Historic downtown

We planned to visit Petaluma over Memorial Day weekend.  Monday 30^th was the official holiday and Annie and I made it a 4-day weekend by taking Friday 27^th off as well.  We slept on the boat Thursday night, threw off the dock lines early Friday morning, and headed north up the Bay.  We passed under the San Mateo Bridge, the Bay Bridge, the Richmond Bridge and then veered north across San Pablo Bay towards the Petaluma Channel. The buoys marking the Petaluma channel are close together with the chart showing 0 and 2 feet depth on either side, which is a strong incentive not to stray out of the narrow channel.

Eventually we entered the Petaluma River and within minutes Annie’s allergies kicked in from the myriad of plants that clogged the riverbank.  Miles of mustard seed, fennel, and grasses swayed in the wind and liberally disgorged their pollen so that Annie spent the next 2 ½ hours down below bathing her swollen eyes – and bored.

The countryside along the river is beautiful with rolling hills and farmlands, but with a surprising lack of animals.  I didn’t see any cows, or sheep, or horses – or even chickens for which historic Petaluma is so famous.  Just rolling hills.  One after the other.  The river curves back and forth constantly so I sat at the wheel for the next 2 ½ hours steering with no one to talk to – and bored.

We finally reached the bridge that blocks entry to the Petaluma turning basin and when it lifted we entered the basin expecting it to be somewhat empty since this was a non-holiday, but the dock on the west bank was already jammed with power boats.  So we docked on the east side of the river.  A very sweet, very drunk hobo insisted on helping us tie up and was so unsteady on his feet that he very nearly fell off the dock.  I was afraid to give him a tip in case he hung around – like a stray cat that won’t leave if you feed it.

The policeman manning the bridge walked over after we had docked and handed us the “secret” code for gate access to the west dock.  We found out that the code has not changed in the last few years and is a somewhat open “secret”.  Since our East dock was pretty quiet Annie and I decided to walk over and see if there was any party action on the West dock.  It was a beautiful evening and the boaters were out and about and spoiling for a party.  One boater had put down tape on the dock with USA written on the one side and MEXICO on the other.  He claimed it was the border and he had MX decorations and food ready on his side.  Everyone was very friendly and in a jovial mood but we were tired after a day at the wheel so we decided to hit the sack early and party on Saturday night instead.

Med moored

Saturday dawned overcast and raining – so much for the Weather Channel bragging about a sunny Memorial weekend with temperatures in the 70’s.  It was FREEZING.  And WET.  While sipping my early morning coffee I glanced into my dinghy and noticed that the line I had fastened to reduce swaying on the davit had chafed the paint off the dinghy seat.  I made a mental note to buy a piece of leather to place under the rope as a chafe guard.

Notwithstanding the weather, we decided to explore in the rain.  Well, I was eager to explore historic downtown and Annie was resigned to her fate.  During the previous week I had printed off a number of walking tours around Petaluma so we set off to do the Historic Petaluma walk.

Iron building - rediscovered when they pulled off the ratty old siding

Olde town Petaluma has some beautiful old buildings and we traipsed from one building to the next, with me shooting photos indiscriminately while Annie kept disappearing into the nearest shop.  I spied a short leather skirt on a mannequin at the door of a thrift store and Annie looked at me askance thinking I meant the cute little cowgirl skirt with cheeky fringe for myself.  But I was thinking how perfect it would work as a chafe guard for my dinghy, so I talked the price down to $5 and walked away clutching my prize.  It worked really well in the dink although Annie was concerned that the brown dye would stain the hypalon.

Meanwhile on the east dock more and more boats had arrived all day and had side-tied to me and every other boat unlucky enough to be first at the dock, so by mid-afternoon we were rafted 4 deep in the turning basin.  I was afraid that my regular dock lines were not strong enough against the jerking loads exerted on FastAlley, so we tied extra lines to ensure that FastAlley did not break loose with her flotilla of 3-rafted boats.  As I tied down the extra lines, I noticed the cleats on the dock moved and jiggled, so then I was concerned instead that the cleats would pop loose and hurl my 4-boat raft, which was weaving and jiving in the high winds, into the clot of surrounding boats.

By Saturday night the high wind and rain had dampened even the enthusiasm of the West dock and all was quiet on the western front.  Even the party in the yacht club looked uninspiring.  Since the balmy 70degree temps had never materialized, we had the heater blasting away in the cabin and pretty soon it was pretty toasty.  We had dinner, watched a movie, and settled down in our respective bunks for the night.

Sunday dawned clear so I grabbed my Tours of Petaluma printouts and off we went.  We headed in the direction of the Petaluma Victorian Homes tour – with Annie disappearing into every store we passed.  Petaluma has a wonderful selection of stores selling everything from funky pop-top jewelry to rusty chicken farm antiques.  I have always wanted to own a glass house with lots of glass art backlit by the sun so every time I saw a pretty glass piece I would also abandon our tour and dive into the shop to examine it.  But I guess California’s earthquakes would make short work of my glass house with glass art, so it remains just a dream.

Mini-cathedral

On the Victorian tour we visited a delightful catholic church from the late 1800’s.  Annie was brought up Catholic so she explained the beautiful contents of the church and their significance to me.  The church has gorgeous stained glass windows, marching columns of marble, three Rose windows, and an intricately carved marble baptismal font.  Along the walls of the tiny cathedral are a series of carved reliefs illustrating the last hours of Jesus, from Pilate to the Cross.  This little gem is a must see.

Walls of stained glass

As we drifted back to town, we lacked the enthusiasm to do the Hollywood Walking Tour, but then Annie heard blaring rock music so we followed our ears.  We came across an American Graffiti function complete with a diner surrounded by beautifully restored vintage cars.  The rock band played to a motley crowd of 50’s car enthusiasts and we ate delicious garlic fries as I snapped away happily.  I really am an incorrigible tourist.

Vintage cars lined up

Monday dawned cloudy but dry and we made leaving noises.  The Petaluma River is tidal and at 9:30am it was low tide.  There were already boats stuck in the mud of the basin as some boaters had tried to exit early.  FastAlley only draws 2 feet but the remaining boat rafted to me was on the mud.  I thought we were stuck at the dock for 2 hours until they floated free but it turned out that they had a retractable keel, so they raised their keel and they were free.

Unfortunately I was still surrounded by rafted boats 4 deep on all sides, with maybe 6 feet clearance at my bow and 3 feet at my stern for maneuvering.  Annie suggested asking a boat circling in the basin to pull our bow around and tow us out but I was nervous about giving motion control of my boat to anyone else, especially when I was so closely and deeply packed in by other docked boats.

FastAlley buried in a 4-deep raft up

Getting away from the dock was interesting.  There just wasn’t enough space, forward or backwards, to turn a 41ft boat at the slip.  I had to go forward a few feet, then the bow was grabbed by a boater and walked forward 2 feet along his deck, then reverse 3 feet, then forward till my bow was grabbed and walked forward along a deck, then reverse again for a few feet.  Annie’s suggestion of being towed out by the bow looked better and better.  Man, it was tight.  Imagine a car parked in a tight spot doing a 10-point turn to extricate itself – that was me and FastAlley.    Amazingly we got out without even tippy-touching any of the rafted boats that clogged the basin.

We exited past the boats stuck in the mud, the policeman opened the bridge for us, and we were headed down the river and homeward bound on Memorial Day.  Our 4-day holiday was coming to an end.

Pretty Petaluma in Pollen season had been quite the experience!  Within hours of docking in the basin FastAlley was submerged under a layer of pollen.  Pollen clumped and congealed around the cleats and filmed over my dock lines.  Pollen coated our clothes and hair, plugged up our noses, and clogged our eyes.  Clouds of pollen choked us and made us sneeze… if you have even a minor allergic reaction to pollen you don’t want to visit Petaluma in the Spring.

