Bringing her home.

The easiest part of buying a boat is writing the check. Once the paper work is done the work begins and now it's time to figure out how to get Scout home. Cruising down the Ohio River and up the Mississippi was an option ....except Julie and I were both still working and.....the Ohio River was in flood stage. Next choice was to find a place to haul Scout out of the water, find a trucker with an appropriate trailer and come home at 70 mph instead of 7 knots. I've dealt with truckers most of my life so I actually enjoyed the process of finding one with a hydraulic trailer and a truck big enough to haul the boat and small enough to get down our road and into our drive. Next a place to haul out the boat. Well, that wasn't hard. Only one place in Louisville that would touch a boat this size and they didn't have a travel lift. They used A-frame trailers. OK...(I'm going to learn something here.)..."Can I schedule something for next weekend?". "Nope the waters too high and there's about 50 boats ahead of you when the water goes down".
OK....so nothing to do but pay for another months slip rent and wait for the water to go down.
The water finally did go down and I have to say everything went smooth and the yard was very professional.



Marine Sales and Service - Louisville, KY.

And just when I was sure the trucker wouldn't show - they arrived!

At this point it's late afternoon and I'm still holding my breath since morning. So far so good but we ain't home yet.

Peace, love and boats on the trailer.

Chip

The boat!...what we started with!

Four or five years ago Julie convinced me that we should start looking for a trawler and give up our evil sail boat. Sail boats are evil because when they heel they can spill your wine. They also have winches that need winching, masts that need climbing and being in the salon is like living in a cave.
A trawler on the other hand, does not spill wine, have winches that need winching, require a mast that needs climbing and the salon can have lots of windows with a nice view of whatever.
I still love sailboats but ....soon to be retired (at the time) and on a fixed income I wouldn't be able to afford to spill any wine. So, we began our quest for a trawler. Contrary to what you might have heard, size does matter. Especially when it comes to boats. Costs for owning and maintaining a boat goes up exponentially with size. With that in mind we opted to go with the small is better attitude when looking for a new boat. At 6'4" and 225 (+/-) I can only go so small and have adequate room to eat, sleep and stand up along with some other things.
Miami Boat Show here we come! ....we went and then we came home.
Whoa....this boy ain't gunna mortgage the farm for a boat....any boat. Maybe we should find a nice used boat.
On a trip to Seattle to visit family the following summer we slipped off to do a little boat shopping...or was it shopping for a little boat..? That's when we saw our first Sundowner 30 Tug. The boat was just back from an Alaskan cruise, sitting on a trailer on a broker's lot. We're thinking this might work so we made an offer....a low offer we thought. Apparently the owner thought so too because he didn't take it.
A few months went by and I found another SD 30 in Kentucky. Thought I'd better go look and I did. Julie was working so she didn't make the trip. Nice little boat, just like the one in the NW. Needs some work but that's ok because this isn't our first rodeo on fixing up boats. Give us something to do in our 'spare' time. Let's make an offer...a low offer. Well, there was some stuttering on brokers part but he said he would give a try. Two weeks later I got a call from the broker saying "Be careful what you wish for, you own a boat". (We actually owned several boats at the time but that's another story.)

Here she is as we found her in Kentucky.

Can you say teak? .......Can you say leaky teaky?

Can't wait to get Scout home and get to work. The trip home coming next.

Peace, love and old boats!



Champagne tonight! The Genset Lives!

When we purchased Scout the previous owner (po) told us he had a generator that he had taken out because it wouldn't run the air conditioner and it took up too much room. I didn't put a lot of 'store' in it being of much value and the boat deal was cut without ever seeing the genset. After several reminders the po delivered the genset to the marina the day we had the boat pulled and loaded on the truck for Missourah. That's when I first saw this little beauty.

Maybe...just maybe...I hit the jackpot.

When we got home it was stuck over in the corner of shop and soon buried under all of current boat projects. Where it remained....until yesterday. With plumbing and electrical work going full bore it was time to dig out little Mase and see if she'll fire.

I had removed the control head from the pilot house as I've run all new conduit for the electrical. Both the control cable and the 10-3 electrical cable had been cut off outside the genset cover when the genset was removed from the boat.  OK...splice 9 wires from the control head into the genset. Wait a minute.....whoever wired the 10-3 cable didn't read the same book I did....could this have been the problem? ..scary stuff.

Better check the water pump...looks good. Hook up a battery. Fuel in a clean salsa jar. Water in a 5 gal bucket. I think we're ready to go.

Lets push 'ON'.

There's life!....2 hours on the hour meter???? The dang thing looks new.... Yo baby!  Self bleeding electric fuel pump is cycling. I can't resist....'Start'......fired up on the first compression stroke...puking water out the exhaust...we're good to go....gotta love the little Yanmars.
But does it make electricktrisity?......you betcha!

