On the Hook - High Cliff State Park

It was decided late in the evening to run over to High Cliff State Park for a night on the hook. For Susan and I it was our first attempt at this. The same for our friends Scott and Jill who accompanied us in their Regal 2760. Our largest barrier to doing in the past is the hassle we have with two dogs requiring the land to do "their business".

When we made the decision after dinner to do it, Scott and I needed to run back my house to grab the dinghy. Susan and I normally do not leave our dinghy on the boat when we are on Lake Winnebago. There is really no real benefit from having a dinghy on this lake, however, getting the dogs to and from land when anchored it was a must. The dinghy ended up working great and everyone used it to entertain the kids as well as getting Scott and his wife back and forth for their ritual morning runs.

We really lucked out with the weather which was the driving factor for doing this, especially so last minute. Scott and I had talked about it during the week, however, I was having difficulty convincing Susan because she did not want to hassle with the dogs. It turned out the night could not have been better for anchoring. There was absolutely no wind that night and throughout the following day it continued to be eerily calm. 

The area is so beautiful, it is the largest natural shoreline on the lake about three miles of uninterrupted natural shoreline. We woke in the morning to cook breakfast for the entire crew as Scott and Jill are not equipped with a generator. Susan and I were more then happy to cook as they took care of dinner on the dock the night before. While Scott took the kids out on the dinghy he was able to get some great shots of our boats tied up.  

We had both a great evening and morning and all agreed to do this more often. The only downside of this trip was Scott and Jill needed to cut the weekend short. They needed to leave early Saturday afternoon to get their oldest to a Girl Scout Camp and to attend a party at Jill's mother's place for Manitowoc county's annual fly-in airshow.

So many boaters are fearful of anchoring out from the horror stories that many tell.  Many include scary nights on the hook from either storms or tide. Scott and I agreed we really have nothing to worry about and should not over complicate things. We do not have extreme tide effects, being an inland lake, and storms were not going to be an issue this particular night. Even having that security, we did use our Drag Queen app on the iPhone. This is actually a great app as you always have your phone near by and it really never gets turned off. At least my never does...

What is in a Name - Always Starboard

A greeting card we found shortly after naming our boat

Susan and I struggled naming our first boat. It was a 2000 Fourwinns 248. This pocket cruiser had everything the big ones did except the generator. As one good friend described it, "the biggest little boat on the lake". It was probably the most spacious boat of its size at the time. Our first season we learned a lot about the boat and about each other. Boating has a way of bringing out the best in people. In that first season we fell in love with each other, and the boating lifestyle. When we decided to name it, we were actually thinking about upgrading. The 2 footitis, as I recall our boating friends called it. Ours ended up being a severe case of 10 footitis. We end up settling on a 2000 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer.

The name came to me as we were having an argument. The argument was so insignificant I could not tell you what we were arguing about the next day, much less know today. Although, while writing this story a thought came to me. I think it probably involved me looking for our next boat and not agreeing on what we were going to be looking at getting. I just remember the feeling of anger coming over me and needing to contain myself. I have little self restraint when I believe I am right and so does Susan.

To put the moment it in perspective, we were dating at the time, probably had know each other about a year. Susan was actually the owner of the boat and I was her Captain. We had both just been through divorce and like I did when going through the end of my practice marriage, I bought something for myself, (Harley Davidson Road King) she bought a boat. During the honeymoon of any relationship you attempt to control your emotions and not get upset with the other. You may filter yourself as to not scare off the other during an argument. It seems once you've been together long enough that filter comes off. I am sure you can relate. I digress, but it paints the picture.

Anyway, back to the argument...again reminding myself to not sweat the small stuff I backed off and sat in silence for a moment. Then it hit me...I blurted out, "I got it!"

She gave me a look that said you are about to step into that grave you've been digging with your words and then barked "What!?.."

I said, "I know what we are going to name the boat....Always Starboard" and there was a another quick moment of silence, and then a smile began to appear on the corners of her face. While noticing I was not going to be pushed into that grave I was digging, I followed up with "Because you always have to be frick'n right.". This almost started another argument, but instead both just started laughing and poking fun at each other.

At this moment I knew this was for sure the name of our boat, as it describes both of our stubborn tendencies. Susan did have her reservations about it, but I said we can always say it is "Always the Right place to be." and she agreed.

Time to Winterize

It has come to that time of year again.  I thought this year I would explain how I winterize.  Admittedly, I do store in heated storage so we do not have too much risk of freezing temps, but I still winterize as if I was.  I will hopefully add some pictures when I do it this year.

