Category: Mechanical Stuff

A Work Day That Turned Into A Sailing Day

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

Debbie aboard Splendido, her 1993 Catalina 270, at Lake Tahoe.
Saturday morning, Debbie and I got up early and had a bunch of chores to do around the yard, including planting a pine tree, moving several other shrubs and replanting them, watering, and general yard clean-up. The day broke clear and bright, and it didn’t take long to work up a sweat. Around noon, we took a breather and contemplated just staying home and continuing on with our chores, or heading up to do some housekeeping on the boat. (Guess which one appealed more!)

We loaded up the oars, tools, drill, and drinks and headed up the Mount Rose Highway toward Tahoe. We stopped by the 7-Eleven in Carnelian Bay for a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos and a bag of ice. The Cool Ranch Doritos are kind of a summer thing for us…we enjoy them once a year, and they remind of us of the brilliant but brief summer season at Tahoe. We were curious how much traffic we’d find in Tahoe City, as the cars started backing up at about Dollar Point, but things moved smoothly, and before we knew it, we were headed south on 89 to Homewood where Splendido was bobbing peacefully, and where there were a number of good places to park along the beach.

The main thrust of the day’s trip was for Debbie to give Splendido the woman’s touch in the cabin, as I had stowed most of the household goods but was a bit confused as to where everything really belonged (this is true at home as well. Must be a guy thing.) She wanted to get everything squared away because we had invited her sister Krista and brother-in-law Matt out for a sail next Thursday, so time was of the essence. When she finished up with her tidying and stowing, I got busy with the drill and the seat benches. They are held to the hull with stainless-steel screws, but these screws have been in and out so many times, they had worn bigger holes, so there was no “purchase” any longer. I modified some of those drywall plastic expander deals by clipping off the ends and then screwing the screws into them. It was a perfect solution; the screws now hold the boards in rock-solid, the fiberglass is intact and protected from splintering; and God forbid if the boat ever flipped, everything would stay in place.

Debbie got a little woozy working down below because of the all the ski boat chop, so when I came up for air, she was nearly asleep on the pillows in the cockpit, hat pulled low over her eyes. The boat was looking pretty “showroom” at this point, so we agreed that a little sail would provide a nice change from the chop. The forecast was for light winds in the 10-12 kt. range, but the winds freshened a bit when we were out on the water, so I reduced the jib to about 60 percent and pulled the traveler high to the windward side to twist off the not-infrequent gusts. It was a comfortable and fast combination. As we neared Sugar Pine Point, we decided to tack upwind to Obexer’s for a pump-out, as we were getting the occasional earthy wafting from the head. Alas, when we arrived at Obexer’s at about 5:30 p.m., the pump station had been locked up for the night. The young man on the dock advised us to come back in the morning, so we glided on and motored the mile or so up the west shore to our buoy. With our little Perkins Perama gurgling and pushing us along at 4 kts., we were able to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery along the west shore. We had used a fair amount of electricity with the CD player and the cabin lights and the water pump running, so this gave us a chance to recharge the batteries, too.
David sailing Splendido, the 1993 Catalina 270, at Lake Tahoe, June 22, 2013

Back on the hook, I laid down for a mini-nap in the cockpit while Debbie enjoyed a glass of Chardonnay. The corner of the lake where we find ourselves this year is very peaceful and visually stunning. I was tempted to stay the night aboard, but we felt the pull of our two cats at home, and we wanted to see the Supermoon rise from the Tahoe Meadows on our way back to Reno. I must’ve read the time wrong in the paper, but the giant moon popped up over Slide Mountain as we were enjoying fish tacos at our new favorite casual joint, El Sancho in Tahoe Vista. The perigee moon is apparently 13 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than its counterpart, the apogee moon, and it looked it. It was so bright, in fact, that driving home, I had to avert my eyes to avoid seeing spots. All in all, it was a wonderful though tiring day, and we both slept like rocks. Can’t wait until our next sail this Thursday!
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Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

A Fond Farewell To Our First Season Sailing Lake Tahoe

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Mechanical Stuff, SplendidoLeave a comment

Today is the day we pull Splendido out of Lake Tahoe and put her on her trailer for her winter rest. As I write this, I’m having my first cup of steaming hot Blind Dog Nevada Black coffee and reflecting on the season.

