A Perfect Weekend

My daughter had her graduating Prom on Saturday so I was at her beck and call all day for driving to hair salon and fingernail place etc. She looked beautiful. Rule #1 and the only rule...she was not to get in a car if anyone had alcohol....it would have been OK to be at a destination with booze, but not before. My good girl danced for five hours and called me for a drive home at 11 pm. Sober.

Friday and Sunday were awesome sailing days. Period. Sunday was even better than Friday because it was an all day event. 32 degrees Celsius, high UV, and 10 to 15 knots of wind. We went under the lift bridge onto Lake Ontario proper. The Lake itself had a lot of algae for about a mile off shore then the water cleared up. We sailed and made googly eyes at each other for about two hours then decided to drop the sails and drift. I figure we were about 5 or 6 miles off shore. E
we picnicked, had a drink, acted like newlyweds.. heh, heh. The wife even went for a quick dip...

Then we just lay ed around, had another drink and read whatever books we had lying around.

OK, we were laying around 'au naturale' with plenty of UV protection. I don't think any UV protection was necessary as more power and sail boats dropped by to see if we were OK. As annoying it was to put clothes on, take clothes off...over and over, it was also nice to know there doesn't seem to be much apathy in fellow boaters when it comes down to boaters safety:)

Sunday just confirmed that we have chosen the correct path for us and we need a good canvas dodger with a sunscreen:) Damn it, I have to post a few pictures don't I? Modest ones of course!

Roller Furling

Finally got the flexible roller furling installed. No pictures yet as I keep forgetting to bring the daughters camera to the marina. I constructed a 15" extension for the bottom of the furling drum to raise the sail off the deck. This also gives me a small viewing window which I never had with the Genoa. With the roller furling raised all I have to do is crouch a bit and see whats ahead of me, I didn't have that luxury before. I even remembered, after some experimenting, how to tie a bowline for the sheets. I am sooo nautical:) Special thanks to Vic who was a great help with the install. I'll add photos later.

First sail!!!

Finally got the canvas up for a lovely three hour sail. The wife packed a picnic basket of sandwiches, fruit, wine and rum. Note to rum drinkers out there. I now drink "Sailor Jerry" rum, an amber rum that goes down like honey.

A friend at the marina introduced us and we are now the best of buddies:) It is so smooth that mix is not even needed, which is good for a diabetic such as myself.

Oh yeah, the sail....nice breeze at about 10 to 12 knots from the East, more or less. It was kind of tough sailing as I snapped off our wind indicator plus its mounting bracket when raising the mast. We tied ribbons to the shroud stays but I find myself constantly looking at the top of the mast for the non-existent indicator.

Hope to get out today but it seems unlikely as the wife threw her back out lifting a window mounted A/C. Foolish woman, grunt work is MY forte!

A bit of everything.

The first picture show our 'new to us' roller furling. We paid $250 US for it. It came from a Luger 24 I believe. We are excited as now my wife won't have to go forward on the dangerously pitching deck to lower the forsail any more! She can do it from the comfort of the cockpit:)



The second picture shows Ellie tidying up the halyards, (ropes that pull something), after we got the boom and mainsail up and running.



The third picture shows the booms gooseneck fitting as requested by someone who bought a Coronado 25 recently. Hope this helps.



Fourth picture is of our daughters two new kittens. Just a sec, I have to spritz them as they are clawing the couch. Again. Tiny aren't they? But potent, one fart from them can clear a room! I'm not much of a pet guy, but I'm kind of fond of these two. If anyone is considering pets, get two at the same time, they keep each other company AND more than double your entertainment value!



Fifth picture is of Ellie and me after we cleaned up for an old Navy Buddies wedding. Great time was had by all. The wedding party danced down the isle to the tune "Tonight's The Night" by the Black Eyed Peas. The bride and groom, Max and Dianne complement each other to know end. The only downside was that Dianne's father succumbed to cancer 2 days prior. You could see a bit of emptiness in her eyes.



The last picture is of the kittens again, they are cute enough for another shot. They are playing at the base of our clothes rack, er, I mean exercise machine.

There are two extra photos in here and it is way to hard to get rid of them as blogger shows the photos as code as opposed to an image. I just don't know which codes to delete. Sorry.

New roller furling jib...

