Shreddin

Well at least we finished the race. That’s what I repeated to myself after another adventure out on the WEASEL. From the very beginning things were going against us when we headed out for our last FCYC Thursday Night Race. The wind was blowing between 15 and 20 knots from the west producing big waves in the bay. The tide was coming in strong and we were late (thanks Cheryl). In an effort to make it out there on time we had pushed the engine. Combined with the current it decided enough was enough and it began to overheat. With our main up and reefed we decided to let the engine cool down and we hoisted our #2 jib, a 110% reef-able down to a 90%. We began the beat out to the start line. The WEASEL bashed its way through the 3 foot rollers sending spray over the crew. The boat had excessive heal and did not want to point well. I decided to have Miles sheet it in another few inches so we could point better and make it to the line on time. Exactly as Miles began bringing in the jib I heard a god-awful ripping sound and saw the sail tear from the leech almost all the way to the luff. I immediately pointed the boat into the wind and the crew dropped the sail and threw it down the forward hatch. We shook out the reef in the main and began beating towards the line. Obviously the boat wasn’t pointing at all without a head sail and I had only my big #1 that in that wind was not a good idea. To cut along story short it took us 45 minutes of beating under a main alone to get near the first mark. Things were not going well. One of the crew, David, as usual was vomiting off the back and I was in a less than happy mood. Then I got an idea. I hadn’t seen where the sail had ripped so I headed down below and examined the tear. It was right below the reef in the jib so I could reef it and put it back up. I tied up the loose ends and threw it back up on deck. Finally we were in the running again.In the end we finished 45 minutes behind everyone else but hey we finished!

Chair Hammock + Boat = Great Idea or Greatest Idea

Okay this has probably been done a hundred times before and I didn't really even come up with the idea but it was still pretty damn sweet when I got this thing all put together. One day I had been walking down the street at Granville Island and saw that hammock shop that sells the fancy chair hammocks. On the door they had a picture of some guy sitting in a hammock mounted off his boom. That got me thinking.Now as per usual I was trying to keep things on the cheap; which usually results in a McGyver type result held together with toothpicks and band aids but this time it was all pretty above board. The GI Hammock shop had really nice hammocks but they were a hundred bucks; I went to Canadian tire and picked one up on sale for $19. Obviously it was not as nice but hey it is more than functional. I took it out to the boat and when I went on my first cruise this year I figured out how to rig it up. Basically I put the spinnaker pole on the mast at its highest setting and ran the spin halyard through the jaw at the end of the pole. I attached the spin halyard to the hammock and it was done. Or so I thought.I hoped in my newly rigged hammock and it immediately swung out to the side so I was held out off the port side of the boat. This was great; the boat heeled over a few degrees but generally took it like a champ. The only problem was getting back. There was no easy way for me to swing the pole forward to the bow to allow me to get out. In the end Cheryl rescued me. This design flaw was simply fixed by attaching a line to the forestay allowing you to pull yourself back in. Practically this is a fun way to sit off the boat and read a book, fish, or soak your feet. My next mission is to figure out how to rig two of them. I have a idea involving the main halyard and the backstay. If one was to get really hardcore with this I imagine someone could use this as some crazy boson’s chair and rig it way up the mast. Hmmm.

Adventures in shore power.

Originally posted May 15th 2008.

