Time to head for the water

It is mid May and all that is left before Lil Provo can head for the bay is to finish the bottom paint. I expect to finish that one evening this week. A quick trip to west Marine for a new trailer winch cable and new gas tank will have Lil Provo in good shape. Due to the lack of help preparing the boat this year I have had to put some things on the back burner. This would be varnishing the teak, polishing the stainless, and finishing the wood sole floor in the cabin. Maybe I can finish these while on the water. I expect to bring her down the shore either Sunday or one day during the week. In any case she must be in the water for Memorial Day. I will keep you posted.

Moved to the Driveway

Lil Provo has been moved to the driveway where we can work on her more easily. After uncovering her I realized I did not do as good a job as I thought on removing the water stains from last season. I will have to take the buffer out and work on the hull to get her nice and clean. I have three pages of things that must be done before she is placed in the water for the summer. Most are really cleaning items, but there are a few construction projects, a couple convenience items, some electrical, a flag line, and to replace the water pump in the engine. This gives me seven weeks to get everything done. I will be doing a lot of documentation this year to getting her ready and much more once she is on the water. We will keep you up to date.

2012 Work Begins

I have made lists of the work I would like to accomplish on Lil Provo before we put her in the water this May. There are many things to do to the boat, motor, and trailer. This coming weekend will be the beginning of all of that work. This weekend we will pull all of the things that are still left in the boat out, give all the cushions to the wife to wash the covers, and take some measurements for the new sole wood floor I am planning on installing. This will add more to the nautical look inside the cabin. I am also building a step from the companionway to the sole. When the boat was new, it had a small cooler that was the step. We have had no step for years and think it is about time we make it easier to get in and out of the cabin. Next we will move her into the driveway where I will check all deck mounted items to make sure they are tight and sealed from the weather. That is just a start. We'll keep you posted as we progress.

Winterizing Lil Provo

As most are aware, we have had some pretty crazy weather lately. We have had earthquakes, hurricanes, and early snow falls. What else has mother nature got in store for us. Before it gets to late into the season it was time to winterize Lil Provo. When I say winterize, it isn't the same as filling toilets with antifreeze or stuff like that, it is removing the bottled water and other drinks from the cabin. Anything that is liquid, like the spray cleaners under the sink. They will also freeze and can create a mess to clean in the spring. Have to move the porti potti to the basement along with the outboard. Anything that cold might bother gets moved into the basement. Later I will remove all the cushions and just about everything else in the cabin and lockers. I like to start each season clean, but by the end of the season, most the same junk is back on board. Why do I need four fishing poles, two tackle boxes, eight life jackets, 2 sets of rain gear, a tool box, had pumps, nets, boat poles, paddles, two GPS units, and much more. I try to get away with out some of it, but it always ends up back on the boat. Maybe I'm a hoarder sailor?

The end of the season

This season was trying. We had problems with the boat leaking, a hurricane, and the spreader falling apart once again. Most of the problems were covered in past posts. The season came about two weeks early for us and Lil Provo. We went to go sailing on Sunday the 9th of October. I arrived at the boat yard, found some idiot ran over the back corner of my dinghy cracking the fiberglass and breaking off the wood trim. The dinghy looked strong enough to get out to Lil Provo so we loaded her up and headed out for the boat. When we got about halfway there we noticed the spreader was apart, hanging, and the mast was woobling around. We had a cable holding it on three of the four sides, so I took one of my halyards and hooked it to the deck and then tightened it up to try to act as the cable. It seemed to work. In any case we did not go out and instead, we loaded up some of the things from Lil Provo into the dinghy to take home. We proceed back to the ramp and loaded the truck.

Before leaving, I thought it would be a good idea to take a look at the HMS23 Pilothouse sailboat I had been admiring for the past year. I had contacted the owner and he offered her to me at a great price. I went to the office to get the key and returned to find Gary had already placed a ladder along side of her. I climbed in and opened the lock. When I open the cabin door expecting a nice cabin with six foot head room I was greeted with a cabin full of water. This boat has been sitting for 2 to 3 years. It means the motor has been underwater for some time now, plus the wiring. It would have been a great deal, but the flooded cabin made it a no deal. I'm not looking for any major projects and just want to sail.

This is the second time the grass looked greener on the other side of the fence. In both cases I look back and am thankful that I have a boat like Lil Provo.

