Checking the mooring

Today was a bit of a mixed day... I started by taking a walk at nearby Longwood Gardens before heading up to Keyport for the evening.  I checked with Pedersen's where Gary confirmed that SEAS THE DAY will be ready once he has confirmation that my mooring has been inspected.

A bit of background... there have been an increasing number of incidents where moorings have broken loose in the KYC mooring field over the past couple of years, so our fleet captain ordered an inspection of the whole field.  The first step is to have your mooring set up and then the inspector comes out and pulls it, checking the entire set-up.

Underneath the ball and pick-up stick, is this system...

A bit about our moorings... under the "balls" out in the harbor, lie a complex system designed to hold the ships in place, but still allow for a fair bit of movement as tides, winds, currents and yes, storms have their way.  The diagram below is borrowed from Chapman: Piloting and Seamanship (more on that another day).  On the seafloor lies a mushroom anchor, a several hundred pound hunk of iron shaped like a mushroom (which unlike the diagram, usually lies on its side and digs into the bottom). Attached to that is some heavy chain and some lighter chain.  Here at KYC, attached to the top of the light chain are two pendants (ropes with eye's in them) that get attached to a boat.  If done right, the light chain is the depth of the water at highest tide and only extreme wind, storms, etc., can lift the heavy chain and if all else fails, the anchor can drag slowly along the bottom. 

Since I was at KYC for the "After The Boatyard Party", and today was the first day of launch service, I decided to catch a launch and head out to see what was there.  With hope, everything would be installed and ready for inspection.

I walked out on the KYC dock and saw that they had replaced the dinghy line that was lost in last Fall's storm.

 I caught the launch (Deliverance) with Ray and headed out.

Looking back, I could see the Harborview Condos on the left.  (I happen to know that one of these is for sale... please let me know if you're interested.)

Once we got out, we found my mooring ball!  So everything is set up.  Hopefully the inspections will go smoothly and we'll be in the water sometime this week.

Only one other boat has been launched...

So we headed back to the dock, and I went and visited John (my son) before heading home.

Starting the third season... Removing the cover.

April means it's time to start getting the boat in order for the upcoming season.  We lost a couple of weekends to windstorms and cold weather, but yesterday was calm, sunny and in the mid 60s so I headed up to Keyport and found Seas The Day waiting patiently to get wet again.

I went to Pedersen's boat yard armed with a folding ladder and a pair of diagonal cutters and began cutting the wire ties and untying the ropes holding our canvas cover in place.  Without Vicky's help this year (she is in China for a few more weeks), it took longer than expected (and trying to fold one of these things by yourself results in just a heap o' boat cover), but I was successful.

The cover was removed!

Gary Pedersen stopped by and we discussed the work the yard was going to do.  My philosophy on "boat jobs" is that if its a job I don't know how to do and/or don't like to do and someone else makes their living doing that job, then God & Karma (covering both bases) require me to share my blessings and pay the person to do it.  So I put the cover on and take it off... that's a job that's fairly certain of success and gives me a great sense of accomplishment.  

Pedersen's will handle tightening the halyard (Seas The Day has in-mast furling), varnishing the door and washing and waxing the hull and topsides.  We had the bottom painted last year (after plowing through the mud on our delivery trip), so we didn't need to have that job completed again this year.

While unwrapping the cover around the mast, I came across this doohickey which I don't remember being covered in ASA 101 or 103... a quick post on Facebook came back with the term "leech line" which is used to tighten the leech (back edge) of the mainsail and keep it from fluttering (which weakens the fabric).

I guess you learn something new every day.  

With the cover off, it was time to look below deck.  

No, we were not robbed...

The disarray is by design.  Boats can be "moist" environments, and by leaving all the doors ajar and cushions turned on edge, you allow for maximum air circulation (the vent hatches are in the "vent" position under the breathable winter cover) which should (and evidently did) prevent mildew.  (A few well-placed cans of Kanberra Gel probably helped, too.)

I closed the doors, leaving the mattresses and cushions for another trip, and after a short nap, buttoned Seas The Day up for a few more weeks.  All boat trips - even those that never leave dry land - end up at the same place (the KYC Bar) where my son met me for a quick beer before heading back to DE. 

Oh, my face started feeling warm during the drive home and sure enough... even in April, I need to remember to slather on the sunscreen...

So I now have a few weeks to finish my winter reading...

The Cost of Owning a Boat - "Seas The Day" (Catalina 315) 2nd Season Costs

(Image Credit:  Wealthmanagement.com)

With the boat put away for the winter, it seems like a good time to tally the costs for this season.

I reference our post about our first year costs (click to read), but I decided that instead of going on a Year of ownership basis, it makes more sense to look at the 2nd season costs.  It does mean that some of the costs are duplicated in this post (those related to getting things ready in the spring) and I'll try and point them out.

