Family sailing

Sailing with my sister and in-law last week was a treat. We went off on a mission to pick up two optimists, in a club across the bay. Easy thing for Arpex. Specially now, with the installed net. It carried one of the boats comfortably, while the other came to sit nicely on the deck.

 

When sailing is not up, there is always something to do...

I have tried to go sailing this weekend, but it didn't work out, as planned. The bottom was dirty, due to two week's no scrubbing. So I did that early, on Saturday. But then the crew bailed out. Happens. And then the engine wouldn't work. As usual... I need my electric engine to go as I please. 

So I got time to tick off a few pending tasks. Not many,.... but the thing is not to let things slip out of sight, and of mind. As long as you keep doing things, and keeping the boat in good shape, it is all good. It's not like the list is ever going to end... It won't. Only when the boat is gone. And we don't want that,do we?

 

Engine Maintenance and Sailing again

My electric outboard is in maintenance. Thus, a borrowed 5hp Mercury two-stroke engine is doing the pushing job, in case the wind fails. However, we first had to get the engine started. With our bundled expertise we disassembled and cleaned the carburetor three times, until we had it running. And once it was, we had to keep it running. Thus, we let go the mooring lines, and went for a short spin on the bay. We also got the sails up. But conditions were very feeble, and so we only drifted along slowly, against the tide.  

I really enjoyed and appreciated the hands-on introduction to outboard maintenance. My friend Ashton generously offered tools for the job, and ended staying to do the job with me. Later Marcilio joined us, with adding some more experience with engines, since he has an own fishing boat. But it took Rogerio to disassemble the whole lot again, and then finally making it run.

As all others I was grateful for the wide open, and stable, deck-space for working on the engine. It really made a difference to have even space to move around.

Maintenance 2021

To-Do Lists for boats are never ending. It is a ongoing exercise. I often ask myself whether I should leave the done tasks inside. I like to see some green boxes. It does give some satisfaction. However, in case they are not recurrent tasks, they should be removed after a while.