April 23, 2009 - Move to Temporary Mooring

The Classic Boat Rally is coming through Beaufort this weekend and they need the docks.  Since my mooring isn't ready yet, I ran Morning View out to a temporary mooring (#5).

The chains on all of the mooring balls have been repaired as it turns out that a substandard pin system was used on the swivel shackle.  These shackles have all been replaced and wire-tied and the chains will be replaced over the summer.

The engine started right up on Battery #1 and I single-handed away from the dock.  This new propeller is phenomenal in the current we have here!  I know I sound like a broken record, but compared to that Martec folding, I'm in heaven.  I think if I was in the Great Lakes again, I would want the Martec for sure, but this prop is great in the current.  On the approach to the mooring, I was a little earlier than the launch that was meeting me, so I was able to stick the bow into the current, drop the rpms, and hold position quite well.  A little increase in rpm and I ran right up to nudge the mooring ball and tie up.

Next week my shackles and mooring pendants should be in so that I can move to my permanent mooring.

Note: Raw water intake was closed before leaving boat.

April 19, 2009 - Fresh Water System

Have to deal with this fresh water system!  It's a mess!  The previous owner had a manual and pressure system tied together, but had seperate faucets at each sink.  The plan is to go all manual and reduce some complexity, since we really don't need pressure water on-board.

We removed the fresh water tank and took it home for a good cleaning.  All of the feed hoses will be replaced.  I got a decent deal ($0.68/ft) on 1/2" FDA Nylobrade at the local Boaters World GOB sale.  Of course, that's really the only thing that was a decent price.  I think it's the whole,  jack up the prices, then put a 30% off sticker game...

Also removed the leaking Whale Galley Gusher foot pump from the galley sink.  Hopefully it's just a leaking diaphram, but I have a feeling it's not.

While the freshwater tank is out of the port settee, I plan to take the opportunity to paint that portion of the bilge.

April 11, 2009 - Palmetto Bay Marina (Hilton Head, SC) to Beaufort Yacht & Sailing Club (Beaufort, SC)

Crew: Chris, Tauri & Arabella

1040 - Wind WSW12, Sky clear, Course N/A, Engine, Speed N/A, Tide ebb, Position N32.178 / W80.773

Took on 5.5 gallons of diesel to fill tank.  Have 4.5 gallons left in jerry can.  Water tank filled and now leaking at galley foot pump.  Windier already than forecast, engine started right up on Battery 1.  Spun Morning View in the slip so that leaving with jus tthe two of us would be much easier against the current.

1103 - Wind WSW15, Sky clear, Course 258, Engine, Speed 1.8kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.178 / W80.778

Left the pier like pros!  The new prop provides excellent control in forward.

1115 - Wind WSW15-18, Sky clear, Course 212, Engine, Speed 5.8kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.170 / W80.789

Passing "short-cut" out of Broad Creek.  Easy to see how boats can mistake this for a proper channel, with actual channel markers in the cut.  With the WSW wind, you can see small breakers forming on the south side of the cut.  Best avoided probably even at high tide for us.  Broad creek is a very pretty lowcountry creek, with sand banks, marshes and gorgeous homes lining the west bank.

1140 - Wind WSW18, Sky clear, Course 262, Engine, Speed 4.5kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.144 / W80.914

Leaving Broad Creek into Calibougue Sound.  Great view of Harbor Town Light and Daufuskie Island.  We could just make out the set-up for the Verizon Heritage PGA tournament next weekend.  Tauri got some cool shots from the boat of us with the light in the background.

1151 - Wind W15, Sky clear, Course 022, Engine / 40% genoa, Speed 5.4kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.158 / W80.811

Rolled out 40% of the genoa, left engine running, which helped SOG against current to 5.4 knots.  This sound is much wider and deeper than we imagined just from looking at charts.  Some spots were almost 70ft deep!

1212 - Wind W15, Sky clear, Course 024, Engine / 40% genoa, Speed 4.7kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.179 / W80.792

Passing Spanish Wells and Honey Horn Plantation on our east.  Beautiful homes with deepwater docks.  What a place!