When I purchased the SEA WEASEL I had it surveyed and expected a long list of things to take care of as you would find on any used 30 year old boat. One of the items that really stood out but was easy to ignore was the shore power configuration. The whole AC system was a little McGyver even for my liking. As the boat had spent its entire wetted life at Burrard Civic Marina it had had to plug into a standard house hold 110 volt outlet (Marina wiring would be another rant). So the former owner decided to rewire the shore power system from the standard marine grade receptacle in the cockpit to an open junction box with a 110v house plug in the anchour locker and rewire the boat with house hold wire. Additionally there was a Moto-Master battery Charger “installed”. The surveyor correctly identified this as a major fire hazard. I put it on the list and finally got to it one year after owning the boat. I decided to rewire the boat properly and here is how I did it. Read about how marine AC wiring is supposed to work. I read an article by Don Casey which was really helpful and used it as a guide for the project. See attached.First understand what you have in place. I basically followed around the whole system and figured out how it was laid out roughly. This involved some minor dismantling and busting out the flashlight. It would probably have helped to sketch it out but hey I am not the brightest lad so I just committed it to memory and this probably explains a few of my mishaps.I drew out how I expected the layout to work from the dock all the way back to the receptacles. I roughly measured the distances for the cables by eyeballing it. The old marine adage of “measure once; go to West Marine twice” applies. Get a list of supplies; to be honest I didn’t do a very good job on this part and made no less than 6 visits to the hardware store for little items. Here is what I used and where I got it; the prices are a guess from memory and I won’t include the items I broke or otherwise did not use:Three Prong Household Plug to 30 AMP Shore Power Adaptor – Craigslist $1050’ 30 AMP Shore Power Cable – Craigslist. $35Stainless Steal Marine 30 AMP Shore Power Cable Receptacle - On the boat already. - $07’ 10 Gauge 3 Strand Marine Grade Wire – Martin Marine - $3012’ 12 Gauge 3 Strand Marine Grade Wire. -. Martin Marine - $3620 AMP Dual Pole Breaker. – On the boat. - $0GFI Receptacle. – Canadian Tire. - $16Household Switch. – Canadian Tire. - $1.502x Household Receptacles. – Canadian Tire. -. $33x Covers. – Canadian Tire. - $2Crimping Terminals. – Steveston Marine. - $10Crimping Butt Joints. – On the Boat. - $0Shrinking Tubes. . - On the Boat. - $0Rescue Tape (could use vinyl tape).-. On the Boat. - $0Souder. - On the Boat. - $0Zap Straps. - On the Boat. - $020 AMP 2 Bank Battery Charger with Isolator. – Steveston Marine. -.$120Wire Adhesive Organizers. – Home Depot. - $6Wire Stripers/Crimpers. - On the Boat. - $0Wire Cutters. - On the Boat. - $0Utility Knife. - On the Boat. - $0Screw Drivers. - On the Boat. - $0Soldering Iron. - On the Boat. - $0Heat Gun. - On the Boat. - $0In total the budget was $269.5 but again this could cost more or less depending on how much stuff you have kicking around on your boat and the size of the project. Starting from the dock’s 110 Volt house hold panel I got an adapter to proper marine grade shore power cables. I bought this off Craigslist in addition to a 50’ 30 AMP Shore Power cable. This was all really cheap compared with retail. I had an existing stainless steel screw down sealed receptacle in the cockpit on the port side. I was able to access it from the lazerrette easily and attached the three strand wire to the appropriate terminals. I used the 10 gauge wire as recommended and made sure it was marine grade (marine grade wire is designed for flexibility, chemical resistance and corrosion protection). This stuff was expensive! I ran the wire along the inside of the lazerettes attaching it with adhesive 3M clips. I am not sure how these will hold up but it is better than drilling holes. This wire terminates in the 20 Amp Breaker Dual Pole that was on the boat. For all of the terminals where the wires needed to be screwed on I crimped the end of the wire to a terminal, soldered it and used shrink tubes to seal them. From the breaker I ran 12 gauge 3 strand marine grade wire to the various receptacles. The first receptacle was a plug near the ice box. I decided to replace it with a GFI unit, like the ones used in bathrooms, they provide shock protection in damp environments. All you need is the first one in the chain of receptacles to get protection. The wires leading out from the first plug were split off with one leading to a plug in the battery compartment and the other leading to a plug in the main cabin. The plug in the battery compartment was going to have a switch in the line so that it could be turned off. It is not recommended to run a charger while discharging the batteries. Really I am not to sure about this but I decided to give myself the option. These systems were very easy to setup and more time was spent organizing the wires. I only removed the old shore power cabling as I went along so that I could follow its path more easily. In the end was terribly inefficient with my time mostly due to poor planning but in the end I spent about 8 hours messing around with this and now have a brand new and safe system. I think this would be easy for anyone to do and reading the attached primer really helped a lot. I think this is one of those jobs you don’t want to cheap out on either. Good luck!

Gybing the Weasel

Originally posted on May 9th 2008.

