Coronado 25 sailing adventure

Our new skill: Splicing

2011-11-27T20:20:00.001-05:00

The wife and I took a two hour seminar/lesson on splicing doulble braided line. It was most informative. The first photo are my three attempts when we got home, the first two were failures but the third was spot on perfect.

The second photo shows my wifes three tries, one wrong and two perfect. The marks you see are reference points for us rookies.

She is the better rigger.....

I learned you cannot splice used rope. Rope that has been wet, nor rope that has been stretched.

Being able to splice loops in lines will save a bundle of $$$ as buying unsliced lines is cheap, cheap, cheap.

Road trip to a boat wrecker

2011-11-20T06:45:00.000-05:00

What you see here is our new to us ST2000+ Autohelm plus four turnbuckles. Not shown is our man over board bouy and a tiny anchor for our dinghy. All for a mere $140. Another boating couple and us went on a road trip for this place.

The autohelm does work, we ran it through its paces at the yard. What sucks now is waiting for our launch in spring to put her through sea trials.

Thanksgiving sail.

2011-10-10T18:43:00.000-05:00

Our friend taking our picture while my wife was taking their picture.

Me looking the happy fool.

Waiting for our friend to pull in. Look at the algae, it is thiiiick.

2011-08-30T21:13:00.000-05:00

Here is my wife Ellie showing off in our brand new to us dinghy. She had never been in one before and just clambered in and stroked away.

Here I am rowing a dinghy for the very first time. I found it very tippy.

This is where we store it.

Me looking cool and nautical.

Ellie in the fore hatch.

My wife Ellie on the bow.

2011-08-24T05:03:00.000-05:00

Just a picture of my wife. I can't remember where we were going, or if we were comming back...that's sailing for you...lol

Our sail to and from Toronto

2011-08-06T18:43:00.000-05:00

Here we are at Toronto Island Marina.It was a 7 hour sail on a port tack all the way to Toronto. The marina itself was a disappointment as the slip assigned to us couldn't have taken a canoe, let alone us with a 9 foot beam thanks to a over sized power boat next to our slip. So we spent three days at a service dock....near the pump out station. We got harassed by the boat repair crew, who threatened to tow us out, I never said a word to them, my wife was polite tom a fault, but it never stopped the dirty looks we got for three days, until a slip opened up for us. Actually we were about to leave but the girl in the office begged us not to go because of the weather. And boy, am I ever glad we caved and stayed. It was a dirty, dirty day. We left the next day and it was a rough sail back due to 10 to 12 foot swells of our aft quarter, the absolute worst motion for me, a corkscrew that had me queasy for 8 hours. Alla in all a good vacation. I bought a tilley hat too.

Not a sailing post...

2011-06-20T18:58:00.000-05:00

My daughter was mugged by two young black men right here in Hamilton. Stereotype 1 and Stereotype 2 did the deed in front of a garages security camera. Police are optimistic. As am I. Mechanics came out of the garage after the commotion, grunted and went back in. There a mighty fine example of latino machismo in action. NOT! I made a 40 minute trip from work in under 25 minutes, that is the extent of this fathers impotent protection of his daughter. Fuck, am I pissed.

Look here...a steamer!

2011-06-05T17:46:00.000-05:00

This just appeared overnight at our marina. As a certified steam man this excites me at many levels. It reminds me of the African Queen. Very similar boiler. Wood fired with what looks like a single cylinder reciprocating engine. All day I was hearing its steam whistle. Mark my words, I will make friends with these people AND I will get up and personal with this boat.

Great sail today. Started off bad, I forgot my sunglasses and had to go back in to get them. I was so un-used to the sun the glare off the deck was killing me. When we set out again the wind caught us and we ended up in a narrow part of the marina. I deliberately ran our boat in the end of a finger dock to regain control. Honest. We buried the toe rail a couple of times and the wife had a blast as did I.

Kicker installed, went to a winery

2011-05-26T21:11:00.000-05:00

Today we picked up our 9.9 outboard for the boat and walked away $475 lighter though. Damn.

When we went to pick up the motor, we drove past a winery and stopped in for a look-see. We walked out $43 lighter but with 5 bottles of wine. TWO OF THEM EVEN HAD CORKS! Yes, we are classing ourselves up for sure...lol

Chainplate repairs

2011-05-24T20:33:00.000-05:00

The above photos are of our chain plate.Note the cracking and crazing of the gel coat. Not very nice nor safe. The plan is to use the jib halyard to support the forward part of the mast as the forstay has to be removed to facilitate the removal of the actual chain plate. Then I'll do some grinding, lay some new fiberglass, manufacture a way better backing plate than what's there too.

Installed our new VHF radio and antenae, and a three way battery charger, plus two new bilge pumps.

Our motor has been three weeks in the shop, wrong parts came in, should pick it up tomorrow $$$.

Kills us to watch other boats go sailing, yes, I am immature that way...lol

Lost all the blogs I was following

2011-05-04T19:49:00.002-05:00

All 40 of the blogs I was following have dissapeared. If you are reading this, drop me a quick not so I can re add you...Allan

Garbage at sea....

2011-04-08T06:53:00.000-05:00

This was when I was in the navy, procedure has changed by now, trust me.

All the ships departments would bring their garbage to the quarterdeck at dusk, hold the bags over the side and rip them open and then just drop everything (This was in the early eighties). Then we got green. We installed a couple of trash compactors. Then each department would for a week at a time, supply crew members to sort the garbage, paper/cardboard in one pile, organics in another. Wood would get tossed and glass would be smashed on the ships side and dumped overboard.

Well, the remaniing sorted trash would then be compacted...........then thrown over the side.

I am the king of weak stomachs, so most of my duty time there was spent with my head hanging over the side puking while the remains of feminine hygiene products lay at my feet and yes on one miserable occasion, draped across my forearm. (I lost it there and it almost cost me my career).

Now it is all sorted, compacted and stored. Nothing goes over the side, nothing. The ass end of the ship stinks.....Allan

Diesels

2011-01-29T06:06:00.004-05:00

What I have learned so far about diesel engines is that a twenty year old engine is better by far than a brand new one.

This is due to the fact that the older engine is beefier and and has more meat (mass) than the newer engines. It can be rebuilt ie: cylinder liners replaced. The newer models don't have cylinder liners.

The newer engines run at a higher speed (rpm) than their older cousins. Here is a not so well kept secret; the slower any mechanical system moves, the longer that mechanical system will last.

Think of an old one lung (a single cylinder) diesel, it chugs away at around 800 rpm, compare it to today's engines which run well over a thousand rpm. I can't give an exact figure here as different brands have different speeds. The slower engine has less stress therefore less wear than the faster running engines.

This trend for 'disposable' diesels comes from the desire for lighter engines. The older diesel is heavy, very heavy due to its thick, cast iron chassis, necessary for the high compression pressures required, the slower diesel need a heavy flywheel to allow the engine to continue rotating through three unpowered strokes until it gets to its power stroke. The newer engines have a very small flywheel due to the higher speeds carry the engine through the unpowered strokes.

The most important factor in a diesel is the fuel. The fact that the fuel injector ports are so small the can be clogged by the smallest particle. Clean fuel is paramount.

The first line of defense is your primary filter. This filter should have a glass bowl so you can see if there is water in the fuel, this filter should take the water out of the fuel. The bowl should have a drain cock on it to bleed out the water as per the black and white drawing.

I just previewed this and I don't like where Blogger has put the image. Does anyone know how to get Blogger to put the images where you want them?

