Off The Wind on the trailer

[alsantini]

Well, I have pulled OTW out of Pistakee Lake.  The new marina was really good this summer.  Power and water at the dock, huge floating docks, good neighbors (pontoons), clean bathroom with showers and 50 feet to the main body of the Lake.  All in all no complaints.  Hit a car wash and pealed the "fur" off the bottom after 5 months in the water and brought her to the storage yard.  More clean-up this week and a decision as to whether she goes to FL for the winter.  The Covid situation still concerns the Admiral and the Captain.  I stored OTW last winter and we went down in mid-January sans sailboat.  Hope this year will be different.  Only project scheduled is the new tiller and an auto-pilot (maybe).  What are the plans for the winter with the rest of the Eclipses here?  How was the summer season sailing?   Sail On....  Al

[Cpy23ecl]

Windborne (my new eclipse) came out of the water a week ago friday and securely nestled into my pole barn for the winter.  Only got her launched in mid July so it was a short season made even shorter by a lot of time spent looking at looking for camping property up north.  Only got out 4 times and so far have not gotten comfortable with the boat.  It's so much smaller than any boat I've had up till now and no matter how I move around it I'm hitting my head, elbows, knees or ankles. 

At this point I'm honestly wondering if the compromise for ease of trailering was a bit too much of a compromise.  With any luck I'll feel better better about her by the end of next season.  The property we bought is only a short distance from a state harbor so if I move the boat there next year I'll only have a few minutes drive to get to the boat and only a couple minutes from leaving the dock to get out on Lk Huron instead of an hours drive to get to the dock and then a 30 minute trip to get from my current dock thru the drawbridge and out to Lk Mich.

I need to remove the mast head fitting and get a VHF antenna mounted and run coax down the mast.  Also need to mount either a wind instrument or windex.  Also have some teak to touch up.  And can't forget the annual hull waxing.  Fortunately the pole barn is heated so I have all winter to get things done, which means I'll rush to complete just before spring launching.

Fred

[alsantini]

Fred.  Good  deal on the heated barn.  Never had one.....  The boat is smaller, that is for sure.  Personally I think every boat is a compromise.  My P-21 was a larger boat and that is the only one I have owned larger than the Eclipse.  I only feel the smaller size in the cabin.  But on the plus side I have had 8 boats and not one of them sailed better than my Eclipse, so I guess I just accept the size.  Enjoy.  Good luck with the projects.  Sail On     Al

[slode]

Don't think I'll get Sylvia out of the garage again this season, but with the weather forecast over the next couple weeks maybe I'll take a day of work to go for a day sail.  Only project for this winter is shoving a piece of pipe insulation around the wires going down from the mast stub into the cabin.  I though I had the clank clank noises from wires at night fixed with the cable I ran down the mast with the wires tri-wrapped to it. That did take care of most of it.  But with the occasional powerboat flying by us while anchored on the St. Croix a big wake would still rock the boat enough to make the wires on the bottom end inside the cabin clank against the aluminum.  I can sleep through movement no problem, but any odd noise wakes me right up, especially when it's right next to my head.

[Fastdoc98]

I honestly can't remember the last time I had my Eclipse in the water - maybe July?  Late June?  The majority of July and all of August were hot with no wind and quite a bit of rain, so it sat.  I did get my Sunfish out a few time at the local lake as its only 5 minutes from my driveway and the Sunfish works just fine in heat and small breezes.  I took a week off last month for a motorcycle trip which then makes my work schedule even more hectic as I don't get 'time off', I still have the same number of shifts to do each month no matter what.  Same thing this month, leaving Saturday for the Smokies with the family so I've been working a crazy schedule for the week and will be busy after I get back.  I was hoping for a little cooler fall sailing but we'll have to see what kind of weather I get on my days off.