Century Club: Tim Ford

Long lay off, for me. Weather and other Little Disturbances of Mankind.  So this will be a late start to the seaon.

To Do List:  charge battery on RAINBOW; float mock-up of dinghy to get waterline and balance data, Kayak out to the island for lunch if not too cold and windy.

Hit on all three cylinders....well, maybe not the island, but...

Batt up 0.7 volts from prior.  Little dinghy cardboard mock-up performed well...until it became waterlogged. But I can rip it apart and loft the full size patterns with a few minor adjustments. 

Kayaking was very, very limited due to ice.  And not just the crash thru the brash variety, this stuff was thick.  I could've done a 125 yard portage out to open water but I said the heck with it.  Why take chances?  Yesterday I accidently did a back dive into 24 inches of ice cold stream water and it was an uncomfortable schlepp back to the car and the heater. I figure I was already ahead of he game, just by getting a kayak out.

And as Mark Knopfler can validate: staying just Ahead of the Game is important.

Needed to put a charge on RAINBOW's battery, so we launched the plastic kayaks for a leisurely float while the charger did its thing.

Temps were saying 61 on the car's thermo, but it was a bit cooler in the creek.  We soon found out why, encountering some thin brash further back into the east side cove.  Nonetheless, it was pleasant enough.  Breeze was light to non-existent in the backwaters. Water clarity/visibility is a huge plus this time of year.  And the season had sculpted an interesting take on a springing squirrel in drfitwood media close to the sea oats' shoreline.

Hardly seeing any other boats on the water, aside from a club member's sailboat, the solitude of December boating is wonderful. 

I went down to try out a new motor bracket fitting to see if the shorter shaft 3.5 HP motor would work, as it's a heckuva lot easer than trying to wrestle the 6.5 HP into place on the transom. I made a mock up out of a well-aged piece of Georgia yellow pine and two pieces of douglas fir.  The motor, seated on the modified bracket, did sit low enough to bury the exhaust port and, more importantly, the intake for the water pump. But it also blocked the gear shift so that I cannot get the motor into "Forward," which is sort of important, and it also blocked the pin that gets pushed in to keep the engine in the "Up" position and the prop out of the water.

So back to the drawing board.

Then I put a kayak in to take a quick paddle out to the point and also get a better look at the bracket.  Maybe, just maybe, if I flip the bracket over 180 degrees, it'll lower the O/B enough to not need the new configuration. 

Saturday was Work Party Day at PSA, when 40 - 50 club members and friends show up to spiff up the premises, pull the moorings in the mooring field and build and replace rotted floating docks. 

I spent some time on the water by jumping on both of the docks we were replacing and acting as a "tillerman" on the ride over to the ramp, whereby these heavy water-logged structures are yanked up the boat ramp, dragged uphill to where a 30-foot dumpster is stationed and then chainsaws reduce the wreakage to sizes that will fit into the dumpster. 

I called it "Life on the Mississippi" but I really didn't do much except have a pleasant ride over to the ramp, and then stay aboard to keep the things stationed where they wouldn't interfere with floating the brand NEW docks, as they are unleased and crunch down the ramp to splash in the creek. 

As always, PSA Work Parties are amazing with the sheer amount of volunteer labour members put in, not to mention the array of talents, knowledge and general DIY industriousness displayed,

FUN DAY!