I decided to spend a few days in the Sacramento Delta and shanghai’ed a friend into coming along.   We didn’t deliberately choose this time of year, namely late Fall; it was more or less decided for us by circumstances. But the weather forecast was for calm days, highs in the mid 60’s, and most importantly, no mosquitoes because it is too late in the season for the little body snatchers.

DAY 1 We decided to travel from the marina in the south of the Bay to the Benicia Marina on the first day.  It looked do-able on the chart, but paper charts and reality are two vastly different things. We left the dock at 8:30am in incredibly calm conditions – zero wind, clear skies, flat waters.  It started out a beautiful morning.  However, it didn’t stay that way for long.   We exited the Slough and turned into the main channel of the Bay for San Francisco and pretty soon we ran into fog.  Initially we could see a few hundred yards ahead as I went downstairs to start up the radar.  But by 10:00am we were in dense fog and having to rely on the radar and horns, but it seemed we were the only ones out there!  Nevertheless we crept along because we had bridges to go under and buttresses to avoid.  We were also fighting the incoming tide and lost nearly 2 knots to the current.   With our reduced speed and the 2 knots against us, we were making poor time. As we neared San Francisco the tide turned and was going out.   Also the fog had lifted and it was now a beautiful day.  Also the tide was in our favor and we roared along as we gained +2 knots.  At noon we passed under the Oakland Bay Bridge and made our way to the San Pablo Bay – where the outgoing current was now against us again.  Our speed dropped from 9 knots to 3.8 as we clawed our way to Benicia. The Benicia Marina closed at 4:30pm and I called at 3:00pm to warn them that we would not reach them in time.  They said we should dock at their fuel dock and they would leave a key to the showers in a key slot in their office door.

Docked in Benicia Marina

We docked at Benicia Marina after 5:00pm, were showered by 6:00, and making dinner by 7:00pm.  Dinner was salmon and homemade tartar sauce, and couscous, with a mixed salad,.  It was delicious.  We decide to watch the movie Phenomenon with John Travolta, but 1/3 of the way thru the movie we switched it off and were asleep by 9:00pm. It was a long first day – I wouldn’t recommend it.  We should have broken our trip at Berkeley, or San Francisco, or Sausalito.  Anywhere would have been preferable to 9 hours slogging against the current.

DAY 2 We left the Benicia Marina dock at 10:30am.  A Delta regular walking along the docks recommended that our next stop be Rio Vista, then Walnut Grove, and then back via the Georgianna Slough. We thought we might sail calmly along the Delta in blissful silence, because we always seem to use the engine.  But the rivers in the Delta are too narrow for a 41ft boat to sail; we would be tacking every 100ft until the rig gave in or we gave in – whichever happened first.  So we motored yet again. The tide was in our favor (thank heavens) and we gained nearly 3 knots, so we were roaring along at over 9 kn.  As we neared Rio Vista we noticed tons of spiders around – flying spiders I guess because rows and rows of strands of spider web were streaming off our shrouds – actually the strands of webs were flying off anything that they connected with presumably as the spider whistled past.  And there were little spiders crawling around all over the deck – hopefully they are not poisonous or in any way unfriendly.  It feels strange, quite unnerving really, to walk around the deck and get spider webs all over your body.

Rio Vista bridge being raised 60ft to accommodate our 50ft mast

The entrance to the marina in Rio Vista is very narrow and from what we could see as we did a drive-by, it looked very narrow inside too.  FastAlley is a wide batmobile so I was nervous that we wouldn’t be able to turn and/or rotate once we were inside.  However, after crawling carefully thru the narrow entrance, we found that the transient docking area was quite substantial.

Standing next to FastAlley on the transient dock looking back at the narrow entrance to the marina

Once the boat was safely tied up, we walked the 10 minutes into downtown historic Rio Vista for dinner at Lucy’s.

Safely tied up in the transient slips of Rio Vista marina

As we strolled the area, we saw a young man from the marina restaurant setting a raccoon trap because he said a little tribe of raccoons were climbing in the restaurant garbage during the night and causing damage.  We examined his trap as he explained how he thought it would work.

Racoon cage

The next morning while my friend was in the marina gift shop they were discussing the big raccoon they had caught.  The young man had threatened to kill it when he caught it, but now that he was eyeball to eyeball with the creature, he had lost his lust to kill.  My friend suggested relocating the raccoon to a competitor’s restaurant instead – which they thought was a pretty good idea. I met a small boy about 7 years old riding his bicycle in the marina and he gave me an angelic smile as he paused to say Hello.  He added shyly, “Its been years since I’ve been here (too cute!) so I’m taking a drive down memory lane”.  I kept a straight face with some difficulty.  No doubt he was quoting his grandmother’s parting words as he rode off on his bike earlier. The marina had a tiny area for walking the dog.  It had all a male dogs favorite pee-related things – a fire hydrant, a tree stump, and a sand layer.

