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

Colby, Yes I do travel with the OB's up. They were ate about 30 degrees, now up to about 45. I block them up, and have always trailered with them up. Going onto and off the Ferries, I raise them all the way up, depending on the tide height and the ferry approach ramps, but to be cautious, I just put them all the way up.

As to the bounce clearance. The bunks are on the trailer frame, and the fenders are attached to that frame also. The springs and axles move below the frame, so the clearance between fenders, frame and boat remain constant.

Yes to the decreased wind resistance, but I will be surprised if it is very noticeable, cornering now though is going to be fun :wink: wonder if I can drift it :roll: :lol:

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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With the goal to put more hours on the new motor, Caryn and I started our weekend trip in the San Juan's yesterday in beautiful, sunny weather and calm seas. We had a chance to bring the motor up to WOT for the first time. We tested out at the bottom of the range and will need to go down in pitch. For most of the trip we cruised very nicely at 4200 rpm for a very relaxing trip to Deer Harbor. The motor felt great and was purring like a kitten. It is very different running the motor without a Permatrim. We've always had one. I'm putting off installing one while seeing if I like running without it. Im pretty sure I don't. Plus I've read varying opinions stating that installing one would void my warranty, which I wouldn't want to do. I don't think it's true but I want to be sure.

We woke up this morning greeted by Mike R on his boat Big C putting in the fairway at Deer Harbor. He was on his way to Stuart Island. It was great chatting with him for a few minutes. The weather was forecast for small craft advisory with winds picking up in the afternoon. We left Deer Harbor at around 12:30 with the objective of crossing Rosario Strait, the biggest body of water in the San Juan's, before the winds came up. I guess we should have left an hour earlier.

Crossing Rosario was a little gnarly with 3-4 footers and several 5 foot troughs. But we tacked across, quartering the waves and C-Dancer with the new motor handled the seas like a champ. We weren't ever worried as we've been in worse conditions and this little boat always proves its seaworthiness. We were the only boat crossing Rosario except for the big ferry.

We really didn't realize how windy it was until we got into Cap Sante marina in Anacortes and tried to dock against the wind. That was no fun, actually way more stressful than Rosario Strait was. But Caryn did a great job of handling the lines and got us tied securely to the dock. It turns out we were in probably 20-25 knot winds, way windier than we thought. Who knew? I guess no boats on the water should have given us a clue. :disgust. We're now waiting out the SCA in hopes we can get back to Twin Bridges tomorrow in calmer conditions. Just another fun weekend in the Juans. I'll add pictures tomorrow as Caryn took some great shots.
 
Hi Peter it was great seeing you and Caryn at Deer Harbor yesterday. Sounds like the new 90 is doing great. I'm same way about the permatrim, obviously it will help but can't force myself to drill the holes!

After leaving DH I cruised a leisurely 6 knots to Jones then along the W side of Speiden to watch all the exotic "wildlife" grazing on the banks. Then pulled into Reid harbor around 11Am. Winds were picking up but not rough up here by then. Later I hiked out to Turn Point and OMG must have been 6 to 8 footers in the big stretch of tide rips just off the shore. The passing tankers looked like toy boats as they went through. Just finishing up breakfast here on Stuart and about to push off, might see you again at TB.

-Mike
 
Finally got Midnight Flyer cleaned up from the last month of traveling, and covered back up as it'll probably be a week or two before I have her out again. Today I also built an insert to put in the counter top where I pulled the original KISS stove out. (We had another issue with it early in our travels last month, so rather than messing with it anymore, I pulled it, and just bought a Coleman single burner portable butane stove, that worked great for the rest of the travel!) The insert is just another small section of counter top that I put some L shaped aluminum around, then siliconed into the cutout. Not perfect, but does the job.

Also, still having a small water leak issue somewhere when towing the boat in really heavy rain. I think I've narrowed it down to the center window, so will pull that later this week and reseal it.

Next trip will be in May down to Greers Ferry Lake in Arkansas. Colby
 
Just in from two weeks of live aboard Spring trials. All running great except a tiny leak still from original Seastar steering ram. It has always seeped a little. I've carried New seals aboard and this morning put them on. Pretty easy job. A bit of new oil and a bit of a bleed. Nice form helm. No leaks! The original seals have a hard plastic flat seal on the flange. The new ones a soft oring
I take it they had an issue with leaks.
Also touched up bottom paint. All set
 
Hi George, Great to see you on the site. Be even better if I can see you on the water, I need some more good C-Dory photo and video ops. Sure hope we can connect somewhere down the line this summer.

