exploration

and looking at my posts, thoughts, experiences and projects
I wonder
why do I enjoy the mountains? what is it that brings me back to the sea? what am I doing?

I like to explore, but my travels have not been to far exotic places.
Sometimes they are only within the bytes of the computer
sometimes they are only within the woods of a mountain
within the streets of my town
and water which surrounds me

who's coming with me?

Random orbit and toxic dust

Using a random orbit sander hooked up to a shop vac, along with wearing a respirator, I started to wire-brush and sand with a rough grit the bottom of the dinghy. It is now pretty clear where the bottom paint originally was, and it looks like the centerboard slot has been somehow patched over. How much more sanding will I do before I get anxious and move on to bottom painting?

4.5 hp Sears Ted Williams Eska - Model 217.59462

Started working on an old outboard I aquired with the dinghy, its a 1972 Sears Ted Williams (217.59462 made by Eska) 4.5 HP outboard. It is a two-stroke, and a great introduction to working on outboard motors for me.. First steps -- drain old gas, clean or replace fuel lines, make sure spark plug is working correctly, and check compression. With some starter fluid, was able to start the engine for a few seconds until it burned up(note: better to spray gas/oil mix from old spray bottle, as starter fluid doesn't have required oil lubrication) -- Next steps will be cleaning/rebuilding the carb, and possibly cleaning some carbon off the cylinder head and replacing the head gasket if I can find the part. Anyone else working on one of these?

Late summer update --

After reading through a manual snagged off of Ebay, I found that the recommended gas to oil mixture is 24:1, replaced the spark plug(manual calls for Champion J13Y, I used substitute Champion RJ14YC), recut the high tension lead wire and rebooted the spark plug cover. I rebuilt the carburetor with parts (Carb Kit DI-52030) from www.discount-marine-parts.com. I replaced the black gas line with a clear line and have an inline fuel filter which I highly recommend. The lower cover I currently do not have on, mainy due to how hard it is to spray gas/oil mix in a pinch into the carburetor with it on.

She is running pretty nice for an old single stroke(33 lb) motor, sometimes starting on the first few pulls... Gets me out to the mooring a lot quicker, although the row is long -- it can be enjoyable too in some conditions.

Red Flag evening on the Charles

Tonights sail got a bit gusty! First red flag day of the year for me... data courtesy of cbiwind.org

Opening day on the Charles

CBI opened for the season today so Kate and I went down for a sail. Light wind eve, but we had a nice night out and used a jib-- First sail of 2010.