Belhaven, NC and Surrounds: A Little Bit of This and a Little Bit of That

I got invited to take a few days sailing on the edge of the season. Not surprisingly, it offered a mixed bag of conditions from near calm to high Force 5, from cold and rain to warmth and sun. We put in at Belhaven, NC's fine public boat ramp. Three boats attended: Nip a Caledonia Yawl and Annie a wooden Drascombe Lugger with small cuddy.

John and Peter with Nip at the put-in.

South side of breakwater.

Blowing 12 kts we all took in a reef in the main just before the breakwater and sailed to weather SE up Pungo Creek.

Annie scooting along to leeward.

After a good journey short of the bridge, we turned back downriver to beach for lunch. Some settled to sketch, some chose napping, and others (me) just gazed at the beautiful afternoon in the warm sun. 

Lunch beach.

I realize the limits of an iPhone for photos, but it is always handy. Pups are taken that might otherwise be missed in my case.

beached break.

I'm sad to say I never even pulled out the GoPro. You could argue that it is not a camera either, but I have been impressed with the high video quality. Maybe next time it will be used. 

canopy.

It was as pretty an afternoon as you could ask for. Breeze and 60 degrees.

studious John.

I turned my back on John, and shortly after, he was napping against the tree. It's cool to be with people that know how to hang loose. There's no agenda. Just love the day.

Paradiso.

We rafted for the evening, believed the light wind predictions, and had a rough cold night in the bottom of a boat. Comes with the joy sometimes. And the stars were brilliant. Morning wasn't much warmer. Three boats bobbed at anchor as we crept from under blankets. 

red sky at morning.

Dawn soon became grey and blustery. Stuffing the sleeping bags (2 were required), air pad, and wool blanket makes one appreciate a small cabin such as Annie's where the whole lot can be just left below, ready for the next snooze. However, hot oatmeal and coffee get us moving. Donning a wool sweater, foulies, knit cap, and a reef sets us free.

Nip and Annie

The day soon disintegrated to cold and showers just as we landed at Cee Bee Marina near noonday. The term marina in this case is very suspect. A decrepit wharf and camper lot is more apt.  Somebody, who don't know his role still, took $5 from John and said we could stay. Given "permission" to stay, we quickly appropriated a pavilion to wait out the rain, do some eating, and whatever needed to wash it all down.

UNA tethered.

The sky did finally clear for a wonderful relaxed sail along the creek.

pelican by the moon.

UNA at rest for the night.

Enjoyed a sunset chat with Peter by the wharf as we looked for Annie's return. The light was beautiful.

Curt, Mike, John, and Annie.

Dinner was good, though the party was short lived. One by one the crew dissolved into the night. John and I were last to share some of his port over a few tales before we called it quits.

As it turned out, the night was not quiet. Between Canada Geese squawking and raccoons fighting, silence seemed too unbearable to them. We may have been the cause of a territorial dispute, but at least a solo tent pitched on the banks made it warm. Daybreak was crystal clear and calm. 

Somebody's yachts.

With a lazy breakfast at the pavilion, camp was broken and we went searching for the light breeze. All of the inconveniences made this day's sail worth it.

Art: Pedro and his mustang.

Here is an iPhone video for flavor later that morning. UNA was in heaven. I was glad to be with her. "Nothing could be finer than to be in Carolina ..."

Bare feet, sun on one's shoulders, and a breeze is enough to cure all ills. Everything seems new. Even 

 "Running Like The Wind" by The Marshall Tucker Band was heard for the first time, again, after hundreds of previous playings. All god stuff.

This morning's light breeze morphed into a single then double reef romp to windward up Pamlico River before we all turned off wind to reach along and up Pungo River. The temps and evergreen shores reminded me of Maine. 

Mike, Peter and Nip.

Traded leads with Nip along the way. Peter tossed a slab of his ancient baloney, a Pennsylvania salami into UNA's cockpit. Much appreciated.

best baloney.

Days can't be without trials, but this one picture summed up  the afternoon. It was a great trip with a bunch of guys who love being on the water, messing about in boats.

at Pantego bridge.

"On the Road": An Improved Rolling Rig for UNA

We've got big plans for UNA this year. I feel that most of the detail bugs have been shaken from her. She could stand the extra coats of varnish that never made it in the build. And, added creature comforts like a boat tent, storage bags, oar pads, and reworked mizzen controls should enhance the experience. All of this and more will get a good evaluation on the water soon.

