More maintenance!

I meant to post this a while ago: Here is what the boatyard in Berkeley did to improve the spreader. When I shipped the mast there they found out that one of the spreaders had developed a crack in the aluminium on the trailing edge. They could still weld the crack, but the root cause of the problem was a construction feature (or flaw) of single spreader S&S designs, which allows the spreader to move freely back and forth to better respond to loads on the mast when sailing. As a result, the lee spreader is kind of flopping back and forth when under way, hence the wear on the edges. The yard machined jackets around the stressed area of the spreader and also changed the connectors to the mast such that the spreader won't be able to move any longer (see picture). That should last the foreseeable future and was actually much cheaper than replacing the whole assembly. I never really like the sight of the floppy spreader so I'm quite happy with it!

New spreader jackets

Other than that we rebedded the chain plates, and sealed the mast foot which was leaking a bit. So far no more rain water in the bilge! We'll see what else is leaking in the next big rain :-). Also, I got a shipment of balsa core and xbonded fiber glass to tackle the next big chore: replacing the soft spots in the deck and on the cabin top. I have to admit I'm a little nervous about that one, probably will start with the cabin top as it is a smaller spot and less conspicuous. In case I mess up it should be easier to fix..

As for cruising, we've been taking the boat out quite a bit, and I'm still marveling about the Martec folding prop, quietly but efficiently pushing the boat in and out of the marina and sometimes against the raging currents of the Carquinez Strait. I'm also getting a lot of practice reversing the boat into the slip. Not an easy task when it is windy, but so far no scratches to report!

Varnishing!

2nd weekend in a row we spend sanding and varnishing. It's not super pretty but I think it should be ok now after the 3rd layer. Need to go sailing again!

Suisun fleet!

Some more impressions from sailing by the anchored fleet. Wonder if they will be ever used again! These are mostly cargo ships, tankers and other supply vessels, being mothballed for decades now. The battleship USS Iowa was also anchored here for quite a while, but left unfortunately last November, so no pics.

The mothball fleet close up

Sailing the Delta

It's unbelievable, here we are in early February and it feels almost like summer! The winds around this time of the year tend to be very benign and are mostly from the East, so we tacked up the Sacramento River delta to visit the mothball fleet. One has to be very careful as it gets shallow very quick on the sides. There is a huge sandbank in the middle of the river (which is like 5 miles wide here), and you can see birds walking on the water at high tide. Either they have very long legs or it is darn shallow over there!

calm conditions

Suisun fleet!

Very calm conditions today with winds just below 10kn. Enough for Constance to get some heel going and trucking upriver at 4.5kn! The new folding prop works marvelous, we added some 0.5-1kn under sail, and reach hull speed already at 1800rpm when using the engine.

Heading up the river

New home!

Constance getting her feet wet in her new home in Benicia.

Sailing!

While transferring Constance across the SF Bay

Finally got everything fixed and set up so we could actually move the boat. The new Martec 14/14 folding prop works like a charm! At 1800rpm the boat now goes 6kn through the water, something I never was able to do with the old fixed 12/12 tri-blade, even when revving as high as 3000rpm. One downside we found out just past San Pablo point: The wash from the prop is so powerful it pushed water through the cockpit drain pipes back into the boat, and it started siphoning into the bilge. Big surprise when I looked down the hatch and saw water puddling over the floor boards! Even after turning off the engine the siphoning wouldn't stop and the bilge pump wasn't able to push against it, so the water level kept rising :-o. So for a moment I thought we had a serious issue from somewhere else, but once we started the manual bilge pump I figured it out where the water was coming from and we were able to clear all the water out. So another thing I have to update on this boat: Make sure the drain pipe loops way above the waterline to prevent siphoning, plus install a backwash valve at the pump. Other than that we managed to cross the jib and main halyards so the jib wouldn't unfurl. Need to fix that, too..