Any wintertime projects?

[alsantini]

A sad day here as I put Off the Wind away for the winter. I have owned her for 7 years and have brought her to Florida 6 of the years for winter sailing on the Gulf of Mexico or Charlotte Harbor,  But, not this year as we are not going to FL this fall.  Maybe in late Dec or early Jan - not sure at this time.  Depends mostly on how Covid hits Sarasota County.  With all the plans up in the air, I figured she would be better off in a nice indoor storage facility.  I have come to the conclusion that it is easier to take the boat to FL than leave it here.  I pulled the sails and emptied the cabin and all compartments.  I made lots of trips up and down the basement stairs with all the stuff in the boat.  I also found stuff (junk?) in compartments from previous owners.  Around the back of the port lazarette, I found enough line to hang the boat from the rafters.  There was an amazing amount of stuff back there that will NOT be going back in the Spring.  Normally for the trip to Florida, I pull the sails, shrouds, bimini and anchor.  Put a strap on the stern and drive away!  Takes me a few hours.  Getting her ready for storage took a day plus.  phew, I am tired.
Projects for the winter.  Go thru all the stuff.  Clean everything, even the lines.  Put a new impeller in the outboard.  Buy and finish a new tiller and maybe a ruddercraft rudder.  Anyone have one of these on their Eclipse?  A Simrad TP-10 tillerpilot might also be under the tree from Santa.  If I had taken the boat to Florida this was going to be the year for some gel coat work.  The 6 trips to Florida bouncing along have taken their toll on the gelcoat.  I have gel coat pops or voids in a few areas that need attention.  I bought a quart of gel coat from Com Pac so matching will be less of an issue.  But this will have to wait until April.
What are everyone's plans for the winter?  Sail On  Al

[crazycarl]

We store our 19 indoors during the winter and I empty her out every year.   I'm always amazed how much stuff we pack in her for the season.  All those essentials you just can't do without on a multi-day trip.

It does get tiresome carrying things up and down the basement stairs.

[Cpy23ecl]

Al,

We've always completely emptied all of our boats over the winter.  Royal pain in the backside, but we always completely cleaned the inside of the boat in the spring including lockers and bilge and its much easier when its empty.  We even washed the sheets and dock lines by putting them in the washer in a mesh bag.  Plus as you discovered it gives you a chance to look at everything you've accumulated and reevaluate if its really necessary.

Just found out my boat is pushed back another couple weeks - instead of end of Nov early Dec estimated date is now early to mid Dec.  Oh well.  She'll be going into my heated pole barn as soon as I get her home and will give me a chance to mount my GPS chart plotter, VHF radio, Tiller clutch and who knows what else I'll decide is absolutely necessary.

I had both a tiller clutch and an autopilot on my 23 and found I never used the autopilot.  Tiller clutch was far less hassle for day sailing.  If I was sailing from port to port and had to motor a lot I would probably opt for installing an autopilot in addition to the tiller clutch.

My original plan was to order the eclipse without the factory rudder and buy a ruddercraft rudder.  I put a ruddercraft rudder on my 23 last year and it was a thing of beauty.  Absolutely loved it.  Gerry talked me out of the ruddercraft rudder for the eclipse as he did not recommend it.  I had talked to ruddercraft about an eclipse version and they felt it should be the same rudder they used for the 23.  Off the top of my had I can't remember why Gerry felt the ruddercraft rudder wasn't a good idea but he did persuade my against it after we discussed it for a while.

Fred

[brackish]

I've spent much of the ten years I've owned my 23 making it cruise friendly with thoughtful modifications and storage options.  And by carefully determining what is needed and what is not.  I've reached the point where there is nothing loose in the boat, and I can just walk on board, stow the food in the built in drawer cooler, put the personal gear on the allotted shelf and go.  Since the boat stays in the water except for the three year haulout to do the bottom and all other maintenance items, that is nice position to be in. 

However the dreaded three year haulout is due although life issues may make this one a four year unless I can get it done in the next few weeks.  There is nothing else to do other than finish the half finished tiller to motor steering linkage that was put on hold due to various Hurricanes and other constraints.

[slode]

Unless Ruddercraft would make a complete package with the Gudgeon and a full flip up rudder I don't see the value in changing the rudder.  The stock Eclipse rudder is already a foil shape and pretty efficient from what I can tell. I've never liked the handle to raise and lower it, but my gas strut modification greatly improved that issue.  I don't see the ruddercraft adding anything to the setup other than it likely being a bit lighter.

I never got to really test out last winters project where I ran a cable inside the mast with the electrical wires strapped to it to keep them from banging around and making noise in the cabin on a rough night.   We only got out for one overnight and it was so dead calm the only time the boat moved more than a centimeter in any direction is when one of us got up to pee.  I did try rocking back and forth and no wires clanging, but it wasn't a thorough test. 

No big plans for this winter.  It hit early here in MN.  9" of snow already in the past couple weeks.  I had put her away just before that hit, but now it's looking like it may have been a bit early as 50s are forecast for Halloween.  Might have to sneak her out for a spooky evening sail on Saturday if the conditions look good.