An afternoon last fall.

A final winter project will allow for more to come along. With plans for hauling UNA to places distant, I built a second tier onto her trailer. This "box kite" will allow more boats to roll with us. I can easily carry 3 kayaks high and a small dinghy (Gigi?) slung under the upper cross beams.

The box is constructed from 2x2x1/8 aluminum angle. I purchased 100' in four 25' lengths from B&G Metals east of town. Strong, light, fairly non-corrosive, and easily cut with a hacksaw, the frame went together quickly. 3/8" SS bolts with washers and aircraft nuts hold it all together. Cross braces keep the whole thing rigid and square. 5/16" square U bolts clamp the frame back to the trailer. Its not going anywhere. A second set of lights increase the rig's visibility. At 6' width, it meets the beam of the truck and still has an inch or two to let UNA slip through on the inside. Some left over from fixing up fiberglass edges of another now protects varnished outwales from metal angles. All tolled, not bad for $150, eh?

Looks distorted, but it is square!

Rubber gaskets slipped between the galvanized steel trailer and aluminum frame should deter corrosion between the dissimilar metals. For cushioning the top cross beams I may glue on some closed cell foam. Not sure yet.

A close up: side marker, edging trim and cross braces.

That's enough of the piddling now. The temps are warm enough. Lets go sailing!

One Ocean Kayak's "Cirrus SLT"

The weather has finally turned for the warmer. We'll get to sail UNA again in the next week or so in the company of a few buddies. Life is looking up. Winter did droned on here, but some boat projects did allow dreaming of new adventures. Too cold for much of anything, the dinghy "Gigi" was hung in the shed to wait for paint, her spot in the garage was taken up by a different build. This one is a stitch and glue kayak for my youngest boy. Perhaps as a set of rolled plans, it was a bit too abstract to qualify as a birthday gift for an 11 year old at the end of last summer. Though I hadn't, and still don't, plan on documenting this project much, yesterday I was struck by some beautiful lines and decided to take a few pics. This little pretty is a 14.5' boat from One Ocean Kayaks. Gigi is more lapstrake in build than stitch and glue. This new addition is a true edge-to -edge s&g boat. The designer, Vaclav Stejskal, has perhaps the best site I've seen sharing detailed performance numbers on kayaks. Much of it is beyond my patience to understand, but I'm glad he has taken the time. His designs are an obvious passion. Honestly, I saw a sweet little boat that appeared well thought out and bought the plans. Vaclav uses his boats, no doubt went through several prototypes, and that care shows in the precision of the full size templates. I frankly was amazed the panel joints could be so tight. 

Stern with hull and moulds.

Half of the fun is figuring out the right method to approach craftsmanship. Jig saw cuts to within 1/32" of the panel cut lines followed by a light pass of a hand plane delivered much better results than aiming to hit the line precisely. Also, mastering how to snake 18 ga. copper wires between deck panels as you close it up took several "fails" before discovering a crisp fish hook shape or "J" was easiest to knit close panels with needle nose pliers. We're now ready to glue the seams and order some glass.

Stern with deck.

Fine lines of the bow.

The hull is made of 4mm okoume ply. The deck is a lighter 3mm. In order to keep the 3mm aligned I used hot melt glue that will be scrapped off after the first pass of epoxy gluing the joints. I'm continually surprised at the shapes one can get from flat plywood.

Wires and hot glue dabs

I'm looking forward to tripping up the James River or down the Appomattox for and overnighter with my boy.

Oarlock Resolution

 UNA's winter "To Do List" is actually shrinking. Most of the tasks have been subtle refinements like loops for the reefing crinkles along with rings and snap hooks for easier use of that gear. The previously used cunningham hooks dropped out repeatedly when reef lines weren't tensioned. Flailing hooks while raising or lowering the sail are never good. Scratch that off the List.

Dynema loops and bronze snap hook.

Mainsail reefing tack and micro block.

