Learning and winterizing
28 October 2013 | At the house
Central iowa
Some background info on the new boat I think will be needed. The boat is a 1982 O'Day Sailboat, which I knew was the same boat that Karl had prior to his 28' Catalina "Second Wind". Funny thing about Yachties, is they like to tell stories about new boats, old boats, problems they have experienced, and how they fixed those problems. I have listened to Karl and his stories about how much he truly enjoyed his O'Day and how much he hated selling it. A side note is that the late (passed away 14 years ago) owner's wife, who spent summers aboard the O'Day with her husband on Lake Superior, was quite tearful when we came to see the vessel and pulled away with it. She even said, "When I saw your wife smiling while she sat in the cockpit, I knew you and her needed this boat. Take care of her and the boat."
When I found this s/v on craiglist.org, the stories of Karl's came to mind. A trailer sailor with large and comfortable interior that is fast for its size. To say the ad caught my attention would be an understatement, and the price tag for the boat caught my attention even more. After seeing her and finding out that the vessel had real world sailing experience on the great lakes, as well as the extras that came with the boat (coast guard dingy, everything that a sailboat needs for a month of sailing, and a folding spare prop) I had to have this boat.
A week later its cold, cold, and more cold is coming! I had worked 13 hours during the day from 7am to 8pm and with a well-deserved day off coming to me I planned to spend the evening winterizing the boat with my neighbor Karl. When I made it home we started trying to discuss the necessary activities to achieve our goals. After we realized that nine o'clock was not the time to do this, we decided to try and turn the boat's 31 year old inboard motor over. With the exhaust open, she turned over like a champ. Lots of water ended up on the yard showing that the impeller was still functional. Good news for me, now I just hope that it will fire up next spring, but ten o'clock at night is not the time to find out.
During a sleepless night, I found a couple of websites that showed the petcock valve (a wing nut that is screwed into the front lower end of the engine block and a pain in the ass to reach for my other OMC sail drive owners). You can see in the photo above, the interesting position I had to squeeze myself into to reach the motor (for those who don't know me personally, I'm 6' 6'' tall and never been small). After draining the block and draining the muffler, we removed the spark plugs and fogged the cylinders. Then we turned the key, and the motor started for a short period (hell yeah), next we emptied water tanks and drained the lower unit in preparation for spring.
I know that this is a long post, but it is probably the last one of the year. We will be working on naming our boat and will be posting our choice when we have made it. Hope to see friends and family ready to sail next year (5 long months till sailing season)!