Recently we have had some trouble gybing the boat and keeping the jib sheets clear ready to be hoisted. So I gave it some thought because I knew I had dealt with this situation before on a San Juan 24. Here is how it is done.1) The boat is heading down wind and the jib is doused. 2) The cockpit clears the jib sheets and the foredeck collects the jib and bunches it so the clew is forward of the baby stay. 3) The gybe is called the foredeck picks up the loose jib sheet and puts it on his/her shoulder. 4) The gybe is executed; with the spinnaker free flying the pole is released from both the mast and the guy. The mast end of the pole is fed under the arm of the foredeck and under the jib sheet to connect to the spinnaker sheet. The other jib sheet is allowed to fall to the deck. Pole up and down are loosened as needed. 5) The pole is made good to the mast and the gybe is complete.

Halibut Bank/Popham Island Race Report

Originally posted on May 5th 2008

Well the day started off in true BC fashion, cold damp, and miserable. I arrived at the boat at 7:00am to begin lightening it for the race. I was able to get a lot of the heavy cruising gear off the boat and fill my 22 cubic foot dock box. We were heading out by 0830 and reached the starting position by 1000. The wind was quite stiff at first but quickly dissipated. The RC was busy trying to hunt down wind in the area so we chased them around before generally drifting about. When the wind did come it was a welcome relief. Numerous divisions started before it was our turn to go. We were not as ideally positioned as I would have liked but crossed the line on the tails of the division 7 boats. I believe we were over 24 seconds after the start and in pursuit. We began to gain on SARANDIS and some of the Div 6 boats, but eventually they all began to pull away. We had too much sail up with our 140% and need to go down to our 110%. For most of the dace we maintained a heel of 35-40%. In addition we made several tactical mistakes heading off shore rather than hugging the shore line where we were slowed by waves. In the end we were well behind everyone including SARANDIS who was our closest competitor. When we rounded the mark we had a clean hoist and blasted down wind with only one gybe needed for us to lay the line. About 20 boat lengths from the mark the spinnaker became badly fowled on the forestay forcing us to douse it at which point we carried on under white sails across the line.Following the race we made a mid-ocean transfer of Cameron to SARANDIS so that he could return to Vancouver that night. There were a few nerve racking moments but he got across okay. The SEA WEASEL then headed off to the WVYC where we had beers and burgers with the crews from ZOE, DUSTY MAUCH, LARK, and others. We rounded the night off by heading over to Snug Cove before returning to Vancouver the following morning.All and all it was a fun race. A big thank you to the RC and Niko for heading up Div 7!!

Saturday nights

Originally posted March 9th 2008.

My Saturday Nights are usually filled with more excitement then tonight but as I slept all day I had a task to complete. To install my new marine Head into the Sea Weasel. The old head leaked water when in use and it and the backwater line reeked of sewage. The new head was a Jabsco Marine Manual Head that I bought on Craiglist for $60 brand new.I had planed to install it while Cheryl slept Saturday. I woke up in the morning; had breakfast with Cheryl and fell asleep until 2pm. I basically had the evening left when Cheryl went to work. I drove out to the boat and fired up the radio to the Canucks game and prepped to put in the new head. I first closed all the seacocks and disconnected the hoses to the old head. I thought for sure that I would leak shitty water all over the place but would you believe that I did not spill a drop. I removed the old head with some difficulty and used the new head as a template to drill new holes for the base. I filled in the old holes with 5200 and the new holes as well. I screwed up by buying 3" boles instead of 4" bolts so I was unable to properly mount the head until Monday. The raw water rinsing line was straightforward. I simply cut off a fresh end and mounted it to the new head which matched the new one perfectly. The black water line could not be reused as it smelt of filth. It reeked so bad that it made sleeping in the V berth less than ideal. The black water line was fairly easy to remove; replacing it however was a chore. The new line fit on the head perfectly and there was no issue. When I went to connect it to the through hull fitting I hit a problem; the through hull was significantly thicker than the hose. I tried to sand down the fitting but it was tough to reach it properly. I took a section of crap hose and tried tapering the hose end so that it would slide more easily over the end. This assisted in getting it on the end but it was not enough. I thought that one way to deal with this was to heat the hose to soften it. I had a heat gun and when I fired that up I was able to fit the hose on like it was butter. The whole thing worked beautifully and I chucked the old head and hose into the dumpster and was home by 11pm. While not a glamorous Saturday night it was nice to have improved the Weasel significantly. Now he head and V-Berth were fresh and the ladies had a more appealing restroom. In all it was a fairly straightforward procedure just requiring troubleshooting skills.

