Category: log entry

Six hours head to wind down and four hours abaft the beam back.

The plan was to find an inexpensive boat to sail around the harbor.  

Nothing fancy just a nice cheap day sailor.  

Eight months and several thousand dollars later we have the most pimped out Hunter 28.5 in America.  I think the plan changed that first week, in the boat yard.  When I had the option of either touching up the existing bottom paint or a complete new one, I chose to bead Blast down to the gel coat and start over. Needed done anyway and it was the right choice because the previous owner had put on a new bottom every two years but never stripped off the old one. Best I can tell there were 15 layers paint. It was so thick that it had huge foot wide sections where water was trapped between layers. Probably two nickels thick.

Well anyway, once it had a first class bottom job it deserved new standing rigging. Then running rigging. And…As long as the mast was down, might as well run new wire to go with the new instruments and antenna. On and on. From October through June my goal was to get something accomplished on the boat every day. A new coat of varnish on the sole, a part fabricated for the binnacle…. something.

and today …. after having given up on ever getting the speed thru water on my MFD.

(Letter to the electrician)

Hi Ed!

I can’t believe it.  Over the last couple of months I’ve probably spent a dozen hours trying to fix or replace the old speed transducer.  I spoke with the techs at Standard horizon who sent me to the techs at Airmar who ran me through a bunch of hoops.  I sent them measurements and pictures, they responded with the model number and said there was no replacement for that size anymore.

I took the old transducer to a small electronics repair who tried, and failed, in splicing the stump.  I finally investigated rebuilding the transducer using the old body with new sensors and paddle wheel.  Air Mar wasn’t willing to help me get a new sensor … “wouldn’t support it”.  Eventually I gave up and was resigned to wait until I hauled the boat next year to install a new thru hull.

So… I’ve pretty much finished the refit.

We’re racing in the moonlight regatta tomorrow, I spent the day doing final little detail stuff and cleaning up the shop.  I was sorting through all the junk I was taking to the marine consignment store.  And there…. in a box of miscellaneous stuff was a brand new (20 year old) paddlewheel speed transducer with 30 feet of cable! The original owner must have bought it years ago and forgot all about it.  It felt like a mini miracle.

Anyway,,,

Would you confirm for me how I connect it to the ITC-5 analog to digital converter.

The cable is only one wire (white) with a screen of silver wire shielding it.  Like a small coax cable.

It looks like I connect the white wire and the shield to two of the 5 connectors on the speed/temp bar inside the ITC-5.  All the diagrams I’ve found show a modern triducer with 5 wires .

Don’t do a bunch of research,  I can call Ray Marine Monday.  I only ask if you know off the top of your head.

Take care. …. Let’s go for a sail again sometime when there is a bit more wind and let me know how the delivery job is going.

There it was … the last piece of the puzzle. From here on it’s mostly just embellishments. There are still plenty of jobs and parts to acquire but for the most part…she’s done.

Here are some pictures

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Better and better. I was noticeably more comfortable in the air this morning. It just took awhile to get back in the game. The launch was slightly crosswind. The APCO LIFT EZ is still pulling to the right under power.

So…I should adjust the hang-points before the next flight, also, I need to fix the mirror/power panel where the mount has come loose.

No Drama. Smooth air, 45 minutes.

It was like old times. Mike , Mike, Bob the Pilot and Ty drove down to fly with us at Placida. I drove through a short, strong rain on Gaspirilla Road and there were boomers were boiling off the coast. We waited and watched the sky and eventually determined that it wasn’t getting any worse. Mike was first up. While I was ramping the Falcon I heard him fly over and holler at us to get in the air. I moved 1000 feet to the north to get a better line and launch without drama.

The air was a little switchy below 300 feet so I climbed to 1500 where it was all good. I could see it was raining between Gasparilla Island and the mainland. There was virga to the East. Not the best conditions for an Epic flight. Mike and Bob were playing down low in the swamp. I pulled some long slow spirals while watching Mike Lange do a long, long foot drag across the big pond. As I descended he moved to the LZ and landed. The turbulence was strongest at 300. It was time to get out of the sky.

Twenty minutes later we spotted Ty coming back from a high flight. His landing was fast and rough and I shouted “whoa” when I heard his Titanium Frame pounding in. No damage. Turns out he broke both trimmers while doing some hard wingovers and had to land on the “Ds”.

Later we all went to the spinnaker for breakfast and talked about possible x-countries.

It’s all good.

Photo credit Ty Jenkins

Photo credits Bob the Pilot

No Drama. I almost didn’t go because the first thing I saw on the weather app was storms boiling up over the Harbor. After walking the dog and sniffing the air I decided to drive out to the field and take a shot. At Placida it was very light wind and the clouds were starting to develop.

Launch was clean but the air was ratty all the way up to 800 feet. I bounced around for a few minutes and landed. Not an epic flight but I’m glad I went. It looks to be stormy the rest of the day.

The mirror needs to be remounted with a nylon nut.

Is in the books.

I hadn’t flown since Hurricane Irma, almost 9 months ago. There were a few good reasons. I damaged my wing which took 3 months to get repaired and I bought the Hunter which took a lot of my energy. But … for some reason, I just didn’t have the burn to fly. Don’t know why. My last several flights had been fantastic. I cracked off several in the two weeks leading up to the big #1000. I was joking that the 1k milestone was going to be a non event after so many epic flights.

Well the boat is essentially done and if I was ever going to get back to it, now was the time. A few things needed to be done. I fabricated a new gas tank, replaced the battery, installed a primer bulb and put air in the tires. Not much.

