Outboard installed

Yesterday I got help and hung the Suzuki 9.9 outboard on Miss Sadie.  I'll have to beef up the inside of the transom. It show just a slight movement when moving the motor side to side. I'll add 2 pieces of 3/4" oak plywood to really beef it up. One will be 14x24 and the other 14x35. There is a 3/4" piece already epoxied and fiberglass to the transom. I'll add the 14x24 will be epoxied to the transom and butt fiberglass tape the two together piece. Then the 14x35 will overlap both pieces, epoxied together and covered with fiberglass. Hope with will be strong enough.

I think my outboard bracket is to light for my motor. I'll order a bracket designed for a 4 stroke between 7.5 and 25hp. That should be good enough. Wish I could find a used one. I check ebay and Amazon is the cheapest.

Outboard

Its been awhile since my last post. I decided to go with a outboard motor instead of trying to fix the transmission. So I purchased a Suzuki 9.9 extra long shaft, high thrust prop.  I've got all the parts needed to install the outboard motor with full remote controls.

My hopes is to get it all installed this coming week. All I need to do is find a strong back and weak mind person to help me out. The 9.9 Suzuki is in the 100 lb area. Little much for me by myself.

I hate drilling holes in the boat but I'll need to do two of them. One for the tachometer 3 3/8" and one for the wiring and telflex cables. I think I can get by with 2" on the cables.  

If you look at the photo of the boat you'll see a large port, they are a real pain. I have taken them out twice, cleaned the edges, new calk, reinstalled and the damn things still leak. One more time.

Mast

I'm going to add what someone thought on another forum board.
"Does seem odd that it is SO far off.

Its not only the space, but the number of turns on the worm drum at the bottom (or lack thereof) which would also prevent a wider sail - the whole thing is wrong.

I may be jumping to conclusions but
Could it be off e.g. some sort of Ketch rig -
You say 4' short on a 10' boom?
A 6' boom wouldnt seem to make any sense otherwise?

Possible someone ordered as an aftermarket kit (incorrect) - with the mast level in the yard something like that could be fitted in an afternoon and still have time to down a six pack or two before the pubs opened."

I think I should have gone to the pub instead of buying this boat. 

Engine

Got to work on pulling the engine/transmission today. Got all the excess part off and the motor mounts unbolted.  I'll need to order 4 new mounts.  Maybe Wednesday I'll find some help to get her pulled.

Was going  to use the main halyard but due to the fact I have roller main and its another piece of crap. It took 2 hours to get the sail unrolled. I folded it up and it going to storage. Going to get a hank on main. Will need to put a block for a halyard at the top of the mast.  Just another find day on Pandora.

I did find a 12 Yanmar and hope to get it bought Tuesday. One out one in.  Then buy a sail and put her up for sale.

Lisa said today just strip her and donate her. She is totally feed up with all the work and money. Every day its something new.

Day 22

This would have been day 22. So instead of being somewhere over in Fla. we are tied to the dock. Summer is passing by at a high speed.

I did have a professional diver check my prop today for any damage. No damage so it has to be in the transmission. Engine needs overhaul and so does the transmission.

I'm looking a purchasing a used 9.9 extra long shaft outboard and adding remote controls. At least I would have something to sale.

Boat worth nothing right now unless someone is looking for a cheap liveaboard. I aint giving Pandora away.

Dead boat

Here's the latest on what going to happened.
Today we are staying put.  I'm going to correct the battery system so that the now dead Duralast battery can be turn off and the new Walmart battery connected.
Then I'm going to see if I have enough extra sheet line on the jib halyard to use as a jib sheet.

Then I'm going to hang the outboard motor on the stern bracket. Just in case the engine over heats again.

If I can't find someone to dive on the prop to check again Hope fully I can hold my breath long enough to get it checked for seaweed. I don't think that's the problem.

Then tomorrow we will head east again.   If I can't make at least 4.5 mph we will turn around and head back to Port Lavaca.  We'll anchor in the Colorado River for the night. Because it will take up 15 hours to get back to PL. I'll finish painting the deck and put her up for sale.  Just can't do this any longer.  I just don't have the desire to fight a dead boat.  I just can't bring her back to life.

Back home

Well we made it back to Port Lavaca and slip 28A. Had a hard time getting her into the slip with wind working against us and no reverse. Thanks to our dock mates (Jim, Ken, and Anna) for helping us out. Got to get the alternator off tomorrow and have it check and NOT AT AUTO ZONE With the solar and engine never did get a full charge in the battery. I've got it on the charger now. I'll try and figure out what is going on with the reverse in the morning.
Over the next few day I'll decide whether or not to sell the boat. This was our only chance to get any cruising in this year. Just another let down with this boat.

