SEA WEASEL

Know your enemy!

So I was trolling the site of one of our new rivals Maritime Diva.  It is a C&C 29 crewed by Amazons who have forsaken male accompaniment in their racing endeavours when I saw this piece (see above).

So some little Yorkie is going to take us on?  Well I say bring it!  This dog just became public enemy number on in my books.  I am putting a fatwa on his furry butt.  It appears that this little WEASEL hater has had a long history of hating people; just look at this photo of Hitler.  Yeah I thought so…

To learn more.

The Sea Weasel's course for the 2012 Southern Straits.

For this year’s Southern Straits Classic Teams Sea Weasel and Ed combined in a bid to win the short course.  However unlike 2010 where there was an over abundance of wind this year it was a drifter.  With a requirement to get back to Vancouver early Saturday the team gave up at 1900 after drifting for 90 minutes and the forecast pointing to no wind.  In the end it was not our most resilient performance but we did have a good time.  For complete race details: http://www.southernstraits.ca

Nothing beats the feeling of a job well done. This feels good too.

Stage two of the great instrument upgrade was now underway.  We were now ready to install the displays, transducers and run the wire.  We started with installing the annometer on the masthead.  This 90 minute job of bolting it to the masthead and running the wire down the mast would turn into a 3 day ordeal.  The project plan was to remove the old annometer, drill pilot holes and use the screws to mount the base to the masthead.  Then the new wire would be taped to the old one and pulled through the mast and out the base.  This plan was frustrated by breaking screws, stripped screws and a wire accidentally being pulled down the mast before the new wire was attached.  The first attempt completely failed and the annometer was broken on the way down the mast when we gave up.  Round two saw me ascend the mast to try again.  This was a day with 20 knots of wind and heavy rain.  It took approximately two and a half hours swinging wildly before the plan was finally executed.  The only hang up was getting the wiring through the hole at the base of the mast; this would take another 90 minutes to feed through the base of the mast and through a new through-deck fitting and into the boat.

Dave up at the masthead attempting to install the annometer.

My turn.

The base installed in a seaman like fashion.

Spin baby, spin!

Looking down.

The wiring and mounting.

The displays were installed by drilling the appropriate holes with hole-saws for the ST40 displays and after drilling an initial hole we used a jig saw to create the opening for the Garmin GPS.  A flush mount kit had to be purchased in order to install the Garmin but it assembled easily.  Wiring the displays for power was very easy since there was already a bus.  Wiring the transducers was fairly easy using the old wiring to pull through the new wiring.

The most involved part of the installation was still to come.  The ST40 comes with two through-hull transducers a depth sounder and a knotmeter/water temperature gauge and obviously to install these a haul out was necessary.  Curtis and Dave took the boat to Granville Island Boatyard and the boat was hauled out.  The two selected locations were drilled out with a hole saw, bedded with Silkaflex and the transducers installed.  After a quick hull cleaning and painting of the rudder the boat was put back in the water.

The knotmeter port that allows the transducer to be removed.

The knotmeter port from the outside with anti-fouling paint on it.

Knotmeter with the transducer in place.

The depth sounder transducer installed next to the old one.

The depth sounder transducer from the outside covered in anti-fouling paint.

Ready to go back in the water!

So far both systems have worked very well.  We still have some ‘prettying up’ of the display backing (routering the edges) and wiring in the DSC VHF to the GPS.

The proposed instrument panel layout.

People get onboard the SEA WEASEL and they look at all the dials on the forward bulkhead, go below and see the Chart-plotter, handheld GPS, VHF radios and the other electronics and think that the boat is well equipped.  Rightly so if any of it worked or did more than ‘sort-of” work.

The plan was to in 2012 replace/upgrade most of the instruments on the vessel.  Frankly only our Icom VHF was the only thing worth keeping.  We started out late in 2011 with the installation of Fusion Marine Stereo system.  In 2012 we are planning to add the following equipment: Raymarine ST40 Wind System, ST40 Bidata System (Depth, Knotmeter and Water Temp.), ST1000-PLUS Tillerpilot and a Garmin 421S Chart Plotter.

The first step in this project was to remove the old instrumentation and cover up the holes on the cockpit’s forward portside bulkhead.  This was done by removing the securing brackets on the back of the old signet displays and pushing them out.  Curtis then cleaned up the area removing all of the old sealant.

Old instruments removed and ready to mount the panel.

As the old instruments required bigger holes than the new ones we had to cover up the openings.  We could attempt to glass over it nicely (yeah right), use wood or us a resin polymer sheet.  We opted for the plastic as it was low maintenance and durable.  The product is called STARBOARD made by Taco.  A 12″x12″ sheet covered the holes so we dry fit it, counter sinking the screws then removed it to add 3M 5200 Fast Cure Adhesive/Sealant where appropriate.

