Time for Sodablasting

Sodablasting Day was Thursday, July 17. Essex Boat Works contracted with Billings Sodablasting (a father & son team) for the job on TOM-KAT. A large plastic sheet was spread under the boat and jack stands, then 2 large sheets were hung from each side of the hull and clipped together at the ends and the bottom. In this picture you can catch a glimpse of the son lying on the stony ground to blast the bottom of the boat.

The plastic sheeting blows up like a balloon during the blasting.

The bag of sodablasting material which was used is made in Cortland, NY, not far from where Bob and I grew up in central New York State.

The sodablasting material looks and feels like salt crystals, but is actually just regular baking soda.

The whole process took about six hours (9am to 3pm). Bob stayed at the boatyard to “supervise” and I spent the day with my sister. All the pictures today were taken by Bob.

The son emerges from the plastic bubble for breaks. Dad would blow the dust off his special suit before the son could remove it.

The plastic along with the paint residue is finally removed and properly disposed and then the boat is hosed off.

A view of the stern of TOM-KAT with all the bottom paint removed. The next step will be for the yard to sand the bottom in preparation for an epoxy barrier coat followed by bottom paint.

A very special Happy Birthday to our son, Tom, out in the mountains of Colorado!!

Our Best to All

Haulout Day For TOM-KAT Arrives!

Monday, July 14, was supposed to be haul-out day for TOM-KAT, but with all things "boating", flexibility is a must!

There were two beautiful “yachts” ahead of us to be launched and the one in the first photo had a few problems that needed fixing before the boatyard could put the yacht in the water. Strainers were missing from the bottom (from an earlier encounter with thin water) that had to be overnighted from NYC, and then the “power mast” wouldn’t go down. With the mast up, the crew couldn’t get the yacht out of the boat shed. They finally changed batteries and the mast came down. It takes us thirty seconds to remove two wing nuts and the mast is down!

While waiting, we had fun watching the well orchestrated crew work together to pull the yacht from the shed. The fellows all worked well together and everyone seemed to know their job.

The yacht riding out of the shed on the 50 ton travel lift that just fits the opening.

The gorgeous yacht in the water. Topsides are all gleaming teak.

Today TOM-KAT is finally hauled out. The crew pulls the boat into the sling.

TOM-KAT is out of the water for the first time in over a year!

Bob and I immediately dove under the boat to check the A/C intake strainer and sure enough, the strainer is full of grass.

Speed/Log wheel with barnacles. This wheel measures speed through the water (as opposed to speed over the ground measured by GPS)) and hasn’t been working for awhile.

Even though the boat was cleaned by a diver in February (Florida), we see barnacles on the rudder and the rest of the gear.

The bow thruster

The shaft and propeller. The shaft normally has a round zinc attached to it. That has worn away and is missing.

The keel is missing paint on the bottom edge, maybe from our touch in New Jersey or way back on the Illinois River or the thin water in the Keys!

TOM-KAT “on the hard” for soda blasting all that black paint off the bottom. Sodablasting is similar to sandblasting , but uses a substance that isn’t as abrasive on the gelcoat.

View of the Connecticut River Museum from the cockpit of the boat

Looking east from the boat over the mooring field and toward the eastern shore of the Connecticut River

We forgot to mention that on Sunday we pulled the Flo-Scan transducers out (fuel flow measuring instrument). We have been getting intermittent flow errors and are going to send it back to the factory for repair. The engine and transmission oil were changed, too.

Thanks for Visiting with Us

Boat Chores Before Haulout

Saturday, July 12, was one of those days we’re glad don’t happen very often. TOM-KAT is scheduled to be hauled out on Monday at Essex Boat Works (our first time since starting on the Loop), so we have several “To Do” lists. About the only item that we crossed off our lists was picking up a rental car, which we did at 9:30am……it was downhill from there!

We made one stop at the Essex Hardware Co. to pick up parts to replace the Flo-Scan, which is being sent back to the company to be rebuilt. When we returned to the boat, Bob noticed that the flow of water from the air conditioner was less than usual. We unloaded the bilge and checked the strainer and it was clogged with grass. We emptied out all the grass, but the flow was still restricted. Bob removed the air conditioner pump and it looked fine, but we replaced it with a new one….yes, Bob had a spare A/C motor and pump onboard. Unfortunately, the new pump produced no better results. Bob was in the bilge and I was running back and forth checking the water flow from the outlets. It was hot (no time to check the thermometer-high 80’s??) and we had no A/C, so it was very frustrating.

