Westbound

Rover is land-bound again. Like usual, it was a tight fit in the haul out pit, but we got her in, got her lifted, and got her blocked on land.  I was impressed with the apparent care they took with handling the boat so I have some hope that I have chosen a better yard this time.

After finding a place for her to sit in the yard, we made some last minute preparations and headed out on our road trip back to Colorado to see family and friends. Until moving onto the boat, I've always lived near where interstate 25 and Interstate 70 cross. I-70 heading west out of Denver and into the mountains is as familiar to me as any place in the country. So, when arriving in Baltimore and seeing the I-70 sign we knew exactly how we would be getting back to Colorado.

Shortly after taking the on ramp to I-70, we saw an interesting mileage sign. Didn't expect to see Denver listed, but there it was...a mere 1700 miles away.

I'd like to say we have been doing the touristy thing, but we both seem to have come down with a cold right after arriving in Baltimore. Not feeling like playing tourist, we are just making the drive. The pretty green rolling hills of the Allegany mountains gave way to green fields of corn. Forested lands have slowly started turning into the great plains as we arrived in St. Louis.  This is where I'm writing this, while popping cold meds in our hotel room just west of town.

We should be in Denver soon.

Almost Sank The Boat

Ok, not really...but we did let a bit more seawater in than we wanted to.  But let me back up a bit...

Today is the day we are supposed to launch the boat.  Finally, we could be off of "the hard" (what us sailors call it when a boat is intentionally put on land...where it obviously isn't supposed to be) where the boat sits in the air, acting as a solar oven while surrounded by trees that block even the slightest of breeze.

Where Rover started the day.

But first, we needed to touch up a bit more bottom paint.  When a boat is put on the hard, it is sitting in the air on blocks or stands.  When the bottom paint is as thick as it is on our boat (yes, at some point we need to do a full strip and repaint...but I'd like to get another year or two out of it first), the blocking can actually stick to chips of the paint and pull them off of the hull. This may also have something to do with the original surface prep, but in any case, it seems to happen.

So, early this morning the Travelift operator showed up to pick the boat up off the blocks so we could touch up those areas.  Hanging in the Travelift slings, we cleaned and touched up areas under the blocks and bottom of the keel. Now, the Petit Hydrocoat paint we are using typically wants 12 hours or more to dry, but we were scheduled to go in between two and three...so hopefully it will dry enough in time. Thus far I've liked the Petit Hydrocoat paint, the boat has remained pretty clean and there are no noxious fumes from the paint.  The only negative I've found so far is that it takes a while to dry, and getting the yard to give me enough time to allow the paint to dry while off the blocks (they prefer hanging in the Travelift slings to re-blocking a catamaran it seems) is near impossible.

With the paint applied and drying, we headed out to breakfast.  Since the boat was swinging in the lift, we figured we should probably limit any time on board to only absolutely necessary...and going out for breakfast seemed like a good option.  After breakfast and taking the dogs for a walk at a nearby park, we returned to the boat.

We decided to apply some wax to the hull at the waterline (we started waxing the whole hull a day or two ago, but ran out of time after one side of one hull), since it is easier to do on land than floating in a dinghy.  We hand applied wax to the bottom 8 inches or so of bare fiberglass.  By the time we were done, it was almost time to go back into the water.

We quickly went around the boat, removed the tarps we had put up to help shade us from the sun, and set up dock lines and fenders so we could be moved out of the haul-out slip and over to the slip we will call home while I work on the hard top.  The lift operator arrived while we were getting the tarps put away, so we felt a bit rushed.  This turned out to be a bad thing.

The boat made its slow roll from the yard to the haul out pit.  The boat was slowly lowered into the water and as soon as I was allowed, I hopped on board and started inspecting the through hulls to make sure none were leaking.  I started with the starboard engine room as there were two down there and the access is through the hatch in the sugar scoop.  They looked good when closed, so I opened them up and there were no leaks.

Then I went inside.  As soon as I got through the door I could hear running water.  Oh crap.  I quickly followed the sound to the starboard holding tank cabinet and I knew what the problem was.  I opened the cabinet door and found the valve in the half-opened position that I left it in when I installed it. In our hurry to get the boat going, I forgot to go through and check each of the through hulls. Since we had two through hulls that were not connected to hoses yet, we basically had two big potential holes in the bottom of the boat.  I quickly shut off the valve and the leak was stopped, but not until about three buckets full of water made its way into the bilge.  Good thing it didn't take too long to find.

Fortunately, after shutting off the valve, no other leaks were found. I burped the prop shaft seals to remove the air and allow water to cool the seals and then it was time to start the engines.  The engines fired right up.  We made our way out of the haul-out pit and over to the narrow fairway leading to the slip. It was a tight fit but we made it into the slip without incident and are finally back in the water.

Rover at the end of the day.  Much better.

In the slip there was even a nice evening breeze so we were able to open up the boat.  It is soooooo nice to be back on the water and not stuck in the hot, dusty, breeze-less boatyard.  So, maybe tomorrow I'll go back to the yard and set up my work area for the top...or maybe I'll take a day off.