The ladies of Petaluma in the late 1800s erected a drinking fountain to discourage the drinking of alcohol - I thought this was the fountain

I have never been allergic to anything but even my skin itched from the constant coating of pollen.  And I awoke each morning with my eyes clumped shut.  On the way back downriver, Annie disappeared below for the next 2 ½ hours to bathe her eyes and relieve their allergic swelling with ice.  It was wonderful to finally reach the Bay and have the fresh sea breezes blowing in our faces and blasting the pollen off us and FastAlley.

..... It is not this fountain either

On our way up the Bay I had been at the helm – and a lousy job I did of that.  I just ASSUMED that a huge ship ahead was anchored because I didn’t see a bow wave so I ignored it.  Imagine my horror 10 minutes later when I looked up and the leviathon passed within 300 feet of us.  Then I was so busy taking pictures of Red Rock that I had us headed straight for the Richmond Bridge buttress.  Over the summer one works up a vigilant attitude from being on the water all the time – but I guess the extended Winter eliminated my watchfulness.

THIS is the fountain the ladies erected with its LOUD AND CLEAR message!

So with Annie at the helm we passed under Richmond Bridge homeward bound and noticed the Coast Guard in the Bay.  They were doing maneuvers and practicing retrieval and boat handling.  They paced us for about 10 minutes and I thought – Oh No, Not Again.  FastAlley got boarded on our last trip out when we went up to the Waterfront to watch the Blue Angels air show.  Annie explained the obvious… that if you are a Coast Guard on maneuvers and you have to pick a boat to board for the practice, you would pick something unusual.  And my trimaran FastAlley is unusual.

Eventually a zodiac detached itself from the mother ship and zoomed towards us with 4 young, eager Coast Guards on board.  They approached and asked; “Have you ever been boarded by the Coast Guard?”

I replied, Yes.

They asked, When?

I said, During the air show last October.

This caused some discussion as the young men debated whether or not they should board us again so soon after the last boarding, but eventually their curiosity to see the boat exceeded their caution about intruding yet again.  So they zoomed up and 3 of them climbed aboard while the 4^th followed in the zodiac.

The 3 men were very young, maybe baby 20’s and very sweet, polite, and friendly.  The leader was disarmingly honest and said happily – I’ve never been on a trimaran before!!  Which is why we got boarded, I guess.  One of the young men was obviously being trained by his equally young leader and as they worked their way steadily thru their checklist, they asked to see everything and examined the boat from front to back.  They were just darling, and intrigued with FastAlley.  After 30 minutes they assured us that they would log their inspection with the Coast Guard so that we would not have to be boarded again.

As the young men left, Annie said we should just resign ourselves to being boarded throughout the summer because if a young Coastie has a choice of boarding yet another monohull or FastAlley, they would probably choose FastAlley because she is different from the norm.  They were so curious and so darling that I really didn’t mind.

Annie was in control of the boat so I went below to doze for a few hours.  She roused me as she turned FastAlley into Redwood City Slough and we docked 10 hours after leaving Petaluma that morning.

The small city of Petaluma is beautifully restored.  They have a variety of stores that sell a vast collection of goodies.  Their restaurants are reasonably priced, the food is tasty, and the beers are inexpensive during Happy Hour.

Stud muffin - literally

The locals are exceptionally friendly and helpful, and everyone we stopped took the trouble to pause and point us in the right direction.

I highly recommend a visit to Petaluma.  If you don’t have a boat, then drive up there on the 101 freeway, and stay in a B&B for the weekend.  It’s a lovely little city.  You will enjoy your stay.

The weekend before I had put my newly repaired dinghy in the water and ran the dink around the marina and the channel for an hour getting the feel of it and how it handled.  I have never had a dinghy before so I thought I should try it out before committing someone else to a ride in it.  I figured, how hard can it be?

My ride started off badly because when I put the 4-stroke outboard into gear that first time I forgot to throttle down from the rabbit icon to the turtle icon, so the dink reared up – obscuring my view – and took off at high speed.  I shot out of my slip, ricocheted off the guest dock, bounced back into the channel, roared off towards an expensive looking yacht, and did a few frantic wheelies until I managed to kill the engine.  Not a very auspicious start.  However, after about an hour of alternating between careening and stalling, I figured I had the hang of it and returned my dink to my dock.  I was ready to run around Alameda over the coming weekend.

I had previously asked a delivery skipper in my marina for local advice on entering Ballena Bay and we went over the charts together.  He indicated my route and said I had to hug the outside of the breakwater all the way down the channel until I could turn into the marina.  That was the safest way because of shallow waters all around that bay.

I called the Ballena Bay marina on Friday to get my assigned slip and the harbormaster said I should head straight down the main channel, pass the first 4 docks, and we were the end-tie on the fifth dock to port. She said if I hit the fuel dock then I had gone too far.

Ballena Bay marina - Google Earth

Annie arrived Friday night and we carefully went over my NOAA nautical charts, examining our intended route and studying a satellite photo of the Ballena Bay marina that I found on Google Earth.  I am always extremely cautious when traveling somewhere that I have never been, and always carefully examine my charts.  I also like everyone on board to know where we are going and how to get there and back using the official NOAA charts.  Careful navigation is critical whether you are out to sea, coastal cruising, or running around the San Francisco Bay.  At any rate, I take it very seriously.

SATURDAY

We slept on the boat and were up early Saturday morning.  Well, we meant to be up very early but only roused ourselves around 9:00am.  Typically the mornings are wonderful in the south bay, with gentle morning light and absolute calm weather.  And getting out of the slip in the early morning is usually pretty simple – untie the boat, give the boat a gentle shove backwards and out of the slip she glides.  Not this morning – the wind was blowing hard enough that Annie couldn’t hold the boat against the port dock finger.  I cant back out when the boat is against the starboard finger because the solar panels – which the previous owner extended 2 feet off starboard – would bash into the piling at the end of the dock and be smashed as I back out, so I have to back out as close to the port finger as possible.

Annie couldn’t hold the boat against the port finger with the wind trying to knock her off her feet, so I jumped off the boat to help, but even with 2 of us we were struggling to hold the boat.  Eventually with lots of semi-helpful suggestions yelled back and forth we got the boat going backwards against the port finger enough so that we could both leap on board, and I hit reverse.  We were free.

We motored up the bay with the wind howling thru the rigging.  As we approached the San Mateo Bridge heading for the Bay Bridge, it didn’t ease my tension any when the Coast Guard came on the radio and put out a high winds alert for the area and warned – All Mariners exercise extreme caution in the region of the San Mateo Bridge.  Any warm fuzzy feeling I had about Freedom and being Out On The Bay promptly evaporated.

It took 3½ hours to motor against the current and against the winds to Ballena Bay.  The winds were still so high as we approached the marina that I decided that we should anchor outside the marina until the winds abated.  I was reluctant to go into an unknown marina in a fat trimaran with high winds blowing me around.  But incredibly the winds suddenly died to nothing as we approached the marina buoys and by the time we turned down the marina’s main channel, it was dead calm.  We counted off the docks and identified our berth.  I continued down the channel to the fuel dock, did a pirouette, came back up the channel and docked facing the exit with my starboard against the dock.  Annie jumped off and secured the bow while I leapt off the stern and tied that off.  It was around 1:00pm Saturday and we were safely docked.

We only had Saturday and Sunday for our adventure, so without much ado we grabbed money, camera, sweaters, and drinks… locked up the boat and headed out for the afternoon to see Alameda’s famous Victorian homes.

ALAMEDA’s  VICTORIANS

Well, this is art decor - but a beautiful example

The city of Alameda was founded in 1853 and has a population of around 73,000 living on the island today.  A Victorian home should have a minimum of 7 colors, they say, and Alameda has the highest concentration of Victorian homes with over 3000 Painted Ladies built during the 1800s. It is said that Alameda has more pre-1906 earthquake era homes than any other city in the Bay Area.

