Ever since I cleaned my strainer ...
- Thread starter Scott T-Bird
- Start date
I was thinking more about the wind. Since I've been here, sailing with reduced sail area is the norm. I don't have any use for my larger genoa it seems. Afternoon winds have been downright fierce lately. If we continued sailing as the afternoon wore on, I should have been double reefed with the mainsail. I heard that I missed some pretty violent pop-up storms earlier this week. Yesterday, I was looking over my shoulder quite a bit as we sailed in a northerly direction. Sue didn't want to get caught too far away from the home slip. But we didn't see anything develop while we were there.
That's one of the disadvantages of being in a marina further south on the bay. We used to be up in Forked River. We could sail south in the morning before the wind picked up. Then as the winds built we could run back up the bay and reach between Tices and the river without having to beat to get home.
Even so, I could probably count on one hand the number of times per year that we used our 150 genoa instead of the 110.
I guess that is why I enjoy Toms River, and the northern part of the bay south of the 37 bridge. I know it probably makes no sense but the winds seem to have gotten this way since SANDY.
That's what my dock neighbor said yesterday and he's been in the area for a long, long, long time.
If the hose from your seacock to strainer is long enough, detach it from the strainer and hold it above the water line. Now you can use a wooden dowel or wire to clear any clogs without water coming in. We even pumped air with our dinghy pump to clear a clog. (Thanks to Mainsail).
All U Get
All U Get
Yep, I went out Monday around 11am. Light winds, spitting rain, keeping busy slapping green heads. Within 30 minutes some wind blew out the clouds and greenies.
I was reaching across the bay and back around 6 knots. Breeze picked up so I reefed the jib. Still 6 or higher. Reefed main. 6+ knots.
What was nice was the south wind coming across the marsh kept the chop down.
As the wind picked up further I furled the jib. On the reefed main I was still getting 6 knots.
Another boat from our marina went back in when I was furling the jib. He saw 18 knots on his wind meter.
It seems we are seeing more west winds this spring. Being a bit puffy they require a bit more attention.
Wondering if that is the cause of more grass floating in the bay. Saturday was the first time that after I raised the OB, I had to remove a bunch of grass from the prop.
@Scott T-Bird Tests were negative, false alarm, probably stress from retirement. Back to sailing.
I was reaching across the bay and back around 6 knots. Breeze picked up so I reefed the jib. Still 6 or higher. Reefed main. 6+ knots.
What was nice was the south wind coming across the marsh kept the chop down.
As the wind picked up further I furled the jib. On the reefed main I was still getting 6 knots.
Another boat from our marina went back in when I was furling the jib. He saw 18 knots on his wind meter.
It seems we are seeing more west winds this spring. Being a bit puffy they require a bit more attention.
Wondering if that is the cause of more grass floating in the bay. Saturday was the first time that after I raised the OB, I had to remove a bunch of grass from the prop.
@Scott T-Bird Tests were negative, false alarm, probably stress from retirement. Back to sailing.
Sandy was a single weather event (and the largest hurricane I have ever seen ; 250 miles across), what you are describing is a persistent climate trend where weather consistently and noticeably changes. In fact this is currently being studied as a feature of global climate change - as the artic warms there is less of a temperature delta between the pole and equator causing the jet streams to slow their flux north and south. The effect is lingering persistent weather patterns in the mid latitudes (mid Atlantic). Weather that would have moved due to moving jets stall and build.
Just that I didn't want to run the engine very long or at greater RPM due to the weak water flow. I didn't want to create an overheat situation. As it turns out, all of you whom suggested that the missing o-ring is the problem were right. After I made a temporary fix and now that I have installed the replacement, the problem has been solved. When I first installed the cup without the gasket and saw that water did not leak, I never would have thought that the missing o-ring would make a difference. However, there must be enough suction to cause significant air infiltration to replace the water flow. It is amazing what can be learned on this forum! It really is my go-to source for information - pretty much as good as google. friendlier, and with humor thrown in as well!
Scott, was it just a standard O-ring that you needed? I needed one recently and Lowes had a whole wall of O-rings in their plumbing section. Worth a shot versus waiting for mail order.
Sue says that I'm smart but I lack common sense.
I started out by ordering and then went to a marine / hardware store near Barnegat that had a very limited supply. I bought 2 and improvised as I indicated earlier in the thread before finding the one that worked ok. I never thought to simply measure the diameter and estimate the thickness from the strainer cup groove and look in a big box store or an automotive store, which would have been so easy to do! She might be on to something ...
