Aaliah's 6th Birthday!

My little punkin' pie turned 6 years old!  We spent the day at Busch Gardens in Tampa and had an awesome birthday party that night at Nana's house.

Kangaroos!

Hyenas! 

Meerkats! I think I see Timon.

You can tell she hated her face painting.

You don't have assault rifles and shady rainforest cafe terrorists at your 6 year old's birthday party?

Running with the big dogs: Sailing on Tampa Bay

The time comes when every little bird must spread their wings and fly. Although some little birds get eaten by a snake before they grow their first feather... You get my point though.  We borrowed a ford e-250 from work, loaded the boat, and hauled butt to Tampa Bay Municipal Marina.  They have a public ramp that is free to use and you are allowed to park vehicles with trailers there for 48 hours.

When we pulled the boat down from NY with the Sequoia it was a breeze compared to this Ford. Every semi that went by would push and pull us all over the road causing the trailer to sway unnervingly.  I could do 75 mph with the Sequoia, I never did over 60 with the Ford.

Anyway. We got there Wednesday after noon, spent an hour setting the boat, and waited for our opportunity to use the ramp between people pulling out.  It didn't take long to wait but I wanted to be sure that I wasn't rushed in case something went wrong.  We are still getting the process down for setting up and breaking down but we are getting better.  We had already gassed up and loaded everything in the boat so we parked the van and motored out of the marina.

What a cool experience that was motoring out into the bay for the first time.  Its not a lake.  There are boats and channel markers and stuff actually going on.  At first I thought that I would be too intimidated to go across the bay.  It was not long before we had sails up and were headed to the east side of the bay.

We made across and were working up north when dark set in.  We tossed out two anchors and settled in for the night.  We made dinner, had some drinks, and enjoyed each others company,  It was perfect.

The next morning was a mad dash to get Hercules to some grass to potty.  We bee-lined it to Shell Point Marina, not on purpose, it's just where we ended up.  I think he peed for 45 seconds straight.  We have since decided that we are going to [it was at this point in typing that I came up with the idea to get a plastic tray that would hold a 16x24 piece of sod to keep on the boat for Hurc to pee on. I googled several things to see what people have already done and now I have my next project in mind. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog.]

The week before when planning this trip i found a small island in the NE corner of the bay that looked very intriguing to me.  I was not sure that I would even be able to get across the bay let alone go to this little island until the night before I realized how close we were.  So we got in some great sailing on the way there with both jib and main in full effect.  The island is called Pine Key on a map.  I have learned since that it goes by another name, "beer can island."  Amber has actually heard of this island before while spending time here with friends on the Alafia River.

It has a deep and steep shoreline on the east side that allowed us to get real close with our centerboard and rudder up.  When we step off the back of the boat the water only came up to our knees. Which was wonderful because the water was really, really cold.  We spent some time walking around the sandy white shores and admiring the beauty of this diamond in the rough.  We got back on board and made lunch while watching other boats (no more than two others at any one point) come and go.  I took a much coveted nap, like I do very often on the boat, and let some of my lunch process in the warm fall sun.

It was a little later that Amber woke me with the news of what time it was.  We wanted to be on the west side of the bay by nightfall so we were close to the ramp to pull out in the morning.  We pulled anchor and motored around the island before raising the main an unfurling the jib.  We had a great fair amount of wind and made 3-4 mph across the bay.  Eventually we had to switch to motor or else we would be dodging channel markers in the dark.

It was dark by the time we reached the other side.  We coasted up as close as we dared to land by watching the gps and depth-finder to a spor right north of the St. Pier and tossed anchor.  We were in about 6-7 feet of water so we let out about 50 feet of rode and tossed out our secondary anchor.  Hooked in hard we relished in the beautiful scenery of the city-scape and the soft noises from a festival or event taking place just out of sight.  We were also treated late that night after dinner and while we were lounging in the cockpit enjoying drinks to several schools of feeding dolphins.  They were all parading in front of us glittering in the gentle moonlight shining over the bay.  Being out on the boat is never lack for magical moments.