(Alameda is also famous for its Fourth of July parade which is one of the largest and longest in the country.  It features homemade floats, classic cars, motorized living room furniture, fire breathing dragons, marching bands and lots of enthusiastic people. The parade route is about 3 miles long.  This parade is going on my list of places to visit for next year’s July 4^th).

We went by the harbormaster’s office and picked up a flier that had a rough map of Alameda about the size of a postcard with the borders of the flier taken up with advertising… you know, the kind they give tourists.  The harbormaster marked the map with various places of interest and we walked out of the marina up to Central Ave and turned right towards Alameda’s historic downtown following the route marked on our trusty map.  Having a digital camera means you can be trigger happy and I snapped every lovely home we came across.  We saw whole streets of gorgeous homes, all beautifully painted, with intricate and delicate embellishments.  I snapped away happily.  I had done some research online and I specifically wanted to see a special house that looked stunning online.  We walked and walked until we reached the Meyer House in Alameda Ave.  Aaaaaarrrggh – that wasn’t it – how did I mess that up??  The Meyer House is all white!!!  Well, maybe it is 7 shades of white, but who can tell white from white in stark sunlight.  Annie said that maybe they were base painting the house with primer getting it ready for its 7+ colors…..  but I would not be mollified.

Annie sitting on a carriage stop - with ring for tying horses

We continued on down Alameda Ave until we reached the historic city section.  By this time we had been walking for over 3 hours and we were hungry and thirsty.  We stopped for falafels at a little Mediterranean eatery and the food was delicious.  Then Annie spotted a museum which we visited.  They had a wonderful collection of Victorian artifacts as well as a glass cabinet displaying beautifully beaded women’s purses.  Grandma’s beaded purse used to be tossed out as too old fashioned but today they cost a fortune on eBay.

Grandma's beaded purses

The woman in the store suggested we walk down to San Jose and Willow where a stunning example of a Victorian home stood on the corner. We followed her suggestion and after another half hour of walking there it was!!!  The beauty I had seen on the internet.  What a gorgeous gorgeous example of a Victorian home – covered in color, resplendent in embellishments, and standing tall and proud on the corner.  All the exquisite homes on Alameda pale in comparison to this one.  I stood and stared in wonder.  After four hours of walking my feet ached, my back ached… actually my whole body ached, but it was all worth it.  This is a fabulous example of a Painted Lady and a must see for any visitor to the island.

close up detail

more exquisite detail

By now the sun was low, the pain in my feet was high, my digital camera’s battery was running low and I was ready to head for the boat at high speed.  Neither of us relished the 5 mile walk back to the marina and so it was that by some miracle Annie spotted a taxi just then.  We hailed it and to our great relief it stopped.  Within 10 minutes we were back on the boat and I was flat on my back with my aching feet held in the air, draining the engorged blood out of them.  Oh my god but they hurt.  I keep forgetting that at my age I should be wrapped in a shawl, sitting on a rocker watching the sun set every evening.  Well almost….

Annie and I had talked earlier about crashing the party that night at the yacht club around the corner and checking out the sailors, but just the thought of putting any further pressure on my aching, swollen soles was enough to put me off.  I lay flat on the bunk, feet in the air, and complained until Annie shoved 2 Ibuprofen at me to shut me up.

ALAMEDA  ISLAND  CIRCUMNAVIGATION

SUNDAY

Sunday morning dawned beautiful and calm.  My feet didn’t hurt anymore!!!  What bliss.  I sat in the cockpit watching the morning’s activity as Annie cooked up a mouthwatering breakfast.  It’s a busy little marina where they obviously have a training school on Boat Handling because boats went up and down the channels, backing up, docking, turning, and maneuvering busily.

A monohull came down the channel towards me and someone called out for a 160 degree turn.  160 degrees, I mused, such a precise metric?  Not 180 or 360 but 160?  How peculiar.  I watched interestedly to see what would happen.  The helmsman executed a neat 360 and everyone hi-fived him.  I’m guessing that all of the crew on that boat failed Geometry at school.

Then a mature woman and her man came down the channel in a dinghy, the kind of dinghy that has seats and a steering column in the center of the boat (as opposed to mine where you steer the boat by turning the outboard’s handle).  She was in the seat with both hands on the wheel giving the impression that she was steering.  However, husband was sitting on the port pontoon with his right arm extended holding the steering wheel.  He was making very forceful turning moves and was clearly in control of the dinghy.  Suddenly she threw up her hands, said some choice words to hubby, gave up fighting his overbearing control, and released the wheel.  Unfortunately she lost that round because he simply took over control of the wheel which is what he wanted all along.  Why do men do that to women?  More to the point, why do women let men do that to them??  Assuming she can steer a car down a busy freeway at 65mph, why would he think she is incapable of steering a dinghy down a quiet channel at 3mph?  In fact, she is probably also capable of doing a perfect 160.

The kids on the boat next to mine are having such fun swinging around in the bosun’s chair that their dad rigged for them.  Their happy laughter is such a delight.  I must remember the bosun chair trick the next time my grandchildren visit me on my boat.

The channel looked much wider this morning than when I came in yesterday until I realized that all the catamarans and trimarans that clogged the channel yesterday were all out sailing.  When you have multihulls on the end-ties of the docks, each extending 25 to 30 feet into the channel, then your nice wide channel suddenly becomes very constricted as you lose 60ft.  This marina has an astonishing amount of mulithulls in it.  A 40ft Norseman came by and the skipper yelled out that the boat went to weather very well for a catamaran.  I immediately experienced severe pangs of “go-to-weather” envy.  My trimaran thinks that “go to weather” means find a sunny spot on the Bay and anchor!

The start of our circumnavigation of Alameda island

Around Sunday noon Annie and I pored over my NOAA charts examining the island.  According to the chart the channel was deep enough all along its length such that we could circumnavigate the island in the dinghy if we wanted to.  We decided to try.   Little did we both realize at the time, but the circumnavigation distance is over 18 miles!

As I placed my precious Charts back into the navigation station Annie laughingly picked up the tourist flier we used yesterday with the rough map of Alameda.  The map is not drawn to scale, and is not drawn very precisely in general outline either, but Annie said that it would be our chart as she laughingly tucked it into her pocket.

Map of Alameda, credits:  http://gotoes.org/kayaktours/20070128_CircumnavigateAlameda/

We dropped the dinghy in the water at which point I noticed that I hadn’t pumped the pontoons very firmly, or they had lost air.  In any case they were not as taut as I would have liked.  I dug out my foot pump that had never been used and found the obvious reason for this – I couldn’t find the connector that joined the pump hose to the pontoon valve.  Annie said, What are we going to do about this?  And I said, Nothing, just don’t sit on the pontoons.  And I flung the oars in the dinghy for good measure.

Annie insisted that we visit the fuel dock and fill the gasoline canister.  I was sure we would have enough gas for the afternoon but Annie was insistent.  As we dinghied down to the fuel dock I mentioned casually that I didn’t have much experience with dinghies and so she should be prepared for unexpected maneuverings.

We came up to the fuel dock calmly enough giving the false impression that I had the dinghy under control.  Annie crouched ready to exit the dinghy in a dignified way, and tie up.  I put the outboard into neutral but unfortunately I pushed the handle too far back and it clicked into reverse.  The dinghy started backwards.  Realizing my mistake I quickly pulled the lever forward but over-corrected again and the dinghy lurched forward in gear and t-boned the dock heavily.  I quickly rammed the lever into reverse again.  The sudden forward jolt coupled with the rapid backwards movement caused Annie to squawk and fall over backwards into the dinghy.  I did the only logical thing – I clutched my sides and rolled around hooting with laughter.

