Splash Day cometh
There’s no April Fools joke here… the marina management was hard at work yesterday preparing their crane for the upcoming boat launches. It’s our job now to get everything ready for that launch. Commissioning lists abound in magazines and on the net. Our boat’s previous owner left us print outs of this one but he also included the following hand-written notes:
Note: This list assumes that the mast will be stepped immediately after launch. I don’t think that is necessarily the case at our marina.
- take off all plastic – DONE!
- install and tighten trampoline – DONE!
- clean sail tracks – main mast and furling stay – dry lube teflon
- ensure spinnaker halyard rigged before mast goes up
- check all lines in mast are running free
- lube blocks
- pump up fenders
- get out dock lines
- SPLASH
- before stepping mast install radio antenna and windvane – vaseline???
- step mast – fix all standing rigging
- tune rig
- install all blocks, lines as per diagrams
- install sails – ensure sail tracks are the correct way up
- hook up electricity to shore power and charge batteries
- fill water tank
- fill gas tank – NOTE: It should already be full.
- start engines and run for at least 30 minutes
- check oil in engine
- WD40 carb spring
There are a bunch of things that will be much easier to do while the mast is unstepped and the boat is still on land. We’re going to see just how many of these things we can get completed in the next week or so!
… insert right after item SPLASH!
o check bilges
Good addition Bob. We are fortunate in that there is only two thru-hulls on the boat and they are both located in the same place in the starboard bow. It will be pretty easy to check them.
My list was shorter: untie dock lines:) …
… and add water to the tank, which I carried, since the dock water will be a while yet.
But if you want a list:
* Grease shift and throtle cables
* Lube (I use 90w/140 gear oil because it creaps more than grease) steering cables
* Grease engine hold-down locks A LOT. Do this several times each year.
* Replace props and bearings – you took these off, I think
* Check zincs
Go sailing. You’ve done enough.
I prefer your list! And I will do all of those too. 🙂
Hi Drew
We were at the boat today and reinstalled the props on the motors. I was thinking about your comment where you said “Grease engine hold-down locks A LOT. Do this several times each year.”
I’m not really sure what exactly where I should be greasing. 🙁
You also said to check the zincs. I removed one and took it to the chandlery. He couldn’t find the same one in his books. I checked online and found the following part number:
6G8-45251-01
Any idea if that is what you have?
We plan to grease the throttle and shift cables, and the steering cables tomorrow. Any tips on this?
Thanks for all the help!
Mike
The Yamaha 9.9 owners manual (link on my blog) show the lock grease spots on page 9.4, although the fittings may be corroded up by now, and getting a grease gun in there takes magic. I think every body just smears what they can, which is part of the problem.
It does not show the cable grease spots, since it is a tiller model.
That is an awesome picture of Katana. She’s beautiful! Ya’ll have to be getting so excited! We’re excited for ya’ll and can’t wait for the big day.
Thank you. Yes, we are getting very excited!
Have you got as many solar panels as this boat – see http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/gallery/2010/mar/31/solar-powered-boat
No, but if you would like to “invest” we could get to work and try to catch up.
🙂
This wonderful weather is making me crazy. I have an armload of boat mosifications to do,but it requires emptying the boat to bare bones and I have no place to store all this boat stuff.
My “splash list”
VHF w.RAM mike
2nd water bladder w/thru hull filler
bottom paint-4 barrier coats-2 ablative
2nd propane tank and stanchion holder
set up fuel tanks and”dewinterize” motor
install 2 stanchion mounted solar panels-controller-guage
set up new fridge
swap out running lite bulbs for LED’s
I guess I’ll just go and sit in the cockpit with a cold beer and do some planning….
That’s a pretty serious list!
We just got home from the boat and both have a bit of a sunburn! We got a lot accomplished on our “list” but we did have time for a couple of cold ones over the course of the day! 🙂