I will publish more as I learn more.....Allan

Toronto Boat Show 2011 purchases

2011-01-16T06:55:00.007-05:00

Here are my purchases in no particular order: A vest with lots of pocket, it also has two waterproof pockets. Nerdy but handy I think.

A wind indicator. I dropped mine over the side when we took the mast down for winter storage and I took it off for safety.....it sure is safe at the bottom of the harbour.

Marine Diesel Maintenance book, not a boat show purchase, just my text book from my night school course.

My daughter bought me the Cost Conscious cruiser by the Pardays.

Chapmans Piloting & Seamanship, every boaters bible, or should be. Regularly $70, but the West Marine booth was selling them for $30.

The boat show itself was kind of disappointing, there was only a dozen or so sailboats with huge line ups to get on them. I don't do crowds or line ups well. I am not sure if I will go to the next one. I much prefer the In the Water Boat Show they hold in the spring.

Winter project (and summer and probably fall too)

2011-01-13T15:16:00.005-05:00

I just received my plans for Danny Greenes "Chameleon", a two piece nesting dinghy. I hope to do a modest job with it and will post picture of my progress or lack there-of. Here is a picture of one I got from google images. I just hope my finished project is half as nice. The other picture shows it in the space saving nested configuration. Each section can float and is joined by a couple of stainless steel bolt. There are three floatation chambers, one in the bow and two in the stern. It can be sailed, rowed or motored. It weighs (supposedly) less than a hundred pounds combined.

I don't think I'll be making the sailing version.

I realize that hard dinghies are not overly popular as they are tippy, but this puppy is going to be durable to the max. Those that know me know that I am hard on equipment. I need something that can take abuse and keep smiling:).

Oh, one more thing, last night I began a night school course on small marine diesel maintenance. I already learned a lot about fuel that I did not know, and I was a marine engineer in the navy!

More later.

2011-01-11T22:01:00.001-05:00

THIS HAS BEEN AROUND BEFORE BUT ITS STILL GOOD TO READ

The difference in His and Her Diaries

Her Diary:

Tonight, I thought my husband was acting weird. We had made plans to meet at a nice restaurant for dinner. I was shopping with my friends all day long, so I thought he was upset at the fact that I was a bit late, but he made no comment on it. Conversation wasn't flowing, so I suggested that we go somewhere quiet so we could talk. He agreed, but he didn't say much. I asked him what was wrong; He said, 'Nothing.' I asked him if it was my fault that he was upset. He said he wasn't upset, that it had nothing to do with me, and not to worry about it. On the way home, I told him that I loved him. He smiled slightly, and kept driving.

I can't explain his behavior I don't know why he didn't say, 'I love you, too.' When we got home, I felt as if I had lost him completely, as if he wanted nothing to do with me anymore. He just sat there quietly, and watched TV. He continued to seem distant and absent. Finally, with silence all around us, I decided to go to bed.

About 15 minutes later, he came to bed. To my surprise, he responded to my caress, and we made love. But I still felt that he was distracted, and his thoughts were somewhere else. He fell asleep - I cried. I don't know what to do. I'm almost sure that his thoughts are with someone else. My life is a disaster.

His Diary:

Boat wouldn't start, can't figure it out, at least I got laid.

A great resource for DIY sailors...

2010-12-02T13:22:00.003-05:00

http://www.cruisersforum.com/ is a great forum I use to solve any problems I come across.. For the most part the people are great, very quick to offer a solution with very little judging or criticizem thrown in. I would recomend anyone doing boat projects peruse the forum, because somewhere, someone has done what you are about to go through.

The forum members are such good people that they will even report on their own follies and mistakes, just so I can repeat them and confirm that that particular idea ond/or method was indeed a folly or mistake.

They don't call me "Do It Twice Allan" for nothing you know.

On a different note, we just moved closer to our boat and further away from work. We now live exactly 1000 meters from our boat, or 1 kilometer which if you still do distance old school about 5/8 th of a mile? It has been a while since I even thought in the old imperial measurements...lol

It is a smaller but way cheaper place, and even with the storage unit we rented we are saving a bundle.

Did I mention it is 1 kilometer from our boat?:)

Future Boat Dreams

2010-11-17T14:28:00.003-05:00

Ahhh. Retirement in 6 years, I'll be 55. The Coronado 25 will be long gone by then. It is a wonderfull training boat but we will need something 10, 11 0r 12 feet longer.

We have no set make or model in mind but here are some necessities:

1) Keel stepped mast, chances of losing your mast completely is greatly reduced.
2) Wife insists on a wheel over a tiller, I do see her point.\
3) Shoal keel, the length of the boat.
4) Hammock, maybe two of them.

What we would love to have, but this is not written in stone:

1) Steel hull, for those times I decide to rub up against a coral atoll.
2) Twin keels for careening the boat for maintenance. (We will be on a budget)
3) Would love a center cockpit.
4) There is more but my brain is stalled out.

Here are some courses we MUST take in 6 years:

1) Marine diesel maintenance (Me at Humber College in Toronto)
2) Both of us must take a radio operators course.
3) First aid and CPR.
4) Learn how to use a sewing machine.
5) Take navigation courses, INCLUDING paper charts and how to use a sextant!

As for equipment, there could be an endless list $$$$$$. We are going to keep it simple, the less stuff you have the less breakage you have. That being said, I have to bone up on my refrigeration repair so I can earn a few extra folding dollars while cruising.

This is by no means complete or fixed, except for the first 4 things. We remain flexible about everything else.

Allan

New free stuff

2010-11-02T12:43:00.002-05:00

Well, as a cheap sailor, I have to tell you of the cool things I got.

First, for my birthday, I got a brand new, 25 year old radio. Yup, still in its packaging, I have to look closer at it as I can't remember if its a VHF or a SSB. My ancient mind is leaning toward VHF.

Next, a friend in BC bought an old boat and is giving me (It is in the mail) his old GPS/knot meter. It is old, and the chip is only good for the Great Lakes and cannot be updated for some reason. I am excited.

We bought a new flare gun with flares. The old flares have expired.....That's it.

Long time since last post.

2010-10-31T09:12:00.002-05:00

Yes, it has been a long time since our last post. Trying to settle my parents estate took up a lot of time, trying to get the co-executor, (actually she's an executrix) to cooperate and act accordingly took almost 20 months since the will was read. Soon we will be able to put the house on the market.

So, this sailing season was a letdown, only getting out a couple of times a week and not one overnighter.

The boat is out of the water and we just have to winterize her. We are hoping to have a larger boat next spring after the estate settles.

We are moving too, right now we are about a half hour drive from work and we are planning to move FURTHER away!!! We want to be closer to the boat.

Dock Spiders

2010-09-12T04:13:00.002-05:00

Here is an e-mail from my youngest brother and my reply. It gives you a great insight into my families working dynamics:

From my brother Ken:
...that all pales in comparison to what happened to me last night, I'm just happy to be able to tell you about it today-that's how close I came to my demise.

I hope (and you probably are) sitting down for this. Luckily for me Sarah (his wife) was close by and narrowly saved my life.

Last night as the kids and I were watching an episode of Doctor Who (the good Dr. David Tenant) I needed to use the bathroom, so as I entered the washroom oblivious to what danger lay meer seconds away i proceeded to expose myself (literally) to the imminent danger.