Sea Weasel gets a new home!

Originally posted on February 29th 2008

Many of you have been subjected to my long rants about the criminal lack of moorage in the Vancouver area. While I still believe that we sailors are faced with a almost insurmountable barrier to getting a decent place to put our boats I got some great news yesterday. SEA WEASEL has a new home!My current moorage at Mosquito Creek has been okay. The facility is functional and the staff have been great; but the commute from my front door to hoisting my sails is ridiculous:- 20-30 minutes to drive from home to the marina depending on bridge traffic.- 45-60 minutes to motor out to a point where I can sail depending on tide.- 45-60 minutes to motor back to the marina and tie up depending on tide.- 20-30 minutes to drive back home again depending on bridge traffic.I am usually committed to at least 3 hours for every sail. This makes Thursday night racing out of the question as I just get back to late. This also rights off any evening sails; and it is putting unnecessary strain on my old engine.Having been on the waiting list for every city marina for over 2 years I was beginning to feel hopeless. To compound the issue this year during the all important March-April turnover period I was going to be on vacation. However I listened to everyone who had successfully got into the marinas in the area and they said you have to show a interest to maintain your spot. They do not consider people who are merely sitting on the waiting list and not checking in. I went every month I was on the waiting list to check in at the marina and see what was going on; and yesterday was no different.I got to the Heather Civic Marina Office to check in to see if anything was afoot. Imagine my surprise when it turned out that a slip had just become available that would fit my boat. I nearly wet myself with joy. I got the slip R3 at Heather Civic Marina. Not only is Heather Civic in the heart of False Creek, it has restaurants and pubs close at hand, nice docks, friendly staff, and close proximity to my house; it also has a number of my friends moored there! Here is my new commute to go sailing:- 5 minute drive to the marina- 10 minute motor into English Bay- 10 minute motor back to the marina- 5 minute drive back home.Three hours has just been cut down to half an hour. Now I will be able to sail in the evenings and be more spontaneous with my sailing.I am hoping to be able to move my boat over to the marina on March 16th following the Polar Bear race.

TCYC English Bay Scramble Report

Originally posted August 20th 2007.

Our first leg was fine until we decided to follow the wind to make a starboard rounding. A quarter mile off we got headed and blown well off. We tacked around and the wind dropped off. We should have followed most of the fleet for a port rounding. Squid was our only companion as we watched the rest of the fleet move off. About half way to the QB we got some decent wind which lasted us out to the Bell-B. We were more or less just racing against Squid jockeying for the lead. We rounded the Bell-B ahead of them and went on a close reach to round PI on the windward west side. Squid was able to gain on us slightly with more sail area (they rate 198 and were 251). At PI we hugged the windward edge of the island as they stood off hoping to shave off some of the distance. This worked okay but we got hit badly by the lee of the island. Luckily even though they gave themselves more room the wind died off and we wound up drifting. I did a little better at that and got ahead of him until the wind picked up about 20 minutes after. The race was then on for the finish line on a sweet beam/broad-reach. They were sticking with white sails so we threw up the chute (something we are getting a lot better at) and blew past them. We saw the committee boat cut anchour and we hailed them to see if they would wait for us to finish they said yes but hoisted and sailed out to meet us. So we were scored with our first two marks. I am not sure how we would have corrected if we started on time but we had a blast. That was our best race from a technical point of view and I am getting really addicted to this. Next time I will take out the 600lbs of cruising shit I have in the boat. I really liked the freedom that race afforded everyone. I wish I could have made the party but my wife was recovering from surgery so I had to get back home. Too bad she didn’t come on the boat she is usually the brightest one on my boat.

Zen and the art of diesel repair

Originally posted on July 9th 2007.