At the next attempt to dock Annie had completely lost faith in my dinghy handling ability and flung herself out of the dinghy before we even made contact with the dock.  We tied up, filled the gasoline container, and took off again down the channel somewhat more sedately I thought, with Annie firmly wedged up front not trusting me to get us down even the main channel unscathed.

In my defense I said contritely, Well I did warn you that I didn’t have much dinghy experience.  Last week was the first time I ever handled a dinghy but I did run around the marina for at least an hour, I asserted.

Annie said, One lousy hour?!  When you mentioned you had just a little experience I thought you were being self-deprecating and humble.  I didn’t know you meant you REALLY didn’t know what the hell you were doing.

I am claiming absolute innocence on this one…. In the interests of full disclosure I did mention it, albeit vaguely, up front.

Annie said she hoped no one was filming our fuel dock fiasco because otherwise we would be on YouTube by evening and viral by tomorrow with 2 million viewings.  Not to mention them winning $10,000 for their entry of us in America’s Funniest Home Videos.

We exited the marina and began our circumnavigation in an anti-clockwise direction.  We decided we would head for the first bridge that marked the beginning (or end?) of the Oakland Channel.  At that point we would see how long it took and decide to go forward or turn back.  The bridge seemed a long way away but we reached it in 30 minutes and decided to proceed.

We would go to Coast Guard Island and then decide if we wanted to turn back or proceed.  We reached the CGI in the next 30 minutes and decided to proceed.

We would go to Jack London Square and then decide if we wanted to proceed or turn back.  When we got to JLS we had been in the dink for about 1½ hours.  Annie hauled out her postcard sized tourist map of the island and we decided that as close as we could tell from that particular map, we were more or less half way around the island.  At this point we could go forward or retrace our steps to the marina.  We palpated the pontoons gently and decided to go forward.

As we made our way down the Oakland Channel towards the open Bay the chop increased significantly to the point where Annie suggested we don our life jackets, which we did.  Water was slopping into the dinghy at the rate of about a ½ a bucket per splash and very soon I was sitting in 6 inches of water.  However, the buoy to the entrance of the channel was just ahead egging us onwards so we decided that we would round the buoy/point and then decide if we would proceed or turn and run back down the channel.

At this stage we also decided we should start bailing.  Annie was wearing a baseball cap which I considered using as a bailing cup over protestations from Annie.  We were both wearing bras which gave us another 4 cups to bail with, but then Annie pulled out her little water bottle and we decided to try that first.  Annie couldn’t help because she couldn’t reach behind me so I steered with one hand and bailed with the other.  I was almost up to my waist in water and the gas tank was semi-submerged.  With the water coming in at the rate of ½ a bucket per splash and me bailing at the rate of one little water bottle at a time, it was a bit of a losing battle.  But I persisted.

I was hugging the shoreline so I figured we weren’t really in deathly danger.  Absolute worst case would be that the dinghy sank and we had to swim for the shore 40ft away.  And then we would use my iPhone which was sealed in a plastic bag to call 911.  No problem.

Eventually we rounded the point and were now in the open Bay.  Now the chop had turned to swells that hit us broadside as we turned south.  The good news was that the sea wasn’t pouring into the dinghy anymore.  The bad news was that we were rolling sideways over the swells which could tip the dinghy.

Annie suggested we “run like hell” for the marina.  I palpated the pontoons again which felt to me somewhat limper than 2 hours ago – but maybe it was just my overactive imagination.  The dinghy’s “run-like-hell” flat-out speed was rather more of a waddle as we rolled over the swells, which considering my lack of skills was probably just as well.

Note to self:  buy a hand pump for the dinghy, with all appropriate connections.

Since we were so near the shoreline, Annie was crouched in the front of the dinghy keeping a watch for submarine pipelines, sunken hazards, submerged rocks, and sandbars – or more accurately, mud bars.  I continued to bail and steer.

We saw another point up ahead and decided that must be the final point and then we would see the marina.  The broadside swells were somewhat unnerving as we flopped over them.

We rounded the point and saw another point up ahead and decided that that must be the final point before the marina.

We rounded that point and saw yet another point up ahead and decided that that absolutely must be the final point before the marina.

I had managed to get ahead with the bailing and was down to just 2 inches and decided I could tolerate sitting in that for another hour. My skin was all crinkly with sitting in sea water for so long, so I can now categorically state without a shadow of doubt that the southern regions do not like being submerged in sea water for extended periods.

We rounded the point and saw yet another f%#$ing point up ahead.  There was no sign of the elusive breakwater.  We were nonplussed – the distance from buoy to breakwater hadn’t looked so great on the NOAA chart this morning?

I mused aloud, I wonder where we are right now?  At this stage Annie pulled out her now incredibly soaked tatty tourist map that we had used as our “chart”, pointed to a soggy spot and declared firmly – We are right here!  It was such a ludicrous gesture that we both burst out laughing and couldn’t stop.  We laughed until the tears ran down our cheeks and we thought we would wet ourselves.  I was fine with that since I had been sitting in a pool of sea water for hours anyway, so who would be able to tell the difference?!

We dinghied onward in our now stalwart fashion, but every time we looked at each other we would lose control and clutching our sides we would roll with laughter all over again.  The contrast between our careful perusal of the NOAA charts this morning, and the incredibly soggy tourist map that Annie held was so vast that we couldn’t stop laughing.

We finally rounded a point and there was the marina in the distance!  What a welcome sight.  We cut across Ballena Bay heading directly for the marina – no fussing around following the breakwater this time!

Once we were well out and angling across Ballena Bay, the swells became fairly large following seas – relative to a dinghy’s size anyway.  We were doing some serious surfing.  Annie was looking behind to warn me of large swells while I concentrated on the front so that we didn’t get tipped over since it was now a very long swim to shore.  Then Annie raised the question of me dumping us in the drink by mistake.  I pooh-poohed that on the grounds that I had so much experience in dinghy handling by now that I was practically an expert.  Annie snorted – You have already admitted to only 1 hour last week and 2 hours today giving you a total of 3 hours experience.  Expert my ass!  Its just plain dumb luck that you haven’t tipped us into the sea already.  But I staunchly defended my Expert label and refused to concede on that point.

There were 2 yachts further out into the bay and as we surfed past them they both turned and followed us.  I maintained that they had been lost and were only too pleased to see someone who obviously knew the way and could lead them back to the marina.  Annie maintained that they were so shocked to see 2 women in a dinghy come surfing past them, that they decided to follow us and render assistance when I dunked us in the sea.  Well, I might have to concede that point to Annie, albeit reluctantly, because they followed us to the marina and then fell off when we were safely inside.

All in all it took over 3½ hours to circumnavigate Alameda Island in the dinghy.  It is an 18 mile circuit and an exciting adventure but not recommended for the fainthearted.

HOMEWARD BOUND

We got back to the boat around 4pm Sunday afternoon, hauled up the dinghy, cast off, and headed out while we were still both soaking wet.  During the trip back home we took turns to go below and clean up.

We got back to my home marina around 8pm Sunday night, exhausted but exhilarated.

It was a fabulous weekend.  Huge fun.  And Annie and I got on like a house on fire.  We found we are both Geminis we were born just one day apart, she on the 25^th and me on the 26^th.  I want it to go on record here that Annie is the older of the two of us – okay, its only by 24 hours but details like that are important to a woman.

Annie and I have the same sense of humor, and we laughed a lot.  We like the same music, and she can cook like a dream!  And both of us were happy to exit unwise marriages – good solid common ground there.

Annie is a good foil for me – I seldom think before I leap.  Annie wisely suggested filling up the dinghy gas tank, which never even occurred to me, and we would definitely have run out of fuel when surfing out in the bay had we not filled up.  That tank had just a few cups of gas left over when we got back home… although we did have the oars… and a very long row home.

