Ed’s Excellent Adventure

Did our first long distance sail this weekend.  Waukegan to Chicago and back.

My son-law's brother, Andy, and I Left Waukegan at 11:20 in the morning on Friday and arrived at Belmont Harbor in Chicago at 7:45pm.  The wind was coming directly from the direction in which we wanted to sail, so we had to do a lot of tacking.  The trip was taking a bit longer than I wanted, due to the tacking, so I ended up using the engine for a few hours to speed things up a bit.  We were able to sail again the last few hours.

 

Andy at the helm approaching Chicago

Belmont harbor’s docks are nice, the scenery was great, but the public toilet facilities are disgusting and parking is an issue. Sure glad we choose Waukegan Harbor as our home.

Belmont Harbor

On Saturday, my wife, 2 daughters, a niece and my niece’s boyfriend and I sailed down the Chicago lake front enjoying the beautiful skyline.  We had a crew change in the evening when everyone, but one of my daughters left for home and my brother came onboard.  The three of us had a very pleasant evening sail and got to see a pretty sunset and a rainbow over Navy Pier.

 

Chicago Lighthouse

Sailing past Navy Pier

Chicago Skyline

 

Rainbow over Navy Pier

 

Sun setting in the west

We returned to Belmont harbor for the stay Saturday night.

 

Belmont Harbor Saturday night

 On Sunday, my brother and I headed back to Waukegan.  We left at 11:00 am.  The winds were much more favorable so the trip was shorter.  With the winds at our back and following seas it was very relaxing.  We got back to Waukegan at 6:00pm.

Leaving Chicago and heading back to Waukegan

Along the way we did a couple projects.

I added labels to the switches for the new electric flush toilet

Switch labels for the electric flush toilet

 

My brother bought a couple “pool noodles” and installed them on the stern rail by the stern seats for comfort.
 

Making the stern seats more comfy

We installed line organizers that we had bought at the Strictly Sail boat show back in February.

 

First 3 line organizers installed on the port side

And my brother hooked up a “Bluetooth” system to the boat’s stereo radio so he could “jam tunes” from his phone.  The stereo is an older one with AM/FM radio and a cassette player.  He put together a system that connects his phone via Bluetooth to the cassette.  “Rock and roll baby”!

 

Line organizer installation complete and Bluetooth system install taking place

All in all it was a great way to spend a long weekend.

 

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

 

Back in the water for the 2013 season and winter projects

A friend from work and I move the boat from the boat yard to the marina yesterday after work.  We have a new slip this year.  Last year we took what was available in terms of a slip.  It was a 40 foot slip for our 29 foot boat.  The new slip is a 30 foot slip.  I discovered last night there is a big difference in coming into a 30 foot slip with a 29 foot boat as compared to a 40 foot slip.  The 30 foot slip doesn’t leave room to maneuver.  It is a tight fit.

 

Thanks Dad's new slip

 

Tight fit in the slip

I also discovered a crack in the engine’s “mixing exhaust elbow”.  This is the pipe where the exhaust and cooling water come together before exiting out the back of the boat.  So during our trip to the marina, all the cooling water and exhaust came out the crack and not the back of the boat.  It made the engine compartment a bit wet.

Crack in Exhaust elbow

Over the winter, we did several projects and ebay became my new friend.

 

Unlike last year’s March when the average temperature was 50 degrees and we had a week in the 80’s, this year’s March had an average temperature of 30 degrees.  It finally got into the mid 40s the last couple days of the month so my brother and I took the opportunity to remove the tarp and breakdown the frame.   We match marked each piece of the frame so we will be able to get it back together in the fall without too much trouble. 

 

We did miss drilling and screwing one of the 45 degree fittings on the frame and in January it separated and then shifted the whole frame causing the back to open up and a couple tears in the tarp.  We fixed it and it was fine afterwards.  In March one of the other 45 degree fittings broke (it had been properly drilled and screwed) but didn’t cause a problem with the tarp.  Since it was so close to the end of the winter season I didn’t bother making a repair. All in all the frame/tarp survived the winter fairly well. 

 

Tarp after the Winter

 

I bought an electric flush toilet on ebay.  It was a mfg rep’s demo and is in perfect shape.  The manual pump on the old toilet had a crack and I got the new one for less than what replacement parts for the old one cost.  I removed the old toilet, removed and replaced the old thru-hull fitting for the water intake, capped the overboard discharge thru-hull fitting, took out the old flooring, hoses and bladder style holding tank.  Cleaned and painted the hull in the head area, fabricated a new floor for the new toilet from “King Starboard” and installed new hoses and a hard sided holding tank.  Still need to do the final connections from the water intake to the pump and then the toilet.

 

Old head area

 

New head area

 

Old bladder holding tank

 

New holding tank

 

Under each of settee berths in the cabin was a 35 gallon stainless steel water tank.  These were original pieces of the boat and at over 45 years old I was not intending to ever drink water that had been inside these things.  I removed them and am planning to make this a storage area at some point.

 

Removing the old water tanks

In the cockpit of the boat is a panel with indicator lights for low oil pressure, water temperature and alternator charging.  Two (2) of the indicator lights had broken lenses and there are two (2) larger holes in the panel for non-existent gauges.  These holes had hole plugs in place, but they were cracked and would fall out easily and frequently.  I removed the panel, painted it, bought new hole plugs and bought new indicator lights.  Unfortunately, the holes in the panel for the indicator lights are 5/8” diameter and the largest indicator lights I could find are ¼” diameter.  So I bought  5/8” holes plugs and drilled them to mount the ¼” lights.  Also made labels for each indicator light.

 

Cockpit engine panel before and after

My dad had rigged the boat for single handed sailing by removing  the mast winches and cleats for the mainsail  and jib halyards and mounting them on top of the cabin so he could raise and lower the sails from the cockpit.  I bought and installed used winches and rope clutches on eBay to update the rigging.  I cleaned and re-greased them before installing them.  I also cleaned and re-greased the jib winches and  bought new line on eBay to replace the main sail halyard.

 

Old rigging

 

Winches before and after cleaning

 

Newly cleaned winch during installation

 

New rigging with rope clutches and winches.

Before fabricating the tarp frame in the fall, my brother and I removed the lifeline stanchions and their bases from the deck.  Several of the stanchions were bent and the guys at work straightened and polished them for me.  They also cleaned up the stanchion bases by bead blasted them.  They are looking like new now.

 

Stanchion before and after

 

Stanchion bases before and after

 

I had to cut the life lines in order to remove them from the stanchions, so we had new life lines fabricated and changed the design slightly with a threaded gate eye at the most aft stanchion.  This way the life lines and be removed without cutting and they don’t become too loose and useless when the gate is open.

 

New life line's Swivel Gate Eyes

The bow and stern pulpits were also bent.  I think the mast resting across them when the boat was hauled from Maryland bounced up and down and bent them.  I tried to straighten them myself, but didn’t have the proper tools to do it.  So I found an auto body guy who was able to do a good job improving them.  They are still not perfectly straight, but are a lot better than before.

 

We also painted the cockpit area.  Last year we primed, but we never got around to painting it.

 

Painting the cockpt

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.

 

 

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.