Erick's Wanderlust Blog

NEW WEBSITE!

2011-02-15T08:38:00.000-08:00

Erick's Wanderlust Blog has moved!!!!!

It is now The Quest for Wind and Waves: www.thequestforwindandwaves.com

Please change your bookmark/reader/whatever so you can get updates from the new site instead of this one. I have moved over from Blogspot to Wordpress and am in the process of upgrading features and appearance. I will expand the site from just a blog to contain a lot more information about my journey so far and the journey to be.

I apologize for lack of updates in the last month or so. I've had some issues to deal with in my personal life which has taken its toll on my motivation to write. Fear not though, I am back and the blog will be better than ever. Once I have finished with bringing the Facebook page and this new site up to speed, I will update my recent progress on the rebuild. I have still been working diligently on Windsong so at least the project has continued.

Please help me spread the word about this new site and continue to check for updates!

-Erick

Some great videos

2010-12-23T07:18:00.001-08:00

I've been searching around Vimeo for sailing documentaries and stumbled across a few good ones I'd like to share. These offer a great glimpse on what it is like to cross oceans on a small sailboat, all of the good and bad things.

This one starts off a little slow and disjointed, but eventually follows a couple crossing the Atlantic from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.

Blue Water (part one) from Richard Gooderick on Vimeo.

Blue Water (part two) from Richard Gooderick on Vimeo.

These are segments from what will be a full length documentary about a guy near my age who buys a small boat (26 foot Contessa) and sails from Holland all the way back to his home in Australia. While my inspiration to fix up and sail a boat is a bit different than his, I can relate a lot to him.

Trailer for the full length:

Between Home (documentary trailer 2010) from nickj on Vimeo.

Segments from the movie:

Getting your Bearings / Sea Fever from nickj on Vimeo.

Monnikendam to Willemstad; The beginning from nickj on Vimeo.

Lisbon to the Canary Islands from nickj on Vimeo.

Sailing alone across the Atlantic in 30 days from nickj on Vimeo.

Solo from the Caribbean to New York in 28 days from nickj on Vimeo.

Singlehanded from San Francisco to Hawaii in 27 days from nickj on Vimeo.

What to do with some old equipment?

2010-12-21T05:54:00.000-08:00

In the process of rebuilding Windsong I am uncertain if I should ditch some old equipment or try to keep it going. At this time none of these pieces of equipment are functional, and I had not bothered troubleshooting since I figured I'd try to salvage what value I could out of them by selling and upgrading. However, as the list of things I need to buy grows, I am further seeking to save a buck. Please tell me if I should keep it or ditch it.

1. 1993 Seafrost SA-III (134A) Series engine driven & 120 volt refrigeration & freezer system. I would like a DC system, but have given the current one some thought. It is already set up, though I would like to give the boxes more insulation before cruising. I plan on cruising in the tropics, and I know that matters when choosing a fridge system. I am curious if this old system is worth keeping though.

I don't really like the idea of an engine driven system, I'd rather keep my batteries topped with solar and an good alternator and have a constant cycle DC system. Is that a good idea or should I seek to get this one working? Would this old system have any value to sell? Any particular units I should look at to buy? Since the system uses chill-plates, and they are already installed, would it be worth ditching the engine driven compressor and just buy a DC run unit to use with the existing set-up? If I have a DC unit, I question keeping the AC unit since if I were to be tied to shore-power I would be charging my batteries regardless.

2. 1983 Alpha 4404 Autopilot. I would like a windvane for my self-steering, but want some sort of back-up and for motoring. I figure I would get a wheel pilot, but this old beast is attached to the boat. There is a mechanical control arm, a cockpit control unit, and a compass unit. I wouldn't know where to begin to start troubleshooting this, but would be willing to give it a shot. If just one of the three parts needed replacing, would these old things be worth trying to get going?

Any opinions from my wise readers would be appreciated!

2010-12-09T17:59:00.000-08:00

This is a documentary (1 hour 15 min) about a group of crust punk/hippie kids who scrap together and buy a cheap sailboat, fix it up, sail to the Carribean, live off the land/ocean, and have a kick ass time. They have barely any money, but live out a dream.

This is what I'm trying to do with Windsong, though I am taking a bit more time with the rebuild. I have a lot of respect for what they did, but have a few gripes on how they went about it. I love that they sail everywhere without using the engine, catch their own food, and that they did all of this on such a budget that skill was needed to overcome easy technology. They squatted, stole materials and did some other things that I don't condone...but it's their spirit I love.

Hold Fast: Stories of maniac sailors, anarchist castaways, and the voyage of the S/V Pestilence...

Hold Fast from Moxie Marlinspike on Vimeo.

Out comes the Engine!!

2010-12-03T06:44:00.001-08:00

In the last post I had gotten the shaft coupling separated from the transmission. Since then I had disconnected everything from the engine and had it pulled out yesterday. It was pretty exhilarating to get it out and begin the engine room project.

The following was done to prepare for the engine pull:

-Remove refrigerator compressor and its mount

-Disconnect all hoses - water feed, fuel feed, fuel return, exhaust

-Disconnect wiring harnesses, starter battery wire, grounding wires

-Remove alternator (want to replace it, and it gave some extra room to get to wiring and mounts)

-Disconnect coolant water expansion tank and hose

-Remove belt

-Remove air silencer/intake (needs to be replaced, flimsy and always falls off anyways)

-Separate shaft coupings

-Remove engine room side insulation (for a little more room to work with)

-Remove motor mount nuts. The rear motor mount nuts were so rusted and frozen, I needed to use a combo of drilling through them and a dremel cutoff wheel to get them off. They were easily the biggest pain of this whole process.

-Disconnect the transmission control wire

-Disconnect throttle control wire

-Disconnect tachometer wire

Picture time!

Engine and Engine room before anything was removed:

Removing the coolant water expansion tank hose:

Side panel insulation before removal. In poor shape

Front stbd mount. This one was easy

Front port mount. Needed to remove the fuel tank hoses to get to it. Post alternator removal as well.

Mostly disassembled

Engine room

Things that have come off

View from above after removing companionway stairs

Up comes the engine!

Will it fit!?

Piece of cake

Beautiful!

Engine room post removal. Cleaning this place up is one of the big reasons I wanted it out of there.

Notice the piece of motor mount lying there. The aft, port mount rusted in half!

The Abyss (aka, the bilge). Cant wait to clean that out

The shaft

Packing nut with loose flax packing. This is what allowed water to spray all over the engine room. Can't blame it for failing after seeing the poor condition of the mounts.

Engine all cosy on the ground, ready for work.

Cant wait to clean and paint the beast.

Now the work begins!

On to the Engine Room

2010-11-17T08:02:00.000-08:00

Momentum is a funny thing. When doing a major boat refit/rebuild like this, momentum counts for a whole lot. More often than not, each project reveals 10 more problems than you expected. Each time these problems come up, momentum takes a hit and motivation goes down hard. Recently I've found myself half finished with many of my projects by hitting roadblocks, and a little lost on where to spend my time on the boat. Whenever I find myself lost, I revert to taking things apart inside the cabin. It is relatively easy work, and I feel like I am getting things done. However, these are mostly cosmetic issues that won't get the boat back in the water anytime soon.

So with the weather cooling down, I decided it is time to focus my efforts on the monolith that is the Yanmar 4JH2E - my diesel engine. Not just the engine, but the entire engine room needs work before we splash. The primary issue in there is the need to replace the stuffing box. I could probably refurbish it, but will most likely go with a PSS shaft seal as a replacement. If you go back to the posts when I hauled out, you would see the broken propeller shim that caused a lot of vibration of the shaft and engine. This caused the shaft seal to leak, which in turn sprayed water all over the engine room. Unfortunately, to replace the stuffing box the shaft must be removed. In order to do so, one of 3 things needs to happen: remove the rudder, remove the transmission, or remove the engine all-together.

My plan for the engine is to completely clean it off of old paint and rust, replace all hoses and clamps, replace the rusted and busted air intake, and do some general maintenance on the engine. I might go as far to replace the seals/gaskets, refurbish the heat exchanger, have the injectors inspected, and who knows what else. With all of that in mind, I decided it would be easier to just pull the engine so I can have easy access to all of the engine itself, and the entire engine room for cleaning (room and bilge), rearranging, and painting.

So with the idea that the engine is coming out of the boat, I began to have some mental momentum of things that need to get done. First step is to prepare the engine for removal by disconnecting all hoses, wiring and the shaft from the engine. I started by attempting to separate the shaft coupling from the transmission and then the shaft from the coupling. This job is notoriously difficult, and with my coupling being a ball of rust...it was a tough task.

Here is the coupling, stuffing box and shaft before any disassembly. Note all of the rust, especially at the set screws.

I started by applying penetrating oil to the coupling bolts, set screws and the shaft itself every day for about a week. I then needed to start removing the exhaust hose and muffler to gain access for wrenches to fit down there.

Here is the exhaust and muffler above the shaft:

With some brute force, the coupling bolts came off eventually. The set screws took a lot more effort, blood, and sweat to get out. One of them was easier than the other, both took vice grips to get them to budge. Here is the coupling after separation, and vice grips on the set screws.

Below the muffler was a plywood panel that capped the space where the stern tube is located. This wood was pretty much disintegrated thanks to the stuffing box leak. I'm pretty sure the exhaust leaked down there as well.

I then set out to remove the coupling from the shaft. The recommended trick is to set a spacer (I used a socket) set between the couplings against the shaft, and then crank down on bolts connecting the coupling halves. Cranking down on the bolts evenly would then push the shaft out. Unfortunately, I found that I have very little clearance between the transmission and transmission coupling to allow any bolts to be screwed down. I might be able to get it done by cutting some bolts to a precise size. I then realized that it was silly for me to be trying this hanging upside down in the engine room when I plan on pulling the engine out anyways. I'll attempt to remove the shaft coupling once the engine is out and I can do it in a more comfortable setting.

So with the couplings separated, I then turned my attention to wiring, hoses and the motor mounts. The front motor mounts are fine and I was able to crack loose the bolts, but the back mounts are horribly rusted. One of them is cracked, probably adding to the vibration I experienced when motoring. It now looks like I will have to cut the nut off the mount, and then replace the back mounts once the motor is out. Like I said...once you start a project, 10 more show up.

I plan on getting the engine fully prepped for removal this week. I go out of town next week for Thanksgiving, then when I get back its time for the pull. I am pretty excited about the pull and to begin the engine refurbish. Momentum is growing, and my enthusiasm with it.

Removing old Thru-Hulls and Seacocks

2010-10-22T07:36:00.001-07:00

One of the things I knew about Windsong when I first saw her was that all of the seacocks needed to be replaced ASAP. They are very old-school style Groco seacocks and all have corroded to the point where they are inoperable. What does that mean? If a hose were to leak, I would not have had a way to shut off the thru-hull and the boat would probably sink unless the hose or seacock was plugged.

Seacocks are meant to be the #1 insurance on the boat against sinking, and I didn't have that insurance for the entire time I owned the boat in the water. Since I started the bottom job I have been contemplating how the heck to get the seacocks and thru-hulls off the boat. They were so corroded that unscrewing the thru-hull from the seacock was impossible. I spent many months contemplating my approach and did as much research I could on the subject. Unfortunately there aren't many articles written on how to get this job done on old, corroded equipment. There are plenty of articles on how to take apart modern seacocks, but non on how to tear apart old ones with no hope of reuse.

I did, however, find a few blogs and forum posts from people who just cut the thru-hulls up with a Dremel or some other tool to help remove them. But with my limited experience in doing things like this, I really needed a step by step instruction on how the heck to do that. After some creative thinking and experimentation, I finally figured out how to do it and here I will show my process.

Here are the seacocks in the head with hoses removed. One is the sink drain, another is for the head itself, the other was unused with no plumbing coming from it.

Here are the thru-hulls attached to these seacocks

Each seacock has two bolts that go through the hull that needed to be removed. My dad and I began this job back in May by removing the hoses to the seacocks and the bolts that go through the hull. Once we reached that point, we were stumped as to how to remove the thru-hull from the seacock. So after my research I took a stab at cutting the thru-hulls to remove the mushroom head so I could just pull the seacocks out from the inside.

I removed the three thru-hulls from the head seacocks before I got down there with the camera, so the sequence below shows the thru-hull from the galley sink. As you can see, the two bolts are still attached so I wasn't able to actually remove that seacock until I get a second hand, but the process is still shown.

First, using a cut-off wheel on my Dremel tool, I made a series of cuts to create some pie wedges. For the bigger thru-hull in the head, I needed to make a few more slices.

In my research I learned that bronze is a pretty soft metal, so cutting and bending is quite easy. In this next step, I hammered a scraper/chisel under one of the slices and pulled down to bend the slice outwards a little bit, enough to fit the back of a hammer under the slice.

With the hammer under it, pry the piece right off. The pieces pried off surprisingly easy.

Repeat the process for each slice until all you have left is a the clean shaft of the thru-hull in the hole.

At this point I went inside and removed the seacock by just pulling it out. One seacock just fell off after cutting the mushroom, one needed to be pried off with the back of the hammer, and the other just needed some muscle to pull out. Here is the head area with all removed:

Outside:

Inside (thats a flashlight in the middle):

Old seacocks. You can see how corroded they are, no hope for the valves to turn. They are not the newer style Groco seacock with a locking nut on the base.

After figuring out this process, removing these things is a piece of cake. I'll need some help to get the remaining seacocks unbolted, but I am no longer worrying about the process when comes time to start fairing and repairing the bottom.

I'll be using these articles as reference to install new thru-hulls and seacocks (links):

Seacock and Thru-Hull Primer

Replacing Thru-Hulls and Seacocks

Seacock Backing Plates

Deck Disassembly Continued

2010-10-13T07:51:00.000-07:00

Greetings! The past couple of weeks I have spent a good amount of time working on Windsong's decks, removing windows, and continuing the disassembly of the interior. I have been hoping to reach some finishing points on each of the areas I've been working on before blogging, but something always halts me and leaves each sub-project incomplete for a while. So for the sake of having something to post, I'll just show what I've done so far.

Most of the hardware on deck has been removed, with the exception of the stanchions and all hardware on the caprail. I haven't decided the path I will take on the caprail: remove the teak caprail to rebed, or just fillet some epoxy or sealant on the seams. I would remove the whole caprail but the bungs hiding the screws are not coming off easily and I find myself damaging the surrounding the wood with each try. I've learned all the different techniques for bung removal by disassembling all of the woodwork on the interior, but these exterior bungs are trouble. I could just leave the caprail on, clean and sand it, then seal the edges; but I know that won't be as good as removing and rebedding it fully. I just don't want a chipped up caprail in the end. Another option is to remove the bungs and just re-drill bigger holes to remove the damaged areas in the existing holes.

Aside from the hardware, there is a bit of teak trim on the decks of Windsong that needed to come off for re-bedding and deck painting. The trim came of easy enough, and once off I filled the screw holes with thickened epoxy to seal. Since the trim is on a vertical surface, I opted to use West System's Six10 Adhesive to fill them in, since it is already thickened and in a tube for easy use.

We (Jenny and I) also spent the time to remove all of the old windows. The windows (ports, deadlights, whatever you want to call them) were completely shot and I plan on replacing them all with quality opening ports. The large windows I have yet to decide on what to do with; I will either glass in the entire area and cut out smaller ports to make the boat more safe and seaworthy, or just replace them with quality frames and glass. Right now I am leaning towards glassing them in as shown here.

I have also finally removed the entire headliner inside the boat and have cleaned up the exposed glass a bit (tons of rusty staples used for the headliner). The interior is almost to the point where I can begin prep for painting, but I will wait for that so I can finish the priority projects.

Here are some pictures of the work done in the past few weeks:

The deck trim:

Removal:

Holes taped, drilled a little bigger, countersinked:

Filled with goop

Removing Windows!

Had to start by chizzeling away the frames. They were stuck on there with decades of goop and sealant.

Once the frame is chipped away, its time to bash the window out as demonstrated here (video):

From Disassembling Windsong

Then chip away the remaining sealant

The headliner was stapled into the core of the windows. I had to remove each rusty staple with some pliers.

I then sealed up the windows with some plastic. Here are the decks after window removal

The weather has been fantastic at the boat yard in the evenings. Recently, was able to work on the boat and not have to take a shower afterwards for the first time all year.

As always, you can see all the pictures of my progress here:

Disassembling Windsong

s/v One Love

2010-09-20T06:49:00.000-07:00

Here is a good video of another Downeaster 38 One Love that I enjoyed enough to share with the readers here. I love seeing other DE38's in better condition than Windsong, gives me hope for the future :)

Check out One Love's blog here

Back from a break

2010-09-13T06:21:00.000-07:00

I have been travelling for the past week and a half, most of which spent in the Seattle area for a friend's wedding. It was a blast and I loved all I saw of the Pacific Northwest. Once all the pictures are sorted through I will post a write-up of the trip for all to enjoy. But for now its back to work unfortunately. It feels like forever since I've been on Windsong to do any work, so hopefully I can commit to getting some things done this week.

When I last left Windsong I cut open some larger sections of glass on the underside of the cabin rooftop to expose the wet core. The little section I took out in the previous post seemed to dry out pretty easily after just a few days of exposure. I wanted to test this on a larger scale and get an idea of how far the dampness went in from the handrail holes. As you can see in the pictures below, the darker area of the core is the dampness and ends less than a foot away from the holes. The area on the sides where the windows are did not get wet as it is a separate core piece. If I go back to the boat and find that this exposed core has dried out well enough, I plan on just cutting out the entire damp area, letting it dry out for a while, then patching it up with some glass.

I have gotten so many differing opinions on how to deal with this damp core issue ranging from leaving it be to completely gutting the core and repairing. I've decided to go an intermediate route by drying it and patching the glass. Leaving the core wet might not be horribly detrimental, but it would surely cause mold and mildew problems, and might delaminate the deck if the water inside froze. The differing opinions of marine repair seems to be a common trend, and a finely worded quote from a fellow blogger Jon Vigor sums it up well:

"The distinguishing mark of a yachtsman is that he never, ever, accepts advice from another yachtsman. He has to learn for himself the hard way, by bitter experience, again and again. I think it’s probably Nature’s way of keeping the numbers down, so that the anchorages don’t get too crowded."

An incredible short film

2010-08-30T11:21:00.000-07:00

Amazing visuals, fantastic narration, interesting story. Do watch...

Hurricane Surf Begins

2010-08-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Ah my favorite time of year....hurricane season! Don't get me wrong, I don't like the destruction and all of the bad things that happen when hurricanes come to land. However, I do love it when they stay offshore and send powerful swells to the East coast. Any dedicated surfer on the right coast gets giddy this time of year, always on the lookout for those deep red blogs coming off Cape Verde in Africa.

I have surfed many hurricane swells in my day and each created a unique experience. I remember surfing perfect a-frame barrels in Crescent Beach for hurricane Floyd with debris floating all around me. Or the long and reeling right hand point break that only breaks with the perfect combination of swell size, angle and tide in North Matanzas Inlet that lit up for me on a freak day by some distant hurricane. Each storm has the potential to give me a memory that will last a lifetime and the thrill of that can't be beat.

So here I am, having surfed most of my life and I am finally living within a minutes walk of the water's edge. I can finally surf all the swells thrown our way from the great Atlantic storms without much constraint. Not only can I surf them all, but I can experience many different conditions throughout a swell or even a single day. My entire surfing life has been spent (except for vacations and whatnot) about 45 minutes away from the coast. Not so far that you can't drive to the beach frequently, but far enough for you to have to budget about 2 hours of travel...and that gets to be a big pain. No more of that for me, the only place I absolutely must go to is work on weekdays. But I could still surf before, during lunch, and all evening after; an impossible feat before I moved here.

Current forecast for the region from cflsurf.com:

"Aug 27 (Fri 5 PM) - Big surf is inbound! - The charts still indicate Danielle swell will begin to show early Sat morning (probably before daybreak). The swell will build thru the day and peak Sunday. On shore winds are coming with it, but maybe only 10 to 15 knots or so. A second major swell will arrive Wed. How big will it get? Plenty big enough for sure. Just watch for 15 to 16 second swell to show at the 20 mile buoy and head beachside soon thereafter. "

As of right now, 9:15 on Friday, the bouy's read 17 second dominant swell period 20 miles away. Can't wait till morning, the rest of the week, and all the way until the end of the season.

For reference, here is some surf from last year's hurricane Bill...

Deconstruction leads to more fun

2010-08-26T07:09:00.000-07:00

Slowly....slowly the deconstruction continues. This past week I've begun to disassemble everything that can be unscrewed in the head and have continued to remove hardware from the deck. In the process of preparing the hardware thru-deck holes to be potted with epoxy, I've discovered a bit of wet core in the cabin top where the handrails were. To investigate, I cut out a piece of the inner skin to see what the core was like around one of the more wet holes and it looks like this:

Zoomed out for size reference:

The core material is some sort of dense foam, not balsa. The dry core I've found elsewhere on the deck is a much lighter color, the core in the picture is wet and darker. The core itself is solid and not rotted away, its just damp. There is no delamination on the top or bottom that I have found.

I am trying to figure out what steps I should take now. Since the foam is solid but damp, do I leave it alone and just pot/epoxy the holes? I fear that the wet core might be bad for the epoxy to cure in the holes or even worse for structural integrity. Should I cut out the inner skin wherever the core is wet so it can dry out, then I guess patch it up with a few layers of new glass?

Any advice would be helpful. If the core was rotting away I would not hesitate to just replace it, but since the core is solid but just damp I'm not sure how to proceed.

That is the main issue holding me up right now. For all the pictures of the deconstruction feel free to check out this gallery:

Disassembling Windsong

You can also see that I've been tooling around with the blog template. Sometime in the near future I plan on completely re-doing this blog and turning it into a dedicated website with its own domain name. I want to arrange the site to tell my story a bit better and so people can access the earlier parts of this story and read in chronological order with ease. Some people may not care about all of this rebuild business and are just interested in the old stories, so I want to cater to them while the long rebuild is going on.

In addition, I plan on posting quite a bit more and include other things occupying my time such as surfing, fishing and other fun things here in beautiful Saint Augustine. In other words, a lot more content! Hopefully I can make it entertaining enough to bring in some new readers and keep the current ones happy. So be on the lookout for changes and more frequent posting.

WOW

2010-08-24T06:46:00.000-07:00

Deconstruction

2010-08-09T07:49:00.000-07:00

Nothing too exciting has been going on these past couple of weeks. Since reaching the finishing point on the hull below the waterline, I've turned my attention to the deck and interior. I've been working my way from bow to stern disassembling everything in my path.

So far I've completely gutted the v-berth in the cabin. Before Windsong was even out of the water I had began to remove teak trim and cabinetry and have started the refurbishing of those pieces. These past few weeks I spent time removing the remaining trim, tearing out headliner and the old strips of wood it was attached to, chipping off old formica, ripping out foam insulation in lockers, and generally clearing the space out.

Aside from interior destruction, I've begun to remove all deck hardware. Once old hardware is removed, I will pot all holes with epoxy to seal leaks and prevent core rot in the future. Removing the old hardware is difficult in some areas, particularly the teak handrails. The bolts used to hold them in are very stuck and it took a good amount of effort to get them out. Eventually a boat yard friend showed me the wonder of an impact driver and I ordered one immediately to help speed up this process. Looks like those teak handrails will need to be replaced due to lack of upkeep and accidental damage trying to remove them.

There aren't many interesting pictures of this process. But I've been trying to take pictures of whatever I take apart so I can have a guide while putting the puzzle back together. If you are interested in the pictures of dissassembling Windsong, feel free to browse this gallery:

Disassembling Windsong

My new West System epoxy kit should arrive this week and I will begin to pot the hardware holes soon after. I plan on following the process shown here (click link). I'll try to do some good photo documenting of the process for the blog.

