Off-Season Preparations

Piao sits in snowbank to the left of the garage after one of our 2015 blizzards

Throughout the latter part of winter (we did not have a Spring this year in New England), I had a couple of off-season boat projects to distract me from work.  The PVC pipe frame I rigged for the tarp was a marginal success.  Perhaps in a more mild winter it would have held up just fine, but 100" of snow and the gale-force winds during a couple of the blizzards caused some havoc and knocked down a couple of the poles.  Next winter I will have to build something a bit more robust.

Some else seems as eager as I am to get back aboard.....

Throughout Season One, I had spent so much money at West Marine to outfit the boat that I had early nearly $500 in "Gold Reward Certificates."  I am now happily married, and would like to remain that way, so I will decline to disclose how much money I had to spend at West Marine in order to earn that many reward certificates......

First, I got a new radio.  My original unit (a Standard Horizon handheld HX851) was defective.  It could receive, but apparently it could not transmit.  Once I tried to radio my friend Jolly Jack, who was anchored in his Grady-White just twenty yards off my port beam.  He said he could hear me talking into the radio, but could not hear me over the radio.  So, I took the device back to West Marine to complain.  They said they could not replace it because it had a manufacturer's recall (no one informed me).  They did give me credit towards a new radio.  I picked up a Standard Horizon HX870 floating receiver with GPS, which Practical Sailor labeled 'Best Choice 2015."  It has a bundle of cool functions, and allows me to monitor three channels simultaneously.  However, I later found it a bit disconcerting to discover the Lat/Lon position reading on the handheld radio is slightly different from that displayed on my Garmin chartplotter.

Standard Horizon HX870

But wait, there's more!  Since 'Piao' is already rigged with a VHF mast antenna, I decided it might be safer to have a base station installed, so I also purchased a Standard Horizon's Explorer GPS GX1700 for about $250.

Standard Horizon GX1700

I had no problem mounting the radio inside the cabin, but I have yet to wire it.  'Piao' has a small terminal block with only four fuse mountings.  I am not sure where, exactly, to connect the wires, nor how, exactly to do it.  We have new neighbors who moved in across the street from us: proud sailboat owners who give seminars at the New England Boat Show.  I asked the guy who does his electrical work.  "I do it myself," he replied.  I explained my need, but he didn't take the bait.  "You can look up how to do it yourself on YouTube," he told me.  I confess I expected a bit more from a new neighbor to whose aid I came over the winter when he got his pickup truck stuck in a snow bank.  If that happens again next winter, I will suggest that he can look up on YouTube how to shovel a vehicle out of a snowbank on one's own.  So I have a brand-new mounted radio that is not yet functional.  "But you just had to have it," the Admiral admonished me.

But wait, there is more!  I wanted to have a modest but functional galley aboard 'Piao' for all those overnight and multi-day sailing adventures I dream of taking: the Vineyard, Nantucket, Nova Scotia, Baffin Island, Iceland, etc.  My neighbor Henry (the guy with the Sawsall) used to have an O'Day 23 just like mine, and offered to sell me a (slightly used) Origo two-burner non-pressurized alcohol stove for $350.  I decided that was beyond both my needs and means, and instead picked up a (slightly used) single-burner Origo 1500 on eBay for $75.

Origo 1500

But wait, there's more!  I also purchased a mosquito screen to mount inside the V-berth hatch, and a couple of hanging cargo nets that I mounted in the V-berth as well for relatively light weight junk I keep aboard.  

Forehatch Screen Installed

But wait, there's more!  My more ambitious project was to fashion a screen for the main companionway, and idea I saw in an issue of Good Old Boat magazine.  The very friendly gals at Sperry Sails here in Marion were happy to give me some scraps of blue Sunbrella fabric (free).  I stopped by a local bait shop and bought a dozen or so 1.5-ounce brass-casting swivel fishing line sinkers (about $.50/each) to sew into the Sunbrella fabric as weights to hold down the screen in the wind.  

Finally, I drove over to Banana's in Wareham (by WaterWizz, of Adam Sandler fame) to pick up a fine-mesh Coghlans bug jacket ($17), which I cut up into a double-thick single rectangular piece.  

The extra fine mesh was necessary to keep out the tiny biting midges ("no-see-ums") that plague Dexter's Cove.  A former seamstress in our whaleboat rowing club offered to sew it all together for me, and I finished off by punching a couple of grommets for tie-down lines and added an extendable curtain rod on the bottom for added weight and structural integrity.  I was pleased with the result.

But wait, there's more!  I also added a signal flag halyard -- because I like signal flags.  I have a full set aboard 'Piao,' as well as a larger size "R" flag that I like to fly when I am aboard and the boat is anchored or moored ('R' for RUF, but it formally meant 'The Way Is Off My Vessel').  I also have a larger size "D" flag ('I Am Maneuvering With Difficulty'), but we generally fly that from the back porch of the house during Happy Hour in the summer.

But wait, there's more!  Just for fun, I glued a little rubber dork face to the pointy top of my 'Tall Boy' pennant, telling the kids that it would help them identify our mooring more easily when we return from a sail.  "But we are the only ones with an inflatable dinghy," they countered.  "We don't need that."  You be quiet now, kids.....