It is a good idea to keep a list of things that need to be done in spring to your boat before spring launch.  I keep my list in the galley.  There are some things that can be routine and other that may not.  Always a good idea to keep a list handy for commissioning the boat, some are as simple as “put the bilge plug in”!

Interior water system:

Be sure water heater is off at electrical panel.  Don’t turn this on in spring until you have refilled it with water. You will also need a flexible hose the same diameter as your fresh water inlet on your pump. This will be used to direct pink antifreeze directly in to the water system without having to fill your fresh tank with pink. You will use much less using this method.

• Drain the fresh water out of the holding tank by running cold faucets
• Drain water heater at drain on unit. Leave valve open remember to close in spring.  
• By pass water heater by removing cold in and hot out hoses and connecting them.  I wait to reconnect until spring.
• Locate water pump and disconnect inlet hose and attach your longer hose
• Place longer hose in a pink jug and run all water valves hot and cold Example: Bathroom, Galley, Bar,Transom, Shower, Toilet.
• Once all have adequate pink run through replace inlet hose to water pump
• Dump pink in all drains to insure no fresh water remains trapped. Note: vary important that any drain that uses a sump step pump is filled and runs at least twice and the toilet gets plenty of pink to insure there is no fresh water in pumps or hose.  

It is not a bad idea to open all compartments to floor to check for moisture.  Also I do not do anything with my air conditioner as it is self draining.  You could, however, do the pink by pass at the water pump for the unit usually located in the bilge.

For the engines you will need a gravity fed pink antifreeze bucket for the engine: - five gallon pail with a hole drilled in near the bottom with valve spout attached.  This can be hand made very easily and inexpensive.

Motor:

Note: Never run motors without water. You will damage the impeller due to friction heat. Depending on if you have stern drives or direct drives, or V –drives will determine your setup for your method to run your boat out of the water. Direct drives and V-drives have seawater strainers that draw water up through the hull on the bottom of the boat.  In this case you will need a hose adapter for connecting the seawater inlet hose to your gravity bucket from inside the bilge. Stern drive boats can use the muffs that can be commonly purchased for this application.  I also recommend a standard faucet tee to allow both fresh water and pink to be hooked up to the boat at the same time.

• Run motors with fresh water to warm up engine oil 
• Drain oil by routing remote hoses out the bilge and drain (if equipped) or pump out of dipstick with oil pump.
• Remove and replace oil filter while oil is draining
• Replace oil
• Run engines and check oil levels add if needed.
• If you are going to fog engine through carb or intake remove flame arrestors at this time
• Run engines again with fresh water.  Tee valve should be set for pink valve closed and water valve open until engine warms up
• Once operating temperature is reached (allowing the thermostat to open), turn water tee valve off and turn pink tee valve on to allow pink to fill the engine block.  When satisfied with the amount of pink run through the motor turn motor off, or fog depending on layup time.   You may also fog each cylinder by removing spark plug and shooting the top of piston with fogging oil. I personally do not fog.  The time we lay up is usually 6 months and that we are climate controlled I just don't see it being an issue. 
• Inspect flame arrestors.  Cleaning with a parts cleaner or carb cleaner is recommended to insure motor breathes well.  

Always be sure to inspect all of your hoses.  It is also a good idea to replace impellers every few years as these part wear and will break down. Better to do it when it is not an emergency to insure you’re on the water when you want to be.

Generator:

• Remove water inlet hose from strainer valve in hull.
• Attach coupler for gravity fed pink.  
• Follow similar steps for the propulsion motors insure that engine is run up to temp and run pink through also remember to replace impeller every so often too.
• If you have a closed cooling system, but still uses water in the heat exchange just run pink no need to run up to temp.  

Stern Drive only - Lower unit gear oil:

• Crimp hose on lower unit over flow gear oil tank if equipped. Ever few years replace all the oil. If you use this method be sure to use the same oil brand and style every year so not to mix.
• With units in the down position remove bottom gear oil plug and top vent plug
• Check oil for milky color.  If you have excess cloudiness you have a seal leak on the lower unit somewhere and it should be serviced. 
• After all oil is drained out of unit screw the gear oil pump on the lower plug hole and pump oil in until it comes out vent hole above.
• Replace top vent plug
• Quickly remove pump from lower unit and replace plug

Note for lower unit inspection:
You will want to inspect all adenoids and replace where necessary.  Be sure while the lower unit is in the trailer position to inspect all hoses for wear and to be sure everything is still attached.

Last step is to remove batteries

Disclaimer: I am not a mechanic by trade, however, I have worked on a few boats.  This is my procedure for winter layup.  Use this at your own risk.