Self explanatory

Dog's fire hydrant

dog's tree stump

The marina also had a “weather chart” with Sacramento Delta weather forecast ability.

Rio Vista's weather station

DAY 3 Left Rio Vista for Walnut Grove and again the tide is in our favor shoving us along.  We passed the town of Isleton and decided that we would visit it on our way back.  We called ahead to the Ryde Hotel for overnighting on their guest dock (with power) but we missed the hotel in our enthusiasm to reach Walnut Grove.  We went all the way to Walnut Grove and under the bridge, only to discover we had missed it 3 miles earlier.  We had to turn around, go back under the bridge, and 3 miles down the Sacramento River again.  It was a little embarrassing because the batmobile is a pretty obvious boat, and I called to the bridge asking them to open up for FastAlley.  The traffic was stopped, bells rang, the bridge lifted ponderously and we went thru.  Then we discovered we had missed the hotel and had to go back to the bridge, request they lift it, traffic was stopped, bells rang, the bridge lifted reluctantly, and we squirmed our way thru again.

1930's Ryde Hotel

It was worth it though because the Hotel is just gorgeous, and although it was closed for the winter they let us tie up to the dock for $31 and have hot showers. Because the hotel was closed, the receptionist handed us the key to the front door of the hotel and told us to make sure we locked up after we were finished showering.  Gotta love the Honor System!  The hotel has 42 rooms, a 9-hole golf course, and near enough to the historic city of Locke so that we can motor up first thing in the morning and grab a spot on the free public dock. Gorgeous gorgeous evening – warm enough for summer t-shirts, shorts.  No wind, ZERO mosquitoes, slack tide, and my friend making steak and baked potato on the BBQ.  My contribution is to hack up some tomatoes for salad.  I hate cooking.

DAY 4 Left the Ryde Hotel and made our way back upriver again to Walnut Grove and stopped at the free public dock.  Ww walked the 500-yards to the historic city of Locke which is an old city first occupied by the Chinese during the 1910’s.  The Chinese helped build the levees of the Sacramento Delta, and also farmed the land.

Building in historic Locke

Now the city of one-block is very quaint but falling down.

The main street (and only block) of Locke

I almost wish that the Locke Foundation was more active in repairing and rejuvenating Locke.  But the city may have been continuously occupied by the Chinese for the last 100 years but their wonderful architectural influence is utterly absent.  No swooping rooftops, no manicured gardens, no bright red paintwork.  Really, it just looks like any other old wooden city.  But quaint enough to be worth a visit.

ok, I know this is just too touristy for words!

We bought a delicious ice cream in the store opposite the public dock, then returned to the boat.  On the dock we passed a couple who were eating hamburgers that they said tasted fine but were overpriced – $6 for a burger and fries.   She said the hamburger hut had just opened and they were their very first customer!  They had mixed feelings about that, especially the $6.  They suggested that we should take the time to continue upriver to Sacramento old town, rather than turn around and visit Isleton.  Apparently the crime in Isleton is pretty high and its not even safe to leave the marina.

Homes lining the banks of the Sacramento River

So we cast off and continued upriver to Sacramento – but with the tide against up AGAIN it took nearly 6 hours to reach our marina where we had booked an overnight stay.  The harbormaster sounded very young – my friend on the radio asked how much it would cost and the harbormaster responded, “$1 per foot, what is your length?”  My friend responded, “41 feet”.  After a long silence the harbormaster said, “Is $1/ft too expensive?”  (So cute).  I nodded vigorously but my friend just said into the radio, “No, that’s fine”.  Gotta teach that man the value of a $1.00!  Turns out the harbormaster is very young, perhaps not even 20 yet. I must say they had the BEST showers of all the marinas I have visited so far.  The only downside was that their fuel dock where we overnighted had evenly spaced cement poles along its length, which were a real problem for the 41ft trimaran.  It was obvious that the poles were going to wreak havoc on the paintwork as the trimaran bulged out just at the point of the pole placement, and the fenders just curled around the posts and exposed the boat topsides to the cement poles.  We spent about an hour tying our fenders to the poles instead of to the boat.  It was a long tiring day – it took over 6 hours up the Sacramento River which twists and turns over and over, and over and over.  You have to be very aware of logs in the water and various obstructions.  Toddling along at 5 knots because of the 2 knot current against us, was very tiring.  And boring.  There is just so much excitement you can generate from miles of homes on the river bank.  And miles of bushes.  And trees.  And boat wrecks.

