The Big Day

Rejoice everyone for today has been a day of much progress! Today was the day that

Cassandra (technically still either Ken-Do or Coral Vette until I hold a denaming ceremony) came home.
The day began at 05:30. After a quick breakfast and picking up my cohort for the epicness that was today we were off, Dad leading the way in his Bonneville, Bonnie, and my friend Brian and I followed with the pickup, Clyde, towing my newly modified trailer.
The ride down was pleasant and uneventful. I plugged Clyde's radio back in so we could have tuneage for the trip. We arrived the house where Cassandra was being stored 15 minutes before the move was supposed to happen, but the truck was already there and working to maneuver itself into position. There is very little as impressive as watching two men effortlessly pluck a 4000lb boat from the field where it has been sitting for almost a year. The only thing more impressive was that they were able to do so with less than 2 feet of clearance on one side and not hit anything. You really have to have been there to get the full effect of it.
So, once the boat was out of the field and on it's way we took Bonnie and Clyde up to the Village Shores Marina in Hammondsport. Now, say what you want about Hammondsport, but I cannot over-emphasize how friendly and generous the people at Village shores were.
The two gentlemen who run the place were quite friendly, and patient as we adjusted the trailer for the boat. Although it took a few attempts to get everything where it needed to be, we soon had Cassandra situated. However, the hitch on the truck was too low to the ground once the boat was on the trailer. So, the marina owner called around until he found a suitable hitch extension, which he loaned to us to get the trailer home. He also was kind enough to loan a strap to hold the boat onto the trailer, since the one I brought was not long enough to reach.
I have to go back down to the marina later this week to dismantle the cradle for transport and to return the hitch and strap to the marina.
Leaving the marina was probably the most interesting part of the whole trip. You see, the marina is located at the bottom of a rather steep driveway that is only a couple feet wider than my trailer is. To get out I had to back the trailer part way down the launching ramp so I had enough room to turn around. Then I had to mucle my way back up the driveway onto the main road. I was a little nervous at times, but Clyde managed it in low gear. For the drive back I stayed under 50 mph the whole way and downshifted while I was stopping. Clyde handled it like a champ.
Once the boat was backed into the driveway Brian and I began pumping out the bilge to remove the rainwater from the big thunderstorms that had rolled through a few days prior. We managed to beat another wave of rain that chased us all the way back to B'ville. Then it was time to start scrubbing the muck of ages off Cassandra's once white hull and deck. That work will most likely continue for a day or two and involve much bleach and water. Then the real work will begin.

New pictures will be on Flickr in the next day or so. I forgot to bring my camera along for the road trip, but Dad took some photos with his phone, and snapped a couple shots of us cleaning the deck, so look for those soon.

Huzzah, It's a boat!!!

The Trailer

After many months of unforeseen delays and setbacks my trailer is finally finished. The current plan is to meet the truck from Village Shores Marina at the boat. They'll put the boat on their trailer and take it to the marina where they can forklift it onto my trailer. If everything works out I should be able to just drop the trailer on and drive off. More likely it will take a few trials to make everything fit properly.
I'm not sure if I've mentioned it but I've got Jackson up and running about as well as I can. He'll need some fine tuning once Cassandra is in the water. Here's hoping.


(Jackson is my donated outboard for those of you who haven't been following the story.)

Another Delay

The move got pushed off another week. The shop refitting my trailer had a machine break which kept them from working on the parts for my trailer. The pieces were finished Thursday, but still had to be galvanized. They should be done Tuesday or Wednesday this week. ::fingers crossed:: I should still have the boat for my sister's party. Which will be nice. My Grandfather will get to see it that way. He's the one who donated a 2 stroke outboard to the cause. I guess that's all the news for now. From now on I should have posts with progress pictures. That should pique some interest.

Adra out of service.