[Renae]

Also in Minnesota, and stubbornly avoiding putting the boat away.  It ain't over until it's over, despite the 9" of snow.

Having already voted, I plan to spend next Tuesday sailing.  Ideally, I'd like to go out early with a razor thin sheen of ice on the water from night time and turn my sailing path into a 750 acre bit of performance art.

[alsantini]

Fred.  Good info on the RudderCraft rudder.  I have a Tiller Extension and a cup.  It works really well but I have always fantasized about a Tiller Pilot.  Hell it even made it into my 3 sailing books even though I don't own one. Looks like I put everything away just in time.  Yesterday the Catalina 14.2 made its way into the garage so all floating toys are present and accounted for.  This AM it has been snowing.  Not sticking but blowing around. Guess it was time for the sailing/boating season to end here in northern Illinois

[Cpy23ecl]

Snow... Darn, I guess I better get busy and winterize the rv.  Won't be too long before your weather hits me.

I've had either a tiller pilot or a wheel autopilot on every sailboat I've owned.   Used them a lot when cruising Lake MI.  The wheel pilots are convenient enough that I used them some when day sailing too but the tiller pilot is too much hassle for me to mess with when day sailing.  As I mentioned, I had both a tiller autopilot and a tiller clutch on my 23 but only used the autopilot once to see if it worked.  For me the tiller clutch is just far more convenient when you only need to hold course for a few minutes at a time, which is all I needed while day sailing.

Fred

[crazycarl]

I'm still waiting on the new custom made drop axle, wheels, and tires for the trailer.  My daughter finished the new cushions.  New foam and I went with vinyl so when we go below after swimming, they won't soak up the water.  She installed a zipper that goes around three sides for easy cushion removal.  She also made a new forest green bimini top out of Sunbrella.  Next is to install the bimini and pencil where I want pockets on the underside for chart storage and small items like a flashlight and gloves.  The top will get a velcro strip to fasten a sacrificial strip in case the boom decides to drag over it.   She is also going to sew fitted, padded sheets so we have some ventilation between us and the vinyl cushions when sleeping. 

I bought a used sewing machine a couple years ago for this project, but I'm not the best seamstress, so I offered to pay for her air fair to England if she did the sewing.  I think I got the best of the deal. 

The cushion looks red in the pic, but it's actually more maroon.

[Roland of Macatawa]

Carl,

Nice looking classic receiver, turntable, and speaker(s).

Regards, Roland

[Andre]

Is that a Pioneer receiver and a Dual turntable? I've got both, ha ha.

[crazycarl]

Carl,

Nice looking classic receiver, turntable, and speaker(s).

Regards, Roland

Thanks!  I bought the Kenwood KR 7050 in '82 after trading my other system for a '71 GTO.  The GTO was meant for my wife who at the time didn't have her license.   She never did drive it.  I have a pair of  15" Cerwin Vegas purchased in '80 for when I really need hear the tunes loud.  The Advent Heritages were purchased when the wife complained the CWs were too large for the living room, and things got broken vibrating off a shelf.  The BIC turntable was purchased a few years ago when my Dual "had an accident". 

[Cpy23ecl]

A few things on my list.

1) Apply finish to exterior teak
2) Mount GPS/Chartplotter
3) Install VHF radio and mast head antenna
4) Make sunbrella covers for hand rails
5) Figure out what anchor and how to get it mounted (much harder than I expected)

In a previous life I worked for electro-voice for 10 years as a draftsman and then mechanical designer.  Designed speaker cabinets, microphone cases, electronics enclosures, pc board layouts, etc.  I have a basement full of stuff I collected:  speaker systems, raw speakers, microphones, mixer, cables, phase linear 400 amp, pioneer analog dial fm tuner, elac turntable, heathkit preamp, burwen noise reduction (filtered out ticks and pops from vinyl discs), dbx, teac tape deck and probably a few more things I've completely forgotten about.  For a several years I worked very closely with the speaker system engineers and learned to be so discerning about audio quality that I finally quit listening to stereo systems because I was hearing the flaws in the speakers more than the music.  Haven't touched any of my equipment in over 40 years and the only time I listen to music is in the car.

The cushion looks like it turned out really nice Carl.  I'm trying to decide if we're going to make cockpit cushions for the eclipse or go with individual cushions like I used on the 23.  Even considering trying an Eggsitter cushion as that size would be a lot easier to store below when not in use compared to a full size cockpit cushion.

The photo is a shot of the cushions and curtains my wife made for the Marinette 32 we had at the time.
Fred

[alsantini]

I am really impressed by the sewing ability of some of you.  My wife is an accomplished sewer, having taught Home Ec for years but I can't seem to get her interested in sewing for the boats.  I bought cockpit cushions through West Marine.  Well made and relatively comfy.

[Bob23]

I'm always amazed how thread drift just happens around here!