The wash down pump is plumbed to prime the A/C pump and it’s also plugged with grass. Bob pulled out 17” of grass. We’re starting to wonder where we’ve picked up all this grass. Up until this morning everything had been running smoothly. We had no early warning signs of any water restrictions. There is lots of grass around us, so we wonder if we’ve picked it up just sitting in our slip.

We cleaned the washdown strainer and resealed it, so we figured that we had solved the problem, but the flow was still diminished. ARRRRGH! What next? It’s 2pm, so I run up to Olive Oyl’s, a take-out Deli on Main St. (the galley and refrigerator are blocked by containers from the bilge) and get us some lunch. Sitting in the cockpit, eating our tuna sandwiches, we try to decide what our next step will be.

The A/C motor and pump work, the strainers are all clean, so we decide to run some water backwards through the outlets to backflush. Bob hooked up a stiff piece of tubing to the end of the garden hose and that fit perfectly into the outlet fitting. I went up to watch the front outlet. As soon as Bob starting pumping water through, this great gush of dirt and brown water came out the front outlet with good flow. SUCCESS?? Afraid not! The flow was still diminished when using the A/C pump, so we do the same thing in reverse. Bob climbs into the dinghy, the hose goes to the front outlet and dirtier, brown water comes out the stern outlet, but again no difference in flow, when using the A/C pump.

The diagnosis, at this point, is that the inlet to the A/C pump at the external end of the thruhull is restricted and we’ll have to wait until the boat is hauled to check. Backflushing the inlet hose and thruhull did not free it up. These centrifugal type A/C pumps are very sensitive to inlet restriction. We’ve exhausted all other options and ourselves!!

Before putting the containers back in the bilge, Bob tops off the 4 golf cart batteries with distilled water. The first set of two batteries look fine, but the second set have corrosion on one negative terminal. We cleaned off the terminals, which is much like cleaning tartar off teeth. Bob used a small screwdriver to scrape away the corrosion. Once the terminals were clean and tight, we put Corrosion Block on all the terminals.

We didn’t sit down to dinner until 8:30pm. We’re trying to use up food in the refrigerator and freezer before hauling the boat, so I used some frozen meatballs and made spaghetti, plus we finished off some fruit salad from Olive Oyl’s.

Friday’s blog went up before I went to bed about 10am. Hopefully tomorrow we can get to the “To Do” lists!

Keep Your fingers Crossed.

Cruising the Connecticut River to Essex

Thursday, July 10, we cruised from Milford, CT to Cedar Island Marina in Clinton, CT. The marina was very nice with a large outdoor pool, laundry, and a free pump-out. We were able to wash and dry 2 loads of laundry before my sister & brother-in-law came to pick us up for dinner. Doris Jean and Bill are Florida residents and live in Palmetto six months during our northeast winters and then spend the other six months enjoying the summer months on Griswold Island, near Niantic, CT. Life is Good!

We went to Lenny & Joe’s Fishtale Restaurant. Bob and I had the lobster dinners for $17.99/each….what a deal! The lobsters were steamed while we waited and came with salt potatoes and “native” corn on the cob. After dinner we toured around Clinton & Westbrook, CT, both charming New England towns. We spotted an Advanced Auto Parts store in a small plaza, so Bob and Bill ran in and bought 8 gallons of engine oil, so we’re all set for our next oil change on TOM-KAT.

The first two pictures show different ways of mooring boats when space is at a premium and there’s no room to swing. The first picture is in Milford on the Wepawaug River with the boats moored to single floating docks. The second picture is in Clinton Harbor with the boats moored out of the channel between pilings. In both instances, you’ll need a dinghy to reach your vessel.

Yesterday morning, July 11, we headed east and at the Old Saybrook Breakwater we turned and headed up the Connecticut River. We had been told that there is a fair amount of commercial traffic on the river, but we saw no tows, etc. We came to the Old Lyme Railroad Bridge in the open position, so we cruised right on through. If the bridge is closed the sign flashes the minutes left until the next opening. What a marvelous idea!

