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2017 Sailing Season on the Chesapeake

126K views 1K replies 51 participants last post by  oldlaxer1 
#1 ·
New thread for the new year. Can one of the mods please make it a sticky

Happy New Year to all our friends who ply the Chessi.e. And have a great sailing year.
Now who's the first one out?
 
#167 ·
Lots of snow squalls this afternoon, damned cold at the marina with 45 MPH winds and 39 degree temperatures. Didn't seem to bother the American eagles at Conowingo Dam, though. There were about 30 or 40 of them swooping and diving in the tailrace waters, grabbing and fighting over big gizzard shad that were trapped in the rapids and the trees on the Cecil County side of the river had at least another dozen eagles perched high on the branches.

I did a little cleaning in the boat today, but had to fire up both burners of the propane stove to get the temperature in the cabin high enough to stop shivering. I lasted about 2 hours and had to quit - too damned cold for this old codger.

C'mon spring,

Gary :cool:
 
#168 ·
Lots of snow squalls this afternoon, damned cold at the marina with 45 MPH winds and 39 degree temperatures. Didn't seem to bother the American eagles at Conowingo Dam, though. There were about 30 or 40 of them swooping and diving in the tailrace waters, grabbing and fighting over big gizzard shad that were trapped in the rapids and the trees on the Cecil County side of the river had at least another dozen eagles perched high on the branches.

I did a little cleaning in the boat today, but had to fire up both burners of the propane stove to get the temperature in the cabin high enough to stop shivering. I lasted about 2 hours and had to quit - too damned cold for this old codger.

C'mon spring,

Gary :cool:
At least you went and were able to do something on the boat... That's saying something. :wink

It'll be colder for my visit on Sunday, but I'll still have plenty of work to do inside the boat. Just wish the space heater would work quicker than it does.
 
#170 ·
Though this is starting to grow into a separate thread, I'll add my two cents. The previous owner of my boat was going to sail around the world and even had brochures printed up to get some funding from people supporting his cause. He then got cancer and abandoned the venture. The boat was eventually donated to CRAB and Matt Rutherford wanted to use it for his circumnavigation of the Americas, before someone gave him the Albin Vega he ended up with. I know the PO's address, and was told he was still alive when I bought the boat five years ago, but I too feel really hesitant about trying to contact him. Ironically, the work the previous owner did on the boat most definitely would have caused him to turn back, or worse: genoa track attached with screws, rotten bulkheads, mast step going bad, & other things.
 
#171 ·
Willy, I just think about how nice that boat will be now that a caring owner has it.
You have a genuine affinity for the design that overrides any of the boat's shortcomings.

It's little wonder that yacht builders are going out of business with wingnuts like us resuscitating long-gone boats.
 
#172 · (Edited)
Willy, I just think about how nice that boat will be now that a caring owner has it.
You have a genuine affinity for the design that overrides any of the boat's shortcomings.

It's little wonder that yacht builders are going out of business with wingnuts like us resuscitating long-gone boats.
This is why we can never meet. You're in for too much of a shock when you see the quality of repairs I make. After my recoring of the deck, it's uneven enough to be used as part of a putt-putt golf course.

Re: your second comment, I considered getting a different boat when I found the deck and bulkheads were bad, but there's really nothing that I could afford that would really replace it. Just about the only boat I've looked at and regretted not getting was a one-off 26' wooden sloop called New Moon designed by Thomas Gillmer that was up for auction at the Chesapeake Maritime Museum a few years ago, but at 10,000 lbs, it probably wouldn't have been much fun to sail on the Severn.
 
#174 ·
There is something very satisfying about restoring a boat to good order. Today on Kaimana we were getting barnacle crud off the prop, starting the process of sanding down the rudder, and I was putting together the second winch I took apart to clean - I don't think anyone had worked on these winches for EONS. So much dirt and crud and caked grease.

I've never done maintenance on winches before, but a guy I raced with showed me how to break one down - I didn't realize how easy this would be. Or so I thought. Break it down, bring the parts home, clean them, take them back to the boat, clean the part attached to the deck, oil and grease lightly as appropriate, and put back together. This worked perfectly for the first two.