I just put SleepyC to bed for a while. Have to do some other stuff for a bit so my boating is going to be vicariously for a while. Sure a good thing C-BRATS is available. Will be watching here.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon

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Went out to pump new grease into the hubs. Nope. The blue marine grease (Sta-Lube brand) had hardened so much the gun could not pump any of it. So, I spent over an hour and 3/4 a roll of paper towels dismantling and cleaning the entire thing.
 
Recently installed one of these chargers in the stern connected the Start battery (combiner to house) to support running the 12v Freezer for short periods when plugged in a home. It seems to be working well, and has enough juice to support our ice habit when pre-freezing bottles in the boat so they are ready for action WITHOUT carrying that load to and from the home after pre-freezing in the house. IT replaced a smaller unit that was working well until we added the freezer and got greedier with power wanting to run the freezer from it at times.

On more streamlining move toward easier boat use.

https://no.co/gen1

Greg
 
Today we wired in a dedicated power supply to the electric pot puller.
After blowing the 25 amp fuse in the downrigger power supply we went with 10-2 wire with an inline 40 amp fuse.
We also installed a sliding seat mount to raise the seat and be able to move the seat back far enough to be comfortable.
I am hoping that the last project we accomplished was to mount a wall mount plastic hose reel to one of the side mount scotty downrigger mounts.
I will try the reel out Wed. When we go out for the second day of shrimping off Camano Island
 
Finally got my new bimini and camper enclosure. Just a few photos, however more can be seen in my photo album under the nested "New Bimini" album.
Colby

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Having removed the water tank to make room for the new AC, I had mounted a bladder tank under the fwd-port settee. I have never been satisfied with the outcome. Today I realized the original 20 gallon tank would fit in this space, if I mounted it on a shelf. 20 gallons of water weighs 160 lbs, so the shelf is 3/4" ply on aluminum angle brackets. I plumbed it to the original fixtures. This moved the weight forward and I didn't have to fabricate a tank.
 
Took "Starcraft Tom" fishing up north of A-town this morning. Tom hooked into a nice salmon. Too bad he didnt land it. In all honesty, it may have been a big Fraser fish that would have to go back anyway.
 
when I bought the new to me Sensei it was originally a Nevada boat and trailer. the trailer is a Pacific tandem axle drum brake on only one axle. In WA state we are required to have brakes on both axles so we just finished changing it all out to new disc brakes both axles.
I called Pacific trailer and told them my predicament and they sent me about 4 boxes full of new parts that fit the trailer perfectly . The cost was about a $1000.00 with shipping so it was worth fixing instead of buying a new trailer.
Maybe in a few years when I am ready to hit the road on a quest to visit as many C-Brat gatherings as I can , I will purchase a new aluminum trailer for the journey.
 
Well, pulled the C-Dory yesterday from the boat lift to the trailer, to conduct proper maintenance. I did push the hours a bit this past year and usually do the 100 hr service about twice a year. Now that the kids have moved away (one in TX and one in Spain), my routine is slipping with all the travel to see the grandkids.
Planed to wash, wax, change steering ram seals, engine oil, plugs, lower unit oil and water pump. Finished the top-end of the engine, steering ram seals and drained the lower unit oil. Something the color of cream came out. Now my work has slowed as I have ordered seal, gaskets, etc and have to wait a week to get them.
The problem is that I will be in Spain next week, so work will come to a halt and no C-Dory use for the rest of this weeks. Bummer!
 
Always have wanted to remove the gold pin-striping on Au'Kai. Everything on the boat is black, gray or white. Why GOLD? :?

I know it's just cosmetic, but I just didn't like it. Yesterday, I took advantage of a rare day off work and attacked the hull to start, as I do not intend to replace it on the hull. I will remove the two on the cabin top later and replace them with a gray pinstripe. Yes, I know...a lot of work for something trivial. But the boat required a good cleaning/buffing anyway, so two birds and all...

I used a 3M pinstripe removal wheel on my 18v rechargeable drill. Worked pretty well and did not burn the gel coat. The yellowing of the white gel coat was quite noticeable, once the pinstripe was gone. So I followed up with some 3M "Finesse" compound followed by Colonite fiberglass cleaner and finally Colonite Fleetwax. All with a random orbital polisher from Griot's Garage and lots of elbow grease. Starboard side is done. Looks good. I'm gonna do the entire boat little by little, as it's a ton of surface area.

Pics in the album.
 
Just mostly miss my SleepC right now. It drydocked for a few days while I'm taking care of some other business, but that water sure sounds good.

Harvey
SleepyC :moon
 
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