Project - Bottom Job - At a stopping point

2010-07-20T07:16:00.000-07:00

I've reached the first major milestone in the restoration of Windsong!! wooooo!

I finished grinding off countless layers of antifouling paint, the entire gelcoat, and blisters a-plenty. With everything ground down to bare glass, the hull can now dry out for the remainder of time we are on the hard. I'll come back whenever I am done with all other boat work to fill the blister depressions and other areas in need of repair, fair the entire hull, apply the epoxy barrier coat, and paint. I ended up opening around 80-90 significant blisters on the entire hull, and countless little ones. You can see in the pictures all of the blister holes. It was evident that this boat was in PRIME conditions for blisters and water damage in the hull: warm, fresh water and the paint had not been renewed in over 10 years. The paint blistered first, trapping water between the paint and gelcoat; then over time the water absorbed into the gel coat and into voids between the first two layers of glass. I might elaborate on this eventually, but right now I'm just happy all of the nasty grinding and sanding is finished.

You can see in the pictures how good the gelcoat is on the rudder. If only the rest of the boat was like that, I would have a lot less work to deal with. But from the looks of it, whoever made the boat did not do a good job laying up the glass on the hull, causing voids and blister problems.

Now I will turn my attention to the decks and interior work. My primary goal in this next phase is to remove all hardware from the deck and seal all holes with epoxy, eliminating all deck leaks and preventing core rot. I'm sure I'll find all sorts of surprises in this process, including some bad areas on the deck that may need re-coring. In between doing that work I'll continue to disassemble the interior. Yesterday I decided I wanted to start pulling all of the old bilge pumps out of the deep keel bilge and attempt to get it dry. I opened up a can of worms finding old hoses that led to nowhere and all sorts of junk in the bottom of the bilge.

I can be happy that the most grueling portion of work is done with though. Grinding the bottom for two months straight in the Florida heat was not fun, but it needed to get done.

Bottom Job drags on

2010-06-30T06:02:00.000-07:00

Since the last update I've continued focusing on the bottom job, and I am only a few days away from finishing the main grinding of the port side. I usually work Monday through Thursday after work until dark. Weekends have been on hold until I am fully settled in here in St. Augustine. I couldn't work all last week due to travelling for work, my first week without getting anything done.

I had some technical difficulties with my grinder two weeks ago so I spent that week sanding the previously ground starboard side down smooth with a 5" random orbit sander using 40 grit pads. This smoothed out the grinding marks and faired the hull somewhat. I am about 2/3 done grinding the port side. Once grinding is finished, then I'll give it a good sanding and I'll be done with the hull for a while.

Starboard side after grinding down to bare glass and sanded smooth

Port side grinding progress:

Space man at work

Project - Bottom Job con't.

2010-06-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

I finished grinding the starboard side today

Took approximately 40 hours, mostly 3 hour shifts after work till dark. Hopefully I can finish the other side quicker with what I learned on this one. Opened up about 40 blisters as well. It is difficult and boring work. Holding the grinder above the head and away from the body is hell on the shoulders and back, but my endurance is getting better. This is probably the worst job of the whole rebuild, glad it is over halfway done.

Project: Bottom Job

2010-06-09T12:08:00.000-07:00

Since hauling Windsong out of the water I have been focusing most of my energy on her hull below the waterline. My goal was to get the hull to the point where it could dry out for the rest of the time on land. This would mean removing paint and the gel coat (if necessary) and then leave the hull alone while I worked on the rest of the boat. Fiberglass boats do in fact absorb water through osmosis (what creates blisters). The hull needs to be completely dry before I apply the planned epoxy barrier coat (protects against water absorption) and then paint.

I had researched many different ways to remove paint from the bottom. The most common choices are to sandblast, grind, use a chemical peeler, or just old fashioned muscle and scraper. I opted for the simple method of scraping with a cheap paint scraper from Home Depot. The bottom paint was loose enough where the majority of it came off with the scraper. I would scrape a section of hull then go back and sand away the remaining paint down to the gel coat. I started at the bow on the starboard side and worked my way back.

Here is the hull after the first weeks work:

Removing the old paint to the gel coat revealed quite a few small spots where fairing compound was used in some sort of repair. It also revealed the blisters I feared would be present. The worst case scenario in my mind were thousands of small blisters all over the hull. But what I discovered were isolated, larger blisters averaging about 3-4" in diameter (some larger some smaller). When I found a big blister I would drill into it with a countersink bit to release the fluid inside. The fluid is some sort of gross acidic chemical that smells very distinct and shoots out at high pressure. It is always fun to pop them, but I always seem to get the stuff all over me. I would drill a pattern of holes all around the area of the blister so they would drain completely, and could be flushed out with ease. Cleaning and flushing the blisters with fresh water removes salts, chemicals and other nasty stuff that slows drying time.

Drilled out blisters. You can also see all of the old repairs/fairings:

Small blister completely ground out:

Another small blister, and even smaller ones showing the poor condition of the gel coat

I determined that the blisters needed to be ground out completely until I reach undamaged glass. Since these are deep and large, I will need to build the leftover hole up with layers of glass before fairing compound.

Ground out blisters below. I have yet to bevel and shape the ground out blisters completely for repair, only ground out to dry:

After scraping and sanding for a week or so, someone at the boat yard saw me struggling with my scraper and going slow as molasses. He recommended that I use a pressure washer with a special nozzle attached to really blast off the loose paint. I did so and was able to get all loose paint off (most of it!) with only an hours work with the hose. This was fantastic compared to the slow slow work of the scraper.

Unfortunately the blasting revealed many areas where the gel coat was in such bad shape it just chipped away. Some areas where it chipped away revealed more blisters and hydrolysis (water damage) in the first layer of glass. After wasting a week working on sanding down to the gel coat, I know accepted the fact that the gel coat needed to be removed completely so that the glass underneath it can dry out.

Here are some pictures of the hull after the pressure blast:

So I re-tooled and began to grind away the paint and the gel coat underneath it down to bare glass, grinding out any blisters or evidence of hydrolysis I came across in my path. I've been experimenting with many different pads for the grinder and have settled on using a 4 1/2" rubber backing pad and 36 grit disks. Most of the time it comes out pretty even, but I'll have to go back over the entire hull with my random orbit or palm sander to get it nice and flush.

Here is the hull after a week or so of grinding. I started the port side when I came to work on the boat early on a Sunday, the sun was on the other side so I switched to the shady one :)

By the end of this week I should be over half way done. Once fully ground off, I'll leave the hull to dry out while I turn my focus above the waterline, the deck, and the interior.

Once most of the projects above the waterline are out of the way I'll follow this procedure to finish the bottom job:

-Sand entire hull smooth

-Repair deep blisters and any other major damage (keel) with layers of glass

-Fill and fair small blisters and gouges until smooth

-Apply epoxy barrier coat

-Apply anti-fouling paint

The Haul Out

2010-06-02T13:20:00.001-07:00

he Monday after we sailed Windsong into St. Augustine we finally hauled her out to begin the massive rebuild. I had been anticipating this moment since I bought the boat about a year ago. I had never seen the hull below the waterline but knew a little bit of what to expect. I dove down to check the bottom once, but it was too murky to see anything. I could feel blisters however near the waterline so I figured I would have a few of them. Windsong was kept in warm Florida fresh water for a long time without a bottom job, ripe conditions for blister problems. I feared that she may have a case of full blown pox - a condition of thousands of tiny gel coat blisters covering the entire hull. This was the worst case scenario and I wanted to be prepared for it. I didn't expect any other major problems with the hull, though I anticipated some damage on the keel from when we ran hard aground. During the past year I have been studying all that I will need to do to the hull depending on its condition.

It was a gross morning with a ton of rain. We hauled her out in the downpour and I got a first look at the bottom

Proud owner :)

After the haul they gave her a good pressure wash. There wasn't much growth on the bottom, just some slime. She had only been in salt water for about two months and the water was pretty cold the whole time, so barnacles didn't get time to grow. The pressure wash was taking off chunks of old paint that had begun to deteriorate over time. It turns out, the gel coat blisters I thought I felt were actually just paint blisters and chipped off with the pressurewash.

I had to leave to work half way through the pressure wash, but thankfully the weather cleared up later on for me to check her out on the stands.

Decades of old anti-fouling paint chipping away.

Depth sounding transducer, paint blisters

keel damage

thru hulls

Rudder and prop

The prop was in surprisingly good shape. I thought the cutlass bearing would be shot since there was a ton of vibration when motoring at cruising RPMs. It turns out there is some sort of shim that slides under the prop and into the bearing tube. This shim somehow broke, making the prop loose and explaining many strange noises and vibration.

I am concerned about this area that the rudder attaches to. Lots of cracking and whatnot

The zinc. This appears to be the only zinc, with all thru hulls wired to it. I anticipated bad problems with electrolysis since it had been so long since a zinc was replaced, but somehow it is still there.

Port side paint

I discovered many things about the hull as I began to remove the many layers of paint. I'll detail the first two weeks of work in the next post. I am having computer problems at home so I cannot upload any new pictures that were taken after the haul out. As soon as I get them up I'll post and keep a more frequent progress report going.

The Journey, Final leg: Merritt Island to St. Augustine

2010-05-26T10:13:00.000-07:00

The final leg of The Journey was to take Windsong from Harbortown Marina in Merritt Island up to Oasis Boat Yard in St. Augustine to be hauled out. I had convinced a few friends to crew for me and to entice them I arranged the final leg to be when one of the last shuttle launches was happening.

I wanted to have a good view of the shuttle launch, and I also wanted the final leg to be easy going so I got a head start by sailing up the ICW about 17 nm to Titusville Municipal Marina. Jenny and I did the sail on a Saturday after my month in Harbortown was done. The weather was great, with Southeast winds at 15 knots. The ride was relatively uneventful but definitely a fun day. It was my first time under full sail in the ICW, something different since steering between the markers under sail was a bit more difficult than steering offshore.

I kept Windsong in Titusville for a couple of weeks until May 14th when the shuttle was set to launch. We all met up on Friday morning before the launch to load up the boat and get ready for the weekend cruise. The crew was Jenny, Jeff (from the first leg) and our friend Brian who flew down from Connecticut. The traffic was getting crazy pretty for the shuttle launch, so we were glad to get an early start. The launch was at 2:20 p.m., but we were ready to go by noon.

We got some fuel from the marina and then decided to wait out the remaining time at anchor in the ICW. The marina is very spacious, but my slip was near the basin wall and I had 15-20knot winds pushing me forward into my slip. I knew when I backed out, we would face some problems due to the wind and the lack of control going in reverse on my boat. Sure enough, when we backed out the boat wanted to turn sideways and slide back into the slip pilings. Thankfully my crew was strong enough to fend us off the posts, and I was able to maneuver well enough to avoid crashing into the wall. It was one of the more nerve wracking times I've pulled out of a dock thus far, but we made it safe to the fuel dock eventually. After fueling we left the marina to start our journey.

Windsong at the slip in Titusville:

I found a spot outside of the channel with a good view of the launch pads and dropped the hook for a few hours. After waiting patiently, we were eventually rewarded with a killer view of the launch. I had not seen a live launch this close since my early childhood and I was glad to see the final flight of Atlantis. About a minute after the launch the sound finally hit us with a massive roar that shook the entire boat.

After the launch we began the 27 nm run to New Smyrna Beach. After only an hour or so of motoring we arrived at the Hallover Canal bridge, a draw bridge which was said to be one of the quickest to open on call. Unfortunately due to the shuttle launch traffic, they weren't able to open for another hour and a half. While I didn't mind pacing around to waste time (there wasn't an adequate area to anchor in the narrow channel), we were already cutting the trip close to make New Smyrna before nightfall. I quickly did the math and figured that we would make it just in time with the delay.

So we paced up and down the ICW at about 2 knots for the remaining time until it was time for the bridge to open. Once we were finally through, the ICW switches from the Indian River to the Mosquito Lagoon. The first part of the lagoon was all park land protected from development in the Canaveral National Seashore so it was a natural beauty. This eventually led to the outskirts of New Smyrna Beach with many mobile home parks right on the water. The channel became very narrow with homes on the port and barrier islands to starboard. Tons of dolphins and fish were seen everywhere giving us a lot of things to look at.

The Hallover Canal:

We arrived at the New Smyrna Beach City Marina with about an hour of light to spare. Our slip was easily accessed so docking wasn't an issue at all. Shortly after tying up we all walked down the road to find some grub and then called it a night. Unfortunately sometime in the night Jenny started feeling ill and had a long night battling a stomach bug. The plan was to go off-shore the next day and sail from Ponce Inlet to St. Augustine. I worried about how her stomach would cope with the seas, and with the rest of my crew enjoying many beers all day I knew the sail might be in jeopardy with a sick crew.

We woke up and quickly set out of the marina and up the river to the inlet. I read on the web that Ponce Inlet was tricky and should only be attempted with local knowledge. I've seen enough large boats go out of the inlet while surfing to know it is possible, and they also say the same about St. Augustine inlet (of which I consider a pretty easy inlet). I studied the inlet as much as I could and felt prepared to make the run out of it. Although a little bumpy due to the swells raising near the inlet, the run out wasn't difficult.

Morning at the marina

Last draw bridge before inlet

NSB lighthouse

Once out of the channel we hoisted sails, turned North and began the 60 nm run to St. Augustine. Raising the sails became quite the rodeo ride with the short period swells lurching high near the inlet. Both Jeff and I almost fell out of the boat trying to raise the main, and Brian was struggling to steer and control our overturned cooler with beer and ice flying around the cockpit. Jenny was still feeling pretty ill from the night before and resting in the cabin, I felt bad for her as the motion was not fun at the start.

If we averaged 5 knots it would take us 12 hours, anything less would be cutting it close to a nighttime entrance - something I wanted to avoid once again. The winds were very light out of the Southeast and we were only making 3.5 knots sailing. In order to assure our arrival on time, I figured we would motorsail until the winds picked up as expected in the afternoon. I started the engine and we began to make speed averaging 7 knots. Eventually we figured out how to steer with the waves more to our stern quarter rather than beam on, and the motion became easier to cope with.

Soon after we were motoring I went downstairs to get some breakfast., and while gathering food I noticed smoke coming out of the engine room. I opened the room and what I thought was smoke or steam was rising out in a cloud. I yelled for Jeff to cut the engine and I started to search for the source of the smoke. I soon realized that it was exhaust, not a fire thank goodness. The entire engine room was covered in water with exhaust smoke billowing out. I went to the cockpit to let the room clear of exhaust and for the engine to cool some. We were barely sailing at 3 knots, and I feared if something was serious we were definitely in for a long day if the winds never picked up.

Dejected and worried, I knew I had to try to figure out what was wrong and fix it if I could. So after a breather I went below and had a look. I diagnosed the issue to be a loose hose clamp on a section of the large exhaust piping. After tightening the clamp, we cranked the engine and it was evident the issue was resolved. We were motoring comfortably once again at 7 knots and making great time. With the engine and schedule back to normal, my spirits returned and I was finally able to enjoy the morning.

The rest of the crew, however, weren't feeling the same. Jenny spent the majority of the day sleeping away her sickness either in the cockpit or in the cabin while Jeff and Brian both sent their breakfast back to the sea after getting motion sickness shortly after the engine was fixed. Over the next few hours all three of them caught up on rest, and luckily Jeff and Brian both came around and were feeling better. I steered for a couple of hours and then Brian took the wheel and stayed there for the majority of the day.

It was exciting sailing up this part of the coast, since I was very familiar with every patch of beach and was able to identify where we were based on landmarks I knew. The majority of the day was spent finding these landmarks and just chilling in the cockpit. Once we passed Matanzas Inlet, I celebrated with a beer (and sacrificed one to Poseidon for thanks) and began to feel the sense of accomplishment that we were close to the end.

Matanzas Inlet

My family's old condo in Crescent Beach:

Nice boat

Jeff had found information about a spring off of Crescent Beach that we were aiming to pass and check out: click hereto learn about it. The coordinates on the website did not match the charted location of the spring, so we followed the chart. Unfortunately we didn't see it, but we did see two huge sea turtles we wouldn't have otherwise.

The winds finally picked up in the afternoon, and shortly before reaching the spring we cut the engine to sail the final 2-3 hours of the trip. Motor-sailing all day ensured we were going to make landfall in daytime, so the final hours of sailing were extremely enjoyable with no worries whatsoever. We arrived at the channel entrance around 5:30 and navigated our way inside. Once in protected waters, we lowered all sails and found a good spot to anchor right in front of the fort in downtown St. Augustine.

Ecstatic of our accomplishment, finally home after this long journey, we took some shots of good rum and jumped into the water for a rinse. The remainder of the night was spent drinking and celebrating the end of the journey. The view of St. Augustine at night is beautiful, and was better than any TV show I could have been staring at back at home. If I could have changed anything it would be to have had Jenny feeling better to join in the celebration. Unfortunately her stomach was still giving her problems and she had to rest the evening out.

St. Augustine Lighthouse

Bouy marking the entrance to St. Augustine inlet

Breakers on both sides of the channel

Pirate ship tour

Sunset at anchor

We raised the hook and crossed under the historic Bridge of Lions at 8:00 a.m. the next morning. We only had to go about 2 nm to Oasis Boat Yard, where I was scheduled to be hauled out the following morning. We motored to the yard and tied up to the dock shortly thereafter, and my parents met up with us to deliver my car. We didn't linger long, loaded the car and were off back to Titusville to drop everyone off and retrieve their cars. I came back to the boat after dropping them off to give Windsong an oil change before her long sit on land.

Sunrise

Heading through the Bridge of Lions.

Note: the shoe is our friend Shoe. We stole it from a buddy many years ago and sent him ransom pictures of Shoe in random places. It eventually started travelling with us so we could take pictures of it all over the place, even international. Think of it like the roaming gnome. Shoe now resides on Windsong and will travel with us.

Yours truly. Haggard from a long weekend.

Brian and Shoe

On Monday morning, after a long days rest, I went back to the boat yard with my Dad to watch them haul out Windsong and get a first view of the bottom. It was extremely wet that morning, and I was all dressed to go to work after the haul. Bad decision on my part, since they expected me to drive the boat into the lift. So we got drenched, but seeing her get hauled out was a joyous occasion for me. Though we couldn't get much of a good view of the bottom as they were still pressure washing it before we had to leave, it didn't look too bad! Not many barnacles had begun to grow with only a couple of months in salt water, but a lot of slime had to be blasted off.We left after one side was almost done being washed as I needed to go to work.

The Journey, Leg 4. Stuart to Merritt Island

2010-05-02T15:01:00.000-07:00

We left Windsong in Stuart on its mooring ball for a week before I was able to get back there and begin the fourth leg with my Dad. I was concerned while it was there because the stuffing box was leaking worse than it ever had, and I couldn’t get it to stop dripping before we left. I did my best to stem the flow by tying some torn up towels around it, but knew that would help little. The bilge pump could keep up with the flow, and would run a few times a day I think. However, I didn’t know how long my batteries would last with the pump running frequently. Luckily I remembered to change the battery switch to the house batteries rather than its default setting of house + starter batteries. I realized I left it like that when Windsong was in Ft. Myers, and made a mental note to never leave the switch on both when not charging or motoring.

The plan was to motor up the ICW to Harbortown Marina in Merritt Island. We arrived in Stuart on Thursday evening (April 1st) a few hours before dark. First order of business was to dinghy all of our gear out to the boat, which wasn’t nearly as exciting as the nighttime ordeal we faced in Ft. Myers. After the gear was loaded (only took one trip) we enjoyed a beer then paddled back to shore to get some dinner at the marina restaurant. After dinner we had to paddle back in the dark and crashed quickly soon after. As usual I didn’t get any sleep, mind racing about what the next couple of days would hold.

The first day’s ride would be 2/3 of the trip, making progress all the way up to south Melbourne. I knew it would be a long day, some 60 nautical miles; but I wanted a shorter day on Saturday so we could have time to pick up cars and make it home at a reasonable hour.

The morning started off routinely and we were off the mooring ball by 7:45 a.m. After only about 20 minutes of motoring the engine, once again, started to choke up. I knew instantly it was the air intake silencer again so I went below to mess with it. After some adjusting of the silencer the choking stopped and the engine ran fine for a while longer. The first part of the day was continuing along the Okeechobee Waterway until it merges with the ICW. As we approached the ICW the St. Lucie inlet became visible and I was ecstatic to finally see the Atlantic Ocean! It was a great milestone and almost an overwhelming feeling to finally see familiar waters.

First look of the Atlantic:

The tide was coming in, and as we approached the inlet the current was pushing against us and at times slowing us down to almost 4.5 knots. I was freaking out, thinking the engine was fouling up but it sounded fine and the instrument panel wasn’t indicating a problem. I then realized what was going on as I checked the tide table and stopped worrying about it. The intersection of the Okeechobee waterway and the ICW at the inlet was very narrow, shallow, and crowded. If you ask me it was a much worse place than the Miserable Mile on the West coast. I was well prepared thanks to Cruisers Net and navigated us safely until we finally were able to turn North. It was a grand feeling to be finally going North.

The ride was uneventful for a few more hours until the engine started making very strange sounds. This time it was not a familiar one that I have dealt with before, it was a loud POP POP POP POP with white smoke coming out of the exhaust. I tried to assess the situation but failed to conclude what the problem was. I referenced all of my diesel books and eventually became overwhelmed with what the problem actually could be. To test some things out I revved up the engine and immediately the popping and smoke stopped. My guess was either piston blow-by or maybe some water in the engine. Any ideas? Regardless, the problem stopped and never returned thank goodness. It was a scary sound and seemed pretty serious, definitely something I need to investigate when the big overhaul begins.

I hoisted the main and staysail so that we could motorsail and have at least some propulsion if the engine failed. Sure enough, about an hour later, another terrible sound erupted from the engine room. This time it was a high pitched squealing, so loud we couldn't tell where it was coming from. The sound would come for a few seconds then disappear for a while, then come back a few minutes later. Both my Dad and I tried to assess the problem, but couldn’t figure it out since it kept disappearing. After a while of staring at the engine waiting for the sound, it finally came and kept going for about 30 seconds. My dad, who was looking at the engine while it happened, honed the sound to the shaft near the stuffing box. His words to me were “come look at the stuffing box and tell me if it looks right”. Sure enough, the packing nut had loosened itself all the way off the threads and was hanging onto the shaft and causing the sound. Even a layer of the packing from inside the nut had come out, it was a mess. We cut the engine and I did my best to re-pack the flax and tighten the nut back onto the threads. After doing so something magic happened, the leaking stopped completely! Re-packing the loose flax seemed to do the trick and from then on the stuffing box was no longer an issue and to this date (about a month later) it is still leak free. It drips when running to cool the shaft, but doesn’t spew water in like it used to.

I spent the rest of the day being a nervous wreck about the engine, but it never gave us any problems after that. The ICW was a pretty ride, but the day was getting long and I was dead tired at the end. At around 7:00 we arrived at the anchorage and set hook for the night. It was a neat spot with a few other boats and well protected from the winds and wake. We had some beers, made some sandwiches and I got to work rigging up my poles to fish. I threw out some dried chum I had bought for inshore saltwater fishing, and it seemed to work. Unfortunately the only fish interested in it were catfish, not my ideal catch. We ended up hooking catfish over and over, some decent sized ones that gave a good fight, but nothing worth keeping.

The anchorage:

Ship wrecked at the island next to us. Picture taken through the binoculars:

Lots of catfish:

We hit the sack early, and after a long day and lack of sleep from the previous night I was able to get some Z’s. It was my first night on the hook with Windsong, so while I was nervous about our holding I was so exhausted that worrying couldn’t even keep me up.

The next morning we raised the anchor and set off soon after sunrise. The engine behaved and the ride was fun leading up to Cocoa. I considered this stop to finally be home, since I was still living in Orlando at the time and Cocoa was the closest spot to keep it. Of course, Windsong’s final resting place will be St. Augustine, but Cocoa would be its home for the next month until I was settled at my new job in St. Augustine. So while technically the Journey wasn’t over, this leg felt like the end of it to me. I was finally done with unfamiliar territory, finally done having to park cars in two different cities to do a leg, finally done with the stress of having the boat far away.

