Prior to last Sunday's problems I adjusted the carburetor so that the outboard will actually idle. Previously, whenever the rpms dropped near idle, it would simply die. In fact I am in the habit of not bothering to remove the kill switch clip to stop the engine, just turn the throttle down and it dies. I believe this partly explains what happened Sunday. After motoring to the vicinity of the race, I turned the throttle down, but the engine didn't die. I pulled the kill switch.

On Monday I played with the engine to try to see what was wrong. I found it was very easy to flood the engine while trying to start it. Maybe that happened Sunday? I leaned the mix a bit and the engine ran better and idled way better.

I poured the gas from the external tank into a transparent gallon jug that had held tea in an earlier life. I cut off the neck to open it up and make it easier to pour into and out of. Result: gas was completely clear. No sign of water. I poured it into my truck's tank.  I will now refill it with fresh gas and Sta-Bil.

I have sunglasses with a built-in video camera at the bridge. They are made for hunters, but they work reasonably well for me. While reviewing the video of Sunday's race, I noticed that the kill switch clip was in the cockpit, not on the engine. Then it hit me. I'm not used to thinking about the kill switch. I never put it on the engine after the race! No wonder it wouldn't start!

Well, that's an easier fix than the others I've been considering.

Mixed results this weekend. Gloria and I raced in the Sunday afternoon races. There were two races and 3 C-22s were in the fleet. We finished a solid last place in both races. That's both disappointing and disturbing because I have raced better than that in the past. But upon arriving back at the dock, I noticed we have some “lettuce” growing on the hull at the transom. I guess the antifouling paint I used wore out. Can't win races with a garden growing on the bottom. If I get time, I'll raise it on one of the club hoists and power wash the bottom.

More unsettling is the fact that when it was time to come in, the outboard wouldn't start. Again! (Read the earlier posts to get a feel for how frustrating this situation is for me.)

Suspicion is once again on water in the gas somehow. The external tank is about half full at this point, so maybe there is enough air (and exchange of air) to allow water to accumulate. Also if water had gathered in the “reserve” area, the sloshing around the tank took as we heeled and tacked, could have stirred things up. I'll try draining the tank into something where I can see if there's a layer of water. I'll probably need to drain the carburetor bowl also. Then fresh gas and a double dose of Sta-Bil ought to do the trick.

At my boat club there are at least two other owners of Tohatsu-built outboards experiencing the same “water-in-the gas” issues I am fighting. Maybe Oklahoma City has just had a lot of water-laden gas delivered to us? Maybe the unusually wet spring and summer have resulted in water seeping into the holding tanks at the gas stations. Who knows? But it seems odd to me that we're only hearing about it from the owners of Tohatsu built engines. Do other small outboards have a fuel/water separator in their lines? The Tohatsus don't. I have been told by a rep at their support line that they have a separator available for $117. That seems like a lot, so I'm going to try other things first.

Sunset on Lake Hefner, 7/21/13

It was a great weekend!

Our club scheduled the annual Long Distance race for Saturday night. We sail on a lake (Lake Hefner) that is basically a 11/2-mile diameter circle. The club places up to 9 semi-permanent marks around the lake each year. The long-distance race has us zigzagging from mark to mark across the lake following a designated course. The race committee reported the course was 15.2 miles long.

Now, when you think about that, the common response would be that doesn't sound like much fun or much of a challenge. But did I mention the race starts just before sunset and takes place mostly at night? It teaches skeptics just how easy it is to get totally disoriented at night. To make matters worse, two of the marks haven't been re-installed after being pulled during last year's drought. They were temporarily replaced by large inflatable yellow tetrahedrons.

Problem: No lights on the tets.

Solution: chemical glow-necklaces like you might see at a concert. Once you got within about 50 feet of the mark, you could see the glow, but by that time you already knew where the mark was. In fairness, the race is always scheduled for a weekend as close to the full moon as we can get.

