traditional masculine role. to stop being an iconoclast and just work and consume like so many others would be a relief. hell, even the hippies came back when the weather got cold and the weed was all smoked.

i saw a great cartoon the other day: it was a boomer couple and the wife is saying to her husband as he leaves for work, “remember to stick it to the man, dear, but don’t get fired yet because we aren’t ready to retire.”

it would be a kind of relief to know what you have to do each day, no questioning if this is the best use of my time, no ambiguity. get up at 6:30, work all day, cook dinner, kill time ‘till bed, and start again the next day. 5 days a week the path is set and nothing to decide.

i can’t get the movie “margaret’s museum” out of my head. for those who haven’t seen it, it’s about this guy who refuses to go into the mines in cape breton, preferring to make music and support the local culture against decimation by the outside world. the mine is the only town employer, and the only store is also owned by the same company so you can imagine what life is like for the people. and a lot of people die down in the pit.

times get hard enough and under pressure from his wife and family he reluctantly goes into the mine, and both he and his young brother-in-law are soon killed in an accident. i see this movie as a metaphor for the deaths many of us die when we turn away from our true selves and essentially sell our bodies and minds for the profits of others. i’m trying not to look at my choice that way, but it’s there regardless.

part of the job will be spent outfitting one of those boats that we really, really hate – the one’s with huge-ass motors and enormous external sound systems that blare music that can be heard miles away. there’s been many a time when i wish i had an rpg to blow one of these bloody things out ofthe water, and now i’m gonna be making them!

i’ll also have to decide what to do about this blog. i know i’ll feel like a fraud working full time and living aboard; that’s not what liveaboarding is about, not in my worldview. it’s just being a suburbanite on the water. i’m only gonna keep living on the boat because that’s still the cheapest way to live and so i can pay off debts all that more quickly. i might bail and pick it back up when we’re ready to live the way we should live, or else keep writing as a wannabe. not an easy call.