Morning:

Arriving in Cocoa was a fantastic feeling, particularly going under the 528 bridge that I had crossed hundreds of times while driving to the beach. Docking at the marina proved difficult as the waterway was very narrow to maneuver into the slips. Thankfully all of my practice on this trip had prepared me and I was getting pretty good at maneuvering the boat by now. My new marina neighbors were very helpful while docking and proved to be great folks over the next few weeks I was at the marina.

Approaching 528:

Crossing the line

As of now, Windsong has been there for almost a month and it is finally time to move her further North. I could take her straight to St. Augustine, but I have a friend flying down from Connecticut who wants to enjoy a sail before Windsong goes to the boat yard. This weekend I will be moving her up to Titusville, some 17 nm up the ICW from Cocoa. I wanted to keep her in Titusville until my friend comes down so that we have a good spot to view the shuttle launch scheduled for the Friday we start the final leg. So two more weeks in Titusville then its time to bring her home and finish the Journey. Then its onto the next journey – the boatyard and complete refit/repair/rebuild of the boat.

Updates and Canaveral sailing

2010-04-28T17:45:00.000-07:00

I am lagging behind on my trip write-up, I do apologize. I never announced it here, but sometime around early February I was offered a job in St. Augustine doing the same type of consulting I was in Orlando. It was a dream come true to finally be able to move to the beach, near my family, and also in the same town as Windsong. After I was laid off I was able to secure a small amount of contract work with my old company to keep the coffers full, and I was able to push my start date in St. Augustine back until mid April. As you know by now, I used that time to take on the challenge of moving Windsong from West to East Florida, a grand adventure so far!

I started working in St. Augustine last week and have loved being here so far. This town never fails to bring out great feelings inside me. My family always had summer vacations here when I was a kid, and in my teenage years I would drive to these beaches every weekend to surf and be with friends. My whole life seems to have amazing memories associated with St. Augustine, and I’m extremely excited to begin this new phase and make the most of it.

Windsong is currently in the Cape Canaveral area, and I plan on bringing her up to St. Augustine sometime in May. Once up here it’s time for the haul-out and the start of the grueling work to completely refit and repair. I continue to visit Orlando and Windsong on the weekends and have made progress deconstructing the interior and refinishing the woodwork.

I was even able to take a bunch of friends sailing offshore on a Saturday a few weeks ago. We left Port Canaveral in the morning, sailed South almost to Satellite Beach and then back to the inlet by the evening. It was a great sail in brisk 15-20 knot winds out of the Northeast and 4-6 foot choppy seas. Windsong cut through the chop well and I thought the ride was extremely comfortable, 3 out of 6 crewmembers thought otherwise as their lunches were returned to the ocean soon after setting sail.

I still have to write up the last leg of the Journey, Stuart to Canaveral, and will get to that eventually. For now, here are some pictures and video of the Canaveral sail:

Morning at the marina

Going out of Port Canaveral

Sails up!

\\

Jumping dolphins

Pelicans eating our leftover bait

The Journey, Leg 3: Ft. Myers to Stuart via the Okeechobee Waterway

2010-04-12T16:57:00.000-07:00

The weekend of March 20 I was finally able to get some friends to help crew for me as we crossed Florida via the Okeechobee Waterway:

At 6.5 knots cruising speed, it takes about two days of long motoring to cross the state with a stop in Clewiston. Mark and Robbie both took Monday off so we would be able to make it north a bit on the East coast as well. The plan was to go from Ft. Myers to Clewiston on Saturday; cross the lake and make it to Stuart on Sunday; then Stuart to Vero Beach up the Intercoastal Waterway on Monday.

Friday night we were dropped off in Ft. Myers where Windsong was moored for about a week and a half. It was dark when we arrived, and we had to paddle my old dinghy about a half mile to the boat. The rubber dinghy does not have hard floors, so we couldn't load too much weight. This made us have to take two trips back and forth to collect all cargo along with all three of us. We didn't get any good pictures of the dinghy rides to the boat, but it was a lot of fun crossing the river in the dark of night, only city lights for illumination. I knew where the boat was in reference to the bridge and island surrounding it, but we couldn't actually see it until very close.

We loaded up Windsong, had a few beers and settled in for the night. None of us slept well at all, I was nervous about how the engine would perform on its first real endurance test. We would be motoring about 8-10 hours a day for three days straight. I knew the fuel was clean now, so it was whatever new thing the engine would throw at me that kept me up and nervous. I also realized it was my first night on the hook, away from a dock on the boat. All of the sounds, particularly the mooring ball bumping on the boat kept me up.

We decided to leave in the morning at 7:30; and of course the alarm woke us up right after all of us started to doze off. It was a beautiful sunrise and the first order of business was to get us off the mooring ball. My two lines and chain were tangled on the ball chain, so I had to go down in the dinghy and get wet early trying to make sense of the mess. We warmed up the engine and were soon off and away up the Caloosahatchee River to the Okeechobee waterway.

You can see me in the dinghy, Mark holding me to the boat.

It was before this bridge that we broke down on the last trip. Here we are passing that mark.

I-75

Shortly after we passed under the I-75 bridge and the engine started to choke once again. Furious and nervous, I opened up the engine room to inspect the fuel filter. The bowl looked just fine, but the air silencer was off of its mount. The air silencer on my engine is extremely rusted and barely hangs on its mount, mostly held by duct tape and some seizing wire I jury rigged. The air silencer is hooked to some sort of breather line from the injection housing, I noticed this line was twisted and pinched so I straightened it out. The engine stopped choking and ran smooth the whole day after that, with a few chokes here and there as the silencer fell off.

We stopped at a little place called Jacks Marine to top off the diesel fuel tank. Soon after that we approached the first of 5 locks that we would be going through along the waterway, Franklin Lock. We had a green light to go in, and grabbed the ropes along the right wall. They closed the doors behind us, opened the ones in front of us and we raised about two feet as water rushed in.

Approaching the lock

Holding onto the lines

Doors closing behind us

Water coming in

Going through the locks was neat, though they definitely slowed us down and made the day longer. The first part of the river was filled with huge houses and good scenery. Soon after there were a lot of cows, sugarcane fields, orange fields, swamps, even a camel.

Huge house with a massive water slide:

Many draw bridges too, but they opened quickly and we barely ever had to wait.

The next lock was Ortona lock, we rose about 7 feet on this one. The water rushing it was a lot more intense than the last one, pretty fun.

The day was pretty uneventful between the locks. We traded turns at the wheel, made sandwiches for lunch and just relaxed. The last lock was at Moore Haven.

From Moore Haven to Clewiston was about 10 nm going South along the rim of Lake Okeechobee. This last stretch of the day was strange as it was a lot of reeds and dead trees on the Lake side, with the dike on the other side. It was a very barren looking landscape, but had plenty of gators, pelicans and herons.

This boat kicked up some of the biggest wake I have ever seen. I could have surfed the waves as they peeled perfectly along the shore.

Clewiston is protected by a lock directly across the channel entrance to cross the lake. The lock was open so we motored right in and immediately to our right was Roland Martins Marina where we had a slip reserved for the night. Clewiston is a big bass fishing base, and the marina was the heart of it all. It had a good tiki bar restaurant, a smaller breakfast place, and all the usual marina stuff. There were a lot of boats taking up the long floating dock, so we had to go all the way to the end where the only slot big enough for us was. Right as I was about to pull up to the dock, we noticed the mast was about to plow through a low hanging power cable. We saw it just as the mast hit the warning line, and I cranked her in reverse. This proved a good move as it maneuvered us right onto the dock. The spot was nice as it was away from the noise and crowd of the restaurant.

I should take a break here to talk about Billy. Immediately after we cross Lake Okeechobee on Sunday, we would have to go through Port Mayaka Lock. Less than a mile from the lock is a railroad lift bridge that sets the overhead clearance line for the entire passage at 49.5 feet, the lowest of all bridges or wires. My mast is 49', but also has navigation/anchor lights, wind instruments, and a VHF antenna making it almost 50'. The tide doesn't change much due to the locks, so we couldn't really wait for a low tide to pass under. To get by, one could unstep their mast and go mastless down the waterway, but that is costly and a big hassle. The way most people get by is to call good ol' Billy to do the Okeechobee limbo.

Billy comes out with a bunch of 55 gallon barrels that he stacks along one side of the boat, fills them with river water with a large pump and tilts the boat over enough so the mast clears the bridge. I got Billy's number from Indiantown Marina and had been calling him all day to arrange his services for Sunday. He never answered my calls, and by the time we got to Clewiston I was pretty nervous about our ability to make the passage if Billy never responded. Finally, he called back but told us he is out of town and couldn't help us until Monday morning.

We were all frustrated that our trip could be delayed. Spending the day in Clewiston or crossing and anchoring by Port Mayaka lock were our options if we had to wait till Monday for Billy. We weighed our options and even googled what we could have done to tilt Windsong enough to clear the bridge. We decided to wake up and see what we wanted to do and how the conditions were to cross the lake. After cleaning up a bit we had dinner at the Tiki Bar and passed out pretty early. Since none of us slept well the previous night, and after a long day we were ready for some good shut-eye.

After a good nights sleep I checked the weather on the VHF as soon as I woke up. The forecast had changed from 15 knt SE winds with 20% chance of rain to 25-30+ knt winds with 70% chance of thunderstorm! I sort of thanked Billy in my head, it was a good thing we had time to kill. There was no way I was going to cross the lake in that weather, so we decided to stay in Clewiston to wait it out until Monday. Most of the day was just cloudy but very windy. Later in the evening the thunderstorms came through and we all were thankful we stayed. The new plan was to just get to Stuart on Monday, and moor at the municipal field at Sunset Bay Marina.

We ate some breakfast at the marina restaurant, then took a hike up to the dike and check out the channel to cross the lake. We watched some big fishing boats come through and walked back to the boat to clean and do some projects (attempting to fix manual bilge pump again, clean out cowl vents).

Later on we went on a dinghy ride up the canal in Clewiston to try to catch some fish, no luck.

Gnarly old fishing hub:

The winds began to pick up hard and the rain was drizzling in. More and more boats began to show up, mostly little bass fishers weighing in for a tournament. A huge motor catamaran came in and had to wait in a basing before realizing there was no room for it:

This was a floating house. A straight up house boat. I didn't appear to have any means of moving without a tow or tug.

We spent the night drinking many a beer in the cabin of Windsong, enjoying Irish Pub music on Pandora. It was a great night and we crashed relatively early again. We needed to get moving at 7:30 am in order to meet Billy by 11:00 across the lake. The morning was very cloudy and a little rainy, it made the crossing feel like we were somewhere far north.

Leaving the canal, the view of the Tiki Bar:

Clewiston Lock ahead:

Out of the channel, the sun was coming up on the horizon, mostly covered by clouds though.

The other side looked cold and dreary:

Unfortunately, the winds were extremely tame. We couldn't make more than 3.5 knots under full sail, so we motor-sailed across. We had hoped to cross the lake under sail only, but the winds had other plans. Oh well, we still had a fun crossing.

Unfortunately, the jib roller furling decided to give me more troubles once again. It rolled out just fine, and I thought it would roll up since nothing looked tangled aloft. But it would not roll up by pulling the furling cord, and wouldn't even roll up by hand as it normally had. I could roll it up the opposite way (sail inside out) and that seemed the only way I could get the sail put away. I proceeded to roll it up inside out, by hand on the bowsprint. My roller furling drum is wire spliced into a rope, but the rope isn't supposed to roll up into the drum. Rolling it up the wrong way caused the rope to coil into the drum, eventually clogging it up and preventing me from rolling any further, with a few feet of sail still out. I had to improvise and we just threw the sheets around the sail a few times trying to roll the tip up as best we could. It proved to be a lot more difficult than you would think, so we left it baggy and decided to fix it when we were on the mooring in Stuart.

We motored in Port Mayaka Lock, a very turbulent experience as all of the waves and wind form the lake were blowing right into the lock. Once the doors closed it was peaceful river once again.

Approaching Port Mayaka Lock

Leaving

And here it is, the 49.5' railroad bridge. As we approached, I called Billy and he said he would be about an hour and a half to get there. We were frustrated by the delay, but took the time to anchor and make some lunch. While we waited a train came by and the bridge lowered. It is typically up all the time, and only comes down for a train.

After a while Billy finally came and did his magic. Robbie made a good video of the ordeal

It was real nervy going under the bridge, and I thought Billy was going to rip out my stanchions trying to fit the barrels in; but all in all it was a lot of fun and I was stoked to be through. It was easy coasting from there to Stuart.

The last lock was the St. Lucie lock. It was crowded at the lock campgrounds, so we had a lot of spectators. This lock was the craziest, as we dropped about 14 feet. Looking over the waterfall to the river below as the doors opened was pretty neat. We even had a snake in the lock with us swimming around Windsong.

The snake:

The river beyond the lock was full of big houses and big boats.

We approached Stuart around 5:00 pm. As the river widened the wind picked up across the waterway at about 20 knots. The mooring field at Sunset Bay Marina was in sight, but the jib decided to begin to unwrap where we rigged the final rolls. I ran up to the bowsprint to struggle with it, and struggle I did. The winds caused the sail to flap wildly as the sheets were not secured or lead aft. My hands were extremely sore from gripping the sheets and trying not to get blown away as the sail whipped me left and right. Eventually Mark came up to help, and we tamed the sail by beating it down with the boat hook. I found a way to lasso the sail with a dock line and secured it enough for it to not unwind for a while.

We decided to stop at the fuel dock to unload all of our junk and figure out which mooring ball we needed to pick up. The wind was howling now and was blowing us right into the fuel dock. This made pulling in nerve wracking, but trying to pull off the dock after unloading was extremely difficult. We eventually pushed off hard enough so I could motor away, and we approached the ball we were assigned to. We needed a few passes to pick it up, since holding onto the hook was extremely difficult thanks to the wind pulling the boat. At one point we lost the boat hook on the mooring ball, and luckily a guy was in his dinghy motoring around to pick it up for us. We figured out that we needed a cleated line to securely grab it, and eventually secured ourselves to the ball.

The fuel dock:

The jib going crazy, the fuel dock, and picking up the mooring ball where the most intense and uncomfortable parts of the trip. True to my last adventures, the worst is always at the end. We celebrated being secure on the ball with a beer, and then pretty much sailed our way in on the dinghy. Barely having to paddle thanks to the wind and current.

Drifting away from Windsong:

We left the dinghy tied up at the dinghy dock and packed our things into our ride and left Stuart around 6:30. It was a hazy ride home, we were all pooped and ready to pass out in our own beds.

It was a great leg of the trip, and the largest endurance test for the Yanmar diesel Windsong has. I was happy to see the engine hold up, and ecstatic to finally be on the East coast and closer to home.

WINDSONG IS HOME!

2010-04-03T16:31:00.001-07:00

WoohhooO! Finally finished The Journey around Florida! My dad and brought Windsong up from Stuart to Harbortown Marina in Merritt Island. She will stay there for the next month or so where I will sail and enjoy the local waters. When the month is up, I'll bring her up to St. Augustine to begin the re-fit. I just got home so I'll have to detail the trip later, including the Okeechobee Waterway section.

The Journey Leg 2: Gulfport to Ft. Myers

2010-03-28T13:51:00.000-07:00

The idea for the this leg was to go from Gulfport to Ft. Myers, then all the way to Stuart on the East coast via the Okeechobee waterway. My dad would help out for the offshore journey from Gulfport to Ft. Myers, and then it would just be Jenny and I for the week while she was on spring break. Unfortunately some bad weather made us have to stop our trip in Ft. Myers. This all took place March 6-7. I came back this previous weekend (March 20-22) to finish the trip across the Okeechobee waterway, and will post about that journey soon. Here are the photos to go along with the sail from Gulfport to Ft. Myers.

Leaving Gulfport. It was a chilly day.

Out of the inlet, sails finally up. We had to beat upwind to clear the inlet, which was a very uncomfortable way to start the day. Sizable short period wind swell pounding the hull. Once we cleared the inlet and turned Southwest things were comfortable.

Jenny and my dad cruisin

We headed out Southwest to clear the shoaling around Egmont Key. This made us have to cross the primary shipping channel coming into the bay. I was worried about what kind of traffic we would face, but only had to deal with this one cargo ship. Luckily it was going fast enough to pass a few miles away.

Ended up dead downwind once we cleared the shoals as we pointed South-southeast, our track for the remainder of the night. I poled out the jib for a wing to wing sail formation.

It was another great sunset, but I didn't take too many pictures of it this time.

I trolled three fishing lines the entire night: a light tackle spinning reel, a 100 lb hand line, and a nice Penn conventional reel that came with the boat. Didn't catch anything all night and in the morning I reeled them in only to discover a bunch of seaweed. The water was quite cold anyways, reports say not much was biting.

The night was mostly uneventful. I steered most of it with a bit of relief from my dad for a few hours. I was having a lot of fun on the wheel so I let them rest. The wind continued to decrease the entire night down to about 5 knots at the lowest. Overall we averaged about 5.5 knts the whole night dipping down to about 3.5 knots for a half hour. I feared we may need to crank the engine up if it didn't pick up. Fortunately it did right when the sun came up and continued to pick up out of the Northeast to about 10-15knts. I made sure to reef before sundown this time, so we may have been a bit underpowered but at least the motion was better. Unfortunately my hack job at rigging the reef tore a patch on one of the reef points.

Sunrise:

Everyone was awake around sunrise and we enjoyed the fresh breeze as it picked up a bit. I started to realize that when we rounded Sanibel Island that we would have to beat upwind to get to the channel for Ft. Myers beach. I've never sailed Windsong upwind so it got me a bit anxious. Once we turned I tightened up the sheets and we seemed to ride pretty easily about 45 degrees off, around 5.5 knots. As the sun continued to rise I was getting more and more tired, not looking forward to taking down sails and the nervy task of docking in a new place. We only had to reach Ft. Myers beach, which was right next to the inlet, but we weren't looking to arrive until noonish.

As we were about two miles from the inlet, I got tired of thinking about it and just decided to deal with the sails. Unfortunately, I was never able to figure out what was wrong with my jib, it would not furl by pulling the furling line. At least I was able to roll it up by turning the drum by hand, and this time wasn't nearly as much of a rodeo ride as the last trip. With all of the sails down we motored towards the inlet, straight upwind.

I had been worried about the quality of the fuel in the tank for sometime. The last sail down the coast surely churned up a ton of gunk in the tank, and the Rancor primary fuel filter was black and clogged afterwards. I changed the filter in Gulfport, but began to feel like it was going to become a continuous problem soon enough. Without fail, after motoring for a half hour or so the engine started to choke and loose RPMs. I knew for sure that it was the fuel filter, so I got to work changing it. Luckily we had two more spare filters and a portable diesel tank to fill the filter with. After changing the filter the motor cranked up and brought us in the inlet just fine.

Pulling into Ft. Myers Beach was not much of a problem. We had dropped off my dads car at Moss Marine the previous day, so I was able to scope out the approach beforehand. I came in a little fast when we docked and almost plowed into it, but reversed just in time. My dad had to drive all the way back to St. Augustine so he headed off after a bit. Jenny and I cleaned up the boat and ourselves and then went on a hunt for some food.

Turns out Ft. Myers Beach is a crowded spring break destination so people were everywhere. We wanted to nap on the beach after lunch, but the crowds made that close to impossible. I figured we would need more fuel filters if the tank kept acting up, so we looked up the public trolley schedule and found that it goes right to a West Marine. We got to the pick-up spot in time for the trolley, but as it rolled up it never slowed down and went right on by. Pissed as hell, it quickly dawned on us that we were on the wrong side of the road, but we figured the driver would have seen us as we were waving and yelling. I tried to call a cab, but I got the same story from all of them: too much traffic from beach goers to get anywhere within the hour, and West Marine closed soon. We gave up that search and I hoped that one last spare would last us at least until we stopped the next day.

The rest of the night was spent planning the next day's route, fixing some soup on the boat and crashing early. We needed to leave early as someone reserved our slip the next day, so I figured we could have a short day and go roughly 17 nautical miles to downtown Ft. Myers, or if we are making good time all the way to LaBelle up the Okeechobee waterway.

The next day looked to be some great weather for my first full day of motoring Windsong. Here she is at the dock before we left:

Leaving Ft. Myers Beach

Right off the bat we had to go through a stretch known as the Miserable Mile. This is where the inlet channel markers turn into the Intercoastal waterway. When this happens, the red markers switch from being on the right to the left, vice versa for green thus confusing a lot of unprepared boaters. It also happens to be very narrow with less than a foot of water either side of the channel, makes a sharp turn and is crowded as hell. Luckily I had read about this and received some advice from a guy at the marina before we left. The worst part about it was the crowds, but all in all not too bad. Here is the Miserable Mile:

The next few hours were uneventful, but quite fun. It was a lot less stressful for a newbie boater to motor slowly surrounded by land than go offshore overnight.

We past downtown Ft. Myers around 1:00 pm and decided that we were good to go to further, possibly to anchor out at Franklin Lock up the river.

Here is the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin...this wont be our last time here.

Ft. Myers was lunchtime

About 3-4 miles out of Ft. Myers the engine started to choke up once again. Making the exact same sounds as it did the previous day. Great, I thought, right as we went past the last stop where I could have gotten fuel filters, I have to use our last one. I found a spot to anchor where the channel widened a bit further and I changed the filter to our last spare. After cranking the motor for a bit it seemed ok. I decided that we should turn back and stay the night at Ft. Myers so we could get some filters. But once we hauled the anchor and put it in gear, it choked once again. From the sound of it, I thought the fuel line from the tank was clogged with gunk. The engine just wasn't getting fuel. I asked Jenny to let the anchor out once again, but while releasing the windlass her fingers got caught between the chain and the gypsy and cut them up pretty good. It was a scare, but once we were sure that nothing was broken we cleaned them up and she quickly felt better, though a little shaken.

While at anchor I decided it was a good time to take advantage of my $150/year towing insurance and called up TowboatU.S. for a lift back to Ft. Myers. While we waited a few hours for the captain to finish his current tow, we relaxed around the boat watching manatees pass. I even caught my first fish off the boat, though only a small catfish.

Anchored out:

Our tow guy:

We were towed into the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin where we would dock for the night. I got a reference for someone to come clean my fuel tank the next day, and set the appointment for first thing in the morning. Once we were settled in and showered, we wandered around town finding dinner and some groceries.

The next morning these guys came out to polish our fuel, pumping it through a few large filters and back into the tank. It was neat to see all of the gunk they were able to get out of the tank, repeatedly clogging their large filters until it ran clear.

The fuel polish machine:

We planned on trying to make it to Labelle that day, but as we monitored the weather it looked like we would only have another day of decent weather for the rest of the week. We would need at least three days to cross, and there was nowhere on the waterway cheaper to just leave the boat than the mooring field managed by the Ft. Myers Yacht Basin ($5.5o/day). I made the call to end the trip there and come back as soon as we could to cross the state.

Windsong at dock:

We stayed one more night in Ft. Myers then moored Windsong the next morning before we headed out and back up to Orlando.

Attached to the ball, triple lined:

The view as we paddled away:

Windsong from Hwy 41 leaving Ft. Myers:

Cruise Update: Gulfport to Ft. Myers

2010-03-09T11:45:00.001-08:00

CRUISE UPDATE:
This past Saturday night I sailed off-shore & overnight again from the Gulfport to Ft. Myers Beach, about 120 nautical miles. It was a much better sail than the first but was still a little nervy since we are all so inexperienced. But the crew did well, and the weather was good to us.

