Sunday, June 3, 2018

Fuel Tank woes Part II

Need to fix it.

Replaced the Fuel supply hose and remade the pipe fittings where the hose connects to the Supply valve on top of the fuel tank.

Didn't fix it!

Time to pull out the tank.
Saturday: Went down to the boat with 3 Diesel Jugs (Cans) a new Fuel Pump and a lot of rags. 
Disconnected the tank supply hose from the Fuel Filter Input and attached the hose to the New Spare Fuel Pump. Jury rigged the fuel pump to the batteies and spent two hours pumping fuel - had to borrow a couple of extra tanks from my dock lord so now I have 5 Fuel Jugs at home full of Diesel Fuel. It took about 15 minutes to disconnect the Supply Hose, Return Hose, Fill Hose, Vent Hose and the grounding tabs as well as the Fuel level sender and just a couple more to remove the 8 screws that hold the tank in place.

This is the second time I have removed the tank and it's really not that hard. I made a sling out of 1/8" Nylon cord secured to the Fill hose inlet and the return and supply hose fittings on the tank. Manovered the tank out of the aft berth and up into the cockpit. This time I got most of the fuel out so it was very manageable on my own.

Today (Sunday) I inspected the tank and felt that I had a good candidate for the leak area. Used a Brass Wire brush to clean up around the 'hole' then tipped the tank so that the remaining fuel was in the area of the hole and WooHoo! Nailed it. (perhaps not the best pun 😏) 

That hole is about 3/32" across and now that it's cleaned out, fuel spills from the hole like from a faucet.









There's a second suspicious area, but no sign of weeping from that area, I still cleaned it up

Both of these areas are on the Outboard underside of the tank.

After cleaning them with the Brass Wire Brush, I used the wax removal chemical from my Fiber glass repair kit to de-grease the areas.

Next I mixed up about a 1" length of JB Water Weld, suitable for fuel tanks. Peggy made sure I was wearing protective gloves.

A few minutes of massaging the two part epoxy resin and it was ready to apply to the areas.

1st I forced the resin into the holes and then pressed it into the surrounding areas making it nice and smooth. 

Finally I applied some Baby Powder to the hardening surface which allowed me to make it really smooth. That was over an hour ago, so it should be ready by now but I'll wait till the morning before I test it by partially filling the tank. I'll filter the fuel as I fill, might as well.

Assuming (risky) that we're good, then I'll go down to the boat on Tuesday and reinstall the fuel tank. That should take less than an hour. Then time to bleed the system and run the engine.

WooHoo! Looks like we'll make it to the Father's Day Cruise with the HISC a week Saturday. - We're looking forward to it.

See you on the water.

Paul

Monday, May 28, 2018

Fuel tank woes

Diesel Fuel Tank Issues

We found tiny droplets of fuel in our bilge water, and that's not tolerable!

So first step was to mop up the bilge, 2nd was to find out where the fuel leak is.

We went down to the boat today armed with empty diesel Jerry cans in case we needed to off load the tank contents. 

Inspecting the area between the fuel tank and the fuel filters, I found that there was some diesel on the tank support shelf, but could not see where it was coming from. I will have to replace that shelf as about 1/4 of it is wet with diesel. 

Thinking that it could be a leaky tank, I decided to empty the tank so that I could remove it and inspect it for leaks. Then the leak would either be fixable or I would need to buy a new tank.

So, my plan was to disconnect the Fuel pump outlet and run a temporary hose into one of the Jerry cans. We did that, but with the engine ignition system on (there is no Ignition system on a Diesel, it's actually the engine electrical supply.), the fuel pump ran, but would not pump fuel. 1st thought was that the pump had failed. So I tried to siphon the fuel out of the tank, it would just not flow.

Next I decided to use our spare fuel pump to pump out the tank. The spare pump was on board the boat when we purchased her in 2015. I connected some wiring to the pump and to a pair of electrical clamps, connected the pump to the fuel supply hose and a spare fuel hose into the Jerry can. Hooked up the pump, nothing! Wow, That's Fantastic !

Being unable to empty the tank I decided to try again tomorrow. New Plan: buy a new fuel pump before going back down to the boat.

Then a friend of mine called and during our chit chat, he asked if I had tried to start the engine?

Hmmmmm! Duh! Installed pump won't, Siphon - Won't, Spare pump wont' (won't even run) could it be a leak in the fuel hose?