Yet another wreck on the river bank....

We were hurrying – as much as the current would allow us – to get to Sacramento before 5:00pm because we knew we had to go under 2 low bridges to our marina, and the bridge operators all go home at 5:00pm.  We called ahead when the bridges were in sight and the (first) lift bridge lifted 60 feet and we went under then scooted along to the swing bridge.  The operator there kindly opened for us and as we exited the clock said 5:01pm – made it!  I thanked the operator for staying late for us and he waved.

Swing bridge starting to open....

..... and swing bridge open

DAY 5

We used that fabulous shower again this morning – I couldn’t resist.  Today we will tie up at the Sacramento old town public dock and explore the historic city. We are both exhausted so we will stay over another night at the dock and move on tomorrow – with the tide !! But then we revisited the boat logs and discovered that we didnt have time to spend a day in Sacramento if we wanted to get back home by Sunday night.  In fact, according to our calculations we would be travelling for most of the next 3 days. So we turned back for home – motoring steadily along – with the tide sometimes in our favor and sometimes shoving us backwards. Sacramento was too far to travel – it took all of the day to reach it from Walnut Grove, and then all of the next day to get back to WG.

DAY 6

We overnighted at the Ryde Hotel again, then headed downriver again, giving Rio Vista a miss and heading for Benicia.

DAY 7

 We overnighted at Benicia and then headed for San Francisco and the south of the Bay. We should have taken the advice of the local that we met on the Benicia docks that first day in the Delta – and turned at Walnut Grove and returned via the Georgina Slough – rather than taking the hamburger couple’s advice and wasting 2 days slogging to Sacramento.  If you have a limited timeframe for touring the Delta, you dont want to travel from Walnut Grove to Sacramento – it is just too time consuming.

SUMMARY

Travelling the Delta in late Fall/early Winter is the perfect time to visit.  It is not staggeringly hot, but mildly sunny.  There are no mosquitoes.  Fewer crowds in the towns.  Open and available docks for overnighting.  And very little traffic on the river.  If you can delay your trip till the latter part of the year, you will enjoy it more.  Well, we did. And the river is usually 12- to 15-feet deep so most sailboats can travel the rivers without too much fear of running aground.   Of course if you have a high speed power boat then you can travel the full length of the Sacramento River and many of the Sloughs and still have time for a detour to San Francisco.  However, for the owners of waddling sailboats, you dont want to travel more than 3 hours a day before stopping. This was definitely a fun one-week trip.  I highly recommend it.  

AN INTERESTING POINT OF VIEW…. We noticed that the marinas in the Sacramento Delta have floating docks with the poles standing about 30 feet high.  Says a lot about how high the Sacramento River gets when subjected to lots of rain and flooding.  Maybe that contributes to all those wrecks along the river?

Note the 30-ft floating docks - got to be quite unnerving to visit your boat and see it floating that high up the pole.

I got a new contract in San Jose so I moved my boat from Long Beach up to its new berth in the San Francisco Bay.  I hired a skipper, Nikolay, because (a) I have never done the trip and (b) it is September and the weather forecasts were for hazardous weather, and (c) I am conservative when it comes to putting my boat out there – I like to know that at least someone knows where we are going besides the autopilot.

I also convinced a friend to act as crew.  Been-there done-that with the the 3-hours on and 3-hours off shifts.  I prefer the 3-hours on and 6-hours off type of shift.

The Skipper arrived late Thursday night and slept on the boat, as did we 2 crew.  We were up at 5:00am  making coffee and we threw off the dock lines around 6:00am Friday morning, September 25^th 2009.  We left the dock on a perfectly still morning, the water calm, the weather clear.

Skipper and crew in the cockpit watching out for traffic

Nikolay wanted to get a very early start in order to round Pt. Conception 22 hours later, around 3:00am Saturday morning when the weather is calmest, especially in light of the storm warnings from NOAA.  The early hour would also avoid the vicious Santa Ana winds that blow this time of year, further complicating the weather.

Once outside the harbor I decided to make breakfast of scrambled egg and bacon.  I think the bacon was a little off because a few hours after eating, and on calm seas, I got pretty squeamish.  I developed a low grade headache and lay down to sleep.  Much to my chagrin I slept most of the day away only waking in the very late afternoon.

We took turns standing watch Friday night and I was on at 1:00am when we were just an hour off Pt. Conception.  We had been hugging the coast all the way up, just 2 to 3 miles offshore because Nikolay said that with the topography of the land, the seas were calmest close to shore.  I woke Nikolay an hour away from Pt. Conception for the rounding.  Since the weather reports were still for high winds and high seas, I decided to hit the sack and sleep off the next few hours.