The plan was to go up the Okeechobee waterway this week, but bad weather has us stuck in Ft. Myers. Yesterday we traveled about 18 nm northeast up the Caloosahatchee river to downtown Ft. Myers. Until then we had clogged and replaced the fuel filters a few times, but right past Ft. Myers we used our last one up and a fuel line became clogged. The offshore sail had stirred up all sorts of gunk in the diesel fuel tank and it needed cleaning desperately. This morning we had a guy come out and "polish" the fuel by agitating the sludge on the bottom of the tank, sucking it through a bunch of big filters and putting it back into the tank, circulating it a few times through until it ran clear and clean. The fuel I was getting out of the filters was oil black, not good. After spending some time bleeding the engine of air in the fuel lines (a big pain), we got the engine running smooth again with a clean tank.

However, a front is about to come through with a lot of rain and thunderstorms for the next few days. I dropped off my dad in Ft. Myers Beach so now its just me and my gf while she is on spring break. We expected to get to Stuart on the East coast by Friday. Now it looks like I'll have to keep the boat here for a week or two until good weather comes along and I can find at least one person to crew with me when the time comes.

Next leg begins tomorrow

2010-03-05T14:39:00.001-08:00

After closely monitoring the weather and looking at my route options, I've decided to do an overnight sail to Ft. Myers from Gulfport. We (me, my dad and Jenny) will leave around 3:00 p.m. out of the Pass-A-Grille channel, out a ways to avoid shoals at Egmont Key, then Southeast towards Ft. Myers staying off the coast approximately 5 miles. We should get in on Sunday sometime in the morning or midday where we will dock at Moss Marina for the night. We drop my dad off there and then we follow the Okeechobee waterway to the east coast! I'll make updates along the way if I can.

Wish us luck! The weather should be beautiful for the night sail, but next week on the Okeechobee waterway may be a little cloudy and wet.

The Journey, Leg 1: Inglis, FL to Gulfport, FL

2010-03-01T14:42:00.000-08:00

I have returned from the sea! This past weekend I took the first step in the long journey transporting Windsong from Inglis, FL to St. Augustine, FL. The trip will take me down the West coast of Florida, through the Okeechobee Waterway, and up the East Coast. The first leg was the long journey from Inglis to Gulfport near St. Pete, a total ride of about 90 nautical miles and well offshore. The entire journey is outlined in this picture:

Let me recap the story thus far. I purchased Windsong in July, 2009 from the previous owner, Paul, in Inglis, FL. Inglis is a small town on the West coast of Florida in a region called the Nature Coast. The Paul was kind enough to allow me to keep the boat at his house up the Withlacoochee River. I would visit the dock about every other weekend cleaning and fixing up the boat.

I am by no means an experienced sailor. I have only done a few day trips in very easy conditions. I've braved one squall, but it was in the Inter-coastal waterway in St. Augustine. The worst threat to me was running aground. Being an inexperienced boat owner and novice sailor, this is an intimidating boat to learn to operate. The first time I took the boat up the river the engine's cooling water impeller busted and caused the engine to overheat. Spew steam out of the expansion cap, which I first thought was a fire brewing down below. It was pretty traumatic for a first ride and my confidence in the boat went down, as did my overall spirits. I spent the next couple of months trying to diagnose and repair the problem, learning as I went along. Eventually we were able to get it fixed and running, things looked up.

I took the boat out a few other times and only on one sail, as it takes a long time to get out to the gulf from where the dock is up river. The tidal range of the river made it so low tide travel was too shallow for Windsong. Day trips had to be isolated to high tide range making going out difficult. Even when I stuck to this rule, I ran aground very hard on one trip and had to pay a good amount of cash to get towed off the rock I landed on. Many lessons were learned each time out. During this time I have done a lot of work on the boat, mainly beginning the interior rebuilding.

However, the boat needed to go somewhere and couldn't stay there forever. The drive up there began to wear on me and it wasn't an ideal area to learn to sail the boat. I plan to do a complete refit and refinish of the boat, which will take part mostly with the boat on land. I need to get it hauled out, but the closest facility to Inglis that Windsong can access (depth and mast height considered) is down in Tarpon Springs. I initially planned on taking it there to haul out and truck up to the St. Augustine area to work on, but I found myself with the time to take the long journey around Florida.

The trip to Tarpon Springs would have been a bit too long to arrive in daylight hours, so soon after I purchased the boat I realized I would have to do my first overnight trip off-shore just to take the boat out of Inglis. The shoreline from Inglis to Tarpon Springs is very shallow up to about 12 miles out to sea. If the boat sank, we could practically walk back to the shore from many miles out. So not only did I have to do my first overnight passage, but it would also be my first time out of sight of land as skipper of the boat. I also was still worrisome about the condition of Windsong and its ability to handle the possible beating of an offshore passage, and if the engine was as good as I hoped it was.

I spent a lot of mental energy preparing for the trip. I studied charts, waterway guides and all information available to me to plan my route and prepare for navigation. I purchased all necessary safety gear and upgraded some existing gear as needed. Eventually I felt prepared and ready to go, so I began to monitor the marine weather forecast each weekend I had potential crew for help.

After all of the preparation, I felt it might be a bit short just to take the one trip down to Tarpon Springs. If all went well, I would want to continue sailing it for a little while before I spent all the time on land. The thought of the doing the whole journey down the West Coast, through the Okeechobee Waterway and up the East was so alluring, I began to consider if it would be possible. The boat is not in very good live-aboard condition, but it good enough so that it is way better than camping at the least. She sails fine, and the motor has been performing well since I did a good bit of maintenance.

If I had to do an overnight trip to Tarpon Springs, I could just keep going and make it as far down as St. Petersburg with two days of sailing. So two weeks ago I began extending my already planned route down to that area and decided it would be worth the try. If I started the journey this past weekend, I would have my girlfriend in another week for her Spring Break to do the next long leg down to Ft. Myers. So I eyed the weekend and hoped for the weather. It was iffy for most of the week, with a lot of rain forcasted along with strong winds. I researched marinas and found a great one at Gulfport Municipal Marina. They had a decent rate to keep Windsong for the week and was easy to access from the Gulf. Here is the route offshore that we took (in purple). You can get an idea of the scale by using the size of Tampa Bay for reference.

I only had one crew member available, my friend Jeff who I had sailed with a few times previously. We met up on Friday to discuss the forecast and make the final call on if the sail would happen. The forecast was like this:

Saturday

Northeast winds around 10 knots in the morning becoming southeast 10 to 15 knots in the afternoon. Seas 2 to 3 feet building to 3 to 5 feet in the afternoon. Bay and inland waters a light chop becoming a moderate chop. A chance of showers in the morning...then showers likely in the afternoon.

Saturday Night

Northwest winds around 15 knots. Seas building to 4 to 6 feet. Bay and inland waters choppy.

Sunday

Northwest winds around 20 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Bay and inland waters choppy.

It would be a bit wet on Saturday, but high tide was at 1:00 p.m., so we had time to wait to see if the weather would hold off. But as of then, the trip was on. If it got any worse we would call it off. I spent all of Friday mentally preparing and getting gear ready. I got last minute items from Wal Mart: a new fire extinguisher, a 3-million candle spotlight, a weatherproof lantern, a cushioned chair for the helm, a spare fuel tank as well as food and snacks. My mind was buzzing the whole day, but I felt ready.

Unfortunately I did not sleep a wink Friday night thanks to the anticipation and constant scenario analysis. I really needed that sleep but had to deal with what I could get. We left Orlando in the morning at around 9:00 a.m. and arrived in Inglis at 11:00. Both of us over-packed with a ton of items. We figured out every possible scenario we could think of, and brought the gear to be prepared for them. We had the room, so it didn't matter. After loading we spent time getting things in place and in order, cleaning up a bit, checking the engine, and making final preparations. We spent a moment absorbing our final moments in Inglis and then at 1:00 p.m. we were off.

The ride up the river was uneventful, and that is a good thing. After the inlet to the Gulf, there is a narrow channel to take out to deeper water, some 3-4 miles out. At 2:30 we arrived at marker # 1 at the end of the channel were then able hoist the sails. The air was around 50 degrees, winds out of the Northeast around 10-15 knots. Here are the pictures from the start to marker #1.

At the dock ready to go:

Up the river:

Approaching the inlet:

Narrow channel leading out to deeper waters:

Marker #1:

Here we hoisted the sails and had a downwind run to the Southwest. We cracked open a beer to celebrate getting out of the channel, and made sure to share one with Poseidon for good luck.

Jeff and I traded hands at the wheel for the next hour or two while we both got situated with some food. We called our respective loved ones to let them know our location since we were unsure if we would have cell phone reception much further than this.

As the wind began to turn more from the North, we reached our second waypoint at 3.7 nautical miles from Withlacoochee marker #1. There we turned South-Southwest towards the next buoy, some 10 nautical miles away. We were now on a dead downwind track, so I decided to try using the whisker pole to hold the jib out allowing a wing to wing sail set up with the main and jib. I had read about the way to rig it but that was a while ago, so I gave it my best shot. Once I got it set up (although I think I was missing a line or two) it seemed to work fine and we were being pushed along at a smooth 4.5 knots.

Around this time Jeff's stomach began to disagree with the motion, so he took the time to get some rest. We took some ginger tablets made for seasickness before we left. I'm not sure if the helped me or not but I felt fine. It was sometime on this leg that we ran out of sight of land. We could see the power plant at Crystal River for a long time, however.

Looking back toward land:

Once we neared the next waypoint the sun was coming lower on the horizon, and the moon was poking up from the East. Jeff was feeling a bit better after some rest, and now we turned South-southeast on a broad reach, a bit more comfortable than the rolly straight downwind sail.

I had been eying this rain system in the West that was covering up the sun. I worried that it was coming to soak us after dark, but the rain ceased just in time for a perfect sunset.

Moon rising:

Sun setting:

It was a fantastic ending to the day. It never really seemed to get darker than that though, as the clear sky allowed the almost-full moon to shine down. It was like a powerful spotlight illuminating the water, the boat and the sails. The stars were out as well, and I used the ones in front of me to steer towards so I didn't have to light up any electronics or the compass. It was bliss, and what I always dreamed sailing at night could be. We both had a lot of nerves once the night came around, but the bright moonlight lifted our spirits and made it a bit more comfortable. The picture below is a long exposure shot of the moon. There is no sun out anymore, it is completely nighttime. But the moon was so bright, somehow the sky was a daytime blue in the picture. We were stunned and had to double check the timestamp.

My worst fear was that we would be caught in a lot of rain at night with no visibility and wet, cold, miserable conditions. This was far from that, it was perfect. Well, I could have had a bit more of a meal than a pre-made Publix ham sub, but it was decent for the lack of preparation needed.

The winds began to die, however, and we slowed to a crawl at around 2.5 knots. I knew the winds would be picking up out of the Northwest sometime overnight or Sunday morning, but had no clue when. I began to worry that at this pace, we wouldn't make it down to Gulfport in the daylight to pull into the marina and meet our ride out. So I cranked the motor and pushed along for about an hour and a half. I really wished I could have been patient and just sailed slowly and peacefully, but I felt the need to keep on schedule and to the plan. I hoped to stay close to a 5 knot average the whole trip, 4 at the minimum.

We motor-sailed along at about 6.5 knots and brought our average pace up a good bit. After dark we made sure things were neat and tidy around the boat. I considered reefing in the mainsail (making the sail area smaller in case of heavy winds) so I wouldn't have to do it on deck at night if needed, but decided against it since the wind was dead right then. This would come to be a stupid mistake later on.

When I noticed the winds finally had switched and come up about 10-15 knots out of the Northwest, I stopped the motor and we were sailing a good 5 knots. Jeff took the help at this time so that I could prepare for a long night shift. We both agreed that since he usually goes to bed earlier than me, I would take first watch. I rested up a bit and was able to find reception to call my parents and Jenny briefly. This was around 9:30 I believe and we were moving South-southeast back towards land. I brought along my backpacking stove to make some coffee so I brewed a large cup for my watch. I prepared another sandwich to eat later, my ipod and all of my safety gear. For nighttime we made sure to have on our life jackets on, safety harnesses tethered into the jacklines at all times, headlamps, emergency strobe lights and whistles, etc. Our biggest fear was a man overboard as it would be very hard for one person to get back to the person. So we took all precautions.

At 10:00 I took on the watch and Jeff began to settle down for some sleep. If I needed to wake him I would yell, shine the spotlight at him, and maybe even blow the air horn if need be. The wind was slowly picking up and we were churning along at a good 5.5-6 knot average now. The seas were also picking up and the waves were coming from behind us. They weren't too large yet, but they were very close together. They would come up under the boat and the boat would try to lurch to the right, up the wave and into the wind. This was a heavy motion and took me a bit to get used to, but once I did I was able to anticipate the waves and compensate with the wheel to steer straight and keep control. I was a little nervy at first, but once I got it it was incredibly fun. I've never sailed in more than 15 knot winds, and they were now picking up close to 20. Around midnight we came near Anclote Key outside of Tarpon Springs and were were finally close to land. The rest of the trip would be hugging the coast line around 2-3 miles out. There were tons of buildings and towers now, so lights littered the horizon providing even more comfort.

Over the next 4 hours the wind kept coming up and the waves grew with it. I was having an exhilarating time sailing so fast, now surfing down waves big enough to launch us to 8.5 knots at times. That is way above the hull speed of 7.3 knots. This is a big, heavy, tank of a sailboat and to have it go this fast is a big deal for someone not used to handling it. I felt like a bat out of hell and was having the time of my life. I did realize at this time (around 2:00 a.m.), however, that I really should have reefed the main before dark. We were overpowered at this time and things were only getting crazier out there. The waves were getting bigger and bigger, and steering became more intense. I knew if I had to go out to reef the main, it would be a scary event. At around 2:30 a.m. the stay-sail was caught up on the jib lines and was becoming erratic. I decided it was time for some rest after I fixed the sail, so I woke up Jeff to take the helm. While he was getting ready things seemed to get even more intense so I hurried him up, nervous about the beating the stay-sail boom was giving the deck.

Once he was at the helm I strapped up and fixed the problems up front. It was wasn't too bad going up on the deck, but Jeff had just woken up and was tossed into a difficult steering situation. As he was getting used to it I was being lurched around on deck, basically crawling along on hands and knees holding onto the handles as hard as I could. I eventually fixed the problems and went down below to attempt to get rest. I called my dad one last time to confirm we were OK and that we were now near land.

It had occurred to me at some point that we were now flying along so fast, that at this rate we would make it to Pass-a-grille inlet, our destination to come inland, a few hours before dark. This was pretty ironic considering my nerves about the earlier light winds, and motoring through them. How to stall for time was something we needed to plan, especially considering it got very shallow any further south of the inlet towards the mouth of Tampa Bay.

I had no luck getting any sleep with thoughts of how we would stall and the general nerves of not being up top watching over things lurked on me. I could feel and hear things getting more chaotic up top, and knew we weren't too far away from the inlet. At around 4:00 a.m. Jeff told me we had arrived, and we had to quickly decide what to do. We could go south for a few more miles before we would have to turn west. We decided to do that for a bit and I tried to give sleep another attempt before daylight. Before I turned in I went on deck to take down the stay-sail. It was a wild ride on deck, but I got the sail down quickly.

Soon after things became a blur of adrenaline and nerves. The weather got worse and worse and we decided we needed to get out of these crazy waters and turn back towards the inlet. I pulled out my new 3-million candle spotlight in hopes that we could find the channel markers at night. As we tracked back, we found ourselves pointing too close to the wind, unable to sail. Even so, the wind was howling now with 25+ knots. There was no getting around the fact that I needed to take down all of the sails. So we cranked the motor and I got ready to head out on deck again.

We were now pounding into the waves, which were a good 7+ feet with a quick period, sometimes less than a second before the next. It was like going into class 6 rapids on a whitewater river. I crawled up to the mast to take down the mainsail, hugging the mast for dear life anytime I felt a wave lurch under us. I had the sail down quickly, but tying it up took a little time. I didn't have the sail ties with me so I just used a spare line I had for these kind of things.

After the mainsail was down I crawled back to the cockpit to roll in the jib, the last remaining sail. As if the ocean decided we needed to be tested further, I found the roller furling completely jammed. I was unable to roll in the sail, and if I couldn't figure it out I would need to somehow wrap it around itself by hand, up at the bow, plunging into the waves...scary thought. I realized the jib sheets were tangled around the flag hoists, so I ran up to untangle the horrible knots they were in. This had no effect on the roller furling, so I began to get extremely worried what would happen if we couldn't get the sail down and needed to go into a narrow channel. I did the only thing I could and went back up to the deck and onto the bowsprint. I ran up there to fiddle with it, cranked on the roller line and made sure all other lines weren't tangled on anything. This was easily the most terrifying moment of the night, and one of the most of my life. Seeing each wave come at me one after the other and splash over me as the bow plunged into them is something that is burned into my brain. If I fell out Jeff would have had a near impossible time getting back to me. I held on tight, grit my teeth and did what I could though. Unfortunately, the jib still wouldn't roll in. To help things, we angled more Northeast so the jib was holding wind and helping us along, instead of flapping wildly. I made it back to the cockpit and we motored uncomfortably in the washing machine towards the channel entrance.

When we got to the entrance I began to shine the spotlight to find the markers, which were easily spotted with the light. We were both relieved that seeing the channel wouldn't be much of an issue, particularly with my GPS chartplotter never letting us down and pinpointing us accurately. There were breakers on each side of the channel leading in, a clear indicator that we better stay on course no matter what.

As if on queue, we neared the entrance to the Pass-a-grille inlet and light began to show on the horizon. The land began to surround us and the water calmed into near-glass. Our first protected waters began right as the sun came out and things calmed down.

I don't have any more pictures for the night-time part of the journey. Mostly because my camera is horrible at night pictures and Jeff was passed out. Once he was up he needed to be at the wheel while I rested, and then things got interesting so cameras were the last thing on our mind. But once we entered the channel to the sunrise, we had to snap shots in relief and celebration.

Moon setting:

We were both in awe that we made it, and took the moment to absorb the accomplishment and the beautiful scene. We motored slowly into the channel and up towards the Inter-coastal Waterway. As the light continued to grow and waters calmed, I walked up to the bowsprint and was able to roll up the jib by hand. I still need to figure out whats wrong with it, but at least the sail is rolled. I surveyed the damage up front and noticed both jibsheet lead blocks shattered at some point during the last battle upwind, and the whisker pole topping lift broke while holding the stay-sail boom in place. Things were a mess on deck, but inside everything was chaos. All items we had neatly stored was thrown about, in particular all the tools, spares and hardware up front.

Soon after we arrived we had to cross under a draw bridge to the main waterway. As it closed we felt like we were finally safe, the craziness of the Gulf behind us.

I called up the marina to see if we could come in, but they said the tide was pretty low for my draft to approach. So we decided to anchor out in the bay to clean up, rest and relax before the tide came in. This was about 7:00 a.m., and we had to wait till about 11 for the tide. Jenny wouldn't even be coming until 4:00 so we had a lot of time to kill. Cleaning up was in order along with a small breakfast.

At anchor:

Dolphins around us:

The galley trashed after the journey:

looking at the chaos up front:

The bed:

After some cleaning we both sat around relaxing with a hard earned drink enjoying the breezy anchorage. It was a beautiful day, perfect for reflecting on the amazing night. We discussed the highlights, lowlights, what we could have done better and admired how much confidence we now had in the boat. We were going to paddle the dinghy up to a restaurant near the anchorage, but the wind picked up making a paddle difficult. We decided to wait for real food once we dock.

I sent Jeff out on the dinghy to take some pictures of the boat while I held onto a line:

Dirty dirty boat

At 11:00 we pulled into the marina and docked at the floating transient dock. We had some trouble attempting to turn the boat around in the tight basin, particularly with the wind beating us back towards the dock. Eventually we gave up and decided to try when the winds were better the next week. We tied up tight, attached the shore power cable and I did my paperwork in the marina office. After a bit we walked up to the same restaurant we saw from the anchorage and had a good meal. By this time we were finally feeling a bit delirious as the lack of sleep and nutrition caught up to us. The meal was delicious but we were out of it.

We returned back to the dock and Jenny called to inform us she was able to get out of work early and was on her way. We finished packing and then waited out the remaining time chatting with other boat owners in the marina about Windsong and our journey. She will remain there for the rest of the week and I will visit her once before we leave next Sunday. I need to figure out the jib furler and replace some of the broken hardware. I'd also like to give her a good scrub since she is finally away from the swampy waters.

It was an incredible journey and it never failed to deliver a memorable experience. I feel much more confident in Windsong and myself as a sailor and feel I have accomplished a huge goal. With this experience, the rest of the journey around Florida seems like it will be a piece of cake since I have the ICW to travel in. The worst that could happen is I crash into a boat or land, but at least that is better than something going wrong way offshore in the middle of the night. Definitely looking forward to getting back to the boat and continue this adventure.

The Journey is upon us

2010-02-26T16:44:00.000-08:00

Well folks this is it. Tomorrow morning, if the weather doesn't deteriorate I will be taking Windsong out of Inglis to Gulfport, FL with my friend Jeff to help. It will be my first overnight sail, but I have been mentally preparing for it for months. I feel confident in my preparations and am ready to get it done. I changed my plans on taking it to Tarpon Springs, so now I am going further south to Gulfport near St. Petersburg. I thought about how I would have to do an overnight sail to Tarpon Springs, but would have to stop at some point to wait for daylight to enter the channel. Without a depth sounder I need to be sure where I am so daylight is required to enter. I figured why not continue sailing through the night and end up in St. Pete the next day? If things go well, I have Jenny for a whole week in two weeks to continue the ride south, through the Okeechobee waterway and up the East Coast. I have plotted a course of offshore buoys in the area and do not feel it will be difficult to follow.

The weather looks rainy and chilly, but the winds are favorable for the ride and not too high. If it looks real bad tomorrow morning we will call it off, but it has been looking better throughout the day. All of my foul weather gear is packed and safety procedures reviewed.

Forecast as of 8:00 pm Friday

Saturday

Saturday Night

Northwest winds around 15 knots. Seas building to 4 to 6 feet. Bay and inland waters choppy.

Sunday

Northwest winds around 20 knots. Seas 4 to 6 feet. Bay and inland waters choppy.

I have a slip on hold at Gulfport Municipal Marina for Sunday. I will keep the boat there for about a week then begin to take Windsong further south.

Wish me luck! The float plans have been left with loved ones and I'll call the coast guard in the morning to give it to them as well.

THE Project List

2010-02-12T12:39:00.001-08:00

THE Project List

♫Dun dun dunnnnnn.....♫

What I have here is the project list for Windsong. This will be an ever evolving list, and even now is only a quick outline of things I anticipate in the near future. If one thing I have learned from other boat owners is, the list never ends. But this is the near-term list of things I hope to get done in the next year or so.

