Maiden Voyage of Optimist 1

Published on Feb 8, 2014 This is the first of three Optimist dinghies we are making from CABBS (Cleveland Amateur Boatbuilding and Boating Society) plans. The plans have been redrawn from Clark Mills original drawings for the Optimist in 1947. Check out www.woodenoptimist.blogspot.com to see more about building this sailboat

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October 24 Yorktown to Portsmouth 43 Miles

We were underway from 9:15 to 4 pm, and under sail except for the first ten minutes and the last hour after the wind died. This was quite a contrast from when we made the reciprocal passage in late may or early June 2012 when we had no wind at all. We went from a deep broad starboard reach to a more beamy port reach after the jibe, out in the Bay.
But first we were approached, fast, by an orange machine gun toting RIB. The Coasties aboard told us, politely,  that we must keep 500 yards distant from a vessel they were escorting. We barely saw it at first,  but it came up on our starboard beam with another orange dinghy escort.

Other VHF announcements to the world from the Coast Guard said that they would use force, including the possibility of deadly force, on  any vessel that got too close.

It was a clear cold brisk day out on the Bay. Lene resorted to MANY layers; me, a few less of them. we crossed a lot of water on banks that had depth in the teens before entering the deep water of Hampton Roads and later, the Elizabeth River, which divides Portsmouth from Norfolk. The Roads was the site of the battle of the Monitor and the Merrimac.  This big guy passed us,

going slowly out. We were properly outside the channel, but not far enough outside to make Lene happy.





The water is deep here virtually wall to wall. And this area remains a center of Naval activity. We expected to see these guys,

but not the Battleship Wisconsin, which I had thought had been retired long ago. Note the nine huge 16 " diameter guns, each capable of hurling a one ton projectile 20 miles.

Once out of the Bay -- yes we are now south of Chesapeake Bay -- despite shaking out the reef and switching to the Genoa, we did not have enough wind and hence resorted to motoring.  We took the free dock by the Renaissance Hotel. No water, no electricity, no hands to help us with our lines -- you just get what it says, a free dock for the night - the same spot in which we spent two nights in 2012. It is across a little basin from the ferry that will run you over to Norfolk for $4 round trip. Luckily that noise and the resulting wakes stop at night.

Lene made a perfect landing and I rigged up the fender board to keep us off the pilings. We took a short stroll through town on Lenes successful search for coffee and met up with folks from four boats that are traveling together, and, since the canal is narrow here, with fixed times for lock openings they will be with us as well.  Back to our boat for a good home cooked meal. Here is Norfolk, across the river from our boat.

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HYC Cruise Day 1 July 25 City island to Port Jefferson on Long Island 39 Miles

Every cruise  has some boats that try as they might, just cant make it for mechanical or personal reasons. This year, so far, it has been Paul and Mary on "Little Jumps", a victim of the press of business. I use to be a slave to the law so I know. We will miss you.

The day was warm and sunny; well you know, pretty much the same as back in Eastchester Bay.

Mark and Marsha of "Leeds the Way",  spent Friday night in Oyster Bay to make a shorter sail today. They got to the mooring field of the Seatauket YC in the 2 to 2:30 time frame. As did "True North" who motored from the Harlem.

ILENE, left the HYC mooring field at 7:30 in a dead calm and put up the main for almost the whole way and one or the other or parts of both headsails for most of the way -- after a bit of wind stirred the surface of the water. So we motor sailed almost the whole way. The problem was that the wind was from the east, where all the boats were heading. Motor sailing took us from Huntington, Long Island to Norwalk, CT and back across the Sound again to Port Jeff, arriving a bit after three.

And thats why Leeds the Way and ILENE were the only ones able to enjoy the wonderful cocktail party that True North hosted, starting at 5 pm.

PC Mark, Marcia, Lene, Diane and PC Bruce. Im the photographer and I kinda like the diagonal of the heads though this was purely accidental.

But we three were not the only Harlem boats here in Port Jeff. The rest just arrived too late for the party: PC Ernie and Camille and their guests, pc Marty and Ghenie, on "Blast", Dan and Mary Jane on " Tively II" and CJ and Jenny on "Shanghai" (who sailed with us and the Hermione on the Fourth of July).

Shanghai wins todays award for most intrepid sailing, not motor sailing but sailing. They had a long day.

Tomorrow, Leeds the Way and Tively IIs schedules require them to turn back but the armada is headed for a two night stay in Mattituck, LI. Unfortunately, ILENE will be there with them for only the second night. A funeral for a dear friends son means we will spend Sunday in a rental car, catching up with the fleet on Monday.