She also suggested putting on our PFDs rather than wait until I dumped us in the drink and we had to swim for them.

And rather than motor majestically down the center of the channel in my little dink, she suggested I should hug the shoreline to minimize our swim to shore should I sink us.

And to seal my iPhone in a plastic bag should we need it at any time during the afternoon – it’s not as though we had an EPIRB handy in the dink.

I know that I tend to carefully study my charts for ages, and review my route with local experienced skippers, listen to their advice and take all the precautions they suggest – but otherwise I tend to live in the moment.  Annie is more practical than me.  I am boat safety conscious, and Annie is people safety conscious.

I asked Annie to write down a few of her thoughts on the weekend for my blog.  She said that any invitation from me to go boating for a weekend can be covered in just 5 words….. Be afraid, be very afraid.

Weather monitor - wind indicator

I have a West Marine model Weather Base 20 which works perfectly well and tells the temperature, humidity, time, and most important to me as a sailor, it tells the wind speed and wind direction.  That is, it did until one of the 3 cups on the external wind indicator broke off.  With only 2 cups left they balanced each other out and the monitor no longer spun/rotated in the wind – so I no longer got the wind speed.

I thought I would be able to dismantle the wind indicator, remove the offending piece, and replace it with a new piece with the requisite 3 cups.  The weather base is made by West Marine so off I went to WM to buy a replacement part.  I entered the WM store and headed straight for an assistant at the counter.

I explained my problem and the assistant looked dubious.  He said he thought that WM sold the entire base as one unit and that spare parts were not available.

At this time the gentleman standing next to me piped up helpfully.  Why not just stick a bottle cap in the place of the missing cup and it will work just fine, he offered.  And Coca Cola caps work perfectly, he added.

The mere thought of an ugly Coke cap glued onto any part of  my beautiful boat was about as attractive as a boil on a baby’s bottom.  I turned and gave the man a withering “You stay out of this!” glare.  He shrugged.

The attendant and I went thru the WM catalog.  Turns out that WM no longer makes that particular model, however, for just $549 I can buy a whole new latest-and-greatest weather base.  Excluding the cost of an electrician to remove the old weather station and fit the newest contraption, of course..

There are a lot of things I need for the boat right now, and a new weather base is not one of them, so I left the store.

Once I got back to the boat I studied the non-spinning wind indicator and pondered the problem.  The more I thought about the man’s suggestion of a Coke bottle cap, the more it made sense.  Eventually I decided it was worth a try, especially since the stupid indicator was not working anyway…  And there are no spare parts for it…  And I didn’t feel like buying a new one.

So off I went to the store and bought a 6-pack of Cokes.  I noticed that the bottle caps are a bright red so I decided to paint them black.  I picked up a cheap bottle of nail polish – black nail polish like people use on Halloween to enhance their witch costumes.

Then back to the boat.  Over the weekend I drank the cokes and kept the lids which I painted black.  Then I mixed up a batch of marine glue, climbed up on the roof of the dodger, leaned over the davits precariously, and glued a now-black cup in the spot of the missing cup.  I waited expectantly for the indicator to start spinning happily in the 10-knot wind but it just sat there.

Its the little fella below the big wind generator

I sat and watched the movement of the indicator – or non.movement in this case – and it seemed that since the other 2 cups were on extended arms and my Coke cup was glued straight to the mounting base, it was preventing a rotation from starting.  If I knocked it with my hand then it spun away and continued to spin, but once I stopped it again, it couldn’t restart its spin.  Obviously I must have slept thru the lesson about wind dynamics in school.

So I thought if I glued another 2 cups to the mounting then the new 3 cups would generate the start speed needed to get it spinning.  So I did that.  Now I had 5 cups on the indicator – 3 Coke caps (painted Halloween black) glued directly to the monitor, and 2 originals on their extended arms.

By this time the wind had picked up so I sat back waiting for the vroooom that would indicate my monitor was spinning wildly – but it didn’t move.  All I had done was counter balance the stupid thing again.  As I watched, the wind would catch the cup on the extended arm and shove it clockwise.  Then the wind would catch the other extended cup and shove it anti-clockwise.  So the indicator wobbled back and forth, but did not fully rotate.

Obviously I needed to replace a-cup-on-an-extended-arm like the one that broke off.  I know, I know, I shouldn’t have second guessed the original designer – but who knew 5 cups would not do the trick?!

Back to the drawing board….  I cut up an expired credit card into thin strips to use as the arm extension and glued the strips together to get rigidity.  And painted it black.  Then I glued the (4^th) cup to the extension, and glued the extension in the missing place on the indicator.

The thing started spinning madly – at last.  I bolted downstairs and my weather base showed the wind at 15 knots.  Oh joy!

Tah-DAAHHHH

So now instead of a neat wind indicator on my davit with 3 neat cups on extensions, now I have the thing bristling with Coke bottle caps – all painted Halloween black.

The next time someone comes up with a simple fix to an expensive problem, I hope I have the good sense to ask some in-depth questions instead of dishing out a snotty look.  To the man in WM that received The Look, I humbly apologize.

Cost to replace:                    Newest weather base $549         + handyman electrician at $65 p/hr

Cost to fix:

6-pack of Cokes           $2.99

1 black nail polish      $1.99

TOTAL =       $5 (I already had the marine glue)

The weather station on my Navigation station

Fireworks in the Bay

INDEPENDENCE DAY – and a long weekend – Sat, Sun, and Monday.

There are various sites in San Francisco Bay where you can anchor overnight that will give you an excellent view of the spectacular fireworks displays along the various waterfronts on Sunday night, the 4^th of July.

Annie and Darlene said they were available to anchor out with me, so the long weekend was a Go.  Annie was in charge of the menu, while I spent the week preparing the boat.

I checked that the anchor and windlass worked, checked the batteries, filled the water tanks, emptied the toilet holding tank, cleared off the stuff cluttering the guest bed, cleaned the windscreens, got new batteries for the portable radio, bought a ton of Cokes, fetched my Mac so that we could play DVDs, and just generally puttered around.

I also dropped the dinghy onto the dock intending to inflate the slackened pontoons but once I had the dinghy down where I could see it properly, I noticed that the transom had come away from the port pontoon.  I visited West Marine for friendly advice on how I could repair and re-glue the separation.  The glue alone was $128 but the advice was free – they suggested I take it to an inflatable repair facility.  That was a blow – I was expecting us to have a runabout for the weekend.

Transom coming unglued from the pontoon

Annie and Darlene arrived early Saturday morning and we cast off the dock lines and motored into a clear, warm, calm day.  No wind.  But then again, there is never any wind early in the morning in the Bay, however, around noon up comes a howling banshee of a wind as regular as clockwork.  Well, maybe “howling” is overstating it somewhat, but a solid 20 knots with sharp gusts blows thru.

Under the Bay Bridge, Darlene, and San Francisco in the background

We motored calmly up the Bay and Annie mentioned that the SFWeather said that there would be a Small Craft Warning in the afternoon.  Darlene made a joke to the effect that we weren’t a small craft so we didn’t have to worry.  Right.  As we motored under the Bay Bridge and moved out from the protection of the highrise buildings of the City to our left, we were quite suddenly slammed with high wind and sloppy waves that splashed over the bow and onto my clean windscreen utterly obliterating our view.  Darlene did a rapid disappearing trick behind cover to avoid being soaked through.

We weren’t sailing so we didn’t have to rush to reduce sail and we weren’t in any real danger, but the radio crackled on and on with Pan-Pan calls from the Coast Guard asking sailors to look out for a craft overturned near Berkeley, or a boat taking on water near the island, or a vessel sinking near….   Seems that if you were a small craft, you were in real trouble.