Today I started on winch three, the self-tailer for the mainsheet. It was installed with one of the gear sets facing the companionway so I was unable to get the gears out of the winch on that side. Total pain. I guess I have to remove the entire mechanism from the boat. We took down headliner down below to be able to access the nuts... but before we do anything I'll show the guys at the yard where we are at. If all else fails, I need to make sure I get the right caulk, and figure out how to get this part off the deck as it must be caulked or something. Big sigh. I'm really hoping none of the other winches were installed wrong (or what appears wrong to my eyes).

It's amazing how well the winches work when they aren't filled with years of dirt and clumps of congealed grease. At least two are done, but eight to go!



 
#175 · (Edited)
Sailboat winches are so durable and reliable that we tend to take them for granted. They just keep working and the degradation is so slow that we rarely notice it until they really start to bind up.

My primaries probably hadn't been serviced in literally, a decade. 42's are frigging expensive so I'm glad I serviced them this winter before something broke.
 
#207 ·
Sad to see, Willy. I was hoping to see that boat sitting in a quiet cove surrounded by coconut palms and sugar white sand - NOT SNOW!

Gary
Gary, I don't drink, but I know you always offer everyone those green coconut margaritas to everyone.

Just found something that I think would compliment your drinks.
A low-carb, coconut cheesecake.

Just made it last night and I'll tell you... this recipe is a keeper and it won't last very long. :wink

http://i.imgur.com/lD1r25K.jpg
 
#188 ·
Pffft... I've had to bundle up in August.

Governor's Cup a few years ago. It was an abnormally cool summer and the nighttime temp was 69F degrees.
Sideways driven rain and wind in the 20's all friggin' night long sent everyone into stage 1 hypothermia. We all had full foulies but not much in the way of under layers. Eventually, we all got damp and chilled under the foulies.

Even I finally succumbed not long after rounding Point Lookout and I handed the tiller over to crew. I crashed hard belowdecks for about an hour before I found some dry, spare clothing and was back on deck to finish the race.

My point: Hypothermia never sleeps, not even in the summer so keep some warmer clothing onboard than you expect you'd ever need. Those vacuum bags work great to keep them dry and compressed so they don't hog a lot of locker space.
 
#189 ·
Sideways driven rain and wind in the 20's all friggin' night long sent everyone into stage 1 hypothermia. We all had full foulies but not much in the way of under layers. Eventually, we all got damp and chilled under the foulies.
And people make fun of me for packing my long underwear in summer.

I bet Rich won't.
 
#193 ·
Alright, who's going to be around on Saturday or Sunday afternoon/early evening in the Annapolis area? How about a little pre-spring rendezvous since Mother Nature is messing with us and won't let actual spring get started?
 
#226 ·
Hi John, I just set up an appointment in Annapolis/Eastport from 8-noon tomorrow (Saturday, March 25). So if you or anyone else is interested in getting together for lunch at Davis's Pub, let me know and I'll drop by. I'd love to hear about your work on your current boat, and/or results of your recent boat shopping.

I also realize that tomorrow is forecast to be one of the few nice days that we've had in awhile, so I'll understand if sailing or project work takes priority.
 
#198 ·
It's time to move past this far too late winter blast and start warming up.

The boat is READY. I do have a NMEA cable I want to wire up so that I'll have AIS on the chartplotter, but hardly a mission-limiting factor. Come on, already!
 
#200 ·
Yesterday, I had a guy come to clear the driveway of ice and snow (mainly ice) and it took him 2 hours with a Bobcat. Haven't been able to leave the house since the snow hit and I hope the boat fared better than my driveway. Almost afraid to look at it.

I also have a nmea cable to install for AIS to the plotter, but it's a 2000 and just plugs in at both ends. Though I will have to drill a hole through the cockpit deck to fish the cable to the plotter. Not a big deal, though.

Gary :cool:
 
#201 ·
Gary,

I'm assuming you have the typical Edson steering gear with an SS tubing "guard" in front of the wheel pedestal.
Can't you drill an exit hole in your wheel pedestal guard and fish the wire up through the tubing? That would seem better than disturbing the core in the cockpit sole.
 
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