Mad Island Sailing – Adventures of the S/V Egress

Barb gets her first look at the boat.

Arriving back on the Island after a long day of driving and shopping for our upcoming guests, I took Barb over to the boat and showed her some of the work I had done. She was happy with the boat and was excited.

Hoisting the Sails! A little help from our friends. And some cleaning.

I believe the proper term would be bending on and hoisting the sails.

Captain Ric, came over to help with this one. We first hoisted the mainsail slowly while putting the mainsail slugs in the track. We found the last two slugs cracked and broken and they would not stay in the track, so new ones would need to be sewn on.

The jib was difficult to raise as everything was stiff. By the time it was nearing the top I was pulling on cable and not the line. I ended up having to winch the last bit of the Jib up. So the Headsail Halyard was another item on the list to fix.

After getting the sails set, it was then time for some cleaning. We drained, cleaned and refilled the water tanks, and wiped down all the storage areas and cabin teak. We also checked out why the galley and head whale water pumps were leaking. Bad seals on both. Since they are both outdated pumps, and we would rather replace than rebuild, we added those items to our growing list.

Help from Captain Ric

Hosting the Jib

scrub a dub

messing about

almost up

heave ho

shoulda bought a pump

thirsty for beer

Let’s take her out. Breaking the law. A two for one docking!

June 25th 2015 was not only our fourth anniversary, it was also the first time we took out the Egress for a motor. It was smart to motor since we had some issues with the sail track and a couple of the slugs. I really was anxious to get the sails up but it could wait a bit. It was more important on this day just for Barb and I to enjoy ourselves on the boat and then cook out on the boat after we docked for our anniversary dinner. It was a wonderful first motor.  Continue reading “What I did on my 2015 summer vacation (Part 3)” →

Repairing the Coamings

I started the evening of June 19th in the garage looking over the coamings. Prior to arrivng on the Island I had researched how other people had repaired cracked and split coamings. I of course wasn’t entirely sure which way would work until I had seen them in person. Since I knew that the coamings were salvageable based on photographs I had seen, it was just a decision on what repair would work best based on the length of the crack and whether or not it was split all the way through.

Basically there were two ways to repair the crack in the Port coaming.

I could cut out the coaming as seen in the photo below and place a new mahogany piece back in with gorilla glue. Or I could just sand the crack and clean it out throughly and gorilla glue it together. The first choice would give the repair more strength. However I would probably need to do this fix in a least two places due to the length of the crack.

option 1

option 1 glued in

After some thought I decided the second choice was the best. As it didn’t destroy or greatly modify the original coaming. Additionally if the repair didn’t hold up I could always go back to the first choice.

So I sanded the coaming where it was split and then injected water into the length of the entire crack since this would help pull the glue in. I then injected gorilla glue into the entire length of the crack and clamped it into place. I then enjoyed a well deserved steak dinner and a few beers with the dogs by the campfire.

The crack

sanding

ready for repair

injection

gorilla glue takes hold

Where is my steak?

Sanding the Coamings and Cockpit Table

After dinner I then sanded down the starboard side coaming and also sanded down the cockpit table in preparation for varnish. Continue reading “What I did on my 2015 summer vacation (Part 2)” →

Here is a detailed post of the work we did and the adventures we had on the S/V Egress during June and July of 2015.

Driving from our house in Buena Vista Colorado to our future retirement house on Madeline Island takes about 21 hours of drive time. Though it is possible to drive this straight, we always choose not to, especially  with 3 dogs and a packed jeep. We typically stop for the night in Brandon, SD. Thus making for a first day of travel of about 15 hours, and leaving about 8 for the next day.

This particular trip was going to be a bit different as I was to drop Barb off in Lacrosse, WI on the way up to the Island. She was going to watch the grandchild for a a few days while her daughter and son in law went on a much deserved mini vacation. Well this would leave me with about 5-6 hours of travel with 3 dogs. Oh what fun the potty breaks would be. 

Luckily the dogs made it very easy on me and handled the stops with the precision of a well made swiss watch. No dancing around searching for the right spot, they took care of business and we were on our way. I guess they sensed the urgency of me wanting to get to the island and trying to take care of some items prior to the scheduled launch of the Egress at 9:00 am the next morning. 

We stopped in Washburn, WI and I picked up some groceries and beer to get by a few days until I picked up Barb. We then caught the 2:00 p.m ferry from Bayfield, WI over the 2 mile run to Lapointe, WI on Madeline Island and drove the 8 mile distance to the house on the north side of Madeline Island arriving at 3:00 p.m. Plenty of time to let the dogs run and take my time unloading all the luggage and items we needed for our 3 week stay.

My co-pilot Maddy

Packed in like sardines on the ferry

the golden girls Kenosha and Anishaa

I spent the rest of the day organizing and unpacking, and getting the workspace in the garage ready to repair the coamings.

Launch Day! June 19th 2015.

I was up at 4:15 a.m with the sound of the coffee brewing. Continue reading “What I did on my 2015 summer vacation (Part 1)” →