On my way to a sitting position, I caught it out of the corner of my eye, on the edge of the bathtub, poised to strike, was the largest, hairiest, ugliest spider I have ever seen outside of a tank or on tv.

Needless to say I never made it to a full sit down and my scream of defence (not terror) brought the family into the bathroom as i pulled my pants back up the quick thinking Sarah pulled her shoe off and saved my life by striking down my adversary and flushing it down the toilet.

Here is my rely:
Funny, funny story, you could submit that somewhere for money!

Ahhh, I too have a spider story, though in this case it was Ellie (my wife) who almost lost her life. Friday after work Hailey (our daughter) told us she wanted "Me" time and we should spend the night on the boat. Who are we to argue with such logic.

There we were, at the marina, I had a rum and DIET coke, (surprise, surprise), and Ellie had a glass (plastic) glass of wine.

We were sitting in the communal area beside the BBQs when IT happened. A fellow, (Chesley, located on our Facebook), calmly pointed out to Ellie that there was a huge spider crawling up her arm.

I didn't actually see it because my military training took over and I performed a tactical physical relocation to the boat about 100' away. I was later told I was a very fast cowar....I mean runner. In my defense I was getting Spider Blaster from the boat.

I found the blaster, then had to clean my glasses, oh, then I noticed my bunk wasn't made to my exacting Naval standards so of course I had to strip it down and remake it.

So now I'm heading back to save my wife, you know our family motto, "Family First" But on the way, as I was passing the washrooms I noticed a patrol of five members of the enemy spider clan. Big suckers they were. Hmm, what if the Spider Blaster didn't work? I would look the fool now wouldn't I? I decide to do a pre-emptive strike first as one cannot have the enemy behind him. I begin to sneak up on them. Remember they have 8 eyes each, multiply that by 5 and you get the odds that are against me. I go in regardless. I do wish the screaming would stop from the BBQ area, or was that screaming my battle cry? Details are fuzzy here. I do a chemical attack on this group, their deaths are slow, glorious and hopefully painful and full of remorse for being born spiders. I then made it back to the BBQ area but there was no sign of the enemy. It felt good to be a hero.

I was exhausted.......Allan

Outboard idle problem solved..

2010-08-30T20:21:00.003-05:00

The problem with my outboard and its idle is all my fault. Being the cheap ass that I am I buy the cheapest, lowest grade fuel the add the oil additive. Well, I found out the ethanol in the fuel and the two stroke oil don't like each other.

Solution: Used the highest grade of fuel, it will have the lower percentage of ethanol. My problem is that I have a full tank of fuel and don't want to waste it, remember I'm a cheap ass.

Solution: When you're done using the motor, don't shut it off right away, disconnect the fuel line from the engine or the fuel tank and starve the engine into submission! This cleans out the carb from any unhealthy build up. Hope this helps.....Allan

Engine work...again!

2010-08-19T09:56:00.003-05:00

I went to a nearby power boat store and purchased an adaptor kit to remount my throttle and gear shifter cables to my kicker.

It cost me $100 and some change. To start.

Now this is where I get pissy about those bumper stickers that say " Out of a job yet? Keep buying foreign!"

I want a bumper sticker that says "Want to give money away to business that have no quality products? Keep buying North American!

I am not kidding, out of all the parts in that kit, I was able to one single little plastic piece hook up the throttle cable....after I had to purchase a Dremmel type tool to modify a piece of MY throttle cable so it would fit in the plastic receiver. I couldn't modify the receiver as it is built way to flimsy for any modifications.

My motor is a Johnson Evinrude, the adaptor kit is a Johnson Evinrude product.

The gear shifter cannot be hooked up as it, well fuck me ever so gently, seems to be missing crucial parts.

So, in closing, beware any nationalistic, protectionist, 2 brain celled needle dicked asswipe who spouts off about protecting North American jobs as I'm in the mood to give his dentist some work. I truly can't believe the drivel that gets peddled as product around here. I can't believe there is idiots like me still around to buy that drivel.

That being said, I am going to do some independent investigation whether or not I was sold the correct adaptor kit or the kit is total shit.

If I was sold the wrong kit I will go after the fucking dealer.....if the kit is correct and it is just pure shit, I will go after Evinrude itself...I am not a happy camper.

On a good not, my $10 Jobmate hobby tool worked flawlessly, and it was only $10! A real dremmel was $60 and a Canadian Tire knock off was like $50. Mine only cost $10, and comes with a 1 year warranty to boot!

Outboard motor issues...again

2010-07-09T09:58:00.003-05:00

I curse my outboard motor....again. My ever so wise wife reminds me that it was a piece of scrap that came with the boat, (I still have the bill of sail to prove it). Now it won't idle again.....and my shop manual is MIA on the boat somewhere. I am not ashamed to say I am frustrated by this simple mechanical devil, but I am ashamed to say it makes me feel extremely stupid in other ways.....like when it refused to turn over. I thought I drained the starter battery, but after 15 minutes of looking for the charger, (which was at home), it turned out I blew a fuse....Duh! Check the easy and simple things first!

I'll admit I had fantasies of tying a mooring ball to it and dropping it in the harbour! I do need a new motor soon but I just put one in the car so the $$$$$$ are just not there. Thanks for the rant, I needed that...Allan

Engine install

2010-06-27T11:13:00.002-05:00

I am trying to install a small block chevy in my friends Dougs power boat but am failing at every attempt. Typical of the week I am having.

Update

2010-06-19T10:40:00.006-05:00

We are outside of Hamilton, anchored about a kilometre from shore when Ellie decided she would swim ashore and back. She is the black dot in the water.

The second picture is of our new to us roller furling, taken from the V berth. Colourful.

The third shot is of my homemade extension for the roller furling. I need it so the furling drum would have clearance away from the fore stay. I made the extension from two strips of stainless steel flat bar welded together. I welded stainless steel flat washers over where I would drill the clevis pin holes. Not pretty, I never called myself a welder but it is funtional.

The last photo is of my daughter on her prom night. She is second from the left.

A Perfect Weekend

2010-05-31T06:21:00.002-05:00

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

2010-05-27T06:49:00.002-05:00

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!!!

2010-05-24T07:40:00.004-05:00

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.

2010-05-16T05:11:00.010-05:00

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...

2010-05-11T08:22:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-05-06T13:33:00.002-05:00

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...

2010-05-05T09:09:00.004-05:00

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!!!

2010-05-04T22:26:00.002-05:00

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:)

It floats! It floats!

2010-04-25T09:20:00.002-05:00

The boat went in without a hitch last Wedensday. My thruhull repairs held. The motor started ok. The only hitch was the wind. It was too windy to put the mast up.

So, we were going to raise the mast Thursday but some asshole tied up his boat at the mast crane and left for the evening. He screwed over half a dozen guys wanting to raise their masts too. What a jerk.

Sooo, the next day the wife and I went to the marina early in the morning to raise our mast only to find our mast burried under more masts. I lost it and left. (With the wife of course).

Now its raining.

Getting closer to launch..

2010-04-18T17:46:00.002-05:00

Went into work to finish up the winter overhaul of the mighty outboard. (I had the motor stored in the hospitals boiler room). It started ok in the boiler but when I installed it on the boat it wouldn't start. I have 'til Wedensday to get it going. That's all.

Warning! White winter skin!

2010-04-02T18:18:00.005-05:00

The two photos are of the leaking thru-hull sealed off. Still have to fair it up and paint it. The other shot is me, sans shirt on April 2nd! In Canada! 25 degrees Celcius! Wow!