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Gas and Diesel Sterndrive I O Power

In my posts,"The Chosen One.The Boat Plans For Me", and "Fitting Out A Newly Built Boat",I eluded to the fact that a lot areas are starting to ban two stroke outboards.Following Spria Internatioanls horse power chart,building Sitka by the plans,I need 120 recommended horsepower.I am building to the optional plans which extends the boat to 30 feet and includes a vee entry bow.I am also building my cabin larger like the Bahamans.

Spira International website quote.

The Sitka may be shortened or lengthened from 25-1/2 (7.7M) to 30 (9.1M) in 1-1/2 (457MM) increments. The plans also show an option for a vee entry to the bow, but these Pacific dories ride quite well in rough water with their upturned bows.

The fact that I will need four stroke power plant,limits my options.Four stroke outboards are rare on the used market here and expensive.Then there is the cost of a gauge package and controls.That can easily add $800 to $1000 to the install, considering the length of steering control hydraulic hoses or cables I would need.So I contacted Jeff Spira about using a stern drive,or inboard outboard(I/O) if you prefer.He has approved the use of a stern drive and will make the needed changes to the plans when someone buys the plans.

With everything sorted out and a power plant type has been chosen,I can get on with deciding on which stern drive I want to use.I know that the stern drive will come from a used boat,probably one I buy for a parts donor.I know I need 120 recommended horsepower.I will also have to compensate for the additional weight from the added length,longer cabin,contents of longer cabin,and stern drive.Checking the horsepower chart,the Coast Guard recommended horsepower is 342.That isssss noooooot happening!This is a cruising boat,not race boat.I want some economy.I will mostly be on inland lakes for the first few years before I do the Great Loop Cruise.On lakes,I wont be dealing with fast currents or rough water.I really dont plan to run the boat on plane.It would be nice to have the option.Technically speaking,I could use 120 horsepower.I think I want a little more.

Looking around and asking the right questions,I have decided to go with a carbureted 135 horsepower four cylinder 3.0 liter Chevrolet engine with Alpha I Mercruiser sterndrive.I might get lucky and find a cheap donor boat with a fuel injected 3.0L.The reasons I have chosen this set up over others is numerous.The main one being parts availability.These were produced from the 1970s to present day.They are still being made.There are literally hundreds of thousands of these across the US,Canada,and Mexico,maybe millions.Most parts sellers either have the parts on hand, or can get them fairly quickly,usually overnight without additional charges.These set ups being as simple as they are,most anyone can work on them with basic mechanical skills and knowledge.

While I am cruising to local lakes and enjoying my new boat,I will be designing a new engine install using the 3.0L stern drive set up.The engine will be based on a retuned 1.9 liter turbocharged Volkswagen TDI diesel.Please dont confuse DEtuned with REtuned.Before anyone jumps on the Pathfinder VW diesel and starts bashing them,the only people that had issues with those set ups are the ones that dont understand how to properly run a marinized diesel.99% of all failures were directly related to operator error.CDKs forum post is where I got the idea for this set up.His twins are sweet.


Marine Conversions: Car Engine Conversions for Boats.

Now,where to start.The best place is with the adaption of the diesel engine to the stern drive.I plan to keep the heavy manual transmission flywheel.The weight will help the engine keep spinning and reduce fuel consumption a fraction of a gallon.Depending on the year of the stern drive,all I will have to do is machine the flywheel to accept the engine to stern drive coupler.Next issue will be lining up the engine to keep the engines crankshaft center line centered with the center of the stern drives input shaft center line.Its not a difficult process,just tedious.I will use adjustable motor mounts and an engine plate front and rear to mount the engine.Going with the mounting plates will allow me to mount the engine semi solidly at all four corners.The starter will mount to the rear plate in a position that allows access.The starter will be swapped out for an ignition protected unit.

I will use a completely enclosed and self contained cooling system like an automobile.Bowman and Lancing Marine both offer products to marinize a 1.9L TDI VW diesel.I plan to weld up my own using stainless steel tubing.The factory turbo is water cooled but the exhaust side will need a turbo jacket to help contain some of the excess heat.Most of the heat will be absorbed through the water cooled exhaust manifold.The exhaust will run dry.It will be expelled through the stern drive and out of the prop like the original set up.A water cooled oil cooler  will help the longevity of the turbo and engine.In place of the cars radiator,there will be a liquid to liquid heat exchanger.Raw water will pass through a heat exchanger that circulates hot engine coolant through it.Then the raw water will exit the heat exchanger after its cooled down the coolant.Think of it like this,its a small radiator, that is sealed inside a box, with water circulating through it.The water box circulates the water around the radiator, to cool off the coolant that circulates through the engine.Its way more simple than it seems.Doing it this way, will allow me to remove the impeller in the lower unit and plug all of the water ports on the exterior of the stern drive.I could leave everything in place and route the water coming out of the stern drive over board.

