The continuing adventures of Koinonia

[Bob23]

LAUNCH DATE was supposed to be today but I'm just not ready. The anchor and steaming lights need to be tested, mast and boom waxed, and a nice coat of 3M was on her topsides. All the varnish that's gonna get done is done.
   Took the outboard out yesterday to start her up and boy was I disappointed. She usually starts right up on the first pull, even after a long winters nap. Yesterday, she kicked a bit on the first but started right up on the second and purred like a kitten. As long as this motor runs this well, I will never even entertain a new 4 stroke.  Gave her a new set of plugs, new premium fuel with stabilzer and we are ready to go!
   It looks like Tuesday June 26th is the day. More to come and photos will follow.
Bob23

[Bob23]

BREAKING NEWS:
   Against all odds, and despite the weather and rigging gremlins were hard at work trying to thwart our progress, Koinonia touched the water this afternoon to officially begin her 2012 sailing season. I know there may be doubters and naysayers lurking about so here is photographic proof:

   It took us a ridiculous amount of time to raise the mast due to the fact of some standing rigging issues that are as yet unexplainable. My ever so patient friend and sailing buddy Dennis assisted me in this fiasco and combining our 2 intellects, we were finally able to defeat said gremlins and rig the boat.

   At about 1300 hours local, she was hoisted in the slings by no less a marina owner then Vince of Long Key who agreed to let us hang there while we touched up the bottom paint. We then meandered over to the Lighthouse Tavern to enjoy a cheeseburger and a Guiness while the paint dried. Then, in the water she went and over to her temporary home in slip #56. Hopefull tomorrow we'll sail her down to her home mooring in Surf City. Before we throw off the lines, we'll make sure that all gremlins are banished from the boat.
   Looking forward to the BBB 2012 where Dennis plans to make a cameo appearace in his Morgan 30. Ciao for now!
Bob23

[brackish]

Well it's about time!! The sailing season is about over (well for me at least, 100f+ temps and no winds) although I'm considering a July tow to the coast to find some wind and salt water.  I would be one of the doubters, considering you might have used last years picture, however I see the new dorade/cowl so probably not.  Although you have mastered inserting pics in your posts, so maybe photoshop on last years pic..........

[Greene]

Congrats and fair winds from the Greene's.

[Salty19]

Congrats, Koinonia!   Captn Bob may have waited too long and missed half of the season, but you can't rush perfection can you?

[Bob23]

No, you can't rush perfection. And you can't rush Capt. Bob either. Must be his age; it even takes him longer to make up excuses!
K (Happy to be in the water) oinonia

[Shawn]

Congratulations!

However... Serenity is pissed that she isn't in the water yet. To make matters worse she is currently gutted from bow to stern on the port side.

The hull/deck joint looks like it was leaking. In theory that will be back together in a few more hours....

I'll do the other side, just in case, next year.

Shawn

[Bob23]

Wow. And your 23 is newer than mine, right? Koinonia is a 1985.
Hope you're in soon. Although I'm in the water, I've yet to sail. Work and this horrible heat wave are conspiring against me. Maybe today she'll be moved to her home mooring.
bob23

[Shawn]

Bob,

Yup, Serenity is a '92. After I took it apart I saw a previous leak repair attempt around the chainplates with silicon. I saw a little water staining at the joint near the back of the quarterberth and when I had it opened up the adhesive looked loose in there.

Splitting the joint the entire way to scrap out the old adhesive seemed the way to go to try and be sure it doesn't happen again. Glad I used fast cure since it is raining today. If it clears up I will try and launch today. The last few things I want to do I can do on the water.

Shawn

[MKBLK]

Bob,

Glad to hear she's in the water! I'm sure that you are anxious to hit the bay. It amazes me that you have so much patience... the results show in your effort. Pegasus has gotten her bottom wet 4 times so far this season. Twice on the Delaware, once on the bay and once on Mercer Lake. Having a boat on wheels sure makes a difference!

Looking forward to BBB-2012!

Marty K.