All in all, I think we did pretty well in our first season as “real” sailboat owners. The first challenge was communicating well…I have a tendency to get a little snappy, barking out orders when stressed, which is tough on my first mate (and also bad form in general), so I had to learn to relax, speak clearly and precisely, and do a better job of seeing the bigger picture. We came up with our own “everybody’s having fun, or we head back” rule, which helps us remember that the #1 point of all this is to enjoy the experience. I screwed that up a bit last Saturday night, when I suggested we stay the night on Splendido in a slip at Tahoe City Marina: It was 27 degrees out, and I forgot our little electric space heater at home. We were OK sleeping under the thick comforter, but when we woke up, you could see your breath, and the entire inside of the boat was dripping from condensation. Debbie opted to stay in bed until the coffee was made, but even then, I doubt the cabin warmed up to more than 40 degrees. After having a great breakfast at nearby Sawtooth Cafe, it had warmed up enough to tackle the big chore of the weekend: stripping the boat of everything in preparation for taking her down to Reno. While Debbie loaded up the bins with all the “household” items below, I set to work on taking off the sails, stripping the rigging, and removing the boom. It took about 5-1/2 hours, all told. We loaded up the bins and cushions in Debbie’s catering van, drove home, and neatly stowed everything in the empty garage bay we’d cleaned out the week before.

Last night, brother-in-law Tracy and I worked on the trailer, rebuilding all four of the drum brakes and replacing the wheel cylinders so she hopefully wouldn’t “buck” on our drive down the mountain and back to Reno. On our “test drive” about 9:15 p.m., everything seemed to be working OK.

On the morning of October 11, our haul-out went flawlessly. The trailer worked like a charm, with no bucking whatsoever, and Steve Diel and the crew from Tahoe City Marina were fabulous, helping us to move Splendido about five inches further forward on the trailer than we had done last year, in order to put more weight on the tongue. Tracy and I double-checked all the straps and tie-downs, and had a good lunch at Sawtooth Cafe before motoring down to Reno. We parked Splendido in front of my house for the final washing, polishing, winterizing, and small repairs I’ll do before taking her to storage. I intend to sand, stain, and varnish all the remaining interior woodwork, finish installing the new bilge pump and float switch, and a dozen or so other details over the next seven months. Can’t wait ’til spring…you can see it in my expression, below.

When I stop to reflect on the lessons I’ve learned in our first year of sailboat ownership, the one thing that stands out is the new confidence we’ve both developed around identifying a challenge, considering the options, and selecting the right course of action. This sequence of events  happened time and time again over our short sailing season, from learning how to anchor properly overnight to dealing with an engine failure on a light-wind day to learning proper sail trim to deal with Tahoe’s gusty conditions to developing a Zen mindset to deal with sometimes uncourteous powerboaters (and the occasional sailor, too). It was a surprise to me how taxing sailing can be on the body. Debbie and I would both return home exhausted from a “relaxing day on the water.” Two days, even more so! One of the casualties of sailing this summer was my left elbow: I developed a case of medial epicondylitis because I was using my left arm as a sort of “shock absorber” when tending the mainsheet while Debbie was driving. The condition is also known as “golfer’s elbow,” and is basically an inflammation of the attachment points at the elbow. I have to wear a brace through mid-December to “rest” the elbow so it will heal. Mentally, though, was where we both reaped the benefits of our time on the water. Just being around water helped us both to relax and release the strain of running our four businesses. For the first time in our 20 years together, we were able to truly enjoy and feel a part of Lake Tahoe, just by being out on it, rather than relegated to viewing it from the shore. We were able to learn its moods, its winds, its weather, and a few of its secrets that we wouldn’t have learned about otherwise. I picked up two books of Tahoe tales from a used book store; now, some of the family and place names make more sense. I am beginning to understand why people flock here and relocate here and decide to make their lives here. Perhaps most importantly, we both felt that our summer on the water helped us to slow down a bit and be in the moment more. We stopped to check the weather forecasts, to gaze at the stars, to breathe more slowly and savor that sacred time, whether for an afternoon’s outing or a weekend boat camping trip. The coffee even tastes better up there. The book Saving Sailing, which I read earlier in the summer, suddenly made sense to me. We gave up our “500 channels of nothing to watch” cable TV contract, and put that money into our sailing fund. We got rid of a bunch of “stuff” that was cluttering our closets, our house, and our garage. Everything feels a bit lighter, a bit simpler, and a whole lot easier on mind and eye, and I suspect—in no small way—it had something to do with sailing Lake Tahoe aboat Splendido this season.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