Pt. Conception was a dud – thank heavens!!  Low wind, low waves – and again we were hugging the shore.

Close inshore. And the land rolls by.....

On Saturday my stomach was considerably settled but my riend was suffering from a low grade headache and squeamishness.  He said he had felt sick on Friday but since I was down and out, he didn’t say anything because he didn’t want to burden Nikolay with being the only person available for Watch.  So he had stayed on his feet Friday while I slept it off.  So Saturday night I started the evening watch, handed over to Nikolay around 9:00pm, and Nikolay called me again around 2:00am, and I stood watch and let my friend/crew sleep thru the night.  Tit for tat.

It was a gorgeous night, with almost no wind, and only 2ft swells.  The luminescence in the sea left a glowing tail stretching out behind the boat.  When Nikolay handed over the watch to me he said that he saw some dolphins come streaking toward the boat and he thought for a moment that the boat had snagged a fisherman’s net and was dragging it along.  He was relieved it was just dolphins.

I spent my watch peering into the darkness anticipating dolphins and I wasn’t disappointed.  Soon I saw 4 tubes of light streaking towards the bow, looking for all the world like we were being attacked by multiple torpedoes.   I was dying to go upfront and peer down from the bow at the tubes of light that were the dolphins playing in the bow wave, but since I was alone on watch in the middle of the night, and my deck has no lifelines, I thought I would stay in the safety of the cockpit and just peer over the side.

Once the dolphins got tired of playing and streaked off in their luminescent tubes of light, I saw a large fish come cruising alongside the boat.  It was about 10ft long, it could have been a shark.  Its large body shape was clearly outlined in the luminescence as it moved thru the water alongside the boat.  We were doing 7 knots at the time, but the fish cruised next to the boat as though we were standing still.  It seemed to be assessing us.  Then it accelerated off into the darkness – again like we were standing still.  Quite an eerie encounter.

Standing watch as the sun sets

The next morning as the sun rose I saw dolphin coming in from every direction.  Pretty soon I was surrounded by about 50 to 60 dolphin playing in the bow wave.  It was enchanting.  I watched for some time then decided that even if  my friend was feeling sick, he really should see this so I went below to wake him up.  He was already awake and getting dressed so we went upstairs and sat on the bow and watched the dolphin. We must have sat there for about an hour in the morning sun, on the gentle sea, watching frolicking dolphins.

Later that day as we neared San Francisco the sea turned red and I noticed hordes of huge jellyfish and Man of War in the water.  The skipper said their numbers were concentrated because they were feeding on the algae or bacteria (I forget which) that was turning the sea red.  Fascinating.

Outside the Golden Gate the wind was low and the sea calm, but once we passed under the bridge the wind screamed by and the wave chop was considerable.

Approaching the Golden Gate bridge (note the container ship)

Also you are competing for space with multiple large container ships, so that is unnerving if it’s the first time.  Fortunately Long Beach has a container ship at every turn in the channel so I am used to their incredible size – still you don’t want to be run down by one.  We maneuvered carefully around them.

San Francisco to starboard

Once we were inside the Bay we turned and headed for our marina.  We were hoping that we would reach the marina in daylight but the sun set just 30 minutes before we reached the marina so we were left maneuvering in the pitch dark.  This was not such an issue in the main channel that was clearly marked, however, once we reached the side channel in which my marina was located, the channel markers were few and far between.  And since I had never been to the marina before, we were riding blind.  I was very grateful that we were there at high tide because we needed the extra water under the keel.  We saw a blinking red light down the side channel and went carefully towards it, but at times there was only 3ft of water under us!!  Fortunately my trimaran only draws 2 ft, but you never know what may be sticking up out of the sand that could poke a hole in the boat.  It was a harrowing and a verrrrrry slow and careful drive down the channel to the marina entrance.

We reached the dock on Sunday night at 8:45pm.

]]> http://fastalley.com/2009/10/01/trip-from-longbeach-to-redwood-city-2009/feed/ 0 http://fastalley.com/2009/08/30/sept-2009-painting-the-topsides/ http://fastalley.com/2009/08/30/sept-2009-painting-the-topsides/#comments Mon, 31 Aug 2009 00:32:07 +0000 admin http://fastalley.com/?p=402 SEPT 2009 – Painting the topsides

Bottom paint
The following was included in this item. We hauled out the vessel, pressure and solvent washed the hull bottom, applied one coat of antifouling bottom paint with two coats at the water line and launched your vessel. The bottom paint was applied with rollers and brushes.

NOTE 1: The bottom paint applied is Seahawk AF-33 (black) antifouling bottom paint.