This morning I arrived at 6. There was a light breeze from the East. I set up and flew for 30 minutes and landed on spot. No drama but a few glitches.

1. My “click” glasses were hanging by a thread when I discovered them about to fall off my shoulder.

2. The mic. had come loose from the helmet and needs to be reseated.

3. AND…. THIS IS A BIGGY. When the wing came back from the rigger they failed to run the brake line through the pulley on the risers. I didn’t notice it until landing. Wow! If I hadn’t parked the brake in their magnets, it could have flown and I would have had to land using the D’s or worse…. it could have gone into the prop and wrapped up the wing sending me back to earth like a lead brick.

My bad. There hadn’t been enough wind this morning to kite the wing, it probably would have revealed the hazard. But… shame on me for not doing a proper inspection.

On to 1k

After a few days at the house Chris, RJ and I Sailed the boat to Safe Cove Boatyard. The bottom looked pretty good considering it’s age. However, there were a few small blisters and the bottom needed to be stripped to the gel coat. I tapped the hull from stem to stern, it was solid . There was a tiny bit of weeping at the bottom of the rudder that concerned me but it was dry after a couple of days. After a great deal of surfing, and quizzing the locals, I opted to let it sit on the hard for a couple of weeks and seal it with the best barrier coat available. It was fairly expensive but not nearly as much as sanding and resurfacing. The general consensus was that it was a damn good bottom for a 30 year old boat and I would be better served spending my budget elsewhere.

The strut had been serviced in 2016

In the “blast pit”.

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Applying the barrier coat.

First coat of bottom paint.

The two happiest days in a sailors life ….

the day you buy a boat and the day you sell it.

It took almost three years to accept my mistake. I had purchased the wrong yacht. It was a beautiful boat. A 1987 Hunter 40, with two staterooms, two heads and a massive grand salon. It was capable of cruising at 7 knots and could easily circumnavigate the globe. It was the perfect boat… but not for me. The delivery had been a disaster with two rescue boats towing us in after dark. I raced it for two years without a win and every time I turned around it needed another expensive repair. In the morning while I had my first cup it would mockme from its berth in the back yard.

Eventually I swallowed my pride and called Tony the broker. Hoping for a white knight we listed it for $49,000 but there were no lookers. We dropped it to $37,000 and started getting a little interest. Finally after 4 months, a retired Toyota Executive looking for a project boat, sailed her away. I lost a pile of money on the trade but was… a very good day.

The dock was empty but I didn’t have any problems getting my fix. Tim Harris needed crew to help him bring his Gemini down from Tampa Bay and very Wednesday I went out with a group from The Isles Yacht Club. In July I started looking and after two months of visiting marinas from Tampa Bay to Key West, I found one that seemed too good to be true. She had been sold by the original owner two weeks earlier to a fellow who was going to use it as a cheap apartment when he was working at his Tampa office. He changed his mind about the “live aboard” lifestyle when Huricane Irma rolled over South West Florida. His loss was my gain! His asking price was 22% of my budget, plenty of money to get her in She was 25% smaller and 100% better! A Hunter 28.5 (1987), 2 feet longer than my inland boat, 11.5 shorter than my last boat and just right for Dawn and I.

On Monday, I surveyed the boat and met with the original owner. On Wednesday morning I drove to Snead Island and visited the local boatyard where I got copies of the last five years of service invoices. Dennis, the original owner had taken good care of her. The bottom had been done in March and looking back, she had been hauled and serviced on a regular schedule. The Yanmar 2GM was clean and well maintained. I was sold. That afternoon I met with the seller in Tampa and closed the deal.

The next day Chris Heelis and I were shuttled up to Palmetto by his lovely and so accommodating wife, Marchelle. We spent a little time familiarizing ourself with the boat and hiked to the Public for some last minute supplies. After a fine meal at the Marina we crashed.

I was having a lalapalooza of a nightmare when I felt a bump. What was that? Where am I? It too a minute to realize that I was aboard a boat and another second to remember that it was our new boat and that today was the first day of the delivery to her new home. I was so happy to be there instead of the damned netherworld I’d just left.

We made short work of having a Cuppa Joe and pastries. Chris threw off the lines and we motored over to the fuel dock where I filled the tanks with Diesel and water. We chatted with the Dock Master who recommended I put a bottle of finness or Downey fabric softener into the black waste tank to break up the sludge. I waved to Barbara on the top deck of the Marina, thanked her for her kindness and promised to return with my wife for a visit.

We left Riverpoint Marina at 8:30 and headed down river toward Tampa Bay. The winds were 10 out of the NE and we had no trouble sailing around Anna Marie Island and down the coast to Venice Yacht Club by 4:30. There didn’t seem to be much Hurricane damage except for a sunken yacht at the entrance to VYC.

After tying up we took the bikes left for us by the dock master and rode into town for a good Italian meal and some live steel drum jazz in the park. Life is good.

The next morning we got up early and we’re away by 7:30. The sail down to Boca Grande was a fine broad reach. We viewed off shore to be well away from the coast to catch the Boca channel from the beginning. It was confused seas for a long way into the Harbor and we motor sailed until we were alongside Burnt Store.

The big excitement was a squall that caught up with us a mile below Ponce Inlet. We had been keeping an eye on it and lowered sails well before it got to us but when it hit I was surprised by the strength of the storm. I couldn’t see 10 feet past the bow and only the chart plotter kept me from going aground at the on the shallows around Punta Gorda. After 20 minutes of tooth grinding sailing it started to slack off and we were able to see well enough to point toward the channel entrance. The rest was easy.