Back to the Ocean…

A week after the sailing disappointment…

We headed back to Bluewater Sailing, and this time, we rented a smaller boat with sails that are just lashed to the masts instead of rolled up inside of them. I checked the weather that morning and based on that, I took my light jacket out of my carry all for some dumb reason. It didn’t take up much room, there was a ‘chance’ of rain, but I just didn’t think I’d need it.

And when we arrived at the harbor, here’s what was still left from an early morning rainstorm. Puddles all over the parking lot. Hardly any customers on this fine Saturday.

Brennan is smart enough to leave the soft top of the BMW up.

Nice calm water here in the harbor.

Still, there were some people here getting some sailing instructions, despite the expected foul weather. And yes, I did know that it was suppose to rain after around 2pm. And here’s our boat. It’s a 24 footer.Once again, like last weekends outing, we had to prep the boat before leaving the slip by removing all those blue covers from the equipment, hatches, and portholes. And soon we’re out in the harbor. After we get past the breakwater, the sails go up, and I get my turn at the helm. And when the wind picked up off the coast, this is pretty much what our boat looked like as we sailed along pushed by the wind. Here you can see the wind filling the sails and the boat heeled over…making 12 knots with the wind from our port quarter. Didn’t take me long to get use to sailing. It’s pretty easy in fair weather, and I’d been to sea while in the Navy of course. Here I’m checking out the tell-tail up on the mast. It’s an arrow, direction it’s pointing is set by the wind. Than there are a couple markers that show you the best place for the boat to be pointed with the wind you’re getting. It’s not very accurate though. Just a rough guide. It only took 30 minutes or so to get a feel for how the boat should be pointed to take advantage of the wind. And after 4-5 hours, we make our way back to the harbor. Great fun being out on the water. It was nearing 2pm as we approached out slip. It had sprinkled on us just a tiny amount while we were out at sea but it pretty much held off while we were enjoying the sailing. Good looking Cat heads out to sea. And then as we’re tying up the boat, stowing gear and sails, and putting up all the shrouds, we get a rainstorm. Lucky for me, I was holding the mainsail halyard and could just duck into the cabin, thereby remaining dry, mostly. Hah! Poor Brennan up there on deck struggling to get the mainsail stowed and I’m just enjoying his discomfort. I’m a bad assistant. Shame on me. Well, next time I’ll be more helpful because I’ll remember to bring my jacket.

After that short rainy weather day, there were 10’s of new wildfires all over California as the storm threw millions of lightning bolts all over this dry state. There were so many wildfires that I had to carefully plan my trip up to Walla Walla to avoid them. Luckily, the route I planned on taking was relatively clear of any nearby fires.

So 11 days after this nice boating excursion, I said my goodbyes to my friends in Rosamond and headed north. I’ll take I-5 most of the way. My brother had already left town heading for Portland, then Seattle, then on to Walla Walla where I’ll meet him again at the Morgan family reunion. My daughter and her BF can’t make it, darnit. But my son will be there. And brother, sister, BIL, nephew or three. Guess that’ll be the lot this time. Seems we’re a rather loose knit family. I’ve already cussed out my sister for planning this in the middle of summer since it’s likely to get over 100°F while we’re there. I’m just not use to that type of heat anymore.

Anyway, I head north taking the Bakersfield route. It’ll eventually run into I-5.  And here’s a shot of the famous San Joaquin valley that I head into after a couple hours on the road. It’s famous as being one of the most productive farming valleys in the world…as long as there’s water. These days, there isn’t much to go around. Not much rainfall and the aquifers and wells are being emptied at an alarming rate.

As I get close to Bakersfield, must have seen 25 signs for this business. And all those orchards I was passing made me think that it was time to stop and try to find some good fruits and/or veggies. And especially some nuts, because I was out and always travel with snack nuts.  They’re a few miles off the freeway, but easily found. Ample parking too. Here’s their boxing set up for oranges. This is right next to the retail store. Same building. So inside the retail portion they have a huge amount of different products. Everything made or grown in the US. I chose a bunch of oranges grown right here on their farm, a couple pounds of green grapes, and several packages of different nuts, again, all local. The gal gave me 3 ruby grapefruit free too. Oh, and grabbed a package of cinnamon licorice twists. Made in the US, and very fresh. Delish. Everything I got there was excellent, and so fresh! Really enjoyed that everything they sold there were free samples of.