Headed home

We got ready to leave Matagorda for another try east. Pandora at it again. No reverse. I can shift in reverse but she will not move even with the throttle full open and pumping out oil. I got the out board in the water and fired up. Used it to get us out of the slip. By this time its 0830. New destination Port O'Connor.  We knew there was no way we could get to Port Lavaca in the daylight. We hit the ICW in Port O'Connor and it took 2 hours to make it to Sanctuary.  We did run aground 9' of water to an instant 1.5'.  Had a tow send me enough water to get off without help from Towboats.

When we get to Port Lavaca not sure what we will do. Its going to be hard press to spend another dime on her. She need engine rebuilt as well as the transmission.I feel she is just a dying boat and wants to die. 

Richard on the ARB. It works great but with the battery setup I have she hasn't run most of the night. In Matagorda I had it on 110. Was set on 20 now up to 25. Everything still frozen. Does take up a lot of space in the cabin.

One last comment. She did sail across Matagorda Bay just under the wore out  jib beautifully. 17+ not winds and rough condition. She just heal over and hobby horsed though the chop. 

What's next??????????????

Well the cruise is coming to an end. The engine doesn't have enough guts to push her at anywhere close to hull speed. 16 hours to go 45 miles. With out a tach all I can do is set the throttle where she is not pumping out oil. With the prop I have the book says 2000 rmp. My prop was cleaned Sunday. Hull is clean from bottom job.  Engine overheated. No idea why. pulled the lines off and checked the strainer all good. Maybe the thermostat stuck. Working ok at the moment.   Battery dead. Duralast. Got the walmart group 29 installed today to find out the Guest switch is bad. Position 1 does not work.  Had to cut the jib sheet to get it off a wench. Jerry rigged it this morning.

Doing the ICW across Texas and Louisianan you have to make 45 mile per day in the daylight. Otherwise you will never find the anchorages. The anchorages are 45 to 50 miles apart.

IWell the cruise is coming to an end. The engine doesn't have enough guts to push her at anywhere close to hull speed. 16 hours to go 45 miles. With out a tach all I can do is set the throttle where she is not pumping out oil. With the prop I have the book says 2000 rmp. My prop was cleaned Sunday. Hull is clean from bottom job.  Engine overheated. No idea why. pulled the lines off and checked the strainer all good. Maybe the thermostat stuck. Working ok at the moment.   Battery dead. Duralast. Got the walmart group 29 installed today to find out the Guest switch is bad. Position 1 does not work.  Had to cut the jib sheet to get it off a wench. Jerry rigged it this morning.

Doing the ICW across Texas and Louisianan you have to make 45 mile per day in the daylight. Otherwise you will never find the anchorages. The anchorages are 45 to 50 miles apart.

I just don't have it in me anymore to try an bring a dead boat back to life that doesn't want to be. Just as soon as I got the cockpit locker I got hammered with blowing rain. Lasted about half hour. Nothing new for Pandora's attitude. 

Now I know why the one battery was hooked up wrong. The Guest switch panel is bad. Position one does not work. Now I have to spend more money to get a new one. Did get the outboard on the transom just in case we need it to get home. Cute the halyard so I have the jib sheet temp. fixed. Paid for 2 night here. Last night and tonight. Another 50 bucks down the drain.

Slow very slow

What can I say. Lets see. 1st we left Port Lavaca at 0640 and we arrived at Matagorda at 2157 or 9:57PM  Very long slow day. The engine over heated  the port jib sheet got stuck in the wench and I had to cut it at the clew. No jib sheet now and they were brand new. My wonderful Duralast battery is sitting at 11.5 volts.  Adventure of a life time Hell no a horror show of a life time.  The engine doesn't have the power to even push her to hull speed even under sail. All we could get under sail was 3.7mph healed over at 20 degrees. That hole in the hull was sucking water into the bilge. The list is getting longer and longer.

Time has come

Here in a few minutes we'll cast off to a new adventure. Winds are calm, water smooth and the sky is clean. I guess its the right sign for us leaving.  First stop Matagorda, Texas.

Is it Pink?

Got the strip painted over the 4th and numbers in place.  Ready to set sail Wednesday to a new adventure.

Got started on the non skid on the deck. I also added some green netting across the transom to keep Trixie on board. She like getting behind me. Back seat driver. Will post a photo of that later.

Its Saturday

Made a last minute run to WalMart for a couple items then off to see the fire works. We throwed the dock lines at 1123 and headed out the marina. Its a 17 mile run. No big deal we've done it a number of time in our other boat.