Work to be done this Easter weekend...

2010-03-31T20:20:00.003-05:00

Top photo shows the huge gouge on the bow, to be repaired Friday or Saturday. The second photo shows our wet/dry vacuum hose in the hole where a thru-hull blank was fitted. The fitting was leaking a touch so the wife and I decided to glass over the whole hole. The white is the tapered fiberglass ready to be epoxied. The third photo shows the hole before being prepped. Notice the water stain running down? We figured if water can run out when on the hard, then water can ingress when afloat. More pictures after the weekends work is done.

Money!

2010-03-25T13:20:00.002-05:00

Had a very rough day at work and seriously thought about quitting and sailing away! Not going to happen today. I need the second pension available to me when I'm 55. Plus I need a larger boat.

I'll have about $1,500 after taxes then, not much when on land but I figure slowly moving around the globe, living off the hook as much as possible, wearing very little clothing to save on laundry soap:), we should be able to swing it.

What will be a huge help is just getting away from our consumer driven society! Cruising by its very nature is a frugal lifestyle, I mean, you only have so much room on board to hoard (Hee, hee, board and hoard rhyme) your purchases.

One flaw in that is that both the wife and I are voracious readers. We love our books. Maybe Kindle or some other electronic reader will help us out, we'll see.

We have two major expenditures coming up. First and foremost is our daughters university tuition. We will pay for her first degree, and only her first degree, any further edumafacation will be at her expense. The second expense will be upgrading our boat to a larger one.

We have a friend, well actually he is my sailing guru, who insists that we need a 40' boat at least. he's probably correct, as he is on most things. This leads back to the money thing....the bigger the boat, the more expensive the equipment becomes. Prices remain reasonable below 38'. So as frugal sailors he will have to swallow his shame when we raft up beside him in our toy boat. His palace is 46' long. But as I tell my wife, size isn't everything:)

Yup, I see a lot of canned stew and Kraft dinner in my future, and cheap Caribbean rum:)

2010-03-25T11:03:00.001-05:00

Auxillery power Scotty!!

2010-02-14T07:28:00.004-05:00

More about our emergency generator purchase.

It is NOT a Honda 2000. A common misconception is that the '2000' refers to Hondas maximum watt output, noooo, it refers to its cost!....lol No, it actually refers to its maximum output, not to be confused with its continuous running output..

The '2000' represents its maximum output in watts. Don't confuse this with its actual running output, which is considerably less.
Now my 'cheapo' gen set is listed at 2900 watts, but its continuous output is 2300 watts

You would think that's a lot of power, but it isn't. let me put it in context, remembering that I am not an electrical engineer.

We have a simple household toaster rated at 950 watts. That is a given as I just turned the damned thing over and got a lap full of toast crumbs. So, we flash the generator up and plug in the toaster.....yes that is bread toasting, just like at home. Then Darth Vader, er, I mean my 17 year old daughter wakes up. Needs to blow dry her hair straight right this moment! She plugs her Conaire 1200 in. Yes, the 1200 is its wattage.

That is a total of 2159 watts of demand. Theoretically the gen set should handle it. Who knows. That doesn't leave much wiggle room for extra demand, just a spare 150 watts.

Of course when we flashed it up, (started it, in Navy jargon), in the backyard, The wife vacuumed the living room with it. It worked OK.

The only drawback with the beast is that it is awkward and heavy. It will take up a lot of room on a 25' sailboat but that sailboat is only a temporary learning boat.

Can't wait to have a real blackout like the 4-5 day one a few years back.Even in the winter we will be able to run our furnace with some careful wire splicing. We'll be the envy of our frozen neighbours.

2010-02-07T16:29:00.003-05:00

We just made this purchas for $299 Canadian. Haven't fired it up yet, it is too cold to be mucking about outside. No snow yet but it is cold. Thats all ffffolks.

A winter project!

2010-02-02T20:33:00.002-05:00

I am going to make lazy jacks. I bought the blocks, the lines all I'm waiting for is the chandlery to get in some small cleats...

We might get a roller furling set up for $250, sail included. The father of a good friend might be getting a new set, he said he will install it too!! Can't beat that!

Toronto International Boat Show

2010-01-18T09:02:00.002-05:00

W finally got to the boat show on its last day. Now the cheapness in me comes out:

Parking) $12
Admission) $15 x 2 = $30
Binoculars:) $89
Captains hat) $10
Crew hat (pink) ) $10
Pleasure Craft Operating Card) $60
Water & soda pop) $8
Smoked meat sandwich) $10

So for $229 we had a good day. I love my hat, it looks like the Skippers on Gilligans Island...lol The guys at the marina are going to get a kick out of it. My new binoculars are phenomenal too. What a difference in optics from a really, really cheap pair (Which we got at a yard sale years ago) and these.

My wife bought herself a bright pink crew hat. She looks adorable and sexy in any hat.

The black listings are acceptable expenses. The place has to make money. period.

The yellow listing is good in theory, but man oh man, make it challenging. Make an applicant study for it at the very least! What it amounts to is a boating tax, pure and simple. The hardest part about the exam was trying to make out the hand drawn pictures that you had to choose from.

For example, in one question there was 6 drawings and you had to choose the 4 that would require assistance. Drawing 1 was a boat with wavy gunnel's, #2 was, I don't know, a picture of a divers down flag, # 3 was a person in an inflatable life raft, another was of a person holding on a flare. There were more but you get the point. Most were straight forward but the boat and flare pictures were a bloody mess, I truly did not have a notion of what they were representing. I guessed and got it right though. What I didn't get right was a question on gross weight allowed on the boat, I put the entire boat its equipment and the passengers and their gear, while I believe the correct answer was just the passengers and their gear! I am guessing as they don't tell you what you got wrong nor the correct answer.

The red lists just disgusted me. We will picnic next year.

We saw a good friend, Martin, who is an assistant manager at our favorite chandler's, (That is a boat store Kat). We learned on face book later on from his lovely wife,Sue, that his assistant locked the keys in the stores van...

We looked at new boats and were amazed.

We looked at Zodiacs and were astounded at the prices. There was one zodiac about 30' long with two (2) 300 HP Yamahas on the back. Now get this, it had a smaller Zodiac on davits (a small crane) on its bow (front end). The wife was amazed, she didn't know they could breed....lol But for a mere $130,000.oo they could keep it.

What is a baby zodiac called? A calf? Pup? Cub? Any zoologists out there?

Good time, though I woke up this morning with a scratchy throat and a severely runny nose...

A continuation of the last post...

2009-12-29T22:08:00.002-05:00

Forget that last boat. What a nightmare inside and below. I have stated before that all I need is a sound hull, a few sails and a semi-reliable motor and I'll be happy.

Well, there is a saying in the sailing world, and I don't mean to offend any God fearing folks,(I mean you Kat).

The saying is this:"You want to make God laugh...tell Him your plans!"

Yes the hull was sound, yes, it had a motor, and I didn't look at the sails. The motor stopped me. It was electric. It ran off a 'Made in South Korea' generator set. It pushed the boat along at 3 knots!!!! 3 knots? Currents are stronger than that! Hell, a good head wind would be the most humiliating thing that could happen to me!

Picture this; My captains hat pulled low down on my face, so low there is just a hint of a dangerous glint from my eyes, my billowing white shirt open to the navel, my Charlton Heston chin thrust defiantly forward and the dock getting smaller and smaller and the wind over powers that limp electrical drive....

Now where is the glory in that?

