RC Still Time

For Christmas my daughter got me a remote control sailboat!

AWESOME!

Car Decal

Picked a label for my car

C22 Water in Bilge

This season I have decided not to shrink wrap little Still Time.

Last week before the cold set in, we had a LOT of rain, and some water made it into the bilge.  However, when I checked it, the battery was dead on my shop vac.

Well it SNAPPED COLD to -8 degrees Celcius this week and the 1/2" of water in the bilge has frozen!

The white thing on the bottom is the bilge pump

Not much I can do now, don't see any damage.

Next thaw, I will put a heater in there to melt the ice, and get it vacuumed out.

Going to put a tarp over the cabintop to keep rain water and snow from entering the boat.  The cabintop is not very sealed.

CS34 Finally Covered!

With a south breeze, temperature got to 12 degrees C and SUNNY.

After work I zipped down to the boat and got the frame positioned correctly, and the three sections of the canvas cover on.  Took about 2 hours.

Could not get the zipper done up at the bow of the boat by myself.

 

Will try to get some help on the weekend.

Glad to have got this done, because it is supposed to get cold again this weekend.

CS34 Stern Perch Seats

The stern perch seats I ordered at Annapolis Boat Show came in by mail today.

Top

Bottom

Not shown here are some aluminum poles that need to be cut to length and mounted on the bottom.

CS34 Broken Hatch

I still don't have the cover on the CS34.  Everytime I have gone to get it done, it has been too cold, rainy, or windy.

On Thursday I went to check on the boat because it had snapped cold to -11 degrees.  There was 2-3 inches of snow on the boat.  The snow on the hatch had turned to ice and I could only open the hatch about a 1/4 way before being blocked with ice.

Got down into the boat and the bilge was solid ice.  I poured some antifreeze, and got a heater going.

Leaving the boat, I could not get the hatch closed (it was jammed with ice).  I forced it with my hands and the plexiglass broke!

Looks TERRIBLE!

Pieces can probably be glued back on

The flash cold had frozen a lot of the harbour.

Hopefully get the cover on this weekend!

Still Time III?

Was in Toronto at Sayal Electronics and they had a Remote Control sailboat for $99:

I didn't pick it up, but was looking on the web and they are also available at Future Shop and Best Buy:

http://www.futureshop.ca/en-CA/product/litehawk-litehawk-whisper-sailboat-24001-24001/10219493.aspx

http://www.bestbuy.ca/en-CA/product/litehawk-litehawk-whisper-sailboat-24001-24001/10219493.aspx

Hmmm....

WYC Awards Night

Whitby Yacht Club hosted their 2013 awards banquet.  It was a full house with 145 people.  Dinner was awesome.

Rita and I along with daughter Melissa and her boyfriend James sat at a table with Ben and Janet.

Melissa and I with overall trophy from Fleet Captain George Poulias

Accepting single handed trophy

Little Still Time took the following:

• First overall for Division 1
• First in series 1
• First in series 2
• Second in series 4
• First in Spring Single Handed series
• First in Fall Single Handed series
• First in Double Handed race
• First in Centennial Bowl
• First in Stone Haven Cup

Accepted the trophy for Neil for coming 2nd in the Whitby 50 on Santeria.
Neil, Rod, and I sail Santeria that night in June.

Big Still Time earned a cruising flag for participating in more than 4 cruises.  We also got personalized jackets for being cruise captains this year.

It was a fun night, thanks Melissa and James for coming out!

CS34 Tank Monitor

Picked up the tank monitoring system for big Still Time. 

Had it shipped to my hotel in Boston.

Display panel, with touch buttons for the two water tanks and the holding tank:

Will probably mount it below the breaker panel above the chart table.

Rear of the panel, have to supply 12v to it:

Below the display panel is the interface board:

 

10baseT cable runs between these two. 