The wind were to be 5 to 10 southeast. Right on our nose. No problem when we get to channel marker 53 to turn to starboard. We could raise a sail on a close haul. We the boat the wind and current were not in our favor.  It took us 4 hours to motor 7 miles. We got within 200 yards of marker 53 and were just sitting there 0.0mph on the chart plotter. Yep sitting there right in the middle of the Matagorda ship channel. Not a place you want to be stopped.  The winds were 17 to 20 now dead on the nose now and a unusual strong current. I finally got the boat turned around and headed home. No fireworks tonight.  We did roll out the jib and got up to 3.9mph. Once we hit Lavaca channel we furled the jib and lost 1 mph. So it ended up being a long day.

One thing for sure Miss Sadie can handle the rough chop of Matagorda Bay pretty good. Lot smoother than on Miss Froggy.

We are thinking about trying to leave on Wednesday for our cruise.  More later.

My third Duralast battery is just a big of crap as the first two.  50% charge is all it will hold.

Not Happy

Yesterday we went home to get the rest of our stuff. Frozen food mail and close the bus up. When we stopped by the post office to let the postmaster know we would be oout of town I got a letter from the VA.  The letter informed me that I HAD to be at an evaluation on my prostrate cancer in Corpus on the 7th of July at 1000. Boy am I PO.  We'll be tied to the dock until at least the 8th if the winds on Matagorda Bay calm down enough for us to leave then.

Think Saturday we'll go up the bay to Port O'Connor to watch the fireworks.  Anchor out over night. Should be fun.

AGLCA

I posted this on my Facebook page. I had joined AGLCA with the thoughts it would be really something and the discounts on slip fees and fuel would be great. Even getting a discount on Skipper Bob stuff. Boy was I fooled.  Here's what I posted.

"What a racket in the boating world. I'm member 13992 of AGLCA America Great Loop Cruising Asso. They charge to join. No membership card but for 40 dollars you can buy a flag from them. If half of my membership number are still active and dues paying do you realize how much money these people are knocking down. One year membership $69.95 times 7000 equals $489,650 a year to read their forum board. What a racket."

Update

Well a lot has happened these past few months. Gotten a lot of work done on Miss Sadie.

4 New portlights.

Got a lot of sanding on the deck done. Will get some of that painted tomorrow. I did paint a racing stripe on the boat. Seems that ACE doesn't sell oil base paint so I had to sand the latex off and start over. Here is the first coat of the wrong paint. Everyone said it matches Lisa hair. She doesn't want a pink boat. 

Ordered our fridge/freezer a couple week ago. Really happy with it. Its a 50 qt ARB that draws next to nothing on power.  I went with the ARB because the Engle was the same price but only 40 quarts.

Got a inflatable dinghy brand new really cheap. I did put a bottom job on it before I put it in the water. 

Got a Garmin Chartplotter and depthfinder.

I got a main sheet traveler.  Got the main sheet away for the back of my head and can now use the bimini. Going to have to get a new one as the Taylor Made is nothing but junk.

That's about it for now. Painting tomorrow and leaving on Thursday.  If you want to stay tuned loved to have you. Want get updated but maybe once a week. We plan to stay a military marinas when we need to.

Last Post

Due to health issues with my wife I will not be updating this blog any time in the near future. My plan is to finish Miss Sadie and possible put her up for sale.

Adding some photos

Need to update

Since the weather has been bad for a few weeks now I've not got much done on the boat. I went to the boat yesterday to take the new hatch boards to see if they fit. OK I know where are the pictures. Like a dumb a$$ I left the camera at home.

Just a few items I need to take pictures of and post.

New Lowrance Elite 5 chartplotter.
Wooden shelf to hold the chartplotter and my handheld VHF.
New swing out cockpit table.
New hatch boards.
New to me dinghy. Bottom paint came in yesterday.


I did get the starboard long portlight re bedded. Now the galley is dry. Still need to do the other one along with the other 3 opening portlights. I was real worried about trying to remove the portlight. I just took my time and some goop off. I used the bytel rubber in a calking tube to seal the portlight.

The only photo I took. The interior outer ring is off. I could see daylight. Someone in the past tried to stop the leaks by calking on the outside edges. Nope that don't work. If your going to stop the water the remove the portlight and do it right.

I've been thinking about building cabinets behind the settee and galley.

I've got the oak plywood 1/4" to replace the old ugly pieced up board to the motor. I'll frame the inside and insulate. I'll frame the cabin side with 1/2" so is looks more like a door.

I've been using red oak material and re mahogany stain. 4 to 5 coats of varnish. I did get some stuff from the local hardware store in spray cans for the exterior. It says UV resistance. Maybe they will look good more that a couple of months of Texas sun and heat.