1. Before leaving Inglis:

-Remove as much interior woodwork as possible
---Begin refinishing wood - clean, strip, sand, varnish
-Begin any other prep work (remove headliner, cleaning, remove rotten bulkheads, etc.)
-Seal portlights with some silicon to temporarily stop leaks. - done
-Put all safety gear on board - jackets, flares, fire extinguishers, first aid kit
-Get dinghy on board

2. Before transport to boat yard:

-Remove Mast (please comment on Mast Removal, I need to do it soon so I could use some advice)
---Remove sails (how do you remove the roller furling?)
---Secure or remove running rigging
---Remove booms & hardware
---Remove lower spreaders
---Cut/undo mast-head light & instrument wiring
---Attach crane
---Remove uppers
---Remove Mast

-Take down bimini, dodger & frame
-Remove hardware (lifelines, stanchions, etc.)
-Empty tanks
-Secure everything inside
-Winterize E (would it be a different process if it is Summer)

3. In Boat Yard:

Bottom & hull
-Remove bow decorative piece
---Refinish or replace piece
-Scrape or grind off paint to gelcoat
-Grind out & clean blisters
-Let hull & blisters dry out
-Inspect propeller, shaft, cutlass bearing, etc.
---Repair, Refurbish or Replace as necessary
-Inspect and rudder
---Repair, Refurbish or Replace as necessary
-Clean, dewax and sand hull above the waterline
-Repair any damage
-Apply epoxy barrier coat to hull-side and bottom
-Apply white paint to topsides
-Apply paint to top stripe (green or blue???)
-Apply anti-fouling bottom paint
-Paint bootstripe
-Apply name

Topsides
-Remove headliner to access hardware
-Remove all deck hardware
---Polish/Refinish or replace hardware, service winches & windlass
-Remove all portlights
---Order new windows (where from?)
-Remove steering column
---Refinish wheel, binnacle & compass.
-Remove cockpit instruments and panels
-Remove teak handrails, captrail, bowsprint & trim
---Clean, sand & refinish teak (how to finish: varnish, 2 part poly, or leave bare)
-Clean, de-wax & sand decks
-Repair core damage
---Known problem areas: cockpit sole, under mast
-Grind cracks
---Dremel tool
---Fill & fair deepest cracks
-Apply epoxy primer (all at once or tape off non-skid areas and do separately?)
-Paint bare areas white
-Paint non-skid off white or beige
-Seal hull to deck joint
-Attach all teak pieces & seal where necessary
-Re-bed all hardware (rigging, stanchions, etc.)
-Attach steering column
-Re-bed cockpit instruments

Mast & Booms
-Remove all hardware & rigging
---Inspect, refinish or replace as necessary (wire & hardware, spreaders)
-Remove all lights, instruments wires (leave messenger line)
-Clean running rigging
-Clean, sand and paint mast & booms
-Attach all hardware and rigging
-Attach new instruments & lights
-Run wiring
-Raise mast & rigging to finished deck
-Assemble booms & hardware
-Attach sails

Finishing touches
-Make new or repair all canvas (sail covers, bimini, dodger)
-Attach bimini & dodger frame & canvas
-Attach sails
-Launch!

Interior projects
-Remove & refinish all wood (trim, doors, cabinets, companionway stairs)
-Remove all rotten bulkheads
---Repair or replace bulkheads
-Remove all laminate tops
-Inspect galley systems (refrigeration, gas & stove)
---Repair or replace
-Remove all old wiring, leave messenger lines where necessary
-Remove all old plumbing (pipes, pumps, head, sinks, water heater, strainers)
-Clean all tanks
-Engine
---Remove large parts, remove rust, re-paint
---Replace all hoses
---Refurbish raw water strainer
---Maintenance as needed
-Clean out chain locker
---Figure out locker options (lead to under berth? how to seal off?)
-Clean & sand all surfaces & lockers
-Clean bilge
-Paint all surfaces (formica or paint bulkheads?)
-Install new plumbing
-Install new wiring & electronics
-Apply new formica surface tops
-Install trim, bung, varnish
-Install cabinets, doors, companionway stairs

And so on, and so on....

January Projects

2010-02-09T12:42:00.000-08:00

In my time off I have been busy stripping and sanding various pieces of woodwork from the boat. I spend a few hours a day working on it and have developed a good rhythm and process to prepare the woodwork for varnishing. I ordered some Interlux Compass and Goldspar Satin varnish and will begin to apply them this week. As you can see below, I have a box full of cabinet doors, trim, all 3 doors and a few other random pieces already done. I went back to the boat this weekend with my friend Jeff to gather more wood, as I had finished prepping all the wood I had. We have pretty much completely removed all wooden pieces from the v-berth and I can start to feel the progress.

Stripped and sanded wood, ready for varnishing:

The v-berth, mid wood removal. You can also see that I've removed all of the headliner as well:

This past weekend I also sealed up the portlights (windows) with some silicon sealant. This is a temporary measure to eliminate leaks until I start to remove and replace everything. All of the windows leak so something needed to be done until I could replace them.

So this week I have quite a bit more wood to strip and sand, but will also start the varnishing. I am excited to see some finished product after all of the hours I've put into the woodwork. A lot of the pieces will need to be re-installed on the boat before I can finish them, as they need to have bungs (wooden plugs to hide the screws) installed before finishing.

I also cleaned up and tested out the 9.5 foot Achilles dinghy that came with the boat. It isn't pretty, it's quite ugly in fact, but it floated well and has no serious leaks. Jenny and I took it out onto some local lakes around downtown Orlando and had some fun afternoons lounging around on the dinghy and relaxing on the water. I purchased two paddles from the Sailor's Loft in St. Augustine and they work great with the dink. You can row it quite well like a canoe with two people. I owned two cheap rafts as a kid that I would paddle around Doctors Lake off of the St. Johns river. They were named the Otter, and Otter II; so naturally this one gets to be deemed the Otter III.

The dink on the banks of Lake Ivanhoe:

Relaxing as the wind sails us back to shore

Good view of the city (and a very fine Jenny as well):

A set back

2010-01-14T12:18:00.000-08:00

Things got a shake up last week as I was laid off from my job. I've survived 6 layoffs thus far, but I guess I couldn't escape this one. I should be fine in the long run, however, all of the money I have been saving to restore Windsong will need to be used for bills until I find new employment.

So as my mind processes all of the things it needs to so I can adjust to my new circumstances, I need to figure out what I can accomplish on the boat that won't eat my savings immediately. If the weather holds up I will be going up to see Windsong this weekend to do some deconstruction on the inside. I think I will focus on removing the headliner and some more wood trim. With my free time (aside from looking for a job) I will be working hard on things like restoring the woodwork. I am excited for the time to get a leg up on the work, but would rather have my steady income back.

Project: Interior Woodwork II

2010-01-06T12:35:00.000-08:00

I posted this on the Cruiser's Forum to get some answers. I figure I'd post it here to see if any readers can offer an opinion:

In the process of restoring Windsong I have been taking home pieces of interior wood and trim to work on when I have time. All of the interior woodwork was stained with a dark reddish hue and didn't appear to have much of a finish coat of varnish or anything. The woodwork is mostly teak with a few mahogany pieces.

For an example, here is a teak cabinet door and its trim taken from the v-berth. The lighting doesn't show how dark and ugly the stain is, but you get the idea.

For each piece I clean the wood off then strip the old finish and stain with a chemical stripper. After stripping I sand the piece down to 220 grit all over and end up with some nice looking wood:

with a bigger cabinet door & trim:

My question now is what do I do next?

My current plan is to use Minwax Helmsman to finish, but am unsure about how to start. They recommend using the Minwax stains for a first coat and if I want to keep the color of the teak I assume use the "natural" stain. But there are a few areas where there are nicks and dings which will need to have wood filler applied before finishing. Will a stain be necessary for these patched ares to not stand out? Will this require me to stain all of the wood a darker color for uniformity?

Would a few thinned layers of the varnish do the same thing to seal and provide a base layer? Or would their brand of stain work best as a base coat?

My other concern is the trim. As you can see in the photos, the trim has large holes for the screws which were bunged when attached to the boat. I am nervous about applying finishing to the trim when I will need to affix bungs later on. I figure putting the bungs in and sanding them down flush would ruin whatever finish I put on the trim. So would it be a good idea to install the trim raw, bung, then finish; or finish the trim, bung, then patch whatever areas were sanded down? My concern is the finish around the bungs would look different to the surrounding areas that didn't get the sanding/refinishing.

An expensive weekend, lessons learned: Running Aground

2009-12-28T08:09:00.001-08:00

I wanted to take my parents out to the boat for a post-Christmas sail this previous Saturday. They have seen and been on Windsong, but haven't been out for a ride yet. I had been following the weather conditions for Saturday all week and it looked to be a great day for sailing with 15 knot winds out of the North. That would allow us to beam reach all the way out of the channel so we could start sailing before we even got to the final channel marker. The only issue I really saw was that it would be a chilly day (for us Floridians) with highs in the 50's. High tide would be in the morning when we would head out, but we would have to come back at low tide. However, it would be a +1 foot low tide, which I was told would be deep enough for Windsong to make it through the river with.

I typically have gotten nervous when it comes to taking Windsong out, rightfully so I might add. I am still a rookie with this boat and particularly the area it is in. Especially after breaking down the first time I took her out, I can't help get nervous. But this time I wasn't worried about the engine or anything particular about the boat. I've tuned the engine and performed all needed maintenance on it and it worked like a charm the last outing. But something was eating away inside me the few days leading up to Saturday and I didn't understand it. Some sort of premonition told me it we shouldn't go, but I ignored it and attributed it to my normal nerves. I should have listened.

So we took the 3 hour ride from St. Augustine to Inglis with my parents and their new Boston Terrier pup, Sawx. As we arrived to the dock my nerves had subsided and was ready for a good ride. I performed all the pre-ride checks on the boat and engine and felt pretty confident that Windsong would do well. Shortly after arriving we cast of the docklines and headed up the river towards the Gulf.

Things were going swell all the way up the river, so good in fact that I must have stopped paying much attention to where I was in the channel. We were motoring at roughly 6 knots only a few hundred yards before we reached the inlet when the boat SLAMMED into the river bottom and the bow reared up high out of the water. Thank goodness that no one was standing at the time or they would have gone flying off the boat or hard into something on it. I tried reversing and steering off, but we were stuck as stuck could be. The keel was resting hard on the bottom and would not budge. I sat there shocked and stunned and could not believe what had just happened. I took a moment to collect myself and made sure everyone was ok before I could think of what to do next. I considered kedging off the anchor but I had no way of getting it out far enough to be worthwhile. So I radioed on channel 16 for some help but recieved no ansewer even after a few tries. I eventually called the Coast Guard, which has a station on the river near the boat's dock, and told them my situation. They said that the only thing they could do is refer me to a towing company either Tow BoatUS or Sea Tow. I knew instantly that this was going to be a worse incident than I thought when they asked if I was a member to either. No, I'm not.

For somewhere around $150/year you can be a member of one of these tow companies and use their services when you need. I had considered getting a membership in particular for the overnight passage South that I need to take soon, just as a piece of mind in case things went wrong. But I never figured I would really need it until I finish working on the hard and start to sail a lot. I realized that was that a huge mistake as I spoke to the tow boat captain and got a quote to be hauled off the bottom. It would be $600 just for ungrounding the boat, plus $240/hour for the tow boat to come from Cyrstal River, about an hour and a half away ( you have to pay for their round trip). So the total quote for the haul was roughly $1,300. When he told me this all I could do was close my eyes, swallow my pride and gave him the ok to come get me. Bye Bye huge hunk of savings.

I considered my options while I waited for confirmation on my credit card and everything. We could wait for a boat to come by and hopefully lift us off with their wake. Unfortunately it was a very quiet day on the river and the only boats going by were small jon-boats with barely any wake. When a decent sized boat finally passed and sent wake our way, it only served to bounce the keel up and down on the bottom, not freeing us at all. Since we ran aground near high tide, it was apparent that waiting for the tide to come back in wasn't going to help much either. Plus, high tide wasn't until 8 p.m. and we had no way of getting back to the dock at night. Navigating the river without light was just out of the question.

So after a few minutes the tow company called me back and confirmed the operation and told me they would be here in an hour and a half. Great, by then the tide would be even lower and getting towed off the bottom would be even more difficult. So we sat waiting for that period of time, during which the air only seeming to get colder by the minute. I was so pissed that I made such a bonehead move that I could do little but stare at the distance in disdain for my bad piloting. But how would I have known this ledge was here? It wasn't marked on the charts or on my new GPS as most obstructions were in the river. As some fishing jon-boats rode by and we discussed what happened they all seemed to know that it got shallow there...local knowledge kicks ass if you have it, but I didn't.

I started to fear about the worst case scenario as the tide began to fall. On the port side, closest to shore, we could see that the water was getting shallower pretty quickly as the bottom was clearly visible in the murky water. On the other hand, the water to starboard was much deeper, if only we could get to it. The tow captain mentioned that if he didn't have success trying to pull us off since the tide was too low we would have to wait for it to come back in before trying again. Thus having to wait till all light was gone and we would be stranded there for the night. We were horribly unprepared to stay the night on the boat particularly due to the cold. We had food to last us, but no blankets and barely enough jackets as it was. I know my dad and I could tough it out if we had to, but my mom and the pup were with us and I would feel horrible if she had to go through that. So I thought if worse came to worse, the tow boat could take my parents and the dog back to the dock and I would stay with the boat overnight and wait for the morning high tide. Still, not something I was looking forward to as my first overnight stay on the boat. I would have been left with little more than sail covers as blankets to not freeze the whole night away.

The tow boat showed up right on queue and rafted up next to us. They sounded the area and found the water deep enough for my draft immediately to starboard, so not all hope was lost. But the water had gotten so shallow on the port side that if any of us put our weight over there the whole boat tilted on its keel at a hard angle. So we tied up the tow ropes and they started trying to pull the bow towards the center of the channel. It didn't work too well and only turned the boat a bit towards the channel, grinding the keel on the bottom. At one point the tow rope snapped after pulling so hard.

Things didn't look to bright at this point and the tow captain kept mentioning about possibly having to wait till high tide, my heart kept dropping as the effort kept failing. Eventually we tried a new tactic by using the main halyard attached to a second tow rope (leads to the top of the mast) to try to tilt the whole boat on its side, thus lifting the keel off the bottom as the tow line on the bow would pull the boat to the channel. After much grinding on the bottom and tilting the whole boat so far that the starboard rail was buried under water, it finally got loose off the bottom and we were pulled into deeper water. It took a long time and many different tries at different angles, but we eventually were pulled free. It was incredibly nerve wracking as it seemed like it would never work.

Relief rushed through me and I could do little more than thank God it was all over and we wouldn't have to stay there any longer. I made sure to ask the captain where else in the river I needed to be wary of, and he said that where we went aground was the worst spot. He has apparently pulled many a vessel off of the same ledge, one even a week previous. Good to know I thought, I will avoid that spot like the plague for now on.

The tow captain was friendly and also owns a sailboat. He told me to not get discouraged since pretty much everyone has made that mistake. Unfortunately I made the double mistake of not being a tow member and having to loose a big gob of cash. On top of it all, my brand new hand held VHF radio was clipped to my belt and sometime during the tow when the boat was heeled over and I was holding on for dear life, it got loose and went overboard. I was concentrating on the job at hand and none of us noticed it until we were motoring back to the dock. So the day got even more expensive.

It was a very bad day for me, but I was more relieved than bitter in the end and was glad we got back safely before dark. I felt pretty bad that we took the long drive out there to only have a bad experience, but my parents were positive the whole time and gave me good encouragement. It was a rough lesson learned, but one I was bound to learn one day nonetheless.

Project: Interior Woodwork

2009-12-01T10:25:00.000-08:00

One day when I first got Windsong I opened up the door to the v-berth and it basically fell apart at the seams. The wood was intact, but had separated at all of the joints where it is glued together. It consists of a frame, two thin veneer plywood pieces, and slats. I decided to take the door home to begin its reconstruction and restoration. The door would then be my test piece for my interior woodwork restoration process.

Windsong has a ton of wood in the cabin, mostly teak trim or veneer with teak & holly sole. The varnish and what appears to be stain on the wood has dulled and needs to be redone on most pieces. Some of the bulkheads are plywood with varnish but I would like to convert most of them to white or off-white by either painting or applying formica to the surfaces. I have begun taking wooden trim and other pieces off the boat to take home so that I can do the woodwork during the week.

As you can see here, the trim is dull and dirty, and needs re-working. I plan on taking it all off so that I can paint or re-surface the vertical surfaces with something white. The galley counter tops, nav table, and other areas with formica surfaces will also be redone.

In the v-berth on both sides and in the starboard side of the cabin there are long wooden slats decorating the sides. These will also be taken off to be refinished and so I can clean and paint the surfaces behind them, also hiding the chainplates.

You can see here the large bulkhead which I want to be white, along with most other vertical surfaces.

There are also some areas of damage that need to be attended to. The portside wood cabinets and adjacent bulkheads have suffered water damage and rot from a long term leak. Shown below is the galley and you can see the cabinets behind the stove where the problem is. The bottom and middle shelves of the cabinets need to be replaced, but the front piece of plywood and the trim are fine. The bulkhead on the right side of the picture has suffered wet rot in the area behind the cabinets and needs to be fixed or replaced somehow. That piping is for the heater and will be taken out.

Here is the rest of the length of that cabinet as it runs along the port side. The bulkhead at the end has suffered a lot of wet rot near the edge and needs to be fixed or replaced as well. You can't see it here, it is under the edge/behind the top bunk. I'll try to get better pictures of it so readers can help me with ideas on how to fix it.

Another area of concern is the anchor chain locker which has a lot of rot in it from some leaks around the bowsprit. Shown here is some of the damage, note that the cabinet door is completely torn apart.

Other damaged areas are mostly cabinet doors which can be replaced pretty easily. The sole has its share of damage, but is in fair condition overall. I do think I will be replacing parts of it, however, since I will be recondition the boat as a whole. Here is a big area of damage near the compionway steps:

As you can see I have a lot of work to do, but taking pieces home to start with has given me a first start. Working on the v-berth door has helped me develop my process for stripping the wood to be prepared for new finish. I will detail this in another post.

Finally changed the oil!

2009-11-25T07:48:00.001-08:00

Went up to see Windsong this weekend to get some of the remaining chores done before we take her down the coast. I was solo, so didn't get to take her out for a ride unfortunately. I gave up on the electric oil change pump and purchased a manual vacuum pump to replace it. West Marine was having a sale on some other items so I also purchased a few things that I needed before we headed out: a backup handheld VHF, handheld GPS (Garmin Oregon 400c was on sale), new flares and the oil change pump.

When I got to the boat I tried my newly rebuilt manual bilge pump and discovered that it had stopped working for some reason. I just replaced the major parts on it so I had no idea why it wouldn't work anymore. It takes two people to remove it, so I'll have to wait for a friend to come to troubleshoot it. Needless to say, I was pretty upset to find it not functioning once more. Last weekend it worked perfectly after we finished installing it. But now...nothing.

I also began to remove bungs and some trim around the boat to take home and begin more wood restoration. I figured that there is a lot of wood that needs to be stripped and varnished, better start now than later.

Then it was onto the engine: oil change and stuffing box tightening.

Pumping out the oil:

The oil change was smooth and uneventful. Getting it finally done was a happy occasion though. After the oil change I focused on the stuffing box. It was still leaking slowly, not as fast as when we stopped the engine a week ago. But still leaking more than it should. The problem is that the locking nut is stuck on its threads and wont budge. I can loosen up the packing nut (causing water to flow in fast), but I cannot tighten it anymore (needs to be tightened to stop water) because the locking nut is in the way. I used PB Blaster on the locking nut but that didn't do much to help. I didn't leave it on there for a long time before I tried, so maybe it has had some time to work and will be easier next time...but I'm not confident in it. Does anyone have any ideas on how the heck to get the locking nut loose?

Here is the whole unit:

Here it is with the packing nut loose, and you can see the locking nut stuck there:

Any help on that problem would be appreciated. I'll be heading home this weekend to see family for Thanksgiving. Then the following week I will come back out to the boat and begin preparations for the journey South. December might be tight to get her out of there due to busy weekends, but January should be favorable to finally move her.

Windsong's first sail, FLAWLESS!

2009-11-16T08:13:00.000-08:00

As you can tell by the post title, things went well this weekend

On Saturday I wen't out to Inglis to see Windsong. I had three friends in tow and a list of things to accomplish. First off was to give the engine its oil change. I had replaced a few parts on the oil change pump and got it pumping water in a test run. But once we got to the boat the pump wouldn't suck out any oil and eventually burnt out. So now instead of repairing this thing I am going with advice of some other boat owners (readers of this blog, thanks!) and get a manual pump. So the oil change didn't happen, but that didn't stop us for the day. I also replaced the hose on the Whale Gusher manual bilge pump and was able to use it successfully for the first time. I love knowing that it works now, great sense of security especially since my primary electric bilge pump is still on the fritz. After the bilge pump we had to secure a leak on a water hose on the engine, then we were done with the needed chores of the day.

I had planned on taking her out and about in the river for the day, but with the encouragement of my friends and the weather cooperating we decided to take the trip out of the channel and hoist some sail. I was nervous because I still haven't upgraded a lot of the safety things (flares, fire extiguishers, etc.) that I wanted before we went out of the river, and the engine still makes me nervous, but we were feeling whimsical and went for it anyways. First off we had to turn the boat around in its narrow channel. We were able to to this using warps and a little knowledge from the PO, and now I have the confidence to be able to do this when we need! With the boat turned around and the engine warmed up we headed up the river.

The weather was absolutely perfect. Temperatures in the low-mid 70's, winds 10-15 knots from the West and the skies were completely clear. I figured that if things went bad, we could probably sail the entire way back up the river since the winds were pushing us back in. The ride up the river was uneventful and pretty. As we eventually passed the spot we broke down previously, a sense of confidence came about me as the engine remained in good pressure and temperature ranges and seemed to be trucking along perfectly. As we neared the river entrance I was became pretty nervous again at the prospect of going into open water. After we passed the inlet I started to feel good about it again and we navigated the 2 miles or so of channel markings to the green marker #1. At that marker we would be in deep enough water to go North or South on a sweet beam reach. Once we hit #1 the excitement was palatable as I instructed the crew on how to hoist and trim the sails. We lifted them up, turned North, shut off the engine and had our first moment of peace under sail with Windsong.

I could probably spend quite some time here describing the feeling of finally sailing with my boat. It has been a rough 5 months of ownership, barely having any fun time at all on the boat. I had little confidence in anything on it, and needed a successful ride to wash some of that away. Seeing the sails full, the rigging holding tight, and the wake behind us as we made a good 5.5-6 knots (we only have the gps to tell us speed) made so many fears go away. After trimming the sails and getting everything correctly situated, we ran North on a beam reach for about 2 miles before successfully taking South for another few miles. The feeling was intense as we all cracked open celebratory beers and took in the amazing weather and feeling of the silent (no engine) ride. Windsong sailed incredibly on the beam reach, as I expected her to. I was pretty impressed to find out how balanced she was with all of the sails up, barely needing to steer at all to keep her on course. She was moving so perfectly, and the weather was so brilliant that I considered going South for the whole day and night to get to Tarpon Springs and leave her there. But the journey will have to wait as we didn't have enough beer (or food) to last the trip.

After a while going South we tacked around again and started to aim towards the shore. We needed to get back in before the tide was too low and things got too shallow. We were able to run downwind on sail alone for most of the way back in the channel, but once the channel started to twist and turn we had to fire up the engine. We motorsailed all the way in the channel and a little bit into the river before we lowered all canvas and stowed the sails. Motoring back to the dock was pleasant, and we were able to dock and turn the boat around with ease.

Overall I could not have asked for a better first sail on my boat. The anticipation leading up to this was intense. I had mentally prepared for months for the day we took it out, and in the end everything went perfectly smooth. The only issue arising from the day is when I checked the engine over before we left and I noticed that the packing nut on the shaft seal was dripping frequently again. I tried to tighten it but it proved difficult without undoing the locking nut, something that has eluded me before. So I need to go up there this weekend and try to get that locking nut loose so I can tighten the packing nut. The unit as a whole needs servicing, particularly new packing in the nut. I'm not sure I have the confidence to do that myself just yet, but maybe if it is necessary I'll figure it out. With that fixed, the oil changed, safety items purchased, and some backup electronics...I can take Windsong down the coast to be hauled out for her re-build...and I will be very very very happy.

Here are the pictures from Saturday:

The yellow line is the route we took, for those truly interested it is from Chart #11408

View from the dock:

Do I look nervous?

Other boats along the river:

Taking a break from the helm to enjoy the deck

View of the power plant from the river

lol no worries here, can't go that fast.

Bad things have happened here...

I call this little beach the Redneck Riviera. It is usually packed with Florida's finest on weekends.