I have a 29 year old single banger diesel engine and when I bought the boat I was nervous about it. My boat would not easily take a retrofitted outboard and I could not afford a new inboard so I wanted to make sure I could get several years out of it and had it inspected by a mechanical surveyor. I have had no issues with the engine from the start. I did however not know/trust that any recent maintenance had been done so I quickly went out and purchased all the necessary hardware to “freshen” up the engine. I installed new engine anodes, belts, raw water impeller, changed the oil, and finally the fuel filters. As a DIYer I figured I could manage all of this myself and actually did all the tasks in one foul (and I do mean foul) swoop. Bleeding the fuel line though turned out to be a struggle for me. I had air in the fuel line and did not know how to bleed the fuel system. With a book I found on the boat “Be your own diesel mechanic” and a poorly translated YANMAR manual I figured it out and ran the electric fuel pump bleeding the system. Then unwittingly I set myself of a path of engine mayhem.I developed a small fuel leak that only seemed to happen when the engine was running. I could not find it for the longest time. I spent hours sponging out diesel smelling bilge water after each extended motoring. I finally found the source. I had stripped the primary fuel filter’s bleeder nut when I was originally trying to bleed the fuel system after a filter change. After consulting some online resources I found that I would have to either seal it or replace the filter head. I opted to reseal it and use the bleeder nut at the engine. Of course in sealing this nut I got air in the fuel system and had to bleed the air out of the system. I turned the ignition to the on position and diesel did not flow out. I thought I was doing something wrong so I started the engine up thinking that the system would then be under pressure and I could bleed it while it was running. Of course it sucked air in and died completely. I then was totally unsure and began cranking the various bleeder nuts off including the one I sealed in trying to bleed it closer to the fuel tank. It was with the help of a friend that I notice that when he turned the ignition on a little squirt of fuel shot through one of the bleeder nuts. With repeated turning on the ignition I could get a series of little squirts of fuel in rapid succession allowing me to bleed the engine. We then ran the engine for an hour with out incident. Thinking I was a fairly bright fellow I confidently set off the next weekend for Gibsons. No sooner did we get out around the break water did the engine sputter and die. We quickly readied the anchor and I went below to bleed the engine. About two minutes later the engine was back on and we were motoring along. After 3 more stalls in 20 minutes we turned around and headed home. The engine even stalled in the last few seconds when docking. After we had tied up we looked over the key culprit. The bleeder nut was stripped and not forming a tight seal. This likely was a result of my initial attempts at bleeding the engine coupled with it being 30 years old. We fashioned a temporary rubber gasket out of an old piece of rubber in the junk drawer and covered it in thread sealant. This time we made it to Lion’s Gate Bridge going against the flood before it stalled. We performed a quick turn while we had steerage, bled the engine, applied more goop and took off back on course. This problem plagued us all weekend. We had about 4 other stalls all after roughly an hour of motoring. In the end we got home safe but my confidence shaken. Having called the mechanic for advice I quickly learned that my fuel pump was definitely broken and needed replacing. I decided to replace the filter housing at the same time since I would be unhooking the fuel system anyway. I now have the parts on order and will make a photo album with the repair process.

The sweet taste of victory

Originally posted on July 6th 2007.
I had a very small fuel leak on my primary fuel filter. The bleeder nut had over 30 years stripped the aluminum head’s threading and it was leaking a small amount of diesel into the bilge. Mixed with ice run off from the cooler I had a smelly mess that I had to sponge out of the bilge and dispose of in a responsible method on a regular basis. After consulting mechanics and the internet I decided to use thread sealant to temporarily fix the problem. This went off without a hitch. Well sort of.The next day with crew turning up to go racing I discovered the engine was running rough. Turns out I got air in the fuel line. Stupidly I tried to bleed it at the engine while the engine was running merely letting in more air. I should have just turned on the fuel pump until all the bubbles went away and a solid stream of fuel came out. After about 2 hours a lot of swearing and half a liter of diesel spraying all over the boat and myself we uncovered the problem. The fuel pump was not pumping fuel through the system. It only shot a quick pulse of fuel when it was switched on (I am not sure if this is how it is supposed to work). We were able to pump water through the system by repeatedly turning the ignition to the pre-start position. Then in turn we bled the filters all the way to the engine itself. The engine turned over and ran for 20 minutes. We stopped it and restarted it in the usual fashion several times. I mopped up all of the spilled diesel and wiped down the bilge with cleaner. I didn’t have a container for the diesel so I put it in a temporary container to dump into the proper receptacle after later on. The only thing at had was an empty beer can. As the night progressed my crew availed themselves of some of the ships stores. At one point one of the crew looked at me with a strange sad look of their face. Seconds later the spat all over the cock pit a spray of diesel fuel and bilge drippings. Having grabbed the wrong beer can they had taken a swig of the slurry of unsavory chemicals in my bilge. Filled with concern we proceeded to laugh at him as he cleaned out his mouth with toothpaste and water. When asked what it tasted like he replied “It was kind of buttery.” This morning he still tasted the fuel. I am not sure how bad this is but if he loses his hair and dies of cancer in 3 weeks I think we will have an idea of what caused it.