The net effect is that GPS systems are almost essential. We have a combined GPS/depth sounder/fish finder on Serene Dream. So Friday evening my wife and I decided to sail around the lake and set a waypoint for every mark that was out. Upon arriving at the boat, we realized we'd somehow lost a spreader boot, so the Genoa was out of the question. We used the standard Catalina-issue jib. It was a very nice evening, we got the marks put in the GPS, and we enjoyed a wonderful evening sail, with Gloria getting a lot of time at the tiller.

Gloria at the tiller

On Saturday the skipper's meeting for the Race was at 19:30 (7:30 p.m.) There was what they called a “LeMans” start. What that means is the Race Committee looked up the PHRF handicap for boat in the race. They sorted them by handicap, with the highest handicap (slowest boat) at the top. They then did some sort of calculation to apply a time-offset for the length of the race. The slowest boat would start first and others would start some minutes later, based on their rating. If all worked as planned, everyone should finish just about the same time. The order of arriving back in the harbor would also be the order of finish without further handicap calculation. As the slowest boat in the fleet, we were the first to start, to be followed shortly by a San Juan 21.

Moonrise over Lake Hefner, 7/21/13

The two temporary marks weren't set until just before the race, so we had to waypoint them as we passed them for the first time. But it was still twilight then and we could see the marks to find them. It was a beautiful night to sail. Winds were moderate, 8 to about 13 mph (we're inland, so rarely use knots or nautical miles). When we got back to the harbor at about 23:40 a couple of the club members were cooking up breakfast tacos. The results showed our lowly Catalina 22 in second place in the 11-boat fleet! I'm happy!

Sunday afternoon is always a low-key race that our club is using to try to encourage new racers (and specifically Catalina 22s) to try racing. I went out for the first race, but wasn't really gung-ho about it. That was in part because it was blazing hot and also I was single-handing the boat for one of the first times ever. I quickly realized that diving to leeward to adjust the jib was not a good idea, especially if there was a gust. We've never tried cross-sheeting but it seemed a good idea. It worked well for me. Even with just the jib (hadn't had time to replace the spreader boot) I kept it competitive with the other 2 Genoa-flying 22's, although I came in third (last) place. But the heat was getting to me so I retired and didn't do the second race.

And then, Sunday evening, the Catalina Fleet had a moonlight sail to take advantage of the almost-full moon. When I showed her my “improvement”, Gloria didn't like cross-sheeting at all. She said the line made her feel hemmed in and crowded. So she will trim the headsail on the leeward side. To each his(her) own.

Serene Dream sailing into the sunset

Since we were not racing and were interested in a relaxing, pleasant sail, we reefed the main so boat heel would be less.  We only stayed out until about 22:00, but it was relaxing, peaceful and a beautiful night to sail.

Just the kind of night for a Serene Dream.

6/20/13 Gotta see for myself!

Some people just have to learn things themselves.

I tried to start the outboard a week or so ago and it wouldn't start, despite my best efforts. In frustration, I took it home to work on it.

Once at home, and using the internal tank, I found I could spray starter fluid into the carburetor and it would run for maybe a second. The fact that it would run with starter fluid meant I had spark and air. That only left fuel to be the problem. I took off the carb and tore it apart. The float was fine, as was the valve attached to it. There were no “shoulders” or “steps” on the plastic conical tip. I doused the innards and all the tubes & passages of the carb with cleaner, wiped it clean & dry and put it back together. OK, what's next?

I put it back on the engine and tried again. Same result. Next I started at the carb and unhooked the fuel line. A tug on the started rope produced a strong spurt. My first thought was “Well, that's not it. Look at all that gas!” Then a looked closer. What was coming out was not clear amber, but kind of hazy. I grabbed a clear glass and collected the fluid. As it settled a distinct layer of water formed in the bottom. I then went to the hose running from the internal tank to the shutoff valve. When I pulled it and drained some into the glass, there was quite a bit of water. I recall not closing the vent several weeks ago. “It's not really necessary,” I reasoned, “After all, I store gas for my garden tiller and weed eater in a tank at home that no longer has a cap on the vent. It's open all the time. I've not had the problem with them.”

