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

A couple of years ago I found a guy selling a radar he took off a boat he had just bought for a really good price. I finally got around to installing it. I found a radar mount at Hamilton Marine that included the light bar for quite a bit cheaper than a Scan Strut system. I did have to drill the mounting plate to match the radar antenna holes. I added a Hella Marine all around white light and mounted that to a Speed Rail fitting that fit perfectly on the light bar. I just had to paint the fitting white to match. Anyway, pretty happy with the way it all turned out.

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Well, what we did today was to save the boat!

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At 06:40 the Base Marina Manager called, saying Cat O’ Mine was listing badly and “taking on water.”

Last night a series of severe thunderstorms moved through, with over 14 to 16 inches of rain on base and winds exceeding 70-75 MPH. One guy nearby in our county was killed when a tornado touched down and downed a tree that went through his roof. A boat on A dock sank with the engine somehow ending up under the floating dock.

My only excuse for not having the boat on the trailer when Severe Weather is predicted is that the trailer has been in the shop for over three weeks awaiting new 7,000# torsion axles that are the victims of ‘supply chain issues.’ Imagine that.

The aft port scupper drain is well under water, as seen in the pic. I’m amazed that the rubber ‘flapper valve’ kept water from entering the cockpit with the aft drain so far under water that they are completely submerged, and then some. I never thought they would be effective in these conditions.

We jumped on the ‘up’ side and took turns bailing like hell. Your ‘bailing like hell’ tool of choice should be chosen well in advance of your actually needing it when the boat is sinking. Ours is this, due to the flat section which allows ‘scraping’ along the sponson and a ‘hand grip’ for one-handed use that can dodge between the wire bundles leading to the Float Switch and the Bilge Pump.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165526990966?c ... 1eaf9a65ca

We also like a vinyl collapsible four gallon bucket which we used today.

I have long advocated (for over ten years) having a high capacity bilge pump on your C-Dory. The factory installs a pump suitable for wash-down and nuisance rain water, but never for a wave in your boat or over 16 inches of rain overnight. This one remains my favorite, a 2,000 gallon per hour Rule Gold bilge pump with a SS shaft and five year warranty (which just indicates quality).

https://www.ebay.com/itm/165526990966?c ... 1eaf9a65ca

My last warranty experience was when the float switch somehow got kicked over while on the trailer, and the bilge pump ran dry for at least over three weeks before dying. Xylem (which bought Rule) sent me a brand new pump when I faxed them an invoice…no sending back the pump for ‘forensic examination.’

Yes, $550 for two sounds expensive, but our mentor Bob Austin advises not just two, but FOUR with ‘backups’ mounted at higher levels.

One gallon of water weighs eight pounds, so 2,000g in one hour weighs 16,000 pounds. I really like to think that this pump sent over the side about 2,000 x 6 hours = 12,000g of water weighing over 96,000 pounds before it died in valor trying to save our boat.

You should at least think about your options here! If one C-Dory is saved, we’ll be happy!

John
 
Did water get into the cabin? Some people saw 19" of rain over 24 hours. One man trying to rescue another man on Hwy 98 were swept through a culvert and under the four lane divided highway. They both lived. Many homes were flooded. Our housekeeper's townhome was flooded and her car totaled.

What caused the water to accumulate on port side? Was that bilge pump not working from the get go, and the other was? Or was it failed float or sensor switch. Hopefully not much damage. At a certain point with the scupper under water on that side, sinking is not far away.

There are various apps which allow a video camera or sensors such as bilge flooding or low battery voltage, activation of bilge pumps, temperature etc to stream direct to the internet so you can check on the boat remotely.

Good on the marina manager noticing the list. I have one of the largest Rule Pumps with alligator clips for the battery and a 10 foot hose for discharge.

Ideally the second bilge pump will set off a horn and/or a strobe light (thru a relay)
The second bilge pump on each side needs a separate discharge thru hull.
 