Lets not mention the wiring, oh the wiring...then there was the panelling. Panelling on a boat?

Damn, the beast was lovely from the outside, old school lines, not like today's cookie cutter boats. That boat frightened me. Well back to looking....LOL.....Allan

We are interested...

2009-12-27T07:44:00.004-05:00

Here is a beautiful character boat that just came up for sale and is stored not 300 metres from our boat. I don't know where she hails from but my wife found it and we visited it Boxing Day.

One of a kind, steel, (very important...lol), $35,000 Canadian. 36' long, (11' longer than our training boat), and did I mention it is steel?

Externally there is some cosmetic work and if and when we get serious there will be a thorough inspection done using a surveyor!

What the wife and I require is a sound hull, a fair motor and a couple of working sails and six years to play and modify until I reach the big 55 and quit working for the 'Man'....lol

I feel bad, it was their dream but for health issues and I want it for less than 35 grand. Maybe I could throw in our little wee boat too?

The wife is in contact with him via e-mails and she'll get some interior shots soon.

I love dreams, don't you? Especially when they are actually within your grasp.

Allan

Out board overhaul

2009-12-20T10:30:00.011-05:00

Here are seven (7) photos of our outboard (Or a 'Kicker' as they are known as in sailing circles). It is a 1986 Johnson Evinrude Yachtwin 9.9 hp.

Here is the work required:

1) Change oil in lower unit.

2) Change seals in lower unit

3) Change impeller (Yearly routine)

4) Epoxy the pit marks on casing, fair the work and paint.
5) change spark plugs and spark plug wires.

The top photo shows the power head resting on a shelf, I just have to change the plugs and wires. Very simple. My wife removed the plugs herself because she wanted to know how to it. She now knows.

The second photo shows the disassembled water pump, what you see here is the impeller and base plate. Very dirty.

Third and fourth photos shows the lower unit wedged in my vise. I squeezed it between two pieces of 2 x 4s because of the odd shape and size of the lower end. Also I used wood because I did not want to damage the relatively soft, (compared to the jaws of the vise), aluminum body.

The last three shots are of the intermediate, or middle piece. This section connects the power head, (or motor), to the lower end, (gear box and propeller). You can see the epoxy on the casing. My next step is to sand it down, then prime and paint it. I want to see how this turns out before I tackle the other two pieces.

My manual is my bible for this project. I have wrote on the inside cover the year, make model and serial number for ease of ordering parts.

Now for ordering, you can order them from pert near any marinas engine shop. Whether you get them in a timely manner is another matter. At our first marina in St. Catharines Ontario we would order parts and wait weeks for a delivery. We then found Forans Marina near Stoney Creek and found Lucy, a very nice and knowledgeable shop keeper. Place an order and get it in three days. Tops. Sadly it is a bit out of the way for us but we'll live with that.

That's all for now. Hoping to show and update in a few weeks.....Allan

2009-12-02T20:49:00.004-05:00

Surprise, here is an entry NOT about a sail boat! Shown here is my best friend, Doug, and his new to him Formula Thunderbird 25.5. He just purchased it from an American and we are storing it in Paris Ontario. Look at his grin, that is the proverbial 'Cat that swallowed the canary' grin. In the navy it would have been calleda 'Shit eating grin', but as we are among polite company the first saying is the one we are using. To be fair to this blog, Doug owns a beautiful Spencer 46 and an Albacor. He has had three other sailboats prior. This powerboat is a detour off his usual purchases for sure. Now I'm going to add another picture and see what it does to the layout.

The other picture is the engine, a small block Chevy, I think. I am not a big engine gear head so I'm not sure. Needless to say I was a bit shocked to see it in the back of the delivery truck instead of being mounted in the boat. It is now resting in the boat.

Future work includes a paint job and some trim replacement. Looks like fun.

CRASH!!

2009-09-07T05:12:00.001-05:00

It happened again, my engine quit as I was heading into the slip. Stupidly I had some speed going and was relying on my reverse to slow me down. Total engine failure as I shifted into reverse. Gotta remember, 'Slow is pro!'.

2009-08-18T17:00:00.008-05:00

I have no idea what order the pictures will appear so please bear with me. I will describe them as I put them in though I suspect the opposite loading will be the reality.

There is my wife Ellie, Clutching the boom as we motor in our destination marina, Toronto Island Marina. We had a beautiful 6 hour sail from Hamilton. The wind was from the South-West so as our destination was due East we sailed on a starboard tack for six hours. Six hours on one tack! As Ellie is the rope handler on board, the first hour was like a blissful vacation for her with no work to do. As the second hour approached she said she was bored and got out a book to read. Our speed was between 4 to 5 1/2 knots.

The second picture is of me sailing along with a cap from the last ship I served on, or was it the second last? Who knows, they were sisters ships and for all intents and purposes, identical.

The third picture is a view from our rental slip; The famed CN Tower and the Rogers Centre, aka the Molson Centre, aka The Sky Dome! Yes, it has been sold that many times.

The last, (or first), photo is of me in the R.O.M., or the Royal Ontario Museum. Not really my cup of tea, it certainly did not live up to its TV adverts. I have to admit, the dinosaur exhibit lifted me out of my funky mood a bit. I am standing in front of a T-Rex, man, I knew they were big, but it never dawned on me just how big they were. I would guess that it could take at least 50 lbs, or 20 odd kilograms of flesh from its prey in a single bite! Directly behind me is a triceratops skull. 6 Tons to a T-rex's 8 tons. I always wanted to be a triceratops even though I am a meatasaur by nature.

Now about Toronto city proper....I could go on about how we were given false directions because we were tourists, or how some water taxi drivers tried to charge us triple what the posted rate was but what struck me the worst was the general people. They are dirty and disgusting! I seen this over and over, they would be standing not 5 feet from a garbage can but they will still just toss their litter on the ground beside it! The town is filthy! Now I know they are just a couple of weeks from a bad garbage strike, but that is over and done with now and there are no heaping piles of garbage anywhere to be seen, but the litter, Oh the litter. I'll never set foot in that town again.

The trip back was a bit of an adventure. The wind westerly, right in our face. That means we will have to tack, or zig-zag, back to Hamilton. So we tacked and tacked and tacked. for three hours and only travelled about 6 miles. Then we had a small rigging failure, a sheave on our main sheet traveller broke free, We secured the traveller amiships and in doing so lost some fine tuning ability. The sheaves were held with stainless steel cotter pins and one let go. Today I put proper shackles on them. I am pissed off that I never noticed such a shoddy short cut like that before it failed.

We decided to motor. Then the swells started hitting us on our port forward quarter with high winds coming from straight ahead creating wind driven waves. It was hot and the spray was exhilarating. We took turns at the helm, (Steering), as it was a bit of a fight. We did make it to the lift bridge at about 7 pm.

Just outside of of the channel leading to the lift bridge, we ran out of gas. Not a problem as we still carried the old gas tank that came with the boat, plus a three gallon and a one gallon gas container with the appropriate two stroke oil.

Inside the channel to the lift bridge a huge gust of wind caught us and spun us around, and we were under motor with no canvas showing at all! Usually the channel is full of boats but fortunately we were more or less on our own, it truly could have been disastrous.

We had a good trip over all and am going to try for 50 point Conservation Area next.

