Monday 11 August 2014

Sea Trials and other tribulations

I exaggerate of course, no such thing as tribulations when it comes to wooden boats....

This week was pretty fun as Barb would say, Gretchen and I took the Hunter up to Bobcaygeon on Monday and puttered around Pidgeon Lake which was new to me and quite lovely. The Hunter caught the attention of more than a few cottagers! We stayed at the "Bob Inn" which is now for sale due to health issues. Great location and interesting old buildings! Next morning we were off to Mississaugua Lake near Buckhorn for two days with friends. This is a tributary lake to the Trent Waterway and includes several other lakes which can all be boated on. We had some very nice runs.

Through the rest of the week a mad scramble to get the Greavette Sun Flash II in the water to see if we have a useable boat. Peter (our Doctor of Motors) was in and we got her running in a bucket - good trick with an I/O.

loaded up and ready to go!
in the water which is mostly outside the boat.

 Once in the water and satisfied that we were not facing any catastrophic leakage ie from the I/O diaphragm, we got down to getting her running. By cranking the throttle a few times she would fire and run at 4000 rpm for a few moments then quit. Eventually we tried keeping the throttle jumping while it ran and this would keep it running at 4000 rpm. Any attempt to lower the throttle would result in it quitting. Meanwhile the forward of the three carburetors was flooding and leaking over so we opened it up and fiddled with the needle and seat which improved the situation considerably.

Taking opportunity into our bare hands as it were - we decided to cast off and see if we could get into the lake by short bursts of starting until we could get it going at 4000 rpm. The thinking being that this might flow through whatever junk is fouling the carbs. We tricked the neutral start feature and made it out but she wouldn't make enough power to get on plane.

Using the handle end of a ratchet I knocked on the sides of the carbs and finally she jumped up and ran like a cat! While she remained prone to stalling nothing beyond a carb rebuild would prevent her being a great boat again. Must be our fastest boat that is not a race boat!

We poked our way up the Humber River a bit, ran around Humber Bay a bit and it was time for Jim to head home. You can see in this picture that he was very blue at having to leave Scott and I to carry out the rest of the programme...



MB and Scott head back out leaving Jim on the pier.

 So, as to the rest of the programme, that involved getting something to eat and the nearest docking with food is Chris' club, Mimico Cruising Club. We ran around there - took a picture of Chris' lonely Folkboat Puffin and tie up (as opposed to tied one on) for a delicious lunch.

One lonely Puffin - Chris being in Quebec for some reason
Hisself looking well, hisself

Scott looking pensive













That was the week that was and who could ask for more really. Actually you could. By volunteering or becoming a Gatsby member - you would be invited on the Raids and Sea Trials you read about here!

1 comment:

  1. it looked like "ran aground there".
    yeah, it was fun, maybe a little to go out without a second boat in case of anything, but it worked out.
    Malcolm kept working the throttle to keep the engine going, as he said, it would start, rev high and as long as you kept it high would remain running, but easing the throttle back, would quit. Also not much power at the high throttle seting, about 5 knots. I took the wheel when malcolm went aft with the ratchet and could hear him knocking on the the engine, suddenly there was a surge of power and the boat literally came to life. it then continued to accelerate. But i was afraid to let it it run wide open, more becuase i was unfamiliar with it, and the steering was extremely stiff. So brought it down a notch and then did a large circle or two around humber bay at varying speed. Did this twice , as the engine would lose power and threaten to quit. MB took helm when we entered the Mimico basin. In the relatively open water of the main basin , did some gear changing practice before we got too close to anything. This produced some stalling, but then was OK. Nosed up and down the slips, saw Chris' boat, texted him him to see if he was there, recieved a answer from cottage country.
    The noseup Humber river encountered quite a few kayakers, a moment of indecision about which span to use to go under the bridges. Should be marked better. (There is only a No wake sign on the starboard span going upchannel.)
    But we got away with it, as whenever the engine threatened to quit, working the throttle would revive it, and if it did quit, it started again right away.
    Picked up two large floating pieces of wood and took them to shore.
    Decided to get bigger fenders, the ones in use were not enough to keep the rubrail off the dock.
    Pay parking at the Humber lot was new.
    Did MB also have to pay for truck and trailer while boating?

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