Bob,

No water in the cabin and (surprisingly) none in the aft port cockpit. A few square inches of the aft bracket was underwater, but it’s a bit below the level of the cockpit floor/bridgedeck. We keep a spare bilge pump and 20A float switch at home and connected the pump to the overboard discharge hose as soon as we got the water level low enough to remove its clamp screw. The float switch still works, though I’ll replace it later. The failed port pump was running/groaning at low RPM intermittently. I secure the float switch and pump to the bilge bottom with epoxy rather than screws. That made it easier to pry them off underwater. I secure as much of the wiring (esp the butt connectors) as high as possible. No wiring or gas lines went underwater except an intact loop of Ancor 10g portion of the solar project. So no damage at all.

Interesting side note…I called Sea Tow on the initial quick look hoping to get a de-watering pump sent over. He said they don’t do that and to call my boat insurance company. That was a surprise and we didn’t bother. It didn’t take very long to determine our bailing efforts were working and no more water was coming in.

I removed the fish box macerators years ago so we could store stuff in there without them being full of water. Fishbox water drains into the bilge to be sent overboard by the automatic bilge pumps. I do have two fishbox rubber stoppers. Perhaps it would be better to use them when heavy rain is predicted and let the fishbox overflow drain out the aft scuppers rather than into the bilge. Two water filled fish boxes would weigh a lot, though.

John
 
Sure glad to hear no damage!! I can understand the rapid bailing to get in there!! Highly motivated.

I am a little surprised at the Sea Tow response. A person I know used to have the local franchise, but no longer does.

Your experience is a place where a second bilge pump would have been useful..

In some boats the bilge pumps are virtually never used, so they are never really checked.
 
Bob,

We bought a third emergency Rule Gold 2,000 GPH pump as a backup with alligator clips and a ten foot discharge hose that can be stashed in a reasonably compact package between the three group 31 batteries. Thanks for that advice and insight!

The heat index in the shade is only 114 degrees, so we cruised 5 miles to the Ft Pickens section of the Gulf Islands National Seashore and walked on the beach for five miles in full sun after 45 minutes of weight lifting at the base gym.

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You really shouldn’t do this unless you’re used to it.

We are re-considering our trip trailering up to Canada to do the Trent Severn to Georgian Bay to Northern small boat passage to Mackinaw and down Wisconsin due to the Canadian wildfire smoke.

Colby sent a pic from Isle Royale (thanks!) and described it as ‘being around a camp fire.’ We’ll defer, since we are waiting for trailer torsion axles and even after that are due for 100 hour maintenance after completing the All Florida 1,300 water miles cruise. Who knows how long that will take. We have lots of local cruising to do!

Get out there and Safe Travels!

John
 
Colby sent a pic from Isle Royale (thanks!) and described it as ‘being around a camp fire.’

Actually that was in Door County, near Egg Harbor or Fish Creek. It has cleared up considerably today, but still a bit hazy in the distance. It was pretty bad this past week however. Visibility was barely 1/4 mile and smelled terrible. I feel bad for our Canadian friends. Several years ago it was our west coast burning. Colby
 
Moved both my VHF radio antennas on C-Traveler to the outer roof, just about even with the nav lights. The port one use to be mounted on the handrail. However, the starboard one was mounted on the cabin side hull below the window. So that one is raised about 4'. That should give me a little better coverage for my second raido, and my AIS transreceiver. Colby
 
Installed a football sized transducer. Airmar TM185M. It's a 1,000 watt medium cone chirp. Hopefully it doesn't slow me down too much!
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Our water heater's plastic drain valve developed a slow leak. It kept filling the shower sump every hour or so. I tried to remove it so I could replace it with a brass valve but it wouldn't budge. After thirty minutes of cussing and sweating, I gave up before I had a chance to break the valve off in the threads. I ended up removing the drain hose and capped the drain off.
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Finishing up a project today:
- flush hydraulic fluid from steering
- attempt to fix frozen AP motor
- refill with new fluid

Unfortunately, I destroyed the AP motor trying to disassemble it. At least 1 of the bearings was rusted frozen and either my work on it resulted in the magnets breaking loose or the adhesive holding them in place had already failed. I disassembled most of the bi-di valve and it seems to be ok. Given the price of a new old motor (RPU80) and the risk of the AP still not working, I've opted for a new AP system at some point. With that in mind, I removed the entire AP system including the tees and lines for the pump. If anyone wants/needs the RPU80 valve, you're welcome to it.