My new thought: If the fuel won't pump or siphon, wouldn't that be the situation if the supply hose had a leak? Duh!

New Plan: Tuesday, head down to WM and buy some new fuel hose, connect that up and see if it pumps fuel. If so, it's the old hose and not the tank. If it still won't pump, it should siphon. If it does not siphon, then it's a fuel blockage. If it does pump/siphon, then it's just the hose.

Oh, did I mention? A new Fuel Tank is over $1,000 including shipping from CA! I really hope it's the hose!


Saturday, May 19, 2018

DIY Outboard Lifting Harness

Making a DIY Outboard Lifting Harness

Our new Mercury 4 Stroke 4hp Short Shaft Outboard weighs about 60lbs and we keep the engine on the boat secured to an Outboard Mount on the Port Side Aft Cockpit Rail. Moving the engine from the Mount to the Dink requires a decent amount of control. We had purchased an Outboard Engine Lifting Harness for our previous boat and outboard, but I was never happy with it. It always felt as though it was trying to release.

So... Time for a DIY solution.

The KISS principle is nearly always the best.


Initially I thought I would need the horizontal strap to prevent the harness slipping off the ends of the engine, but when I did a trial fitting without them, the harness was just right. There are engine parts that stick out from the main body of the engine head that prevent the harness slipping off.


The harness fits with the cover on or the cover off. I'll attach the carabiner to the moving block on the hoist tackle..




It took longer to come up with the simple concept than to make it. It feels really secure when lifting the engine.

Next is to take the Outboard down to the boat and set it on it's mount.

If the persistent gray clouds and soaking rain eventually decide to move off elsewhere, then we can load the boat and head off for our trip down to the Keys. I'm ready!

See you on the water.

I received a comment asking the the D Rings passed through each other. No they do not, I simply connect the hoisting line to them using a carabiner. Hope that helps.

Thursday, May 17, 2018

New Engine

New Engine for our dinghy

We made the decision to upgrade the engine for our dinghy. Currently we have a Suzuki 2.5HP 4 Stroke Outboard which is fine, but we're concerned that the strong currents in the Bahamas will be an issue with just 2.5hp.

Our dink - Mercury 2400 has a max engine capacity of 4hp. So we have just purchased a new Mercury 4HP Short Shaft (15") from West Marine. Their price was close to what we could find online but with the 4% back in West Marine Bucks, and their price guarantee, I'm happy that we made the best choice.

 The guys from the Pompano West Marine Store loaded the new Engine, in it's box, onto our F150 pickup.

They wrapped it in poly garbage bags as it was threatening to rain.

The engine weighs about 57lbs 26kg. So it's easily lifted single handed, but the box makes it a bit of a task. 





We drove down to the dock and turned the boat around. Eximius is normally docked facing East, but the dink's outboard is on the Mount attached to the Port Side aft rails and I didn't fancy carrying the engine across the boat and then trying to hang it on the lifting sling while it's over water.

The wind was from the South East, which meant that turning the boat was a breeze (no pun intended 😏) We ran a line from the Port side bow aft and around the stern then to the dock. A second line from the mid ships cleat port side, aft and around the stern to the dock. I released the stern lines and then the bow lines. The boat easily floated around to port and I was able to control the turn using the two lines from the dock.

Once the boat was secured port side to. I made up the new engine lifting tackle. The tackle for the 2.5hp engine was a simple 1:1 single block and tackle, but I figured a 3:1 advantage would help lift the heavier 4hp engine. Now we have a single block attached to the underside of the Radar mounting plate and a double block as the moving part. There are 3 lines on the moving block.

With the new lifting tackle setup, I took the Merc out of the box and carried it down to the dock. Peggy sat on the dock wall while I tied a temporary lifting harness to the engine. With that harness attached to the moving lifting block, Peggy was able to take up the slack as I move the engine over the gap between the boat and the dock. 

The good news is that the mounting bracket on the new engine fits the existing storage bracket on the boat, no need for any adjustments.

We brought the new engine home so that we could commission it in the garage and run it in the back yard.

Commissioning the engine involves: Add Engine Oil (it's shipped empty), checking oil levels, fuel up the engine and then running it for a few minutes before checking the engine oil level again.

To do that it has to be in the upright position, so I need an Engine Stand -

Using my HF Dolly, but it needed some extra stability as the weight of the engine tends to tip the dolly forwards.

I took a scrap of 3/4" Plywood, cut it in two diagonally, then cut a slit close to the vertical end using the plunge method on my table saw.

The supports fit like a glove and really make a big difference, no fear of the dolly falling forward when the engine is mounted and the supports can be pulled off easily. No screws required.



The horizontal bar of the dolly is straight 1" steel tubing, not suitable for securing the engine. I padded it out with more offcuts of the 3/4" ply, I should really cut off the excess srew length with my rotary cut off tool.

The padding can handle the torque tendency for the engine to roll forwards, the padding is held in place with a half dozen long screws and nut's n bolts.

With the engine mounted on the dolly, there's plenty of room to place a tall drum bucket around the prop, high enough to submerge the water intake. If we had the Long shaft engine, the bucket would not need to be raised up to submerge the prop, but ours is the short shaft (15") so I place a couple of stone slabs under the bucket. That also helps keep the dolly stationary when flushing / running the engine.



Most of the time, the engine will be secured to the outboard engine mount on the Port side aft of Eximius, time for some shade.

I watched the video on Sailrite several times and figured out how to adapt their concept to our engine.

Our engine seems to have the knuckle joint for the tiller slightly further aft than on the model engine that they covered. So the cut out for the knuckle was not in the corner. It worked out really well.

There are a lot of appendages on the front and sides of the engine, but the cover fits well and is very secure.

The tiller cover is separate but I don't expect to ever run the engine with the main cover in place.

Note that this dolly has a removable handle, this is great as it allows the engine to rotate on the dolly for servicing.





I reused some Sunbrella from our old Sail Cover (replaced when we got new sails in 2016 and a Cradle Cover) so the cost of the cover was minimal. It would have cost about $25 for a yard of Sunbrella, I used about 5' of cordage and one bobbin of thread. I did not use basting tape.

Tools to upgrade the dolly: Table saw (could have used a circular saw), Portable Drill/Driver, Socket, Builders square, Ruler, Marking pens.

Tools used to make the cover: Hot knife to cut the sunbrella and cordage, Sailrite LZ-1 sewing machine, 8 plastic clamps (harbor freight), Marking chalk, Tape measure, 36" wooden rule, 48" T-Square (drywall square), Thread snips.

I find myself doing more and more canvas projects, Sailrite has been great in supplying materials for the stuff I've made as well as stock that I have purchased in anticipation of more projects. This is really the first project that I have re-used old Sunbrella, it was in pretty good shape, but it needs some cleaning - The engine cover is going for a bath in OxyClean and will then get a coat of water proofing.

Saturday, May 5, 2018

Some Canvas work

Just a few Canvas jobs to help with the boat kitty.

Hatch cover
The wooden hatch near Meridian's Bow.
The cover has a lip that fits under the closed hatch and a draw string to keep it in place

The owner added a piece of something (foam) between the window and the cover to help keep it domed and shed water.







Windlass Cover
This has a lip that fits beneath the aft end of the windlass and a strap -n- buckle on the front.
The chain opening has a leather surround to reduce chafe.










Mast raising winch cover
The cover for this 12v winch is secured to the deck with Snads, it has a strap -n- buckle to keep the face closed and leather edges to reduce chafe where the steel cable enters the winch.










Meridian is heading around the great loop later this year, I'm sure they are going to have a great adventure.

Thursday, April 19, 2018

Planning Trip to Marathon - Boot Key Harbor

Why?

We're working our way up to a trip to the Dry Tortugas. If we sail down to Boot Key Harbor we'll be 1/3rd of the way. And we'll get the chance to see how the harbor has recovered after Hurricane Irma in 2017




Where?

Boot Key Harbor is about 1/2 way down the chain of Keys between Miami and Key West

We have done part of this trip in our previous boat, Catalina 250 during a 10 day trip several years ago.

We'll go around a few corners to get to Marathon and hope to spend a few days in the harbor.

How (The Route)

  • Our Dock - Lake Sylvia -  5nm
  • Lake Sylvia - Dinner Key - 44nm
  • Dinner Key  - Nixons (in the Bay) 4nm
  • Nixons - Rodreguez Key Rock Harbor - 50nm
  • Rodreguez Key - Marathon - Boot Key Harbor  46nm

When?