Cleaning some growth

2009-08-10T19:59:00.002-05:00

Here is a couple of shots of my wife cleaning some marine growth off our mighty nine point nine outboard. I just mentioned that the boat isn't motoring as fast as it should and whoosh, splash! Over the side she went, (after I dropped anchor). Now how is that for a sailing spouse? Great I say. Soon I'll post some pictures from our three day trip to Toronto Island. Notice my wife is wearing her bouyancy vest....heh, heh.

2009-08-03T16:06:00.003-05:00

Here is a 1964 C&C 42. Wood hull, the engine does not go in reverse. There is a lot of cosmetic work to be done. Just a thought. I like old boats. The owners are thinking of cutting her up if they don't sell her. What can I say. I find boats with character very interesting and dare I say it, compelling. The first picture is of a ferro cement boat approx. 43' long with the bow sprit.

Blah Weather

2009-07-29T06:38:00.002-05:00

I cannot believe the unseasonally cool temperatures we are having. The end of July and it is either spring or fall temperatures, depending on your outlook on life. And the rain, don't get me started on the deluge, highway closing, road washing away rain we are getting in South Central Ontario. The upside is the wonder full light show of near continuous lightning strikes.

Me: "Blah blah blah, crappy weath..."
CRACK/FLASH/SIZZLE
Me: "Ooooooh that was pretty"
Wife: Yes it was, but that crappy wind is mak...."
CRACK/FLASH/SIZZLE
Me: "Wasn't the TV and lights on a second ago?"

Yup, that basically was our weekend.

Later....Allan

2009-07-26T19:37:00.005-05:00

Just a quick note, a beautiful sail Friday evening no sail Saturday nor Sunday due to extremely high winds and torrential rain. Our daughter did get one meal in this fortnight, Kentucky Yucky. (I love the stuff myself, though it doesn't love me!), oh yes we are baaaad parents. She doesn't like to sail. We have to trick her with promises of shopping malls and pimple removing cream.

Oh, the middle picture is of a boat that seems to sit there year after year. I hear the owner is keeping up with the storage fees though. Pictured for scale is my wife.

4 days of sailing in a row!

2009-07-22T08:12:00.004-05:00

We just had four wonderful days of sailing. The weather was cool for the season but the wind was a good 15 knots.
Friday evening was OK even after my wife's emergency root canal at noon.
Saturday wonderful and tough and after I changed the alternator on our car we went out. Just approaching our marina lifts the foul mood I was in after working on the car. The winds were just shy of overpowering us but we refused to reef or go to one sail. What a work out.
Sunday my newly married cousin and her husband joined us for a BBQ, drinks and a sail. Fun times had by all.
Monday our daughter came out with us, (a rarity), but she was bored. The wife and I loved it of course.
We were supposed to go out on a Nonsuch Tuesday but it rained. Supposed to rain tonight also.
Not much of an entry.....Allan

Blue collar cruising.

2009-07-08T09:27:00.005-05:00

No pictures today. I want to talk, (or bitch), about the high cost of sailing products and the crappy magazines that seem to cater to people with six figure disposable incomes. The chandleries are the worst, charging high prices for low quality stainless steel products. More on THAT later.

First off, the magazines. My God, they are nothing but adverts, every single article! I have yet to read about a corrupt customs official, or squalid living conditions on some of the islands. I know there are squalid conditions, because I've seen them in my many years in the Canadian Navy. Don't gloss over the facts, I want and need the facts to make good safe cruising plans. for the record, I'll take squalid over corruption any day of the week, hands down.

I have yet to read about any installation/repair jobs that the sailor does. I am not talking about changing a washer in a faucet either. I want to hear about a burst fuel line, runaway engines, steering systems gone wrong. I want to hear about jury rigging a quick repair in order to get ones sorry ass to a safe haven to effect proper repairs. I don't want to read about getting a tow. $$$$$.

I want to hear about the blue collar worker sailing, using the basic instruments that we can afford. Remember Scotty off of Star Trek saying "The more complicated the plumbing, the easier it is to clog the drain!', or something to that effect. A $1,200 GPS/plotter/nose picker tied in to your radar and ice maker will break down more often than a hand held GPS requiring more expensive repairs to boot! I do not want to hear about that.

I want to read about fees for clearing customs, grant you some has been said and written as I do know some places are prohibitive while others are not. The articles rarely talk about the costs of being a tourist in certain areas. I need to know this stuff.

I have the privilege of being slip neighbours to a couple who went down south for a planned 6 months and came back 5 years later! They are a wealth of knowledge. They should write a magazine article. Wait, but who would publish it? Not Bruisers World, or Bachtworld!( The actual names were butchered to protect the innocent, namely me). Those glossy rags have done nothing but prostitute themselves to the advertisers shamelessly. Nothing wrong with earning a profit, but come on, there is a whole class of people out there who you could target.

Now on to marine supply stores; I bought 16 stainless steel bolts for about $16. I was in a hurry OK! Now, one of the heads stripped while removing said bolts so I could install new backing plates for my stanchions. Drat! I figure if one stripped, the rest would so I went to a store that specializes in fasteners and bought a box of fifty grade 316 stainless steel bolts for $12 before taxes. Even just comparing the two you could see the difference, 316 shiny, chandlery stock, dull. When I change the rigging, it will be off to a wire speciality store and not to a marine supply store.

Well, that's my rant....Allan

Out in the Bay.

2009-06-22T19:43:00.003-05:00

Here are two photos taken of us in Hamilton Bay, Ontario, Canada. We have been out 8 or 9 times since we launched at the end of April. Most of may was spent finishing up the winter work. Hmm, I notice we left the fender out.

Using the boat as a seduction tool..

2009-06-14T04:17:00.003-05:00

Here is my new friend Vic and a Lady Friend on his steel boat 'Alize'. Vic is shamelessly using his fine boat as a sedution tool. Shame, shame! Just kidding there, I mean, one could not use a more conductive setting than a solid, steady platform to introduce someone to the pleasure of sailing.

Think of it, the gentle, lulling sound of water lapping at your hull. Then the gentle wind caressing your body. That same wind swells your sails and moves the boat quietly through the water. Sounds boring? To one who has never been sailing, yes. to one who has been sailing before? No way!

I tried desperately for him to get his third sail up but he said that would be too much like work. Ahh, the Sea going Casanova didn't want to leave his Siren alone in the cockpit. Don't read anything dirty in the word 'cockpit', it is a legitimate nautical AND aviation term...so there.

They took pictures of us sailing, and will send to us soon and when we do receive them I'll make another post. Later.....Allan

First sail of 2009

2009-06-10T20:28:00.003-05:00

At last, we had our first sail of the 2009 season. The temperature was about 20 degrees and the wind was approx. 15 to 20 knots from the east. Glorious. We went wing on wing on the way back. I find wing on wing hard to maintain without a spinaker pole to keep the genoa out proper. Whe we went back in I was nervous about entering our slip. I have issues with the motor, it seems to quit on me when I need it the most. Fortunately, my good friend, Graham, who is a mechanic and a boat fanatic likes to tinker with it so I had no issues with it today. There were two opinions on my docking procedure. My opinion was that it went flawlessly. My wife's opinion was that the 4' of open water she had to leap across to the slip with a mooring line told her that I need more practice. At least there wasn't any crunching of any hulls on wooden slips, so it was perfect. Case closed.

We secured the boat alongside, then Ellie crawled into the vee birth and had a nap. I myself laid on the cockpit cushion and promptly fell asleep myself. Mmmmm, boat naps are the best.

The mast is up!