I purchased a gallon of compatible fluid from the local small airfield (Pearson Field here in Vancouver) and a bubble purge set that includes the lines for the dual actuators. I should have the system fully operational today!

If anyone in the local area wants to flush and/or purge, let me know if you want help and/or use of the purge system.
 
It took four days, but I was finally able to replace my starboard macerator pump from the fish locker with a Whale Gulper Grouper.
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I had replaced the JABSCO macerator pump before, and after two failed pumps I decided to go with a different type. I didn't know the installation would be so difficult. It turned into the third case of a shortened hose from the C-Dory factory.

The rigging hoses to the outboards popped off within the first couple of days of owning the boat. I tried several methods of keeping them in place including hose clamps and duct tape. Nothing worked, and saltwater intrusion eventually caused the outboards to rust badly.

We had gas fumes in the boat for several years. I could never find a leak, so we drove with the windows open until one time I heard gas going into the bilge while filling the tanks. The starboard filler hose wasn't long enough to reach the inlet, so gas and fumes were escaping into the bilge for ten years. We were lucky the boat never exploded.

The two-inch hose from the fish locker was so short that the only way to connect it to the pump was by reaching one hand through the deck plate in front of the battery switches and feeling for the nozzle and hose clamp with one hand. I dropped the hose clamp and it slid down the hose out of reach. I had to use a fishing camera and spaghetti tongs to finally grab it and slide it back up. I was ready to resort to cutting a hole in the fish locker but decided to give it one last try yesterday. I was able to get the hose clamp over the nozzle and tighten it enough by hand so it wouldn't slip when I put a ratchet to it.
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I was happy to not have to cut a hole, but I told Merry that a boat is a lot like a torture chamber.
 
Finally, after nearly 2 years of ownership, we spent the night on C-Otter! We had a marvelous time and most important to me is my wife is asking if we can do it again next week! :D

Here's a pic facing west over the top of the boat. We anchored and then tied a line from the stern to the exposed top of a tree that was mostly submerged in the water. This is technically on the Lewis River just below the Saddle Dam (which makes Yale Reservoir).

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Did you put in at the saddle dam boat ramp? I've never actually gone down there to check it out, always go to cresap. Looks nice.

I saw you at Ridgefield a couple of weekends ago. Not very many Tomcats around here. Actually, I dont think I know of any others
 
We put in at Cresap and motored east toward Saddle Dam. This put us on the very short section of the Lewis River between Merwin and Yale. I understand the Saddle Dam ramp is not usable at this time as they've drawn down Yale to work on the dam.

We're headed back to Ridgefield tomorrow to take some friends for a ride on the Columbia. Looks like we'll be dodging the fishers as the chinook are still open and the silvers are just starting...
 
We hosted our Pensacola Yacht Club Commodore and her spouse aboard for a sailboat race, along with Father Nick for the Blessing of the Fleet.

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We love NEBOLINK! Today’s log is here (5 page email) with absolutely no input or work from us whatsoever. I can query the external power (13.3V) and also get an alert anytime that Cat O’ Mine is moving for $10/month with weather, start/stop, port/destinations etc with a cumulative or annual report. It’s great for segment looping.

https://reports.nebo.global/c39be3b5-c0 ... =579171070

Maybe you should look into it!

https://www.nebo.global/

Safe travels!

John
 
Got a quote this morning for a slant-back canvas cover for my 16' Angler. $1600 :disgust

The guy was telling me before he gave me the quote how his trade was dying because of covid induced price increases.

A full cover for $650 at National Cover doesn't sound so bad. Gona have to mull over some other options.

I also removed the screwed-down wood tank holders and filled the screw holes with thickened epoxy after cleaning them out a bit. Thinking about sanding the area under the splash well and giving it some sort of "bilge" coating.
 
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