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!

2014 Sailing Season

1794.16 nautical miles travelled.

Moving Average: 4.9 knots

Moving Time: 322 hours (13.44 days)

Left the dock a total of 64 times:

• 25 times on big Still Time
• 22 times on little Still Time
• 5 times on Santeria
• Twice on Coug
• Twice on MacIntosh
• Twice on Tiare
• Once on Mad Hatter
• Once on Skana
• Once on Sumac

We got out on the big boat a lot more this year.  We are getting more and more comfortable with her.

It was a very busy spring getting the boats ready before going to Holland for a couple of weeks.  It was slow to start using the CS34 because of problems with the new instruments.  Really didn't have to boat ready until the middle of June.

The improvements on the CS34 were great.  The new cabin cushions really spruced up the inside.  Love the new instruments, and especially like the new stack pack.

Racing on MacIntosh on the Mablehead to Halifax was an awesome experience.

Looks like I didn't miss much with the Lake Ontario 300!  Glad to not spend 5 windless days on the lake.

Still Time was great hotel at the Oakville Club for the RBC Canadian Open.

Only got out on Santeria 5 times, as they changed their race nights from Tuesday to Thursday, which conflicted with the Whitby Yacht Club singlehanded series.  In the summer I was too busy to get out on Thursday nights.

Our 2013 cruise to the south shore of Lake Ontario was great!

The improvements to the rigging on the C22 were welcomed.  The new jib tracks are great, the cabintop winches and deck organizers awesome.

Racing little Still Time was an absolute treat.  My 26 year old daughter Melissa is really taking to it.  At the beginning of the season, she was very green, but by the end of the season she really understood all the terms and had a feel for it.  John is getting better and better every year on the helm.  For our efforts, Still Time took overall for division 1 (small white sail) for the year!

Upgrade plans for little Still Time

• spinnaker track and pole ring (received)
• boom track and reefing car (received)
• new rudder (received)
• new pintles and gudgeons (received)
• new rear transom trim (received)
• repair autohelm

Upgrade plans for big Still Time

• replace scupper hoses (critical)
• add side deck scuppers
• fix jib track leaks
• new autohelm
• bulkhead instrument display
• new cockpit table (ordered)
• stern perch seats (ordered)
• hook up remote ram mike
• clean and repair sails (done)
• asymmetric cruising spinnaker

The Annapolis Boat Show was a great way to finish the season.

C22 Demasted

Got down to the club after work and helped a couple of people put their masts away.  I cleaned mine up and got it on the rack.

Was THINKING of going out for a sail, but there wasn't any wind and the forecast was for lots of rain, so I decided to take little Still Time's mast down.  I have too much on the go at work tomorrow, and start playing Friday hockey this week.

 

The sailing season is officially over.

CS34 Demasting

On Tuesday I got over to the mast crane and did a final pump out, but there was a lineup of boats in front of me.  By the time it was my turn, I was running out of light, and the wind had picked up.  I didn't want to go up the bosun's chair to set the mast sling in the dark with puffy winds.

Boom and Boom Vang on the dock

After work on Wednesday, got the mast down with some help from various club members.

Since the motor was all warmed up, I also changed the oil and filter.

So this leaves to be done before Saturday's haulout:

• remove outboard from rail
• remove BBQ from rail
• remove dodger and bimini
• mark sling lines with tape
• remove rest of the salon cushions
• tidy up boom and store below
• put mast on mast rack

Little Still Time is the last sailboat on dock 8 with its mast up.  I may get out for a final sail on Thursday night and take the mast down on Friday.

2013 Annapolis Trip

Trip Distance: 2388 km (1484 miles)
Trip Consumption: 167 L (44 gallons)
Average Consumption: 6.9 L/100km (34 mpg)
Average Speed: 81km/h (50.3 mph)

Pictures of purchases:

box of rudder

rudder unpackaged

thing of beauty

Transom trim for small boat

Spinnaker pole ring

1" track reefing car

Garhaurer double block

for big boat reefing lines

Pintles and Gudgeons

 

Cockpit table and drink holder
from manufacturer's website

Stern perch seats
from manufacturer's website

 

Ford City Picking up Sails

Sail Care said they would have my sails done for around noon.  Hotel check out was 11am, so I called them.  They said they are working on them and would be ready "sometimes after lunch".

Not much to do around the hotel, so we walked around Walmart.

We drove around Ford City.

This was on the front lawn of a house:

 

...and at the curb was:

We went for lunch at Lindy's Restaurant (it was nice):

This was on the wall:

 

 

Which made this picture from outside the restaurant even funnier:

 

 

Restaurant patron:

"blow me a kiss"

 We got to Sail Care a little after lunch and they were still working on the sails.  They were just finishing sewing the new material on the leach of the main.  They were putting the sail numbers on the genoa and cleaning up the stitching.

It is amazing how clean and crisp the sails are!  Excellent job.  Yes it did cost close to $1,000 for the cleaning and repair, but I left feeling it was worth it!  New sails for big Still Time would be between 5-8 grand.

While waiting for the sails to be completed, they had various blocks for sail in the front office, and low and behold they had a reefing cheek block for 1" track for $25.  Perfect, one of things I wanted to find in Annapolis.  This winter I will mount some 1" track on the boom and this reefing car on it.  This will allow me to properly reef both mains on little Still Time.

Crossing the border at Fort Erie was painless.

Traffic was stopped on the QEW near St Catherines, so we stopped for something to eat, and got back around 9pm.

Trip Odometer: 358 miles
Moving Average: 56 mph
Moving Time: 06:22:00

Google Earth Track: https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/12535935/Still%20Time/2013/20131014.kmz