The Boate

mötör heäd

we have been "over-hauling" the motor. basically, the process is going like this:

captain steen (or captain eric): "hmmm, i bet if we take that apart, we'll be able to get to that part".

captain eric (or captain steen): "you think so? ok, let's take it off there".

(sound of socket wrench ratcheting and grunting)

cs (or ce): "oh, fuck".

ce (or cs): "what, you just sheared the heads off some more of the bolts?"

cs (or ce): "yep. fuck".

ce (or cs): "well, hmmm. i guess then we oughta take that thing apart".

cs (or ce): "you think so? ok, let's get her off there then".

this process has been repeated a number of times, and now the boate motor is in many small pieces all over my balcony. but we now have a pretty detailed idea of how the thing works, at least the transmission and water-cooling parts. there is one part that, regardless of the amount of hammering we subject it to, will not come apart. this is the long shaft extension to the housing. the decision has been made to spread epoxy all over the thing and run it. we're almost done, as there is very little left to reduce to smaller parts.

chav stops by

chav and brenda stopped by for a little hang time and some "dock sailing". still don't have the part for the outboard, so i was kicking back and reading on the boate. it was so calm at sunset that i saw 4 boats sail into the slips with just their jibs. might have to try that tomorrow.......

here's the deal

the part we are waiting for attaches to the shifter shaft and the shift lever (not shown). just got off the phone with the outboard motor shop. and was informed that "each person has their own system" of ordering and filing parts. and that person (although the person on the phone was not sure who it was) was not in the office today. a lesson in how not to conduct customer service.

more arggghhh #@!$

here's phil using the johnson outboard for about the only thing it seems to be good for lately.....yucks at the expense of the captains. new fuel pump straigtened out the engine very nicely, everything was running smoothly until.....i guess the powertrain was not prepared for all 6 horsepowers at once, because the forward/reverse lever is now busted. i hope it's just a cotter pin that's fallen off inside, but something tells me it's more serious. in any case, it should be interesting getting the downshaft assembly apart.

arrrrggg @#*&!!!!

tina flew up from l.a. this morning and got to spend the day watching captain eric wrestle with his 6hp johnson. looks like mebbe a new fuel pump. yes, i did just say that it looks like my johnson needs a new pump. i already replaced the priming squeeze ball. it wasn't that fucking funny all day though.

bret's birthday sail

ok, bret didn't go out on the boate for his birthday, but that didn't keep us from testing out the new jib. the outboard was a bit finicky today, crapped out on us in the marina, and we had to sail out. then it crapped out on the way in, and we had to abort an attempt at coming into the marina, from inside the breakwater. there were a couple of tense moments as we tacked out from behind the breakwater against a pretty strong current and a challenging headwind. once we were clear of the breakwater we got the engine running again, (it's my guess that the rich/lean knob had been twisted outside of its normal range), and we made it into the slip. once we were tied up, captain steen noticed that there was a big thick plastic bag wrapped around the propeller. well, the new jib is one fine piece of cloth, and she was pulling like a schoolboy out there in the wind........

new jib is here

here she is, an amazing thing of beauty. look at the brass hanks on this baby.

waiting

waiting for the new jib to arrive.......

new jib

ok here are the specs. we decided we better go with the offshore/performance rig, because we're going to be in good strong wind most all of the time. it cost a bit of dough, but i'm thinking of it as a cost of the purchase, and something that will add to the resale value (hahahahaha i must be smoking crack).

Coronado 25
110% Jib
30.00 Luff
27.50 Leech
10.70 Foot

Dacron

New

Offshore/Performance jib

blow out

another great day out on the san francisco bay, with near perfect weather, and the captains aboard with no guest crew. at the beginning of the day, i had the jib laid out on the dock, applying some wind tells that i had bought. one of the stitches looked a little worn out, and i showed it to steen, and we decided that the seam needed repair, but that it would last through the day. this decision would come to haunt us. (not really, but it sounds like a pretty good teaser for what later happened). we passed the breakwater around 10:30 or so, in foggy but warm conditions with a 5-10 knot wind out of the west, and a pretty glassy smooth bay. we took a heading out of the marina for the windward side of angel island, and made some good time with a series of tacks, beating our way towards the golden gate bridge. plenty of boats out, several races going on, a good amount of practicing right-of-way, and several hours later, we were past angel island and flying along, about 15 minutes from the GG when captain steen informs me we've blown the jib. i headed the boate into the wind, and steen pulled it down. under sail with just the main, we aborted the bridge trip for another day and cruised down the raccoon strait and then nearly to the san rafael bridge in some gorgeous warm weather sailing, finally making it back to the marina around seven, then off to juan's for a super carne asada. more to follow during the week as we stitch the sail and probably buy a replacement. check out the photos over in the photo section.