I am so lucky that my dog understands the concept of boat therapy!
Dan and I started acclimatizing Huckleberry (who is 5 months old at the moment) to the boat gradually, a few weekends ago. On the first time there we only walked the docks, tried on his lifejacket for a while, and took him on and off the boat by lifting him. The second time around we went for a sail, and held him a lot, so he could sleep while we were sailing (isn't that a great picture?!). Today there was a fierce Santa Ana wind blowing and I was alone, so we didn't go out, but we did spend the whole day on the boat. This time he got on and off the boat all on his own, met other boat dogs, and generally got comfortable, chewing his bone on the foredeck.
I got lots of little chores done, myself. I uninstalled the v-berth lights, and threw them away. The plastic was melted from, presumably, bulbs that got too hot. I also realized the inside power is on all the time -- no battery switch. I'm lucky something sparked and I realized I was working on a live circuit before I burned myself. I also ascertained that the main cabin fluorescent bulbs are all good. That means the reason the starboard ones won't turn on is that that circuit is messed up. I had brought a multimeter but -- Murphy's Law -- its five year old batteries had died, so I couldn't do any diagnosing. I charged the battery, then I used my new Mastmate to climb halfway up the mast and drop down the spinnaker pole topping lift. I came up with a way to sky that and the spinnaker halyard, and that situation is now ready to roll. All we need is spin sheets and we can RUN!
Back home, I'm almost done with building the 2x2' v-berth insert. Next up, make a cushion for it, and the v-berth will be complete!
More TODO's:
* replace mid-mast running light, connect wiring for it.
* install fuel hose thru-deck fitting
* install rubstrakes for new cam-cleats
* diagnose stbd electrical circuit
Monday, January 24, 2011
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Shopping list
This morning I picked up fender covers, a couple Harken 150 cam cleats and a sail track slide stopper. I also ordered a replacement mainsheet fiddle block with a cam & becket. I ended up ordering one of the fancy new all-synthetic Lewmars instead of a stainless Schaefer or a mixed Harken. We'll see how well that works. Other things on the shopping list (to aid my memory):
* outboard cover (smallest one from West)
* windex 15
* spin sheets (2x50 ft, 7/16 in diam)
* outboard cover (smallest one from West)
* windex 15
* spin sheets (2x50 ft, 7/16 in diam)
Mainsheet data
Harken's Compuspec suggests the 1566 Midrange Hexaratchet as a replacement mainsheet block. This mainsheet load calculator suggests that at 25 kts (the most I imagine carrying a full main at) there should be just over 1,100 lbs load at that block. The 1566 is rated for 1,800 lbs.
Tuesday, September 28, 2010
The trip back
This morning I returned Koan to Ventura. There was absolutely no wind, so I motored at half-throttle all the way. I couldn't gun the engine, because it's still in its break-in period. I got between 4.5-5.5 kts, depending on waves, and burned through 2.5 gallons of gas in 5 hours.
It was beautiful on the Channel, with big interesting skies, lots of dolphins and little jumping fish, a couple sunfish. The sea state was a little confused, with a short period small swell from the SE, but you can't win them all. The dolphins were really the highlight, since they seemed unbothered by Koan's motor and hung around for an hour or so, pointing the way and playing along.
It was beautiful on the Channel, with big interesting skies, lots of dolphins and little jumping fish, a couple sunfish. The sea state was a little confused, with a short period small swell from the SE, but you can't win them all. The dolphins were really the highlight, since they seemed unbothered by Koan's motor and hung around for an hour or so, pointing the way and playing along.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Our first trip to SB
This weekend's forecast was fantastic, and our best friends from San Diego were going to be in town, so I decided to bring up Koan on Thursday and take the opportunity to get some other jobs done. I put on the jacklines, did the motor starting penance -- you have to pull-start the Johnson 15 times before it starts -- and headed out of CIH at noon. There wasn't much wind until 3:30pm, at which point I shut down the motor and sailed the last 9 miles home. I pulled down the jib about a mile out of SB, lashed the tiller, refilled my tank and restarted the engine, and I was at the guest dock by 5:30. Taking the boat to its assigned slip was a little more adventurous, as the harbor employee drew me the wrong directions on the little map and I ended up in the wrong finger. I did not know that Koan does not go in reverse, same as Shadow. I tried to reverse her, and killed the motor as a result. Thankfully there was barely any wind, and I had managed to slow down a lot. A guy grabbed my dockline and there were no collisions. In the end, we were assigned another slip nearby, and we strongarmed the boat in.