But apparently it is necessary to keep it closed on an outboard. Probably because of the higher humidity of the air, meaning there's just more water vapor available to condense.

So, I connected the external tank that had a can of Berryman's Chemtool added as suggested by one of the club members who works with outboards a lot, and it started right up. Yesterday I took it back to the boat and fired it up. With the boat secured in its slip, I put the outboard in gear and ran it at a high idle for about 15 minutes. It still doesn't like to idle and will die if I let it get anywhere near slow, but I can deal with that later.

Now, maybe if I can keep water out of the gas, the motor will run better.

Moving from a 17' Daysailer with an electric trolling motor to a Catalina 22 and outboard has been quite a learning curve!

May 18, 2013 - Back from Vacation

Our 'Plan C” vacation following the Kentucky Bourbon Trail was great. After an all-day push, we arrived at our hotel in Elizabethtown, KY, a few miles south of Louisville.

I can highly recommend the Kentucky Bourbon Trail for a low-key week’s vacation.  The actual trail takes 3 ½ days if you push yourself, which we did.  One suggestion is to take the website’s suggested itinerary and reverse it.  That’s what we did, mostly be chance.  I think they designed the tour to save some of the best-known distilleries for last.  But we found the tour at the Jim Beam distillery so complete, it helped us understand all the other tours, even if they were a bit light on one area or another.

We stopped to visit friends and relatives on the way home and spent last night with some friends in their home in Grove, OK, near the shores of Grand Lake.  They have a delightful locations, backing up to a large field of several acres.  We sat on their patio for breakfast and watched various birds visiting their feeders.  I could get used to that life!!

We arrived back in town on earlier today.  Unpacking will happen over the next day or two, and Monday I will launch the boat and take the trailer to a shop to look at the wheels and axle.

May 11, 2013

Well, with the trailer down and having missed the NGCC, I am really bummed. But I'm taking my vacation by golly. The question is, what are we going to do?

Plan B

As we debated this last Friday, we thought “If we can't take the Gulf Coast Cruise in our sailboat, maybe we can find a cheap “last minute” rate for a regular cruise. Maybe out of Galveston.” But Gloria pointed out that we would need our passports. Unfortunately, they expired several months ago. We decided right then that one of the first things we're doing is getting the paperwork done and renewing them. We did that on Friday, but obviously there's no way they'll be back in time for us to take a cruise this week.

Plan C

Several years ago, my brother-in-law was stationed in Scotland with a major oil company. We took a family vacation and went there. Although the kids were just in their early teens and couldn't sample the wares, we went on a quest to visit several of the Scotch distilleries. What we learned about single-malt scotch and blended scotch was fascinating. Why not do something similar in Tennessee or Kentucky?

A quick check of the Internet shows that Kentucky has organized the Kentucky Bourbon Trail, roughly centered on Lexington, KY, involving 8 major distilleries, as well as a Craft Distillery Trail, with a number of small distilleries. We decided that we will have time to drive there on Monday, spend Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday on the large distillery Trail and drive home Friday.

Hot dog! We have a plan!

May 9, 2013 – Day One & Done!!

It was a late night last night as we had not finished packing. We got up with the intent to have the boat hitched up and be on the highway by 7:00.

Well, not quite.

It was about 8:30 when we pulled out of the boat club parking lot and hit the highway. We got about 5 miles down the road when there was a loud thump and the trailer lunged to one side. A quick check in the rear view mirror showed sparks showering from the left axle and no sign of a wheel. I quickly moved to the shoulder and stopped. Just as I stopped, Gloria asked “What's that?” and pointed to the left. Out my window I saw the wheel rolling past us and angling across 3 lanes of rush hour traffic. No one hit it and about 100 yards down the road it stopped in the center median. I was sure we'd blown a bearing and the hub was ruined.

“We're probably done,” I said.

The shoulder was unusably narrow, but I carefully made my way back to get a quick look at the axle. To my surprise, the hub was there and looked intact, though the threads on the lug bolts were damaged. The Bearing Buddy, however, was no where to be seen.