Note: The last two posts were a day or so behind due to internet access issues...yes, in the marina/yard. Seems marinas are difficult places to implement WiFi with all the boats that have repeaters blasting away at full power.

Landlocked Again

Three days ago...wow, it seems both a very long and very short time frame right now...we left Salt Ponds Marina in Hampton, VA for Severn Yachting Center, the boatyard we selected to do our through-hull work and hopefully build my new hard top bimini.  We originally wanted to leave on Monday, but the yard couldn't haul us until Tuesday so we spent the extra day at Salt Ponds and then departed on Tuesday.

When we set up the Tuesday arrival, the girl at the desk really wanted to pin us down to an arrival time.  I told her that I would need to check the weather and, as a sailboat, probably couldn't give her a reasonably firm time until the evening before or morning we were to leave.  She insisted she needed some time to put in the book, so my wife said 1 PM and I reiterated this was just a wild guess at the time. Well, as you might expect, when I checked the weather (specifically the winds) and the expected time of departure I determined that 1 PM was optimistic and 3 PM was more likely.  I called the yard in the morning as we departed (they were already closed for the evening when I determined this) and was told they wouldn't be able to haul me until the following day but, after the receptionist checked with someone else at the yard, called us back and said they would put me on a T-head for the night.  Seems reasonable so we continued on.

Without time pressures (we now only had to get there before they closed at 5 PM or so), we were able to sail most of the way.  A warm day for sure, but reasonable winds most of the day kept us moving along. It wasn't until our speed dropped below 3 knots and we were going to need to make a turn directly into the wind that we pressed the engines into service once again.  We dropped the sails and motored our way up the Severn river, arriving at the marina about 4 PM.

During our approach, we tried calling them on the radio several times (they indicated they always monitor it during business hours) and finally had to call the on a cell phone to get a hold of them. They confirmed that we would be on the first face dock as we approached, and they would send someone down to help with lines and guide us. Here was where we were given another surprise.  The T-head was a fixed dock and had large pilings in the water about 28 ft off the face of the dock and spaced about 25 foot apart (remember, my boat is 38 foot long and over 21 foot wide).  There were crab pot buoys scattered about and some white PVC pipes stuck in random locations around the dock too. To complicate matters further, that headwind we had coming in had picked up and was blowing straight across the face of the T-head.

T-head left, piling right, pipe and crab pots behind.

Best we could tell, the employees on the dock were trying to tell us to pull into the dock directly over one of the crab pot buoys and one of the PVC pipes. Not wanting to wrap a propeller around the line holding the crab pot to the buoy and not knowing if I could run over the plastic pipe or if it marked something to be avoided, I tried contacting the marina on the radio to discuss the situation. But the marina employees didn't have a handheld radio (or a cell phone) with them.  They tried shouting from the dock, but sitting at the helm all I can really hear is...wait for it...the rumble of the engines.  I decided my best approach was to go past the dock, across the mouth of one of their fairways, and back in between the dock and the pilings. After my wife got a couple extra fenders and lines out and ready, I was able to maneuver the boat sideways into the fairway channel and back into the dock. With a little help from the dock we got the boat tied up and safe for the night.

While walking the boat sideways into the fairway I noticed that a motor boat on the T-head across from us was a boat we saw at Salt Ponds.  They were on their boat and gave us a thumbs up while I was maneuvering onto the dock, and since we had recognized the boat, we decided we should go over and say hi. Tim and Debbie were a nice couple and, like us, have two dogs on board as well.  We chatted for a bit before heading back to the boat.

Did I mention that when I checked my email just before we departed Salt Ponds I was contacted by someone we met at our going away party in Colorado?  They were in town for just a day or so and wanted to see if we could connect before they hopped on a plane back to Colorado. While we were introducing ourselves to Tim and Debbie, they stopped by and were greeted by our dogs. Unfortunately, they left before we could get back to our boat.  Sorry Jim and Judy, hopefully we can get together when our paths cross next.

Driving through the forest

The next day we hauled the boat.  The marina didn't want to haul it until high tide, so it was scheduled at 1 PM. I didn't understand why, since my boat only draws 3' 7", they wanted to wait until high tide. They said it had something to do with the width of the boat and the lifts straps and it was easier at high tide.  So, a little before 1 PM we made our way over to the haul-out slip and Rover once again took flight.

While they were pulling the boat, I reiterated that the boat has sacrificial keels and it cannot just be blocked on its keels.  This seemed like a surprise to them and they questioned how they were going to block it.  The yard manager told me how the ABYC "standard way of blocking" was to set a boat on its keels and then use stands to keep it from tipping over.  That may be great for the average monohull where most of the weight and structure are related to the keel, but a number of catamarans, including mine, have sacrificial keels and are not designed to take the full weight of the boat. He ended up calling someone at Leopard and was told that some weight could be placed on the keels, but it definitely should not take the whole weight.  We eventually devised a blocking option using both the keels and blocks at the adjacent bulkheads to support the boat.  This should meet the needs of the boat according to the guy at Leopard...hope he was right.