2009-06-09T19:17:00.003-05:00

No pictures today. The mast went up last Saturday and a very good friend showed up and we re-bedded the hand rails and sealed the deadlights, most had small leaks but one had a good leak.
We were going to sail on Sunday but my wife fell through the companionway into the cabin and hurt her shoulder. As she is my bos'n and rope handler we put the sail off until later on in the week.
Good thing I suppose as I forgot to hook up the ground to the mast. That was an easy fix. Then the wife dicovered that the bilge pump was not working. Just a bad connection, remedied by cutting out all connections and replacing them with heat shrink connectors and electrical tape. Also put in an in-line fuse holder and hooked it up to the house battery directly. Installed a second, albiet, smaller bilge pump operated from the circuit panel.
Finally returned a new friends' (Vic), two hand held GPS'. He loaned us some of Paul and Sherry Shards videos, Distant Shores and the units were in the bag. It really weighed on my mind that we had them. He was gone for 10 days as he is a long haul trucker. just one of many good people we met in the marina.
Another nice seeming guy is Steve Smith, you know, Red Green. I never spoke with him but did nod a couple of times.
I have had drinks on two other boats, been invited on a couple of more, sailed on one. Had people drinking on mine. It is a lifestyle I want for the rest of my days.

2009-06-02T04:55:00.004-05:00

Here are three photos, one is the boat being launched at the end of April and the other two show the result of the deckhead painted. My wife, Ellie, did a superb job matching new paint to the old. Uncanny I say. We still have a lot of work to do, but we are getting impatient to sail so we are going to rush things a bit so we can get the mast up this weekend and sail...Allan

2009-05-17T12:36:00.003-05:00

Shown here is one of four repairs where the aft stanchions crunched the deck. The hole you see is for the engine well blower vent, yet to be installed. This week we'll prime the repairs. That's it.

2009-04-21T19:16:00.002-05:00

Here is the hull with the second coat of paint. The white boot stripe is our secret. Ok, Ok, its actually the original gel coat....we just masked over it then painted the hull then the anti-fouling.

The paint job has some runs in it but that will hold 'till next year. We are counting our pennies now. Soon I'll post some photos of our overhaul of the cabin insides, be warned, it looks like Beruit during the eighties. Total war zone.

Shortly we'll mount the outboard and test it. After all, we launch in 7 days. Must remember to install a new bilge pump, I, ahem, accidently punctured the old one with a screwdriver... don't ask.

Also stopped some major leaks from the deck, yahoo!!!

2009-04-16T19:39:00.003-05:00

Look at me and my shiny red hull.This is just the first coat. Tommorow the second coat goes on after a light sanding. Then the anti-fouling.
I still have to stick the new plywood ceiling to the deck head. I also have to finish off the engine compartment deck. Somehow.
It is all fun.

Hole in the deck!

2009-04-14T16:43:00.002-05:00

Here are two pictures looking aft, with the engine compartment removed. The circular holes were where the engine compartment vents were, and will be again. The other four holes was where the guard rail stanchions compressed the deck. I cut them out. Hint: use a metal cutting blade on the fiberglass as any other blade won't last a minute.

I cut a 1/4 plywood support panel for underneath and uses some glass and resin and bonded it to the bottom of the deck from inside the engine compartment. Then I glassed on a bigger fiberglass sheet cloth than the plywood support panel.

This is only on the port side so far as the f#@%&^g weather is not co-operating.

We have to delay the launching of the boat 9 days because of this.

To save money, we are using Bondo marine body filler for fairing the repairs as it is way cheaper than the 3M stuff, plus you get a lot more of it.

Damn, I want to be sailing now.

This lets me know that we can afford a larger fixer upper and over the years do it right while sailing the traing boat. All we need is some land to store it!!!

2009-03-29T21:15:00.003-05:00

Here is the bow with the huge gouge, wait! The gouge is gone and is smooth as a babys' bottom!. Why it must have been me and that magic epoxy putty. That spot and lots of scrapes have now been filled and sanded smooth. Some times it had been filled and sanded three times like this gouge.

The wife has decided that we are painting the hull before it goes back in the water. Right beside me is a can of primer,(Interlux Pre-Kote), and two cans of Interlux Brightside Polyurethane paint, fire red. The hull is going to look sooo fast.

Slight setback with gluing the new plywood to the fiberglass deckhead, the temperature was too low for proper curing. Oh well, what is a bit more of overhead sanding with an antique 20 pound angle grinder.

Ellie, the wife, has put the third coat of varnish on the interior woodwork that we hadn't removed. It looks smashing. One more coat to go.

What with the setback, it looks like we might not make our launch date, which is set in stone, well we might have to pay an additional $175 to shift the boat out of launch rotation. Well, I guess we'll see what will happen....Later.

2009-02-14T08:56:00.002-05:00

This is part of our 1/4 inch ply ceiling. there was some delamination so we decided to replace the whole inside top. We knew it was going to be a big job so there are no surprises for us.

To start the job I went to Princess Auto and bought a 3 pound maul and a 4" wide flat chisel. The first few layers of ply came off rather easily. The big problem was the last layer of ply. it was well adhered to the bottom of the fiberglass deck. What to do?

I decided that old fashioned sanding was the only solution. So off to Canadian Tire and bought a sanding adaptor for my antique 7" angle grinder.

Wow, using a 36 grit sanding disc the last material just flew off!. Even with a respirator and goggles I was soon choked out and blinded by the flying sawdust. That machine sure made a mess. After only a 1/2 hour of sanding there was a 1/4" layer of sawdust covering everything, and I mean everything in the boat, including myself.

I now signed out a full sealed face shield/respirator combination from work. Today, I go do more.

The wife informed me in no uncertain terms that we will NOT be painting the hull this spring. She wants to sail. We'll talk, I mean we do have to put anti-fouling on so....

With the majority of the wood trim in my basement most of it is sanded, stained and varnished. You wouldn't guess that it is 30 years old. I can't wait to post those pictures when they are installed in a couple of months.

Lots of work but I wouldn't have it any other way. I am learning so much.

Allan

Engine out...

2008-11-06T09:18:00.003-05:00

Took the outboard out two nights ago. The irony was that after almost losing the engine a few weeks ago in some rough weather I decided to glass in a two by four piece of wood with a lip cut into it so the outboard clamps would come against it if the motor came loose again. Welll, It was a tight fit for sure and I had a hel of a time removing said engine from said well with said modified mounting bracket. Enough said.

As that was my first fiberglass job ever, I was impressed how easy it is to do! That being said, it was also the messiest stuff I have ever worked with. It also was not the prettiest finished product, but what the hell, it was functional.

Winter Storage

2008-11-01T19:09:00.004-05:00

The top left picture show the engine well, a sad looking cutting into my boats stern. I am not sure what I am going to do with this but the name "Jackpot" will be gone. We have not named the boat yet, any and all suggestions are welcome. Do not suggest "Jackpot". Or "Uranus". We are leaning towards "First Step" or "Our Dream" or "Our Addiction" Addiction is the front runner as the boat is always on our mind. Much to the annoyance to family, friends and co-workers I'm sure.

The top right photo shows some self inflicted gel coat damage that needs to be repaired next spring. Ah, the memories! Eeeek, Crunch and Scrape!

The lower left photo shows a chunk the size of my thumb ripped out of the bow. Same result of the previous stated action. Thankfully this is my training boat.