This doesn't pertain directly to the big Great Lakes trip, but it provided valuable heavy weather experience and makes for a good story.
I woke up this morning to a lovely gusty wind. Whole trees were moving. I looked up a live weather report that said 20mph winds today and thought. Boy, now I can really see what ADRA (PDR #172) and my 40sqft lug rig can do.
I had been sailing on Onondaga Lake in Syracuse, NY the previous 2 days and the boat was all ready to go in the truck. The day before my brother and I hit 5mph in a puff, so that was the top speed to beat.
It was a nice day and my friend, who enjoys a good sail, had off of work and I offered him a ride. Then we got out on the lake. Now THAT was a ride. The minute the wind hit the sail as we left the protection of the channel we were doing 4mph. Then it gusted and the GPS hit 5.3 The Bow started to dip dramatically and we both edged back to keep the boat sailing dry and level. This went on for about oh, five minutes. The whole time the sail was just aching to rip the sheet out of my hand (no traveler or anything.) After somewhere around five minutes a large gust came up, slammed the sail forward and drove the bow under. A quart or so of water washed into the cockpit before my friend could jump in back to level us out again. The boat suddenly became unmanageable and I had to let the sheet go. The sail swung into the wind and we both stared in amazement at the 15degree bend at the mast partner. My 1-1/4" EMT mast had wilted during the gust and (thankfully) depowered the sail some. After significant struggling we were able to come about and beam reach back to shore,
the sail constantly bouncing between luffing and being overpowered. We wound up beached on shore about 1/3 of a mile down the lake from where we started tired and laughing our fool heads off. We both knew we had gotten off easy with a bent mast. The thing that really got us laughing though, was the GPS reading a top speed of 6.3mph. And the boat hadn't even gotten on plane. So, morals of the story
-Know your limitations (Or try to find a less dangerous way of learning them)
-EMT is fine for a mast in lighter winds, but won't hold up in a HEAVY gust.
-Always build your sail and spars so you can trim the sail flatter.
-No matter how small you think your sail is, if you're going to be out in strong winds you should have a reef point.
-Learn from your stupid mistakes, or else you might not get to make them again. I will say that I don't think we were in any real danger. If Adra had gone over it would only have been an uncomfortable swim and a bit of work to get her back upright. The waves weren't too bad, and there was a watercross tournament going on in part of the lake so someone might have come out to assist, although that part I'm not so sure about. Still, I won't be doing that again. At least not until I re-design my rig. :P

In other news, my boat trailer is being modified this week and the the big boat move is scheduled for June 13th. So, anyone coming for my sister's graduation party will get to meet Cassandra. I'm getting pretty excited about it.

Site Updates

I just wanted to write to say that I have added some links below the Title that will take you to posts with more about who I am and what it is I'm doing. Check them out and feel free to comment if you like what I'm doing or just think it's interesting.

Progress

Huzzah, progress has been made! This last Tuesday, the 7th, I won an eBay auction for a trailer. The only catch was that it was in Virginia and I was not. So, Thursday night, once I got an address for the trailer, Mom and I packed ourselves into the truck and set off for Virginia. Eight hours later we arrived at a Sleep Inn hotel and crashed for three hours of sleep. When we awoke we continued making our way the last few miles to the marina. Once there we took care of the necessary paperwork, hooked the trailer up and were on our way. It was a blessing that the Virginia plates were still on it so I did not have to get a transport permit from the Virginia DMV. That alone probably saved us an hour or more. So I now have a trailer for Cassandra. It still needs new tires, a keel rest, and new bunk supports. Expenses seem never ending, but that can be overcome with time (sort of). In related news, I now have an outboard motor as well. My grandfather was kind enough to donate his Mercury 75 outboard to the cause.(This is a cause now?)I have named the motor Jackson as an allusion to Alan Jackson, the composer of "Mercury Blues." It's not quite the same kind of Mercury, but Jackson seems to fit the sleek looking little, black outboard.
To summarize, I have a boat a trailer and an outboard. Now I just have to get the boat to the same place as the other two and I can start preparing for Summer 2010.
- Peace be with you until we meet again.

Trailer Troubles Continue

Alright, good news first. I have decided on a name for my boat. She will be known as Cassandra. I don't know where the name came from, but it sounds mysterious and adventurous enough for this boat.

So right now I have three possible trailers. One is for an O'day 23 but should work. That one is in Florida. One is available in NY, but is contingent on the sale of the boat on it. And there is a third possible trailer in Florida that may or may not ever materialize. At the moment I am debating whether or not I even need a trailer. Yes, it would be nice to have one, but is it necessary? I have quotes to have Cassandra moved to my home for under $900, and if I can do that and work on her for the summer I wouldn't need a trailer for a while.
Of course to get to the root of this dilemma I have to figure out exactly how and why I would use a trailer. The original idea was that I could transport the boat from Campbell to wherever I would keep the boat on the trailer. This would save a bit on shipping and a lot on storage fees. Also, it would allow me to launch the boat when I had time and finished some of the work and I could practice sailing a keelboat, and test my repairs. I think I'm going to wait a while before accepting any bids to move the boat, just in case a trailer becomes available. The 23 trailer looks promising though.
What would you do?

Trailer Troubles

Apparently used mid-range trailers are just a myth. There are trailers for big boats, and trailers for small boats, but no trailers for my boat. I've priced a new trailer from Loadmaster, and it would cost over $4,000. I don't have that kind of money right now. So, here I am stuck with a landlocked boat and no way of moving it. I do have a bidder on U-ship who says he can move it to my house for $1,200. That would give me some more time to find a trailer, but it would do little else to help. It would be easier to just have the boat put in at Seneca Lake so I could take it somewhere on the canal. It would at least get the boat in the water. But, I still have all winter to find a solution, so I'll keep looking.