As rush hour was waning, I made my way across the road and recovered the wheel. The holes for the lug bolts were eroded away to about twice their normal size. No lug nuts were present, apparently having been broken, or thrown earlier.

We called a friend from the boat club, who came and picked us up. We removed one lug nut from the right wheel to use as the model to find replacements. You would be amazed at how difficult it was to get replacement lug bolts. After a trip that took way longer in time and distance than it should have, an auto parts place produced a handful of nuts they assured us would work. We then stopped by a hardware store and picked up a ½" x 20 die to clean up the threads of the damaged lug bolts.

Fearing for our lives and limbs, we called the OKC police, who send a cruiser to partially block the right lane of the parkway. We cleaned up the threads, put the spare tire in place, and proceeded to try the lug nuts. They didn't fit!! We took them back to the parts place and learned that the rep sold us metric lug nuts, not SAE. Armed with the right lug nuts, we returned. The officer had remained with the boat and, almost 4 hours after we started, we pulled back onto the highway.  Thank you so much, Officer M. Smith!!

We immediately pulled into a tire shop to check the torque on the nuts and check the pressure. They didn't have a cap for the hub, so we determined to go to Bass Pro, where I bought the Bearing Buddies originally. But first we grabbed lunch at a fast food place across the street.

Thus, it was about 1:30 when we pulled into Bass Pro. We went in, bought the Bearing Buddies (they only come in pairs) and borrowed a rubber mallet to install one on the left hub. That process didn't take long, but I noticed that the (intact) right hub was noticeably warmer than the left that had the trouble.

We decided to drive down I-35 about 8 miles and pull into a gas station to check the temperature of the hubs. If the right was was still warmer than the left, we would abort the trip, rather than lose a bearing miles down the road. In fact the right was warm, while the left was barely above ambient.

With a sense of frustration and disappointment, we headed slowly home. Back at the boat club, Gloria looked carefully at the trailer and noted that the right wheel appears canted in at the top. I suspect the axle is bent.

So, as soon as we got back Friday afternoon, we canceled the hotel reservations, notified the cruise that we won't be there, and unpacked the food we were going to take on the cruise.

And we're at home tonight, but we both agree we need a break of some sort. Whether we drive to Galveston, or New Orleans, head west to camp in the Rockies, or do something else will be decided in the next few hours.

Sorry to disappoint you.

The next morning, I took photos of the wheels.  For comparison, here is the left wheel as seen from the back of the trailer, which appears fine.

Below is a view from the rear of the trailer of the right wheel.  Notice how much more of the tire is visible at the top of the fender than at the bottom.  No, the fender is not crooked.  The tire really is at an angle.

This is the same wheel as seen from the front of the trailer.  Something's definitely wrong, here!

May 5, 2013

I loaded Serene Dream back on her trailer. The remaining To-Do items will be easier done on dry land. To my relief, the outboard run beautifully. I even left it running while the boat was tied to the dock beside the ramp. I backed the trailer in and then brought it out when it became clear I needed to extend the tongue. It took about 40 minutes and would have taken longer if Jake, one of the club members, hadn't volunteered to help.

Now things will be at a standstill until Wednesday due to the job schedule. I need to have the To-Do list complete and the boat loaded for the trip by Wednesday evening.

Thursday morning we will hit the highway for Florida!!

May 3, 2013

In a desperate effort to get this blasted outboard running, I thought maybe the fact that is was low on oil was causing it to overheat and die. I filled the crankcase and, hopefully, pulled on the starter. The motor fired up and ran about 45 seconds. I tried it again and it ran about 30 seconds.

Rick, a friend from the boat club, called to me and I invited him aboard. We pulled the spark plug, which looked fine, and check he fuel pump, also fine. Regardless of what we did, the motor would run for under a minute, then die.