Panel about to be mounted.

With the new panel covered in 5200 we carefully placed it and attached it with the stainless steel hardware.  We used 10 screws since the bulkhead was slightly curved making the panel follow the shape.

The view from inside the instrument box.

The panel with it's protective coating mounted awaiting new instruments.

At this stage with the panel mounted we stopped to let the 5200 to cure.  We will cut off the excessive 5200 and round of the edge of the panel with a dremel tool.  With the panel completed we will move on to Part Two of the new instrument project; mounting the displays and wiring.  Part Three will focus on mounting the transducers and the sea trials.

The completed project.

Our Walker Bay 8 is a great dinghy.  It tows well, rows well and is virtually indestructible. The one thing was it was tippy.  We would often have two people plus a dog and that felt like it was pushing the limit.  Now we had used a friends WB8 with the Rigid Inflatable Dinghy (RID) kit and it was a totally different dinghy.

The RID kit had lots of positives, it was stable, could allow for an outboard up to 4-hp and 3~4 people.  The downside was that it costed $850+tax,  We came across a banged up tube at Popeye’s and were going to pick it up when it was sold out from under us; this turned out to be a positive because when we went there we found they had gotten a unused complete kit.  $350 later it was done.

We used 14 10/32 1/2' bolts with washers and lock nuts to secure the aluminum frame to the dingy.

Dave did the install which involved mounting the aluminum guide rails on the side by drilling 14 holes and bolting them on.  This was an older RID kit that had a fabric case for the tube.  That installed easy enough and in about 90 minutes we had a virtually new dinghy and a sea trial.

First sea trial for the new dinghy.

The first video here is basically my sailing dream:

This video is more my sailing reality (right down to the donkey):

The deer slayer, a .303 Lee Enfield Rifle

2011 was the year I decided to take up hunting.  I did so essentially for meat and for some ‘dirty hippy’ environmental reasons.  I had heard Gambier had good hunting on it but you needed a boat and to find Crown Land access.  I did my research and settled on Douglas Bay on the Northeast of the Island where Gambier Creek emptied into the sea.  With my brother and another buddy we loaded up the boat with the usual cruising gear and made our way up to Douglas Bay.  The term ‘Bay’ is pretty loose, there is not much shelter at all but with the forecast benign we anchoured in 100’ of heavily sloping rock.  I was not all that pleased with the anchourage but we set and appeared to hold okay.

Douglas Bay is on the northeast of Gambier Island.

Avoid the private dock and land and follow the creek.

The next morning we set out, although my brother remained aboard. You have to walk in up a trail leading along either side of the creek.  The land immediately to the right is private property as is the dock so we steered clear of it.  The train was quite steep at first but soon opened up into open forest with little meadows.  There was a ton of deer droppings.  Gambier is heavily populated with Black Tail Deer.  There are so many in fact that every year many starve to death over the winter.

The ground was very wet and I slowly walked into a clearing stopping to observe.  Not a kilometer into woods I spotted four deer.  I stopped and knelt down and removed the scope cover off my sporterized .303 Lee Enfield.  The deer appeared not to have noticed me although I was inside 50 meters of them.  They kept eating and moved along the opposite edge of the slopping clearing.  I raised the rifle and found that I was pretty nervous, as they came into focus I could make out through the bush that none had antlers, all were does.  Two small juvenile looking ones were accompanied by a large female and her fawn.  I slid the safety back on the rifle and lowered the gun and sat there watching them.  While it was too early for the rut I decided on watching them in case a male showed up or they grew horns.

After the does moved on I went back for breakfast before heading out again.  On my way back up the trail I again encountered the group of does and this time I moved past them heading west.  I found a disused mining  core sample site with the samples strewn around the area.  I had no sight of any other deer or wildlife and eventually headed back down for lunch.  Again and again I made the trip over the weekend only encountering more does. Finally Sunday we hauled our anchor and set course for Vancouver.

I learned a few things, more time was required to effectively hunt the area; I felt like this was more of a scouting trip than anything.  Given the number of does probably waiting until the rut was on would have been better; the anchourage was not the best, I should have brought my line for a stern line and done so in the little cove to the North of Douglas Bay.  I also learned that there was a neat little beach at the mouth of Gambier Creek with a Kayaker Campsite and box toilet setup.  This would make an epic area for a beach fire.  All in all it was a fun trip and the scenery was beautiful.  I will be back next season for sure.