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January  2007                                                                                                                                                                  Editor:  Tom Gillard

15-January-07

Please remember, in your thoughts and prayers, all our Troops around the world and those on the way home.

***ATTENTION MEMBERS***
Our Club Officers are:

                        Commodore        Vice-Commodore       Harbormaster               Port Captain         Secretary           Treasurer
                          Lucian Cayce      Andy Myrick           Harry Bloodsworth             John Garibotte     Theresa Higgins      Debbi Merrill
                                                                                          Larry Thomas

By now most of you know about the damage done to many of the boats on the dock during a storm in early December.  Parker Lowndes and the Franklin Co. Rescue team did a VERY good job of recovering the Farrington's boat that sunk at the dock.  Click HERE for more pictures of this.

"What is this thing?" I ponder, holding up a hotdog-shaped red bulb with a foot-long wire protruding from one end, terminating in a plug that seems to fit nothing aboard our boat. It's not the first mystery I've come across.

When adopting a used boat, new owners often inherit lockers filled with gear. It seems to me that most boaters, having decided to part with their venerable vessels, don't have the heart to sort through all of those spare parts and pieces that have settled into the depths of each nook and cranny over the years. Instead, they generously leave all associated gear to the new owner.

When we took ownership of our 38-foot Morgan sloop, Sea Spell (formerly Jada, neé Little Feet), we were blessed with loads of storage space, compared to my first boat, an Endeavour 32. Sadly, Sea Spell's three previous owners had already filled most of her bounteous space. It seems that 25-year-old boats quite literally come with a lot of baggage.

My wife and I quickly realized that if we wanted to stow any of our clothes and toys aboard, we'd have to sort through what was already there.

Much of the gear comprised the obvious items critical to a sailing vessel, such as sails. In addition to the ones in the cockpit sail locker, a couple of extra sails were piled in the shower. Two years later, the shower is still a sail locker. Who needs to bathe indoors when cruising in the tropics? We also found a little-used dodger buried beneath the sails that hadn't been included in the ship's inventory -- the first of many bonuses.

Of course, there were also things listed on the inventory that we never did find. Where could they have possibly hidden that 35-pound Danforth? When asked, the immediate past owner admitted it may have been "lost" somewhere in the distant past. This nebulous explanation left me wondering if it might still turn up someday, perhaps tucked away under a settee cushion.

Prospecting below
We dug through our other lockers, spending days sorting things to determine what we'd bought, like prospectors panning for gold nuggets or archaeologists unearthing relics from the past. Some were pleasant discoveries, like spare Autohelms and bilge pumps.
Much of the sifting effort was pure drudgery. It seemed the previous owners had made a game of finding the highest possible number of places in which they could stow nuts, bolts, and other fasteners. We gathered these bits into a container with individual cubbyholes for different types and sizes. Suddenly, when we needed a certain screw or nail for a particular job, we could find it. Without the time spent rummaging for each fastener, projects accelerated. 

After emptying the lockers we sorted everything into major categories. We gathered tools in one place (including a hammer from the Morgan yard that we found glassed into a compartment under the stove). Blocks -- boy, do we have blocks! -- all packed into a tackle box. Plumbing supplies in another. A toxic medley of glues, caulk, and other fixatives in another. Electronics in another. Expired flares in the expired flare box.  Soon things were starting to look organized, further reducing project times. We even began to open up space to stow our own stuff.
Despite our massive reorganization, we still didn't have a grasp on everything on board. When stocking up with spare parts a year later, we visited our local Perkins mechanic to gather necessary bits for the diesel. He sold us a spare $100 injector and a set of gaskets costing about the same. Of course, we later found a spare injector and the same set of gaskets stowed among our other spare engine parts. Sorting without benefit of either a photographic memory or a complete inventory list can lead to such duplication.

He sold us a spare $100 injector and a set of gaskets costing about the same. Of course, we later found a spare injector and the same set of gaskets stowed among our other spare engine parts. Sorting without benefit of either a photographic memory or a complete inventory list can lead to such duplication.

Unidentifiable items
After we'd emptied every crevice and re-stowed all the identifiable items in logical groupings, we were still left with a small pile of "other" items we couldn't quite figure out. We didn't have a clue what they were. My wife would hold something up now and then. I'd squint and try to visualize what it might be. An engine part? A piece from a pump? No. "That's got to be a gasket for the head," I'd declare triumphantly. But sometimes my imagination fell short. Down in the sail locker, for example, we found a couple of oddly shaped boards with barrel bolts on them. I stared at them for a while but failed to fathom their possible use. Then one day we had a friend aboard helping us chase down a short-circuit in the shorepower system. I held up one of the boards and casually asked: "Any idea what these might be used for?" He glanced about and pointed to the gap between the side seats and pilot seat in the cockpit. Of course.
The boards fit neatly in place, creating body-length benches for those nights when we want to sleep outside. But a couple of things still leave me stumped. What is that hotdog-shaped red bulb with the wire dangling out of one end?

It may be some kind of specialized diagnostic tool for an electronic component. I keep it buried in the bottom of a locker just in case we ever need it, although we probably won't know if we do. Maybe the next owner will figure out what it's for.

SailNet article

Your newly acquired boat may look perfectly normal on the outside. But as soon as you start lifting hatches, opening lockers, pulling drawers, and peering into the engine compartment, an enigmatic new world will emerge.
It can take you months to discover how all the systems work, where all the seacocks are, and why the masthead light only comes on if you plug in the cabin fan as well.
Boatowners are a meddlesome lot. They can't resist adding or altering things in their constant quest for perfection.
The engine compartment glows eerily with pale LEDs the previous owner failed to explain. They dimly outline a puzzling forest of pipes, wires, and levers. Under a companionway step, a lump of something grows a white fur coat with startling orange spots. Deep in the bilge a loose copper wire terminates in a halo of virulent green fuzz.
A bikini top lies insolently at the foot of the quarterberth and a sticky drawer delivers a crumpled receipt for repairs to bottom blisters you weren't told about. Gradually, one-by-one, you will solve the mysteries. You just need patience.

Tip: Make notes while you sit down with the previous owner and go through everything from stem to stern. (Excerpted from Things I Wish I'd Known About Before I Started Sailing, by John Vigor; Sheridan House publishers. Illustrated by Tom Payne.) This and other books can be found at <http://www.goodoldboat.com/book
shelf.html> or by calling
763-420-8923.)
Author bio
Former newspaper reporter, Rob Lucey is editor of Carolina Currents, the North and South Carolina Sailors' Magazine. Visit the publication at <http://CarolinaCurrents.com>.
 
 
     

A parting note from the Commodore:

New Years Day was cold, cloudy and windy, but 3 skippers took there boats out on the lake.  Well done to Mssrs Bentley, Hailey and Myrick for braving the elements and giving the rest of us “whusses” some entertainment as we huddled around the fire ashore enjoying Irish Coffee’s, Biscuits, sausage balls, turkey noodle soup, chili, and of course – beer.  Though I don’t have an exact count, I think there were around 20-25 people at HYC to bring in the New Year the only proper way.  Forget black eyed peas.  The day at HYC ensures a prosperous and happy new year.

 The meeting for January is the 15^th at the New China Buffet next to Wal-Mart in Shelbyville.  Please come.  As you all know we will face, maybe, the biggest challenge we’ve ever faced at HYC.  Our dock is a mess and we need a viable plan to fix it.  A number of people are putting together facts and figures and we will discuss options at the meeting.

Thank-you,

America's Cup information

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TWRA Waterfowl refuge area will be opened back up on the 1st of Feb.  This is the South end of the lake...