ACE Final Push

On Saturday Peter and I spent several hours tracing and labelling wires.  We had everything working except we did NOT have wind speed.  We had wind direction.  Cabling inside the boat looked good, so it must be at the mast head.

Final Sunday push to get the rigging done and wiring:

• me
• Michael C
• Michael A
• Mike
• Carson
• Jenny
• Peter

Carson was the first out, and we setup in the clubhouse for him to disassemble and integrate the two new B&G mast displays.  Very tedious work. 

Carson had done a nice job painting the mast bracket.  Will require some re-wiring with some solder crimp connectors and shrink wrap.

One crew worked on getting all the halyards run back to the pit, attached the boom, boom vang, and main sheet.

The other crew worked on planning the cable routing for the new instruments.  With the cables roughly layed out and powered, we verified that everything was working and talking to each other.

However, we still did not have wind speed.  We determined an open circuit at the top of the mast.

We attached a tracer line from inside the boat and sent Carson up the mast:

ACE has a 55ft mast:

Carson detached the masthead transducer from the masthead, and pulled the cable up the mast with the tracer line attached.

Peter, Mike, and I pulled the connector apart, and the black ground wire had disconnected from the pin in the connector:

D'OH

We pulled the pin and soldered it back on the wire with some shrinkwrap.  We checked the functionality before I went up the mast to re-install.  It might seem like this happened fast, but it took a couple of hours.

In the meantime, the guys were attaching the rear stanchions and lifelines.

We had to move ACE away from the mast crane to her temporary slip on dock 7.  Michael and I started the motor and cast off.  We were having trouble with the throttle/gear shift.   There is a button on the gear shift that when you put it in, disengages the transmission.  This button was stuck in.  I was able to jiggle the cable below to get us in reverse to back away from the mast crane area, but we could not get it to go in forward.  Going to get this looked at by a marine mechanic.

Peter and Leigh Davidson got the WYC work boat and towed us into a nearby slip.

Productive day, still have to:

• tension the rig
• connect the check stays
• troubleshoot forestay load cell
• power the displays
• clean up some wiring
• mount mast displays
• wax hull
• clean and organize the insides

Probably won't move ACE to National until the 2nd week of May, when it will be a little warmer!

CS34 Anchor Drains

I had taken the 120ft of chain and rode out of the anchor locker to clean locker and check the drains.

After a good cleaning, I filled the anchor locker with water.  It was draining with just trickle out the drains.  I removed the outside stainless fittings and poked a screwdriver in and water came pissing out of both sides:

Just look at the shine on the freshly waxed hull.

Got the anchor/rode back in the locker, and we are GOOD TO GO.

ACE Masting

While Melissa and I were working on the 22, Michael and Mike were working on getting ACE's mast ready.

Yesterday, Peter and I strung the coax for the VHF in the mast.  We did this by attaching a tracer line to the masthead wind instrument wire, and pulling it out of the mast from the top.  We attached the coax line with tape, and pull both back into the mast.  We did this so there wasn't any chance of the coax line wrapping around the halyards inside the mast.

The Mike's terminated the coax ends, and attached antenna, wind instrument, windex, running back stays, check stays, and backstay whip:

Sandal model Michael at the masthead

We wheeled the mast over to the mast crane.  It was blowing 20+ knots from the east, which is a lot of wind to do the masting, but it was from the east, meaning the mast would not be pushed into the crane.   The wind was fairly constant, so we decided to bring ACE over:

Melissa and Mike

Pretty boat

We didn't hit bottom until about 20 feet from the mast crane.  It was soft mud, so we pulled and motored her into position.  Getting back might be a different story.

I don't have any picture from the masting, because we were all VERY busy.  We got the mast in the air, and went to swing it over to the boat, when the wind started gusting to over 30 knots.  With Melissa and I on the mast crane swing arm, it was all we could do to keep the mast from swinging over past the boat.  If Mike didn't come over off the boat, we would have had to bail to prevent Melissa and I from going in the water.