The Battle Of The Bilge

On By David BranbyIn Mechanical Stuff4 Comments

This week has been not the best for sailing at Lake Tahoe, with lots of monsoonal thunderstorms in the area and random, gusty winds and big chop in the late afternoons. So, I went up to the boat on Sunday morning to tear into a project that had been on my mind for a while: Replacing the automatic bilge pump. Now, the existing “bilge pump” when I bought the boat was actually just a Shurflo® Blaster™ wash-down pump that you’d roll out from under the sink, stick the hose in the bilge, and pump until it was dry, then store it back under the sink. Not the best solution, for a number of reasons. So, I tore into the bilge and tried to figure out where the “real” bilge pump used to be, which is not a pleasant experience, especially for a germaphobe like me. After an hour of poking around and trying to figure out where to install the new pump in the Catalina 270’s very narrow bilge (answer: evidently, you put it under the fiberglass “bridge” (see photo), apart from the fact that you can’t use a standard drill there to mount the base…and then there’s the issue of where to put the float switch. Aargh! (Frustration, not pirate-speak.)

Moving on, I found the end of the “old” bilge pump hose hidden under the sole to port. It took 45 minutes of tugging and cajoling the hose to come all the way out, as it was sort of decrepit and nasty, and besides, it was too small to fit the new Attwood® Tsunami™ 1200 gph pump I wanted to put in the bilge. I was hoping to find some convenient “weep” holes to put the wiring through to the main panel, but those remained elusive. So, as the afternoon chop was starting to build and I was getting a little dizzy from the rolling of the boat, I opted to tidy up below and then wash down the decks. Amazing how much dust and pollen collects on a boat on a buoy 200 yards from shore at Lake Tahoe. Afterwards, I stepped off the sugar-scoop transom and plunged into Tahoe with my swim goggles on, hoping to spot the missing fork from our dinner part last week. The lake was so churned up, visibility was only about six feet, so I abandoned that idea and dried off in the wind and sun while I waited for the water taxi to come get me. Another trip or two to The Home Depot, and I’ll have that new bilge pump in, I’m sure of it.

 

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

Messing About In The Boat

On By David BranbyIn Mechanical StuffLeave a comment

Splendido at Sunset, Lake TahoeTonight, Debbie had a big catered event to put on at the Nevada Museum of Art, so I finished up a meeting with a prospective client and drove up to Tahoe City, arriving about 7:15 p.m. I borrowed the skiff and motored out to Splendido  because a couple of things have been bothering me: First, the darn coolant header tank on the Perkins Perama M20 diesel engine keeps losing all of its water, and I’m afraid I’m going to overheat the engine. I also noticed the impeller is starting to split its fins, and it has less than an hour running time so far this year. Second, the new sole (floor) that Tracy and I built doesn’t fit perfectly after we re-installed the seat risers. It’s a little too tight, and it sort of “buckles” at the widest edges, so the edges  need to be planed 1/32 of  an inch at a time until it fits properly.I tied up the skiff and threw my “sea bag” on deck, climbed aboard, and unlocked the cabin. There was a gentle, rolling swell out of the east, so moving around the boat took some getting used to. I attacked the engine first, getting out the flashlight and looking around the coolant header tank. I spotted the problem almost right away: The small hose from the coolant header tank to the overflow tank under the galley sink had come loose, so I suspect I have been losing coolant header tank water through evaporation. I tightened the tiny hose clamp and re-assembled the fiberglass engine housing.

Working on the sole was a bit more challenging because of the swell. I ended up working on it in the cockpit, attaching a metal straight-edge with C-clamps and then planing off a tiny bit at a time, using the straight-edge as a guide. It took four or five tries, but it finally appeared to fit well, and besides, it was fast approaching 9 p.m., and I was losing daylight.

As I was going through my security checklist, I had the brilliant idea to try removing the coolant header tank cap and re-fill it with fresh coolant water. One brief twist of the cap, though,  revealed that the hose-clamp I had tightened was now effectively blocking the cap from turning. With not enough light left, I had to save that project for another day.

The drive back to Reno was amazingly peaceful, with the waning light casting a beautiful pink glow over the lake and mountains. I’m constantly in awe of how close the gem of Lake Tahoe is to our home in Reno, yet how it feels a world away.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB