Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Sea Trial Success

    I will work backwards on this, starting on a successful launch, sail, and retrieve on Tuesday, October 12, 2010.  I had to deal with a pad eye that broke while raising the mast, a power winch connection that proved too short when the trailer tilted, and a launch that saw the boat sail across the slip to another dock than the one I intended to use.  Minor stuff and that's what sea trials are all about.
    The day was glorious.  Light airs from the southwest.  Sunny, but not too warm.  No one at the ramp and little commercial traffic (say barges) on the river.  Major problem on the river was that my drink thermos decided to leak all my iced coffee into the bilge.  Here are a few pics I took with my cell phone camera.





All Sails Flying, or maybe flapping?
Under Sail Going Upriver


Motoring Back to Ramp

St Johns Bridge
      Back on Saturday, September 25th, I took the boat down to the Cathederal Park boat ramp.  I needed space to rig the mast.  All the stays were loose and the fitting were mostly new.  I found the ramp parking lot really full.  I put the mast up after I connected all the rigging.  Found a few issues, but it worked pretty well.  Spent some time drinking lemonade and sitting in my lawn chair in the shade.  Life can't be all work.


Busy Ramp Parking



Halfway Up

St Johns Bridge and Big Red

    I have a long list of winter projects including trailer lights, a rebuilt electrical panel, finishing the outboard mount (still plain wood) and more.  I did make a platform for the cabin floor which works great.  I need to finish it and paint it.