The Kindness of Strangers

Originally posted on July 3rd 2007.

In my albeit limited sailing experience I am always surprised by the kindness of strangers in the boating community. We arrived latter Saturday night at Pirate’s Cove Marine Park. We found the Cove busy but not totally full. It was an extremely high tide. We selected an anchorage close to the eastern edge of the Cove. After consulting the GPS and Chart I figured I was close to a reef but not too close so I set my hook. In my head I thought worse case scenario I would hear a little bumping and move the boat.At 0800 I awoke and wondered through the boat looking for water. Having found some I climbed back into the vee berth not noticing anything amiss. About 0830 I heard someone slapping the hull and calling out. I hopped out of bed and noticed that the boat was not rocking and I was climbing up hill slightly. I stuck my head out the companion way to hear “Your rudder is snagged on the reef.” I looked down and saw three people in a Boston Whaler. I looked at the rudder it was hard on the reef down below. The gentlemen in the Whaler said that my prop was free. I turned the rudder and it popped off the rock and into the mud below. The rudder was now moving freely but still fouled in the mud below. I fired up the diesel and tried gunning it. Cheryl came up on deck at this point and I ran to the front and let her give it a try seeing that I weighed more. The group in the boat graciously offered to take our genoa halyard and kedge us from the bow. Within seconds we were off the grounding and free. We quickly moved the boat to a clear spot just vacated by another larger boat and set anchour. The three people who helped us were very empathetic stating that they had had this happen too. I was completely blown away that they had taken a keen interest in our safety and single handedly rescued us in seconds. We rowed over a bottle of wine and thanked them once the boat was secured. A big thanks to the crews from the sailboat Arwaren (sp) and powerboat Tortuga!

Dock Warrior

Origanlly posted June 22nd 2007.

So this adventure started out like any other. Darryl, Curtis and I headed out on the Weasel for our first short course race of the Thursday Night TCYC series. Not having a clock we were last across the line and proceeded to get spanked by all competitors; hell even stationary objects beat us. The wind was crazy SE SW NW NE. At one point I was on the foredeck about ready to send up the chute when I realized we were now heading into the wind. It was nuttier that squirrel droppings. All things consider this was our best finish yet! Okay it was our first race we completed. Following that we anchored with Zoe and Umbique and enjoyed some refreshments and typical Vancouver weather. We were waiting the tide out and eventually around 11pm headed back to Mosquito Creek. That is when I was to witness the most selfless act of seamanship I have seen. We were motoring into our slip in dark conditions at 12am. I miscalculated and turned too soon and began to overshoot the slip slowly drifting towards a piling. With a temporary lapse in judgment Curtis, on the foredeck with a bow line, made a mad 2m jump for the dock. With a sickening thud he crumpled on the dock in a soggy heap nearly in the water. I stared open mouthed. Was Curtis dead? Was he hurt? Was he caring any cash I could steal off of his body before the authorities arrived? Would I look good in a beret? Important questions raced through my mind. Then like an ADD kid with six cans of Jolt in him Curtis sprung to life ran to the opposing dock and latched on to the pulpit on the bow and single handily stopped the boat from colliding with the dock. Needless to say Mad Curtis earned his new title “Dock Warrior”.

Sailing with Ralph and Chuck

Orignally posted on June 19th 2007.

