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

We're getting pretty tired of all the news, telecommuting, tech, etc so the Mrs and I have decided we're going to "Social Distance" for a few days at our little bitty Patagonia Lake next week. Not very big but at least it is water.

In preparation for that, I made time today to install two new fuel level sending units in Desert Dory's fuel tanks. The ones in there were the originals from 1989 and, for some odd reason, decided they didn't want to work any more. (insert sarcasm font here) Cheap junk!!! You'd think you get at least a good 40 years out of them instead of just 30

While I do have the ETec tied to the Garmin to keep track of fuel flow/usage, distance to empty, and all that cool stuff, it's also nice to just glance at a gauge and say "Hey! We might want to think about getting some gas!"

Anyhow, that's my project for the day. Tomorrow I'll be building a pump-up sprayer shower to rinse the Corona's off of us while we're out.

Cheers and be safe!
 
Had a few hours underway. Did several hunderd hours boating on the Cruiser all winter and few boats to be seen. Today was a big difference, as there were LOTS of small boats and mid size boats, flying around the river. Some going over 50 kts and breaking many rules, around bridges and non wake-slow speed areas. The state/city marine police and the CG were not on the water. I can only hope there were no casualties.
 
https://youtu.be/dYSuatUagjw
Doing my part for social distancing, I made a solo dive at Spongehenge this morning. I stuck Merry's GoPro in the sand under the Rodeo Bar and moved away so the Giant Sea Bass could do their thing in privacy. I peeked in on them a few times to make sure they hadn't eaten the camera.

Visibility was a respectable fifteen feet for the first half hour, but deteriorated to five feet during the last half of the dive. Only three fish showed up today. We've noticed that the big ones tend to stay away when conditions are bad.
 
Since I am sheltering in place and fishing is not allowed I decided to fix a leak I had around the Bomar Hatch!
I noticed it leaked through the inner silicone seal as seen from inside looking up towards the hinges on the hatch. I removed the hatch and cleaned up the wood that had been compromised around the hinges and also removed some wood all the way around the opening and mounting screw holes which I will put resin around tomorrow. (Pictures in my album).
One question I do have is what was used around the hatch to seal it to the deck? It looked like 4200 but seemed softer like a white silicone Also what would you suggest when I put it back on? I have some 4200 but might seem overkill?
Fish on!
 
Route out all of the wet wood (balsa core). When dry (you have the time option here), coat the exposed edge of the wood, with "neat" (unthickened) epoxy resin---not polyester. Thicker the epoxy and then fill up to the edge of the fiberglass. Be sure all of the screws are going back in thru thickened epoxy (let it cure), with proper size pilot holes.

4200 is fine for sealant. Factory used a Bostick product. 4000 will be less likely to "yellow", but if the sealant is not much beyond the edge of the aluminum, the 4200 will do fine.

I use Cabosil and medium density filler for thickening. I believe this gives the best combination of strength and workability.
 
My China virus check came in--- so I ordered a new Garmin autopilot for C-Hawk.
I installed all new Garmin electronics 4 years ago and the old Raymarine analog auto wouldn't talk with the new digital gear.
 
I spent today, and several recent evenings, as well as the last two weekends, fixing up Curious Traveler and getting her ready to launch. You can see pics post scrubbing, polishing, and waxing, in my album. Took a lot of elbow grease after several years of being ignored by her previous owner.

-Re-bedded cockpit hardware and the transducer
-painted the outboard bracket portion that stays underwater
-sealed the top edge of the rubrail
-replaced the bait well drain hose
-purchased a new battery charger

The list is getting shorter. Hoping to launch this weekend.
 
Today was pressure wash all of the mold spots off of the hull. :sad

Took off the mooring cover and was amazed at all of the mold spots
inside. :smileo

Happens when we have a relatively warm winter. :sad

Next will be spraying down everything with vinegar and tomorrow start the engines. :smilep
 
Had a fiberglass guy fix an eight inch crack in the head last week. The boat is now clean, waxed and looking new. I put all of our dive gear and supplies back onboard this morning. Hoping to go diving in the next few days. We have a red tide in SoCal right now, so I'll have to find a spot clear enough to get in the water.
 
I've been doing a lot of "teleworking" lately which, for my job, means not a whole lot of productivity. Soooo, I have been making use of the off time to do a few projects on the Dory.

Added a House battery using the Blue Sea "Add a Battery" kit. I installed the house battery in the port lazarette and the battery selector switch/smart relay in the starboard lazarette where the starter battery was mounted.

There really shouldn't be much load on the house battery, mostly just lights which I have already switched out to LED.

