It had been on a neighbor's lift since last August, and now needed to come home since they had a new occupant coming to take up residence. Drove the boat slowly around the point to my house; couldn't go quickly because prop stuck in 'up' position on trim. Boat navigated fine, and neighbor helped me get her tied up to the dock nicely. Now I just need our mechanic to let me know when he has room to take my boat and get it fixed!
Century Club: Richard Turman
Monday, April 24, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Got my whole crew together on the boat for the first time and went out under main and genoa in 8 knots of breeze, with gusts in the 12 range. Popped the spin up and she handled nicel all the way to Sherwood Forest from the top of Round Bay.
Luckily the breeze held up because on the way home the wind lessened so we dropped the genoa and pulled out the engine and it would not start. At all. No electronic readout on the controller. :(. Luckily there was still wind so we sailed into the dock.
Saturday, April 22, 2023 to Sunday, April 23, 2023
Number of days:
2 days
Went out on Friday April 21 and placed a battery charger on my SeaRay 205, after taking off the winter cover. Taking the winter cover off required getting on a kayak and going under the boat to get it loose. Also put in the drain plug.
Saturday morning found that the battery had not taken the charge so drove to Battery Warehouse to get a replacement. They only had one with a few more cold cranking amps than my previous battery. Feels a tad heavier, but that's ok.
On Sunday April 23 inserted the new battery and right away the bilge pump began running since we'd had 1/2 an inch of rain the day before. Started the boat up and pretty soon she was running smoothly. Took the winter cover support back home and picked up the bimini and installed it and brought the boat back to my neighbor's lift. At which point we tried to raise and lower the outdrive and only succeeded in getting it stuck in the up position. Hopefullly that can get fixed on Monday!
Wednesday, April 12, 2023 to Sunday, April 16, 2023
Number of days:
5 days
After finding my shroud unconnected to my port spreader, worked with the manufacturer to get replacement spreader tips, and then on Wednesday, April 12, used the engine to drive the boat to Smith's Marina, where they hauled her out and placed her on land.
That night, my crew of three and I dropped the mast by removing the forward pin holding up the mast, taking up the slack on the forestay by pulling the spin halyard extension forward, allowing us to remove the pin and slowly let the mast come down to two guys catching it whilst standing on the bunks in the cockpit. Laid it on an 8' stepladder and tied it down. Pulled out the tape and spreader tips and installed the new ones around the shrouds, drilling a hole through and placing a bolt with a nut to hold each in place and re-applying rigging tape. Hardest part was getting the cotter pins out from the shroud turnbuckles so we could start the process. Once spreader tips fixed, pushed the mast back up whilst pulling on spin halyard extension; re-pinned forestay and then breathed a sigh of relief. Tightened shrouds hand-tight. Then drank beer and ate pizza.
On Thursday, April 13, drove the boat back home and put her on the lift. And put her boom back together. And tightened her shrouds to 42 lbs.
Gathered on Monday, April 17 to have a shake-down cruise after tightening the shrouds to 43 lbs each. Breeze was up (15-18 knots) so reefed the main and then deployed the jib, with three of us on the boat. Boat handled nicely. Took us a while to rig the reefing line and even then discovered that we needed to re-run the lines at the front of the boom. Shrouds moved a little bit, mostly the outer ones, so need to tighten further.
Noticed that battery charger wasn't working; didn't have instruments, since I'd taken the battery out to get it charged.
One problem rose up when the spin halyard shackle opened whilst we were pulling down the jib sock and got pulled to the top of the mast. Spent the boat ride wondering how we were going to get the halyard back down.
Wednesday racing on April 19 had three of us on the crew plus one additional from another RBSA boat who was looking for a boat ride. Swapped out the jib for the genoa, which went fairly quickly, in the event. Very light winds caused postponement of the race for 30 minutes; finally filled in about 8-10 knots from the South and had a beam reach course which had us moving at 5-6-7 knots. Didn't steer well, but still beat some boats. Had instruments again since had battery again.
After the race, borrowed boatswain's chair from another RBSA boat and used it to good effect by raising one of our Thrillseekers up to about a foot above the spreaders, where he was able to use a boat hook with a coat hanger duct-taped to it to reach the errant halyard and pull it down. Relief all around when he returned to the deck -- with the halyard.
Thursday the 20th took the boat out for a quiet evening of sailing by myself. Beautiful night with 7-8 knots of breeze, allowing me to ghost along at 5 knots.
Friday in advance of a storm coming through was able to furl the genoa more tightly and then get the jib sock onto it and tighten everything down. Used a messenger line with the spin halyard shackle to ensure we can retrieve it.
Tuesday, April 4, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Came out to the boat and found the topping lift had blown off in last Saturday's storm, pulling both screws out. Took the boat out with one of my new crew to get familiar with the boat. Forecast was 10 knots with gusts to 16. Turned out to be 8-12 as we started, rising to 17-18 sustained as we got out of the lee of the headlands blocking the wind's full force. Had main up only. Upon tacking from starboard onto port, right past Mark B, saw that port (windward) upper shroud was no longer on spreader tip, meaning the rig was held up by just the fore/back stays and the inner shroud. Started the engine and took down the main as fast as I could while my colleage steered beautifully. Once it was down and lashed to the boom (and out of the water...), drove home and put her back on the lift. Took off the main and the jib, to reduce stress on the rig, and took the spin halyard and attached it to the port chainplate, to help give the rig some balance.
Prior to going out I had checked the shrouds with the Loos gauge, and they'd shown 30 on the stay in question and 35 on the others, and felt tight. Once underway the port outer shroud was too loose, and I tried to tighten it while underway, but could not, given the wave action in the whitecaps we were experiencing by then. Learned that this was not enough tension on these shrouds!
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Had hoped to go sailing, but phone calls kept me from getting out on the water, so went kayaking just at dusk.
Thursday, March 30, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Had hoped to go sailing, but phone calls kept me from getting out on the water, so went kayaking just at dusk.
Wednesday, March 29, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Enjoyed another evening out; no boats out yet.
Sunday, March 26, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
Went out 5:50-7:30 on a Sunday evening, and had a fine time in 3-7 knots of wind until the wind died and I motored on home. Blissfully ghosting along hearing the gurgle from the transom was wonderful; a 60 degree afternoon made it possible.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023
Number of days:
1 day
After work, went out to take the genoa off and put the main on. And then wondered if I had time to go sailing -- and I did! Main-only from 6:30-7:15 was delightful -- great to get out after 3 months of looking at the boat but not sailing her!