Splashdown!

Finally! The sailboat is back in the water where it belongs. It's only a small mountain lake, but anything that wets the hull is good right now. It might be a small lake, but I can tie the boat up at my own beach, so what's not to love?

It's nice to be back in the land of free boat ramps. Even though it was a sunny Saturday, there were only about 4 vehicles at the parking lot. There was plenty of room to set up the sailboat. It hadn't been rigged since Florida so I took my time to make sure everything was in good shape. Outside of a bit of tangled rigging, it made the trip in excellent condition.

I also got the chance to see how the trolling motor behaves. My sailboat is a 19 foot Oday. The trolling motor is rated for 55 pounds of thrust. What does that translate to in the real world? Against 5 – 10 knot winds it moved the boat at 2.5 to 3 knots. Good enough in my book. Last summer the outboard was barely used. The longest stretch was about 4 miles. Most times it was used less than a ½ mile; if it was used at all. That's well within the capabilities of the electric motor.

It is nice to have a quiet and clean propulsion system that “refuels” from a solar panel. While only able to move the boat at half the speed of the gasoline outboard, it's a fair trade off. First and foremost, it is a sailboat.



-Sixbears