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Mad Island Sailing – Adventures of the S/V Egress

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Bristol 29.9

2018 Seasons Plans

I think I had mentioned this in a previous post. That we travel to the Island 2-3 times per year.

This typically leaves the Spring trip for boat projects and maintenance, while leaving the summer trip for a roughly 3 weeks splash and a fight for attention with us and the multitude of other activities outside of Sailing.

So this year will be no different.

Boat work on the Egress in the spring will focus on checking out how she faired over the winter, and beginning a plan to re-bed the fittings.

Questions that will be answered this Spring are:

Did the solar panel keep the batteries charged up over the winter.

Did the boat leak and if so which deck fittings/ ports leaked. (This will help the re-bedding plan.)

It is doubtful that we will have anytime to actually accomplish any re-bedding do to our short time on the Island in the Spring.

One item that should be a priority to check in the spring are the condition and operation of the thru-hulls. It’s something I’ve neglected in the past, but will not any longer as this is something critical to check. I don’t want any surprises regarding thru-hull shut offs. Additionally I am going to tie plugs to each thru-hull so they are located where they will be needed rather than digging thru lockers etc to find them. So this is priority number one.

Other items I want to accomplish this season are.

  • Relocate VHF radio.
  • Purchase and install RAM 3 microphone for the VHF radio and install on steering pedestal.
  • Purchase and install auto-pilot.
  • Remove decorative rope on the pedestal.
  • Purchase and test life sling 2 MOB lifting tackle.
  • Locate and test the emergency steering system
  • Look at a way to permanently get the solar panel wiring harness into the battery compartment.

Of course the above list is not inclusive of normal engine maintenance. Change oil, impeller etc…

Hopefully Our August trip is not as busy as it was last year so that we can actually get out and sail!

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Sail Fail 2017 and a taste of freedom.

Happy New Year Everyone!

Time: Mid-Late August 2017

Location: Madeline Island

Event: Busy busy busy and more busy.

Result: Sail Fail. Two days on the water out of 21 possible.

We arrived on the Island for our August 2017 Vacation and the next day headed immediately back to the mainland to tackle our shopping list as the day after we would be heading to Duluth to pick up Barbs Grandsons. We would entertain them for a week and then it was time to take them back to Duluth and have a two hour break back on the Island before our next batch of guests arrived. This time we would have a few more people than our normal summer guests. This summers batch (hatch?) of visitors consisted of my folks, my brother, his girlfriend and her daughter, my sister and her boyfriend, and a new 2nd cousin and his wife that I had never met before. It was going to be a busy three weeks.

Grandma with the boys.
The boys in the cabin
Hoist the sails

And it was a busy three weeks!

We entertained every morning and evening. Now don’t get me wrong, it is wonderful to spend time with family, but it put a crimp on the boat projects. So I made do with the time I had.

I arose every morning at 5:00, made coffee, grabbed a cliff bar and headed out the door with the promise to return in time for breakfast at 9:30. I was able to wrap up the installation of the Airhead vent fan, and the solar panel/charger installation. I also changed the oil in the venerable old Atomic 4.

So I guess I really did accomplish a lot with a limited amount of time. However we didn’t accomplish much Sailing at all, and that is sad.

Continue reading “Sail Fail 2017 and a taste of freedom.” →

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New Mantus Anchor.

Merry Christmas everyone!

I had ordered our new Mantus Anchor and brand new Anchor chain and line prior to our trip in May.

I knew that it wouldn’t be installed until our August 2017 trip.

After thorough research and based on a lot of reviews I ordered a 35 pound Mantus Anchor with 30 feet of 5/16 chain and 270 feet of 8 plait 5/8 line. I ordered this Anchor through our Marina on the Island and the Anchor rode through Defender as they had the best price.

Anchor install and marking the rode.

I snaked the Anchor rode on our lawn and marked the rode every 25 feet after the 50 foot mark.

The install of the Anchor and the Mantus Anchor Mate was easy peasy. I also installed a swivel. I have heard various pros and cons regarding the use of swivels but figured we would give it a shot. A swivel, I would guess, would be much more applicable when using all chain rode. I did notice after the install that I will need to add an additional length of chain between the swivel and Anchor to allow the swivel to be stored in the Anchor locker.

Unfortunately we never got to use the Anchor in 2017, but that’s another story.

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Solar power? Yeah Baby!

Yeah Baby! All the juice I need!

So with the  new Airhead now installed, it was now time to install a solar panel and controller to solve two problems.

How to power the Airhead vent fan without installing a solar vent and punching another hole in the deck, and how to power the bilge pump when on the hard. The bilge pump was especially important to us after the flood we had inside the boat in 2016 after the cockpit drains had plugged.

In the spring I had purchased a 100 watt semi flexible Windy Nation solar panel and a Go Power 30 amp charge controller of off Amazon for $300. With extra wire and deck hardware it came to $375.

I had thought about mounting options of the panel prior to making a purchase. I had two mounting options in mind.

