MUMM36 ZAMBONI Sunday Ahmen Race

The Ahmen series races are put on in the spring and fall by all of the Toronto area yacht clubs.

http://www.ahmen.ca/

Race 1 was put on by the Royal Canadian Yacht Club

We had 4 owners

• Kris
• Mike
• Phil 
• Me 

I had to hookup the mast instruments.

We sent Kris up on a bosun's chair to hookup the runner return elastics.

They pull the running backstay blocks/lines up out of the way when released during a tack.

We headed out with NO WIND, motoring over to the start by Etobicoke.

We sailed around for a little bit, but there was only 3 knots of breeze and dropping.

The race committee waited for about 90 mins for the breeze to fill in before abandoning the race.

Click for BIGGER

CS34 Masting Again!

Rita and I spent the weekend cleaning the boat inside and out.

We installed:

• dodger/bimini frames and canvas 
• boom
• boom vang
• stack pack
• lazy jacks
• reef lines
• interior cushions
• dishes
• much more

Spent some time tuning the rig.

Was about to put the sails on, but noticed that the wind instrument wasn't working anymore.
It was working when the mast was put up!

DOH

Back over the mast crane.
Hooked up a line to the mast below the 2nd spreader, and had the mast crane take some weight.
Removed the boom and left it on deck.
Disconnected the shrouds, forestay, and backstay.

Lifted the mast about 8" off the deck, but we couldn't find the problem, so it must be at the top of the mast, so down cam the mast.

With the mast down, we noticed that the wind instrument cable was crushed:

DOH

Had to cut, strip, crimp, and heat shrink the 5 conductors.
We had the mast backup within like 45 minutes.

Thanks Walter and JP!

Uggghhh

Spent the rest of the afternoon turning the rig, running lines back, and putting on the sails.

MUMM36 ZAMBONI Masting

On Friday, Michael and Phil enlarged the mast hole to accommodate the enlarged mast partner casting.
They had to dig out some rotten balsa core and replace it with some closed cell foam buttered up with some thickened epoxy.

Michael, Phil, and I got down to NYC around 10 to make sure the repair had cured.

We got the mast prepped, installing lines, windex, wind instrument, and such

We got the mast up very quickly (a total of maybe 15 minutes).

We spent the next several hours:

• tuning the rig
• running lines back
• rigging backstay
• running backstays
• mainsheet
• boomvang

Still lots to do before we can sail her.

We had a nice lunch in the NYC clubhouse.

CS34 Spinlock XA Clutch Side Replacements

The original Spinlock XA clutches on either side of the companionway were weathered and starting to crack.

Here is the one for the mainsheet:

Three of the eight clutches have failed like this.

Got replacement sides from Port Whitby Marine Supplies for $30 a pair.
A new clutch is like $150!

Had to take the headliner down in the aft cabin (and head) to get to the fasteners to take the clutches off:

Just a series of screws securing the vinyl covered plywood to the liner.

Here is the port side (aft cabin):

Put the new side plates on, and re-install.

Here is the starboard side (head):

Easy fix!

CS34 Spinnaker Pole Line

 The original line that connects to the car that pulls the spinnaker pole ring up and down the mast was dirty, hard, and worn out.  I took it off the mast (ran a tracer) and tried to wash it, but it was time to replace it.

Got Ron from Port Whitby Marine Supplies to duplicate it with 3/8" double braid line for $20.

You can see the old dingy line for reference.

Nice clean white line.

Money well spent.

CS34 Bilge Pump

The bilge pump on Still Time would not come on, so I had to troubleshoot it.
Last year the wiring was corroded to the float switch, so I re-terminated it to get it working again.
Suspected that this was the problem again.

Repair last year

Vacuumed out the bilge area with a shop vac and removed the bilge pump and float switch.

Nothing wrong with the pump, but the float switch was not floating:

Guessing I didn't put enough antifreeze in the bilge last fall and it cracked the float letting it fill with water.

Went to Port Whitby Marine Supplies and got a replacement float switch.

The new Rule replacement switch is about 3/4" longer and would NOT fit into the bilge well.

Back to Port Whitby Marine Supplies and got a electronic sensor switch (no moving parts).

This sensor gets mounted in the well, it is ultrasonically senses water levels.
See the two half moons in the photo above?
The sensor turns on when is senses water on the top one and turns off when want is no longer senses water on the bottom one.  BRILLIANT, and it fits perfectly into the well.

Troubleshooting the circuit, I broke the fuse holder at the panel, so I had to buy another bilge panel.

All good!

The replacement float switch was $44, while the electronic one was $55.

The replacement bilge panel was only $20 direct from China.

CS34 Still Time Masting

Turns out there was nothing wrong with the logic board.

With the new electrical pedestals installed on dock 3, they "upgraded" the main 60A breaker to a GFCI breaker.  Apparently the variable frequency drive of the mast crane winch will NOT work with a GFCI breaker.  Marine facilities put in the old breaker late Sunday night.

I had left Still Time at the mast crane with the mast ready to be lifted.

At the crack of 10, a crack crew of sailors got cracking!

I have an erection:

I took her for a motor around the harbour:

Coming back in I passed a boat coming into the harbour:

None other than French Vanilla (Mirage 33) previously owned by Harvey from Newcastle.
This is first boat I did the Lake Ontario 300 on in 2019!

Still Time at her slip looking more complete:

Went back to the mast crane to help all the guys who helped me with my mast.

Still Time is first boat in the club with its mast up!