UGLY WEATHER IN MIAMI

[Zeida]

We're in for a bummer of a Memorial Weekend down here, with a weather front bringing us foul weather all day today, tomorrow Sunday and maybe even Monday. So those of us who were planning on a 3-day mini cruise are having to sit it out. So that's what I did today on Bandolera -

In the process, I discovered that I had some tranny fluid leak under the engine sump, which I had never ever noticed before. I Read and re-read the Hurth 100 manual and decided to drain all the old tranny oill and put in new one. Nowhere in that manual it said exactly how much fuel it takes, but to just add some and measure with the dipstick until you put enough as per the mark in the stick. What a dumb way! But I did it and found out that my tranny takes almost 1 Pint, or half a Quart of ATF (thank you Kathy). By measuring the amount of the oil that came out, I saw clearly that I had way too much in there, consequently the leak -not much, but enough to make me wonder why was I getting that spill in the sump. I hope that with the new correct amount of fluid in there, the spill will no longer be.

While doing all this, I had the radio on and heard at least four times the "pan-pan" from the Coast Guard alerting all that a 40 ft sailboat en route from St.John (Bahamas) to the Chesapeake was overdue and not been heard of and to please be on the lookout. Name of vessel is "Island Refuge" - in case anyone can help.

[darmoose]

zeida,

thought we might see you ought there this past weekend.

while you were crawling around in your comfortable, warm, and cozy engine room on bandolera, janet and i beat our way down to "no name" harbor on saturday in 20-25kt winds from the south.

sunday and monday we cruised the bay from elliott key to miami, had wonderdul dinners at boaters grill in "no name" harbor, and generally had a very nice time.

the worst was tuesday when we made the decision to head back north on the outside (the weather report tuesday morning said east winds at 15kts and seas of 2-4ft). turned out to be winds of 25-30kts and seas of 8-10ft. that was some ride for eight hours.
but, i am here now and pleased to say that our CD handled all somewhat routinely (janet may not go sailing again for a little while, until her memory fades a bit), but as they say "all's well that ends well"

yes, we heard the reports of the missing vessel too. also read in todays paper of several boating mishaps and deaths this past weekend. makes me very glad we were in a cape dory, even so, i think i will try to be a lil more prudent in the future.

hope all is good with you and bandolera.

darrell randolph

[Zeida]

Hi, Darrell...

I am so sorry we missed you and Janet this past weekend. Saturday I did stay at the dock because it was so windy out and I had just discovered the tranny leak, but we went out on Sunday. Basically motoring, to see if more tranny oil would leak out. It still did, but not nearly as much. I should have called you on the radio.

I did go to NoName to see if you were around, but I got there at about 2 pm. We wondered if we should stay overnight there, but normally, when it is this windy I am reluctant to anchor, because my windlass (ME!) has much more difficulty bringing the Bruce back on board. There were not too many sailboats there this time! So after motoring around and not finding you there, We headed back to our slip at Crandon, where we spent the rest of the day. Even at the slip, it was blowing hard.

I have never reefed my sails yet, and did not feel like trying this time. But for sure, I need to practice the entire maneuver and be ready, for when the time comes I really need to do it. I do hope there is another weekend soon, with more friendly weather, that we can get together, maybe even get SeaHunt and Tadpole to join us and do a first CD Florida Fleet mini cruise. But yes, aren't we glad we have Cape Dories when this type of conditions come up.
My regards to Janet, and here's hoping she forgets the rough times soon.

[darmoose]

zeida,

i am so sorry we missed you. i had posted awhile ago to seahunt that we planned to be on the bay over memorial weekend and would be on the lookout for him, but regretfully, i forgot to mention it to you. i was so busy getting Mystic Rose ready for the trip that i never thought about contacting you, my bad.

i had put a new 35lb cqr and a manual windlass onboard and had gotten a new 19ft rib dinghy, all of which i was anxious to try out. glad to say all worked great.

we had a great time, on sunday we had my brothers family onboard from naples, with three kids, they all had a great time. we were out of the harbor from 10am and got back about 4pm, so we just missed you. we were anchored there three nights. it was very nice, and we had the three best dinners i can remember anywhere. that place has wonderful food! the owner, mario, took very good care of us and we made some new friends.

i am very sorry we missed you. it would have added greatly to our trip to have rafted up with bandolera. i will be sure not to let that happen again.

we'll be back

darrell & janet

[Sea Hunt]

Hello Zeida, Janet and Darrell:

I, too, am sorry I missed the "rendevous" at No Name Harbor" last Sunday. As I recall, winds were projected at 18-20 kts/NE and were recorded at 16-18 ENE. Given my "tadpole" status I would have been uncomfortable single handing in 18 kt winds.