We're looking to take a 2/3 week trip in May, possible schedule is something like this
  1. Depart Dock to Lake Sylvia 1 hour =  Day 1 overnight at Anchor
  2. Lake Sylvia to Dinner Key 8 hours = Day 2, overnight at Slip or Mooring
  3. Day at Dinner Key =  Day 3 overnight at Slip or Mooring
  4. Dinner Key to Nixons - 4 hours = Day 4 overnight at Anchor
  5. Nixons to Rock Harbor - 11 hours = Day 5 overnight at Anchor
  6. Day at Rock Harbor = Day 6
  7. Rock Harbor to Marathon Boot Key Harbor - 10 hours = Day 7 overnight at Slip or mooring
  8. Two days at Marathon = Day 8 & 9 at Slip or mooring.
  9. Marathon - Rock Harbor / Rodreguez Key = Day 10 overnight at Anchor
  10. Rodreguez Key to Nixons = Day 11 overnight at Anchor
  11. Nixons - Elliott Key = Day 12 overnight at Anchor
  12. Elliott Key - Nixons = Day 13 overnight at Anchor
  13. Nixons - Lake Sylvia = Day 14 overnight at Anchor
  14. Lake Sylvia - Dock = Day 15, unload for ride home.

So, need to look for good weather period for 15 - 21 days, in May before 'H' Season.

Things to Do

Ok, in addition to Sailing and loafing at Anchor!

At least 2 days in Marathon and at least 2 days at Rock Harbor (1 each way minimum)

Rock Harbor - Rodgreguez Key: Dink trips: Dinner, Rodreguez Key sands, Rock Harbor

Marathon: There seems to be a lot of options at Marathon, we're scanning the guides. Looks like quite a bit within walking distance of the Boot Key Harbor City Dock as well as the other docks.

If you know of anything worth the walk? Please leave a comment.

See you on the water!



Tuesday, March 20, 2018

St. Pat's Day Cruise and Crunch

2018 HISC St. Patrick's Day Cruise

The Cruise (Crunch comes later)

We motored down to Port Everglades Friday morning and tried sailing up to Hillsboro Inlet, but the wind was somewhere else, the sea was calm, and the motor ran smooth!

Peggy smiling as we left Port Everglades. See that big ship astern? We did, and we kept to the South side of the channel just to keep out of it's way. 

The flag tells a lot! It's drooping!




I shook out the reef shortly after exiting the channel. Didn't make a difference, we were motoring at idle and the wind was on the nose a knot faster than our speed. We were creating more of the wind.

But it was a beautiful day to be out on the Ocean.

We stayed pretty close to shore all the way up to Hillsboro Inlet. The HI bouy has been replaced - finally - after getting dragged ashore during Hurricane Irma last year.



As we navigated into HI, we saw the depth drop down to below 5' In theory we were aground, but the bottom was really soft and we barely felt a thing, perhaps our depth was being impacted by the turbid waters.

After a few doughnuts we passed under HI bridge and headed North, easily making the bridge opening and then 20 mins on to Camino Real Bridge, barely had to wait.

Lake Boca was already filling with power boats, but a few sailboats were in the North Eastern end of the lake. We could see Diversion (Bob & Joyce Tiger) at anchor. We dropped anchor on the East side of the lake in 9' of water. Shortly after our arrival, Time To Go (Paul & Debbie Maloney) arrived and dropped anchor South of us. Sjöfn arrived and tied up along side of us with the plan to slip off and anchor alone later that night so that Dave could get a good nights sleep - hope it's not something I said ;)

I had proofed Bread overnight and baked it Saturday Morning, two loaves so we gave one to Pam & Dave. 

Baked in our New Non-Stick bread pans from Sur La Table in Coconut Creek.

Turned out really nice - Sesame & Fennel Seed 

1st attempt at cooking two loaves at the same time. Very pleased.





By Saturday afternoon, the Host boats were rafted up - Sjöfn, Eximius, Lizzetta  and Into the Blue.
Other boats from the club were: Diversion, Cheshire, Into the Blue, Hallabaloo, Margarita,
Moonlight, My Sanity, Rabbit, and Time to Go, but I'm pretty sure there was a couple more boats!

The club Commodore arrived mid afternoon and was greeted with a traditional Bosun's Call 

Around 5pm, crews started to arrive, bringing food, drinks, deserts, drinks, Shepherds Pie (Thanks Janet - Delicious!) Brisket, and if you consider that we had about 10lb of Corned Beef, and loaves of Soda Bread (Winn Dixie) and Rum aboard - it was a party!


