Cavalry is coming !

Of course, immediately following the fire safety training the team tackled a Margarita lunch. Jungle and crew are in great hands!

Our ship Medical Safety Officer Jenee went through an in depth marine safety course (5 days) at the Maritime Institute in San Diego. Here, she and her team were trained on fighting fires in confined locations. The course included advanced CPR, medical emergencies, boat safety preparation, etc. - Jenee passed all phases with flying colors. Jungle and crew are in great hands!

These are two of my marina neighbors John (seated) and Ken. John was giving 3:1 odds I was coming down head first.

Now that that I have my clod hoppers out of the way, you can see a great top side shot of Jungle - pretty girl.

Birdseye view of the Harbor Island Marina - San Diego.

Here's a view from the top. You can see my size 13s as I'm standing on the top of the mast to change out the anchor light. Look closely you can see Jenee on the dock and Kai on the deck.

Troops are arriving! Kai Schwarz en route to San Diego in time to prep for the Jungle March 13 departure to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. Kai sailed with us from Hawaii to San Diego and proved his navigation prowess by pointing out that the US mainland was to the right. Kai has solo sailed the US West Coast, Mexico and Hawaii. He has also team sailed to the Marquesas islands, Tahiti and other South Pacific ports. Kai calls Seattle home and is utilizing his talents as a marine electrician to install an AIS system (Automatic Identification System - tracks and identifies other boats), also, hailing, spotlight, satellite radio and isolation transformer. He and I will tackle a custom AC water maker system next. I'll point out where it goes, Kai will install it. Great to have him on board!

What do you do when you're getting ready for a passage?

I think it might be a good idea to move the ceiling fan out of the cabinet

You get the bend by making a series of cuts to the backside of the plywood - bends easy.

Getting there - checkout the cool bend

Here's our boy putting together custom cabinets for the forward stateroom

Ladies and Gentlemen, from North Carolina - Josh Lee. Josh has been a great help on many boat projects. In addition, Josh owns a diving services company and is a great Alternative rock singer.

Done!

This is the locker below the sink in the forward head - after years of use it needs paint!

Here is what a clean heat exchanger looks like

Make sure the generator is in good working order. This is the generator heat exchanger which cools the generator coolant fluid with seawater. Both are pumped through this device and one cools the other by pumping through separate pipes. Same principle as the car radiator. This heat exchanger was in definite need of a servicing. This took me 5 hours to remove as it was in a difficult location (backside of the generator pictured). Probably the most difficult mechanical undertaking I've encountered as I couldn't quite see the heat exchanger, I had to do everything by feel. Re-installation was a snap - only 3 hours!

Lots of bilge work, including replacing a through hull ball valve that didn't shut off all the way (good find while painting the bilge) This job took much longer than it should - over 3 days due to the moving of all electrical components and cleaning and sanding of a messy bilge.

Lots of engine work (heat exchanger, water pumps, fuel system, oil, transmission) plus a cool paint job. This engine is a horse and great to work on - Cummins 6 cyl 210 HP Turbo 6BT.

Jungle at anchor in Honalai, Kuaui before departing for San Diego

Jungle crew enroute to Kuaui from Honolulu - you can see the strain on our faces - tough duty!

OK the best photo I have of Jungle under sail is from Peter, the previous owner.

I've been asked for more information on the boat. First of all, the name, Jungle is the original name of the boat when it was built in Hong Kong in 1996. The name grew on us and we decided to keep it. It has been long held by sailors that it is bad luck to change the name of a boat without going through an involved ritual. I don't believe in bad luck, but why push it?

Jungle was built by Seahorse Marine, Hong Kong. They specialize in Motor Trawlers for private and commercial use. The Mandarin 52 Motorsailor (Jungle) is based on a previous design with numerous improvements. All sailboats are a compromise or balance of comfort and function. A Motorsailor is at the high end of comfort while still allowing us the ability to use windpower to cross oceans. When Jenee, crew and I delivered Jungle from Honolulu, Hawaii we had the engine running for most of the 2500+ mile trip over 20 days at sea. The wind was light as is typically the case in Aug/Sep. To be sure, Jungle is not a racing sailboat, but she will sail you to where you need to go.

That is an impressive trip but slightly dwarfed by the previous owner who delivered Jungle from Picton, New Zealand to Honolulu - a tad over 4500 miles! Those Kiwis know how to sail.

On to the specifications of Jungle:

Type: Sloop - Main sail and Jib

Length: 52 feet

Beam: 15 feet

Draft: 5 feet

Weight: 44,000 lbs

Cabins: 3

Heads: 2

Engine: Cummins 210 HP

Gen: Onan 6.5 KW (220/50Hz)

Fuel: 500 gallons

Water 350 gallons

Jenee wanted these newer photos of the interior included - master cabin (above) and salon with new curtains (check out the new flat screen TV - critical safety device)

New carpeting in the main salon - feels like home! The definition of living aboard a boat is "spending time in exoctic ports, working on your boat".

Before picture of teak toe rail - this varnish job took Jenee and me 2 weeks!

How's this for exciting - painted anchor chain locker and new chain pipe

Jenee spruced up the master cabin - new comforter and curtains - pretty cool.

This is the master head - new sink and faucet

Not so glamorous, but important - sprucing up the heads. This is the guest head. The toilet bowl is a custom made fiberglas unit that I was able to paint white (was blue). I think the toilet bowl is beautiful. Jenee thinks I need a break.

Hi Everyone,

Jenee and I are excited to begin our next chapter as we set sail on our new home Jungle. We'll do our best to keep everyone updated on this blog. Here is Jungle at dock in the South Pacific

Here's Jenee and I on board Jungle as we sailed from Honolulu to San Diego


I'll work on my blogging skills and will keep everyone posted - stay tuned!