Saturday, November 10, 2012

Tarping the boat for winter


This past Thursday afternoon my brother and I took off from work to tarp the boat.
 
This time we laid them out on the ground, measured and then made cuts to accommodate the mast, shrouds and stays. We also reinforced each cut with tape so it would hopefully hold up better through the winter snows and winds.
 
We put the tarps on and then used bunches of bungee cords to keep them in place.  We ran out of light before we could cut and install more permanent rope for the tie downs.
 
There are two tarps, one forward of the mast and the other aft of the mast and they overlap about 20 inches around the mast.


Thursday: Getting ready to tarp
 

Thursday: Frame and Boom Supports in the cockpit area

 
 
 
Thursday: Thursday afternoon tarp fitted

On Saturday, I we back to trim some excess tarp from around the bow and then install the rope tie downs.  I also added a piece of "Gorilla Tape" at each point where the tarps rubs against the frame.

 

Saturday: Stern area tarp
 
Saturday: Bow area tarp
 
Saturday: Starboard side looking forward
 
Saturday: Port side looking forward
 
Saturday: Added a piece of "Gorilla Tape" at each point where the tarp
rubs against the frame.  You can also see the screws my brother installed at each joint fitting.
 
Saturday: Looking forward after cutting and fitting the tarp.
 
Saturday: Looking aft after cutting and fitting the tarp.
 
 

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Still Getting Ready for Winter Storage

About a week and a half ago my brother took the afternoon off and put a screw into each of the PVC frame joints. That is a lot of pilot hole drilling and screwing. Thank goodness for cordless drills.
I had to work through the weekend last week so I wasn’t able do any work on the boat.
This past Saturday, I Finished the frame by putting a vertical PVC support and a boom support in the cockpit area. I also removed the boat batteries, bow pulpit and the port side life lines and stanchions.
On Sunday my brother and I removed the starboard side stanchions, life lines and the stern pulpit.
I had to crawl into the aft cockpit locker in order to get at the bolts holding the stern pulpit. The hardest part was getting my shoulders through the narrow opening. Once inside it wasn’t too bad.
Climbing into the stern locker
 
Not so bad once inside
We attempted to put the tarp on, but the wind had picked up a bit and the tarp I bought for the area forward of the mast was too large. After trying for about an hour to get it straightened out and battling the wind we gave up and went home.

Sunday, October 21, 2012

Getting Ready for Winter Storage


Saturday I went to the boat yard to continue the winterization process.  I had to drive around the yard slowly to find where they park the boat.  Since I told them I planned to put it back in the water in early April, they put me on the outside of the row.  Makes for easy access.

 
When they hauled the boat out of the water they power spray the bottom.  It looks pretty good.  No need for painting next season.   J

Found Thanks Dad next to a 50-55 footer on Saturday
 
I removed most items from the boat including the sails, lines, electronics, bilge pump and many other miscellaneous items.  I also “winterized” the head by flushing anti freeze through the system.
 

On Sunday I fabricated a frame for a winter cover.  I used 1” Schedule 40 PVC pipe.  I designed it so that I will be able to remove the bow and stern pulpit, stanchions and life lines.  I plan to have the bow and stern pulpits straightened over the winter.  I also plan to straighten and sand blast the stanchions.  The frame design should be good for this year without the pulpits and stanchions and it will also work for subsequent years when they are left in place.


The frame has a “T” fitting at the base of each leg which is 36” high.  Then it goes to a “45” degree fitting, another straight piece and then to a “T” at the peak.  The height above the deck is high enough to easily get around the entire boat. 
 
"T" fitting tied to the base of each stanchion
 
"45" degree fitting at the top of the "36" leg
 
Peak
 
Working around the mast (aft side)

 
Working around the Mast

 
I sprayed each fitting with silicon spray so that it will hopefully come apart easily next spring.  I plan to drill a pilot hole and then use a stainless steel screw at each fitting to make sure everything holds together.
 

Finished frame looking forward

Finished frame looking aft.
 
Frame in the bow

 








Sunday, October 14, 2012

Final weekend before hauling the boat for the winter....... was a bust : (

No sailing this weekend.

 
Saturday and Sunday both had lots of rain and even some thunder.

 
Sunday afternoon my brother and I brought the boat from the marina over to the boat yard in the rain.  There were tornado warnings in the county just south of the marina.  We didn’t experience anything other than rain for most of the trip and the rain stopped as we got close to the boat yard.

 
When we arrived at the yard, we kept the engine running to keep it hot. 

 
We closed the seacock for the engine cooling water and poured antifreeze into the water filter for the engine to get that step of the winterization process complete. 