Finally, Rick said he had a motorcycle that did something similar and it was a stuck float valve. He suggested draining the carburetor bowl and checking for crud in it. He held a plastic tub under the drain screw as I undid it. When the screw was about halfway out, I saw a stream of gas flow from the side of the bowl. We didn't have the tub in the right place, so we have no idea whether anything was in the bowl. But while the drain was open, we pulled the starter a time or two to flush some gas through it. Just for good measure, Rick gave the carburetor body a couple of taps with a wrench. We closed everything back up and I gave a pull on the starter. It fired up and ran!

I left it running for about 30 minutes on the internal tank, then another 20 on the external before I had to go home. I have my fingers crossed that the problem is fixed.

April 27

April 27, 2013

Today is Splash Day at the Boat Club. It marks the official start of the club's sailing season. The festivities included music, short speeches, a bagpipe and drum band, and then food, drink and a dance band.

We took advantage of the warm weather and light winds to take Serene Dream out of the harbor for the first time this year. To my delight, the outboard fired up first pull and we motored until clear of the harbor. We raised the sails and had a nice hour or so.

Once the sails were up, I raised the motor and turned off the gas switch. I've mentioned before that the Mercury 4 hp has both an internal gas tank and a connector for an external tank. There is a switch on the side that turns on and off the internal tank. As we were using the internal, but the motor was not running, I turned off the internal gas tank.

Anyway, after about an hour, it was time to head back in . Of course, the wind was light, but blowing directly out of the harbor. It's a small harbor and there's no room to tack, so it was time to fire up the motor. I lowered it into the water and pulled the cord. Again, it fired right up and we headed it. As we headed it, my wife and daughter dropped the genoa and main. After about 5 minutes, and as we were nearing the mouth of the harbor the motor slowed and died.

What the heck? I figured we were out of gas on the internal tank and plugged in the external one. The motor would catch and run 4 or 5 seconds. As the winds were almost dead, the crew frantically raised the main as we drifted slowly toward the rip-rap on the shore. I was able to get a little headway with the sail, but the channel was just too narrow.

I continued to try to get the motor started, to no avail. My wife became concerned when she saw a boat coming out of the harbor, since we could do little to avoid it. As it got closer we realized it was the boat in the slip next to ours, and another club member was at the bow with a line. They towed us in and then tried to help diagnose what was wrong. In no particular order, we discussed:

Contaminated gas in the eternal tank,

Plugged fuel filter,

Bad fuel/air mix on the carb.

In thinking back on it, I am convinced it is crud or contamination from the external tank. Why else would the motor run fine on the internal, but not the external. Of course, that ignores the fact that it died while coming back in on the internal tank. But in reading this, did you catch the mistake I realized I made after I was back at the dock? After lowering the motor and re-starting it to come in, I never opened the fuel valve for the internal tank. It ran 4 or 5 minutes on the fuel in the lines, then died. Would it have died if I'd have the valve open? Maybe. Maybe not. At this point, I'm second-guessing myself into oblivion. But I'll buy a new tank and external line/bulb combo and try it again.

April 6, 2013:
I fired up the outboard to run/clean it some more. I figured that letting the gas/Seafoam mix sit for a week or so would be good and would really clean the sludge out. I guess I was a little too right.

It started right up and ran great for about 40 minutes. Then it started slowing down. By the time I hurried out of the boat's cabin and to the outboard it was just above an idle. It tried turning the throttle up and down, but it just slowed down and died. I could not restart it. With the cruise getting closer and outboard shops starting to get backed up, I called around and found to my surprise that the Tohatsu dealer could get to it in a day or two. It took a couple hours off work Monday morning and delivered the motor to them.

They called me on Thursday when it was ready and said the problem had been the carb needed a good cleaning. My amateur guess is that the Seafoam loosened years of crud and sent it to the carb, which couldn't send it on and clogged. The repairman said the motor now ran “like a sewing machine” and he had adjusted the idle down a bit, but high enough that it didn't die when he shifted it into gear.

I put the motor back on the boat and was happy when it started on the first pull. Now, what's next on the To-Do list?

The following post was originally posted on March 30. Somehow, I deleted it a week or two later and have had to reconstruct it.

