Thursday, January 1, 2004

200401




From the Commodore

By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

It's odd to see snow on the boat's deck.  My thoughts immediately drift to online discussions with sailors that live in colder climates where decommissioning the boat includes a haulout and shrink wrapping it.  Fortunately for us, snow is not a common wintertime event, so it's more of a novelty than a real nuisance.

Besides the change in the weather, winter also brings a  change in the makeup of the neighbors at my marina.  Gone are many of the trailerable boats that sit out the winter under a trap parked next to someone's home.  Also missing are many other boats that spend winter moored at facilities on Multnomah Channel where the monthly slip fees can be lower.

A Busy January

I'm looking forward to seeing many of you at the Portland and Seattle Boat Shows.  While warmer weather may still be several months off, the shows manage to get us thinking about the new sailing season.

On January 28th, I hope you'll join your fellow Catalina owners at Rose City Yacht Club for what promises to be a wonderful presentation by Bob Gales and Gail O'Neill about their cruise north in 2003 aboard their Catalina 30.  More details regarding the presentation can be found later in the newsletter.

2004 Catalina 25/250 National Regatta comes to the Columbia River

Catalina 25 Fleet 94 of Portland, bid for and won the honor of hosting the championship regatta for the Catalina 25/250 National Association.  Several CRACA members own or crew onboard Catalina 25's and Catalina 250's, and over the past two years, the Catalina 25's have raced in the Small Yachting Sailing Club of Oregon's (SYSCO) One-Design Regatta held in August.

The regatta is scheduled for July 14-17, with a tour of the race area on the 13th, and some local cruising through the 20th.  Tomahawk Bay Moorage will serve as headquarters for the regatta.

Anyone interested in helping out with the regatta or being available to crew can contact:
  • Gary Bruner (Fleet 94 Captain, 360-687-2048 or molika@teleport.com)
  • Terry Annis (360-260-0426 or terransea@aol.com),
I've been recruited to crew aboard Terry Annis' C25 Lematike, and am looking forward to the regatta.



Portland Boat Show

By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

January 3-11.  The Portland Boat Show will be held January 3-11.  Representatives from many of the area's sailing clubs and merchants that cater to the sailing community are usually present.  Although this show tends to be geared toward jet-powered aluminum fishing sleds, ski boats, and PWC, it does do a pretty good job of showcasing Portland sailing.  Sailboats of Oregon, The Sailing Life, Island Sailing Club, Schooner Creek Boat Works, Gig Harbor Boat Works, and several sailing fleets usually bring boats for the public to view.

Here's my recommendation for how to turn the Portland Boat Show into a memorable event:
  • Start the morning off with breakfast out with some of your sailing friends
  • After breakfast, run past West Marine looking for after Christmas bargains
  • Arrive at the boat show at 11 am for the opening of the doors
  • Hit the sailboat section first
  • Next, stroll through the aisles of the remainder of the show with your friends and family while you talk about sailing and your plans for the 2004 season.
  • End up back at sailboat section and hangout for while.  Discuss sailing with folks manning the booths, and with folks looking at the boats.
Stop by the CRACA Table

The Columbia River All Catalina Association's display will be located within the Sailboats of Oregon floor space at the show.  Sailboats of Oregon, our local Catalina Yachts dealership, will be displaying eight boats at the show (a C42, C350, C30, C270, C250, C16.5, an Expo 12.5, and a Sabot).  Also included with the CRACA display will be poster  boards, brochures and photographs from Catalina 22 Fleet 20 and Catalina 25 Fleet 94, both of which have several members in CRACA.





Seattle Boat Shows

By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

January 16-25.  The annual Seattle Boat Show, and Lake Union Boats Afloat Show will be held January 16-25.  The Seattle Boat Show takes place at the Seahawks Stadium and Exhibition Center across the street from Safeco Field, and it features lots of marine equipment booths, powerboats, and a few sailboats.  To see sailboats, you will want to go to the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show.  A free shuttle bus  operates between the Seattle Boat Show and the Boats Afloat Show, and for the first time, a single ticket will get you into both shows.


The Seattle Boat Shows makes for a great weekend getaway, and Laura and I have frequently used The Marriott Residence Inn - Lake Union as a home base because of its convenient location just a cross-walk away from the Boats Afloat Show.

Below are some websites that will get you some great information and rates.



Plans for January's Meeting

By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

This is a special invitation to come and listen to CRACA members Bob Gales and Gail O'Neill describe their adventure north last year aboard their Catalina 30.