In our second season, there are no more startup costs.  There are still "Seasonal Costs" and "Excursion costs".

SEASONAL COSTS

This includes the cost of owning the boat, maintaining the boat, storing the boat (in water and on land in the winter) and insuring the boat.  The total comes to $20,700.  This roughly breaks down into $12,000 in mortgage payments, $1,600 on insurance, $2,900 for maintenance, $2,400 for mooring and storage (including launch service), $1,500 to the yacht club (membership & events - we get the mooring through the yacht club), and another $100 for safety stuff and accessories (kind of light this year since everything was still new), and maybe $80 for registrations, etc.

Repeated costs from the earlier post include $1330 for a new bottom job and waxing (having a bottom job on a brand new boat was unusual, but I think that was related to plowing through the mud to get out on our delivery trip), $275 for "spring commissioning" and $185 for getting the mooring ready.

EXCURSION COSTS

The cost per type of excursion hasn't changed much for us.  I guestimate that a typical 4 hr day sail costs about $40 for provisions (we usually eat something on-board), fuel and tips to the launch drivers.  An overnight excursion to an upscale marina near NYC is maybe around $725.  (We had one of these this year.)  Our total excursion costs are about $1325.

So my guess that it would cost us about $24,000 wasn't too far off - our total was about $22,000.

THE BENEFITS??

We had 16 nice days on the water... even if the weather was iffy, it was still fun.  During this season, we shared boating with 18 people (including the two of us), and made a lot of deeper friendships at the Yacht club.

This was much lighter than last year.  But it was also a year where we had the task of switching jobs, moving, and getting a new house set up which knocked a few weekends off the sailing list and frequently prevented us from enjoying sailing on two days of the same weekend.

We expect this pattern of use to change next season.  We now live in Delaware and by next spring we will no longer have a waterfront condo right next to the Keyport Yacht Club, so we'll probably do more overnights on the boat.  Keyport for now still seems to be the best place for us, so we'll see you all next season.

Winter storage

(Note:  It's earl December... I've been remiss in keeping my blog up to date.)

Finally it was time to take Seas The Day in for the winter.

There was a bit of a snag.  The weekend before it was to be hauled, I got a call from the launch captain... one of Seas The Day's lines had broken.  What do you do in this case.  One of the lines was still holding, we were only going to be in the water another couple of days, but high winds were predicted.  So I made two calls... one to Pedersen's and another to "Diver Dan" of Brother's Diving and fortunately Dan was available to quickly replace the line.

Pedersen's hauled the boat later that week (in late October), and after they had a chance to do the winterization (draining all water from the boat and flushing the systems with marine antifreeze, oh, and also an oil change) I made a trip up in early November to check everything out and then a last trip in late November to put the winter cover in place.

A day on the boat is pretty good... even if the boat is out of the water.

End of Season Sailing

It is now early December.  My blogging fell behind as we approached the end of the season, so here's a quick update on the last few trips of the season.

My brother came out for a sail on Sept 19th.  It was a beautiful day on the water.

I had to take a day off from work on Sept 30 and quickly go out to Seas The Day and "batten down the hatches".  A major storm was approaching and ominous notes started arriving from the KYC launch captain.  Arriving at the dock the weather was calm, but when I got to the boat I noticed that a previous storm had claimed my burgee (the yacht club flag) which was tangled in the bird chaser on our dodger.  I wasn't going to give up an opportunity to get some time in so I motored about (had to charge the batteries) while securing everything below decks.

Things initially looked quite calm... except for the evidence of the previous storm.

I motored out... might as well log some hours while battening everything down.  Upon returning, I made sure all the chaff protection was in place.  (Note:  One of those leads will break off later in the season, but that's another post.)

And all the major canvas items were stowed below.

A side note to this storm was that it lasted for 3 or 4 days.  A couple of boats broke loose and a KYC member (Mike V.) who owns a tugboat company came by to retrieve a boat and also "patrol" the KYC mooring field to make sure everyone was secure.  You'll have to go to their site for the photos - I was nicely huddled up in Delaware.


Finally Vicky returned from China and we had one last beautiful (but cold) day on the water on Oct 10.  This is the first time we really sailed without the bimini & dodger in place (I had removed them for the earlier storm and was too lazy to put them up).  It allowed for a lot more sun and was quite pleasant.  I'm not sure it would work in mid-summer, but we might have to try it.

Dealing with all the sh!t

Saturday I had to get my first mate back to Asia which involved a 6:00 AM run from Delaware to JFK.  I stopped in Keyport on the way back.  Weather prediction was for storms later and the skies were already looking sketchy, so I decided to just do a quick run out to Seas The Day to make sure things were OK.

Since I was out there, I decided to grab some photos of the marine toilet on Seas The Day. (Some of our readers have asked about it.)  

