The Sailboat Is Home!

It took some work, but we finally got the sailboat home. For those whom are curious, she is a 1982, nineteen foot ComPac Yacht CP-19.

Following is a photo-diary of the day's events.

First, we loaded the motor on the back of the boat.

Then we started to head out of the channel... (the motor didn't blow up this time, whew!).

At the end of the channel we made a left turn, heading out to the intercoastal waterway.

On our way to the ramp. The intercoastal was a little bit choppy and we actually had some water spraying over the sides.

This view is from the entrance into the channel where the marina is from the intercoastal waterway.

We tied up to the dock and I got the truck with the trailer on it.

The trailer had to be fully submerged in order to get the boat all the way up on top of the rails, or 'bunks'.

Dean and Katrina climbed into the back of the truck and we started motoring up the ramp. Well, sorta. The truck didn't have enough oomph to get it up the ramp, so we had to hook up a tow chain between the Magnum and the truck. It was a bit interesting to see how we pulled the boat out with this tandem arrangement (no pictures though, both photographers were driving the cars).

Next, we started packing up the boat for transport. The venerable evinrude did a good job. Not bad for having only one ring on one of the pistons...

The final part was 'stepping' the mast (taking it down) and tying everything down on deck.

Uhmmmm. When we got the sailboat home, it doesn't look like it'll fit...

Well actually, it just might. Got a shoe-horn?

Taa-Daah!

She looks good sitting there.

And Katrina gives the sailboat her personal welcome home.

The Evinrude Is 'Putting' Again!

I tore the Evinrude down and started cleaning it up. After looking things over, I felt I could get the motor running again. I took out the piston that had burned (it wasn't as bad as I thought it was) and polished off the rough spots on the skirt. After some trial fitting, it looked like it might work. Everything was cleaned meticulously and then the powerhead was reassembled, using all-new gaskets, then the top assembly was put together just enough to do a compression check.

The readings were about 90-95 PSI for both bores, not great, but not bad either considering what the motor went through. The motor was then completely assembled and water tested (I had to run out to the store to buy a trash can to use as an improptu water tank). The motor cranked right up, hiccoughed a couple of times, then smoothed out. I let it run for about 1/2 an hour and even ran it in gear at high idle , forwards and backwards.

When I was ready to shut it down, I called Luann and Katrina to see the tidal wave I could create with the motor. I cranked it wide open with it in gear and half of the water in the trash can went everywhere in a heartbeat. Yep, that was fun. I feel more comfortable now, knowing I have at least some kind of a tested motor to try again next week in case the Sailmaster doesn't get here in time.

Gilligan Is Still On The Island

Unfortunately, we were not successful in bringing home the sailboat.

We drove the truck over to Dean's house and unloaded the Evinrude outboard and all the gear we might need. I hung the outboard on the back of the boat and Dean gave me a few lessons on how to operate the motor plate and how to drop the rudder and tighten up the clamp. After about 15 minutes, we had everything set up and Luann drove over to the marina to wait for our arrival.

Well, we started motoring up the channel and were getting ready to turn towards the intracoastal waterway, when the motor gave out a loud "gasp!" and shut off. Thankfully, the wind was favorable and pushed us back up the channel to the dock. We tied her back up, I pulled the motor and checked it out on Dean's back porch.

After working on it for a while, I eventually figured out that the little blue Evinrude that could, had somehow burned a piston. Since there wasn't anything else we could do, we decided to pack everything up and head back home... with no sailboat in tow.

Yesterday, I decided to check on eBay for parts for the Evinrude and found a 7.5 HP Johnson Sailmaster listed for a very reasonable price and with a 'buy it now' option, so I decided to buy it. The Johnson Sailmaster has a super-long shaft (25 inches, instead of the 15 inches of the Evinrude) and an alternator to charge the battery in the sailboat too. This unit is made specifically for sailboats and is actually a better choice than the venerable Evinrude would be.

I'm hoping that the Sailmaster will get here in time for us to haul the sailboat out next weekend, but I don't know. Meanwhile, I'm going to see what I can do for the Evinrude to prepare it in case things don't work out as hoped.

The Boat Motor Finally 'Putts'

It took until 10:30 last night and until 9:30 tonight, but the Evinrude fired up and seems to run pretty good. Not bad for a 31 year-old motor. I had replaced the coils, points, condensors, plug wires, fuel pump, head gasket and overhauled the carb in order to get it running by tomorrow. I'll do a more complete overhaul after we move the sailboat around to the marina.

Well, tomorrow' s the big day. Time to drive the sailboat from where she is moored to the boat ramp at the marina and put her on the rebuilt trailer. It's going to take some time because we have to do a de-naming ceremony while the boat's still in the water and then set up the cradle system on the trailer before we can haul her out. We should have some pictures to show for it.