Alcatraz coming up

We bounced thru the bay being doused in spray.  We passed Alcatraz, and the Golden Gate Bridge to our left, and finally after a total of 4 hours of motoring we reached Richardson Bay.  I had been told to anchor near Cove Rock because with my shallow draft we would comfortably manage the 7ft depth.  We entered the Sausalito bay eagerly looking out for the rock.  It turns out that Cove Rock is actually a lump below the water and all you can see is a very large bouy marking the spot.

The Golden Gate bridge to port

Since I was the only one who sort of knew how the windlass worked, I put Darlene on the helm and we went thru our hand signals – Stop, go left, go right, go forward, go back, and power back hard to check the holding.  You have to have hand signals to impress the watching masses.  It doesn’t matter how badly you mess up, but if you hold up a fist (the military equivalent of Stop) and the helmsman responds by putting the boat in neutral, then everyone watching goes Aaaaah!  You just look professional – even when you aren’t.

Then Annie and I went forward to drop the anchor.  The first time we dropped it and Darlene powered back the boat, the anchor did not bite and we hopped backwards.  We lifted the anchor and tried again.  This time the anchor bit and held under full reverse power.

Then Annie and I tried to connect the bridle to the anchor rode with mixed success.  The anchor hangs off the middle ama which puts strain on the bow and windlass and also allows FastAlley to twirl around freely – putting further strain on the bow.  To reduce the twirling there is a bridle contraption which is a long, thick line with clips at each end another clip in the middle.  The middle clip is hanked onto the anchor chain hanging off the bow, and the two ends are connected, one each, to the port and starboard amas.  This v-shaped effect reduces twirling.  Of course it does nothing for the windage – you’re stuck with that.

Eventually Darlene at the helm got bored watching us struggling away and came up to see what the fuss was all about.  All three of us offered advice to each other on how to tie the bridle properly.  It was a hoot and I’m sure everyone watching from the houses on shore were vastly entertained with our Anchoring By Committee.  .  Eventually we got the bridle connected to the anchor, but we also had 50ft of chain out in just 7ft of water.  Basically that gave us enough scope for a hurricane!  There was no denying we were holding firm so we called it a day, retreated to the cockpit, killed the engine, and made coffee.

Sausalito with its mantle of cloud

Considering the Small Craft Warning just one mile away in the Bay, it was beautifully calm at the anchorage and the views were spectacular.  Sausalito nestles on the side of hills, and a mantle of cloud gently covered the tops.  We watched the sun set and chatted into the evening.  After dinner and a movie, I left some soft track lighting on so that we could see our way should we have to get up during the night, and we all hit the sack.

Sunday morning dawned and I shot out of bed to check my batteries.  There had been no wind during the night and so the wind generator hadn’t charged the batteries and the track lighting had run them down to a little over 12.  I switched from the wind generator to solar power and slowly my batteries came back up again.  Around noon high winds buffeted us at anchor and I gleefully switched on the wind generator and watched it rapidly top off my batteries.  Sometimes I like wind.

Annie whipping up a gourmet meal

Annie had a great menu planned and we ate generously.  We could hear the parade trumpeting thru the streets of Sausalito but we were stuck on the boat with no dinghy.

Still it was very relaxing.  Darlene bravely tried the solar shower and declared it marginal.

Anne and Darlene got energetic and started doing yoga on the tossing deck while I tried not to feel guilty at my lack of enthusiasm for exercise.

Boats started arriving in their hordes but avoided anchoring anywhere near us – because we were in such shallow water.  It was great having the waters at Cove Rock all to ourselves and not having to worry about a boat dragging into us.  Or us twirling into someone on our 50ft swing.  It got pretty crowded in the cheap seats as more and more boats arrived throughout the afternoon and anchored – way over there!

The other major consideration with a trimaran is that it is twirled around at anchor by the wind.  Monohulls with their deep keels are moved by the tides.  The bridle on my anchor stops any great swings, but the winds still have quite an impact on a shallow draft vessel with such high freeboard as my trimaran has.  So at any one time you would see all the monohulls sedately facing into the tide, and FastAlley doing a dance thru 60 degrees as the wind clocked around constantly, back and forth.  So much for the “prevailing” wind – it was gusting all over the place.

Around 9:30pm it was dark enough for the fireworks show and the skies over Sausalito lit up with color and sparkle.  Of course, my finger is somewhat slower on the camera shutter than my eye, so I got a lot of pictures of fuzzy dots on a black background.  But the show was fun to watch – it is years since I saw fireworks.

Then the two San Francisco fireworks shows started along the city waterfront but it was pretty distant and the fireworks exploded high enough that they were obscured by the marine layer.  All we could see was the rocket streaking towards the low cloud….. then nothing, just a loud bang as it exploded and the clouds turned red, green, or gold.  And the racket from the finale was something to hear – but not to see.

It was pretty cold by the end of the show so we retreated below, crawled into our snug beds, and watched a movie – The Last of the Mohicans.  It is my favorite film but I was asleep 20 minutes into the show.

This time the wind blew all night, powering up my batteries as the track lighting flattened them.  It’s a beautiful thing.

Homeward bound buoy

Monday morning dawned cold and foggy.  We lifted the anchor, un-tethered the bridle, and got underway around 9:30am.  I expected the trip back to be a hard slog against the current but there was no wind, the water was flat calm, and FastAlley flew along.  We were back at the dock by 2:00pm.

I have two wishes – I wish I had had my dinghy so that we could have run around the waterfront and followed the parade, and maybe visited all the houseboats that Sausalito is so famous for.  And I wish I had my new cockpit enclosures in place already for the long weekend.  It would have been nice to have a cozy cockpit.

…..so that just means that we will have to do this again some time!

Bay Bridge and the city

FastAlley ready for her crew to arrive

Nav station board

APRIL 2010 – BATTERIES & ELECTRICAL SYSTEM

• House bank batteries replaced
• Engine starter battery replaced
• Battery charger replaced
• Shunt repositioned
• “Amps in” dial replaced

When my boat was in Long Beach I took the boat out regularly and gave the engine a run under load, but this year I am up in the San Francisco Bay and the winters are wet, wet, wet so I found that I simply never walked thru the rain to the boat.  It just sat there at the dock, neglected and forlorn.

And it rained.  And rained.  And rained.  For months.  And months.  And months.

It April now and after the sun broke thru quite suddenly and brightly and I was off to the boat again.  I tried to fire up the engine but no joy.  I checked both battery banks, the house bank and the starter battery, and they looked charged according to my reading of the dials (I could be wrong), so I tried again to start the engine.  And again, nothing.  I tried cross-connecting the house and starter batteries with the combined effect of zero.  I shut the boat up and trudged back up the dock to my car.

The next time the weather cleared I met an electrician out at FastAlley.  He went over the electrical board, examined the batteries, checked the battery charger – and declared the whole lot dead.  The battery charger had failed and taken out the house set.  Or, he said, one of the batteries had shorted and blown the rest of the batteries as well as the charger.  Who knows.  All I did know for sure was that all 4 house batteries were fried, as well as the battery charger.

The 4 (dead) batteries in the boat are about $400+ each, which made me unhappy, however, I felt better when Duane said that the batteries were from 2003 and long past their useful life, and should be replaced anyway.  He said the life of a battery is at most 5 to 6 years so I had had good use out of them.  That only lessened the $-pain a little.

He asked when I was going cruising?  I said, Probably in 2 years.  He said that I really don’t need 4 deep cycle gel batteries while I am tied up to the dock and using shore power, and suggested that I buy just 2 house batteries, and a good engine starter battery.

New battery charger & shunt moved

Yesterday we met at the boat, with the 3 batteries, installed them, and turned on the engine.  It groaned and coughed and then started.  What a wonderful sound – I feel so lost when my engine won’t run because I won’t sail in or out of a slip in the trimaran.  I did that in my little 22ft Catalina but I won’t do that in this wide-bodied monster.