1. Mount a rigid panel on the stern rail. Though this option appealed to me initially, most of the panels that were the right size were in the 30 watt range and quite expensive for their small size.

2. Mount a semi-flexible panel on the deck. This option seemed to me to be the best as I get get a higher wattage panel for way less then option 1 and it gave me the flexibility (no pun intended) of multiple mounting scenarios.  I could screw it or glue it to the deck. Velcro was also an option.

So I went with option number 2. You just couldn’t beat the price and much more bang for the buck when it came to wattage and mounting options. Of course there are some drawbacks of mounting a solar panel on the deck or on a dodger or Bimini, namely shading from the sails. However with a 100 watt panel I still should receive enough power when sailing for this not to be a problem.

Where to mount. And a temporary solution. Continue reading “Solar power? Yeah Baby!” →

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Oh sing to me sands of Stockton

One day before pulling the Egress out for the year we finally made landfall on our first Island of the 22 Apostle Islands Archipelago besides our home port on Madeline Island.

You can see our You Tube Video Below.

Stockton Island


Stockton Island is the second largest of the Apostle Islands. Madeline Island being the largest. Stockton Island is the largest island included in the Apostle Islands National Lakeshore. The Apostle Island National Lakeshore encompasses 21 of the 22 Apostle Islands.The island chain is located off of Northern Wisconsin’s Bayfield peninsula in Lake Superior. Continue reading “Oh sing to me sands of Stockton” →

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Just call me Captain Crash… 

“I don’t want to be that guy” I told the marina Captain, as I explained why I was very apprehensive about backing out of the slip with a strong wind on the stern and a engine whose idle is set to low so that it dies whenever I retard the throttle. “Everyone gets to be that guy” he replied.

So I had adjusted the idle and this fixed the engine cutting out, yet I still kinda felt jinxed since I missed the marina guys stepping the mast and failing to put the traditional coin on the mast step. I had hoped this didn’t mean bad luck.

.

Barb, myself, my brother and his girlfriend set off and enjoyed a sail. We actually had some really decent wind (10-15 knots)  for a change and where able to hoist the sails and had an awesome day.

A sweet sail
Having a good time
Soaking up the sun
Relaxing
Old sail still catches wind

On our way in to the marina I phoned my Ma and told her to meet us at the dock so that she could take some pictures of us. luckily she wasn’t filming.

Heading in
Slow is Pro
Coming torwards our Slip
Preparing to turn back towards slip

“Watch out kid”! Everyone yelled as we came barreling into the dock. Reverse is up! Not Down! Damn it!

Continue reading “Just call me Captain Crash… “ →

4

Nothing else to do but buy things (Old Post)

This post was orginally written way back in May of 2015. I’m not sure why I never posted it, but better late than never. So here she is….

 

Even though I write this post on May 13th 2015, the winter here in the high country of Colorado drags on and on and on. So, I’ve had absolutely no ambition to tackle any of the projects that need to be done here at the house in Colorado. So how to occupy my time over the long winter? Buy things for the Egress. So below are some of the items that have been purchased so far.

Lewmar ST 30 Self Tailing Winches

IMG_3788
Gleaming winches!


The original Lewmar 25 non self tailers that are on the boat for the jib sheets, would still do the trick, but an upgrade to self tailers was in the cards someday. Might as well get them now, install and enjoy the benefits when single handed this summer. Continue reading “Nothing else to do but buy things (Old Post)” →

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At least she didn’t sink.

I read about the torrential rains that impacted North Western Wisconsin during The period of July 11th-12th. The rains came hard and fast, bringing up to 11 inches in 24 hours, flooding local roads and wiping out major highways in Northern Wisconsin. 

Remembering the cockpit drains and scuppers plug easily with leaves I had wondered how the boat had faired. Leaving a message for Captain Scott to ask if he would check on her, I waited for the phone call. “Yep she is flooded pretty good” he said. ” hooked up batteries but the bilge pump is shot too” Captain Scott proceeded to get a garden hose and stick it into the bilge to siphon out the 2 feet of water that was inside the boat. We were told that she dried out pretty good after a few days, but would need one heck of a scrubbing! 


More to follow…

4

She’s a beauty!

 

Spring 2016.

During our 10 days on the island we accomplished the following.

Bottom painting

Scraped, sanded and applied new bottom paint. Since she is a fresh water boat (for now) we used Sea Hawk Monterey Blue.

The job turned out wonderful. I sanded while Barb scraped. I helped Barb apply the bottom paint though she did the majority of the work while I worked on the next project. She did a marvelous job. We now have an official bottom painter!

taping
still taping
sanding
still sanding
the end result
what a difference

Have sails repaired.

We contacted the local sailmaker and met him in Bayfield at his loft and dropped off the sails for some minor repairs.  A week later the sails were done, so we took the ferry over and picked them up. I’m ready to bend and hoist! Is it August yet?

Sails repaired
waiting on the ferry
on the ferry

Install new Raymarine i70 instruments. Continue reading “She’s a beauty!” →

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