Well it went off with out a hitch. Well sort of anyway. This year's weekend free of femine distraction was spent in Silva Bay on Gabriola Island. Friday afternoon we set sail from Mosquito Creek in 10+ knots of wind and a mix of Sun and Cloud. We made it out past UBC under sail until the wind died. We motor sailed the rest of the way to Silva Bay arriving at 1930. Anchoring was easy and the dinghy inflated and was easy to use. Thank you Craig's List! The best rower was Curtis by far. We made it to the pub for a feast and played pool all night. Rowing the dinghy back was a interesting affair with all 4 of us jackasses piled on it rowing back in the dark with a storm filling in. Saturday morning was disgusting. The storm had settled in and it was raining heavily. We gave up the idea of moving on to Thetis Island. Instead we made the fateful decision to explore the island. While you don't expect a busseling metropolis on a Gulf Island Gabriola gave a new definition to one horse town. Granted much of it had to do with the rain. The farmer's market consisted of a few stands selling fridge magnets and beats. Later that day we entered into a poker marathon. Losers frequently had to row out to the boat to bring back supplies. As the rain let up in the evening we made our way back to the weasel. We cooked steaks on the new BBQ and had a great dinner.After dinner we checked our crab pot to find one giant starfish and a lonely one armed crab. We chucked them all back. We also tried our hand at fishing of the boat and I caught a small flounder.Sunday it was time to leave and while the rain was gone the wind was there in force. 25+knots and six foot seas. We motored into rough water. I was worried all the crashing through waves would stir up sediment in the tank and cause the engine to stall leaving us to be dashed on the rocks of nearby islands. Of course I was worrying too much and we sailed out under battened main.Crossing the bay was pure hell. We were tossed about as we sailed North East towards Gibsons. Darryl faired okay as did I. Dave and Curtis were not so lucky. Overcome by seasickness the two took turns vomitting over the side. Dave at one point ran to the rail and having the presence of mind to remove the flag vomitted over the railing. He later said that he just wanted to fall overboard so it would end sooner. The winds finally lightened and we put up a full spread of sail and made 6+ knots on a close reach back to the marina. Lesson learned. Make sure crew takes seasickness medication prior to heading out. It does little good when you are out there in the mix. Where is my nice weather for summer???????

When all else fails read the instructions.

Originally posted May 15th 2007

Well I thought I would try my hand at servicing the winches on my sailboat. I have x4 Lewmar Two Speed (25) winches. I did not know when they had last been serviced. I remember reading an article in Pacific Yachting or Sail Magazine detailing exactly how to do it. I also think I cut this article out and have it on the boat. Apparently I thought I knew what I was doing so I sat down in the most unprepared way possible and gave it a shot. The drum came off easy enough. It raveled that the last time the winches had been serviced was in fact prior to my birth. They were filthy and horribly gummed up. These were in no way safe. I removed the little paddles and springs and used a tooth brush and solvent to clean them. I then used tons of paper towel and solvent to clean the winch without removing it. I then lubed up all the parts with Lewmar brand winch grease. Smugly I went home feeling proud of my accomplishments. I looked up an article on the web to confirm that I had in fact mastered winch cleaning. Turns out I am a moron. If I had read this before I would have realized I did pretty much everything wrong.Turns out I could have easily removed the winch off of its base plate and dissembled it further to its components. I also should have soaked them in mineral spirits not solvent. I could have also cleaned all the components individually then. I should have also rinsed the parts I did take off after cleaning with warm water to remove any of the cleaning product as this will breakdown the winch grease I applied. I also should have used 3 in 1 oil on the little paddles not grease as they will with time gum up. Hindsight being 20/20 I should have also prepared the area for a big messy job by taping off paper and having all the appropriate tools laid out. In the end I basically wasted 90 minutes doing the job wrong and now need to do it over again. Luckily all I got done was one winch so I can learn from my mistakes and have at her again the right way without redoing everything.“When all else fails; read the instructions.”

Sparkles!

Originally posted May 15th 2007.

