WASHING YOUR TURBO

It doesn't seem right, putting water into the air intake of a diesel engine, but Yanmar wants you to periodically wash your turbo.

The process:

RUN A WARM ENGINE IN NEUTRAL AT 3000 RPM.

PUT 50 CC OF LIQUID DETERGENT IN THE AIR INTAKE OVER 10 SECS.

WITH ENGINE RUNNING WAIT 3 MINUTES.

REPEAT THE PROCESS WITH 50 CC OF FRESH WATER.

Does anyone have any direct experience completing this service issue?

CHARMED'S BOTTOM

Charmed was launched sixteen months ago with two coats of Pettit Ultima SR Ablative Bottom Paint, a blue signal coat, and a black finish coat.  The bottom remained clean in waters, New England to the Chesapeake to the Keys to Maine and back to the Chesapeake.  Almost no barnacles.  A little slime.  However, I wish a second black finish coat had been installed.  Even though there was little blue showing, there appeared to be thinning spots, probably as much from installation quality as from wear.  The water line wore well, even with a half dozen light brushings over the months to remove weed and other goo.

This week three gallons of black Ultima SR went on Charmed's bottom.  The three gallons covered one and three quarters coats.  Pettit's Quantity Calculator says three gallons should have gone two coats.  The paint was clean and easy to apply using a five gallon bucket and a paint screen that hangs over the edge of the bucket.  The Ultima is thick and likely goes on thicker than Pettit says is the one coat dry film thickness.

Charmed was painted at this point to make sure we keep a good bottom.  Now we think we might easily get two plus years before we must haul again to address the condition of the bottom.

http://www.pettitpaint.com/fileshare/product_pds/1129706.pdf

http://www.pettitpaint.com/paint_calculator.asp

DINGHY CLEANING

Charmed's one year old white dinghy looks brand new again!  Over the last year, we have kept it as clean as we could, washing it periodically, usually while in the dinghy using rain water, or while in the water next to it using salt water.  But today we had the opportunity to put the dinghy on a couple of saw horses three feet high, and we had plenty of water with which to address the dingy dinghy.

Mary Kate ON OFF Hull Cleaner is fabulous and the whole answer for the fiberglass hull.  It literally is as simple as putting the cleaner on, waiting a minute, and rinsing it off.  When dry the fiberglass is ready for wax.

Mary Kate Inflatable Cleaner is fabulous, however it is not the whole answer for the hypalon tubes.  To get the tubes absolutely clean required using Soft Scrub with Bleach in a second step, after the Mary Kate cleaner stopped doing magic in a few spray on, scrub lightly, rinse off cycles.  The Soft Scrub worked best by applying it, scrubbing medium hard with a short bristle brush, waiting a little but not letting it dry, scrubbing medium hard, waiting a little, and so on.  It probably took three fresh applications of Soft Scub to get all the brown and green off the tube area at the waterline and below.

Now that the dinghy is again clean as it is going to get, we will remain diligent about getting it out of the water most nights.  We know it will be impossible to keep the dinghy clean though.  There is a lot of scummy water on the eastern coast of the United States.

While the two Mary Kate products mentioned above worked well for us, we were completely unsatisfied with ROLL OFF.  ROLL OFF is a blue liquid that is not cheap.  It didn't do a thing for the dinghy fiberglass or tubes.  It also didn't do a thing for the stains on the fiberglass of the mothership.  It may work well for other cleaning tasks.

For others with a RIB, keep in mind debris works its way into the space between the inside of the hull and lower part of the tube, where the hull attaches to the tubes.  It was amazing how much grass, sand and other goo was flushed out of this area, along the whole inside perimeter of the boat.

THE CITY

Charmed made New York City about 2:00 pm last Sunday, having departed Port Washington four hours before.  It was a wonderful sail through the west end of Long Island Sound, by Rikers Island, through Hell Gate, by the big buildings, past the Statue of Liberty.  We planned and rode the maximum ebbing current of the East River for a fun flush between Roosevelt and Manhattan Islands and under the Brooklyn Bridge.  Over 11 knots SOG at times.  We then had to work against the current up the Hudson, hoping for a mooring at the West 79th Street Boat Basin, before the George Washington Bridge.  The moorings are not reserved but handled first come, first served.  At only $30.00 a night they are popular.  Once within radio range we were given bad news, none were available.  We sailed on, looked anyway, happened to find one, and were told we could have it.