We ran it until the hour meter clicked to 3 hours. Cool, quiet, water cooled diesel making 2500 watts and 18 amps. Just the ticket to charge the house batteries for the 3000 watt sine wave inverter.

I believe it's a champagne night.





I'm back after all these months.

I've got to better than this.

Boat progress has been back underway since late March and there is much to show and report.
The was however a little distraction in the form of a delivery from Ft Lauderdale to Barnegat, NJ.  The boat was a Passport 40; the Gulf Stream was awesome; it was a great trip and a welcome break from a long cold winter. Thank you Dave for giving me the opportunity and thank you Julie for the encouragement to take advantage of the opportunity.
I'm organizing all the pictures I have taken along the way and of the progress on Scout. I am going to keep this Blog current...I am going to keep this Blog current...I am going to keep this Blog current.

Things I learned this week: If you use an empty ravioli can to steal, it's not stealing.

I'll be back.



Back to the important stuff - Boat Work 11/15/2010

But first a word on the BVI trip.


Leaving Annapolis in anticipation of sailing to the BVI.

 As most of you know by now. The Annapolis to BVI trip was cancelled due to Hurricane Tomas (press 1 for English) and other weather factors the was going to make the trip rather unpleasant. Waiting out the weather was an option but everyone on board had schedules to keep. The remaining crew - Dave, Nick and I made the decision to trade off the BVI trip for a few days on the Chesapeake.


Dave and Nick in the rain.

 So off we went from Norfolk over the Bay bridge (yes, it goes from bridge to tunnel to bridge to tunnel to bridge for the marine traffic) and out almost into the Atlantic. Nick had never done any ocean sailing so this was as close as he was going to get this trip. For the next four days we wondered our way back through the Chesapeake, dodging crap pots. Weather was a mix of cold, wind and rain with brief glimpses at the sun. Dave has a great diesel heater on Auspicious so the anchorages were warm and pleasant and the food was great.

I have only been on the Chesapeake twice but now have sailed the entire length from the D & C canal in the north through the Bay bridge in the south. Over 200 miles of dodging crap pots and commercial ships. It is an incredible body of water unlike any other place.

Tug towing barge.



Evening on the Chesapeake






Commercial crab boat

I'm somewhat disappointed that we didn't make it to the BVI but hopefully it will happen sometime in the near future. All in all it was a great trip. Spending a week on a boat in the Chesapeake is good for the soul.

Now it's time to get back to the boat work and get Scout in the water.

Peace, love and be safe.



Little Creek Marina - Norfolk,VA 11-3-2010

When you sail on the ocean you are 'at sea'. So if you sail on a bay are you 'at bay'? One of the many things I pondered last night on watch from 4:00AM to 8:00AM.
We left Annapolis yesterday morning under spinnaker for Little Creek Marina in Norfolk. We bobbed along in 3-4 knots of wind before dropping the sail and starting the engine. We motored through the night arriving in Norfolk this morning around 9AM.
After a shower and a BIG greasy cheeseburger and fries, Chip feels like a new boy. Hunkered down in a warm boat waiting for the arrival of crew member #4.
The weather is not cooperating! Tomas (push 1 for English) is still raising havoc in the Caribbean. A low pressure system in moving into the Norfolk area bringing rain and nasty weather here.
Plans are to push off tomorrow morning ahead of the nasty weather here and head along the coast. Destination still unknown.
More tomorrow on the plans....maybe.
Peace, love and be safe - chip

On Hold in Annapolis- Monday 11/1

I never did like the name Tomas!
I arrived in Annapolis yesterday and Dave picked me up at the airport without a hitch. Flying out of Columbia through Memphis not a bad as it may sound but arriving at the end of Concourse A and lugging my 40# duffel to Gate 43 on Concourse B to catch the flight to Baltimore tested my knee big time.
Spent much of the remaining day getting the boat ready. Weather was looking like go with Hurricane Tomas dieing a slow death somewhere west of our destination. Plans were to depart mid-day today.
Well...you can't count on the weather and as the morning progressed, more and more of the weather models began to forecast Thomas to track north directly over our planned route.
Anyone want to sail a 40' sailboat into a Cat 3 hurricane? Being wise and old the decision was made to hold up till morning and get another look at the forecast. The weather services are still not is sync as to where Tomas is headed. Everyone does agree that he's raising havoc in the Caribbean at the moment.
Having some time to kill, I wandered downtown (Annapolis) and took a stroll through the Naval Academy. If you ever want to truly feel proud of the youth in this Country you should visit the Academy. The cadets are a class act. Makes me proud to be an American.
Hanging out at Janet and Dave's tonight munching on pizza. Tomorrow will be another day.
Peace, love and be safe - chip