After spending $25 there at California Fruit Depot I get back on the freeway and pass this open truck with thousands of pounds of tomatoes. Must have seen 25 of these trucks on the route. One of thousands of acres of fruit trees. Begging for water. Took this shot because of the contrast between the open desert right next to the green monoculture of an orchard. Those are several year old almond trees. And some corn. Around noon I was really feeling the heat. It had gotten up to 85°F in the cab of the RV and with no AC, it was very uncomfortable. At around 6pm I got here at the Old Orchard RV Park in Orland, CA. By this time of the day, I’d been driving in 108°F heat for almost 3 hours and was really ready to plug in and get my AC running. I had to pay the rate for a 50A RV in order to use both my ACs. I was physically drained by the trip in that kind of heat. Just not use to it these days. I decided to stay here for two nights and shop in the area for parts to make a homemade AC. I did not want to drive another day in these temps! Too nasty on the body.

Next morning I headed over to Grocery Outlet to replenish my kitchen supplies and stock my freezer and while there, spotted just the thing for my homemade AC. I was lucky to get all my shopping done, and get the RV tank filled with diesel by 11AM before the temperature started to soar. Then it was back to Old Orchard, plugged in, and running both my ACs the rest of the day.

After settling in at the RV park, I came up with this design for an AC that would fit in my cab while I’m driving and designed to blow some cool air towards me. A styrofoam cooler, a couple of pieces of plumbing, a couple computer fans, a 12V power supply, some holes cut, and it’s ready to go. I had everything in my junk boxes except the styrofoam cooler and the plumbing pieces.

It was handy that the cooler lid had just the right sized indents for the plumbing pieces. They gave me a handy guide to use while cutting the holes for the pipes. They fit perfectly and actually have a little rim that helps avoid damage to the cooler lid and facilitates positioning the outlets while also preventing air leaks.

I am thinking that I’ll eventually cut out an opening for the entire fan so that none of it will protrude inside the cooler but this cutout will work for now. (I’m also looking for a 6″ pancake fan I can use instead that will move more air). I’ll be extra careful when I place bags of ice inside so as not to bump the fans. Note the pipes that can be easily swiveled for directional cooling.Next morning, I’m heading north again and since I left fairly early in the morning, I don’t need any cooling until around 9:30AM. Stopped at a convenience store for a 20 lb bag of ice. I drop that inside the cooler and 30 minutes later I’m enjoying a coolish breeze gently blowing over me as the temperature outside climbs past reasonable. All in all, the homemade AC worked quite well, keeping the cab of the RV 8°F cooler than outside air temps. I kept all the windows closed and the dash fan off so that helped keep the cool air inside the cab and in my general area. It also helped that I was heading north rather than into the sun so that giant front window didn’t contribute much heating.

I have since added a 2nd fan, shown in the picture above. It’s attached right on the output of the first fan, using the same sheetrock screws as the first fan to hold it in place. I’ll improve the design as I go along, but for now, I’m happy with it. I still had ice the next day after operating nearly all day in 90°F temps. I think next time I’ll use a different combination of bags of ice. They come in 5 lb, 7 lb, 10 lb, etc, etc., giving loads of combinations and I’ll try for an arrangement that’ll maximise the cooling effect.

For you RV’ers, yes, I should get my dash air fixed. It’s on my list for the next time I go to Mexico. And, I need to get my genset working again. Right now all it does is run 15 minutes then shuts off. Next start it’ll only run 10 minutes, and so on. Which means that I can’t run my roof AC on the road, which is what I use to do in the summer. So this simple, inexpensive, homemade AC is a temporary measure.

See you all next time! Hope you enjoyed my ramblings.