After the crowd ate most of the food, drank most of the bear, and the Rum, it was time for our Party Games. 
We started with the Trivia Contest - it's complex - hey, it's my job to confuse! Here you see some of the participants trying to answer a question using a direction. It was, as expected, the drinks and questions ensured that.

Tom managed the Sailing Limerick contest and Pat & Dave selected the winner of the Best Irish Costume, well done Vicky!

The coin toss was a challenge when held on the 4 mono hulls, but it worked and several earned extra bottles of whiskey.

Finally Jeff Miskin provided us with a few Irish Jokes, I cannot repeat them here ;0)

As the Sun was setting, our guests started to return to their boats or back to their cars via Dink Taxi's

Most made it but Jeff Miskin and his crew seemed to get lost in the 200 yard trip from the host boats to the raft up of Diversion, Hi Nina and Chesshire (see those 3 power boats in the background of the pic above - they were Wey Hey'd over there.

The weather was perfect all weekend. Saturday morning we prepared breakfast for any that were up. We had plenty of coffee, ton's of muffins, and some brought more food! Tom noticed that I had Grand Mariner on my boat and asked for some with his coffee - I obliged, but only after he passed his coffee mug, I was not going to let my bottle of GM get off my boat!

We had a blast, everyone seemed to enjoy themselves.

After breakfast we learned that Hillsboro Blvd Bridge had a problem and was Locked down - sailboats could not pass! That meant wait till the bridge was fixed or go out through Boca Inlet.

We have never gone out of the inlet, it's risky, but boats with greater draft than our 5'7" have done it. It's just not worth the risk for us. So we opted to wait for the bridge to be fixed. It didn't take long but several boats still went out via Boca Inlet.

Oh, nearly forgot! Friday afternoon, a commercial Catamaran got wedged on the rocks outside of the Boca Inlet Bridge which created a bit of a stir. Several tow boats went to their aid and successfully pulled the boat and the bunch of guests aboard.

Back to Sunday morning after breakfast. We were the last ones to leave the host raft up. It took a few minutes to untangle the anchor chains, but no sweat. We hoisted our anchor, turned to the North end of the lake and called Camino Real Bridge making the Noon Opening.

At the Hillsboro Inlet bridge there was a dozen boats waiting to go out, we dropped back to let them go and easily ran out of the Inlet. Once out, we turned back into wind and hoisted the Main, turned South and unfurled the Jib, no reefs in at this time and No wind either. So we furled the Jib and motored down about 1/2 to 3/4 nm off shore.

We saw Sjöfn flying her Genneker about a 1/2 mile further out, sure looked good! I hailed Dave on 16 and switched to 68. Dave had left before us and had gone out of Boca Inlet, we knew it was Sjöfn because we could see the Red Dragon on her sail! How do you spell ENVY?

Our motor down to Port Everglades was uneventful, but when we turned to go North towards the 17th Street Causeway Bridge, there was a flotilla of vessels waiting for the bridge to open, we motored past them and wondered how many were thinking - They'll never get under that bridge! We had about 6' to spare. Within a few minutes of us passing, safely, under the bridge, it opened and the flotilla began to head through, I don't think we have ever seen the ICW that busy, it was like I95 for a while.

Travelling from Lake Boca down to Port Everglades on the outside is so much nicer than racing to the next bridge (Six of them) especially on a calm day like today.

Sticking to the ICW, we peeled off South into the Lake Sylvia entrance, skinny water at low tide, but we stayed deep enough and anchored in the North West corner with 60' of rode. A nearby vessel expressed concern that we were too close, and I decided after watching the swing and learning that he had 90' of rode out that it would be prudent to re-anchor. So we pulled anchor and headed over to the South East end of the lake. An easy anchor and we secured for the day. Time for a late lunch of Cheese, Grapes, the bread I had baked on Saturday and a glass of wine. Then a 60 minute snooze!

I made a bit of progress on the installation of our Dry Bilge system. Figured out the best location for the discharge vent, just below the Aft Water Tank Discharge fitting. Of course, the new vent will make the old one (30 years old) show it's age. I realized that I'll have to get a hose fitting that will convert the 5/8" barbed end down to the 3/8" hose that will connect the vent to the pump.

We opted for just a snack instead of Dinner, and solved many of the world problems, or at least recognized they were beyond resolution. I browsed Facebook to view the pics that club members had posted and read the comments that members of the Cooking on Boats page had made about my bread. Pierre (Charity) noted that he avoids Gluten, so I'll have to plan on a Gluten free bread for when they come along side.

