Excellent day for sailing

My brother, two friends and I went out for a sail.

For most of the day it was sunny with winds mostly from the south at about 15 knots. Waves in the 1 -2 foot range.

Prior to departing, we spent about 45 minutes on a few short projects one of which was finishing the wiring to the Autopilot (SIMRAD TP22). Shortly after we got under sail I brought out the Autopilot and we ended up letting it “steer” for most of the 4 hours we were out. I was surprised at how well it worked. Looking at the GPS track for the day illustrated just how well it held our courses.

The weather forecast called for thunderstorms in the evening starting around 8:00 pm in the Waukegan area. About two hours into the sail we noticed clouds building in the west and looking at the weather RADAR (Smartphones are a great thing to have when sailing) we saw a line of heavy storms about 100 miles away, west of Rockford. The Waukegan forecast still said storms wouldn’t hit until 8:00 pm. About half an hour later the clouds continued building and checking the RADAR again we saw that a line of new storms popped up between us and the line of storms out by Rockford. I decided to cut our day of sailing short by about an hour and we headed back in. As it turned out the line of storms that had popped up split and went around us. We only got a couple minutes of very light rain, though we could see lightening to our north and south.

All in all we had a great sail.

First sail of the season and a few more projects

I was able to get the engine back in running order with a bit of effort this past week. 

At first I thought I would be able to patch the cracked exhaust elbow, but after cleaning the area in preparation for the patch, the cracked opened up quite a bit.  I ended up ordering a new one.  Thankfully this part is still available. 

Cracked exhaust elbow before cleaning

Crack got a bit bigger after cleaning

I was worried that removing the old cracked rusted exhaust elbow from the part is was attached to (silencer) would be an issue so I brought it to work.  After soaking it in penetrating oil and adding a little heat, they came apart ok.

This looked like trouble at first

 

After penetrating oil and a little heat

I soaked all the parts I had removed with the cracked exhaust elbow in CLR overnight, wire bushed them, bead blasted them, and then painted them.  They look as good as new.

Shiny!

 

Everything reassembled without incident and the engine is running great.

Reassembled and running

 

I also finished the plumbing connections for the new electric flush toilet and did the electrical wiring.  Other than a leaking (small) anti-siphon fitting for the fresh water line, it all works as planned.

All the plumbing is connected and working

Fresh water plumbing.
The thru-hull fitting is on the right connected to a water strainer before the pressure pump.

Switch bank installed and working.
It includes a switch for power, one for auto flush, and a third for manual fill and a manual flush

 

My brother and I also installed the electrical connector for the Auto-Pilot.  It’s not wired yet, but will be ready for the next sail.

Auto-Pilot connector installed in the cockpit

 

My brother and I also went for the first sail of the 2013 season.

 

It was a bit chilly at 48 degrees and cloudy when we left the harbor at 3:30 with a moderate breeze at 10 knots.  Our high speed was 5.0 knots, but the wind died down to 2-3 knots an hour later and we weren't going anywhere quickly at that point.  Still, it was good to get out on the water.

 

 

During the off season I bought a new (for me) "Hank on" sail bag for the jib.  Now we can leave the jib in place on the forward stay and the jib sheets attached when we are done sailing.  It will make for a faster get away when leaving for a sail and stowing everything afterwards.

New "Hank on" sail bag for the jib