SO WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OR ON YOUR C-DORY TODAY??

Finished taking interior pictures for the album and just futzed around...Will soon be warm enough to paint the bottom and get into the water. :smiled Jack
 
Spent the day out enjoying the calm water. Caught a few fish, read, listened to "The Vinyl Cafe", a wonderful Canadian radio show, and just had a great time. Three of the last four days C-Run and I have putted around the home waters. Love it!!!! :wink: Robbi
 
Pandy Girl, I sent you a longer process response regarding how we added the 4th interior seat. Good luck with the project.
The short answer is that I overlayed the top of the water tank door with a teak 2x6 so the jump seat can be mounted between the aft bench seat and the stove counter just inside the door.
Total cost under $250.
Value of not giving the last inside seat to our guest while Kathleen stands and I skipper....priceless.
 
This past weekend, I finished the sling bunk project. See the Carpeting Trailer Bunks thread for the details. What I wanted to add was the whole process it took for me to finish that project.

Basically, in order for me to work on the trailer, I had to get the boat off the trailer and in the water (duh!). This gave Caryn a chance to skipper the boat by herself for the very first time. It was a good experience for her and added to her confidence in handling the boat. She's driven the boat a lot but not all by herself with no one else in the boat with her. We launched at the Atlantic Street launch (I don't know why they name it that, Atlantic Street is about 5 miles north), she drove the boat about 2 miles to Andrews Bay. I took the truck and trailer to the house, dropped off the trailer, loaded the dinghy and met her by dinghy in Andrews Bay.

There we anchored for only the second time ever and the first time ever in Andrews Bay (even though we live 3 blocks from it!). That was quite an experience. The water was still, flat and very calm most of the night but due to our inexperience, the swinging on the hook was very unnerving, plus I set the drag anchor alarm to low. It turns out the anchor was dug in the mud well because I could see the arc of the swing of the boat on the GPS. I'm glad we weren't out in salt water with the current, wind and waves. I wouldn't have slept at all! :teeth

Sunday morning we dinghied back to the truck, I finished drilling and bolting on the sling bunks, dinghied back to the boat and Caryn drove back to the boat launch. I drove the truck back home, dropped off the dinghy, connected the trailer and met her at the launch. The boat seemed to load just fine on the new bunks. The end of a very busy and tiring weekend on the boat in very cold and wintering conditions. I can't wait until summer!!!
 
Myself and Smokey my dog took the C-FLE out yesterday around 1 PM. It was Smokey's first voyage in a while he's been going through the heart worm treatment and been sort of under the weather. He really got excited when I suited him up in his life vest. We cruised out through a creek leading to the inlet and caught two nice blue fish while trolling for speckle trout. The wind was blowing about 15 from the NE and the Inlet was pretty rough so we anchored up behind bird island and I rigged a couple bottom rigs and in no time we had 12 nice fat whiting in the cooler plus a small flounder. Next the clear nose stingrays started biting. We must have caught a dozen of them one was probably 10 pounds. Seemed as if they had run the whiting away so I put away the fishing gear and we fried up the bluefish I had bleed in a five gallon bucket. We sat comfy in the cabin watching some other fishermen in open boats fighting the cold wind while we dined on the bluefish. Man I love this C-Dory! We got back to the dock about dark. Life is good.
 
Finally got the CAT out of the water today and onto the trailer. Had not hauled it out before only launched it after I bought it in Sept 07. Found that I didn't need any slicks (anyone want 40 feet of trailer slicks?), just put the bow up on the bunks and drove it onto the trailer with the engines. No problem at all!

Now to cut a hole in the hull ( :shock: :roll: ) for the A/C suction and start installing all the goodies. Will document these in the appropriate forum.

Charlie
 
AC thats funny.
The day after we took delivery I went looking for an ice chest that 1. had wheels, 2. had cup holders, and 3. would make the most use out of the bow bed cut out where one might put a toilet for those longer trips hours from a dock. I found one and it works great.
Today we had a warm afternoon and I got to thinking about shrimp season and how to make room for shrimp pots, the line real and an icebox outside as well as 4-6 people. Levitation is not my thing and I made the choice to get a transom rail for poll holders over the icebox rack offered by the dealer. I did not like how it would block my view of the 90honda angle or the way it sticks into the floor area. The rear of the boat from left to right as you look back has the 9.9 kicker, 90 and a swim step. I found that a large ice chest would fit between the 90 and the right side storage/ live well and if elevated so the top is about 2" above the storage hatch, it did not conflict in any way with the 90's range of motion or the steering works or the rod holders. I built a rack which sits down in the outboard well out of a few pieces of framing lumber, rigged a line to tie the chest fast and it works like a charm. No bending over to get your beer and extra counter space when camping/lunching.
Total cost estimate $2.50.
I intend to have a rack fabricated out of stainless at some point but will need to sell the old Arima before kathleen can be happy about any more big purchases. She is more than fair and the problem is solved for now anyway.
When I am ready, I can just take the boat over with the wood rack and ice chest in place and have the shop match the orientation.

I also fabricated interior rod storage that holds up to 4 rods per side just above the side windows and requires no holes in the fiberglass. Reels have to be removed and the rubber holders are mounted to aluminum which is attached to the window frames using existing screw holes and matching screws 1/4" longer than what I started with. Nylon washers make this a no mark addition and I wave been out on rough water with no vibration or loss of grip on the rods.
 