 
We were also able to take the mainsail off the mast and stow it before the rain started back up.

 
The boat is scheduled to be hauled early this coming week.
 

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Bi-Polar Winds

I didn’t get the chance to go sailing on Saturday because the refrigerator at home decided to die Saturday morning just as I was getting ready to leave the house to go sailing.

 
On Sunday I went sailing with my brother. 
With only 1 week end left before we have the boat hauled out of the water, we had the holding tank for the head pumped out and filled up the fuel tank before heading out for the day’s sail.
The temperatures were on the “brisk” side with a high of 49 degrees while we were out sailing.  We both wore long johns, but for most of the day we only had to wear a sweatshirt.  With the sun out it was ok.  Towards the end of the day more clouds were overhead and with the sun behind the clouds it motivated us to put our jackets on, but it was still pretty comfortable.
The winds were all over the place in both speed and direction.  The wind speed ranged from 6 to 20 knots, picking up and slowing down and picking up and slowing down again many times. The direction of the wind was changing from coming out of the west to the north and then back again several times.
All in all it was a good day for a sail.
Last week I bought a new kite for my Kite Cam.  The wingspan was 50” compared to the 41” wingspan of my first kite.  I figured that would be enough to get the camcorder up.  I did not open the kite’s package though and once I did it was a big disappointment.  Yes the wingspan was bigger, but overall it was a tiny kite.  I pretty much knew it wasn’t going to work, but gave it a try anyway…it didn’t work.

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Kite Cam Down!!!!

On Saturday I went sailing with my father-in-law.  We had a pleasant sail with winds 5 - 12 knots and temps to 73 degrees.

Several weeks ago my dad suggested I should try sending my camcorder up on a Kite to get an aerial view of the boat sailing.  He saw videos of Kite Cams on YouTube and told me to give them a look.   I like the idea and made a bracket to hold the camcorder and bought a kite from the local hobby store.  My first attempt to get the camcorder airborne was a week ago in my back yard.  The winds were in the 10 knot range.  The weight of the camcorder and bracket were too heavy though and the kite was not able to get the camcorder more than a couple feet off the ground.

So I modified the bracket by punching several hole in it and was able to reduce the weight 58%.  It was 0.38 pounds and I got it down to 0.22 pounds.

On Saturday I tried flying my Kite Cam off the boat.  It got a little higher than it did last week in my back yard, but with the winds only about 12 knots and the camcorder and bracket still to heavy it did not quite work as I had hoped.

On my second attempt of the day it got up about 20 feet for a few seconds and then the kite did a nose dive into the lake…Kite Cam Down!  The line broke at the kite, but luckily the line held onto the camcorder and I was able to pull it back onboard.
 
Screen Capture from Kite Cam
 
Another Screen Capture from Kite Cam
I think my next kite needs to be bit bigger (more surface area) and I will see if I can reduce the weight of the bracket some more.


On Sunday, I went sailing with a friend.  There was a small craft advisory in effect with a forecast for winds of 15-20 knots and waves 2-4 feet building to 4-6 feet.  We didn’t venture too far from Waukegan in case things became uncomfortable.  As it turned out the waves were in the 2-4 foot range when we departed, but didn’t build at all and seemed to decline a bit.   Also, the winds didn’t get any higher than 12 knots.   The temperature got to 60 degrees and it was sunny, so the sail was a very enjoyable one. 

Sunday, September 23, 2012

First Fall Day sail

The weather forecast for Saturday had a small craft advisory in effect, calling for showers, big winds and big waves.  We decided not to go sailing.  I think it was a mistake because the showers didn’t happen and the waves didn’t get too big.

On Sunday, my wife and I went out for a pleasant Fall sail.  Coolest temperatures so far for us at 57 degrees.  Winds were 10 -15 knots and the skies were partly cloudy.  Temperature wise it was very comfortable and we both just wore sweat shirts and didn’t need to put on jackets.
Trying to get my wife more comfortable with the operation of the boat, I let her take it out of the marina.  We also practiced tacking a few times and she did a great job. 
 

Sunday, September 16, 2012

Enjoyed 2 days of sailing contrasts

On Saturday I went sailing with a couple friends.  We left about 2:00 and returned around 7:30.  Winds started out light at about 3 knots, but got to a brisk 15 knots.  As we returned, the colors of the sunset over Waukegan were pretty.

 
On Sunday I went sailing with my wife, daughter and her husband and his brother and his wife.  Winds were calm when we left and got to about 8 knots for the last half of the sail.

 
The new stern seats worked out very well.
 