Know Your Boats Diesel Engine


The next issue will be the engine itself.Most people that have done this type of install,run the engine as it came from the car.I think I would like to go one step further and have custom ground camshafts to fit the type of use the engine will get.Along with that,I will upgrade the turbo and injectors.The injection pump is electronically controlled.This makes the engine difficult to use in a boat.I will have a custom built and tuned mTDI injection pump that will basically make a one wire engine.The one wire will be to shut off the engine.I will also have a bypass to allow me to run and shut down the engine with no electrical power on the boat.Think of it as a limp home mode.

An air intake for a boat has to be designed in a way that allows enough fresh air into the engine but keeps water out.There are many ways to do it.Mine will basically be two air dams inside a box.The air flows over the first one and under the second one.Then, onto the engine through an intake mounted high on the back side of the box.Its a little hard to visualize but I am no good at drawing with a computer.A lot of marine engines dont run air filters. I will be running a secondary air box with a filter.

Going with a diesel cuts down on the risk of fire.It does not eliminated it.Diesel fumes are not as flammable as gasoline fumes.Ignition protection isnt as critical with a diesel,but that doesnt mean you should use standard automotive electrical parts.I have already stated that I will use an ignition protected marine starter.That goes double for the alternator.As long as the engine is running the alternator could be sparking inside which can ignite any fumes around.I will be running an externally regulated Balmar 150 amp alternator package.


Marine Diesel Engines: Maintenance and Repair Manual

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May 12 13 Last Two Lay Days in Washington No miles

No, not a Maritime Museum. This is one of the fishing boats used by the Danes in WWII to smuggle most of their 7000 Jews into neutral Sweden. It is one of the many artifacts in the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum.

I spent a whole day (10 to 5:15) here and did not see it all. Designed of the same beautiful pale yellow stone that is used in most other government buildings in this city, the interior has a long atrium around which the horrible history unfolds, as one starts on the fourth floor and works ones way down. This atrium is glass covered and reminded me of a railroad station  -- such an integral part of the Germans "Final Solution". I have been to such museums in NY, Jerusalem and smaller ones in many other cities but none that were as comprehensive, with a significant slant on US responses before, during and after the war. It showed how gradually Hitler came to power, consolidated his power and set to work first trying to drive the Jews out by making life unbearable and dangerous, then deporting them and finally, exterminating them. One huge wall of etched glass, has the names of the numerous European towns where Jews lived before Hitler, including my fathers birthplace, Untergrombach, middle row, right, with my imagined "RR Station" below.

The place was very crowded with lots of high school kids who were very respectful. I was quite moved by the experience. The museum repeatedly discussed the plight of the Roma (gypsies) and other victims. It also had exhibits on the three post-Holocaust genocides: Cambodias killing fields, the Serbo-Croation conflict and Rwanda. It seems humanity has not learned yet, despite the saying "Never Again! We had lunch in the museums cafe, located in a small building outside the Memorial.
Our final day was for Congress and the Library of Congress. We had planned to visit the adjacent Supreme Court as well. I had to be admitted to its Bar to oppose a Petition for Certiorari  in the late 70s. (Since about 95 to 99 percent of such petitions are denied, winning that one was rather easy.) But our tourism stamina gave out before we got there, which was a shame because Lene has never been there. On our way we passed the Frances Perkins Department of Labor Building.

Ms. Perkins was one of FDRs "brain trust" and the first female Secretary of Labor. She co-taught a seminar in labor history I took at Cornell in about 1964.
In 2008 Congress opened a huge underground entrance, visitors center, "Emancipation Hall," with Museum, gift shops, a large cafeteria and many restrooms to handle the throngs of tourists. We were shown an inspirational movie about how well Congress works, which is somewhat of a joke given todays hyperpartisanship. Leah, our assigned

tour guide was energetic and bright with the kids but the tour did not include either house of the Congress. We easily secured a pass to visit the House, which was in session, but just barely. The person acting as speaker recognized a stream of Representatives who rose to give speeches of up to four minutes. It was mostly women in red suits on the Democratic side and men in blue suits on the other side. Several democrats spoke in favor of refinancing the Highway Trust Fund and opposing yet-another bill to restrict abortion, which the Republicans are addicted to and will undoubtedly pass. The Republicans spoke in favor of the anti-abortion bill and in memory of slain police officers. They all spoke to an almost empty room. The speeches go into the Congressional Record and are fodder for the folks back home. "See how I represented your interests!"
After lunch we visited the Library of Congress through an underground tunnel which avoids having to go through security again. Our first time here.