Removal of additional marine growth, and sanding and spot priming of bare spots
In addition to the scope of work described above, we sanded and spot primed several bare areas on the hulls where primer was showing through the existing bottom paint. This was necessary to provide proper adhesion of the anti-fouling paint. Sanding and spot priming of
bare areas was charged on a time and materials basis. We did not provide a Change Order due to the work in this section not exceeding more than the ten man-hours labor re-authorized in the original work

Repaint the hull topsides and underneath the bridge deck
The vessel’s representative requested an estimated cost to repaint the hull topsides, underneath the bridge deck, and the bootstripes. We provided the vessel’s representative a verbal estimate of between $4,000.00 and $5,000.00. Later we received e-mail authorization to repaint these areas.

We tapped off the waterline and along the upper limit of the deck edge (approximately where the non-skid starts), and various hardware. Due to ease of removing two deck plates and four scuppers mounted on the undersides of the bridge deck, we removed them instead of tapping
them off.  We began sanding the above-described areas to remove the existing paint down to a solid substrate suitable for applying primer.  We found that the layer of paint below the outer layer was a poorly cured one-part paint similar to Latex. This inner layer of paint could
not be removed by normal sanding due to gumming up and burning the sand paper. We removed this layer of paint with a grinder, then sanded the areas with a soft pad to remove the swirls created by the grinder.

Filled and sanded flush approximately 12 small areas of dings or gouges. While performing this work, we noted a crack in the fiberglass skin on the outboard forward starboard deck edge, and cracks on the bow pulpit. We contacted the vessel’s representative regarding these
cracks. The vessel’s representative viewed these cracks and elected to not have us repair them prior to painting due to time and budgetary constraints. NOTE: These cracks will allow water intrusion and rot that will affect the structural integrity of the underlying wood.

Sprayed the prepared areas with primer. Sanded the primer and filled several additional areas near the repairs of the hull to bridge deck joints, and on the outboard side of the starboard hull. These areas were spot primed, sanded, and then the hull topsides was painted with Awlgrip “Snow White” L.P. paint.

Taped off, and painted the bootstripes Awlgrip “Pearl Grey”.

TOTAL COST of repairs and painting =  $7,558.63

Haul out

While bringing the boat up from La Paz to Long Beach, we hit a set of waves that ripped the skin of the port ama.  We did a temporary glassing in MX but it was just a rush job, and not professionally done, and it was feared that water may be trapped under the glass which would cause a whole ‘nother set of problems.

It was decided to remove the quickie repair and do it again professionally in Long Beach.  At the same time we would structurally reinforce the hulls so that it was much stronger.

Copied from the invoice of the boatworks that did the work……

Hull repairs
Upon the vessel’s arrival and prior to haulout, we visibly inspected the reported areas of the hull damage in an effort to determine if the vessel was structurally sound enough for hauling out with only slings.   After haulout, we further evaluated the condition of reported areas of damage, and reviewed the owner-supplied construction drawings.   We found that there was a fillet in the areas of cracking.  This fillet had no structural fibers in it, and the fillet was excessively large.  Over time, this non-reinforced fillet had cracked.  Upon grinding out the cracking fillet, we noted cracking in the underlying fiberglass skin.

We conferred with a Naval Architect regarding the cracking who requested that we grind out the failed fillet so that the underlying fiberglass skin could be viewed. We ground out the failed epoxy fillet and noted cracks in the underlying fiberglass skin, but did not note any visible evidence of wood rot, or structural failure.

As recommended by the Naval Architect, we ground off the surrounding fiberglass skin approximately 4” – 5” outwards from the junction of the hulls to bridge deck, and also sanded off the paint outboard of the removed fiberglass skin approximately 2” – 3″ so that we could get good continuity between the wood, the existing fiberglass skin and the new fiberglass laminates that are applied using WEST system epoxy.  WEST system bonds very well to wood and the old fiberglass skin.

Installed a properly sized epoxy fillet that is reinforced with micro-fibers. Applied two layers of DBM fiberglass roving @ +/- 45 degrees over the junctions of the hulls to the underside of the bridge deck, using West System. The areas were sanded, primed, epoxy filled, and moderately faired.

(Owner comment:  After viewing the repairs, the Naval Architect said the boat’s life had been extended 15 years at least).

Labor ………………. $7,540.00
Proj. Mgmt. ……… $754.00
Consumables……. $829.40
Supplies ………….. $2,212.06
Subtotal ===> ….$11,335.46
Discount     …       -$2,431.01
Section total  =  $8,904.45

Replace propshaft zinc
Upon the vessel’s arrival and haulout, we noted that the propshaft zinc
was extremely deteriorated and close to falling off. We removed the
propshaft zinc, cleaned the mounting location of the zinc to remove
surface corrosion, purchased and installed a new zinc.
No Charge

This work was done professionally at a boatyard – and copied from their invoice.