Once on the mooring we sat amazed at the state of the river and the current.  The mooring balls were nearly under water a large part of the time.  BOAT SPEED was sometimes over three knots, and we were parked!  The waves were two feet.  The swells were higher.  It was not comfortable, and we wondered how safe we were.  The harbor master had assured us . . . .

Deciding to sit on the boat until the current was slack the next morning, we enjoyed the scenery from the cockpit until bed time.  There was no sleeping on Charmed that night!  The boat bounced and bounced.  The mooring tackle made loud, horrible noises.  We wondered whether the mooring pennants would hold and inspected them for chafe every hour.  More often for the periodic louder than loud noises.

About 4:00 am we decided we were not going to stay on these moorings.  We would not be comfortable leaving the boat for any length of time, at all for that matter.  We had not even seen business day river traffic yet!  Now we just wanted enough daylight to depart.

Once the big boats and fast ferries started passing us just before daylight conditions even got worse.  A loud pop turned out to be the parting of one of the strands of one of the two three-strand nylon rope pennants.  Now sitting at the helm, watching and waiting for sunrise, I thought it might just be best if we broke off.  Then we wouldn't have to deal with casting off.

Once Charmed started to swing with the slacking and changing current, and the light started coming up, we did cast off.  We found the Liberty Harbor Marina fuel dock up Morris Canal and waited until 8:00 am for them to open.  By 9:00 we were docked and napping in a calm cove.  Liberty Harbor's tag line is "Are you tired of being bounced around on the Hudson?"  We were, in less than half of a full twenty-four hour day.

Settled in at LIberty Harbor we now could enjoy New York.  Like all tourists we walked and walked and looked and looked.  A dinner with Cousin Jim and his friend Jason, and being in the audience of Who Wants to be a Millionaire, arranged by friend Al, were highlights of this trip to The City.

This was our second visit to New York by boat.  On the first visit we stayed in The North Cove, a marina on the Manhattan side of the Hudson.  It is a good place and very convenient to The City.  They looked full this time, and we wanted calm as calm could be.  The North Cove rocks and rolls throughout the day.  It settles down some at night.  Liberty Harbor is complete calm, and we needed that after one night exposed on the Hudson.

BOOM VANG BWOKE

Somewhere along the way, the boom vang on Charmed bwoke. The vang is a Sparcraft rigid vang, operated by gas cylinders used as extension springs. The gas cylinders failed. When, is anybody's guess because a topping lift backs up the vang to make sure the boom stays off the dodger, and the rigid vang worked as a sail control while sailing, even without the extension springs.

Charleston Spar was kind enough to say they would fix the vang and return it promptly. They said reworking the vang was not a task easily done on the boat. The issue, how do you get a vang to Charleston, SC, from one city, and get it back in another city? The issue is one of location and timing, possibly complicated by weather.

At the time returning the vang was deemed necessary, Charmed was close enough to Hellier Yacht Sales to back track and leave the vang for them to return to Sparcraft. The Shaw's Cove Bridge blocked the last five hundred yards back to Hellier, but good friend Dan happened along in his dinghy while Charmed was floating in the New London harbor. The vang was delivered to Hellier by dinghy, then to Charleston Spar by UPS.

Once repaired, we predicted where Charmed would be when the vang was returned by UPS. Good friend Al in Fanwood, NJ, agreed to accept the package and work with us to get it to the boat while here in New York City. The vang was in a box 8 inches by 8 inches by 7 feet, and once received, Al started toward Newark Penn Station on one train. I started toward the station on another. The box was lateraled with just a few stares.

The logistics of getting this vang fixed and back on board were interesting. Getting it fixed and returned could have been done more simply. Most marinas will accept packages for transiet boaters, and there are always the stores offering shipping services. Though it is always somewhat of a challenge to limit the handling and expense of getting goods to boat.