The entrance hall reminded me of The Hermitage in St. Petersberg, with its staircase, marble, red, statuary and grandeur.










The main reading room is much smaller than the one in NY but more elegant.

A highlight of my stay here was a visit to the Geography and Map division, where I was given access to their collection of nautical charts published by the United States Navys  Hydrographic Office from about 1850 to 1950. The charts are numbered, to about 6500, with some omissions. I have been studying them and cataloging them, as a volunteer in the Map Room of the NY Public Library for about seven years now. They describe the coastlines of the world (excluding the U.S. and the Philippines which are the subject of a similar series of charts published by the Coast Guard. Each branch of the armed forces had its champions in Congress and back in the 19th century they worked out this geographic compromise.)  I had a good conversation with the director of the map room who invited me back. Maybe, by land, some day.

I also saw a German antiquarian map of the world, in Latin, published a few decades after 1492, purchased for $11,000,000 (less than half of it taxpayer dollars), an exhibition of Herblock political cartoons, and a recreation of Thomas Jeffersons circular library of Monticello (he sold it to the government) with mostly his original books. He was a well read man.

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A Good Book for Sailors

I promised you no more book reviews in 2014; but the new year is in full swing.  This book was given to me at least several months before we left NY in early October by Judy, a dear friend of mine and Lenes, who sailed with us for a few days in the Turks and Caicos in early 2012. Her book group read it and liked it even though they are not sailors; sailors will appreciate it more.

It is about three generations of the Scottish Stevenson family. Robert Louis Stevenson would have been the fourth had he not forsaken engineering for literature to the great disappointment of his family and with a personal sense of shame. The three generations built most of the lighthouses of Scotland and supervised their operation.

Two threads are woven through the book. One is the biographical -- the marriages, births, deaths and personalities of the men, mostly the men, and their wives-- a personal story. The other and vastly larger part tells the story of how they built the lighthouses, against all sorts of obstacles.

Both parts were interesting, though the later was far more interesting to me. Much of the personal part relates to the efforts of fathers to induce their children to follow their footsteps into the family engineering business. Robert Louiss father was himself drawn to literature but was forced to abandon it to study engineering, which he then tried to force his son into.  The fathers drove themselves very hard and demanded as much from subordinates and their children. Except for the first generation, the men suffered from weak health, which was exacerbated by long days of strenuous physical activity in cold wet places.

There is a skeleton family tree which is incomplete, in the sense that the text names various members of the family who are described on the tree merely as part of, e.g.,  "two daughters."

More irritating to me, the sketch map of Scotland at the front shows the names of some of the cities, islands, firths and lighthouses, but is terribly incomplete. The lack of a proper map in a book that is about locations was the major obstacle to my enjoyment of the book. The author refers to so many places, possibly presuming that only persons who are quite familiar with Scottish geography would read her book. The Stevenson family also designed much of the "new city" of their home, Edinburgh. I tried to use Google Earth to figure out which roads were joined with others. Subsequent changes to the landscape are what I blame for my inability to complete that task. There are sixteen plates showing the most famous lights and portraits of the Stevensons, but none of Edinburgh. Bathurst is very able to draw pictures with words, but maps would be so much better.

Bathurst also mentions big events in Scottish history with which I had not even the vaguest idea. Jacobites were Scottish revolutionaries, and "The Clearances" was the process by which the landed gentry forced the "highland" Celtic peasants off the land to make more money from sheep. This contributed to the Scottish Potato Famine. Some of the "crofters" went to the "lowlands", areas in the southern and eastern parts of Scotland, others to America. But all this I learned from Google after Bathurst merely mentioned the terms.

Another minor defect in the book is the absence of any footnotes to support the statements made. I would like to know if a given statement about a person is the authors conclusion from one or more documented episodes, from her reading of his letters or journals, or based on a secondary source: either a biographer or a newspaper. I am used to David McCulloch and Dorris Kearnes Goodwin, who give you the source of every statement in their books. It is not that I want to read all of those footnotes, but one feels more comfortable knowing that they are there. Ms. Bathurst does include a bibliography and she seems quite knowledgeable and won my trust after a while.

