Time to become a groundhog

[chef2sail]

Well we took the sails off, winterized the water and engine today and covered Haleakula up for the long cold winter in her canvas overcoat.

Was a great sailing season for us. We spent many weeknds out from March through Decemeber highlighted with an 18 day trip out to Block Island at the end of the Long Island Sound with stops at Cape May, Barnegat Light, Atlantic Highlands, Northport, Milford, Westport, Mystic, BlockIsland, Port Jefferson, Manesquan, Atlantic City, and Cape May again.

We are planning this year to do the LI Sound again in July with stopes in Cape May, Barnegat Light, Ellis Island , Northport, Greenport, Newport, Cuttyhunk, Marthas Vineyard, Essex, Greenwich, Manesquan, Atlantuic City and Cape May.

Projects over the winter include rewiring into a new 18 DC/ 12 AC Blue Sea panel, installation of a Garhauer Radar / Engine hoist (detachable) pole and new Raymarine 18" radar, Dripless PYY shaft collar, and Harken Roller Furler.


93 Days till the Ides of March and the beginning of next years sailing season.

Dave

[wind_magic]

Originally Posted by chef2sail

93 Days till the Ides of March and the beginning of next years sailing season.

Somebody set an alarm and wake the rest of us in March ...

[blt2ski]

Went skiing today, if I had a gooseneck that was not torn off in a race halloween day.....sailing tomorrow before the Xmas party at YC! Boy I'm glad I live on the left coast vs (supposid)right coast! LOL

Marty

[eryka]

Stay warm, I understand its supposed to snow in Annapolis tonight. Maybe we can start planning the 3rd annual Sailnet ChesBay raftup, get an early start on it.

The only ice I intend to see this winter will be in my drink glass.

[PalmettoSailor]

Well, we've joined the ranks of the winterized as of yesterday. We'd planned to go down to Deltaville early Sunday (Cold/Wind forecast for Saturday was extended) to remove the sails and complete the winterization of Palmetto Moon, but my wife checked the weather and we realized the forecast had changed and Friday would be our best bet. So with little planning, we jumped in the car for the long slog to Deltaville.

We had to stop at Walmart to pick up oil and a filter and some damp rid (which they didn't have). I did get the oil and a filter and we got down to the boat around 1PM.

We first measured for a stack pack then, removed the sails, flaked and bagged them up for the loft. Then we ran the engine to warm the oil and used the new Moeller oil pump to remove the engine oil. Great Tool, but I learned that I'd probably be better off using the dipstick hole to insert the suction hose rather than the hose attached to my sump drain. Due to the angle of the motor, vacuuming the oil through the dipstick would probably get more of the old oil out. I found I had a Universal filter onboard so I used that instead of the Fram filter I got at Walmart. (And after reading the comments here about Fram filters, I'll throw it away and get a better filter before the next oil change). Anyway, our first oil change went quickly with no drama.

I then replace the HX zinc, prior to removing the raw water intake to run antifreeze through the raw water circuit. Again, no drama and the engine is ready for whatever winter brings on.

Next was the AC/heat system which I bungled up. I removed the intake hose from the seacock, but before I was ready to pour in the antifreeze I turned the unit on causing a nice airlock. Well now that's happened before and all you need to to is use the water hose to force water through the line, only problem is the dock water is turned off. I ended up having to disconnect several of the hoses to drain the water and replace with antifreeze but we got it done. Next year it will go a lot smoother.

So, in about 4.5 hours we were able to remove the sails and winterize the engine and AC. The fresh water and head were done earlier so I have nothing hanging over my head for the time being.

This trip did reinforce our decision to say farewell to our many friends in Deltaville and move our boat closer to home. We'll do a short haul in spring to have a look at the bottom and clean and wax the hull and after a shakedown sail or two, will head north to our new slip at Herrington Harbor South.