Kaimusailing

s/v Kaimu Wharram Catamaran

Vessel Name: Kaimu
Vessel Make/Model: Wharram Custom
Hailing Port: Norwalk, CT
Crew: Andy and the Kaimu Crew
About: Sailors in the Baltimore, Annapolis, DC area.
21 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
23 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
15 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
11 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
06 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
26 January 2024 | St. Marys, GA
14 January 2024 | St. Marys, GA
09 January 2024 | St Marys, GA
23 December 2023 | St Marys, GA
10 December 2023 | St Marys, GA
25 November 2023 | St. Marys, GA
17 November 2023 | St. Marys, GA
17 November 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
03 November 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
26 October 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
17 October 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
11 October 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
04 October 2023 | Alice B. Tawes, McReady Pavilion, Crisfield, Maryland Eastern Shore
03 October 2023 | Alice B. Tawes, McReady Pavilion, Crisfield, Maryland Eastern Shore
Recent Blog Posts
21 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA

Just Add Water

The rainy weekend started off with overcast and fog but no rain. It looked like I might be able to get something done on the D4 dinghy. I wanted to change the bow seat which is really the bow deck. The sailing option uses the deck to hold the freestanding mast. I didn’t like how the deck looked, [...]

01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Dinghy Alternative Seats

The rain event was more wind than rain, strong winds with gusts up to 44 mph. We drove into town to see what the harbor was like. There was a small sailboat that had dragged anchor and was sitting close to shore. The tide was out. We left and played with Bleu at Notter’s Pond.

23 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Inside Seams

Day two of the dinghy build started out with me finishing wiring the hull bottoms together on the centerline of the bottom panels. This was much easier than the wiring of the chine edges of the bottom panels and the side panels.

15 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Dinghy Day One

A Wharram Pahi 26 had been anchored in the river nearby the boatyard and was hauled out with the travel lift. I went around to look at it and talked to the owner couple. I was surprised that it had been built in Martinique in 1988. The boat is more than 30 years old.

11 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Redux

The inflatable (deflatable) dinghy I had bought was deteriorating. It had bottom seams separating. It is a West Marine branded dinghy made out of PVC. HH66 is the adhesive to reattach the seams. A friend had a similar problem and bought the same adhesive. I was waiting to hear from him how it worked [...]

06 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

The Clincher

We decided to go to Amelia Island for the day, probably to the beach. Our plan to cycle around on the Raleigh 20’s seemed like a bad idea, Bleu can’t keep up with a bicycle for very long and when he quits he quits. So we would walk, where?, Fort Clinch State Park. She has a forever pass for Florida [...]