Then the reality of morning comes.  Time to pack it up and get back in time for work.  This would be simple except for the fact that it was low tide. Which is less detrimental than the ramp where the water receded was covered in a thick, wet, slippery layer of sea-grass.  And when I say covered, I mean covered.  We started scrambling for options which were few and if we didn't pull out soon we would not have time to break the whole boat down and slowly drive back home in time for work.  We thought about looking for another ramp close by but that would take time to get the boat there and the tide was still so low that the ramp would have to be deep enough to keep the trailer wheels from falling off the end.  We also thought about just brushing the ramp off and praying the 2 wheel drive van could pull out 8000 lbs of boat and trailer with its full water ballast.  In the end we decided to suck it up and get a slip at the marina for a week.  It was all we could afford at the moment but it would give us a week to look at tide charts and pick a convenient day to come back and pick it up.

Parting with the money for the transient slip was a little sickening but luckily we were able to do it.  It did feel pretty cool to have the boat docked in the marina with all the other boats.  We had our own key to the docks, bathrooms, and lounge.  It felt like were part of this larger boating community.  

It was this experience and these thoughts over then next week, and beyond, that got us thinking that maybe having the boat docked somewhere would be the smarter was to go.  It cost about 60-70 dollars in gas round trip pulling the boat vs less than 20 in Amber's car. With regular use of the boat the savings in gas could basically pay for the marina fee. With the boat already being in the water we would be able to just jump on and go. No ridiculous setup. We would also be able to run down late at night after work, crash on the boat, and go sailing first thing in the morning.  It all makes sense as long as the boat is actually going to be used regularly. Which it will.  Decisions time! But for the present we still have to rescue the boat from the dock or pay another week. Stay tuned!

I love this picture

St. Petersburg

Just playing with my wiener...

Cool shot.  There is a passing sailboat on the horizon.

Pine Key. Also known as beer can island. Really cool spot.

Chartin'

Sunshine Skyway Bridge

Project Hunter H26: Centerboard Saga

My philosophy on repair never ceases to prove correct.  With anything mechanical I always know that fixing one problem always uncovers other unforeseen problems. I also go by the rule of threes. Meaning if i think it will take 1-2 days to do a project it will actually take 3-6 days.  Its always 3 times as long as I expect.  This project was no exception.

When we were sailing the boat in Saratoga we noticed the up-haul line for the centerboard was fraying around the pulley that routes the line down into the compression post.  On our recent trip to Lake Eustis the outer casing of the line broke completely.  There was enough of the inner strands of the line to pull the centerboard back up into position but we knew we would not be able to let the board down again for fear of not being able to haul it back up.  That would be a mess to try to get it back on the trailer like that.  

Not only was the up-haul line an issue but there was a leak that was originating from somewhere in the area of the centerboard mounting spot and was causing water to pool up in the storage areas below the seats around the table.  So all that said we decided we had to fix everything before we could sail again.

The first issue was getting the boat lifted to get the board out.  We wrestled with this problem for a week weighing out the various options.  Everywhere that would lift the boat up for us, regaurdless if the just held it in the air for us to change the line or block it up to let us work on it, was going to cost about 200-250 dollars.  We really just don't have that much lying around to toss at the problem.  Plus I knew that if I got in there a discovered a bigger problem then we would be in for more money as we paid to keep the boat blocked or paid to have it lifted again another day.  Either way I wasn't confident that it was issues that could be fixed in one fell swoop.  

So I opted for the redneck engineering method which I am pretty proficient at.  After toying around with a few ideas I settled on "why not lift the bow with a floor jack, sticking boards in between the boat and trailer bunks as we go, until the boat is high enough for the centerboard to slide out the front." Dangerous? Probably. Stupid? You bet. Did it work? Sho nuff.  It was not by any means easy but we did get the board out despite it being very precarious having the boat teetering so far up on the floor jack

Once the board was freed from beneath the boat the real work began.  I had attached the new up-haul line (that Amber and I bought from the Marlow booth at the Annapolis Boat Show)  to the old one that way I could pull the new one through.  This of course did not work according to plan. The two lines separated when trying to pull them through because the new line came off the pulley that it rides on before dropping down through the compression post and got wedged.  I was pretty angry and went on to another stage of the project.