At the end of the river, beginning of the journey out to sea

First moments out of the river

Becoming a happy Cap'n

Beautiful on the water...

The smog around the power plants really stands out when you are at sea

Approaching marker #1. STOKED!!!!!

Shortly after....SAILS FULL!

So balanced, barely a need to steer

Taking it all in

Motorsailing back to the dock

Fuel Filters and some other stuff

2009-10-19T11:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend went well with only a few mishaps. I intended on doing some regular maintenance tasks on the engine, which got put on hold for two months thanks to the impeller issue. But now that it is running correctly it is time for oil change, oil filter change, and both fuel filters changed. I also was able to repair the Whale Gusher bilge pump with a rebuild kit, so it needed to be reinstalled in the cockpit.

I started with the oil change, figuring it to be an easy job to start the day. I was immediately stopped in my tracks because my oil change pump wasn't working correctly. It is a Jabsco oil change pump bucket with a small pump mounted on top just like this:

The pump would turn on, but it wouldn't suck anything through it. I played with it a bit but could never get it to pump. So I took it home to hopefully fix it this week, I have a feeling it needs a replacement impeller

So the oil change would have to wait. I went to the fuel filters next. Both filter changes were pretty straight forward, but I had a worry that I would need to bleed the fuel lines of air once done, a job I know would be more pain than it should be thanks to the engine being haunted. But after I changed the filters, the engine sputtered a bit for a few minutes and then ran just fine. Success! The primary filter was pretty dirty, I think my fuel tank is in serious need of cleaning. That might have to wait for the haul out though since I need to empty the tank for the truck haul anyways.

After the fuel filters we (Jenny and I) installed the manual bilge pump back in the cockpit without much hassle. But when I tried to run the hose down into the bilge, a crack on the hold hose showed itself and I accidentally broke the hose about 3 feet from its end, making it pretty useless. So I need to replace that hose, not much of an issue thank goodness...and the manual bilge pump will be in business!!!

I wanted to take the boat out for a ride afterward, but the PO wasn't around to give me some advice. The boat is parked at the dock the same way we came in when the engine overheated a few months ago. To turn the boat around in the narrow canal involves a method that I haven't been taught yet, so I was out of luck. Maybe next time I can actually ride Windsong up the river, and if God is really smiling on me...perhaps take her for a sail out in the Gulf!

There was one issue with the engine that needs to be resolved before I take it out, however. Along with the lingering oil change, water is coming out of a hose in the anti-siphon loop in the raw water circuit before where the water is injected into the exhaust. I think it is just a bad hose clamp, so I will have to experiment a bit to get that sealed tight and not leaking.

"Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor" by Paul Lutus

2009-10-08T13:12:00.000-07:00

I just finished reading "Confessions of a Long-Distance sailor" by Paul Lutus. He has the entire book online, for free at his website here: http://www.arachnoid.com/sailbook/index.html

I highly recommend the book. It chronicles his 3-year solo journey around the world in the late 80's. Here are some comments from the site:

[ in a review of "Maiden Voyage" by Tania Aebi posted at amazon.com ] I would recommend "Confessions of a Long Distance Sailor" by Paul Lutus instead of this book. It's written far better, has just as many aventures, is far more education in a worldly and sailing sense, and best of all, it's free.

— Chad Lawie

I'm about 55 pages into your book and wanted to tell you it is very good — charming, honest, insightful, a fine, fine story. You should really feel good about it.

— Sam Hill, author of five novels, http://www.samhillonline.com

I have been touched on many levels by your wonderful story. Of course I knew nothing else about you other than the fact that you did what so many of us think we would love to do. I have interrupted my wife's quiet reverie countless times to read aloud a few words that you wrote. Apart from all your other wonderful accomplishments, thank you for this one.

— Tim Sperry

I just finished reading "Confessions." Thanks for writing it and making it available for free. I especially enjoyed all the philosophical and scientific tangents you go off on, while keeping everything somehow related to the sea. The last few days, I even had dreams of being on a boat.

If I have half as many interesting experiences as you've had by the time i'm your age, i'll be a happy man.

— William MacKay

I just wanted to thank you for writing such a wonderful book about your circumnavigation ... marvelous!

— Marv Paulie

I have started to read your "Confessions" ... I am amazed and inspired.

— Arlette Krampe

SUCCESS!

2009-10-05T07:53:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I was ready to call the mechanic to fix the engine. However, this past weekend my I was finally able to get my Dad out there to see if he could offer some new insight into the problem. I also brought out my friend Jeff who had come out a few weeks previously and started tackling the problem of getting the depth sounder and other instruments working by replacing corroded electrical connections. So before the mechanic was called, I wanted to see how this weekend worked out. I also had purchased a Rule-A-Matic 750 Automatic bilge pump to install in case we couldn't figure out anything with the exisiting bilge pumps. I was hoping to not have to install it and could return it.

So the first thing we started with was the manual bilge pump. It is a Gusher Whale 10 MKIII pump:

The pump wasn't functioning properly, with no pressure to suck water up. In order to test it further, we needed to take it off of its mounting location in the cockipit. This was a job I tried to do two weeks ago but failed after I couldn't get the nuts and bolts that hold it on loose. My Dad, with his extensive mechanical knowledge, was able to get it off after trying a few different methods. With it off we were able to see that the flap valves inside the unit were permatently set open, so no vaccum is created when it is pumped. I took the pump home and plan on buying a service kit to replace all of the serviceable parts. That should fix the pump and give me the wonderful piece of mind of having a good manual bilge pump.

Next we decided to tackle the engine. To catch you up, I had identified the problem in the engine to be the impeller of the raw water pump. The impeller had torn free of its hub and was not spinning, so no water came through the cooling system and the engine would overheat. After a lot of effort the past few weeks, I could not get the impeller out for the life of me. It should be a simple task, but the engineers at Yanmar thought it would be funny to put the impeller in the most impossible to reach location in the entire engine. Seriously...I don't think there is a worse location on the engine for a part that needs to be serviced. After about an hour of trying using various methods and a modified version of my impeller removal tool (I found a shorter bolt for the center bolt to use, see last post for why it failed), my Dad was able to get the impeller off the hub! We celebrated by getting lunch before attempting to install the new impeller and getting the water flowing through the engine again. The primary issue with this whole ordeal was that the impeller was stuck so hard on the hub because it had sat there idle for years. A relatively simple operation turned into a big project thanks to the location and condition of the impeller.

Once back from lunch, I spent some time trying to get the new impeller in the pump. It was a little tricky thanks to the yoga position you must be in to access the pump, and the impeller was liberally greased up thus making handling it difficult. Eventually I was able to get it in there, and hopefully it is greased up enough so removing it won't be much of an issue next time. After the impeller was installed and the cover plate put back on, I said my prayers and cranked the engine. I peered over the stern to see if water was flowing from the exhaust....nothing.

I go back into the engine room to investigate. First I opened the pump again to confirm that the impeller was actually turning, sure enough it was spinning just fine. After a few mintues of head scratching, I turned my attention to the plumbing leading to the pump from the through-hull. The first thing I noticed was that the refrigeration condensor, which is inline with the raw water circuit, had a large headspace of air in it, thus not letting the pump suck water up it and through the engine. I decided that since I will not be using the refrigerator for some time (it doesnt even work right now), I would bypass it alltogether and hook the engine pump direcly to the raw water strainer after the through-hull. After doing this we cranked the engine but no water was coming out still. Jeff thought of the bright idea to make sure all of the hoses and the strainer were completely filled with water so no air voids were in the system. I opened the strainer to find that the water level was below the entrance and exit hoses, and they were pretty dry themselves. So we filled up the system with water to prime it and cranked the engine again. I looked over the stern in anticipation, and after a few seconds of gugling water began to surge out of the exhaust!!!! I haven't felt that relieved in a very long time, it was pure elation.

We called it a day after that. To have fixed the engine problem after 2 months of weekend trips attempting to do it was such a great feeling. During all of this time Jeff had been working on replacing a corroded terminal strip, connections, fuses, and wires for all of the cockpit instruments. After replacing the bad connections, we were able to get power to all of the instruments. The wind and speed indicators seemed to be working, but the depth sounder still didn't turn on. At least we now know that it has something to do with the unit itself.

So my plan for this week is to order the parts to rebuild the manual bilge pump and fix it up. This weekend I will start what I wanted to do months ago, and do maintenance on the engine: oil and oil filter change, primary and secondary fuel filter change, and coolant change. Then I will hopefully have a fresh engine to take out for a ride up the river and eventually out to sea. I still have to troubleshoot the electric bilge pumps further. We think it is definitely a problem of electrical connections somewhere in the circuit, so an electrical cicuit testing session will be in order as well. If all else fails, I can still install the new pump I purchased for backup.

Big thanks to my Dad for bringing the know-how and tools to get all of this done. I am still an amature at all of this mechanical stuff, but knowing I have someone to turn to is extremely valuable. Also big thanks to Jeff for tackling the cockpit instrument job and aiding in solving the other problems.

For the first time in about two months (I've only owned the boat for 3), I am excited to get back to the boat instead of dreading it.

I suck at this

2009-09-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Well last weekend I did as I normally seem to do...accomplish nothing. I tried my hardest to get the impeller out of the engines raw water pump to no avail. The thing is stuck in there hard and much blood, sweat and curse words were spilled trying to get it out. I even purchased one of these impeller removal tools:

It is meant to easily remove impellers in tight and cramped spaces. Turns out, my space is extra tight and extra cramped...too much for even the tool. The bolt going down the center of the tool woul'dnt fit in the space I had to work with, but I was able to remove it and try to pull the impeller using the side clamps. I was able to get a good grip on the impeller with it, but no force I could apply would make it budge. I even had the PO come help me out and with some of his ideas, tried to apply more force using long screw drivers as leverage and such. Nothing worked, only seemed to destroy the impeller further.

When I decided it was time to start taking the engine apart to remove the pump itself, I was stopped short by the alternator's pivot bolt being frozen in place. At the time I was trying to free it, I dropped one of the only sockets that fit that bolt down the bilge. I didn't have the tools or the skill to get the bolt undone, let alone remove the water pump.

So I think I am done trying to do this repair. It takes me 2 hours each way to get to and from the boat on a weekend, and when I accomplish nothing like this it just makes me so much more depressed. I think it is time to call the mechanic and get this thing fixed once and for all.

The only thing I was able to accomplish was stemming the fast drip of water from the packing nut on the stuffing box. With some effort I was able to tighten it up slightly to stop the water from dripping. So now hopefully the bilge doesn't fill up with water and sink the boat while I am away from it.

Weekend plan

2009-09-16T10:40:00.000-07:00

I go back to the boat this weekend to tackle these problems that have me stressed out way too much for someone my age. My mind cannot stay off the problems, and they aren't easy to let go of because I'm the one that needs to figure out the solution. My plan for the weekend....

ENGINE PROBLEM (raw water pump isn't working):

PRAY that the shaft is spinning on the engine raw water pump. The impeller may have just come loose from its hub, but the shaft could still be spinning. I checked the impeller but left the rubber cap on the hub, so I don't know. If it is spinning....
Use the newly purchased impeller removal tool to get the stubborn impeller out and replace. Should solve the problem, and I will be so so SO stoked, I would need some celebration beverages handy.
If the shaft isn't spinning, we have problems. This means that I need to remove the pump itself to rebuild or replace, something I fear may be more difficult than it should be due to some terrible engineering on the engine. Refer to the picture below. First I would need to remove the compressor, and then the alternator to even access the hoses and bolts of the pump, since it is facing aft (what genius thought that up?). Then, though I can't speak with much authority on this since I can barely see through the parts as it is, two bolt heads holding the pump to the gearbox are behind part of the engine mount. There is hardly any clearance behind the bolt head, so I have no idea how they would come out without removing the engine mount arm that covers them. I am pretty sure removing that mount is WAY out of my skill range, and if it needs to be done I might be having to pay a lot of $$$$$ for a mechanic to do this. I assume that removing the mount would ruing the alignment of the engine, something I don't want to risk. Either paying a mechanic to come all the way out to the house it is at, or have the boat towed down the river to one of the small marinas. Hopefully I am wrong about the bolts and there is a clever way of removing them safely. But I'm not too certain that is the case.

Here is the impeller, the picture doesn't do the cramped space justice, however. What you cannot see is that I can only fit one arm down there, and there is barely any room thanks to the starter motor (yes, I am aware of the rust problem). You can see the top two bolts holding the pump in place are pretty easy to access once the alternator is off. But what you can't see are the bottom ones. You can see below the pump the mount arm, the bolt heads are right behind it.

BILGE PUMP PROBLEM

Diagnose the exact problem. I am pretty sure the diaphragm style pump is burnt out. I think the float switch got stuck, something in the wiring failed, or the hose got clogged and it burnt out. I need to figure out the problem to be certain.
Try to get the Rule pump to work with the float switch (if the float switch works) for the diaphragm pump. The Rule pump has one, but it is set higher than the diaphragm float switch for emergency purposes.
There is another diaphragm pump right next to the bilge diaphragm pump that serves some purpose in the fresh water pressure system. My thought is to replace the hoses and wiring on this one with the hoses of the bilge pump right next to it. This way I will have a working backup, and possibly get it to work with the float switch. In the picture below you can see the two pumps behind the battery bank, the bilge pump is on the right.
Diagnose the problems with the manual bilge pump. Figure out if I can fix it or if I need to buy a new one.

Lastly...I have to tighten the packing nut on the shaft seal. It is leaking way more than it should, and seems to be the major contributor to the bilge water. Hopefully my wrenches can fit it, and I have some penetrating oil in case it gives me trouble.

Oh joy, more epic fail.

2009-09-08T11:58:00.001-07:00

I finally got back to the boat this weekend after a few weekends off. I had a brain full of ideas to check the engine over thanks to all of the wonderful advice I received from readers of this blog, the PO, and users of the various sailing forums I visit. I even had my friend Jeff come with me, who is much better at fixing things. The idea was to get as far as we could on the engine issue, hopefully fixing it for good.

When we arrived I was welcomed by a whole new world of problems. I noticed that the indicator light on the bilge pump switch was on, but the pump wasn't running. I look into the sump below the engine and find that the bilge is very full of water. I play with the switches on the bilge pumps a bit and realize that only the wet pump is working, but the high and dry one is burned out. It seems to me that the float switches are busted or stuck, burning out the dry pump. The wet pump worked when flipped to manual, but not on automatic. And to top it off, I discovered the manual cockpit pump does not work and needs to be replaced or rebuilt. Since the boat is pretty darn leaky it is imperative that the pumps work. So now I have to rely on the PO to check the boat every few days to make sure she isn't sinking, and to flip the switch on the wet pump. I plan on installing another bilge pump when I go back, hopefully it isn't too much of a pain in the butt. This week I will be researching bilge pumps to figure out my approach.

After dealing with that disaster I finally got to the engine. For those catching up, the raw water circuit on the engine cooling system has failed and no water is pumping through or it is blocked. First, I went over the side of the boat and made sure the though hull wasn't blocked. I also blew out the hose coming from the through hull just in case. I then cranked the engine to make sure there were no leaky or collapsing hoses. I then removed the hose that comes out of the heat exchanger into the vented loop to see if water was coming out when the engine was cranked, nothing. So then I removed the cover of the pump to see the impeller, and when the engine was cranked I saw that the impeller was not spinning at all.

So the problem lies directly on the water pump and the impeller not spinning. From conversations with more knowledgeable types, this could mean that the pump shaft is broken. I guess my only option now is to take apart the water pump and figure it out from there? Any ideas?

I can't wait to actually enjoy this boat, because all it has been so far is a big pain in my rear.

hehe

2009-08-27T06:45:00.001-07:00

The Grand Plan version ???

2009-08-24T07:53:00.000-07:00

Those who see sailing as an escape from reality have got their
understanding of both sailing and reality completely backwards.
Sailing is not an escape, but a return to and a confrontation of a reality
from which modern civilization is itself an escape.

For centuries, man suffered from the reality of an earth that was too dark
or too hot or too cold for his comfort, and to escape this he invented complex
systems of lighting, heating and air conditioning. Sailing rejects these and returns to
the old realities of dark and heat and cold.

Modern civilization has found radio, TV, movies, nightclubs and a huge variety
of mechanized entertainment to titillate our senses and help us escape from the
apparent boredom of the earth and the sun and wind and stars. Sailing returns
to these ancient realities.

-Robert Prisig

This weekend I took some time to catch the swell from hurricane Bill. I haven't surfed since my trip to Costa Rica two months ago, so it was great to be back in the water and have some fun. Saturday we went to New Smyrna Beach and enjoyed some of the most perfect Florida surf I have ever seen. They were not easy to get into, particularly because I had too small of a board for such large surf, but I was able to get many great rides. In the end, after about a hour of no waves, I caught one of the top 5 waves of my entire life, and easily the second biggest wave I have ever charged down (the largest being a wave from the latest Costa trip). Sunday we went to Cocoa but the swell had dropped and was doing nothing more than closing out in the shore break.

Now that I have had a two week break from the boat, I am ready to tackle it again. I haven't completely gotten my mind off of the boat as I have been continually researching, reading and doing more woodwork on the cabin door. I finally figured out how I am going to do the wood, and have settled on varnishing. Windsong deserves the great look of varnish, so I shall give it to her. I am experimenting on the door, and the first step is removing all of the old varnish. I have resulted to using a chemical peeler and have had some success getting the door down to the raw wood and color. Once I finish the whole door, I need to re-glue it back together (the door is in pieces) and then varnish.

As for the boat, there are currently a few phases that "The Grand Plan" (as I am calling it) will have to flow through:

Get the boat out of Inglis
Get it hauled out of water and decomissioned for shipment
Ship it to Green Cove Springs Marina for work
Launch and begin to sail the damn thing.

Step one would seem simple, but is proving to be quite the headache. Before anything can be done, the engine needs to be fixed. Hopefully I can talk to the PO and get some good guidance this week, and work on the engine with my dad this weekend. If the problem is beyond our abilities, I will eventually have to get a mechanic out there...something I can't really afford. I need all of the money I can save to get the boat hauled, shipped and stored.

Aside from the engine, the most glaring need is the Depth Sounder. The current sounder is an old Datamarine:

It's current condition is...broken. I can't even turn it on, so I don't know if it is functioning beyond that. The first place I am looking to repair is the terminal block that the wiring for the sounder goes through. It is very corroded in places and the wire terminals for the sounder itself are very loose and seem trashed:

I hope by replacing the terminal block and the wire terminals the sounder will be able to turn on. If not, I have no idea what to do because the transducer is through-hull, so it isn't an easy swap out replacement. I may be forced to go down the coast out of Inglis without a depth sounder. And on the one of the biggest coasts of shoaling in Florida, I'm not stoked on that idea.

Aside from the engine and depth sounder, I feel she is ready to go. I replaced the running rigging, so sailing is going to be how I take her down. I do not want to rely on the engine for long, but I must to get in and out of the Gulf using power. Currently I have my eyes on Hernando Beach about 45 miles down the coast. It is very shallow in approach, but locals say that if you come in at a high tide (3ft +) there should be no problem. Well, the problem is that I need to get out of the Withlacoochie in Inglis at high tide as well. So I need to leave at high tide, make my way down the coast in time for the next high tide, all within daylight (!!??). Or I would need to somehow spend the night out in the Gulf and wait till the next day to try to enter the harbor. I have no idea if it is safe to anchor in the middle of the shoals of the Gulf, but there seems to be little other ways around this.

Of course, I could continue south and enter a harbor with less shoaling, such as Tarpon Springs. But I am still faced with an overnight journey. Let me interject that I have never done an overnight voyage before, let alone in strange waters, on a strange boat, with little instrumentation. You can start to see the task in front of me...yikes!

If anyone is willing to help me out with this issue, click here to see the chart of the area.

The channel to enter/exit the Withlaccochie at Inglis is at the very top of the chart. Hernando Beach is at 28°29′11″N 82°39′28″W. Tarpon Springs is at the very bottom.

There are a few marinas in Hernando Beach or Tarpon springs that can haul the boat and get it ready for shipment. Getting the boat ready for shipment will be a pain, but not as big of a pain as I see the previous tasks (engine fix, cruise down the coast). And once it is out of the water I will be able to finally see how much work I have before me. I am anticipating worst case scenario where I will have thousands of blisters (pox) and some other major repair jobs on the bottom. If there is one thing I am learning...expect (and prepare for) the worst, hope for the best. I will be very happy once it is out of the water though, because I can then get a realistic idea of what needs to be done and how long it will take before I can finally use Windsong in the way it deserves.

Once on land, it's time to ship to Green Cove. I am currently sold on Green Cove Springs Marina because they are hands down the cheapest of the yards I have looked at, they are in a location close to home (parent's house), and have a lot of friendly expertise and help around the yard. I will spend as long as I need on the hard there fixing all of the things that need to be fixed and getting as much refinishing done as I can. I would like to get the boat in the water sooner than later, so I need to prioritize the projects that need to be done on land.

I have a rough list of projects I know for sure that need to be done, but will save the list for another post.

Contemplation of issues.

2009-08-12T07:12:00.000-07:00

This previous weekend I had intended on staying on the boat and working on this and that, particularly the engine problem. I came alone on Saturday, expecting to have my Dad come down to help on Sunday. When I arrived I kicked around the boat for a bit before finishing work on the anchor chain. I may have mentioned this previously, but the anchor chain is in decent condition with the exception of two corroded links. I used some bolt cutters to remove the two bad links and replaced them with a connector link secured with seizing wire. I needed to feel good about something before I started the engine, so the anchor project was just a spring board for the day. But hey, I initially thought I would need to buy a whole new anchor rode, but I cut a potential $500+ job to under $10. Success!

So after the anchor chain fix I went to the engine room to begin my assessment. I received a lot of good advice from the forum posts I made and was ready to put the advice to good use. I took a moment to survey the area and the water pump. In order to reach the water pump, I would need to remove the refrigerator compressor and the alternator to have enough room to remove the pump. After much thought, I concluded that I would definitely need some help with the process and would wait for my Dad to show up. As I was getting out of the engine room I knocked over my one and only lamp for the boat, thus making it a potentially dark and dreary night. On top of that my only entertainment, the internet, was not working for some reason. I decided to call it a day soon after that and not bother staying. I also concluded that it would be a good idea to talk to the PO (previous owner) about the issue since he might have a solution. He has been out of the country for a few weeks and wont be back until later next week. Once I talk to him and get any info he has, I will get pops down and we will tear into the project.

On that boat trip I thought a lot about the work to come on Windsong. Lemme tell you...its a lot. I have started to feel the overwhelming pressure of the project before me, and I'd be a liar if I told you I haven't had a mental breakdown over the monumental task before me. I have previously had nothing but excitement for all of it, but since I got cut back at work the financial burden will start to hurt me soon. I spent so long getting out of debt and saving for this, to have the job taken back like this hurts a lot. But I'm not broke yet, and I have a little while before the paychecks start to shrink. I am searching for some positive motivation to keep my head up, but the one thing that I know would make it better is to be able to be near the boat. Driving 2+ hours every week for a potentially ruined work day from lack of preparation is becoming tiring already. My original plan was to get the boat safe and take it all the way down to Port Charlotte and work on the boat on the hard there, a 3+ hour drive from where I live in Orlando. I decided this previous weekend that there is no way that will work.

So the new plan is something I am pretty excited about, except the cost. I want to find a place to haul the boat out as close as possible to Inglis, then get it shipped to either Orlando, the DIY marina in Titusville or Green Cove Springs. If I bring it to Orlando, I can have it in a work yard very cheaply on a monthly basis, and I would be able to work on it every day if I so chose. The downside of keeping it in Orlando is that I would need it shipped again to the coast once I am done working on it, and I would need to buy things like jack stands to keep it on. The idea came from this guy who is currently doing a major restoration to his yacht in Orlando:

If I take it to Titusville, I would pay a bit more per month for their lot, but would have things like jack stands and would be surrounded by people who know what they are doing. Depending on prices, I am also considering Green Cove Springs Marina which has a great DIY yard and a community of old salts willing to give out knowledge. Though it would be a 2 hour drive, it is close to my parents so I'd at least have a place to stay. So I have to think this out, but I am in the process of posting this dilemma on different forums to get some more knowledgeable advice.