I ran the engine for about 45 minutes to fully charge the batteries.

Replacement $cost – the battery charger, batteries, shunt, dial

AC Charger, Xantrex TrueCharge,                        $280

1 EA Battery, 12V, Flooded, Group 24               $135

2 EA Battery, 12V, Flooded, Group 24              $216

Troubleshoot problems                                          $195

Replace charger+batteries                                    $130

Total, parts and labor $1,015

Still to do                                                                   $——

Probable total                                                      $1200

I hate it when I get a quote for $200 and then get a bill for $600.

Completed                                                                $ 600

ACTUAL TOTAL                                              $1615

– - – - – - o – o – o – o- – - – - – -

• Companionway Hatch Shocks
• Companionway Hatch Bar
• Heat Exchanger Bolts Replaced
• Kitchen Sink Re-Bedded
• Deck Hatch Replaced
• Weems & Plaath clock fixed

INTRODUCTION 

Let me explain that firstly I am a woman and secondly an IT Project Manager by profession, so doing boat fixes or manual labor has never been in my set of skills.  The most exercise I do is running my fingers over a computer keyboard.

 Also I have never owned any tools until I got the boat, and now I have inherited enough tools for a small workshop. 

Since trying my hand at boat projects, I have also noticed that women obviously haven’t gone into the marine parts design profession, because men seem to know automatically how things work – its seems so obvious to them – whereas I have to revert to reading the instructions and even then they don’t make much sense to me. 

 A Man’s mind obviously works differently to a Female’s mind.

 I am learning on my boat that I often have to replace parts (you cannot repair them) – I think it’s a conspiracy with marine spare parts makers because just when you replace PartA then PartB caves in. 

 I also suspect that boat parts are primed to fail serially so that you spend the entire summer working – and $spending – on the boat. 

COMPANIONWAY HATCH SHOCKS

 The shocks that hold the companionway hatch open suddenly decided to give up the ghost.  One moment the shocks were holding up the hatch, the next it slammed down narrowly missing my head.

So I examined the hatch shocks trying to figure out how to remove them so that I could take them to West Marine for replacement.  Obviously a man built the stupid part because there wasn’t any indication of how to prize the shock off its mount.  Really, if a woman had designed the piece there would have been a large arrow with engraved instructions.  All highlighted in pink.

 Empty handed I went to West Marine, found the same part on their shelves, and spent 5 minutes examining the instructions on how to remove it – it was embarrassingly easy.  I returned to the boat, prized off the piece, returned to West Marine and bought the same (length) size.

The gas shock said it would hold up 90 lbs.  The instructions said if I had 2 shocks before, then I should replace with 2 again.  I realized my hatch was at most 25 lbs, so 180 lbs was a bit of overkill, but that seemed to be the only weight:length combination that would fit my hatch. So I shelled out the $50.

Back I went to the boat, clicked the new gas shocks into place and watched admiringly as the hatch stayed open and did not slam down on my head.  Then I tried to close the hatch.  Before, with the old shocks, I simply leaned gently on the hatch and it closed.  Now I yanked and yanked but the hatch didn’t move.  Thinking the gas shocks were somehow stuck in the “open” position I went back to the instructions to figure out how to unstuck them.  The instructions didn’t cover this.

After staring at the obstinate hatch some more I realized that maybe 180lbs force to keep the hatch open, required a similar opposite force to close it.  So I grabbed the hatch, leaned my full weight on it, and down it came – reluctantly.  In fact, it took so much effort that I figured I could use the open hatch as an exercise bar for chin ups. 

Then I tried to close the hatch from inside the cabin but I couldn’t pull hard enough to bring down the hatch, and keep it down.  Back to the drawing board.  I stared mutely at the gas shocks.  They stared back unhelpfully.

Eventually I removed one of the gas shocks reducing the load to 90 lbs again – notwithstanding the instructions that if I had 2 shocks then I should replace with 2 new shocks.  Bringing down the hatch against 90 lbs force is still pretty heavy for me especially when pulling it down from inside the cabin, but at least it stays open as desired. 

Price:  $25 each  ——–>>>> pleasant surprise, I only needed one.

COMPANIONWAY HATCH BAR

When you close the companionway hatch then the crossbar or beam across the front of the hatch has part of the bar protruding out at the corner.  The screw that is supposed to keep the corner flush had worked thru the steel bar and under it, and so it was no longer lying flush.  Every time I pulled the hatch down and tried to close it, it balked at the slightly protruding piece.

Previously I had the protruding piece glued back in place, but with minimal continued use, pretty soon it come unstuck again.

This time I decided to remove the flat head (sunken) screw and get another one with a bigger head so that it could not work thru the steel.  Then glue it as well for good measure, clamp it all together, and wait. 

Of course, having made this decision I then realized I don’t own a clamp – so it’s off to Home Depot again.

I used to love shopping and browsing thru malls for all manner of frilly things.  Lately my shopping habits rotate between West Marine and Home Depot.

Cost to fix (my labor comes free):  93 cents for a bag of flat head screws

HEAT EXCHANGER BOLTS REPLACED

I thought I had to change the impeller so I got a mechanic, Bill, to take a look at the engine.  He declared the impeller just fine, but when he touched the heat exchanger it came loose in his hands.  It looked like the bolts had sheared off. 

The solenoid was also hanging loose from its mounting.

It seems the heat exchanger had 2 bolts – or is that screws, I never could tell the difference – anyway it was big and it had a thread.  One bolt was too big for its hole, and the other bolt too small for its hole.  To the casual gaze it all looked secure, but in fact was completely unsecured.  One bolt had sheared off and the base of the bolt was embedded in its hole.  The other bolt was so loose it came out in his hand.  It was basically just sitting loose in the hole, not actually screwed in.  I was so lucky that the whole contraption hadn’t fallen off during our trip up the coast from Long Beach which would have done irreparable damage to the engine.

I was bemoaning the problem to a colleague at work, telling him that the previous mechanic had put a 3/8 inch bolt in a 1/2 inch hole.  My colleague said he understood perfectly – in fact, his last girlfriend kept complaining about the same thing.  I added that when touched, the thing just fell out in my hand.  My colleague nodded – he said his ex complained about that too.  He didn’t like his ex that much, he said.  Super helpful colleague – not.

Bill drilled the embedded bolt base out and found the threads were gone so we couldn’t replace the bolt with a new one.  Instead he went off and created a base plate that he bolted to the engine and then bolted the heat exchanger onto its new base plate.  It looks and feels really solid now. 

He also bolted the solenoid to the new plate.   With all the work I have had done on the engine in the last year, I hope it lasts at least another 1000 hours before I need to rework anything again.    

Mechanical fix:  $300 = $50 in parts and $250 mechanic’s labor.

KITCHEN SINK RE-BEDDED

The kitchen sink has small bolts underneath it, one in each corner, to hold it firmly in place.  However, the tiny bolts were obviously not effective because they had rusted off over time and the back left corner of the sink lifted out of its hole, leaving a gap between the sink and the counter.

For ages I worried that when I washed the dishes any splashed water on the counter would seep under the gap and drip down onto the refrigerator below.  Finally it bugged me enough that I decided to take a peek.   Sure enough, water had seeped down under the sink and worse, had dripped onto the fridge electric cabling.

To avoid any further damage to the underlying refrigerator, I stuck blue painters tape all around the sink until I figured out a fix.  Actually the makeshift tape worked so well, that I left it like that all winter.

Now that the Spring has sprung, and the grass is ris…..  its time to fix the damn thing.

Did some shopping at Home Depot – again.  Got the acetone, got the scraper, the painters tape, the clamps, got the DAP caulk for kitchens – time to try my hand at this new boat project.