The centerboard was pretty dirty, especially the half that sits in the trunk.  I sanded off all the barnacles and build up.

The next step involved the board trunk.  The fiberglass on either side where the bracket sits was busted and open.  Come to find out the welds on the nut that is attached to the centerboard bracket had failed. It was allowing the bracket to move in the trunk and bang against the fiberglass. I patched the holes with some quality Duraglas and re-welded the the nut to the centerboard bracket.  These two issues more than anything would have caused a tremendous amount of headache (and money) had I paid someone to lift the boat for me.

Now the up-haul line.  With a bit of fishing line and a lead weight I plumbed down the compression post from on top of the boat hoping the weighted line would come out the bottom. No luck after countless tries.  From the bottom I could see some 5200 sealant inside the hole that the line goes through.  I grabbed a metal clothes hanger, straightened it, and bent a sharp crook in it. I fished it up into the hole with the hopes of grabbing the fishing line and pulling it through.  I ended up having to hook out all the excess sealant before I could finally grab the fishing line and get it through with the up-haul line attached.  This was about and hour process.

Now came the task of lifting the boat back up to precarious heights (it was lowered after removing the centerboard) and wrestle a 100 pound centerboard up into place.  I took the advice of Pat Adams from his article on a H26 centerboard line replacement and bought a 12" threaded rod to help line the centerboard bracket into place when feeding it up into the trunk.  Pop and I struggled for a good bit with this. It took over and hour to finally get the board in the trunk and into the right position.  

I lowered the boat down on the board and went to put the bolt in that holds the centerboard bracket when Murphy took over. The big, stainless, very important bolt that is the only thing attaching a swinging 100 pound board to the boat twisted in two at the head.  I almost couldn't believe what I was looking at.  The head had twisted off with almost no effort on my part.  I was devastated.

Now I had to make a decision.  I could try an ez-out bit and back the bolt back out the way it came or I could spend the next few hours re-raising the boat and wrestling the board out from the trunk.  I opted to buy an ease out.  I had to go buy another stainless bolt anyway which I ended up locating at a Fastenal store. 

Now came the fun part.  My Grandpa (Papa) and I spent 45 minutes drilling a hole in the remnants of the  stainless bolt shaft.  We had to keep alternating between a step bit and a regular metal bit just to get a hole about .75" deep.  Finally the ez-out had enough area to grab and we twisted the bolt back out the way it came. Success!!  I slapped the new stainless bolt in and the project was finished.

All of the events in this post are condensed of course because this project was actually spread across 4 days in the afternoons before I work.  If I had paid someone to lift the boat I would have probably been out about 500-750 dollars.  I love DIY!

The very last step in this project was purely aesthetic.  We had finally decided on a name.  I created the logo with a combination of Gimp (a free photoshop program) and Microsoft Publisher.  I then emailed it to Outer Image in Bushnell, FL and viola. She is now "Happy Day."  The story behind the name is it's a commonly used phrase by my friend Rick who we got the boat from.  He will ask "happy days?" Which means "is everything good?"  And with this boat everything is good.  We couldn't think of a more fitting name or a better homage to such an amazing opportunity.  Thank you, Rick!

Dirty girl!

I had three straps in total. Not that this would really stop 6000 lbs of boat from sliding backwards as I lifted the front....

Totally safe...

Guard chickens

She has a name!

I'm slightly concerned about the quality of the metal used but I guess it is 18 years old.

Ez-outs are a magical thing.  Note: the bronze looking bolt in this picture is not the one I used. It is grade 8, not a stainless.  I didn't realize when I bought it that it would not have the corrosion resistance like a stainless. I ended up going to my local Fastenal store and buying an actual stainless bolt.