Unlike in your house - where you can just flush the toilet and everything is taken care of - a marine "Head" (boat speak for "toilet") is a bit more complex.   The complexity starts right at the toilet.  If you look at the photo below, you see some things that are recognizable - the bowl - but also a lot of hoses and levers.  You'll also see a pumping handle (near the blue oval) and a lever just above that.  The lever switches between a wet flush and a dry flush.  On a wet flush, you pump the handle and water enters the bowl, as the waste is pumped out.  On a dry flush, it just pumps out the waste.  Why would you ever want a dry flush?  

Well, the water for the wet flush comes from the sea.  The thinking is that you really don't need pristine water to flush a toilet and since we only carry 27 gal of freshwater on board, flushing with seawater is fine.  And it is... except on a system that gets relatively little use (like ours... mostly day trips of 4 hours or so), the little marine critters can start growing and you can get some foul odors.  So we usually select a dry flush and do the rinsing with water from the sink (the "faucet" is actually a short hose - it also doubles as a shower). 

So the pump takes the waste from the bowl and moves it through the little pipes.  Yes, little pipes.  They can clog easily and the first rule of using a marine head is that NOTHING goes in the bowl that hasn't been eaten first.  The sole exception is a little bit of toilet paper.  We have been good... so far I have not had to unclog it (you have to take it apart... sh!t and all)... I hope that trend continues.

So the pipes go behind the toilet and into the salon where most of the waste holding and processing takes place under the U-shaped settee.

The main waste pipe basically comes into the holding tank.  (The little compartment that it passes through holds the freshwater pump.)

The holding tank has a vent that goes up the side of the boat and exits.  I've learned that noises coming from that vent are cause for concern.

At the lower right, you can just barely see the exit hose from the holding tank.  It connects to the larger hose from the lower right below.  That hose goes to a grey T and continues up to the waste port on deck (photo below).  Attached to the T is our macerator pump, which is kind of a sh!t blender that can pulverize the solid waste as it pumps it overboard through the "Through-Hull".  USCG states we have to be 3 miles offshore to do that so usually the through-hull is secured with a wire tie in the "closed" position.  (We typically don't get 3 miles offshore unless we're going out specifically to ensure the macerator is still working.)

The photo below shows the (new) waste deck plate on the port side.

Once you put the covers on it all, it's hard to believe that a sewage holding facility is just below the seats.

I wrote all this because a few people who are considering the purchase of this type of boat had some questions.  Here are some additional thoughts about this sh!tty subject.

First, the system seems to work well and be designed right for the type of sailing this boat is intended for.  A Catalina 315 like Seas The Day just isn't designed for long ocean-going voyages.  If I had it to do over again, I wouldn't bother with the macerator.  We used it on our delivery trip when we spent 2 days sailing on the ocean to get it home, but since then we've only been 3 miles offshore once each season to test it.  

So we mostly use the holding tank.  That means we have to have the tank pumped out which for us seems to be a once a month need.  We are lucky to have a nice pump out boat moored right in Keyport and a small tip ensures this task is completed when needed.  Our sailing also takes us to a land based pump out facility from time to time.  (We did learn the hard way that we can't let too much time pass before pumping out.)

Finally, although I'm talking a lot of sh!t... the real bad actor here is urine.  Urine has a high concentration of urea and salts, etc. which depending on conditions can crystallize in the hoses.  We have been following the advice of putting a cup full of white vinegar in the head, pumping a stroke or two and going for a sail.  After that we pour a 1/4 cup of vegetable oil and slowly pump that.  So far that seems to have kept the lines free and the various seals well lubricated.  By flushing with freshwater and doing that little bit of routine maintenance, Seas The Day has finished two seasons with only the one mishap.

Sailing Topless

Now get your mind out of the gutter. I'm referring to the Bimini top.  For the past several weeks we were fighting a constant battle of the birds - they loved the Bimini cover (and loved to sh!t all over it).  So last week in a fit of desperation we removed the cover and stored it inside.  Vicky had spent hours scrubbing it clean and I wasn't about to risk yet another day of having to go to the dock and scrub for an hour or two before being able to sail. We still used the canvas over the helm and cockpit table, so I hung a couple of pieces of bungee cord so they dangled just above those and would sway at any birds trying to get too comfortable. Hopefully this had "rolled up the welcome mat" as far as birds are concerned. 

So with a bit of trepidation, we caught the launch out to Seas The Day and found it in the same spotless condition we left it in. Yay!

Rather than take all the time to set up the Bimini, I decided to just sail without it.  I had a decent sun hat and today was just going to be a quick day sail anyway. 

It turned out to be quite pleasant.  I don't know how it would be on a hot day in July, but for a mid-80s late afternoon in early September it was actually quite pleasant.