More Sailboat News

Well, the time is getting close for picking up our sailboat. She has been paid for, the trailer has been brought home and there have been some problems too.

To begin with, Dean called us last Friday night to let us know that somehow, the boat had been freed from one of her mooring lines and he found her drifting on the canal. He had to put his canoe in the water and use it like a tugboat to pull the sailboat back into place. Then, he called us on Sunday while we were clearing out the side yard in order to have room to park the sailboat & trailer to tell us that the Mercury motor that was on her had been stolen overnight. It looks like the sailboat being adrift may not be just a coincidence. He said they took the motor and the gas tank. In the process, they threw the fiberglass cover that is positioned over the gas tank into the water too. Dean said he will see if he can locate it. If he doesn't have any luck, I might have a go at it when we show up to pull the boat out and bring her home this coming Saturday.

Since there is no boat motor to drive the boat from where she is over to the boat ramp so we can pull her out, I'm going to have to rebuild the Evinrude motor I have so we can drive the boat to the ramp. Things are speeding up just a bit.

These are a few shots of us clearing out the side yard and trimming the trees back for height too.



At the present time, I've been coming home and working on the trailer until about 9:00-9:30 these past couple of nights so I can get the equipment ready for the "Big Event" on Saturday.

After pulling the trailer apart, we started replacing the guide rollers up the center with angle iron brackets so I could put a keel 'glide board' down for the keel to rest on. The rollers take a beating when 2000 pounds of sailboat rest on them.

You can see a 2 inch by 12 inch by 8 foot board in the next picture. This was placed over the angle iron brackets and bolted down.

Next, I covered the board with a 3/8 inch thick sheet of Teflon to help ease the keel of the boat onto the trailer. You can also see the keel guides mounted in place (I had to weld pieces of angle iron onto the pipes to create mounts for them). A beveled edge was cut in the rear sections of the keel guides in order to open up the 'approach hole' for the keel. The new bunks have the brackets I drew up in AutoCAD and had made at work and are now up on their new poles.

Other work has been to replace the winch and strap, the trailer hitch mechanism, safety chains, light kit and all hardware. A new fold-up tongue jack has also been added.

Well, the trailer should be done tonight, so the next information I expect to put up is progress on the boat motor rebuild.

Katrina Drives

Katrina has a friend that has been recently learning how to drive with her mom , so Katrina said she wanted to have a go at it too. I told her that was fine, as long as she learned to drive the pickup truck, since that is destined to be her first vehicle anyway. Of course, she wasn't too hot about learning to drive with a stick-shift transmission but an opportunity to drive, is an opportunity to drive. We decided to head over to a nearby high school and try her skills out on the Driver's Education practice track.

After driving over to the practice track, we performed a "Chinese Fire Drill" and swapped sides.

So, here we are, keeping it in first gear and tooling along, trying to keep the truck between the lines. No problem here.

As you can see, she's got the proper 10:00 & 2:00 hand positions and nerves of steel. Uhmm...maybe rubber...

I decided to see how she would handle the stress of parallel parking. As you can see, we need a little more practice. The right rear wheel jumped over the curb and she finally stopped backing up after the left rear tire went 'bump'.

All in all though, things went pretty well, she shifted up & down through the gears several times & has no problem getting into and out of first gear. I know she can't wait until our next practice session.

It's Been A While (Again)

Hi all, looks like it's time to get off my 'duff' and tell you what we've been up to.
First off, I took some time off from work March 17th to the 21st which was also around spring break for Katrina. We spent some time driving go-karts again. As luck would have it, a couple of Katrina's friends showed up and the taunting began.

I decided I had to jump in a go-kart and try to out-drive the teenagers.

We kept on racing into the night (about 9:00 PM).

For the last race of the night, Katrina drove hard and eventually passed both of her friends on the racetrack. Just as she was 1/2 a lap away from the end, the track attendant decided to use the radio control to slow her car down because he thought she was driving too rough (just showing off her NASCAR skills, that's all). Unfortunately, when he hit the Slow button, her car not only began to slow down but it shut off completely! The attendants had to run out to the back section of the track and work on the car to get it re-started. After having to wait about 5 minutes for the car to restart, you can see she wasn't happy at all coming into the pits in last place.

We also tried a little more photography. Oohhh, pretty train bridge... (Es Lindo!)

We also went to the Rennaisance Festival. Katrina and her friend Melissa decided to go in costume, like many of the people there.

We also paid for the sailboat in full and picked up the trailer this past weekend. Right now, we are rebuilding the trailer with new equipment and hardware so we can haul the sailboat out of the sea next weekend (not tomorrow) and take her home. It is going to take some time to haul her out because we are going to perform a de-naming ceremony and adjust everything on the trailer to properly fit it to the bottom of the boat. We are still searching for a new name for the sailboat, so we are open to any suggestions, even the Dutch ones...