Most of the chapter titles are the names of the most famous of the lighthouses, each more challenging to build than the last, by which successive generations of  Stevensons made their reputations. Bathurst makes the point that each lighthouse needs to be designed to fit the requirements of its site, not aesthetically (though that was true too) but from the viewpoint of the engineering involved, especially the base on which it was to be built. Earlier lighthouses had been knocked down by the waves.

There were also political battles to be won, by the Scottish Lighthouse Board against British control, and by the builders against the wreckers who made their living from salvage and accurately perceived that the lighthouses would diminish their livelihood. Religious people argued that God had put the shoals where he did, and if he had wanted to, he would have put lighthouses there too. How can one argue with such a person.

Bell Rock, the Stevensons first, was built on a rock that was underwater at high tide. So work could only be done there, until the tower was partly built:  at high tide, in daylight, in the summer and in good weather. Not many hours of work per year.

The process of building the lights seemed to me like a scaling of Everest, where one has to establish a series of base camps leading to the final assault. In the case of lighthouses, these were to locate a quarry, create a remote land base where the materials could be assembled, acquire a ship to convey them to the rock, and then create: a landing place, a smaller temporary structure in which the workmen could live, the ring cut in the rock for a foundation, the foundation, the tower and finally the light at its top, before hiring and training the keepers.  And in some locations  during big storms, the waves threw tons of salt water over the top of and  into uncompleted lights and tore away blocks of granite weighing several tons.

The story also tells of the advances in lighting technology during the years, from a coal fire on a hilltop to candles with parabolic mirror reflectors behind them, to early glass lens concentrators, to Fresnel lenses.  And fuels advanced from whale oil to paraffin and even, after the Stevensons, electric bulbs, and the automation of the lights with consequent elimination of the keepers.

Bathurst includes other advances in safety at sea such as lifesaving organizations with boats, life vests, Plimsoll lines (to prevent overloading), licensing in an attempt to require competence and, in an epilogue after the Stevensons era, radio, GPS, and EPIRB. Bathurst notes the Volvo phenomenon -- as safety and navigation equipment improves, recreational boaters take greater chances, like Volvo drivers who drive faster because they are lulled into a false sense of safety by the safety built into their vehicles. A cautionary advice to all sailors.

My enjoyment of the book was enhanced by two others I have read. The first half of Robert Louis Stevensens "Kidnapped" is in essence a counterclockwise circumnavigation of Scotland, punctuated by a shipwreck, which, took place on the Isle of Erran, near the site of Skerryvore, the largest, tallest Scottish light.
The wreck was before the light was built. I added the route of the hero of "Kidnapped" to the crude map in my book. The second was Joshua Slocums Sailing Alone Around The World, reviewed in this blog, which included a gift of books from Robert Louis Stevensons widow to Captain Slocum.

The first in the line of Stevensons began as a metal worker who invented polished curved mirrors to concentrate light. He built lighthouses to provide a market for his polished mirrors. He was self taught and valued education and the dynasty grew up coincident with the development of engineering as a profession. He considered himself inferior because of his lack of a classical education.
Here is Robert Louis, painted by his friend, John Singer Sargent, obtained in August 2015 at a show at the Met Museum of  Art.

Many people love lighthouses as works of beauty. Our Maine trip in 2013 has pictures of many of them. And one underestimates the value of lighthouses to navigation if one thinks them as useful only at night. As God led the Children of Israel through the desert for 40 years (Exodus 13) by manifesting himself as a pillar of clouds by day and a pillar of fire by night, lighthouses guide mariners by their light by night and their bulk by day.        A good read.

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If It Is Monday This Must Be Helsinki

We took the shuttle bus in to town and explored with the map as our guide. A large modern Lutheran Church was built into a hole excavated from an outcropping of rock atop a hill.

A beautiful piano sonata was being performed; too bad not the organ. Oops, no cameras; I didnt see the sign.

The grand esplanade, one end of which abuts the market at the head of the inner harbor.

 There we saw this beautiful schooner with an old fashioned anchor on each bow, each weighing almost 900 pounds.

Shopping became the rage with Lene scoring a fur hat, suitable for Nanook of the North; except we will be south next winter so the chinchilla pelts will have to wait. We also got a bar of Salmiakki, a local delicacy: think chocolate covered licorice. The sweetness of the milk chocolate mixes with the salty/sourness of the liquid center. Dont laugh. Salted caramel is a big hit now so maybe the Finns really have something here. My personal taste test result: Meh.

Three other behemoth cruisers were in port today.

We were docked next to a boat storage yard with several boats not launched yet for this season. Hmmm, like at the Harlem YC. You can see  two large marinas behind seawalls across the way

.We could have seen more of Helsinki in our five hours here if we had taken a tour.

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