Carb Die It

10 June 2017 | st marys, ga
Capn Andy/May Showers
The big day of Louis Vuitton racing arrived with both pairs of semifinal competitors at 3-1 and three races scheduled for each pair. It was possible for both semifinal races to be decided today.
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The race between Sir Ben and Emirates Team New Zealand, helmed by Peter Burling, started out with Burling not able to get the Kiwi boat foiling in the prestart. Ainslie sailed away at speed. It looked like the Kiwi’s had damaged their boat so badly in the heavy weather two days ago that now it had big problems.
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After the Kiwi’s got going they slowly reeled in Sir Ben and finished ahead. Now the series was 4-1 and Sir Ben was in sudden death elimination if he should lose. In their next race Sir Ben held the lead all the way round the course. They celebrated.
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In the last race of the day the Kiwi’s dispensed with the usual prestart maneuvers and powered away leaving Sir Ben in their wake. It was a comprehensive victory and Sir Ben was eliminated from further competition.
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The other pair of semifinalists, the Swedes and the Japanese, raced their three races with the Swedes trying to wipe out their 1-3 deficit. They won all three races with good boat speed and now hold a 4-3 lead heading into the next day of racing. The main thing to take away from their performance is mastering the prestart against one of the greatest, Dean Barker of Team Japan. Perhaps he will come back and beat them tomorrow.
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OK, it’s tomorrow and a pair of races were scheduled for the only two competitors left to decide who would face the Kiwi’s for the Louis Vuitton championship. We had admired Dean Barker’s work so far, except for the previous day when he lost 3 races, and we liked Iain Percy on the Swede boat who called out tactics while grinding away on the winches. The Swede helmsman Nathan Outteridge was showing his skill in the prestart, but they had lost two races on a blustery day, and the day now is blustery, just under the wind limit.
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If the Swede’s won either race, they would go to the finals. Dean Barker had to win both races with no losses. The beginning of the race showed canny tactics by both boats and they headed off to the first mark with Barker on a direct line to the mark and Outteridge on the outside, but with equal speed. Both boats were showing speeds in the mid 40 knot range. As they bore off to the leeward gate, there appeared to be no advantage, they split at the bottom and as the racing ensued, it was a flub-up by Dean at the left hand boundary that sealed his fate. Outteridge was a little ahead and had to turn at the boundary first. Barker could turn inside of him, earlier, and work a lee bow position to force the Swede’s into a luffing match, then bear off and leave them in their wake. Instead he chose to delay his tack to pivot his boat right on top of Outteridge’s wind and disrupt their air, take the lead, and keep hitting them with bad air all the way up the course. On paper it looked like a good move, but as it happened, Outteridge carried his tack in a larger arc which kept their boatspeed up, so when he was directly in Barker’s wake he bore off a bit, accelerated, and luffed Barker up and the rest was like he had knifed Barker in the heart. The Swede’s kept on going while Barker struggled to get up to speed, and soon he was far behind, never to challenge again.
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So, the semifinals were over. The finals will have the Kiwi’s against the Swede’s, but it’s really Kiwi vs Kiwi. The fact that Barker’s boat was modeled along with Oracle’s boat might indicate that Oracle will have to contend with a potent challenge, after the Louis Vuitton championship is complete. In the mean time we have no excuse to not get back to our work in the boatyard. The weather is perfect.
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I had the choice to start work on the bottom of the hulls at the waterline and later do the lowest part of the hulls after they are reblocked higher to allow access, or to start work on the engine. I decided to take a look at the engine first and then continue onto the hulls. Then I would have a couple of projects that I could switch back and forth when I felt like doing so.
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It looks like the throttle mechanism is frozen, so I blasted it with penetrating spray. I removed the mechanical choke cable which had become a fossilized rust object. I decided to go back to the electric choke, even if it meant buying the expensive solenoid, which had been about $85 about 10 years ago. It might be higher now. The other electrical component, the tilt solenoid, or trim solenoid, Was $211 in Yamaha’s parts book. Ouch. The fuel lines seemed rigid and the squeeze bulb to prime the carburettors was like a rock. After I cut the hoses off the rusty fuel filter I had a hose to the tank fitting with the squeeze bulb in the middle, and the other hose that simply ran to the engine fitting. All was fine except the squeeze bulb. For some reason it was rigid like a piece of stone. I was looking at a fair tally of expensive parts. There was also the fuel hose for the little Honda dinghy motor which would be fine except for 3 or 4 slices through the hose, I suspect a weed-eater had chopped it up. The hose was $3.99 a foot at Defenders Marine, and the squeeze bulb for the main engine line was $24.99. Someone should tell the Chinese what prices their products are getting over here.
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The main engine had got us to the boatyard, but that was a year and a half ago (gulp). I’m sure it will run, but the carbs need service, and the electrical parts and fuel hoses have to be reassembled. I’m sure it will run.