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I found a Yakima gutter mount rack on CraigsList for $50 bucks so that went on next. Made some gutter brackets from extruded aluminum stock (Can you believe Yakima wants $50 A PAIR for their brackets???) and was going to mount then directly to the cabin top but, I decided I really didn't want to drill a bunch of holes thru the top.

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Then a buddy gave me this piece of shelving he was going to through away. I used it under the sink/stove sine we had no shelf under there.

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After a few times out in the boat, and climbing off the bow when beaching, I decided to add a boarding ladder à la Joe on Sea Wolf.

It's going to need a little tweak but, in the end, I think it's going to work out great.

Thanks Joe!

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Looking at the angle of the support tube for the bow rail, do you think that the railing will support a heavy load on the ladder?

I can see attaching the ladder to the fore deck. Personally, I'm not so sure the railing can handle the load.
 
ssobol":3mas5zgu said:
Looking at the angle of the support tube for the bow rail, do you think that the railing will support a heavy load on the ladder?

I can see attaching the ladder to the fore deck. Personally, I'm not so sure the railing can handle the load.
Click to expand...

You know, I hadn't really thought of that, and you may be right. I'm 180 and now I'm not sure if the rail would take my weight more than a few times.

I suppose that's why we post these things up here. Feedback is always good and I'm usually not as smart as I think I am. Thanks for having me think that through.

As much as I'd rather not do it, I guess I'll be drilling holes 😬
 
I mounted my ladder on the side of the cockpit to be used as a swimming, or emergency boarding ladder. my 16' draws so little water, I figure if I needed to go ashore, I would run the boat in and step over the side. :wink
 
Desert Dory":3cjb5ph2 said:
ssobol":3cjb5ph2 said:
Looking at the angle of the support tube for the bow rail, do you think that the railing will support a heavy load on the ladder?

I can see attaching the ladder to the fore deck. Personally, I'm not so sure the railing can handle the load.
Click to expand...

You know, I hadn't really thought of that, and you may be right. I'm 180 and now I'm not sure if the rail would take my weight more than a few times.

I suppose that's why we post these things up here. Feedback is always good and I'm usually not as smart as I think I am. Thanks for having me think that through.

As much as I'd rather not do it, I guess I'll be drilling holes 😬
Click to expand...

FWIW, I think that the bow railing is designed for lateral loads of maybe about 1/2 a person, not the full weight of someone essentially sitting on the railing. It's meant to keep you from falling off the bow, nothing more.
 
I just got that same ladder through Amazon! Definitely put some holes in your boat to mount it but make sure you drill and hollow out some of your core to fill with resin then re-drill. I plan on mounting mine next Monday or Tuesday so if you want I’ll send some photos of the install.
Fish on!
 
Been very busy prepping Midnight Flyer for sale. Knowing my extensive electronics would not bring much return in of their cost, and having several items with my MMSI number in them and not wanting to transfer the number or get a new number, I've pulled my Radar, radios, AIS and autopilot from Flyer to move over to my new boat. That has left mounting holes that needed to be filled, sanded and painted. All the filling is done, and coarse sanding completed. Today finish and wet sanding and paint later today or tomorrow. Remount one VHF and GPSMAP 541, and Midnight Flyer will be ready for someone to take home. Next up will be reinstalling the electronics onto C-Traveler.
 
ssobol":7a99782i said:
FWIW, I think that the bow railing is designed for lateral loads of maybe about 1/2 a person, not the full weight of someone essentially sitting on the railing. It's meant to keep you from falling off the bow, nothing more.
Click to expand...

My new boat has a bow railing that goes back a little further with more down tubes. The upper rail has a tiny bit of "scalloping" between the uprights. Most wouldn't notice, but I know that somebody in the past decided that sitting on the bow rail (hopefully at anchor) would be refreshing. The prior Captain should have yelled at them.

Mark
 
We hauled our Tomcat out in January after the starboard shaft sheared in two. I thought about replacing the port shaft as well but didn't want to spend the extra money in case nothing ever happened to it. Well...

As we were pulling back into the slip the other night I heard the familiar sound of a bushing grinding on the shaft, this time from the port motor. I quickly shut it off. We hauled the boat out yesterday and sure enough, the bushing was trashed. The shaft didn't break but will need to be replaced.

Merry agreed with me that the next time this happens will be the time for new outboards. I wonder if 175HP motors would be too much for a Tomcat.

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I know that with the Suzuki the 175's work fine, and I believe some have put the 200 4 cylinder in. My boat with the 150 Suzuki's would hit close to 49 mph when light and in the 46 mph WOT 6,000 RPM when loaded. So you are probably looking at close to 50 mph with 175/200's depending on loading. I believe it is the proping and lower unit gear ratio's which give the Suzuki the edge speed wise over the Honda's. But you have Honda gauges etc...If I am reading the specs right, the 175 has the same weight.
 
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