[Bob23]

Today she and I went out for the first sail of the season during the move from Long Key Marina down to her home mooring in Surf City. She sure seemed to enjoy finally getting underway as she was most well behaved. I had a chance to  play around with outhaul and boomvang controls to experiment with sail shape.
Here's a shot of her underway:

  Not much of a shot, I'll agree...I was having too much fun sailing to take many photos. Wind was out of the SSW so I tacked from the marina up to marker 49A in Barnegat Bay where the channel turns to the SW so from then on the wind was on our nose and heading into an opposing tide which meant motoring:

No problem...little Miss Nissan didn't miss a beat. The last hour was spent under power and I pulled up to my mooring about 3 1/2 hours after I threw the lines at 1050 hrs local. She is now snoozing away in Surf City and anxious for more adventures, not the least will be the BBB 2012 in 4 weeks.

In retrospeck, I can't believe that it's taken me so long to get her in the water and  sailing. Lot's of other things going on in life, some good some so-so. But my Compac 23 is a haven of sanity in an insane world.
bob23

[Bob23]

   I finally got out for a few shakedown cruises, first on the 4th of July about 0830 hrs local. But old Koinoina was in a cranky mood- As the wind increased from a wisper to sustained 20 knts, I couldn't seem to find a good sail combination. Then she played one of the meanest tricks on me that a sailboat can paly: I went below for something and heard IT! The sound of the bilge pump running. That is the one sound you don't want to hear. Fearing the worst, I pulled the potti and other assorted junk out from over the bilge, expecting to see a leaking transducer, which I recently installed. All was dry and I determined the problem to be a malfunctioning pump. Nice try, Koin! Like to scare the heck out of me! But she wasn't done yet. Before checking the pump, I dropped sail and set (I thought) the anchor. While down below, I didn't notice that the anchor had not set and the tide and wind was indeed blowing me toward shallow water. Hmmm...caught it in time, pulled the anchor up which gave no resistance, hoisted sail and headed back.
  Now I normally like to sail off and back onto my mooring, using no motor assist. And that was my intention that day. As I contemplated the conditions, I realized that I'd have one chance and if I missed, the wind and tide could conspire to blow me into, you guessed it- the shallows and some quite immovable docks. I thought I saw a small red sailboat with horns perched on my left shoulder saying "Go ahead, you can make it, what can go wrong? Your'e not chicken, are you?"
On my right shoudler a small white sailboat with wings whispered: "Are you crazy? listening to the idiot? What can go wrong- you can wreck our boat, tha's what. I'd motor in."
  I turned to Miss Nissan, who was looking unusually beautiful that day and we motored rightup to the mooring. Moral of the story: Don't listen to little red demon sailboats. Don't jepordize the ship.
  Yesterday I also went out, winds were lighter so I decided to sail under the causeway bridge to Long Beach Island. Unlike JT's experience with the bridge tender, this bridge has about 60 feet of clearance so no problem there. I motorsailed through on a port tack with a favorable current.  Tacked down to markers ICW 75 & 76 ina very narrow channel and seeing what looked like fog coming in, decided to turn back. I got stuck in a fog a few years ago that came upon me in mere minutes. Not fun...I know how you New Englanders feel now.
  Had a delightful sail through the bridge going north into an opposing current. All in all, she behaved herself quite well. Like any prankster, I guess she just needed to get it out of her system!


bob23

[jthatcher]

great pics, bob..   nice to hear that you are getting out on the water!    i think that i will head down to jersey the second half of this coming week.   i can't imagine that it was much fun there this weekend.. just two hot!    i think that the temps are going to moderate just a bit in the next few days..   I will get a little more done on the current house project  and then reward myself  with a trip to the marina!    jt

[Bob23]

   Gimme a call if you head down...I may have a light work load the second half of the week. I just calibrated the new Raymarine depth sounder yesterday so I plan to do some south-of-the-bridge sailing this summer. A quick look at the chart shows some real skinny water down there. I remember grounding a Sunfish in those waters back in the day.
   Maybe we'll finally get to Shut-up!
bob23

[mrtoad]

well done, and thanks for the many photos

mr toad