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My search for parts also included a search for the tracking information about the battery shipment. They will come on a 300 lb pallet. They do weigh over 60 lbs each. I finally was able to get the information, the batteries were on a truck in Reno Nevada. My other searches for parts ended up with me buying from West Marine. Their prices were better than Defenders (the fuel filter was on sail and two of them netted me about $14 less in charges). The fuel hose and squeeze bulb were also a bit cheaper, but the clincher was free shipping on an order over $49.
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When I asked the boatyard owner, manager, and principal crane operator if the Windex reference tabs had come in from Port Supply, he acknowledged that he had not yet ordered them. Port Supply is the professional arm of West Marine, servicing marinas and boatyards with no shipping charges and no tax if delivered in Georgia. Of course if the head honcho doesn’t order the parts, there is no tax savings. It is possible to get your own Port Supply account, and many builders of larger designs do so. Buying in bulk also saves money.
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I needed expensive electrical parts for the Yamaha engine and found eBay got me the choke solenoid, used but guaranteed, for about $29 vs $85 plus shipping, and the trim or tilt solenoid for $79 vs $211 plus shipping. I did not choose any product that used China Post because my time line couldn’t stand a delivery more than a couple weeks away. I paid about 5 dollars more because of this.
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A long time ago I went on a motorcycle jaunt from the coast of Connecticut, up through the dairy farms of eastern New York State, through the glacial terrain north of Plattsburgh and Lake Champlain, to Montreal to be at the Formula One Gran Prix of Montreal. Today I could watch “free practice 2“ on the same channel that had the Louis Vuitton racing. I only watched a little. Tomorrow I will watch the qualifying.
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Well tomorrow came and once again I was wrong about the America’s Cup, Louis Vuitton portion. They were racing the very next day after the semifinals were done. I had to peek at Formula One qualifying in between the races.
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It was the Kiwi’s who dominated the first race and the heroics of Nathan Outteridge the previous day, taking the Swedish boat to 3 out of 3, seemed to be absent. Then in the next race the Swede’s worked their way to victory. I had predicted that the Kiwi’s pedal powered grinders would overcome the Swede’s gorilla grinders, but the Swede’s carried on and seemed to be headed for a second win of the day. Then Nathan fell overboard! End of race for them, without their helmsman and in the confusion they fell well back and conceded the third race of the day to the Kiwi’s. So the Kiwi’s come out of the day 2 for 3, but they were in trouble and about to go down 1 for 3. This is very interesting racing because of the speed of the boats that makes decisions and tactics split second, like a prize fighter that reacts before anyone could think. When I finally looked at the week’s schedule, this challenger series will be over on Monday and the rest of the week will have super yacht racing and a J boat regatta. Then the America’s Cup itself will start next weekend.
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The carburettors came off the Yamaha TRX50 much more easily and quickly in the boatyard on the hard than when the boat was in the water at the dock. The intake assembly was separated from the carbs and then the plates that join the carbs together were removed. This engine is much like a 4 cylinder motorcycle engine, 4 cylinders and 4 carburettors. The carbs are stacked vertically and typically the damage from ethanol fuel happens progressively worse from top to bottom. It looks like the heavier fraction of hydroscopic ethanol separates out of the fuel and ends up in the bottom carb and maybe in #3.
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These carbs were frozen, the throttles and chokes would not move. It was not this way when the engine was bringing the damaged boat up the North River in Dec. 2015. I usually have to service the carbs once a year anyway, so after a year and a half of inactivity, what should I expect.
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As I took apart the linkages I remembered to mark the float bowls by scraping roman numerals on them. The top was I, and so on. Once they were separated, the top one had functioning throttle and choke, the second had functioning choke, all the rest were locked up. I went to the local auto parts store and bought a gallon can of carb cleaner. This looks like a paint can, but inside is solvent and a basket to hold the carburettor. I was able to get the two lower carbs in at the same time. They will soak for 24 hours, or maybe more. I also bought a can of aerosol carb cleaner. This is a more volatile thin solvent to spray off the thicker solvent from the soaking can.
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We are in the climate phase where it is humid as anything, but only going up to about 85 in the afternoon. It would be nice to have an air conditioned boatyard.
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The #1 carb, the one on top of the stack, was quickly disassembled, cleaned, and had its mechanisms working like new. This meant that the throttle and choke butterflies opened and snapped shut by a return spring with no sluggishness. The jets inside the carb had been sprayed clean and the float boat cleaned out.
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#2 needed more attention. I used a penetrating lubricant called Blaster that helped. It seemed to work best to spray with aerosol carb cleaner, then spray with the lubricant. The butterflies can be removed from their shafts to help get the shafts free. Stainless dental tools from Harbor Freight helped pick out gunk from tight areas. After getting the throttle shaft to move, after a while it was moving freely and the carb was reassembled. Now I had two good carbs (I hope).
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The photo is of Nathan Outteridge plunging along the deck of Artemis Racing Team Sweden.
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