Sorry. I hope we can hook again sometime. No Name Harbor is a nice place, as is Elliot Key.

I did get out today in 10-12 kts/ENE. Excellent sailing for about 3 hours. Zeida, I tried raising Bandolera II on VHF - no luck.

Spent most of the time practising tacks and jibes with the jib sheets run through the cabin top fairleads and secured around the winches, etc. - as suggested by Mike and others. Worked very well.

Unfortunately, singlehanding is a lot like dancing. You have to be coordinated. Despite years of baseball, football and other physical "activities", I do not have the required natural "dance" coordination. Kind of like I can't dance period. Performing a controlled jibe singlehanded is a choreographed maneuver requiring a lot of delicate dance-like skills. I think I look a lot like Dick Butkus in the cockpit of "Tadpole". Oh well, like someone said - "it ain't pretty, but it gets done".

Today was another great learning experience.

One note of concern. When I boarded "Tadpole" this morning, there was a lot of water in the cockpit (about 1 1/2" in depth). Then I opened the access to the bilge. The entire bilge was full of water I had not been on "Tadpole" in 6 days. During those 6 days there was a lot of rain over the mooring field. I guess I can understand some water in the cockpit (given so much rain).

However, how does the bilge completely fill with water Where could it be entering The hatch was completely shut and the cabin floor was comparatively dry. The port and starboard cockpit lockers were also dry as were the lines inside, etc.

It took me about 20 minutes of pumping to empty the bilge. This took 20 minutes away from my sailing time.

Any thoughts or suggestions on avoiding/eliminating this in the future

Thanks,

[Russell]

i had put a new 35lb cqr and a manual windlass onboard and had gotten a new 19ft rib dinghy, all of which i was anxious to try out. glad to say all worked great.

Is that a typo? Or are you really towing a 19' rib behind a 30' boat?

[Zeida]

I never even heard of a 19 ft. RIB except for those big police and CG RIBS. Is that what you are towing with Mystic Rose? I think I must agree with Russell...

[Oswego John]

Robert,

Check the hoses and connections of the self draining scuppers beneath the cockpit.

The next rainy day, actually sit in the Ty and observe where the water is coming from.

You might consider a boom tent. If you do go that route, it is helpful that the tent has a wrap-around flap at the mast. The reason for this is that on a mooring, the bow is always heading into the wind and it prevents driving rain from entering the cockpit.

Good luck,
O J

[darmoose]

my wife called me on the cell to tell me that people were commenting on the size of my dinghy (she's always been kinda proud of my dinghy and seemed a bit in a panic), so i decided at the time that as soon as i got back to my office, i would set all those people (apparently with tiny dinghies) straight about the size of mine.

that was until i got a look at the comments, and one being from my good friend, zeida, i realized i could not belittle the size of her dinghy. so, i must admit that i must have exagerated (unconciously) the size of my dinghy, it is only 10ft.

sorry to all those with tiny dinghies

darrell

[Dean Abramson]

You started this, Darrell; so I have to ask: Is that ten feet "inflated" or "uninflated?"

Robert, maybe don't wait for a rainy day. Pump out the bilge. Take the boat to the dock and use a hose to start filling up the cockpit, and generally wet her down good. Then go below with a good flashlight and assess things. More "fun" to work on a nice day. And more light.

I am guessing that those looped-up hoses are an issue for cockpit drainage, and you also have a leaky hose and/or fitting. The bilge should not be filling up. Worse case scenario is a leaky hull, but this sounds like it is happening only after it rains, no? I would want to figure that out. Soon.

Good luck.

Dean

[wingreen]

Although my Ty had been generally well-cared for, I was surprised to find that there are lots of places where water can leak below deck, esp. if the fittings haven't been re-bedded in 35 years. For starters... on the aft deck you have the mainsheet blocks, motor mount, stern cleat and chock, and backstay fitting. Along the port and starboard you have the gen cars, winches, portlights, and every single little screw holding the coamings and other teak fittings in place. On the cabin top there is the tabernacle, halyard cleats, and fairlead tracks. Up front you have the bow cleat.