Engine still overheats and bad news from work.

2009-08-03T11:13:00.000-07:00

This weekend didn't go too well. Well, it didn't start well either. On Friday I was cut to part-time at work, effectively reducing my salary by 20%. Thats all the money I had to save and spend on the boat. I will be just making the payments and insurance now, but money for refitting is severely limited now. I've said many times that as long as my job holds up, I should be on target for everything boat related. This will be a set back for sure, but temporary at most.

As for this weekend on the boat, I'll let this post I made on Sailnet describe it. I am stuck on the engine problem still:

http://www.sailnet.com/forums/diesel-engine-forum/56761-cooling-system-problems-need-some-help.html

I recently purchased a 1975 Downeaster 38' Cutter, re-powered in 1994 with a Yanmar 4JH2E. It only has about 900 hours on the engine, but has been sitting unused for a few years now. I live in Orlando, FL but the boat is in Inglis, FL near Crystal River in the Big Bend area at the sellers dock. He is being kind enough to let me keep it there until I get it in shape to take it elsewhere. So I am limited to making weekend trips up there for now.

When we did the sea trial, the engine performed just fine. We ran it up and down the river for almost 3 hours with no problems at all. I had not taken her out since then (about a month) and have just been doing a lot of cleaning and work replacing the running rigging. Two weekends ago I decided it was time to take her out on the river (its on the Withlacoochee River) and show some friends a good time. Before we went out, I checked all fluids, cleaned out the raw water strainer and topped off the coolant. I noticed there was no rubber gasket or anything on the cap of the raw water strainer, just a metal plate. I didnt think much of it at the time, but now I wonder if there should be one.

The engine ran just fine for about an hour up the river. At one point, I revved it up to 2,800 rpms to see how it responded at cruising speed. Soon after my heart sank as I noticed steam (of course I first thought it was smoke and we were burning down) gushing out of the engine room. I quickly shut it off and had to release the anchor for the first time on the boat (something I needed to learn soon, but in less stressful circumstances).

The cap on the expansion tank for the cooling system had popped off and the cooling water was steaming everywhere. I also noticed that the air silencer had popped off and was hanging by a hose. I had checked it before we left and may have not secured it correctly. So I topped off lost coolant and let the engine rest for a while.

It was getting dark soon and we needed to get back. The engine cranked up just fine but after a short while the temperature was running high. Right before we got to the dock the cap on the expansion tank popped off and once again steam goes everywhere.

We had to go back to Orlando for the week so I did some research and stupidly realized that I didn't check if water was flowing out of the exhaust at all. I had also remembered that the belt was pretty loose, so those were first on the list to check when I came back. I would make sure to double check how I closed the water strainer.

So I go back to the boat this previous weekend. I tighten the belt after much hassle and checked to make sure the raw water strainer is tightly sealed. I then started the engine and first checked to see if any water was coming through the exhaust....none . So my guess is that the problem lies in the raw water circuit somewhere, correct?

I planned on checking and replacing the impeller, of which the previous owner already had a new spare. I soon realized that the impeller is in a hellish place where I can only fit one arm with barely enough room to move a tool. Removing the cover plate for the impeller was tricky, but I did it without loosing my cool. Then I realized that I would not be able to take the impeller out with any ease. I hoped to use the 2 screwdriver method to pry it out, but there was no way I could get two of them in there. I spent the majority of my day getting frustrated over figuring out how to get the impeller out, and didn't get much else done.

The only other thing I checked was to make sure there was nothing blocking the through-hull. I popped the inlet hose from the raw water strainer and was able to suck water through, so that was clear at least.

After leaving my dad asked if I checked to make sure the impeller was even turning after the engine was on...no, I didn't check .

The boat is old, but the engine is the one thing I was happy to have working fine. This completely has left me in the dumps emotionally, and then to cap it off I got cut to part-time at work this week amidst a bunch of lay-offs. Im lucky I still have the job, but loosing 20% of my salary takes away the extra money I was using each month to get the boat in shape.

So that is where I am. What steps should I take this weekend while I am there? I assume to make sure the impeller is even turning by running the engine with the cover off? Do I start to just pull hoses at various points along the circuit to see if water is flowing? Am I limited to buying an impeller puller or is there a cheaper tool I don't know about?

Any help isolating the problem would be appreciated. I hope I can get this done without paying someone to come out to the boat. I am willing to learn and do the hard work, but need some sage wisdom.

Thanks!

lol

2009-07-30T06:49:00.001-07:00

Running Rigging, The first ride, and tragedy!

2009-07-27T11:37:00.000-07:00

I missed a weekend on the boat and then went back this previous weekend for more work. It took a while to get all of the lines in for the running rigging, since I had to order bulk. Most places charges similar amounts for the line, but West Marine had the best bulk discount. Interesting because they seem to be more expensive on most things. So I ordered a 600' spool of 7/16" New England Ropes Sta-Set to replace all of the sheets and halyards. I also got 200' of 1/4" to do the topping lifts and outhauls.

During the week I have been testing my woodworking. I took home the teak magazine rack and front cabin door. The magazine rack will be my test project to see how my cleaning and finishing methods work. I will then apply what I learned to the door, which also needs to be glued back together in places. To clean the wood I used a mixture of detergent, bleach and TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) watered down and scrubbed on the wood. The mix didn't give the wood a consistent color so I upped the cleaning power with Ajax, which has the same chemical in single part teak cleaner at a fraction of the price. That cleaning did the trick on the magazine rack, so I went on with some light sanding. I went with lemon oil to finish and after applying to the magazine rack it looked amazing! The oil absorbed throughout the night and it is obvious more applications will be needed. All of this advice on cleaning and finishing come from Don Casey's books I wrote about previously. He says to re-oil after a week, so I'll see how that comes out. Maybe someday I will get into the whole varnishing thing, but for now oil will do well. I have enough projects to worry about before I go the lengths of varnish. I will begin on the door after I re-apply the oil and see how it comes out.

This weekend I took Jenny and my roommate Mark up to the boat for the work. I had already figured out the lengths for all of the lines before hand so all I had to do was measure, cut and run the new lines. We measured out the lines on the dock and then run them by attaching an end to an end of the existing lines, then pulling the new line through until it was fully run. It took a few hours of being out in the heat, but the result was stunning! It was the first change to the exterior I have done, and the new lines make it look sharp. I still need to buy a couple of shackles, and get the eye splices on the lines instead of knots. I am going to try to learn how to do that this week. Jenny has been working on stripping the wallpaper from bulkheads on the interior. She got most of the work done while I was doing the lines, and it is looking great.

After we finished the rigging, I planned on taking Windsong out for our first ride since the sea trial. I was extremely nervous due to the tight canal and unfamiliarity with the boat and river. I had hoped to take the boat out to actually hoist sails in the Gulf, but I would be happy with a run up to the inlet and back. I did a little work on the engine before we left: I checked all fluid levels and topped off the coolant, I cleaned the raw water strainer, and I tried to install a new air filter element. Unfortunately, the new air filter element did not fit, so that will remain a to-do project.

The engine cranked up smoothly and after some nervy moments getting the boat away from the dock, we were riding smooth! I let out some fishing lines to troll once we got to the brackish water, hoping for some good lunkers. Around 2/3 of the way to the inlet, I noticed that some smoke or steam was coming from the engine, then all of a sudden a LOT of it. My heart immediately sank as I shut down the engine to check it out. First we had to deal with the fact that we were free floating in a river only 2 times wide as the boat is long! One of the things I had meant to do that day was to test the anchoring system out, moreso so I know how to use it in practice than anything. I ran up and let loose the anchor as best I could with plenty of scope after the engine shut down, quickly gaining that experience.

When I checked out the engine, the expansion tank for the engine coolant had popped its lid and was spewing steam and coolant everywhere. I had noticed that the air silencer had popped off and had kinked a hose coming from it., maybe from me not sealing it correctly when trying to replace the element. So I put everything back where it should be and we let the engine cool down. A while later I give it a try and it cranks up without a problem. However, I notice that the oil pressure is pretty low, and the temperature reading is very high...not good. So we limp back home and as soon as we are about to enter the side canal where the house is, the coolant expansion tank explodes with more steam again. Thank goodness we got back though, and were able to dock up without problems. I didn't attempt the big turn around in the canal due to the engine, so we just docked with portside on the dock.

After thinking about it for a day, I think I may have an idea of what happened to the engine. First, the kink in the hose from the air silencer definitley had something to do with it, but that doesnt likely seem to be the main culprit as the engine still ran with high temp and low pressure after I fixed that. I may have also not sealed the raw water strainer correctly, not giving the raw water pump solid flow. But the primary concern is the belt tension. I remember checking the belt tension a few weekends ago and it was very loose. I had forgotten to tighten it, so will do so first thing when I get back up there. Aside from all of that, I may have to replace the impeller on the raw water pump if I did any damage. I will inspect the raw water circuit if none of the above works. Hopefully I can figure it all out this weekend and I'll do some other maintenance on the engine as well. To do list for next weekend:

oil change
oil filter change
primary and secondary fuel filter change
impeller inspection/replacement
belt tension adjustment/replacement
Get main and staysail sheets or splicing
Continue cleaning/restoring inside
Continue woodwork at home

I had planned on doing all of this this weekend, but I didn't expect the lines to get in either, so that took priority.

Overall the experience wasn't detrimental, unless I severely damaged the engine somehow, but I think I avoided that. If I can get it repaired, I will have built a lot of confidence in my ability to work with the engine. As anyone who reads this blog knows, I need to become self-sufficient, this means tackling the hard problems :) And aside from the engine experience, the ride up the river was very fun and the others enjoyed the ride. I also got to lower and raise the anchor! I still need to figure out how to use the fast gear on the windlass, but the slow one raised the heavy chain and anchor just fine, albeit slowly.

Here are pictures from Saturday.

Measuring the lines:

Running the lines:

Figuring out the ol' GPS:

The bowsprint is definitely the best seat in the house:

Cleaning, troubleshooting, rummaging

2009-07-06T07:48:00.000-07:00

This past week I spent time rummaging through the things that came with Windsong. A lot of it junk, a lot of it useful, and most of it interesting to discover. It was like going through an old thrift store or antique shop and discovering old treasures from someone's past life. I'll do some inventory and post here what I found, but I took pictures to do that with and haven't uploaded them yet.

The best part of all of the junk were the manuals and charts. The old service records and manuals for all of the boat systems really helped me out to understand what is going on. Many of them date way back into the 80's and its hard to tell what modifications are still on the boat and what are in the past. The charts themselves were a blast to start studying too. I have been able to begin planning the trip down the coast and have been able to use those along with my navigation books to learn chartreading.

This weekend I spent Saturday and Sunday aboard Windsong. I studied the electrical system, engine, did some more cleaning, discovered more leaks and problems (this will be happening for some time), and did a lot of prioritizing and shopping list making. I pretty much know what I need to do for the engine now: oil and filter change, fuel filter change (primary and secondary), clean out raw water strainer, change air filter element, top off coolant. I also spec'd the running rigging and anchor chain further, now knowing how I am going to replace all of them. Next week, money permitting, I will have the rigging done and she should be ready to sail!

My parents came down on Sunday to check out Windsong and have some lunch. It was great to see them light up with excitement when they saw it. They know it is a long work in progress, but I know they are as excited as anyone about its potential.

I found a great website chronicling a man's journey aboard his 28' Pearson Triton back in the 80s'. His circumstances are a lot like mine, so I have been completely immersed in the story. Here is the introduction and any reader of this blog will find similarities in his situation and mine (and maybe yours!):

http://atomvoyages.com/

To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea... "cruising" it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

-from Wanderer by Sterling Hayden

This voyage I want to tell you about took two years to complete. Though I’ve written about it before in short articles, somehow it has taken some 20 years to get around to telling the story in more detail. It took place in 1984-86 when I was in my mid-twenties, as close to broke as I dared to be, and hungry for the adventure and romance of a long voyage. The premise is not so unusual: a young man, lusting after adventure, knowledge, romance, his fortune, and finding little of it at home, strikes out to see the world. It has taken me those many years and thousands more miles under the keel to fill some of the hunger and give me a more balanced perspective on that life-changing voyage alone around the world.

The world of cruising in yachts has changed in those years. For better and worse, new equipment at more affordable prices has reduced the physical and technical challenges of voyaging, and reduced along with it the rewards gained from hard physical work, self-sufficiency, and the thrill of risks inherent in any true adventure. Meanwhile, the popularity of world cruising has made the search for untrammeled and unspoiled islands more challenging than ever. Part of my reason for writing this narrative now is to provide a glimpse at an alternative style of travel to which the modern backpacker or sailor may not have been exposed. And to remind them that they can voyage now as I did then, filling their lives with discovery and living close to nature on their own terms. Combining a sailing voyage with a land travel adventure is not unique, but it is often overlooked how well the two modes of travel complement each other. Compared to a simple boat, a backpack and my boots, the thought of fussing around with airlines, taxis, busses, hotels, restaurants, and all the other trappings of tourist travel leaves me uninspired.

When I began my journey I didn’t realize that along the way my growing commitment to walk across each island and climb their highest peaks was to be a bigger part of the adventure than the actual sailing. Like a richly lived life, as a voyage unfolds it evolves and carries you where it will.

My life is different enough now that as I read over my saltwater-stained journal and tattered log book and flip through the photo albums it seems as if it were someone else’s life. Was I really so rash to set out across oceans possessing only a few hundred dollars on a boat with sails so old you could push your finger through? Had I been that ignorant not to fit an awning or dodger over the cockpit for protection from the elements? Surely, I hadn’t been that lacking in judgment to walk into that dark cave in New Guinea and tumble into its deep black pit. Was it foolish to look for the love of an island girl when I must have known I would soon sail away from her forever?

While there turns out to be no perfect plan, no perfect life, I learned some things on this imperfect voyage that shaped my whole life in the best ways possible. What better reward for a journey of two years. May you also avoid a “routine traverse”.

First day of cleaning Windsong.

2009-06-28T14:51:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Jenny and I went to spend the day on Windsong getting as much done as we could. The plans for the day were:

Clean as much of the interior surfaces as we could,
Take home all of the "stuff" that had been cleaned out of the boat (charts, galley stuff, equipment, spares, manuals, books, etc.) to inventory,
Inspect the boat further as outlined in Inspecting the Aging Sailboat,
Begin to survey the engine and electrical system,
Inspect the running rigging and figure out replacement options
Absorb being on the boat!

We did just about all of that. We started by cleaning the insides with a mixture of detergent, bleach and TSP. The solution was meant to clean all surfaces including wood. It worked wonderfully on the white bulkheads and interior surfaces and even the wood. What I realized, however, was that the wood had so many layers of dirt and varnish on it, it would need some further cleaning and scraping to unify the color before I can varnish it again. I also began to note all of the wood rot from some of the old leaks that the seller repaired. There will be a lot of wood work done in the future, but the interior is good enough to make that a low priority project. The white surfaces were covered in an incredible amount of dirt, but the cleaning revealed a bright white underneath, except for parts of the vinyl headliner.

We packed up a few boxes of the things that come with the boat, trying to clear the junk from the seller's porch. I will be going through it all this week and begin to inventory my findings. This will be like Christmas because there is a lot of stuff!

I began to inspect the boat further looking for things I didn't know to look for before, namely cracks and issues with the gelcoat on the deck. I noticed many cracks, but nothing serious. I also inspected the engine room and electrical system further, but will focus on those more closely next weekend.

Replacing the running rigging is the first priority to get the boat in condition to take it out of there. With the running rigging replaced, I can rely on the sails and use the engine as a backup instead of the only option (or vice versa). Most of the rigging can be easily replaced by threading new lines through, attached to the old. But aproblem arose which I noticed when I was first inspecting Windsong. The main and jib halyards are wire to rope splice type. They definitely needed to be replaced, as the rope parts are very rotted. I want to replace the halyards with all rope, but there was a possibility that the sheaves at the top of the mast wouldnt accept the rope, or eat it up because they were made for wires. I inspected the rig further and ran the rope ends of the halyards through the sheaves with no resistance or odd chafing. This means I can easily replace them for now, but will make sure to replace the sheaves when I unstep the mast.

Aside from all of that we had a great day, about 10 hours overall on the boat. I am completely sore now from scrubbing overhead and lifting things (we brought a protable a/c unit that was a little too heavy). Here are the pictures:

Figuring out where to plug things in...

Got it!

Me figuring out where to start...

Cap'n at the helm

Inspector Gadget

Clean Clean..

My shoulders hurt

First meal on the boat!

Here is the perfect example of what the white surfaces looked like before and after...

Back in the Country, ready for Windsong

2009-06-26T09:23:00.001-07:00

"There aren't many experiences more ripe with promise than buying a boat."

I spent this past week readjusting to life back at home from vacation. Costa Rica was a great adventure with some of the best waves I have ridden in many years. It had its ups and downs, and I'll be sure to post a good story about the whole trip once I have the time. Work didn't pile up too much over the week so this week wasn't all too bad.

I am extremely happy to be back for Windsong though. This weekend I plan on spending a whole day up there with the boat doing inventory, cleaning, and putting together an initial project list. I've been reading diligently all of the books that came in with my last order. I have been soaking up all of the information and enjoying it immensely. My mind is swelling with new developing skills such as diesel engines, electronics, rigging, navigation, fishing. All of the books I had written about have been fantastic so far and I can't wait to start to apply a lot of it this weekend.

Here is my sailing school so to speak. The books on the left are the ones I have read, the ones on the right are those that I am currently studying.

The paperwork isn't all in my name yet. The checks still have to clear and then the title company will do its thing to get it all in my name.

Thanks to everyone who has been commenting on previous posts. A few have asked for contact info for me so feel free to email me at: evanmalssen@gmail.com

Closing on Windsong

2009-06-12T06:14:00.000-07:00

I apologize for lack up updates recently, especially as I am in the process of buying Windsong. It has been a very turbulent time in the past few weeks getting everything together to close on the boat and getting ready for vacation. My wanderlust takes me back to Costa Rica tomorrow for a week of beautiful surf, food, countryside and friends. I've been to Costa two times before and each time was amazing, good enough to go back a few times I guess! So if all goes well I'll have a write up of the trip when I come back for your enjoyment.

So let me catch you up on what has happened so far with Windsong. I went to look at the boat a few weekends ago as mentioned in a previous post. I had to drive a little over two hours to the big bend area of Florida to see it in Inglis. I had never seen this area of Florida at all, so it was a treat to do some exploring. It is a very "old" Florida, very nature oriented and not very populated. Little historic towns with a lot of retirees looking for some quiet on the waterways. So anyways...I meet up with the broker, Jim, at the sellers house to check out the boat. He keeps it on a dock at his house which is on a canal a few dozen meters away from the Withlacoochie river, near where it dumps into the Gulf of Mexico.

I had studied the boat intensely on the internet so I knew what to expect when looking around it. My first impressions were neutral, no worse or better than I expected. Coming into it I knew of a few things based on picture observations and discussions with the broker: the running rigging needs replacing, the inside needs cleaning and a little TLC, most electronics are old and either not functioning (radar) or just needs a modern upgrade (gps, vhf, autopilot), the engine runs fine and only has 900 hours on it, and everything else resembles what a well aged 34 year old boat should look like. I confirmed everything listed there and added a few more things to the list of necessary repairs/upgrades. Initially I noticed that the anchor chain is pretty rusted and corroded, warranting replacement. The standing rigging, sails, mast and booms all looked in decent condition. I carefully inspected the rigging for cracks and corrosion. So just from a topside perspective, once the anchor chain/rode and running rigging are replaced, it should be in sailable condition. The deck was very clean, no soft spots, and all hardware was bedded tight.

The only other areas of major concern were inside. I was a little taken aback by the condition of the insides especially because the topsides were quite clean (he had the boat pressure washed). Luckily, most of it is just dirt which can be easily cleaned off the bulkhead (I wiped some away with my thumb and found it to be bright white underneath!). The vinyl headliner is coming off and the foam underneath it is deteriorating, so that will need work. There is some old wall paper in areas that will have to come off too. The insides are made of holly and teak, which will need some cleaning and varnishing. But once the place has a good scrub down, it should look real nice. The insides are massive compared to the 30'-32' boats I have been on! The cabin size of those were just below a good comfort level, this cabin is well beyond.

I of course inspected every nook and cranny. I found a few areas where leaks had happened, but could easily trace them to things like a poorly bedded stanchion, or where some other deck fitting will need rebedding. The bilge was dry, however, and with the many inches of rain that have fallen on the boat, I was confident it wasn't taking on much rain water.

The initial look through left me with no more excitement than I came in with, it actually dampened it all (I was buzzing the previous night). The reality of the project in front of me hit, and it was a lot to think about. The broker began the pressure telling me about the offers has had on the boat, and that there are others waiting in line to look at it and put an offer on it. So if I wanted it, it was now or never. He gave me until Monday to decide before he gave it to the next guy. He liked me, liked my enthusiasm and energy, and wanted to sell it to me. I came to like Jim, he is a legit guy and fun to talk to. I don't know how much of everything he said was just sales talk, but a lot of it seemed to ring true, especially the interest in the boat. If you remember, I had tried to look at it before but someone had already put an offer on it. Things didn't get finished, so I had a second chance. I didn't want it to slip through, because finding a boat this big in my price range would be a miracle that I might not see again in my boat buying time. Here are the pictures from the first trip out there kicking the tires. I wish I got more, but I was so busy just staring at stuff I got distracted:

So I went home and did some more research on everything I saw that concerned me. After spending the evening on the internet, I decided I would go back the following day to check it out again. I had a few more concerns about what I saw, and needed to clear those out of my head before I decided on anything. When I went back with a little more knowledge on its issues, things started to look better actually! I noticed that the big things that need to be done are actually not that big of a deal, and that a weekend of cleaning will make the inside look spectacular (relatively). I triple checked everything on the boat to make sure I was satisfied. I went home to think about my decision and eventually called the broker with my offer. I won't mention any dollar amounts until it is fully closed on.

My offer was accepted and the very next day we we had a signed contract! Once the contract was signed, I needed to sign the "Acceptance of Vessel", which stated that it is satisfactory to all my requirements. We did a sea trial on it the next weekend to make sure the engine ran well and it is a functioning boat. I didn't anticipate any problems on the trial, and it was actually a fantastic afternoon on the boat. We rode up the river to the inlet and back again, a total of about 10 miles and 2.5 hours on the water with the engine running. It purred like a dream! Along the way I noticed the MASSIVE fish in the water near where the salt and fresh water converged. Redfish and Snook 3 feet long+ were just chilling in the water as we rolled by. I cannot wait to get my fishing rod out there. I had brought my camera to take more pictures of the boat, but as I took the first shot I realized I left my memory card at home, oh well. I a couple from my phone though, here we are on the river:

The sea trial went great, so I accepted the vessel. I needed to scramble to secure financing and eventually got that done through USAA. While they were very easy to get the loan with, but were kind of a pain in the to get the money sent to the right place. Where they could just wire the money into the broker's escrow account, they send a check in the name of the seller to my address...who knows. But I have the check now, and with my paycheck today I have enough to pay the balance, sales tax, and registration fees. The boat is a U.S. Coast Guard registered vessel, which is a great thing to have when traveling internationally. Unfortunately, to renew it it requires a documenting company who charges $450 to get it done, or I could do it myself and save a little money. I decided to just go with the company to get it all done quickly, they handle the title, lien, and registration stuff too. It hurt to pay, but I needed to get all of this done before I left for Costa Rica so the faster the better.

That is where I am right now. I am hesitant to say that I have the boat because it snit fully closed on yet. But it is 90% done, so I can get excited, and excited I am! One of the major influencing factors in buying the boat is the fact that the seller is letting me keep it at his dock for as long as I need to make the boat seaworthy. Keep in mind that you typically pay around $10-15 a foot per month for marina storage, so this is saving me a lot of money each month I have it there. I definitely computed that into the costs. He is even offering me a room and bathroom to stay at while I work on the boat there! He is a really nice guy who lives there alone while his wife is starting a business in Alaska. He is slowly trying to sell everything so he can get up there, but taking his time in this economy. Very chill guy who will be nice to hang around and gain knowledge from as I work on the boat.

I return from Costa Rica next weekend, and the following weekend will be spent at the boat doing inventory and cleaning it as best we can. There are a ton of spare parts, manuals, charts, tools and things I need to inventory to see what it has and what condition everything is in. I'll then come back the next weekend and start to work on things like the running rigging. Hopefully I can get all of the work done by the end of summer and have it ready to cruise down the West coast. I plan on stopping at a DIY boat yard to have it hauled out and to work on it throughout the winter on the hard, bringing it up to safe condition for a long passage. I plan on eventually bringing it around Florida to the East coast, but it will need to be safe to make the journey. Hopefully by this time next year the boat will be close for me to use on weekends!

Once I accepted the vessel I put a big order in to Amazon.com for a bunch of new books. Most of the books I have describe the "whats" in terms of boats and cruising, now I need the "how to's". Such as marine diesel engines, electronics, mechanics, rigging, navigation, etc. I used recommendations from the previous books I read, and they all seemed to converge on a similar set of authors for the definitive books. Most of them have already arrived and I have begun my studies. It feels like I am back in school, but for something I want to study more than anything I have encountered previously. Hopefully I will really be able to plow through the books while in Costa Rica with some relaxation time. Here are the books I just added to my library:

The Cruisers Handbook of Fishing - by Scott and Wendy Bannerot: This book was available to me early online through an option with Amazon, easily one of the best books I have gotten for sailing. I am learning so much about fishing my brain is ready to pop. I can't wait to try it out.

Cruising with your Four-Footed Friends. The Basics of Travel with your Cat or Dog - by Dianna Jesse: Basically I plan on getting a dog in the next few years. I want to be educated on my decision to hopefully pick the right breed for a boat companion.

Coastal Navigation using GPS for Sail and Power - by Frank Larkin: This book goes into detail with easy to understand language to completely cover chart navigation and integrating GPS into the mix. While I learned the basics of navigation through my courses and more by reading the American Practical Navigator (a little tough to read honestly), I could use some more advanced teaching to learn how to use the GPS for course plotting.

Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance, Troubleshooting, and Repair - by Nigel Calder: I came into this with only basic knowledge of engines. I plan on becoming a pretty good amateur mechanic though this process. This is apparently THE book to get down and dirty with the engine. I've been enjoying the read and really appreciate the knowledge it is giving me.

Adlard Coles' Heavy Weather Sailing, Sixth Edition: Pretty much the definitive book on the subject. Everyone recommended it.

Don Casey's Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual: This will be THE book to help me get this boat in great condition. It contains six of his time honored books:

Don Casey’s Complete Illustrated Sailboat Maintenance Manual combines six core volumes into a single, utterly dependable resource that answers every frequent question, explains every major system, and helps you keep your boat and its components shipshape.
More than 2,500 clear and detailed illustrations guide you step by step through every procedure. Casey’s technical virtuosity, his user-friendly explanations, and Peter Compton's diesel engine expertise make even the more complicated repairs and improvements easy to understand. This must-have guide saves you time, money, and grief as you learn the fastest, easiest, most effective ways to:
Evaluate the condition of your boat or one you’re about to purchase
Repair structural damage to your fiberglass sailboat
Improve or repair your sailboat’s electrical system
Troubleshoot, maintain, and repair your boat’s diesel engine
Put a professional-looking finish on your boat’s hull, deck, spars, wood, and trim
Make and repair sails, sail covers, dodgers, awnings, sailbags, and bimini tops

So I have the money and the signed closing documents that I plan on sending out today. Hopefully when I return from my trip, the boat will be all mine!!! All of this was pretty stressful leading up to this trip, so hopefully I can actually relax once there. I think a few perfect waves will do me just fine.

Check out the waves there today, swell on the rise...

hell yes

Financing Approved

2009-06-02T07:20:00.000-07:00

I just got off the phone with the bank and my financing for Windsong has been approved!!! All that's left is to do the sea trial and survey this weekend.

The reality of this is slowly sinking in, but hasn't really hit yet. I'm excited yet nervous.

OMG!

2009-06-01T10:31:00.000-07:00

I can't reveal too much yet, and it's not completely final, but Windsong (the Downeaster 38) could be mine in three weeks time! I saw it this weekend, inspected it thoroughly and decided I wanted it. I made an offer on it, submitted my deposit and now I just have to secure financing. This weekend I give it a sea trial, and once the financing is complete, the boat will be mine!

I'll be sure to write up a big post about this whole process with the boat, but I need to focus my time elsewhere right now.

Cross your fingers all goes well!

Saving sucks.

2009-05-28T07:05:00.000-07:00

I've been lazily boat shopping for a while now. Just browsing the net for anything new, but not really getting excited about anything. There are plenty of boats that I could potentially buy, but I am in no rush since I am still saving.

As I have been looking through ads, I noticed that the Downeaster 38 is still up on most sites, and has been posted to new ones since I asked about it. I emailed the broker again and asked what was up, sure enough the person who was going to buy it failed to come up with a deposit so its back on the market. I plan on going up to see it this weekend so wish me luck!

This will be my first boat walk through with the owners or a broker so I'm sorta nervous. I have a lot of guidelines on what to look for, but I hope I don't miss anything in the excitement of it.

I have about 1/5 of the cost of the boat saved up, so I would feel fine about putting that down as a deposit and financing the rest. As long as I stick with my budget, I won't be putting any strain on my goal. It is amazing how the habits I developed while getting out of debt have stuck with me. I still think every purchase over many times before buying anything, unlike a few years ago when I bought anything I wanted without a second thought. Since I have this mind set, I have been able to save more than I had anticipated when I put together my budget a few months back. I am happy with the progress, but with this progress comes a lot of sacrifices.

I still sacrifice a lot of discretionary spending in order to keep my savings up. Unfortunately, a lot of the things start to wear on me from time to time. Its hard to see my friends go out to dinner or to a bar week in and week out. I want to go, but eating and drinking out is the easiest spending category for me to save in. Last year when I made the big push to change my spending habits in order to save, I saw that my budget was eaten away each month mostly from nights on the town. The hard reality set in after I gave up going out for a while and then tried to go back. The check at the end of the night hurt like it never had before. But I like that it hurts, it proves that my habits have truly changed, and I have indeed become a more frugal person.

I don't really know how to tell people that I can't go out or do whatever because I'm broke. They know I'm not broke, and could easily call me out on it. But do they understand why I'm not spending money? Do they really believe that I am saving for a sailing journey or do they just see it as an excuse lately? Sometimes I get a cold shoulder when I pass on an activity, and lately I've seen less invites from my friends to do pretty much anything, and that sucks. I understand that I put myself in this position, but do they understand why?

While most of my friends have a vague idea that I'm looking to buy a boat, I don't think many understand that my mind is completely set on making this boat not just a toy, but an avenue to a new life. I'm sure its hard for them to really get behind my cause and support me currently, because its all just a dream right now and to them, me saving money for a big cruise just looks like me being a boring friend who doesn't do much anymore. I have no boat, I have no one pushing me to do this for motivation, I have nothing solid but a blog and some savings. Hell, I have a hard time bringing up this dream to many of my friends, because we have all talked about doing something this outrageous many many times, but only in passing jest. It is always said when we see an island, go on vacation, or see someone traveling more than we are to say "lets say screw our lives and go do that!" Do my friends really realize that I mean business? Will it shock them in a few years when I announce that I am untying the dock lines for good? Will they care? Will it all click with them that while I was being a little reclusive, I was using all of my willpower to fulfill a dream?

Sorry for the rant, not sure where I am going with this. I've just been a little down lately about everything. Hell, I haven't even been able to pursue my personal hobbies such as beer brewing lately due to my savings push. I almost feel like I need to get the boat sooner rather than later, so the motivation is physical, people close to me can see I mean business, and maybe I'll actually get a little support and conversation from those people.

Until then, I'm nothing more than another guy sitting in an office wishing I was doing something better.

"Dream lofty dreams, and as you dream, so you shall become. Your vision is the promise of what you shall one day be; your ideal is the philosophy of what you shall at last unveil." - James Lane Allen

Backpacking and other stuff

2009-04-30T06:49:00.001-07:00

Well I contacted the broker who listed the Downeaster 38 from the last post about seeing it this weekend. Turns out someone just put a deposit on it...oh wells. That could have been a really good deal, but I have plenty of time to find the right one.

Lately I haven't been doing much other than continuing to find ways to save my cash and be on the lookout for boats. I've searched around marinas in Cape Canaveral, Titusville, Green Cove Springs and St. Augustine. I've found a few for sale, but nothing really stand-out. If the motivation hits me, I'll post some pix and review some of the boats I saw. But going out and just seeing the boats docked and on the hard has helped me visualize a lot of the things I read about in my studies. It is a lot of fun and I'll continue to explore marinas.

Hopefully over the course of this blog you will get to know me a bit more as a person. As someone who has obvious adventure lust, I do many other things to keep myself occupied and entertained aside from surfing and sailing. One of my many hobbies is backpacking. Before I go further, let me clarify....when I mention backpacking to most people, they seem to visualize someone hauling a backpack through trains and hostels in Europe. Not so my friend...I am talking about backwoods, primitive camping type backpacking. Where you hike many miles carrying your food, water, clothes, cooking supplies and everything you need to survive out there. It is a great thrill to hike deep into the wilderness, find a pristine site to post up camp, have a relaxing evening, and then pack up in the morning to keep hiking.

Backpacking is something I anticipate doing while on my cruise. With my gear and knowledge, I should have a cheap and easy way to explore land wherever I happen to be. Hiking around an island and camping on a secluded beach with a perfect surf break out front....oh yeah.

This previous weekend I went to hike the north loop of the Richloam tract in the Withlacoochee State Forest. Here is the description of the trail from the Florida Trail Association:

The Richloam Tract of Withlacoochee State Forest offers a wide variety of plant and animal life. Of interest here is a state owned herd of longhorn cattle descended from the original Spanish cows, and one of the state’s top fish hatcheries.

Follow the perimeter trail for a 25.6-mile weekend backpacking loop, or take a long day hike using the cross trails, which enable you to configure loops of 10, 12, and 14 miles. The trail passes through cypress floodplains, bayheads, pine-palmetto flatlands, hardwood hammocks and open pine prairies. Ancient live oaks shade the trail in places. There is also a relict experimental eucalyptus plantation from the 1930's that the loop trail passes through. Wildflowers are abundant from March until November.

The trail borders the Withlacoochee River in the southwest and the Little Withlacoochee River in the northern section and crosses numerous streams which drain the tract. Eagles, deer, turkeys, and other wildlife inhabit the area. Fishing is good here.

I figured this trail would be a good overnighter, have plenty of water, and give us something to do when we hit camp (fish). We (me, 2 buddies and a dog) hit the trail Saturday morning and started off at a the Richloam fire tower. The thing was locked, but that didn't stop me from climbing it. The stair well was rotting away making it a very nervy climb and the tower swayed this way and that. But I kept going until I got to the top only to find the last flight locked from passage. Below are pictures from the trailhead

Gear ready to go:

View from the top of the tower:

View from the bottom:

We filled up our water bottles at the tower and started the hike! Our first objective was to take some connector trails to the outer edge of the loop. The hike started off in dense forest and made for great shade and scenery. Otis (the dog) loved being out there and was a joy to watch. He even had his own saddle bags to carry gear.

I had a sugar cane that I dried out about a year ago to use as a hiking stick. It was extremely light, had some flex to it yet was sturdy enough for a hiking pole. Unfortunately at the end of the day, I had to use it to avoid falling down a hole and it bent under my weight.

We saw some interesting plants, if you can identify any of the flowers and plants I have pictures of, please leave a comment! We took pictures to figure out what we saw. This one had a very strange stem that fanned out onto four corners, almost like the stem itself was a leaf.

There were many fallen trees suspended in the air by other trees. Very neat to walk through them.

Here I am as we reached the outer loop from the connector trails. From here we had about 6 miles to go to the area we had planned on camping. Near the campsite is supposedly lakes and the Little Withlacoochee River to do some fishing and get water from.

Some other plant we found that was possibly edible from what we remembered

Here we are crossing Old Hwy 50. We travel the current Hwy 50 so much, this was a bit historical :)

Found some standing dead trees and decided to do the right thing and push them!

More suspended trees:

After a few miles of walking, I began to notice how dry the area was for supposedly the "wettest" hike of the area. All of the cypress swamps were bone dry, and then we came across what looked like where a pond should be...completely dry. We had a look around:

We then came across the portion of the trail that runs along the Little Withlacoochee River. We didn't realize we were on the river, because there was no river there. Only a dried up river bed. Immediately I started to get anxious about the water situation. We only had enough water to hydrate us on the hike to camp and we had anticipated on purifying water from the ponds and river. The map showed a couple of bigger lakes and even a sink hole by the camp so hope remained. The sink hole "Blue Sink" came to us first. It was off a small side trail and when we came to it, we were disappointed to find it so low and murky looking. At least we had found a water source if nothing else showed up. Unfortunately, every animal in the region probably used it for water as well.

From here the camp site was supposed to be less than a mile. We hiked a little bit and noticed all of the ponds were dried up, confirming the dire water situation. We hiked until we reached a dirt road that the map showed as beyond the camping area, but we didn't want to back track. The map showed a large lake and a sectioned off "day recreation area" to the north, and the dirt road we were on would take us there in under a mile. We hiked up to it and found an information kiosk with a hand drawn map of the area. The map looked like it had a big lake in the middle of it and one of the trails was even named "lake trail", so we decided to give it a shot. About 30 yards in, I thought to myself "man, I should have taken a picture of the trail map", but instead of turning around and doing so, I decided to trust my brain. This would have been fine if we had not already hiked 8 miles and were ready to collapse.

We missed our side trial to the lake and ended up hiking about 2 miles in this recreation area until we reached the boundary at a railroad track. We used the compass to orient ourselves towards the lake and kept going grudgingly. About 15 minutes later, spirits diminishing and coming to the conclusion that we had to backtrack all the way to Blue Sink, we finally reached the lake. And sure enough, it was bone dry...

We were all completely defeated at this point. There was absolutely no water in the area except Blue S(t)ink, and we had to backtrack to get there. We sat down in defeat to rest for a bit, just staring at the dry lake wondering how this could happen to us, when one of us looked around the corner and shouted "water!!!"

Turns out only half of the lake was dry, and right around a bend was a full side of the lake! The water was super low, but there was plenty of it:

We were extremely relieved and excited. We dropped our packs and explored around the lake for the best spot to camp. While walking around we noticed a ton of good sized fish in the lake, and I couldn't wait to throw out a line. Eventually we set up camp on the west side of the lake, which had a steep incline to stop gators from creeping up on us. It turned out to be an absolutely beautiful camp site.

After setting up camp and resting a bit, we pumped water into our bottles and fired up dinner. I packed up a small bag full of my dinner, water and fishing gear to enjoy lakeside. I found a spot that looked like it had a lot of fish and enjoyed the sunset with a line out and dinner in my mouth. Everyone else came down eventually, Otis was chained at camp to keep guard. As the sun was setting we noticed many gator heads poking out of the water, so we knew we weren't alone. Some Sandhill Cranes were gathering on the banks as well coming in 2 at a time from the air. As the pairs would float down, the others would call out to them with a shriek. You can see them in the background:

We only had cheap lures and weren't catching anything, but did have a few tugs. We found another lake with even more fish around the bend, giving us a laugh at the abundance of water where we thought we would have none! We fished in the dark for a bit at the new lake until we gave up and decided to hit the sack.

After sleeping soundly for a few hours, I was woken up by a terrifying shriek. It sounded like a crazy lady making a very long scream, until a chorus of screams answered the first one. It sounded otherwordly and sent shivers down my spine. Then as all of the screams let up, they started barking clueing us in that they were wild dogs. These things were definitely close, most likely down by the water. They wouldn't constantly howl, but it would happen every hour or so after I would dose off, just to wake me up again. It is difficult to describe the sound they made, but it was very spooky. We had Otis as protection, but I feared a pack of wild dogs would overwhelm him if we went to explore.

Since I was scared awake, I started to hear gators in the water splashing around while hunting, and many other critters in the woods behind us. About 2 hours before sunrise Otis began to bark a lot at something that was getting uncomfortably close. Sleep was an afterthought at this point, I just held close to my big knife, and was ready to pounce on whatever beast came into our camp alongside Otis. It was definitely the spookiest night of camping I have ever had. It may not be a good idea to camp at one of the only watering holes in many many square miles, too many animals lurking at night.

The morning was pleasant, but we were all sore and I lacked sleep. We had an 8 mile hike around the rest of the trial loop to do in the heat of the day. And as luck would have it, both of our water purifiers failed at the same time, leaving us with only a few bottles of water (I was the odd man out with practically none). How ironic that our water pumps would fail after we went through so much just to find the water source. But we kept positive and figured that we had enough water to finish the hike.

On we go!

Here are some gnarly looking flowers that caught our eye:

We reached the entrance to the area we camped in, and found that map I should have taken a picture of. So, I did so. Even though it was too late, it was a funny memory to keep.

The rest of the hike was much like the previous day, but a bit hotter. We rationed our water and took it easy for most of the way. Stopping a few times for a snack and a breather. My feet were beginning to feel very sore, and I had a tight muscle behind my left knee bothering me. These are all relics of playing soccer all week, I definitely made a mental note to take it easy before I do these hikes.

Near the end of the trail we ran into a tortoise!

We reached the end of the hike shortly after and packed up to go home. All in all, a great trip with a few problems, nothing catastrophic though. My estimate is that we hiked 18 miles total. It should have been about 15-16, but all of the extra hiking in the day use area upped our total. I would like to check this area out after the rainy season to see how different it is.

Thanks for reading!

38' Downeaster Cutter

2009-04-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

I'm smitten on this boat a bit. It is a 1975 38' Downeaster Cutter. It is at the top of my range, they are asking $25k. But it is one of the biggest, and toughest looking boats I have come across in my price range. Judging from the photos, it could use some work; although it looks well rigged to go anywhere. Here are the specs from the ad:

Additional Specs, Equipment and Information:

Builder/Designer

Builder: Downeaster

Designer: Henry Morschiadt

Dimensions

LOA: 38'	LWL: 29.5	Beam: 11' 8"
Displacement: 19,500	Draft: 5'	Bridge Clearance: 48'

Engines

Engine(s): Diesel

Engine(s) HP: 50

Engine Model: Yanmar

Tankage

Fuel: 90

Water: 100

Holding: 14

Stern.

Cabin Entry

Helm

50hp Yanmar Diesel

Bowsprit and Anchor

Topside

Mast

Bunks and setee

Accommodations
Forward Stateroom, Convertible bunks portside in salon Convertible dinette, and starboard aft 3/4 berth. This vessel will sleep 7.

Seafrost refrigeration with engine mount and 110V compressors
Diesel cabin heater

3-burner LPG stove

Sails & Winches

1 mainsail with cover
1 roller furling jib with attached cover
3 #8 Lewmar winches

1 staysail with cover
2 #25 Lewmar winches

Cockpit & Helm

Stainless Helm with Tiller backup

Navigation & Electronics

1 Alpha 4404 autopilot
1 Raytheon 1200 radar
1 Garmin GPS 50

1 Ritchie 5” compass
1 Garmin GPS 120
1 Raytheon VHF

Mechanical & Electrical

5 12 V SG-29 sealed gel cell batteries in three banks
2 35 amp 115V shore power cords
1 35 amp splitter

1 Westmarine 40 amp multistage battery charger
1 50 amp to 35 amp reducer

So far so good! I did further research and found the following article on it. Check out the link for more pix and diagrams. I love the description:

DOWNEASTER 38

"Designer Henry Morschladt
Newport Beach, California
Builder Down East Yachts Inc.
700 E. Alton Avenue
Santa Ana, California 92707

LOA 38 ft. 11.58 m.
LWL 29 ft. 8.84 m.
BEAM l1 ft. 10 in. 3.61 m.
DRAFT 4 ft. 11 in. 1.50 m.
DISPLACEMENT 19,500 lbs. 8,845 kg.
BALLAST (encapsulated lead) 8,000 lbs. 3,630 kg.
SAIL AREA (cutter rig) 665 sq. ft. 62 sq. m.
ENGINE Faryman diesel (24 hp; 32 hp optional)
FUEL 90 gals. 340 liters (Note this should read 75 gals - CP)
WATER 50 gals. (100 gals. 190 liters (380
optional) liters optional)
CONSTRUCTION Fiberglass hull and deck; aluminum
fuel tank; stainless-steel water
tank; aluminum spars

The Downeaster 38 was conceived by Bob Poole, a Maine sailor transplanted to the West Coast, as a "classic cruising yacht utilizing modern materials and technology where they belong while retaining the traditional features of the fine early cruising yachts of Down East." Himself experienced in fiberglass yacht construction as an executive of Columbia Yachts, Poole commissioned Henry Morschladt, a young California naval architect who specializes in cruising sailboats, to come up with a suitable design. The result is a straightforward, common-sense boat that will evoke a nostalgic twinge in those who remember what sailboats used to look like. The Downeaster 38 is no greyhound of the sea, but in the long run a friendly shaggy dog makes the better companion for many of us, and for such people the 38 or something like it may very well be the right boat.

The Downeaster 38 is a larger boat than its overall length would indicate since the waterline length is 29 feet and the beam is nearly 12 feet. A ballast displacement ratio of 41 percent, together with the large beam, means that the 38 will stay on her feet despite the shoal draft of just under five feet. Three rigs are available: cutter, ketch, and schooner. All seem well proportioned and easy to manage, though the sail plan in each case is rather on the scant side. The basic sail area of the schooner can be augmented to a greater extent than the other rigs by setting a 498-square-foot gollywobbler between the masts or even a 727-square foot "gollyaker" (a balloon jib set from the main masthead), but it seems a shame to be obliged to use such clumsy sails in light airs on a cruising boat. Still, when the wind pipes up a bit. all three versions of the Downeaster 38 ought to perform merrily without imposing any' stress on their crews. There are a few items in the sail plans I don't particularly like-for instance, the angle of the mainsheet in the cutter and the pin rails in the shrouds of the ketch and schooner-but these are easily corrected.

The interior of the 38 is conventional in outline and well thought out in detail. The forward cabin sports a double berth. The starboard side of the main cabin has a pilot berth outboard of a settee and the port side can be arranged either in the same way or with a settee that converts to a double with a shelf over it. The galley has a double sink near the centerline, a desirable feature, and opposite is a fixed chart table and a quarter berth.

Construction specifications seem high, with the laminate to Lloyd's requirements. Seacocks on all through-hull fittings below the waterline, a steel back-bone in the rudder, and so forth. Sand set in a polyurethane adhesive is used for nonskid deck surfaces in place of the customary molded patterns that are invariably slippery when wet. Mr. Poole clearly cares about his customers. Another welcome item is the provision for hand-starting of the engine in an emergency. Wheel steering is standard, as are two independent batteries. Lots of options are available, of which some really ought to be part of the standard boat: an emergency tiller, the grounding of the rigging for lightning protection, a set of metric tools and a spare-parts kit for the German engine, dorade ventilators, and grab rails in the interior. Still. as production boats go, the Downeaster 38 is better in this respect than most, and on the whole. designer and Builder are to be congratulated on their work."