The Crunch


Sylvia Lake on Monday morning was like Glass! not a ripple! There were about 23 boats on the lake, most of them well cared for, a couple that are junk and give the rest of us a bad name. Don't get me wrong, after all, our boat is 31 years old now, it's not the same high gloss it was back in 1987 but we maintain the boat and keep her in good condition, it can always be improved. But the Junk boats are wrecks - canvas draping over the sides of the boat, no engine, mast laid down, what used to be a fender hanging in the water over the side. If it were on land it would be condemned. 

We stirred a few ripples as I pulled up the anchor, my morning exercise, and Peggy motored us clockwise around the lake and out of the channel and into the ICW where we turned to Port and started up the New River.

Our plan was to stop at the Pump out station just downstream of the Third Avenue Bridge. Last time we had to deal with some pretty strong current, so we were prepared this time just in case. I had the lines ready and we approached the dock astern of Musette and made a perfect docking. I stepped off the boat that was barely touching the dock pilings and not moving at all. Good Job Peggy!

Then a City Employee called out that we had to leave the dock immediately! Apparently another vessel had 'reserved' the dock for using the pump out, and they were just passing under 3rd Avenue bridge, he demanded that we get off the dock.

Dang! At least, that's the publishable word I can use that describes my frame of mind. My military training kicked in and accepted the command and calmed Peggy down before we moved off the dock back into the river. 

As we pulled out, we could see a bunch of other boats waiting on the bridge opening, but 3rd avenue bridge opens really quickly and they were waiting far too long. We were getting pushed around by the current from behind and from the wind out of the North East, and hindered from movements by the vessels ahead of us. I made the command decision to tie up along side on the East side of the river where there was a gap between other docked boats. Peggy took the helm, but the current was much stronger than either of us thought. The current pushed our stern up river and we hit out bow on the concrete dockside, my fault, it was a bad decision to try and dock on that side of the river. Now we have a scarred bow that needs some TLC.

I went back to the helm and was able to get us motoring astern to get away from the dock and back to the middle of the river. Once safe, I contacted the vessel ahead of us and asked his intentions. He radioed back that they were waiting on a 110' Yacht outbound, so I held station astern of her. It was not easy, it took a lot of concentration, quick decisions to deal with both the wind and current while staying away from the very unfriendly dock on the right (while going upstream) side of the river. 

Of course, all of this was while I was internally trying to ignore that I had dinged the boat! But that's what you have to do, get over it and deal with the current (no pun intended) issue.

The big yacht come through 3rd avenue bridge and the vessel ahead of us started to make way under the bridge (I say Under, but it's really 'Through' as the bridge is open). I called Andrews Avenue Bridge requesting to follow the vessel ahead of us through the bridge, but then realized that the FEC Railroad bridge was closing! Wow! That's Fantastic! (WTF) There's very little room between Andrews and the FEC bridge, and the vessel ahead of us would be stopped while we try to keep station in the not so nice conditions. I called Andrews and advised that we would cancel out passing due to the FEC bridge being down. But the Bridge Tender at Andrews responded that I should proceed as the FEC Bridge was closed for maintenance but was opening for our passage (and the vessel ahead of us) So I confirmed and throttled up to get up to speed in order to follow the boat ahead of us. 

We passed both Andrews and the FEC bridge. Next it was 7th Avenue Bridge, and as we got around Sailboat Bend the bridge was already open and we motored through.

The yacht ahead of us came to a stop just south of the Fork in the New River, they confirmed it was ok for me to pass on their starboard side as they were waiting on another vessel coming out of the South Fork and we were heading up the North Fork.

Other than Peggy and I having a few words about the Crunch incident, we continued quietly up to our dock and, again, Peggy made a perfect docking. The wind from dead ahead (West) which could hinder our turning the boat so that it faced back down to the open end of the channel, but I had a line setup on the Starboard side midships cleat, then forward and back to the Port side where I stepped off onto the dock. Securing the turning line, I walked the bow off the dock and to the East. As the bow neared the end piling of the dock, I picked up the bow lines and put them on the cleat on the fore deck. Back to the turning line on the other end of the dock, I easily pulled the stern of the boat around and along side the dock.

Phew!

Despite the crunch, which is not a disaster, we had a great weekend and as always - learned a lot.


See you on the water (but not till after I fix the booboo on Eximius' Bow!)

Paul