Spring hello

[Skywalker]

It's been a while since I have posted. This year was very challenging for personal reasons, but I'm hoping for a better spring and summer.

I stored in water, which ended up being fortuitous given all I've been through, so I was able to go down to the boat yesterday and fire her up. I bought a new coil, plugs, sacrificial zinc for the heat exchanger, new O ring for the flame arrestor. She fired right up. I let her run for an hour or so. 40+ oil pressure, 160 degrees, 800 RPM. Just purred.

Plan on bending on the sails today.

The weather is warm enough now that I can do some fiberglass repair work from last fall. I don't know if I posted it, but I was T boned by a C&C 35 as I was heading for the start line in a pursuit race. He was under power at 4-5 knots. I was less than a minute from my starting gun. Single handed. Ghosting along at 1-2 knots. BOOM. Bent three live line stanchions, tore the stern rail off, twisted the genoa track, smashed by teak toe rail.

Anyway, she is ready to sail. I moved her back to Stony Brook Harbor on Long Island, a beautiful spot but a narrow, swift moving, shallow place. I'll need my A4 to be strong and reliable. It is next to impossible to sail in and out. So, I'm banking on the old beast to keep purring.

Fair winds to all.

Skywalker

[JOHN COOKSON]

Dang SWalker.
Really sorry to hear about the damage to your boat.
In my view a reliable engine is the paramount consideration. I will do NOTHING to the engine that I feel will compromises reliability.
In my experience the best way to insure a reliable A4 is to keep the maintenance current and start it often. I start my engine every other week ( I live in a temperate climate) and let it run up to temperature for at least 15 minutes in the slip. Yes, I know this is not good as an hour or more run but IOM better than letting it sit.

TRUE GRIT

[Marian Claire]

"This year was very challenging for personal reasons, but I'm hoping for a better spring and summer."
I think many of us here have, or will, experience this. Here's to you and your return. Water time is a good thing.
Dan S/V Marian Claire

[BunnyPlanet169]

I think many of us here have, or will, experience this.

And you pick up some empathy and eventually grow a little bit from the experience. Boats, whether a welcome distraction, a pipe dream, or pure escapism surely help.

It sure was a nice day here in New England. The peepers came out today.

Welcome back.

[Skywalker]

Thanks guys.

The stainless shop I used did a great job. The new stern rail bolted right into the old holes, no filling, no drilling required! Nice when things go well.

So, here goes season 51 with the A4. I've replaced or rebuilt everything on and around her, but the rings and valves are original. With the Indigo prop I've got the RPMs up, so there is less strain on the old girl. I need her to be reliable and for all the years I have had the boat, she has not let me down.

[JOHN COOKSON]

Thanks guys.
The stainless shop I used did a great job. The new stern rail bolted right into the old holes, no filling, no drilling required! Nice when things go well.
.

I had the same experience on a previous boat. I never could figure out how they got the holes to line up so perfectly. One day I saw the guy down at the marina and asked him. He said they tack welded the pieces together then took the rail down to the boat, lined everything up, then took it back to the shop and finished the welding.

TRUE GRIT

[ndutton]

I had the same experience on a previous boat. I never could figure out how they got the holes to line up so perfectly. One day I saw the guy down at the marina and asked him. He said they tack welded the pieces together then took the rail down to the boat, lined everything up, then took it back to the shop and finished the welding.

Not only for holes but also for bizarre angles.

[Mo]

Good to hear you have it sorted out Skywalker. I have some work to do this year as well. Last year I started a business and never got much time for the boat. This year will be different.

Yesterday I put my steering quadrant back in. It was damaged in a storm last fall when the wave break failed. Docks sustained considerable damage as swells raged through to the beach. I'm not sure if a piece of dock slammed my rudder but it ripped off the rudder stop and she went hard over breaking the quadrant. All fixed and back together now.

Today's mission is to install a new rudder stop on the port side and install her batteries. I will fire the engine and let the top end oil burn off...will run her for half an hour or so.

Then I need to check the chartplotter operation and charts. I bought a new Raymarine Dragonfly last fall and uploaded the latest info a couple of months back. So I need to see if I get all the info like tide data , high def charts etc.

My handrails haven't been touched in a couple of years however I've had a new set of SS handrails sitting in the garage for 2 years at least...they need to go on. Then I want to remove the wood around the stern of the boat and replace it with some composite material...wood up-keep is not in the cards these days. Last year we used the boat around 12 times...unreal for me because I used to use it about 12 times a week.

Once I get the boat launched (in no hurry this year) I will take her to the mast crane and remove the mast. It needs to be checked and repainted...paint flaking everywhere and that will require sanding, primer and spray it again....that's if weather permits this spring....I need a two day window to pull that one off and when I start something like that I go full bore until its done and back on the boat. Never was one who had patients for the drawn out process...not a fan of mast work but it has to be done. Previous owner painted it and from that point on they are work.

Will head down to the boat in an hour or so and pitter patter.

[Skywalker]

Wow, Mo, you were hit with some real force to cause that damage.

I went with faux teak handrails for the same reason. When I rebuild the toe rail (sometime in the future) I will use faux for the same reason.

What a PITA with the mast. Nothing like making more maintenance work. Thanks PO.

Hope you get to sail more this season.

[Mo]

Will head down to the boat in an hour or so and pitter patter.

That lasted all of 10 minutes. T-shirt weather here today and I arrived at the yacht club, opened the back of the vehicle to grab the batteries and the cell phone rang. Ended up hauling fill out of a power-substation all day and likely will be for the next few as well.

Got home at 6 and then went back to the club, popped in the batteries and started up the boat. She started right away without any issues and I ran her for about 10 minutes. The rest I'll have to pick at when I get time.
-rails
-bottom paint
-rudder stop
-mast
...those are the main things to be done. I could have gotten allot of that out of the way today with this nice weather....such is life.

[CalebD]

Welcome back Skywalker

I think I recall your telling us of your T-bone incident. Hope your repairs allow you to sail this summer. Stony Brook harbor sounds nice, if small.

I am also done buying expensive sacrificial teak for my toe rails. If my boat as much as looks at another solid object the beautiful teak toe rails tend to split. A rather poor choice of material for an area of the boat that is likely to take some abuse. I will also go with something synthetic that can be easily bent into shape and is a lot cheaper.

My T27' also had an unfortunate meeting with the local Tappan Zee Bridge on the Hudson River. Lots of stuff still to fix but the A4 still works fine and it could still be sailed without lifelines. My plan is to give Odalisque another summer off and spend it hauled out while I, or my paid minions work on the repairs too long to mention.

At least I still have OPB's to sail on.