Upon the vessel’s arrival and haulout, we evaluated the vessel’s charging systems to include the battery condition, battery charger, wind generator, and solar panels.

We found that one of the Gel-cell house batteries was bad and would not hold a charge. The vessel’s representative for the owner informed us that he would replace the battery himself at a later date.  (The cost to replace all 4 house batteries is around $1000).
It was also found that the battery charger was charging the start battery, but was not charging the house bank. We troubleshot the battery charger and found that the leads to the house bank had no output.  Due to the battery charger having two outputs, we connected the working output to the house bank, and took the dead battery out of the house bank.  We found that the battery charger was capable of charging the house bank with the one working output. We returned the charger wiring back to its original configuration. We recommend that the vessel owner purchase and install a new battery charger.
When we had adequate wind conditions, we checked the output of the wind generator, and the stop function. We found the output of the wind generator to fluctuate with the wind speed, and when placed in “stop” mode, the generator blades slowed as per the manufacturer’s literature.
We checked the output of the solar panels and found that it had no output. No other work was performed on the solar panel.
Upon the vessel’s arrival (at the boatyard), we inspected the hose that was contacting a drive belt, and alternator adjustment limitation. We found that at some time in the past a larger alternator had been installed. With the larger alternator, there was not adequate adjustment room for the alternator without the alternator case contacting the stud on the motor mount. In addition, the raw water hose was routed close to the alternator drive belt where the loose drive belt was wearing away the hose. We contacted the vessel’s representative regarding the limited adjustment clearance.  The vessel’s representative authorized cutting the stud of
the motor mount shorter to provide additional clearance. As authorized by the vessel’s representative, we cut down the excess stud above the lock nuts on the motor mount and were able to adjust the alternator drive belt tension. We removed the worn raw water hose. Purchased a new length of raw water hose, bronze hose barbs, and a bronze 90 degree elbow. Installed the new hose and bronze fittings so that the plumbing is routed away from the drive belt.

We checked the vessel’s forward bilge pump by activating the manual toggle switch and listening for the bilge pump’s motor. We also checked the float switch in the forward bilge by lifting the float switch and listening for the bilge pump motor. We noted that there is no float

switch on the aft bilge pump, but could hear the motor when the toggle switch was placed in the “manual” position. Though we could hear the motors running, we did not put water in the bilges to check if water activated the bilge pump or if the bilge pumps evacuate water.
NOTE: WE highly recommend that the vessel owner test the bilge pumps by placing water in the bilge and verifying that they actually evacuate the water and there are no leaks.  (Owner’s Note:  I checked the bilge pump with water in the bilge and it pumped the engine room dry).

Labor       ……………  $373.75
Proj. Mgmt………….  $ 37.88
Consumables………   $ 41.11
Materials ……………  $43.16
Supplies …………….   $41.52
Section total……. $536.92

STILL TO DO:

• Replace all 4 house batteries because they do not hold their charge for extended periods
• Replace the battery charger 50V connectivity with a different connector – the current one is out of stock and we cant find a replacement anywhere.  Need to reconfigure.
• Correct the wiring for the solar panels.  These always worked and charged the batteries until the earlier engine work was performed.  Since then the solar panels have not charged the batteries – I suspect loose wiring somewhere.

Mechanical repairs

Mechanical repairs

Even though I had had the boat for 18 months I had never sailed it.  I always seemed to be going somewhere directly upwind so that it is impossible to sail, and I usually have a tight timeline so I dont have the time to tack back and forth up the coast.

However, the primary reason reason that I had not sailed the boat is because

(a)  the rigging was very loose and needed calibrating

(b)  the main halyard had issues; it was wire and breaking down

(c)  the main sheet was a very thick line and barely made it through the clutch, consequently if for any reason I wanted to throw off the mainsheet – it would not run.  So the main would stick in the clutch with perhaps disasterous consequences for the boat.

(d) the main channel is offset about 6 ft from the top of the mast, so the main wont go all the way to the top.

So finally I decided it was time to fix the rigging so that I could learn to sail my boat – finally.

The rigger is an avid racer, and cost conservative, so he put in some innovative solutions that would work well while also saving me money.

The following was done to the rigging:

1)  Shortened the backstay pendant from the mast head to the tri fitting that splits the BS to each of the aft amas’ chain plates to allow enough take-up to be able to tighten back stay.

2).  Replaced the failing wire main halyard with all rope

3).  Freed up the rusted sheeve at the mast head so it would spin.

4).  Replaced the main sheet so that it would be long enough to allow full deployment of the boom and to a smaller diameter line so that it would run better/freer thru the clutch.