 

At the bottom of the picture is one of the sensors that mounts on each tank.  The peel and stick pads are mounted at the 1/4 1/2 3/4 and Full positions on the tanks.

 

 

 



Mike on Ohana in Boston

Mike and Wendy have retired and are sailing their 37ft Gulfstar south.  They are having some motor troubles and are docked at Jeffries Yacht Club, right across the river from where I am staying in Boston.

I met up with Mike to watch the Red Sox beat the Cardinals in the World Series in The Littlest Bar in downtown Boston:  http://littlestbar.com/

I had a couple of Dark N Stormys (Gosling's Rum with ginger beer).  These were one of my favorites before/after the Marblehead to Halifax race in July.

Unfortunately Wendy was sick and stayed on the boat.

It was great catching up on their adventures.

The parts for the diesel on Ohana come in tomorrow, and they will hopefully get to the Intercoastal Waterway by Norfolk Virginia in a couple of weeks.

CS34 Tank Monitor

When in Annapolis, I wanted to purchase a tank monitoring system. 

Big Still Time has two water tanks located under the salon settees and one blackwater (poop) tank located under the aft cabin.  The only way to check water levels is to remove the cushions, the access boards, and have a look with a flashlight.  The black water tank is black plastic, so you can't see the level in it.  The only way to know is if the "stuff" is overflowing into the vent line on the transom (ewwwww).

No vendors in Annapolis had units for purchase.

Practical Sailor had some recommendations:

http://www.sailorssolutions.com/BodyPages/Other/PracticalSailorTankMonitorComparison.pdf

Decided on the Sensatank Marine 100.

Found the unit online for $175US (on sale) with free shipping.

Since I am in Boston next week for a conference, they are shipping it to my hotel.

CS34 Black Steaks on Hull

When in the water, rain water pools on the rear side decks of the CS34.  There is no where for it to go. The water pools to over an inch and drains out the holes in the aluminum toe rail.  The rainwater picks up something from the aluminum in the toe tail, a deposits black streaks down the hull.  These streaks are impossible to get off.

Black streaks at haulout

Notice how they only happen on the stern.  I have tried raw water, mild detergent (dish soap), deck wash chemical, and even Spray Nine.    Spray Nine takes it off, but it also take the wax off the hull that I worked so hard to put on!

Dockmate Dave lent me a bottle of 3M Sharpshooter Extra Strength No Rinse Mark Remover:

 

It takes the streaks right off:

Thanks Dave!

I feel this is a design flaw with the boat.  I notice that this happens on all CS Yachts: CS30/34/36/40.

When we were cruising east in 2012, I saw another same year CS34 that had scuppers on the decks to correct this problem.

Notice how the water still pools on the deck, but not enough to go through the holes in the toe rail.

Definitely will add these for next year!

Whitby Yacht Club 2013 Haulout Timelapse

For haulout this year, I mounted a GOPRO camera on the window on the upper floor of the clubhouse overlooking the center crane.  It was dark and overcast, and the window was a little dirty, but I am pleased with the results.

The GOPRO took a 5MB still photo every 2 seconds.  I stitched the stills together with a freeware program at 30 frames per second.  That means that one second of video represents one minute of actual crane time.

Enjoy

http://youtu.be/Vflk29Yu7yQ

Bottom Washing

All 260 boats were hauled out yesterday in the rain.

Beautiful day, time to powerwash the boat bottoms

 

Got all the sails off of little Still Time and back to the house.

CS34 Haulout

Big Still Time was next a little after 1pm.

My cradle was Listered:

The boat was also Listered in the cradle:

 

Had to have the guys on the crew push the boat a little to port and move the pads.

 

GOPRO camera mounted on bimini frame:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Of9OBnOd5J8&feature=youtube_gdata

 

 



C22 Haul Out

The Catalina 22 was the first out just before 11am.

The crack on the rudder is TERRIBLE

Transom trim that will be replaced:

GOPRO was setup on the pulpit, but I had it in the wrong mode!