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

Stern Seats

Many newer sailboats have stern seats.  My brother and I thought it would be good for us to also have some.  It would provide additional seating room and make for a more comfortable and less crowded cockpit area.  We decided we didn’t need the davits and would use the same mounting holes so as not to add any additional holes in the deck.
Davits Removed
I visited Kendore Marine Supply and found a couple of pieces of “King Starboard” that would do the trick for the seats.
I brought an old rectangular milk crate to the boat to use as a base to help determine what the height of the stern seats should be.  The milk crate has 3 different dimensions and we found that we liked the one that would put the top of the seat 13” above the deck.
 
Using milk crate to help determine height
 
 
I made a couple wooden bases out of plywood and 2x4s and brought them to the boat to get the exact dimensions needed for the design of the stern seat bases.
 
Wooden base mockups
Once I figured out the final base design requirements (dimensions and angles) I drew it up using AutoCAD and the guys at work fabricated and welded the stainless steel pieces.
 
 
 
 Last night after work my brother and I went up to the boat and installed them.
New stern seat bases installed
 
New stern seats
 
We still have a couple things to do before completing the project.  We still need to countersink the bolts holding the seats to the base and install the cup holders I bought for the seats.

Saturday, September 8, 2012

Big Winds on Saturday

On Saturday I went sailing with my wife and another couple. Winds were 10 - 15 knots with the occasional gust to 22 knots.
 
We logged a high speed of 6.9 knots and had the rail in the water a few times.
 
I didn’t get around to taking any pictures or video, but here is the GPS track for the sail.

 

Monday, September 3, 2012

Long weekend and only 1 day of sailing

I was really looking forward to the long Labor Day weekend. I had hoped to sail from Waukegan to Chicago on Saturday (30 miles by boat), then sail up and down the beautiful Chicago Lakefront on Sunday and return to Waukegan on Monday. BUT, remnants of Hurricane Issac decided to visit the Chicago area on Saturday and Sunday bringing rain, big winds and big waves to Lake Michigan.

I went to the boat on Saturday with a couple friends in the hopes that the rain would hold off until late in the afternoon. It didn’t. It started raining shortly after we arrived. We sat it the cabin and ate lunch hoping it would pass. It didn’t. We called it a day when we heard a couple thunder boomers.

I went back to the boat on Sunday with my wife and another couple. The forecast was for big winds and waves 3 – 5 feet subsiding to 1 – 3 feet later in the day. When we arrived the waves were pretty big. We waited about an hour and kept on eye on them. They seemed to die down a bit (wishful thinking playing tricks on our eyes) and we decided to go out knowing it would be an exciting ride. We didn’t get far. We encountered a couple short frequency 8 footers pretty quickly, one of which buried the bow. We were getting pretty wet from the spray and decided to go back in.
Getting ready to head out

Almost cleared the marina's breakwater heading out

Got some white caps

Heading back in

My wife happy to be back in the marina

On Monday Lake Michigan calmed down. My brother and I went out with light winds and 1 -2 foot waves. There was a lot of pent up demand for sailing. I had not seen so many sailboats out at one time as on Monday. It looked like a sea of sails as we headed out. I made a bracket for my sport camcorder and hoisted it up the back stay. It wasn’t very stable. In the video from Monday’s sail I had to set the video clip to slow motion in order to keep from getting sea sick when watching it.


Monday, August 27, 2012

Light winds, laid back and relaxing


On Monday, my cousins from out-of-town, my brother and I went sailing.  The cousins were in to help celebrate my youngest daughter’s wedding.


We were all just chillin
 
The day was beautiful, but the winds were light.  Average speed was about 2.5 knots.  We enjoyed a nice relaxed sail and lunch.

 
Since we were one of only a couple boats out on the lake, the flies thought we were an oasis away from the shore.  I haven’t figured out yet when to expect to see flies.  Some days with light winds they are there and some they are not.  Some days with big winds they are there and some they are not?



Tuesday, August 21, 2012

First Evening Sail

Nice evening sail. Winds were 10-12 knots with waves ~1 foot. Our best speed of the evening was 5.6 knots.
 
Largest group yet, 7 of us. My youngest daughter, her fiancée and 4 of his relatives visiting for the upcoming wedding.

Heading back to Waukegan as the sun is setting.



Sunday, August 19, 2012

Nice sail Saturday

I went sailing on Saturday with my youngest daughter and her fiancée. It was a very pleasant day with winds 5-10 knots (closer to 10 knots for most of the sail) and waves in the 1 - 2 foot range.



Sunday, August 12, 2012

Exciting…7.0 knots and 10 foot waves

Saturday I went sailing with the husbands of 2 of my wife’s cousins.  My youngest daughter’s wedding shower was being held at my house and the guys and I made a bee-line for the boat.  There were big winds and big waves. 