Other improvements like the tent and associated canvas storage bags will keep things neat and functional. One item on the list was not one I relished taking on, but it needed to be done. As a sail and oar boat, one of UNA's strengths should be rowing. After several sessions behind the oars, I finally come to the realization that my little boat needed a better set up. Despite all the testing and fitting of oarlocks in the garage during the build, the in the water test was lacking. At first I attributed the deficiency to my lack of skill (some may still be that). The main reason? The inboard gunwale mounted oar sockets did not get the horns high enough for the oar to clear the outboard edge of the gunwale if one really horsed on the oars and dug deep.

First try: angled sockets.

Angled again.

 The solution was to raise the sockets 1/2-3/4". I did not see an elegant solution with the current angled sockets, so I removed them, fared the gunwale, fashioned new pads from cherry scraps, and fitted standard sockets to them.

New cherry pad temporarily mounted.

Old mounting holes plugged.

 I thought the new sockets would be more locked in if semi-recessed. With nearly 10' oars, there is a tremendous load exerted on this part of the boat. A barbed drill bit and some chisel action helped pare the pad down.

Socket recess.

 The old sockets will go toward the dinghy "Gigi". She hangs in the shed now ready for some sanding and paint. Warmer temps are needed for that.

 Socket pads are now epoxied onto the boat. Varnish coats will have to wait for some warmer couple of days. Epoxy was coated inside the body of the pad as well as inside the hole now in the gunnel for the socket and horn to protrude and weep any water that might otherwise collect.

Installed.

I think this will be a big improvement. The focus can now be on slimming the oar shafts down a tad for a springier pull and thereby lighten the outboard ends for better balanced sculls. Cheers-

Boat Hooks to Crochet Hooks

Last Fall my daughter went for her first sail in UNA. She was quick to take note of the 8' long boat hook I made from oak and red cedar. She suggested that I could cut the hooked end of the pole off for her crocheting use! Alarmed at the idea, I defensively I manufactured for her 3 hooks of various sizes mimicking UNA's. I had trouble tossing the hardwood scraps from the build and here they got some use. However, apparently the largest hook wasn't large enough, so a fourth hook made use of what was the bumkin cut off and some oak scraps. I'm now officially out of that business.

Pushing the Season

An unusual warmth and breeze proved too tempting this morning. Temps were in the mid 60's. I can't recall sailing this early in the year before, unless the Caribbean counts. With winds at 10-12 mph conditions looked perfect. So, we hooked up UNA. Hauling south for about an hour from home got us to Lake Chesdin. Built as a reservoir for Chesterfield County, it has good depth and much of it remains undeveloped shoreline. Some had rock outcroppings with pines reminiscent of Maine.

The SE end of this long water has 2 public ramps separated by a small pier. It all worked quite well. 30 minutes to rig and off we were for a wonderful afternoon. The crystal blue skies and warmth of the sun felt fantastic while slouched in the cockpit watching cormorants, terns, and great heron take wing along the way. An occasional whiff of wood fires only added to the scene. A few coves beckoned for another visit, perhaps for an overnighter.  The lake is fed by the Appomattox River. We sailed in that direction for about 1.5 hrs to weather to turn and reach back for about an hour back to the ramp. There were perhaps a half dozen bass boaters seen along the way. They too wanted to stay in practice I suppose. All was a needed break from the winter doldrums here. Take a look-

Bag It

About a week ago I purchased 100' of 2x2x1/8" angle to fabricate a second tier on UNA's trailer to haul either the new dink "GiGi" or canoes or kayaks. Last week I hack sawed lengths for horizontals and uprights. This week bolts arrived and today I bolted the pieces together and now a box wraps around UNA. I'm undecided on how I want to cross brace this box, so in usual form I stopped that project and picked up on another.

The new boat tent needed a storage place. The forward locker and lazarette fill quickly with more weather sensitive stuff (sleeping bags, clothes, camera, food, etc.). There happens to be an unused out of the way spot under the side seats port and starboard. This is just perfect for a bag storing the tent. So, my $30 sewing machine builds a 24"x4"x8" bag with zipper and hanging loops. With each project our "sail loft" gains skill. One bag quickly led to a second to "balance" things out. Check 'em out-

Zippered bag with Velcro end strap.

Stainless steel footman loops are mounted under the seat for strapping in the bags.

P & S pair

This was an easy project that suited the tent well and leaves a second bag for miscellaneous items like sail ties, horn, flashlight, or whatever. All the materials are leftovers from the tent making. SurLast, 1" webbing, plastic zipper, and Velcro.

bag installed to port.