Home At Last!

SHIP' LOG:

Huzzah! On the mooring at TYC!Huzzah!

      Friend Fred and I brought ABISHAG down the Connecticut River from Portland. It was a great trip though the start was a bit "iffy."

     First of all, we had to get the Genoa and main rigged. I had tried for a couple of hours on Thursday to do it, but I couldn't even get the main completely up. Then again, it was blowing 15 mph and gusting to 30! The wind put enough force against the sail so that it lay against the mast, shroud and spreaders and so there was enough pressure and friction on the sail that I could not get it completely up. I tried and I got h3 blisters to prove it, but I just couldn't get it done. But on Friday morning, at 6:30 am when there was no wind, both sails went up easily.

      The next thing was the engine. Unlike a car engine which has a closed system, I large boat like ABISHAG has a raw water system as well. IT sucks in cold water from the river/ocean to cool the anti-freeze in the closed part of the cooling system. The "raw water" is sucked in and pumped out. without it, since there is now radiator, as in a care, the anti-freeze would be overwhelmed and boil off and the engine would over heat and seize up. That is a $10,000 screw up. With all the sea-cocks opened up, I turned the engine on and waited for the water to get spit out. And waited. And waited. No water! Panic! Obviously, there was a problem. Checked the raw water intake, open! Checked the hoses, no leaks! Checked to outflow sea-cock. Open and functioning.Check the impeller. The impeller is a little rubber doodad that has several fins on  it so that when it spins, it draws in the raw water, pushed it on through the heat-exchanger, where it draws the heat out of the anti-freeze cooling it so that it cools the engine. The impeller is in a small chamber so that it can spin and create the vacuum necessary to move the water. It is held in place by 4 screws. I undid the screws and the plate, sealing off the chamber, was held in place by the vacuum and some caulking. I gently taped it with a hammer and the plate came off and the water poured out. Basically, it was sucking in the river. Panic!

      It took a few minutes to stem the flow and get the plate back into place. Lots of water in the bilge, but the good point was that the  raw water went all the way through the system. Evidently we simply did not let the engine run long enough for the water to get completely through the system. So we let it run and eventually the raw water both went into the boat and came out. Huzzah! And we were off!

      It was a relatively fast passage down river, a little over three hours, plus two half-hour waits at the bridges in Haddem and Old Lyme. The wind was really honking, blowing a solid 15 to 18 knots with gust to 25! The river was also relatively high and, with the tie going out, was running fast. It all combined to make for that fast passage.

      With the forecast 15-20knots out of the southwest in the sound, with 3-4 foot waves, it was going to be a great broad reach all the way to New London. AH, not so much. Once out in the sound, beyond the Old Saybrook Bar Bell,  the wind went light, down to no more than 10 knots. Still, it was sailing!

      I pretty much let Friend Fred handle ABISHAG most of the way. He no longer has his own boat and love tweaking sails and getting the most he can out of a boat. With a ketch and three sails, he was having a ball. Still, it took a good three hours to get to New London and we were finally on the mooring at TYC by 4:30pm.

     But the day wasn't over then as I had to drive Friend Fred all the way back to Portland so he could pick up his car and drive home. It was a long day.