We passed a small marina on the eastern shore. Hopefully you can see the house and the yard behind the marina (double click for a larger image). The two horses on the lawn are not real, but the helicopter is…..we saw it land!

We continued to cruise about 7 miles up river until we came to Essex, CT and the Essex Boat Works. We plan on having this facility fix our dripless shaft, as well as sodablasting the paint off the bottom (we have accumulated too many layers of bottom paint and they are starting to flake off). We’ll have several coats of barrier paint applied to the bottom and then a layer of bottom paint.

One block from the marina is the Main Street of Essex and the Griswold Inn. The inn has been opened since 1776 and is one of the oldest continuously operated inns in the country. The Inn was built by Sala Griswold and was in the same family until 1972. Farther down Main St. back toward the water is the Connecticut River Museum. Wooden boats were on display both on land and in the water for an Antique Boat Show this weekend. Bob recognized this Gale Motor (early 60's vintage) as one made by OMC and sold by Montgomery Ward.

Right across the street from the museum was this cute birdhouse that matches the house on the property .

We stopped for a quick bite to eat at the “Black Seal Restaurant” before heading back to TOM-KAT at the boatyard.

Thanks for Visiting with Us

Greenwich, CT to Milford, CT

Today we left the IHYC mooring at 6:05am, because thunderstorms were predicted for this afternoon. We traveled 30 miles east along the CT shore and docked at 11:15am at Milford Landing, a municipal marina in Milford CT. The marina is very nice with floating docks and is close to downtown, so we took a walk in search of lunch and a few groceries. On the path to town we spotted this old submarine in a town park. The sub was built in 1936 by Simon Lake, who is considered a pioneer in submarine building, as well as “The Father of the Modern Day Submarine”.

The town of Milford sits at the headwaters of the Wepawaug River. The walkway over the river and the falls in the background make for a pretty entrance to the downtown streets. The town’s motto is: “a small city…with a big heart”.

We found lunch at Archie Moore’s, a restaurant started in New Haven, CT. Their claim to fame is that they introduced CT to Buffalo chicken wings. After lunch we trekked on to the Post Office and a convenience store before stopping at Scooby Doo’s for ice cream cones. The temperature is a sticky 87 degrees this afternoon!

The town also has the second longest village green in New England. Boston Commons is # 1. I was only able to show half of the village green in the picture.

Milford has six public beaches and the longest coastline in Connecticut.

The rain never came this afternoon….so much for the weather forecasts!!

Our Best to All.

NYC to Greenwich, CT

Our journey yesterday (7/8/08) was timed to catch a rising tide, so we hauled the anchor and left Liberty State Park anchorage at 8:45am. As we passed behind Governor’s Island, we caught sight of the Queen Mary 2 docked on the Brooklyn side of the harbor.

We arrived near Battery Park two hours after low tide and rode the incoming tide all the way up the East River through Hell Gate. We gained a 2 knot push through this turbulent area and cruised along at 12mph!

Impressive sights we spotted along the river included the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, and the United Nations.

We passed several tows in this congested area. When Bob called a tow coming under the Williamsburg Bridge to discuss which side to meet, the tow’s response was, “Stay Out Of The Way! Bob’s response back was, “that’s what we’re trying to do!”

At 10:45am we motored under the Throg’s Neck Bridge and out into Long Island Sound. We cruised along the north shore of the Sound past City Island, New Rochelle, Larchmont and Mamaroneck before entering Greenwich Harbor. We had a reservation at Indian Harbor Yacht Club, one of the oldest and most famous yacht clubs on the Sound. The club was founded in 1889.

We picked up a guest mooring ball. TOM-KAT is way out in the upper right of the picture. You can double click on any of the pictures to see a larger view. We called the club launch at 5pm and rode into the club for dinner on the outdoor patio with Bob’s cousin, Jane, who is a member of IHYC. The food was delicious and the view of the harbor and all the moored boats was delightful. It was almost dark by the time we hailed the launch for a ride back to TOM-KAT.

Thanks for Visiting with Us!