August 10th, 2008

Went to the marina today to check on the starboard comination port – one of the dog mounts is broken, so I had to put a bucket underneath it to catch leaking water until it can be replaced. This is the third mount to crack since I bought the boat, so it looks like 20 years is the lifespan for Beckson ports, at least in the South. I really should have bought a pair and replaced both sides, port and starboard, but at $199 each for a 90/45 combination port and a kid off to college this week, the other can wait for a bit.

There was a little bit of breeze when I arrived around 1:00, so I decided to take the boat out and dive on the prop. When I got out to the lake, I put up the main and genoa and made 3-4 knots on the southwest wind.

After anchoring just past Green Point, I donned some goggles and dove down to check the prop. It was still pretty clean – I could only find one small barnacle – and the two zincs were still fairly intact on the shaft. The rudder and hull had a pretty good coating of slime, which was wiped off as best as possible.

Headed out around 4:00, but the breeze had really lightened up by then, and after an hour or so of making 1-2 knots, I fired up the engine and motored in at a leisurely 3-3.5 knots.

~ by phallock on August 15, 2008.