5).  The standing rigging was tensioned to correct the rake of the mast.

Total Cost = $750

White's Island

Long Beach harbor presents a variety of Places To Go and Things To Do.  My favorite ToDo is anchoring at White’s Island for the day or the weekend.

Docked as I was at the top of the main (Cerritos) Channel near the Henry Ford Bridge, it was a 45 minute motor down the channel to the harbor wall.  But what a fascinating trip – a variety of sights and sounds to intrigue and awe the grandkids.

Most importantly I tied the grandkids to the boat as soon as they boarded.  The tie was attached to their life jackets and to jacklines on the deck, especially necessary on my trimaran that has a 41 by 22 ft deck upon which the kids kept running around at high speed.  I could just see one of them launching overboard…..

Tied to the jacklines

Exhausting trying to keep track of each running kid – eventually I gave up and declared their safety the responsibility of the parents and I would take care of the boat.

As we move away from the dock and down the channel there are huge container ships on the port side.  My sailboat looks so teeny as we motor past and the kids stand agog.

The cruise ships that leave from Long Beach tower 10-stories above us as we continue motoring down the channel towards the fish factory where the seals hang out.

The seals mistakenly thought that we had food for them, so they packed the sides of the boat barking incessantly as they demanded fish.  When they discovered we lacked what they wanted they lost interest and returned to barking at the fishermen who were working on the wharf.

The seals are enormous – much larger than the little harbor seals we typically see swimming around.  The kids loved the size of them.  The current in the channel pushed us down, so I had to turn the boat around about 6 times, and drive up the channel a short distance so that the kids could gawk at the seals some more.

Near the mouth of the harbor is the bait shop, a floating barge anchored conveniently for fishermen near the exit from the harbor to the open seas.  We stopped and picked up a load of live fish which we put into a cooler box I had borrowed from a friend.  My friend was not amused to hear that his cooler box had been reassigned The Bait Box.

The anchored Bait Barge

The grandkids were enthralled with the little fish swimming around in the (new) bait box and kept dipping their hands in and grabbing them.  By the time Bryan looked in the box to start fishing, all the fish were almost dead.  He cut them up as bait but Bryan had entertained fond thoughts of fishing with Live bait.  Oh well, we dont always get what we want.

After the bait barge we followed the harbor wall southwards around Terminal Island, heading for White’s Island.  This part is rather boring for kids because it takes about an hour to reach the island.

Once we were anchored the kids could untie themselves from the jacklines while on the deck.  The large deck presented a fabulous runaround field – huge by kids standards with ladders up to the “roof”, hatches they can jump thru into the interior of the boat only to emerge moments later as they pop out the companionway.  I figured if they went over the side then their yelling would alert us, and they still had their life jackets on.  The kids had a ball running all over the boat exploring every inch.

Kevin and Bryan primed the BBQ while we girls put out the snacks and salads.  The kids were so excited that we abandoned trying to get food down them in any kind of formal way.  We just let them gallop past and handed them their food as they ran by.

The huge deck of the trimaran

Bryan got tired of fishing so Kevin cut the bait into small pieces and the grandkids threw the pieces to the hovering seagulls.  Within moments we were surrounded by screeching squawking gulls demanding attention – and fish!  Once again the grandkids were enthralled as they tossed pieces of fish to the hovering gulls.

Gulls diving for bait bits

We upped anchor around 4:00pm and took the shortcut around the inside of Terminal Island, passing under the Henry Ford Bridge back to our dock.

Approaching Henry Ford Bridge

Back at the dock, Bryan tried his hand at fishing again and caught a 8-inch bony fish.  He tossed it back after the kids had examined it minutely, and I had assured him the fish in the channel probably glowed in the dark as they peer out their third eye!  Back it went.

By the time my sons and their family left the boat, I was pooped.  I crawled into bed and slept like the dead.  The next day Bryan told me that Samuel had slept over and the kids were so hyper that they kept bouncing off the walls until nearly midnight.  By that time Bryan and Alex had lost their sense of humor completely.

Glad I was snoring happily in a quiet bed.

Sundry photos from the day on the water….

Zoe protecting (some) of dad's back with SPF cream

Kevin, Heather, and baby Judah

Bryan with his catch

The cockpit is roomy enough to place 2 large reclining chairs

Heather, with Samuel and Genesus

I wanted to spend a weekend anchored at White’s Island in Long Beach harbor – just for the fun of it.  This would be the first time I had anchored anywhere and I was keen to try it.

A sailing friend and I put together a list of things to check before venturing out, and number 1 on the list was to check the anchoring equipment.

While still tied up at the dock we released and dropped the anchor off the bow.  It disappeared into the mud below.