March 30, 2103.

Since my last post, there was a discussion of my outboard issues on a Catalina 22 forum on Yahoo.com. One post to the forum described a cleaning process using a product called SeaFoam. (Thanks, Don. By the way, great name!) It involved dumping a bottle of SeaFoam and a treatment of Sta-Bil in a 3-gallon fuel tank full of high octane, no-ethanol gasoline, then running that mixture through the engine for several hours. The idea is to give the mixture time to dissolve and burn off the accumulated varnish, sludge and other crud from the fuel system and carburetor.

You may recall that the issue with my outboard was its refusal to start, so my concern was whether I would be able to get the engine started at all. As I thought about it, and read the various suggestions for getting the engine to start reliably, a thought occurred to me. The ideas all dealt with using the external gas tank. But the 4hp Mercury/Nissan/Tohatsu is kind of unique in that it has both an external gas connector and an internal tank. I was using the internal tank, which is gravity fed. But the tank is only a couple of inches above the carb. That's not much gravity-induced pressure to move the gas. So when I hooked up the external tank, I did everything just short of standing on the pump bulb. Gas was going to get to the carb, by golly!! Sure enough, the engine fired with the first pull of the starter. It ran beautifully.

Another point: I have often heard from experienced sailors that you shut down the engine by disconnecting the fuel and letting the engine run until it runs out of gas. But a call to the local Tohatsu dealer brought a different response.

The lady I spoke to said you should only run a small 4-cycle dry at the end of the season, before long-term storage. She said to always use 100% gas, never any with ethanol, and add Sta-Bil. Turn off the engine by pulling the kill switch. The lack of ethanol and the added Sta-Bil keeps the gas from gumming up your carb. She explained that the small fuel pumps often have problems clearing air from the lines when you try to start the engine after running it dry. I guess that's why the company doesn't recommend it.

I let it run for about an hour and a half before I had to head for home. The recommendation was to run it for 3 hours, but I was out of daylight and needed to get home.  I killed the engine with the kill switch. I'll try starting it this weekend and see what happens.

April 13, 2013

Late last week I bought a Bimini on eBay. When I arrived home on Thursday there was a large package by the front door.

Hot dog!

Like a kid Christmas morning, I tore into it. Now, a reasonable person would take it to the boat, or at least the harbor, before putting it together. So, I'm not always reasonable.

I cleared space in the living room and started inserting sections of tubing. It quickly became obvious that this thing was bigger than I thought it would be. I was a a bit concerned that I'd ordered the wrong size.

Now, this Bimini has aluminum tubes to support it when it is furled. As I was turning it to try to get more room to open it, one of the tubes swept across the fireplace hearth and shattered a little class container that my wife had placed there. It had scented oil and several of those reeds to diffuse the scent. The room became heavily scented as the oil ran down the hearth and across the wood floor.

I had yet another occasion to see my wife's “What on Earth are you doing?” look. But, since the matter was cleaned up quickly, I wasn't in trouble long.

A friend met me at the boat Friday after work and we tested several locations before finding one that seemed promising. It was quickly apparent that the aluminum support tubes wouldn't work. There wasn't a position that would work both furled and open. I removed the tubes and will have to buy nylon straps.

Today I drilled the holes, applied the sealant and installed the mounts. Tomorrow, the Bimini will be installed.

Serene Dream floats again!

Saturday, March 16

My crew, Robert, met me at the boat this morning.

Earlier in the week, I had slid the mast rearward on the support so I could plug the wire into the port on the deck. With that I place, I was able to fix the little light at the top of the mast that lights the Windex at night. Now, all mast lights are working.

We raised the mast without incident and launched the boat. I climbed aboard, lowered the keel about halfway for some stability, installed the rudder, and prepped the outboard. The outboard was flaky last season and just wouldn't run. Over the winter I replaced the fuel filter, the fuel lines and eventually figured out the fuel pump was shot. I replaced it, too. The motor ran great in a bucket when I was testing it, so I was sure it was ready to run. I poured fresh gas in the tank, opened the fuel valve, set the choke, and pulled the starter. About the third pull it fired up and ran.