1246 - Wind W12, Sky clear, Course 028, Engine, Speed 5kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.221 / W80.787

Furled genoa passing Windmill Harbor (and South Carolina Yacht Club) to line up on range.  The range pulls you around a shoal coming off of the US278 bridge base onto Hilton Head Island.  Transited under the US278 bridge.  This was the approximate area of the tidal swap on the back-side of Hilton Head Island.  Saw a boost in SOG from the tidal swap in this area.

1312 - Wind W10-12, Sky clear, Course 358, Engine, Speed 6.1kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.244 / W80.749

Passing Skull Creek Marina to our east and Pinkney Island to our west.  This area was much easier to navigate than the charts lead on.  The channel markers are very visible and you can just run from marker to marker.  Tall bluffs to the east with condos, restaraunts and marinas contrasted with gorgeous white sand bars and marsh of Pinkney Island Wildlife Refuge.

1326 - Wind W12, Sky clear, Course 029, Engine / 40% genoa, Speed 6.3kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.263 / W80.742

Engine beginning to sputter and won't keep rpm's up while exiting into Port Royal Sound.  No alarm sirens or lights, exhaust still pumping water.  Turn off engine, potential overheat or air lock?  At least we are in the sound and are free to sail!

1403 - Wind W15, Sky clear, Course 093, Full genoa, Speed 5.6kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.273 / W80.679

Checked oil (fine), changed fuel filter in Racor.  The fuel looked fine and there wasn't any debris, but I changed the filter anyway.  Engine still will not start, but we are making good speed toward Beaufort River.

1421 - Wind W18, Sky clear, Course 009, 40% genoa, Speed 4.3kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.283 / W80.655

Entered Beaufort River under sail and are beating up while trying to get engine started.  Pulled Racor filter again and reprimed housing.  Engine starts but won't keep up rpm's.  Contantly getting rounded up and rolled in some genoa.

1500 - Wind W18, Sky clear, Course 333, Engine / 33% genoa, Speed 4.7kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.327 / W80.655

Engine started at high rpm and kept at high rpm.  Help from sail seems to take load off of engine and kept it running.

1534 - Wind NW15, Sky clear, Course 354, Engine, Speed 4.9kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.365 / W80.678

Begin north turn of Beaufort River.  Engine still running and can drop rpm slightly without any noticable difference.  Could be combination of bad fuel and air lock in system.  Need to bleed system and replace fuel.

1555 - Wind NW15, Sky clear, Course 359, Engine, Speed 5.0kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.394 / W80.676

Under SC802 bridge to Lady's Island.

1607 - Wind NW15, Sky clear, Course 010, Engine, Speed 0.0kts, Tide ebb, Position N32.407 / W80.669

Arrive Beaufort Yacht & Sailing Club docks.  Engine ran fine into dock.  Great depths (20ft) all the way into dock.

Total Distance: 25.4 nm

Max Speed: 6.3 kts SOG

April 9, 2009 - Racor Fuel Filter

Morning View has a Yanmar 2QM20 diesel with only a single primary fuel filter on the engine.  One of the goals this year was to have a very reliable engine.  For starters, this means to ensure that all of the fuel is as clean and free of water as possible.  I chose the Racor 500MA since it has ABS Type Approval and is a common filtration system.  Ease of finding filters and replacement parts is pretty high on my list of important things for going offshore.  This means installing a primary filter system topped the priority list.

The C&C34 has pretty good engine access, both through the companionway steps and the starboard cockpit locker.  There is a short longitudinal bulkhead just to starboard of the engine with adequate space to mount the Racor.  This is also on the same side, and in-line, with the fuel tank outlet and fuel pump on the engine.  The fuel tank outlet is higher than the Racor, but I have a shut off upstream of the filter to allow for filter changes without spilling fuel everywhere.

I chose the 10 micron filters for this engine and purchased an extra for the delivery up to BYSC.  The fuel is old inthe tank, and I plan to remove it afte rwe get to BYSC, scrub the tank, refil and run through.  This will give me a chance to run through several filters as well to ensure that we have the cleanest system.