There were storms on Lake Michigan Friday with waves to 15 ft coming over the Waukegan Harbor Marinas breakwater.  I watched this on the Marinas web cam Friday afternoon.

The forecast for Saturday called for waves to decline to less than 1 foot on Sunday.  When we left, the waves were about 4 - 5 feet with no white caps in sight and the winds were 15 knots.  While we were out, the wind switched direction a bit and instead of the wave heights declining, they built to 5 – 7 feet with white caps and the occasional 10 footer and the winds got to 23 knots. 

It made for an exciting ride.  We recorded a max speed of 7.0 knots, a new record for “Thanks Dad”. Once the big winds and big waves hit I needed to be at the helm and keep a close eye on things, so I didn’t get a chance to break out the video camera to record the excitment.
Heading out before the wind and waves picked up
On Sunday a friend from work and I went out.  Winds and waves were much lighter.  Winds were 5-10 knots and the waves were less than 1 foot.  The best part of the day was the last 30 minutes as we headed back towards Waukegan, when the winds picked up as we got closer to the shore line and we were sailing at 5.0 knots.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Wow! 6.9 knots!

2 great days sailing this weekend.

On Saturday I went out with a friend from work. He had never been sailing before and enjoyed himself. Winds were 8 - 12 knots and the waves were in the 2 - 4 foot range.

We had to get back into the marina early in the afternoon due to a big storm with winds to 70 mph winds forecast in the late afternoon. We got back in with plenty of time to spare. Thank goodness, since the forecast was accurate.

He brought his video camera.

On Sunday my brother and I went sailing.  We had the best day sailing so far this summer. We got up to 6.9 knots!  It was great fun. Winds were 14-22 knots.  Wave action was 2-3 feet.  Sunny with temps in the high 70s.   It was a great sail.

 

Sunday, July 29, 2012

Best weekend yet for sailing

On Saturday I brought four friends for a pleasant sail. The sun was shining, winds were 5 -8 knots.




Sunday was the best day yet this season. My brother, father-in-law and I went out. Winds were a brisk 10 – 15 knots, waves were 2 – 3 foot with the occasional 5 footer sneaking in. The temperature was 78 degrees and the skies were mostly overcast so it wasn’t too hot. I really love this type of sailing weather.

Monday, July 23, 2012

Light Winds Weekend

My wife at the helm.
Saturday my wife and I went out sailing by ourselves. We had a brief encounter with enough wind to move us at a clip of about 4 knots, but most of the afternoon we were in the doldrums.

Sunday my brother and I went out. Winds were a little better, but nothing to get excited about. I did play with my new “Sports camcorder”. It is water proof and I mounted it on a 10 foot telescoping
pole.
 



Monday, July 16, 2012

Waukegan Harbor Marina

I had to make a visit to the boat after work today to replace the bilge pump that stopped working. While there I decided to take a 360 degree panorama of "Thanks Dad's" home. Click picture to view, then click and drag to rotate image.

GPS track of yesterday's sail

You can change "Settings to HD" for a better view.

Sunday, July 15, 2012

Bonus Sail

I have been out of the country for the past 3 weeks and had expected to miss out on sailing for 4 weekends in a row. 
On my return trip, I was originally scheduled to arrive in NYC on Friday with an overnight layover returning home on Saturday night.
With some help from my friends at American Airlines, I was able to get on a Friday night flight home and now had both Saturday and Sunday at home.  Of course I had to go sailing on this bonus day.
My brother, wife and another couple went out for 4 hours.  It was a good afternoon of sailing.

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Beautiful weather for a Father's Day sail!

Friday after work my friend from work and I moved the boat from the boat yard back to the marina.  The yard had finished the new shroud. 

My wife and I had planned to go sailing on Saturday with some friends, but the weather did not cooperate.  The forecast was for 40% chance of scattered thunder storms.  I decided that it would not be wise to chance sailing in thunderstorms.  I had gone to the boat in the morning and was planning on meeting them there at 1:00.  I was able to work for several hours taking care of some odds and ends.

Sunday was another story all together.  My wife, father-in-law, oldest daughter and son-in-law went for a wonderful 3.5 hour sail.

My iPhone has a nautical GPS app that records the trip and plots it on a chart.  We traveled a total of 11.8 nautical miles.  Here are a couple screen captures.

Detailed chart of the Waukegan area with our trip overlayed.
I started recording just outside the marina and finished after we returned to the slip

Bigger overview of the entire trip

It turns out that this group are great crew members.  I let them do all the work and I gave orders!