We just bought a new roller furling jib! Well, it's new for us.

It cost us $250, just have to buy some hardware and thats that. We are now a 3 sail boat.

We still have to mount the boom, weather and life keep interfering with that.

Pictures later.

Dis-masting...

the wife and I were at the boat, adjusting the tension on our shrouds when we looked up and saw the most horrible sight a sailor could see. A mast was falling over on a boat one pier away from us....

We ran, and I mean ran over, Ellie calling to a couple of power boaters to come along.

When we got there, there was six of us, three sailors and three power boaters. The mast was uprooted and dangling in the water, we managed to get it up on the dock but it looks like an expensive repair. The hole where it was stepped was made out of fiberglass and looked kind of shredded. The turnbuckles looked new and not stripped of threads but so it looked like the turnbuckles unthreaded themselves on the starboard side.

The boat is a Contessa 26.

Funny thing, we put our mast up the day before and I wanted to put a different style of retainers in to prevent the turnbuckle from unthreading as the cotter pins in there theoretically could tear the sails. Ellie was extremely nervous about the turnbuckles having no restraints on them. I reassured her that there was no chance in the world that they could unscrew themselves.

What is it with life that it won't miss an opprtunity to show the world that my definitive statements are just so much smoke up my arse?

mental note to self; Listen to all that comes out of my wifes mouth, she is wise beyond the norm!

Outbaoard motors..love 'em or hate 'em...

Ahhhh, my love affair with the outboard motor, or as my social worker wife says, I am in an abusive relationship and can't cycle, (or in this case, two cycle), out of my self destructive pattern...lol

Ah, she is a wit:)

Let me give you its history....

Season 1,it came with the boat listed as scrap on the bill of sail. Period. A friend got it going pretty quick. It was a rotted wire (But still looked good) on the engine kill switch.

Had trouble with the idle.....removed the carberator and replaced the float and used carberator cleaner to remove any build up on the parts. It was a surpringly easy job. So, the first season was taken care of.

Season 2, Changed the plugs and the water pump impellor. Impellors should be changed every year, on every motor whether its an outboard or an inboard. Do it at your leisure at the beginning of the boating season or later on in a hurry. BTW, tou cannot change an outboard impellor in a hurry even if you wanted too.

Season 3, this year. had the motor at work in my boiler room. I ambitiously stripped it down. Sandblasted the housing components. Epoxied in all the pock marks, (it is a 1986 model so it has pockmarks galore), sanded and faired the same, changed the bearings and seals and re-assembled it and ran it in the boileroom in a water barrel.

Installed on the boat and tested it again using those water earmuffs so water gets to the impellor. NEVER even turn the motor over without water or you'll be changing the impellor. Experience!!!

The boat was lowered in the water and it motored over to the slip no problem, then it died after we tied up. Turns out the kill switch was faulty. Bought a kill switch at the chandlery and it failed to remain in the closed position required to run the engine. Replced it with a simple toggle switch. Yup, I'm a genius:) Ok, ok, my wife went and asked if it could be used and she bought it and made me install it. Obviously my genius has rubbed off on her over these past two decades.

Now it won't idle worth a shi#! Went home and fumed for a couple of days. Brought the manual back and began from step one on setting the idle. 5 minutes work, tops. Now it has never idled so well. I even walked away and socialized with my friend Martin and when i came back it was still idling.

TROUBLESHOOTING!

Engine won't run, or stops......check fuel, don't laugh
......make sure fuel vent is open
......look for loose and hanging wires
......make sure your engine kill switch is on

Always have a manual onboard, even if you are not mechanicaly inclined. Write in the front cover the motors pertinat information; make and model number, its year, its horsepower and serial number. Sooo much easier with that in front of you when talking with a parts dealer on the phone.

Go through the manual and highlight any and all sections that deal with your motor. These manuals cover dozens of sizez and models. Or use post it notes. Hope this helps. My 'scrap' motor is going on its third season. Allan

My mast is erect!!!

Now get your minds out of the gutter. The boats mast is up....after 13 day after being launched. the delays were caused by weather, an ignorant fellow boater parking his craft at the mast crane then leaving for the night, and lots and lots of high winds, which could be classified as weather.

Next we mount the boom and rig the sails, then go for a sail:)