About 2 seconds.

No matter what we did, it wouldn't start again. We opened the throttle, closed the throttle, opened the choke, closed the choke. Nothing worked. After about15 minutes, we'd had enough arm and shoulder exercise for the day. We finally gave up and paddled the boat to the slip.

As we were gliding past other boats heading to the slip, several members of the boat club asked if we were going to race. The club decided that since the water levels have been erratic the last couple of years, leaving our harbor completely dry by mid-summer, we couldn't afford to wait before starting the racing season. We have water in the lake so let's race!  Today was the first race of the early season series. In view of all the items still on my to-do list, I passed on trying to race. In hindsight, that may have been a good choice. Oklahoma had one of its rare, almost windless days. The fleet kind of drifted around the course. The lake was like a mirror.

  

Notice the little ripples near the shore, but nothing out on the lake.  The boats have barely enough breeze to keep the spinnakers from drooping.

Once in the slip, I took off the motor's cover and started playing. I pulled the fuel line from the carb and had Robert pull the cord. A drop or two of fuel spurted from the line. He pulled again and a strong stream of fuel sprayed out. I reconnected the fuel line and within 2 or 3 pulls, it started and ran. We ran it for several minutes, and then shut off the fuel valve to stop it.

Now I'm puzzled. Was the fuel system unable to push the fuel to the carburetor when the starter is pulled? If so, where's the problem? Since the fuel pump is new, I'm thinking the carburetor is partly plugged. I'm planning to take off the fuel line at the carburetor intake and spray gobs of carb cleaner into the fuel intake. I'll let it set a couple minutes, then try to start the motor.

Somehow, I've got to get to the point that the motor will start and run reliably every time before we go on the Northern Gulf Coast Cruise.

New trailer

Last weekend I bought a used trailer for Serene Dream. Unlike the old one, I believe this one was made for the Catalina 22. Now it was just a matter of moving the boat from one trailer to the other. Simple, right? Launch the boat from one trailer then back the new one down and load up. But that's not what I did, for several reasons.

First, I've never had my boat on the new trailer, so I wanted to be sure everything fit and there was no risk of damage to the boat. Second, it was getting late and I didn't want to fight a new trailer in deepening dusk. Finally, at this time of year and in the southern middle of the country, the water is pretty darn cold. Not like up North, perhaps, but not something I was willing to wade around in.



So we used the boat club's hoist. The photo above is of the boat on the old trailer, about to be lifted by the hoist.

Now, the last time I had the boat on the hoist was a year ago and there were several other members of the boat club assisting. I didn't recall using different length straps for front and back. So we hit the "up" button on the controller. The result was . . . the boat was nose-down by about 20 degrees!!  (See photo below.)  It looked like it might slide right out of the slings.  Very scary.

Well, no problem. I pressed the "down" button and - nothing happened! Did we pop the circuit breaker? I pressed "up" and the boat moved an inch or so. I pressed "down" - still nothing. Time for frantic calls to the guy who maintains the hoist. No answer. I left voice mail. At this point I'm envisioning my boat hanging in the air, perhaps until the weekend. That's not comforting with a forecast of wind in the 20's. (As I write this the next day, the wind is 17 with gusts to 30!!)





Finally a member of the boat club said there is a safety lock right up at the hoist motor that needs to be reset. Here is my crew resetting the hoist. Notice the "nose down" angle of the boat.

But we got the boat down, put the correct strap around the stern and raised the boat. Swapped trailers and voila!




And here she is, sitting pretty on the new trailer.

What am I doing??

This blog is to chronicle the preparations to both Serene Dream and us for a short cruise along the Intracoastal Waterway.

Serene Dream is a 1978 Catalina 22 sailboat with a swing keel and a pop-up cabin top. While she sails well enough, I have a To-Do list that is fairly extensive.  In the weeks to come, I will be documenting the repairs, upgrades and outright SNAFUs as we get ready to trailer the boat south.