It only takes one or two leaky fittings to start filling the whole thing up. I'm in the middle re-bedding all the hardware on mine.

[Sea Hunt]

OJ:

I thought about a boom tent but was hoping to avoid this for esthetic reasons.

Dean:

I have gotten on board Tadpole several times when her cockpit is bone dry and the bilge is dry. Yes, this only happens when it rains.
The suggestion of intentionally filling the cockpit with water is something I will consider. When I had raised this issue of water in the cockpit in an earlier thread, someone else had suggested that as a test.

Wingreen:

I have looked at all of the deck hardware areas. While I will concede that some moisture can be getting in, the other day the entire bilge was completely full of water. It had to be many gallons of water. I am a rookie but I cannot believe that that much water can seep in in just 6-7 days just through poorly bedded hardware. Of course, I could very easily be very, very wrong.

I was not able to go aboard today. However, I spent some time thinking about this.

I still think the main cause of the problem is the scupper hoses. As I mentioned in an earlier thread the starboard scupper drains through a hose into the starboard seacock and the port scupper drains through a hose into the port seacock. HOWEVER, each hose makes a 360 degree loop in between the scupper drain and the seacock.

While I spent the 20-25 minutes pumping out the bilge the other day I was trying to assess where this much water could be coming from. Today, I looked at pictures I took of Tadpole. One of the pictures is of the tiller and the rudder shaft. The tiller and rudder shaft have an oval shaped teak base affixed to the cockpit floor.

The rudder shaft goes down through what appears to be a slightly larger "pipe" (for lack of a better term). I am not sure the length of this pipe. There is a fair size gap around/between the shaft and the "pipe" - possibly 1/4" to 3/8". The pipe rises about 1" to 1 1/2 " (tough to tell exactly from the pixs I took) above the cockpit floor.

Question: Does this "pipe" drain into the bilge

IF it does, this may be the what is happening. The cockpit is filling up with water because the scuppers cannot properly drain the water from the cockpit because of the 360 degree hose loops that restrict/inhibit water flow. The water rises above the 1" lip of this "pipe" and overflows into the bilge (IF this "pipe" drains into the bilge ).

This would explain why so much water was in the bilge. It would also explain why there was a "dirt ring" (sort of like a bathtub ring) around the cockpit that went up 1" - 1 1/2".

Thoughts and suggestions please

[wingreen]

The rudder shaft goes down through what appears to be a slightly larger "pipe" (for lack of a better term). I am not sure the length of this pipe. There is a fair size gap around/between the shaft and the "pipe" - possibly 1/4" to 3/8". The pipe rises about 1" to 1 1/2 " (tough to tell exactly from the pixs I took) above the cockpit floor.

Question: Does this "pipe" drain into the bilge

It does, and you should fix it immediately if that's where the leak is, since large volumes of water can leak through that fitting rapidly.

[Sea Hunt]

Wingreen:

Sorry to be a pain with so many questions, but you say "fix it". How do you "fix" this

Isn't there supposed to be some spacing/gap between the rudder shaft and this "pipe" I assume what I call a "pipe" is properly called a rudder post. I thought this spacing allows the rudder shaft to move freely inside of the rudder post. Am I wrong

If I am supposed to plug up this gap how am I supposed to do it What should I use

Wingreen and others, I honestly apologize for asking so many dumb questions. However, part of the blame has to be shared by many members of this board, including you, who painstakingly encouraged and supported my long and frustrating efforts to buy a Cape Dory. I told everyone that when the day came that I bought my Cape Dory I would deluge this board with dumb, stupid questions. Well, that day has now come to pass I offer my apologies to all

Any and all help is VERY MUCH appreciated.

[wingreen]

... and caulk the hell out of it. Caulk all around the base of the teak, the screw-holes, and around the hole where the post protrudes above the deck. Well, that's what I plan to do, anyway, whenever I'm ready to do the re-bedding I told you about. Don't caulk the moving parts of the post.

I am now also wondering if your rudder is built differently than mine, because I'm having trouble envisioning how you can do the things you're worried about on my boat. If you have a pic of your rudder that might help.