What
  • General Membership Meeting
  • This is a bring your own beverage and snack event as most will have eaten dinner before attending.  Sharing is always welcomed.
Where
Rose City Yacht Club
www.RoseCityYachtClub.org
3737 NE Marine Drive
Portland, OR  97211
503-282-2049
When
  • Wednesday, January 28th
  • Gate opens at 6:30 pm
  • Social from 6:30 pm to 7 pm
  • The program starts at 7 pm
Program
  • Reflections on a Cruise North
  • Bob Gales and Gail O'Neill, C30, Imagine, will present a 30 to 45-minute multimedia presentation of their cruise north in the summer of 2003.



Safety



Oregon Boater Education Card

By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

Beginning January 1, 2004, boaters 40 and younger must carry a boater education card when operating powerboats (including personal watercraft or any motorized watercraft) greater than 10 hp.  In 2003, boaters 30 and younger were required to carry their boater education card.

Law enforcement officers are issuing citations for non-compliance with the Mandatory Education Law. The citation fines have increased to $94.

Youth 12-15 also need a boater education card when operating boats 0-10 hp alone. When operating over 10 hp, a card-holding adult (16 or older, 18 for personal watercraft) must be on board to supervise.

The Oregon Marine Board has information about the program posted at:




Technical Tips


How Not to Install Refrigeration

By Dale Mack, C30, Celtic Myst

My boat came with an Adler/Barbour refrigeration unit retrofitted into the icebox.  I had been reluctant to use the unit as our sole source of keeping food cold because my previous experience with battery-powered refrigeration had taught me they had an insatiable appetite for energy.

Bank of drawers removed.  Factory-installed foot pump
at bottom removes water for the icebox and discharges it overboard.
Since getting the boat in February of 2002, Laura and I had always run the unit with a large block of ice in the box.  The thinking here was that the combination of ice and refrigeration would extend the life of the ice and reduce the number of times the refrigerator cycled on and off.  I had been amazed at how well our approach was working, and how little water I needed to pump out of the icebox during cruises.

Bank of drawers
In addition to the refrigeration, the bilge was another area of my new boat I was trying to understand, or more specifically understand why there was water in the bilge.  Despite pumping the bilge dry, and verifying that water wasn't seeping in from around the keel bolts, I was always finding water in the bilge after every cruise.  My answer to at least one of the sources came as Laura and I were squaring away the boat after a weekend out.  As I closed the raw water intake to the engine, Laura just happened to be pouring a pan of warm water into the icebox to melt some remaining ice.  My ears immediately picked up the sound of water running down the hull and into the bilge.

The following weekend I removed the bank of drawers in the galley next to the icebox.  Held in place with only four screws, the complete cabinet slide easily out of the galley.

What Not to Do

Copper tubing is wonderful stuff to work with, but one of the things you learn is to avoid too many fittings because they are prone to leak and to be careful making tight radius bends because a kink in the tubing will weaken it or worse, allow it to leak.  The unknown installer of my refrigeration unit avoided those tight radius bends but in doing so created a nuisance leak aboard the boat.  As can be seen in the photos, a hole saw was used to cut two holes.  The first was between the galley and the portside cockpit storage locker, and the second was in the aft sidewall of the icebox near the bottom.  The refrigeration tubes were then partially sheathed in black foam insulation, and feed through the holes to connect the compressor to the cooling coils in the icebox.

Compressor installed in the portside storage compartment aft of the galley.
The cause for the water leak was readily apparent when I removed the bank of drawers.  There, laying on the hull beneath the hole cut into the icebox was a lump of plumber's putty that had once be shoved into the space between the flexible foam insulation and the icebox.

Refrigeration tubes covered in black foam insulation exiting the bottom of icebox.
If the hole cut into the ice box had been higher, then the condensation or melting ice would have accumulated in the bottom of the ice box like it was designed too, and the factory foot pump would be used to discharge it overboard.  Instead, the low position of the hole coupled with an inadequate caulking job ended up turning the refrigeration tubing access hole into the nature drain for the icebox.

The Stop Gap Fix

Although the long-term fix will be to reroute the tubing and seal the original hole, I've managed to stop the leak by cleaning up the surfaces and caulking the inside and the outside of the icebox with a polysulfide marine caulk.

Inside view of tubes.

A Word of Advice

If you're contemplating adding refrigeration, be mindful of how the refrigeration tubes are routed to your ice box.  If my boat's installer had cut the access hole just 6-8 inches higher, I would have been spared the leaks, and the installation would still have avoided tight radius curves.




Local Sailing Associations



The Columbia River All Catalina Association newsletter is published online once a month. Articles are the opinions of the authors and don’t necessarily represent the consensus of the Association.
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