In the wind, BOTH running backstays and the actual back stay got free and were dangling at a 45 degree angle from the mast.  We go the mast on the boat, and attached the stays.  While attaching the forestay, another gust cause a part for the load sensor to go in the water.  That is going to be expensive!  Hopefully I can retrieve it with the Fish TV.

We patiently waited for the wind to let up and retrieved the backstays.

ACE at Mast crane with her stick and Tanker Jones, the WYC race committee boat

 

 

Mission accomplished.

 

Our new spinnaker and repaired mainsail comes from Nova Scotia this week.



 

C22 Unwrapping and Prep for Launch

My daughter Melissa, Rita, and I after an excellent breakfast at Eggsmart got down to the boat a little before 10am.

I had power washed the bottom yesterday because I didn't want to be working in mud painting the bottom.

The first thing we did was take the shrink wrap and frame off.   Went so quickly, I didn't get pictures!

Melissa started taping off the waterline for bottom paint.

After a quick light sand, the bottom got painted with VC17 in less than a hour.  Much quicker with two people with foam rollers.

Next was a thorough wash of the hull, with soapy water and Spray Nine, and a rinse.  There are some dock ouches on the starboard side caused by an exposed chain box on our slip last year.  Really should fix them, but my re-gel coating abilities suck!  The dings are just cosmetic.

Next was a polish with Aqua Buff 2000 compound and the Dewalt buffer.  Melissa got the hang of it.

Next was another thorough wash/rinse of the hull, followed by an application of 3M marine wax and a buff with a fresh woolen pad on the buffer.

She came out great:

DONE

Melissa spent about half an hour cleaning the rudder, and attached the tiller.

In the above photo, you can see the pieces of the frame (PVC pipes) and the shrink wrap we used to keep out of the inevitable mud that forms from washing.

Looking good

Dockmates Scott and Todd were doing the same things on Scott's Tanzer 26 beside us.

The Tanzer's cradle is sinking in the ground on one side, causing the boat to list:

We propped some lumber under the cradle to keep it from sinking more.

I got the outboard motor going; she is now ready for the water.

Melissa and I got the mast over to the lawn to get prepped.

C22 on WYC new website background

The Whitby Yacht Club just updated the look to their website.

I really like the new look; navigation is easier, more mobile/tablet friendly. 

Good job Andrew Sensicle, our webmaster!

In the background on the main page is an awesome shot of little Still Time

Click for a larger version

The photo is from 2011, and has John at the tiller.

Looks like a lot of wind out there as we are out with a reef and #3.

ACE T8 Chart Plotters Mounted

Met Michael after work.

He did some final sanding, and spent some time positioning the templates just right.

First cut

Hello

With covers on

With covers off



View for driver

Like the position of them.

After it gets a little warmer, and we get the foot holds mounted, we will mask everything off, remove the plotters, and paint everything to make it look pretty.

We have a lot of work to do to route the cables down below.

ACE Bulkhead Instrument Displays

The bulkheads on ACE had several old instrument displays and compasses.



Port
Dead B&G Hercules 590 Display
Working compass



Working B&G Analog Wind
Working B&G Hercules 590 Display
Dead Compass

We never use the magnetic compasses.

The analog wind display is old and is fogged over, but works, never used.

The Hercules 690 displays are very hard to read.

All of these items will be replaced with some new B&G Zeus Touch T8 displays.

To position these two chart plotters port and starboard, we wanted to glass in all the holes, and cut new ones for them.

bulkhead instruments removed

Holes filed and glassed in

Michael Cullen was down today and did the work.

Good job; a little bit of sanding, and some Awlgrip paint, it will look great!

Another coat of fiberglass

Views from inside the boat:

CS34 Getting Ready

Got down the club at 9am, thinking I might get the bottom pressure washed today and maybe the bottom paint.

It was sooo nice out (18 degrees and sunny with no wind), I decided to take the cover off the boat.

The cover unzips into three pieces making it easy to singlehandedly remove it.
Took a couple of hours to get it and the aluminum frame pieces down:

You can see how filthy the bottom is; with the cold snap in the October, I didn't get a chance to pressure wash it.