The lower right photo is just an overall shot. Hopefully we can get the cosmetic and chunky work done in time to paint the hull a nice blue that matches ou new sail cover. The orange pin stripe will remain and of course we will put a new ant-fouling coat on the bottom. I can't wait to show the after photos next spring

Sunday after I drop my wife off at work I am going to remove the mighty 9.9 horse power engine along with the batteries and cushions. I am looking forward to the upcomming work, and also dreading it. An interesting conflict. One thing about the sailing life is that it is so soothing regardless what I'm doing. For example, today was cold and windy yet I noticed nothing until I got back in my car after two hours of putting around the thing. Then I noticed how cold I was. "Our Addiction" is the front runner because of this stange phenonomin. Well, I got to go watch "Journey To The Center Of the Earth"

2008-10-26T16:23:00.004-05:00

Well, tomorrow the boat goes in its cradle for the winter. It is so sad the sailing season is over. Did work on the cradle by adding a 4x4 length of wood for the keel to rest on and sawed aboud 3 inches of the pad supports.

Here is the new uniform for our boat. The lady wenches have to wear, ahem, more cleavigy stuff like bustiers and those wonderful lace up bodices! Mmmmmm.

You must notice that vertcal stripes have a slimming effect on me>

Fall sailing and winter storage.

2008-09-30T17:21:00.003-05:00

Here I am at the beach in Port Dalhousie in St. Catharines Ontario. The picture doesn't do justice to the sunset. It was a fine, cool sail type of Autum weekend. The lower temperatures did not stop my water nymph of a wife from making me drop anchor and go for a swim. None of that shrinkage producing water for me!

We now have a winter storage plan! We will store our boat in Hamilton at the Hamilton Harbour Authority for about $500 less than at our marina. We will also try and get a slip there in the spring. Not only will it be closer to home, with only a thirty minute drive as opposed to at least an hour at present. Plus, there are two chandleries within walking distance of the place. I love chandleries.

Yes, this will be my first big trip! About 40 kilometers or so as the crow flies, er, I mean as the boat sails.

It was a great weekend for both even with Ellies lungs acting up. Asthma. The winds were about 20kph and we even went wing on wing several times. i found that kind of hard as it took a lot concentration to maintain a consistant heading. It would have been easier if my wife would stop flashing me every now and then! I am easily distracted.

A genuine product plug

2008-09-07T10:45:00.005-05:00

Look at the bottom picture of my last post, the one with me and my daughter in the cockpit. Look at the black nylon cleat by my foot. Do you know what is holding that cleat to my boat? Just 3M 4200! Yup, just that wonderful adhesive!

I was doing some maintenance, installing a 3x6x1/4 inch aluminium backing plate on the cleats when I discovered my through bolts were too short. I actually drilled and tapped the aluminium plates and the bolts did thread into them OK but there was no thread to put a lock nut and washer to add even more support. Yes I am a belt and suspenders kind of guy. My philosophy from the Navy is this: When you build something build it as if two, 250 pound sailors are going to stand on it. Because they will. Back to my story, So I pulled the bolts out and was going to the local bolt store and get longer SS bolt. Then I got distracted by, I don't know, a balloon or a scrap of paper blowing by. Poof! (and for any British reader I don't mean Poof! as a poofter or gay fella, I mean poof as 'voila' or Tadda!), next thing I know we are sailing for Port Dalhousie where we did what I wrote about in the last post.

On the sail back we picked up high winds with stronger gusts. Again. We ended up almost losing the motor due to a couple of extremely violent waves from a following sea. (Sea in a lake? Is that proper?) Well we got in OK and when all was secured alongside I remembered that the jib cleat had no fasteners!!!! Just that wonderfull 3M 4200.

Holy loose screws Batman, I had better get my head on straight when it comes to sailing or something bad will happen.

About that 3M 4200, I was going to get the 3M5200 but the guy said it would be permanent and if and when I removed any fittings the fiberglass would come up with it. So I bought the 3M4200 instead. Holy crap! I wonder what the holding power of 5200 is like if the 'removable' 4200 can withstand such loads?

Anyhoo, I just wanted to plug that, I mean, how often does one buy something that exceeds the marketing?

Our first port visit.

2008-09-05T18:09:00.003-05:00

Our first port visit was actually another marina in St. Catharines Ontario. This is Port Dalhousie, a quaint drinking suburb of St. Catharines. It is only maybe 5 miles from our home marina, St. Catharines Marina, but hey, it was our very first destination. The wife and I used to party here all the time when we lived here. Oh, the hangovers. 5 miles may not seemlike much but it did take 3 hours to get here. We had a good head wind and a lot of tacking to get there. Good practice for Ellies rope handling. Next time I'm going to sail into the public docks. I seen it done and it looks easy.

The picture on the left shows how easy Ellie makes friends, The centre picture show Hailey on the 5 cent carousel (sp?) Yes, it still only costs one nickle to ride. The picture on the right shows me on the luxury yacht, and my daughter watching, looking like Ahab waiting to harpoon the whale! By the way, I'm not really here in Canada, I'm actually anchored in some lagoon in the South Pacific being served drinks by girls in coconut bikinis. I wonder how the coconut bikini wearing girls got on my anchored boat? I can't wait for life to catch up to my dreams.

Sails Up!

2008-09-04T12:11:00.000-05:00

This is just after our boat was launched in May and towed to our slip. The main is showing, and the jib would soon follow. People made fun of me for raising them while still tied up but my reasoning is this; If there is a rigging problem, better be where we could abandon ship and stay dry!

They lady in the picture is my First Mate, Ok, Ok she is my wife of 18 years. We bought a cheap boat in case sailing didn't sit well with her, boy, did we make a timid choice there. She is rabid about sailing. She is scaring me with her enthusiasm.

The motor was sold as scrap on the bill of sale. A friend got it going and I am now the proud owner of a Johnson/Evinrude Yachtwin 9.9 H.P., circa 1985. Doesn't idle well but my new shop manual should help me there.

Did some fiberglass work in the engine well last weekend. Man oh man, is that stuff messy. Acetone turns out to be my best friend. First time ever working with the stuff. Do you want a word of advice for the first time users? OK, here it is; When you buy a kit from a big chain discount store that rhymes with Hall Fart, don't use the fiberglass threads that come with it. There might be a good use for the crap, but I don't see any myself. Go to an auto parts store and buy a fiberglass blanket and cut your pieces out of that. Much better to work with.

When I actually get down to the boat again (She is an hours drive from us) I'll get pictures of the work and the reasoning for this little job. When I explain it with pictures it should make sense.

A Sailors Introduction

2008-09-04T07:57:00.000-05:00

Hello, here is my third attempt at this blog. I just want to document our progress in the world of sailing from rank amature on an old smelly boat to semi-competent world travellers. This journey should take about 7 1/2 years. Then I will be 55 and retired.

A bit of background. I am retired from the Canadian Navy as a Marine Engineer. In civy street I became a Stationary Engineer and an Industrial Millwright. I have very little to next to none experience in the following categories:

1: Fiberglass work and repair

2: Woodworking and cabinet making

3: Painting (other than rooms in a house)

4: Electrical work

5: Small engine repair (The Deck Hands in the Navy handled all outboards)

The majority of the work required on our boat can be found in the above list. Go figure.

If you'll look closely at this picture you'll notice our step ladder aft on the starboard side. Well, someone liked it a lot more than I did! They took it! Along with my security chain and padlock. Yes the keys too. Yup, genius here left them in the lock. Hey, I asked for it, didn't I? Well that's it for now, I have to see if I can post this. I hope so...Later.......Allan