On Friday I just cleaned and lubricated things, and worked on my list of todos. On Saturday morning Dan and I took off the old Johnson, which I'm planning to clean, service and keep around, unless we get a decent offer for it. We then put on our brand new Honda 5 HP, which we're very excited about. On Sunday we took Francis & Rebecca out for sailing and fishing. There was maybe 6-7 kts of wind, so we did a couple nice legs out and back to the top of the Mesa, and then a couple drifts down the edge of the kelp beds. The menfolk, as Rebecca calls them, didn't catch anything except mackerel for bait, but it was fun nonetheless. We also learned that Koan drifts very very fast if there's any wind at all -- and maintains great steerage, at that -- so I'll have to devise some sort of drogue system to slow us down for fishing. This morning Greg and I measured the boat with the new motor and found it to be marginal for fitting in a 25 ft slip, at exactly 28 ft. This puts us at the mercy of the harbor employee who'll be measuring it, meaning it's better to take the motor off if we get a slip out here. Just another small bump on the way...
TODO items:
* make insert for v-berth and get cushion made for it
* replace mainsheet fiddle block with cam
* recondition running backstay block -- how to unseize
* make hole for gas hose
On Friday I just cleaned and lubricated things, and worked on my list of todos. On Saturday morning Dan and I took off the old Johnson, which I'm planning to clean, service and keep around, unless we get a decent offer for it. We then put on our brand new Honda 5 HP, which we're very excited about. On Sunday we took Francis & Rebecca out for sailing and fishing. There was maybe 6-7 kts of wind, so we did a couple nice legs out and back to the top of the Mesa, and then a couple drifts down the edge of the kelp beds. The menfolk, as Rebecca calls them, didn't catch anything except mackerel for bait, but it was fun nonetheless. We also learned that Koan drifts very very fast if there's any wind at all -- and maintains great steerage, at that -- so I'll have to devise some sort of drogue system to slow us down for fishing. This morning Greg and I measured the boat with the new motor and found it to be marginal for fitting in a 25 ft slip, at exactly 28 ft. This puts us at the mercy of the harbor employee who'll be measuring it, meaning it's better to take the motor off if we get a slip out here. Just another small bump on the way...
TODO items:
* make insert for v-berth and get cushion made for it
* replace mainsheet fiddle block with cam
* recondition running backstay block -- how to unseize
* make hole for gas hose
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
Rebuilding the weird winches
They're pretty worn, and there's all sorts of dissimilar metals in there, as well as some rubber shoes that are torn.
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
My first project on Yoda (post moved from LDIK)
About a month ago Dan and I got a 1982 Capri Omega 14 dinghy. This is the precursor to the Capri 14.2, the sailboat we first took lessons in back in 2003, so we're very fond of it. The biggest difference with the Capri 14.2 is the lack of a cuddy cabin. The Omega has an open bow and a little storage area with a hatch instead. Also the Omega has fewer sail flattening controls. In our opinion it's actually a slightly more elegant little boat.
We decided that because the boat has cool green sails and we're giant geeks, we're going to call it Yoda. We have a bobblehead Yoda that we need to attach to the bow somehow, so maybe that will be the next project. We'd also like to add a little motor, a Honda 2 HP 4-stroke air cooled long shaft (what a mouthful!) so we can skip stepping the mast and go fishing some days...
I was reading up on how to maintain and improve the Omega and a particular modification struck me as a real good idea that would be quick to implement. The centerboard has two control lines, one to hoist it up and one to keep it down. In our Omega both of these were 1/4 inch line.
But when the centerboard is down, it's actually better if the system has some play. This is because if you run aground going forward, you want the centerboard to come up and allow the boat to keep moving. If the centerboard stays rigidly down, the chances that you'll break it or bend the bracket attaching it to the boat are pretty good. There's a simple way to make this happen: swap out the line that holds down the centerboard for a bungee. So I did. It still works just as well to keep the centerboard down, but in the event that we run aground, at least if we're moving forward, the centerboard should pop up and save the gear. Of course, if we run aground going in any other direction, this will give us scant relief.
Another little project I undertook was the addition of an outhaul. I'll take some pics and write about that next.
We decided that because the boat has cool green sails and we're giant geeks, we're going to call it Yoda. We have a bobblehead Yoda that we need to attach to the bow somehow, so maybe that will be the next project. We'd also like to add a little motor, a Honda 2 HP 4-stroke air cooled long shaft (what a mouthful!) so we can skip stepping the mast and go fishing some days...
I was reading up on how to maintain and improve the Omega and a particular modification struck me as a real good idea that would be quick to implement. The centerboard has two control lines, one to hoist it up and one to keep it down. In our Omega both of these were 1/4 inch line.
 |
| From Yoda projects |
But when the centerboard is down, it's actually better if the system has some play. This is because if you run aground going forward, you want the centerboard to come up and allow the boat to keep moving. If the centerboard stays rigidly down, the chances that you'll break it or bend the bracket attaching it to the boat are pretty good. There's a simple way to make this happen: swap out the line that holds down the centerboard for a bungee. So I did. It still works just as well to keep the centerboard down, but in the event that we run aground, at least if we're moving forward, the centerboard should pop up and save the gear. Of course, if we run aground going in any other direction, this will give us scant relief.
 |
| From Yoda projects |
Another little project I undertook was the addition of an outhaul. I'll take some pics and write about that next.
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