I squeezed the scraper all the way around and under the kitchen sink trying to prize it out of its hole but no luck.  It stuck firmly in the two front corners.  I fiddled around underneath and felt clamps in the two corners keeping the sink embedded.  These 2 front clamps hadn’t rusted off.  After 20 minutes of contortions trying to get the clamps unscrewed I decided the only way to reach anything under the sink was to remove the refrigerator.

Amazingly the fridge is held in place with just 4 smallish screws, so I unscrewed them, read the DANGER SHOCK sign on top of the fridge and hurriedly turned off the mains – and the batteries for good measure – then I dragged the fridge out of its cubbyhole.  This left a nice big gap under the sink that I could now reach into.  I removed the clamps on the 2 front corners – the back 2 having already rusted off long ago.   I could only heft the sink out about 2 inches because it was still connected underneath to its plumbing.  Try as I might I didn’t have the strength to disconnect the threaded hose, so eventually I gave up the unequal struggle.

I thoroughly cleaned around the sink with my new acetone, re-taped the area with the blue painters tape, cut the caulking spout at a 45 degree angle per the instructions, and squeezed the caulking under the rim.  Man, that caulking stuff is messy.  I managed to get it all over the place and especially all over my fingers.  Thank heavens for the painters tape otherwise it would have been all over the counter too. 

After I caulked it all and left it for awhile, I noticed that I hadn’t done a very thorough job – notwithstanding the amount of caulk on my hands.  So I re-taped the sink perimeter and recaulked it again.  Second time around it seemed so much simpler.  Finally I pushed the refrigerator back into its cubby hole under the sink, screwed it back in place, cleaned up the mess, and left it to dry. 

I decided to watch On Golden Pond while I made dinner.  A nice quiet movie I thought because after the last 4 hours I didn’t need any added stress.  Unfortunately its all about an old man with Old Timers having massive stress attacks as he gets lost and forgetful – so that didn’t help my stress levels any.

But the sink is looking good.  The instructions said not to use water around the caulking for 24 hours so I will check the seal next weekend by squirting water all around the rim of the sink and check that nothing drips through onto the fridge beneath.

(Next weekend….. the caulk is holding beautifully.  There is absolutely no water seeping thru).

Cost of repair (my labor is free):   $8 in caulking, tape, etc.

DECK HATCH REPLACED

Winter in San Francisco is wet, wetter, wettest with strong cold winds howling across the Bay.  Even as the weather warms, it is not much better.  In fact, Mark Twain said something like… the coldest season he ever endured was the summer he spent in SanFran.  Or words to that effect.

So when I finally returned to the boat after weeks of awful weather, I found rain water had dribbled in through a bunch of hatches.  At $300 per hatch, the wet patches were not a fun sight.

Off to West Marine where I ordered one new Bomar hatch, and picked it up a few days later.  I thought I would need a handyman to replace the hatches for me, but Bill (the local mechanic) took a look and said – you look smart enough, you can do this yourself.  He gave me a list of stuff to buy at West Marine and Home Depot, told me exactly what to do, and exited.

This is just like caulking the sink – just using a different kind of caulk and some brute force to tug the old hatch out of its hole.  First you have to use a sharp knife to cut around the rim of the hatch to “release” it where it has set itself over the years into its hole, then unscrew all the screws and put them together in a baggie so that you don’t lose them.  Then use a thin scraper and work it under the rim so that you break the seal where the rim is glued in place.  Use a hammer if you lack the strength to really get the scraper under the rim.  Once you have worked all the way around under the rim, give the hatch a tug.  Actually mine came out relatively easily – witness the water that had dripped into the boat – obviously the caulk wasn’t holding it in very tightly.

After tugging out the hatch, scrape and clean the area thoroughly using rubbing alcohol or acetone.  Maybe even sand it a little with fine 100 sandpaper to rough it up for the caulk.  Lay down a perimeter of blue painters tape so that if any of the caulk squeezes out then it will not ruin your deck.  I put down enough caulk to seal the Titanic then I dropped the new hatch into its hole and got caulking all over me and the tape as it squeezed out all over.  I quickly wiped it away with an old telephone card. 

TIP – here is a useful tip I got from someone.  Keep old telephone cards whenever you find them.  People throw them away when they are “empty”.  The edge of the card is perfect for scraping up caulk and leaving just the right size bead in place.   Or you can use your old Gold Card that has maxed out its credit limit – that works just as well too.

Don’t tighten the screws down tight right away because you will squeeze out all the caulk you just carefully laid.  The weight of the hatch is enough for now.  Replace the screws lightly in their holes.  2 hours later the caulk has set up a little so you can tighten the screws a little more, and wipe away the excess that squeezes out the sides.  2 hours later tighten the screws just short of “very tight” and leave to dry for a few more hours.  Finally when you think the caulk is mostly set, tighten the screws that final little bit.  Even though it is 8 hours later and you think the caulk is firmly set, a thin line of caulk will still squeeze out – I didn’t wipe it away, I left it in place as a sealing cushion.  Maybe a man would have cleaned it up the final time, but I didn’t.  This is my first hatch that I ever replaced and with no one watching over my shoulder, and lacking experience, I just followed my (female) logic.

Cost to fix (my labor comes free):  $260 for the new hatch + $8 in caulk, tape, acetone, etc

WEEMS & PLAAT Clock 

My W&P clock stopped working.  My first thought was that the battery was flat.  It is a French made clock so finding a small “N” battery (1/3 the size of a AAA) was easier said than done, but eventually I found 2 so I bought them both.  I installed the new battery in the clock only to find that the clock still didn’t work.  The clock innards were at fault.  Another thing to (expensively) replace instead of (cheaper) repair.  

I checked the clocks in the West Marine catalog and they cost $145 – no kidding, $145 for a clock about 6 inches in diameter with no special features like say brass numerals, or fancy interior brass clock wheels, or even a cuckoo.  Just a run-of-the-mill everyday clock.

There are a lot of parts of the boat that are very expensive to replace but I could not bring myself to shell out $145 for an everyday clock. 

So the chap in the next boat unscrewed the clock from the wall and turned it over and we examined it closely.  Before I had just glanced at the parts as I replaced the battery but now I took a good look.  Turns out the innards of the clock is just a little plastic box – the kind you see at the craft store Michaels for all those crafters that like making their own clocks.   We gently prized out the little box and examined it – yep, it was exactly like the Michaels clocks except for the raised letters that said “Made in France”. 

I took the little plastic box down to the Michaels store to make sure I bought the same size replacement part, handed over $7 for the new piece – with new clock hands – and returned to my Weems & Plaath clock.   I took the clock apart, removed the French hands (they didn’t fit the Michaels piece), replaced the hands with my new hands, noticed the face of the clock is just a plain ole piece of PAPER with black lettering, inserted my new easy to obtain USA battery – and voila! my clock works again.

So lets see….. the components of the W&P clock are the expensive non-rust outer shell that screws to the wall, say $3 to manufacture each little holder.  The faceplate of the little clock is glass so lets say 50cents.  Then there is the paper clock face with black numeral lettering, lets say 2cents.  That is a total of $3.52 for the clock so far. 

So W&P reckon that the $7 part that you can buy at Michaels actually costs more than $140 if it says Made in France.  I know, I know, there is W&P distribution and marketing costs included in the price, but Michaels has those same costs – so they negate each other in my book.

So – advice to you ladies – if your Weems & Plaath clock goes on the blink, don’t pay $145 for a new one, buy the $7 replacement part and fix it yourself.

Cost to fix (my labor comes free):  $7 in parts

<<<<<< —– End of March projects —– >>>>>>>

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.

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
Section total  =  $11,335.46

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

Mechanical repairs

Mechanical repairs