I love Craig’s list! When I bought my boat it was listed with a dinghy. In reality it had a Sears vinyl kiddy dinghy not suitable for an adult. This is a fairly limiting thing as to get off the boat someone needs to have a dock to tie up to. Sailing out to a remote bay and anchoring could result in a severe case of cabin fever. Long story short I needed a dinghy. The problem is finding one on no budget. I looked all over the classifieds and all I could find was old fiberglass dinghies in advanced stages of disrepair ranging in price from $100-$400 dollars. Imagine my surprise when I saw a posting for an inflatable dinghy listed for $50 vs the going rate of over $500. I thought it would be a piece of crap coated in 30 years of filth and ripped to shreds or a vinyl kids boat; I was not going to call. Of course being a cheap bastard I did call and talked to the Kathleen who confirmed it was a zodiac like dinghy. I agreed to meet her that night at the Quayside Marina in Yaletown. Imagine my surprise when I found the dinghy pictured below. A 10ft soft bottomed inflatable in decent shape. It came with oars, a pump, and puncture repair kit. It was totally sweet. All it is missing is the aluminum floor boards which I can reproduce out of wood easily. I couldn’t force the money into their hands fast enough. I dragged it down the dock as fast as I could before they realized what they had done. Interestingly I had a lapse in judgment and decided to walk down figuring that it would be fairly light. WRONG. The thing was the size of a hockey bag and weighed as mush as dead body. I nearly had a heart attack dragging it out to Pacific Ave to catch a cab. Figuring they would not want to pick up a half crazed man with a “body bag” so I hid it behind a meridian and popped it on the cab driver when he had opened the trunk. In the end I got it home and inflated it where it no resides in the living room.Now we need to name it; any ideas?**UPDATE**Great news I have replaced the floor boards that were originally missing from the boat. I used 1/2" sanded plywood and made three panels. Sadly the spar varnish and plywood actually cost more than the whole boat! I built made the new floor boards down at the Jericho Sailing Centre as they have a hangar that makes a great workshop. After that I wheeled it out to the beach and launched it. It was easy enough to get into and in only a few inches of water did not ground out with me in it. Rowing is not my thing. It was fairly easy to do but I had my moments of spinning in a circle. I must of looked like a total jackass from the shore. Finally I named the dinghy: SPARKLES

Roller Furling Spinnaker

Orignally posted on May 12th 2007.

Wow Spinnakers can be a lot to manage so why not make a roller furling one!?! Well someone (no names) hauled up the spinnaker with the genoa halyard in the way. What occurred next was a total gong show. Our spinnaker became hopelessly fowled in the forestay and genoa halyard. soon the sail was winding it's self up. This resulted in Cheryl and I doing our best to unfowl it from the pullpit. This was in vain. The only thing that was nearly accomplished was Cheryl, clinging to the foot of the sail, nearly being blown off the boat attached to the bottom of the sail. "All I could think of was how long could I hang on for." Cheryl recalled. In the moment it never occurrd to her to let go. It would have been a truely awesome site to see!With only one hlayard free we decieded against going aloft as it would be too risky without a back up line. We opted to barge our way into the mast tower at the Vancouver Rowing Club.This was no easy task. We sailed into Burrard inlet and motored to the VRC. Docking was a real problem with about 80sqf of Spinnaker still catching wind as we approached. Cheryl and Dave jumped off the boat and bravely clung to the dock as the boat tried to blow off. Having been rather forcefull with the VRC office staff they had agreed to allow me to use the mast tower. Unfortunatly I ran into the Commodore who rightly was concerned about a non member using their facilities. I offered to pay and sign a waiver. He in the end releanted and I was allowed to use the tower.30 minutes later amongst cheers from the pub above I unfowled and recovered my remarkably intact Spinnaker. We retired tired sore but glad to have saved the sail. The rest of the voyage was problem free except for Dave making a less than graceful jump onto the boat as we motored away. I honestly thought he was going to fall in.

It's a boat!

Originally posted April 26th 2007
Thats right most people knew that Cheryl and I were expecting and now the blessed event has finally happened. On Monday at 4:30pm PST we welcomed the new addition to our family. A 1978 CS27. Born a whopping 6100lbs and 27 feet long and 40 feet high. We have not yet come up with a name yet for our little lady but that is coming soon.

2007 Moving Picture Show

Blogging

Well I decieded to kick off the SEA WEASEL Blog. Those of you who know me and the boat can now stay abreast of all the latest developments with our racing and cruising program. I will be posting some historical posts I put on Facebook.