But wait, there's more!  While down at Defender Marine in CT for their annual spring sale, I picked up a DeckGuard Sonic Bird Repeller ($60) to mount on the boat.  Last year, bird shit became a really big problem.  This device promised an effective air defense system (the fishing line I tried to rig last year did not work out so well -- it was a pain in the ass to put up and take down, and soon became a tangled mess).  The birds apparently laughed so hard that they shit all over the boat.

DeckGuard 30 UltraSonic Solar-Powered Bird Repeller

One of the super-nice guys from Brownell Boat Systems who came to haul my boat to the launch ramp was curious about the device and its efficacy.  "How's it work?" he asked.  "Well," I explained, "You press the red button."  "I know that," he replied.  "I meant 'does it keep the birds away?'"  I am very pleased to report that it has been wonderfully effective.  Best $60 I have spent on the boat so far.  Completely solar-powered, it has a range of 26-feet horizontal and 110-degrees vertical.  No one bit of bird turd on the boat this year, whereas last year got pretty disgusting.....

Now, on to the problems that needed fixing....

First, I discovered that the 12v charging socket in the cockpit had corroded and fallen apart.  I picked up a new one and was delighted to discover that installation was not challenging at all.

A more disconcerting problem concerns the wiring to the mast lights.  The connections here had been corroded and destroyed before I acquired the boat.  My deck lights and cabin lights work fine, but the coupling to the mast has been ruined.  

So, that's why the mast lights don't work, eh?

There is one white light in the front side of the mast (to be illuminated when motoring) and a 360-degree white light at the top of the mast (to be illuminated when at anchor).  Last year I did not sail after dark, but I would like to have that option if necessary.  For now, I have a temporary fix: when motoring at dusk, I tie a headlamp to the front of the mast as high up as I can reach.  Not the best fix, but minimally functional.  If I need to anchor at night, I have a small battery-powered camping lantern that I can raise to the masthead using the spare halyard.  I would REALLY like to have this wiring fixed ASAP, but finding a competent electrician available to do the work has been a problem.  I called several local boatyards, and was turned away (some don't work on sailboats, some don't work on inexpensive sailboats).  My neighbor across the street (the fancy sailboat owner with the pickup truck) assures me that I can look up on YouTube how to fix this myself.  But I have little confidence in my ability at present to handle marine electrical wiring projects.  Hello Bob?  Are you reading this?  Hailing Argon.....

V (Victor): "I Require Assistance"

One issue I discovered concerned the winches.  There is a small gap of approximately 1/4" between the bottom of the winch and the cockpit cowling.  Unfortunately, this means the 3/8" jib sheets sometimes get fouled or jammed in there (often at the most inopportune moments).  Sent out a call for suggestions on a webpage for O'Day Owners, but didn't receive much help (e.g., "Get thicker jib sheets," someone snarky dude replied).  This problem remains unresolved -- "Open Ticket."

Note the gap between the bottom of the winch and the cockpit coaming

Last year I noticed that the winches were rather difficult to turn at times.  I know they say you should service your winches every year, and I know that most people do this diligently -- NOT.  When I asked my buddy, the PO, about it, he confessed that he never serviced the winches in all the years he owned the boat.  Okay, this was a mechanical problem that I thought I could handle.  So, I looked it up on YouTube.

The first challenge was figuring out how to take about the winches without breaking them.  That depends on the make and model: Piao has two Barient 10P winches.  Ultimately, I would like to replace the winches, perhaps with self-tailing winches since I sail alone more often than not.  I am also thinking of adding a winch on the mast for the halyard.  But winches are expensive, and this is not a high priority (gotta fix those electrical issues first).

Step 1: remove this little ring-thingy (I think its called a 'Circlip'):

Step 2: Remove the Top Cap

Ewwwwwww, that's nasty.....

Step 3: Remove the Drum, Pawls, and Pawl Springs (be careful not to lose the latter)

Before and After 

Step 4: Clean Everything, Grease, and Re-Assemble

One other priority project on my list was to install a single-line reefing system.  This would enable me to reef (or shorten) the sail by pulling on a rope from the relative safety of the cockpit -- rather than climbing up on the deck housing amid the gusty winds and bouncy waves to wrestle with the sail.

I did some homework, not too diligently, and ordered a kit by Barton for about $170.  Despite my best intentions, I never got around to installing it while the boat was on the hard.

Then, belatedly, I discovered how difficult it can be to drill into a metal boom and mast while afloat.  Turning to Plan B, I took a closer look at the cleats and cringles on the sail, mast, and boom, and decided to try a cheap ready-fix working with existing parts.  I bought some new 3/8-inch line and set to work.  The result isn't the prettiest, nor is it "properly" done, but it is functional.  Anyone interested in a (opened but unused) single-line reefing kit from Barton Marine?  Maybe I will redo it all properly during the next off-season.  Winter is coming........

The Red/White line is the reefing system; the Blue/White line is the new outhaul

I had also considered installing a "lazy jack" system, but friends told me they can be more hassle than help.  Also, my mainsail is really not that large, so I decided to forget that idea and save the money that I don't have anyway.