She is finally in the water.
Now that Stormwatch has a functional depth finder, and functional electrical power system, it was time to get her in the water again.
I've been so busy the last 2 years, with little time to work on the boat, that it's a big relief to have her get to this stage.
Considering that she needed a lot less work than many of the older C22's in this forum, I can't imagine the patience that other owners have with their much bigger projects. Kudos to you guys.
With one of the last spare weekends of the summer imminent, we called a Silver Harbour, about 1.5 hours north of here, on west shore of the huge Lake Winnipeg, to see if we could keep her there for the weekend.
We got lucky, and they had a slip we could use.
It's a very sheltered marina, on a river outlet. It has the advantage of being closer to part of the lake that has the best sailing destinations, and as a bonus, has very few power boats. After 10pm it's dead quiet due to a noise curfew.
They have a sailing club on site. So there is a lot of somewhat similarly minded people there....
Which helped a lot when we discovered that 2 of the turnbuckle pins were missing.
Having a selection of spare hardware, has always been on my list of mandatory gear on board, but that was further down on my list of tasks. hehe.
Two nice sailors/future friends, luckily had a spare pin each, and we could raise the mast.
It took a total of 3 hours after we arrived, to figure out where we were allowed to rig, where our berth would be, inspect the launch ramp, find the bathrooms, quickly chat with club members, etc. ... and finally have her floating in her berth. (with no water leaking in via her transducers.
)
That gave us just enough time to cook burgers on the BBQ, semi-organize the boat, and go catch the end of the live music sing-a-long that some of the club members were hosting.
Interesting note: It's a bit of a different setup there. A few of the boat owners, have RVs on land near their boat.
A couple with a Catalina 27, apparently sleep in their Class A motorhome 50 feet from their boat.
Sunday, we hoped to finally have her under sail, but that didn't happen.
We spent the day sorting though lines and other gear, getting things sorted, moving to a different berth, meeting other club members, having tea/baileys with guests, making up new dock lines, etc
At one point we were swapping out some hardware on the furler, when a small storm cell passed over.
We had the spare jib halyard in place as a temporary forestay, and I increased my dislike for those damn little split rings.
I was in middle of reconnecting the forestay when my wife said.... you have 2 minutes max !
Just another reason why switching to using quick pins for the forward lower shrouds, and the forestay, has always been on my future to do list.
By evening, we had her mostly organized, above and below deck.
The Monday morning plan, was to tune the standing rigging with a Loos gauge, and go out for a morning sail.
Unfortunately, Sunday night was a big temperature drop, with the result of Monday having 25 kts gusting to 35 , occasional rain, mostly cloudy, etc. Nothing I wanted to sail in with an unfamiliar boat.
So.. we did a few more tasks, and drove home, after leaving her secure at the dock, under the watchful eye of the marina staff and club members.
Hopefully this weekend will have good weather for a shakedown sail.
If we have a chance, we may just drive up one evening this week and take her out.
Bottom line.... the boat is usable now, and won't sit in the backyard next summer. (the major project for next spring is to remove/fiberglass the old transducer and speed log, and sand/polish/paint the hull)
The 40 watt solar panel and charger did a good job on the Monday with only occasional sunshine. We ran interior lights, charged 2 cell phones from empty, and occasionally had the VHF on. When we headed home, the group 24 battery was full.
Once I organize my updated task and project list, I'll post it. There are a few things I've decided to change, and it may help others.