Anchor with chain and rode

Shore power cable

I removed the anchor/chain/rode and shore power cable so I could clean the anchor locker and make sure the drains are not plugged.

Rita came by before lunch and went to work on the cockpit and deck. 

In the meantime, I got a gas pressure washing going with a water from the lake from a sump pump.
After it dried a bit, I got some masking tape on the hull, while Rita went nuts with the pressure washer on the deck  The deck was filthy from the haul out workers.  Sorry I didn't get any pictures of  before; it was BAD.

For the next couple of hours we painted the bottom with VC17 bottom paint.

Feels good to get this out of the way.
We de-winterized the motor with help from Peter.
We also help Peter and Jenny with Sumac's bottom paint.

Thanks Rita, we are a great team.

Next steps before launch

• clean/buf/wax hull
• attach bimini frame
• clean/polish/wax cockpit
• fix keel ouch

 Remaining projects

• de-winterize water system
• remove and troubleshoot water heater
• install alternator serpentine belt
• change the engine oil
• check the engine coolant
• check the water pump impeller
• re-finish companionway board
• re-finish companionway steps
• fix shower
• re-install electric head
• replace jib and spinnaker halyards
• mast wiring quick disconnects 

ACE Sunday Work Party

It was sunny and 18 degrees, what a perfect day for a work party.

I was busy with my own boat, so we had

• Michael Cullen
• Michael Ahearn
• Jenny Bird
• Mike Yates

Out for the afternoon.

They took everything out of the boat and put it on the pier.
Looked like a Yard Sale!

They cleaned every square inch of the cabin and aft cabins.
Dried out and vacuumed the cushions.
Also took some cleaner and a toothbrush to the motor to get all the belt dust off of her.
Cleaned out the aft lockers.
She is now shiny clean in the inside!

Jenny is going to size up some waterproof Rubbermaid containers for the rear lockers.

They put the motor cowling back on; nice to have that out of the cabin!

Mike removed the analog wind, analog compass, and B&G instrument display from the bulkhead.



Duck It

Michael Cullen mounted the VHF and the B&G display near the breaker panel.

This week we will glass over all the holes in the bulkhead.

Sorry no pictures as I was busy with my boat.

We will also remove all the unused cabling and fill the holes:

• panic button
• old tiller pilot connector
• remove two wire connector socket in rear of cockpit
• remove two wire connector socket at the bow
• remove old GPS connector in companionway
• remove broken analog clinometer

One WYC member asked me if ACE was still floating.
I said YUP.
He said, the keel is so close the bottom, how do you know for sure?
LOL

ACE in her slip

Click for bigger

WHAT A GREAT DAY

ACE Launch

Launch day at WYC for the docks and boats on the pier.

Winds later in the day are forecast to blow 40+ knots, so the crane started lifting at 7:30am

I was able to grease the folding prop, polish the keel/rudder viewing windows with headlight restoring compound, and check the oil.

Also hooked up some dock lines and fenders.

ACE was lifted at around 9am.

Start of lift

Clear of cradle

Coming down

Almost there

In the background you can see crews moving dock 8 in place

Floating

Depth meter is showing 6.7ft, yet she is floating freely.

Checked for leaks, not a problem.  The previously leaking head through hull is not leaking at all.

Ran the motor for about 15 minutes no issues.

ACE Instruments Update

Have the following hooked up:

• B&G T8 chart plotter
• B&G V50 VHF
• Actisense NMEA 0183 to 2000 gateway

Just testing to see the functionality.

I moved the Actisense gateway from the main processor to the performance processor and BINGO it started working.   All data from the processors is being bridged from NMEA 0183 to 2000 and vice versa.  RTFM that came with the boat really helped.

Compass

Apparent Wind

The depth will not work until the boat is in the water, so the true wind speed also not available.

Boat Speed



Compass and COG
Notice the target boat speed from the polars in the processor.



VHF getting position from the GPS

Heading and wind angle on old instruments

Will also display lots of other things like distance to waypoint, VMG, etc

KEWL