Our first sail for July!…we left the dock a little bit late after scrubbing the hull.  This meant we had to fight the current under the bridge a full 3.5 knots! while slow we finally made it out under the bridge into the bay.  There was lots of traffic between the bridges and quite a few idiots in powerboats! lots of confused seas and quite a few big wakes but the boat and motor held up perfectly.

On board we had my Sister Patricia she is a little weary of the ocean but from the smiles on her face you would not have known.  Myself and Ellen took turns at the helm.  We took turns getting used to the lines and controls on the boat.  It was a light 10 kn wind and as Patricia is not familiar with sailing we decided to just sail under main alone.  This made for a nice slow sail back and forth across the Bay.  We encountered three very large cargo ships one fishing boat with crab traps and quite a few other sailboats and powerboats. Ellen prepared a nice turkey salad and we enjoy it and the sun in the cockpit.  After about an hour of tacking back and forth we decided to head back in.  This time we had the current in our favor and motored very quickly under the bridge.

Ellen was at the helm from the bridge to the boat house channel.  I stowed the Main tidied the lines,prepared  the fenders, boat hook etc and guided Ellen through the channel.  Once we were at the boat sheds for the RVYC I took the helm and slowed the motor.  This was our first time taking the boat back to the slip.  We were at a nice slow speed and getting ready to make our turn into the slip channel when out of nowhere comes a sailboat on our inside blocking our upcoming turn! I idled down and asked their intention they said they were heading for the mast tower so I signaled them on with a smile and a wave they sped up as they knew we were trying to turn they passed just in time! we turned into the channel nice and slow with just enough headway to maintain steerage we had fenders out the lines ready and Ellen had the boat hook in hand and was on the lookout.  We stayed to the left and very quickly spotted the blue steps and made our turn.  The new throttle extension really helps I was able to idle down and quickly pop into reverse for a second to gently drift right into the dock.  Ellen steps off very professional and we come to a stop.  We came in so quietly that we surprised Kirk who had just returned from a trip to Bowan Island and was cleaning up at the dock beside us.  Kurt had his new dog Ripley and Ellen fell in love immediately.

We straightened the boat in the slip and secured all four lines two spring bow and stern, disconnected the fuel stowed the motor tidied the sail stack and stowed everything below.  We said our goodbyes Ripley and Kirt and headed up to the bar for burn your own burgers and beer. A great end to the day and a nice way to relax on the patio.

We made some notes from the trip and we want to look at the motor mount one more time. It does pop out on the odd big wave or swell it would be nice to let it go down another couple of inches. There’s room to modify the mounting board with one more cut and I can alter the angle one or two more degrees. We are planning a trip to Keats or Bowen for an overnight.  On that trip at the dock or anchor I will dive on the bottom and take a look at the keel. We want to haul the boat next spring and have the bottom repainted. We may do it sooner if there’s a lot of growth we will know once we dive on the keel at a clean water dock. That’s all for this update enjoy the pictures and will post again soon.

Cheers

Stephen , Ellen & Patricia

Hi Lyle … just a quick update. All is well at the dock we are working thru a check list before we take Midnight Blues out for the first time. As you can see below we have completed the new motor mount adjustments and improvements. We have been supper busy at our business and we had both our employees leave us. We are still working seven days a week including weekends but have just trained a new young lady called Sarah and hope to have her working weekends again soon. Now the motor is fully operational we look ofrward to a few July English bay sails. My sister is dating one of the lifeboat crew members Ralph and his expertise is navigation and anchoring! so we have a good crew for the summer!
We want to fix the lifelines next and create a heaving line and check the anchor setup for safety.

We will keep you up to date via this blog I hope you enjoy the postings and feel secure in the knowledge that we are looking after your second home here in Vancouver!

More soon signing off now
Best wishes
Stephen & Ellen

We added a throttle control that will allow speed adjustment from the helm wheel. the new mount has lowered and placed the motor further from the stern which makes it awkward and dangerous to work the throttle while under way.

The install was easy and quick its just an extender for the throttle that is on a swivel and allows throttle control from anywhere in the cockpit. I removes easily for storage.

Ellen and my sister Patricia spent a morning going over the inside cleaning and sorting.

We installed a new bilge line that exits the stern ….I am creating a mounting board for it that will anchor it in the bilge area.

We replaced the fuel connectors on the motor and the fuel line.

We solved the motor mount issue!

We thought about remounting the entire bracket but after some measurements we decided to rejig the actual mounting board.

We removed the mounting board a solid plastic block first . Then we where able to cut the mounting block down by about 2.5 inches which would allow for the motor to mount securely and the thumb locks to rotate. This resulted in lowering the motor below the water line safely
We also looked at how we could alter the angle to bring the motor to a true vertical 90 degrees. We where able to offset the mounting using secure nuts on new longer ss carr bolts that match exactly the original one. This had a two fold effect …it lowered the motor more and brought it into true vertical! See pictures below

The new mount works like a dream…finger tip control to raise the motor easily!. Its a bit of a reach from the stern to lock and unlock the mount …but overall a huge improvement to motor handling. The new throttle extension also help alot!
We will be taking the boat out for a test motor/safety check to see how the new mount handles before we head out into the bay.