Blocked, with tarps up for shade.

By the time we got the boat blocked, it was already after 4 PM, so it didn't look like we would get any work done that day.  It was also very hot.  You don't know how nice a breeze on a boat feels until you are sitting on your boat, over a bunch of crushed granite, with trees around you blocking the breeze. In order to survive the next few days, we ended up buying a new centerpiece for our salon table...a 12000 BTU portable air conditioner. If you are living on a boat on the hard during the summer, I think one of these is pretty much a necessity to prevent your boat from becoming an experiment as a large scale solar oven.

Yesterday we were finally able to start working...almost.  After finding where we had stored all the brass through hulls and valves and other bits we had purchased last year, we went through and verified that we had all the parts we needed.  Unfortunately we found that the 1" Marelon fittings would not thread into the valves.  The 3/4" and 1 1/2" ones worked fine, but that left us with 5 elbow fittings that would not work.  With the boatyard's help we called around and ended up talking with the manufacturer.  Unfortunately, the manufacturer could only really give us excuses.  "The fitting is NPS threaded and not NPT, and the valve we have is NPT" was one of the excuses.  When we told him that it didn't thread onto two different NPS threaded fittings we had here either, his only suggestion was that we buy one of their valves and it would work.  Um...no.  I already have a very expensive bronze valve, so I'm not going to replace it with their expensive plastic one.  Thanks Forespar...with your customer service I don't think I'll be buying any more of your products if I can at all avoid it.

Two Through-hulls out.

We never did find a replacement part and will have to see if the current ones will work.  After all the running around, we only ended up removing two of the through hulls so far.  So today we will continue to remove more through hulls as well as see if we can get some replacement parts ordered from the marina.

Flying Boat to Land-based Home.

In the past few days, I've watched my boat become a land-based home.  In Deltaville, I had one of the local yards haul it for a couple reasons.  First, there have been a couple through-hulls that need attention and they are notoriously difficult to replace while in the water (you know, that whole water rushing in through a hole in the bottom of the boat thing).  I also planned to head back to Colorado to help my wife with purging our house and the other unnecessary belongings we had acquired as good little American consumers.  Since we needed to haul the boat anyway, might as well store it on the hard while I am gone.

The Travellift raising Rover from the water.

Hovering over land ready to pressure wash.

The haul out and blocking of the boat makes me a bit nervous.  Other than the brief haul-outs for surveys (I feel more experienced at that with 3 surveys under my belt), I've never hauled and blocked a boat for storage on land.  Of course, the owners manual has little useful information on the subject.  I looked through pictures online and made sure that the boat stands were positioned under bulkheads and that load is spread out as much as possible on the stands.

The past couple days I have lived on the boat while it sat out in the boatyard.  This is much less pleasant than sitting at anchor.  In the boatyard the scenery isn't quite as nice (although the Deltaville area is pretty, it just isn't the same as being surrounded by the sea). The worst part is the temperature though.  When we were at anchor, the boat would point into the wind and the airflow would keep the boat fairly cool without the need for air conditioning or fans.  In the yard, the surrounding trees prevent most of the breezes, and the few that do make it to the boat are from random angles that even make the breeze boosters useless.

And, since you are not sitting in the water and the A/C units require raw water to operate, that isn't an option.  Throw in the dust and dirt of the yard, and it just isn't the most comfortable way to live on a boat.  I'm not knocking the yard though, for as far as yards go, this one seems pretty nice.  The folks that work there are friendly and helpful and seem to know what they are doing (guess I'll know for sure after they've completed some work on my boat).  They do have a bathhouse and, although small with only a single shower, it is clean and nicer than some marinas I've stayed at.

It feels a bit weird leaving the boat on land.  It just looks so out of place.  And adding that this is the first time I've hauled and blocked a boat and the first time that I'll be leaving it for any extended period, I guess I'm a little nervous.  I've cleaned up, done laundry, thrown away all open food, defrosted the refrigerator, opened all cabinets so there is some airflow, setup a dehumidifier to help keep it reasonably dry, and the list continues. Hope I've done everything I need to do to keep her clean and safe until our return.

Rover sitting on land...just doesn't look right.

Of course, as I'm writing part of this I'm actually on board a plane heading back to Colorado.  Nothing goes to windward like a 747 (or in my case an A319) and Colorado is roughly windward of Virginia.  Interesting to think I was happy traveling along at 5 knots a few days ago and am now going closer to 500 knots. Of course Rover couldn't make it to Colorado so it really isn't a choice.

We arrive in Denver along with the usual summer evening thunderstorms.  In fact, after we landed we had to sit for about 45 minutes waiting for a gate.  Apparently lightning hit concourse A and knocked out all the communications with the gates.  This resulted in planes not being able to come and go on schedule.  The fun of commercial airline travel...wish I could sail to Colorado.