Seamunkey Splashes

here she swims -- in Gloucester's Southeast harbor

After working on the hull and outboard for the majority of the spring, today was a very rewarding day in the books! Next year, hope to be in before fiesta and the fourth--

Last year I had her in the harbor half a month earlier, but there was minimal effort to get her ready for the summer season...

Yamaha 9.9 Head Gasket replacement

Above you see the valves and ends of the spark plugs, below we have the top of the two pistons. The area Bram is pointing out with a screwdriver is one of the sections that was clogged.

After isolating the cooling problem somewhere into the head, it was time to go in and plan on finding some problem with the head gasket. In the passageway of the head where the water exits, there were heavy salt deposits -- soo much so that one of the passages was completely blocked solid, and the other one was also pretty clogged. We think(hope) that was the problem. It looks like that could have been caused by the head gasket being previously 'repaired' instead of completely replaced.

Yamaha Outboard 1993 T9.9ELHR - Water Pump Repair (Impeller)

Picked up Yamaha part 682-W0078-01-00 (WATER PUMP REPAIR KIT) from Boats.net.



Planning to replace the impeller(#21) and surrounding gaskets and seals. The kit included the parts below.

UPDATE: Replacement was not too difficult, loosening the nut which connected to the shifting mechanism was the most difficult aspect. After taking the lower unit off, all of the parts below were replaced. This project was done because its something you should do every few years, but also water was not being pumped through the engine and therefore not cooling the engine properly.

Unfortunately, it looks like there may be a problem somewhere in the head unit, so further investigation is now required.

#18 682-44365-00-00
DAMPER, WATER SEAL

#19 97395-06040-00
BOLT

#20 682-44322-00-00
INSERT, CARTRIDGE

#21 682-44352-01-00
IMPELLER

#22 682-44315-A0-00
GASKET, WATER PUMP

#23 682-44323-00-00
OUTER PLATE, CARTRIDGE

#24 90280-03024-00
KEY, WOODRUFF

Picking colors

How do these colors work for a SeaMunkey?

I decided to paint the topsides primarily white instead of blue. I do plan to have a small navy blue cover stripe line near the rails -- and a thicker navy blue bootstripe by the waterline. The bottom paint will be a lighter blue.

Dyer Dhow, bottom paint and topsides

After sanding the old paint off the dinghy, I did a final cleaning with Interlux 202. I then painted the bottom with Interlux no sand primer, thinking that this hopefully will be the last time I sand as much as I did. I then put on a coat of Interlux bottomkote paint.

For the topsides, I used a quart of Interlux Brightside, but first primed with Interlux Pre-Kote.

For the oak rails and seats that I replaced with white oak, I used a 50/50 turpentine/boiled linseed oil mix. I stuck with the Interlux line and did all the prep work more for the experience of working with the products, and learning the process. After the painting was 'done', and the seats were in, I took her for a test row.. Unfortunately, I still have some leaks! It looks like around the rear skeg and where the dagger board used to drop I still have some small leaks that will require some fiberglass attention!

Quincy to Gloucester, by sea

Sailed Seamunkey from Quincy to Gloucester today! I had my GPS data logger on, but the settings were not correct for capturing data along the way, so I only had 4 actual reference points recorded and the line drawn is my extrapolated rough estimation of the trip-- We left early around 7am and arrived in Gloucester harbor close to 3:00pm..

The weather forecast looked great, with light winds getting stronger as the day moved on from the SouthWest. Seamunkey is now on her mooring in Gloucester Harbor --



Bram joined me for the voyage, and my neighbor Howie picked us up in southeast harbor, thanks guys!

Catch the Waves

Starting to study wave swells, this map is a forecast and covers the whole northeast seacoast... Wind forecasts from sailflow.com are also useful...

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.

Dad got crafty

Check out the nice woodwork. New white oak seats for the dinghy! Thanks Dad.

9' Dyer Dhow dinghy restoration begins

Picked up a dinghy from Marblehead to be able to get out to Seamunkey's new mooring in Gloucesters Southeast harbor. From the looks of it, I believe its a 9' Dyer Dhow. I'm not seeing any kind of serial on the transom, so perhaps the transom was replaced, its older than '72 or its serial was painted over. She is probably in good enough shape to get out to the mooring, but I'd like to gain some experience in repair/restoration and this dinghy is going to be my first project.

Step 1 - cleaning, seat replacement, paint removal and sanding...

Niles Beach and southeast Gloucester harbor

Seamunkey will soon be floating outside of Niles beach here in Gloucester Harbor. Its somewhat protected by the dogbar breakwater, but still exposed from the southwest, and access through Niles beach by dinghy will work during non-peak season. During the summer peak season, I'll probably launch from flat cove or pavillion beach unless I can find a nice spot to tie-up.

Seamunkey - 1968 Pearson P22

1968 Pearson P22 fact sheet

Seamunkey has been sailing in Providence waters, but is moving on up to Gloucester harbor.

Gloucester, MA public boat launches on a Google Map

View Gloucester MA - Public Boat Landings in a larger map

Trying to figure out my options for launching a small dinghy to get to Southeast Harbor, decided to create a Google Map transcription of a PDF that was on the Gloucester Harbormasters webpage.

Most of these are only accessible at high tide, with limited parking, and the exact locations have not been verified but I did my best using satellite images and my local knowledge. If you find a location is not marked correctly, please let me know.

http://tinyurl.com/Launch13281

Summer 09

I had a fantastic New England summer -- From spending time on Quonochontaug pond on the Patti Ann, to the beaches of RI and Gloucester, exploring the coast of Acadia, or just tending to my vegatable and flower garden.



The pond was a peaceful sheltered salt pond, connected to the ocean by a breachway, which provided many days of kayaking, sailing and fishing. A breathtaking place to catch a sunset --

I enjoyed body surfing and snorkeling around the tidal rivers of Good Harbor beach and many weekends looking across to block island from the rhode island coast.

We camped and hiked in Acadia Maine, after a long hike swimming in Echo Lake was very refreshing. Enjoyed kicking back on the camp hammock, starting up a roaring campfire, and walking down to Bass Harbor Lighthouse during a misty sunset.

The vegatable garden turned out well this year, it was my first year using heirloom seeds from tomatoes which I ate the year before. I once again tried to optimize my space, and this year had much more room for flowers since the shrubs had been removed.

Family vaca 07

Flickr album of photos

Folly beach near Charleston, South Carolina was very nice, and we enjoyed our time with the Platings over at Lake Hartwell, in northern Georgia.

Lobsta

5 pounder from Steve Connolly's!

Lunch on the harba

May is here, time to start enjoying lunch outside more often!