Palmetto Bay Yacht Services did the installation, and while the installation looked good, I was overcharged by 20% of the verbal quote.  To add insult to injury, they didn't bleed the system properly, and I had to bleed it underway during our delivery.  "Do it yourself" voice still going in the back of my head...

April 8, 2009 - Launch!!

Morning View was launched at high tide (9am) this morning!  After the new propeller was installed, I hung the fenders and tied the docklines.  I put in the new Raymarine ST40 Knotmeter transducer as well.

Palmetto Bay took a little more care launching than they did with the mast (banging it into the crane a couple times), but I'm still left with blue strap marks on the topsides.  It still boggles my mind that this tiny detail goes un-noticed by so many yards, but it does, and it's unacceptable in my eyes.

After launch, I checked all of the thru-hulls; they were all dry except the knotmeter transducer, which was weeping about a teaspoon in 2 hours around the threads.  I gave it a little more hand-tightening, which slowed the rate.  I'll keep an eye on it.  The propeller shaft had a 1 drip/second rate, which slowed to about a drip every 10 seconds (after the engine ran, the drip slowed to about 1 drip/15 seconds).

Since it had been 2.5 years since the engine was ran, I comissioned Palmetto Bay Yacht Services to give it a once over, check the fuel and oil, and replace the impeller and gasket.  $95 for a "pro" to look at it seemed OK at the time.  After replacing the impeller, the engine fired right up and pumped water very well.  The engine was run for about 20 minutes and load was put on the new propeller.  Afterwards, the oil was rechecked and deemed fine.

Since Palmetto Bay was already involved, I had them install a Racor 500MA Primary Fuel Filter / Water Seperator, the subject of the next log entry.

Morning View is exactly where she should be, floating!  I must say,  the addition of the extra white bootstripe really provided a nice aesthetic seperation between the blue bootstripe and the bottom paint.  Looks great to be floating again!  Feels great to be floating again!!

April 8, 2009 - New Propeller

With the amount of current in and around Beaufort, SC, and the fact that we're doing more cruising than racing now, we decided to say goodbye to our Martec 2-blade folding propeller.  It was hard to do, since it only had 2 seasons on it, but it just wasn't matched properly to the Yanmar 2QM20 engine to provide enough thrust.  We bought a Michigan Wheel Corporation 3-blade fixed 15R12.  This has to be one of the nicest propellers I've seen fresh out of the box.  The quality control sheets they sent along with it proved how tight their tolerances are.  Can't wait to get Morning View launched and see what this new prop can do!

April 7, 2009 - Delivery to Hilton Head Island

After certainly thinking that Morning View would be launched in Florida, I was ecstatic about finally seeing her show up on a truck in Hilton Head Island, SC.  I had Bill Joule Marine Transport bring her up at a relatively decent price (~$1200), and they showed up pretty much without a hitch.  No damage to the boat or rig, and best of all, no mud on the topsides like last transport!

 

Palmetto Bay Yacht Center pulled her off the truck and hung her in the slings while I prepped the mast.

The unlucky surprise here was that they can't step the mast in the water, so it had to be done that same afternoon.  I was nowhere ready and ran into a few snags, but the mast went up with only a couple things left to do:

1. Straighten Windex

2. Install new ST40 wind speed transducer

3. Run new wires for ST40 wind speed transducer

4. Install VHF Antenna

5. Splice new coax end on VHF cable (someone cut it off in storage...)

6. Run new wiring for mast lights

7. Install new masthead anchor light

8. Install new steaming / deck light combo

9. Install spinnaker topping lift --> Complete

10. Attach baby stay --> Complete

11. Pin rigging

12. Tape rigging

13. Install spreader boots

14. Install wedges at partners --> Complete

14a. Look at doing Spartite

15. Install flag halyard

Not really that long of a list after almost 2.5 years of not being rigged, but some of the jobs will take a while.

Tomorrow we launch on high tide (9am), since the TravelLift well is a dry mud-bed at low tide.  Still need to install the prop, hang fenders & docklines.