It has been a trying month

After we pumped out the basement, threw out all the junk that got wet and cleaned out work, we were able to get down to the boat. Before I get that far I need to say that Lil Provo came through fine up on land. No problems that I am aware of. When I called the boat yard and asked how things were going I was told that Lil Provo was sitting on her mooring. WHAT! What about the leak on the lower tiller bracket? The other end of the phone lite up with him calling himself dumb and stupid, etc. I assume after I hung up he went right out to bring Lil Provo back to shore to repair the leak. A couple weeks have gone by and I went down to check on her only to find her on the mooring. When I opened the companionway, the cabin had about 3" of water sloshing around the floor. I immediately went to the cockpit locker to open it up to see if there was water in the rear bilge from the lose tiller bracket. It was bone dry. Stupid me, I opened the floor inspection cover and more water came pushing into the cabin. I thought maybe the battery had died due to Tropical Storm Lee dumping so much rain on us. I pulled the battery from the dinghy and replaced the one in the cockpit compartment. I then went into the cabin and pulled the bilge pump from her stand down in the bilge. When I turned it on, it was barely moving. I came to the conclusion that the pump was shot. I pumped her dry with the hand pump and took a ride to West Marine where I picked up another pump. I got back to the yard and back out to Lil Provo where I changed the pump. It wasn't much fun laying on my stomach to get to the terminal strip under the cockpit. I did lay down some life jackets, but still got soaked. The test went fine and the pump was working well. I had killed most of my sailing time. The water was loaded with debri anyway, so I decided to sit it out and clean up the boat. Hopefully everything will remain in good shape until by return from China.

Ending August with Hurricane Irene

August went out with a bang here in Jersey, thanks to hurricane Irene.

We went sailing a few times the week before and had a great time sailing and fishing. The weather was warm and the fishing was pretty good. On August 26th I went down to take a sail and hopefully pull the boat out before the storm, but the boat yard had already taken her out and had her on dry land. Being I couldn't sail, I hung around the yard for a while and this is where I met Keith. The boat yard was full of boats on land and room was becoming a scarce thing. The harbor was like glass and there was virtually no wind. This was exactly what I picture when you hear the calm before the storm. As I looked out upon the bay I saw this boat moving around that looked like it belonged in a story book someplace. I have admired this cute little boat every time I pass her on the way out. Well I finally got a good look at her and met the owner. The boat took a long turn through the mooring field and headed right for the boat yard's ramp. I stood up on the bulk head about ten feet above the water and watched. Keith brought the boat in and tied her up while he got his truck and trailer ready to receive her. Putting a sailboat on a trailer can be tough sometimes when doing it by yourself. He backed the trailer into the water and the boat was drifting to the side as tides were changing. I jumped down to the cat walk along the bulkhead and gave him a hand pushing the boat sideways with my feet so he could winch her onto the trailer. With the little help I gave he was able to get her on the trailer. However, he couldn't pull her up the ramp as it was slippery from the changing tide. He eventually had to have the boat yard truck come over and pull his truck and boat up the ramp.

I now had a chance to look over Lil Provo to see how the bottom was. She was pretty clean with the exception of the slim coating the bottom. I now looked to see where we were taking on water as I have been looking for a leak for weeks. Well I finally found it. The bottom tiller bracket was loose allowing the water to seep in along side of the bolts. I brought the yard owner over to show him and ask if it could be repaired before putting her back in the water. He assured me that would not be a problem. I left the boat yard feeling comfortable the boat would be safe during the storm and that the leak I had been dealing with would be fixed. No I could go home and deal with preparing for the hurricane.

I won't bore you with the flooding that attacked my home home and business, requiring days of cleaning, sorting, and getting rid of so much stuff. I finally had a chance to call the boat yard to check on the boat and how they did with the hurricane. I called and was told that they made out okay and Lil Provo was on her mooring. I immediately questioned the repair of the leak and John had forgotten. Easily understood based on all the things he had to take care of. He said he would take care of it. On Saturday I took a ride down to the boat yard with a fresh battery for the bilge pump. I found Lil Provo sitting on her mooring and her water line was sitting high. We took a trip out with the dinghy to replace the battery and found the tiller bracket was fixed and that the rear bilge was bone dry. There was a little water on the cabin floor which I mopped up so I could see if she was still leaking on my next visit. We left with a feeling that everything was okay and went home to deal with more of the flood damage at work and at home.