Nice Gun, But Still
1 hour ago
Saturday, September 21, 2013
More boat prep
My lovely wife and I finally pulled the sailboat out of the water. Now it's sitting in my driveway dry dock. I love a boat small enough that we don't have to pay haul out fees. There's a couple warm days ahead so I'll have a chance to work on it.
I must admit, we did take our own sweet time putting the boat on the trailer. The lake was beautiful and we had to linger. The leaves were turning, a preview of brilliant fall colors to come. A lone fisherman and a pair of loons shared the lake with us. Eventually, the boat had to come out on the water or we'd be putting it away in the dark.
We practiced with our inflatable kayak that we are using as a tender. The kayak, a Sea Eagle 420, tows well with the skeg in place. My lovely wife figured out a couple of good ways to get in and out of the kayak from the sailboat. I'm glad her plan worked out as the lake is getting pretty cold this time of year. Hauling the boat on deck can be done, but forget about sailing with it there. The Oday sailboat is 19 feet. The kayak is 14 feet 3 inches long and 3 feet wide. We could put it up on deck if we were in a marina and didn't feel like deflating the kayak.
For fun and games I rewired the trailer plug on the van. Nothing like exposure to salt water to mess up electrical connections. With the van set, it was on to the trailer. The lights on the trailer aren't working as well as I'd like. Probably the smart thing to do would be to completely replace the lights every couple years. I did find a bad ground, so that explains how one taillight is a lot dimmer than the other.
The trailer bearings are greased and in good shape. I used to fear losing a wheel bearing. A few years ago one burned up in the middle of the Everglades. That same year the trailer hitch on the truck pulled through the frame of my truck. The hitch was almost dragging in the road. I wrapped it in anchor chain and fastened it with clavicles. The repair got me to my daughter's house. The new custom hitch on my van is extremely heavy duty. No hitch or trailer bearing problems since.
Things are coming along. We are on track to make our departure date.
-Sixbears
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Give yourselves a few days and it will be packed and ready to go.Then you can get the van packed and set.it will be nice not haveing to worry about those 2 when you start the house shut down.
ReplyDeleteIt's coming along.
DeleteShutting down the house only takes 3 -4 hours. Should be easier as I'll be doing it in the fall rather than in the cold of winter.
You are wise in getting all the nitty-gritty repairs done now. Nothing worse than breaking down in the middle of nowhere. An ounce of prevention ....
ReplyDeleteBreaking down in the middle of the Everglades wasn't much fun. Stuff happens, even when the repairs have been done. I try and keep them to a minimum.
DeleteMaking sure everything works as they should before you leave is always a good idea. When is the departure date?
ReplyDeleteOctober 10, if all goes well.
DeleteThese days I just run ground wires to the lights instead of fussing around with bad grounds on the trailer. Just wire the grounds together at the plug and forget about it. No more ground problems. Oh, and I always use those splices with the heat shrink already on them. They seal up perfect even with multiple wires in one "socket", and are transparent so you can see if there's any corrosion going on later down the road...
ReplyDeleteThe last set of lights I used are way too cheap. No easy way to ground them. They are designed to ground through the bolts. Cheap cheap cheap. I at least run a wire from the light to the frame. One of those got snagged and broken, so the light was dim.
DeleteThose heat shrink splices do the job nicely. It's what I use most of the time.