The Chain

We found that there were no markings on the chain to indicate how many feet of chain had been dropped, which didnt help.  So I bought little colored anchor markers that fit between the links.  DO NOT BOTHER with these.  They are so innocuous that the anchor line runs out and the little markers pass by virtually unnoticed.  You have to be paying full attention to the chain – instead of the anchoring spot – to see the little markers in the links.  They are useless.  And they fall out of the links – contrary to the claim on the website that says they never do!

Eventually I abandoned the unequal battle and bought 3 cans of paint – red, white, and blue – and sprayed the chain every 25ft with a different color to indicate the length of chain payed out.   The broad paint stripes on the chain made it so much easier to see how much chain is over the side.

Spray painting the chain was easy – with no mess!  We picked a calm day with almost no wind and laid out the full length of the chain on the dock.  Then we marked every 25ft and pooled the chain for about 3 feet either side of the “25ft-mark” and stuffed the pool of chain into a sturdy garbage bag.  Then we sprayed the chain inside the plastic bag – so there was no mess on the dock, and no overspray onto the boat.  We did that every 25ft – I didnt care if it was super accurate, I just needed the visual confirmation of how many feet (approximately) were out, and how much chain I still had to drop.

We left the paint to dry which it did in an hour or two, then we rotated the chain inside the plastic bag to reveal the undersides that we hadnt/couldnt reach.  The painted chain does not stick to the plastic so it is a pretty easy exercise.  Then we resprayed the unpainted undersides of the chain and left to dry.  We repeated this a few time, just to get good coverage and by the end of the day we had brightly painted chain!  And we simply threw the plastic bags away – so no mess, no fuss.

The windlass

The windlass hauled up the anchor once and the second time it gave up the ghost.   We had to pull up the anchor by hand and shove ithe chain down into the hold – too manual, heavy work, not fun!

It was time to do some maintainance.  We manhandled the windlass off its base and my friend opened it up.  The inner workings were a mess – the “bicycle chain” that looped around the gears was broken, some pieces holding the inner links had snapped, and it was covered in rust.  It had obviously not been oiled in many years.

My friend – who knows stuff – broke it down into its component parts and bought new bits and pieces to replace the broken parts.  Then he put it all together again, greased the relevant parts, filled it with oil, and we manhandled it back onto its base, where we sealed it back down again.

Now it works effortlessly.  Just perfectly.  There is nothing like a beautifully maintained windlass to make life easier ….. (well, except maybe an electric windlass).

TOTAL COST = $20   …..excluding all the labor obviously!

The transmission had failed in Ensenada and had a temporary (borrowed) transmission that needed to be replaced with the new transmission. Since the engine had to be removed to get at the transmission, it was decided to do a major overhaul on the engine at the same time.

The 40 hp Yanmar engine had 1200 hours on it at the time.

The following list was done to the engine / transmission:

1. The engine was hauled out and completely stripped down for a major overhaul.
2. Engine painted a uniform brown.
3. New transmission
4. New transmission oil cooler
5. New transmission oil cooler lines
6. New fuel filter
7. Water pump – new bearings, new cam, new power seals, new shaft
8. New alternator belt and pump
9. New raw water belt
10. Alternator, new 105 amp
11. New oil pressure sender
12. Calibrated the gauges
13. New temperature sender, and calibrated
14. New oil sender, and calibrated
15. New alarm sender
16. New wiring
17. New bilge pump for the engine room
18. New engine alarm system for temperature and oil
19. New solanoid for the glow plug
20. Separate glow plug with starter switch
21. All new hoses
22. New clamps
23. New oil filters
24. New fuel filters
25. New shaft saver coupling
26. New motor mount bolt
27. New lags and stringers (stainless steel)
28. New heat exchanger
29. New zinc
30. New tachometer
31. New volt meter
32. New gaskets – full top set,
33. New gear shift cable

COST OF NEW & OVERHAUL PARTS:   $6,900

PAINTING THE DECK – all 800 sqft

Lots of prep work with all the stainless steel

When I bought the boat in Jan 2008 the owner said that he had prepped the deck for a paint job, but had not gotten around to doing it.

Besides the bad paint job (due to the prepping?) there were also (I thought) two small patches on the deck that I wanted re-glassed.

Also the deck did not have any non-slip and I had found that walking around on the wet deck when at sea had to be done carefully.

So in August 2008 I went ahead with the new paint job.

I did the following:

(a)  put down the non-slip

(b)  re-glassed the two thin patches

(c)  pulled out the 2 lazarettes in front where the marine surveyor said the glass showed moisture, and re-set them

(d) repainted the 41 x 22 ft deck

COST  $9,500