Sounds like some interesting projects/ideas Steve, Why don't you PM Tyboo or Da Nag to get a photo album set up and show us all some of your handiwork? I'd like to see it for sure.
 
Ya the photo posting thing....I will need to master that ...some day soon.
If we make it back down to the Jarrel Cove get together after opening day of shrimp season I can show some things and learn some things. It is fun though.
 
Subleased a slip at Lakewood on Lake Washington, from now thru April. Put in at Bellevue and toodeled over to set lines. Thank God for Spring and $5.00 off coupons at Ivars!!
 
Hi folks,
Well, Knot Home was out of the water for a week at Mobile East Marine, getting the 100 hr service checkup :& a few minor items. We felt "at sea without a boat", particularly when there were a few nice days. Got her back in on Mon., then finally Fri. it warmed up a bit to maybe 70F, sunny, breezy.
We left the marina at about 11AM, with Subway sandwiches in hand, headed down river about 15 miles to the Minnesott Beach Ferry crossing, just to sit a while, eat, what the ferries and any birdlife. Last trip about 3 wks ago there were huge flocks of migrating ducks on the water and flying. This time just a bunch of Cormorants at the ferry slip.
Headed back upriver about 2:30, went to town, did a real senior citizen thing -- I got my lifetime NC Saltwater fishing license. A $15 bargain, even tho' a license for saltwater fishing is an incendiary topic in many areas. NC does a pretty good job of providing some benefits to boaters, so I don't begrudge them. But, they wanted $450 for a freshwater lifetime lic. Not from me, I'll stick to the coast.
The river skinnies down to about 2 miles wide right here. Oriental and the Pamlico Sound are another few miles downstream.
Minnesott_Ferry_1.jpg
Cormorants_1.jpg
Cormorants_pecking_order.jpg
Do you suppose there's a pecking order established here?
Sometime last yr we were in the same area when a big pod of Dolphins came surfing on by.
Can't wait for a little bit warmer nites when we will go out on some overnite trips.
 
Sea Angel's projects are still rolling along.

Today I added a docking line system using HARKEM Cam Cleats and Shockcord (Bungee cord) Line Hangers, each of which I purchased from West Marine.

This setup keeps the handholds clear, the cockpit deck clear and I don't have to leave the cockpit for any 'tending'.

The pixs are on line, but I'm still very slow as to the 'paste' process from my album; besides, they would take up a lot of extra real estate here since they are already on the server. That is my excuse and I'm sticking to it; till I get a little smarter.
 
Sea Angel - Would you believe I was logged on tonight to do research about how to hang docking lines to simplify single-handed ops!?

Did you consider using the horizontal mounted cleats which are straight? (They all seem to be called "cam cleats" so I don't know how to differentiate them. Upper right-hand corner of the west marine catalog page 1226 for a picture of what i am talking about: http://ecatalog.westmarine.com/zoom.asp?page=1228
)
Your install looks really nice. Thanks for sharing!
 
johnbenj":379uqrxm said:
Did you consider using the horizontal mounted cleats which are straight?

I believe the two are fundamentally different. The one Sea Angel chose allows you to pull the line through the cleat and let go when it is at the desired tension and the cleat will hold it at that point.

The one you chose does not allow you to pull the line through, or at least not very easily. Instead, you would push the line into the cleat at the point you wanted it held. The advantage of this one is that it has no moving parts. It's probably cheaper, too.

I'm sure one of the ex-sailors here will set me straight if I have it wrong.

Warren
 
These are clamcleats (Notice spelling with the "L":

clamcleat.jpg

Warren is correct that they are cheaper and have no moving parts. The aluminum ones las a lot longer than the plastic ones. Some have a built in "fairlead", which traps the line next to the cleat. (see top cleat)



These are camcleats (notice the lack of the "L":

13941_f.jpg


These are easier to use, more positive, and more expensive.

They may be fitted with various kinds of "fairleads" as shown below, to trap the line being used: Again, aluminum trumps plastic.

8825200.jpg


Joe. :teeth :thup
 
On Friday, March 21 I took the 16' C, BOODALU-TOO for its first trip. My wife and I had her in the Mississippi River for about an hour and she handled pretty well considering the river is way up, full of debris, and the wind was blowing with 30 mph gusts. The boat was very easy to launch and retrieve and the 50hp Mercury worked "like a honda". The BOODALU (TomCat) remains snug in her heated garage for now and since it snowed last night she is happy she is there.
 
Seawolf shows the clamcleat (open style) which I used for my bow line. I mounted one on each side of the cockpit in line between the corner where the cabin meets the walk around ledge and the gunnel storage shelf. I ran the bow line out around the forward most rail support and then back where I snug it into place and store the excess in the shelf. The hangers look nice and are a good option for longer storage of the lines, but they go counter to the idea of minimising time away from the helm. In this set up I can step off solo with both lines in hand or I can run the end of the line through a buoy ring and walk up to the nose and tie off the end for mooring.
 
Seawolf also shows the camcleat (larger red) I added to my shrimp pot puller in line with the line as you pay it into the boat from the base of the wheel. These are a lot more expensive and are overkill, in my opinion when your intent is to keep a stored line which will never be adjusted. Also mounting the cleat low and inside the cockpit is a bit more safe since if the line comes out of a cleat mounted higher on the cabins outer wall, it will slack overboard and may be pulled into the water. If this line is long enough to reach the prop, this is a very real liability.
Just my 50 cent worth
 
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