NOT FLOATING IN NORTH COVE

So the North Cove presents a new element to sailing.  Moorings are
available.  Locals may tell you there is enough water.  But there
ain't!

During the worst of the storm today, I am watching and watching.
Charmed and many other similar sized resident boats around me are
lying the same way to wind and current.  All is well.

But then a smaller boat starts swinging on its mooring, and it gets
closer and closer to Charmed.  The smaller boat is clocking around
with the wind.  Charmed is not.  When the smaller boat gets within
about ten feet I finally figure out what is wrong with the picture.
Charmed and the other bigger boats are anchored in the mud!

So I start the engine and slug my way forward about ten feet, still on
the mooring.  Viola!  Deep water.  Charmed swings and starts hanging
like the other smaller boats.  There are still a dozen boats
stuck here in the mud.  Based on the size and style of some of them,
some are in here with six foot drafts.  It is too shallow for
Charmed's five feet, except at mid tide or above.

SOMETIMES YOU HAVE TO GO LOOK

Sometimes you have to go look, then you find you have to turn around,
and find a protected anchorage, mooring, or slip. Today was one of
those days for solo crew on Charmed.

Charmed was at the service dock of Old Lyme Marina yesterday and this
morning to have a professional look at her valves, injectors, muffler,
belts, etc. While Charmed's crew can do these things, crew has chosen
to have service performed by a certified Yanmar mechanic through most
of the warranty period.

Since service was completed in short order, thank you very much, Josh
and Mark, by 10:00 am this morning, it was hoped Charmed could make
Clinton before the upcoming round of severe thunderstorms. It was
just not to be. First, winds were up higher than was being reported.
Second, winds were from a worse direction than was being reported.
Seas, waves, were not bad, except at the mouth of the Connecticut
River, where the outgoing current opposed the heavy winds. However,
both seas and winds would buck progress. Making Clinton was struck
from the plan.

Back to Old Lyme was one bailout option. Essex and Hamburg Cove were
others. But North Cove looked so enticing. It was near by. There
were tall masts sticking up in it. A call to Old Saybrook Marina gave
some hope it would be deep enough. A call to Sea Tow gave a bit more
hope. Both advisors mentioned moorings with a yellow streamer were
free for the taking. Both suggested not going too deep into the cove.
Charmed landed on the fourth mooring from the channel entrance on the
centerline of the cove.

At thirty minutes before dead low, there is less than a whole foot
under Charmed's keel, and I am reminded of sailor friend Gil's words
of wisdom, "All the water over six inches under your keel is wasted!"

Regarding the reason for being near here, the service work, every
valve set on Charmed's Yanmar 4JH4 TE 75 hp Diesel Auxiliary Engine
had to be adjusted. It was noted all of the turbos are being found to
have come out of adjustment, and they should be monitored as requested
by Yanmar.

LEAVING SOUTHERN NEW ENGLAND

Charmed is lying Shaw's Cove again, a good spot to be while Tropical
Storm Hanna passes over. Shaw's Cove is also a good spot to mark the
place and time of the beginning of a second voyage south.

Once Craig helps move a boat to the Newport Boat Show for Hellier,
Charmed will sail to Old Lyme Marina for preventative maintenance work
on the auxiliary engine, mostly a close look at injectors and valves.
Then it's over to Port Jefferson to collect Debbie when she returns
from visiting family and friends in Florida. Then to Oyster Bay.
Then to Port Washington. Then to The CIty for several days.

Possible stops after New York will be Sandy Hook, Atlantic City, Cape
May, Chesapeake City, and Rock Hall. We plan a short haul for Charmed
in Rock Hall to get her bottom painted.

NO WHALES

Charmed purposefully crossed Stellwagen Bank twice, hoping to see whales. While reports of sightings keep coming in, we unfortunately saw none. See this site: Whale Center, for what we missed.

When in Provincetown, we almost paid for the pleasure of seeing whales. But it was agreed it would not be the same. Charmed's crew would like to see whales from our boat.