March 2004 - montgomery_boats - mailman.xmission.com

Re: M_Boats: Yep, it sounds like a Sportyak
by Wcpritchett＠aol.com 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

In a message dated 3/21/2004 10:08:17 PM Eastern Standard Time, southisland2(a)earthlink.net writes: Going back a few years, 1970 or so, there was a solid plastic ( but hollow) dinghy made of rotational molded poly-propylene... It sounds like a Sportyak to me too. I owned both sizes (7' & 8') as dinks on my sailboats and cruised the Bahamas with them. I put a 4hp Johnson on both but only used idle speed. The boats were extremely light and a pleasure to row. There was barely any tension on the towline when dragging them behind the boat. The 8' model had a LOT more room and was plenty big for 2 adults. The 7' size was marginal for 2 adults. I'd definitely go this route again if the mother boat isn't big enough to take my M-10 dink along. I tried to buy a new one about 5 years ago and the company making them only made the small version...the company name eludes me right now. West Marine sells a bigger roto dink that looks similar. Bill P.

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Sportyak
by Wilsometer＠aol.com 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

In a message dated 3/22/04 6:55:58 AM, montgomery_boats-request(a)mailman.xmission.com writes: >I have a vague recollection of what you are talking about. > >My head memory hard drive seems to recall that it was called a SPORTYAK. > >I hope that this jars someone else's memory and they can verify this >name or correct it. Yep, that was the Sportyak. Not a thing of beauty, but functional. I don't think they have been made for many years, but I occasionally see them in various states of repair (disrepair) in local harbors. If you could find one that has been stored indoors (or at least covered), there may still be some life left in it. The modern equivalent seems to be the Walker Bay dinghy (available in 8' and 10' models, and with/without sailing rig). Scott M15 #478 'bebe' Pacific Seacraft Flicka

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Connie's Canals
by Wilsometer＠aol.com 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

Hi Connie, Loved your piece on the French canals. BTW, you are one of the very few people that knows the difference between a Sabb and a Saab! I almost bought a Colvin designed Schooner with a Sabb some years ago. Your descriptions are very enticing indeed. I think it will be some time before I will be able to do any kind of European trip. Alaska comes first (3 months--tentatively scheduled for summer of 2005), and I usually have to double-up on work for a year or two before taking trips of that magnitude (I am still very much a working stiff!!). My Flicka does have the Yanmar 1GM10 inboard Diesel. At one pint to one quart/hour, it is indeed very economical. The flicka is 24' overall, 8' beam, 3'3" draft. I have heard rumors of someone else shipping one in a container. I know someone did so with a Fiberglas folkboat (25'), so it should be doable. The question is, would it be cheaper for me to sail it across the pond, or prep (make cradle), decommission, ship, recommission, etc. It just might be a wash. In the mean time, it will be fun to dream/read about. Did you ever do the Midi canal? Scott In a message dated 3/19/04 11:28:15 AM, montgomery_boats-request(a)mailman.xmission.com writes: >Hi Scott, > >You'll rue the day you offered me encouragement to tell more sea >stories............. > >As for French canals............ > >When the company transferred our European office to Paris, I had to leave >my German racing class centerboard sailboat in Germany. > >Boat less, the question in Paris, our new home, was - Now what? > >At the Amsterdam boat show, I found a salty Norwegian wooden double >ended fishing boat style 25 footer, with a one lung SABB diesel - 10 HP >with a variable pitch propeller. > >It was 50% open cockpit space with the engine box in the middle (great >engine access: served as a table; and the children could race around it >in perfect safety) It also had a nice pipe railing around the cockpit >from which to hang fenders. > >Forward were two berths in a small cabin (sitting headroom) and standing >headroom in the pilot house / galley. > >I thought this would be ideal for the Seine in Paris and on inland water >ways, so I placed an order with the Norwegian builder. > >The following spring we took delivery of the boat in Rotterdam, and then >went via inland waterways through Holland, Belgium, and France arriving >back in Paris about three weeks later. > >Traveling the canals is like entering one end of a soda >straw.............. There is no sense trying to pass a barge that is >doing .01 knots less than you are, because a few kilometers down the >"tube" you will hit the next lock and will have to wait anyway. > >In Holland and Belgium you have large remotely operated locks that will >hold maybe 6 barges at a time, with me tucked in under their sterns as >the last one in as the gates shut behind you with a mighty clang..... > >In France they are all hand operated. > >The lock keepers are French war veterans. They work from about 0600 to >7 >PM and that's it for the day. >So, if you arrive at quarter to 7 you just tie up and call it a day. >There is no sense of getting through that lock, because the next one is >maybe only 100 yards away - or maybe even 1 kilometer, and you have to >stop anyway. > >The lock keeper's wife usually has a vegetable garden. You can buy some >cucumbers, tomatoes, salad, some eggs to resupply the galley. > >The canals go through the countryside - rarely touching towns - so you >are dependent on the lock keeper's wives for supplies. > >You help in the lock operation. You operate one half of the locks while >the lock keeper works the other half. > >As you reach a lock - assuming it is open for you - you are waved in by >the lock keeper. You moor the boat and then go and close the back half >lock gate on your side of the lock, while the lock keeper closes it on >his side. > >Next he goes to the other end of the lock and opens the shutter that lets >water in or out of the lock. > >When the new level has been reached, and there is no more water pressure >on the gates, you swing open your side, the lock keeper swings open his >side; you climb aboard; press the starter and as your diesel goes pflumpf >- pflumpf -pflumpf, you ease the prop into forward pitch and slowly move >out into the canal ahead. > >One morning we were at the top of a staircase of locks going down into >a >broad valley. All day long it was out of one lock, go 100 yards, and >enter the next lock. If my memory serve, we went through 24 locks that >day - all hand operated. > >Oh, and don't forget, the lock keeper gets 1 cigarette per boat that pass >through his lock as a tip! > >Another thing that will shake you is going through a tunnel on a canal. > > >There were no lights in the tunnel, and keeping a straight course in inky >blackness to keep from hitting rough stone walls with my varnished pine >hull was difficult. Luckily I had a good flashlight on board. > >As an engineering aside: Some tunnels are so long that the tunnel bore >had to be dug to fit the curvature of the earth. If they had just dug >it >straight, the water in the middle, being higher than at the ends would >reduce the water to roof clearance distance. Canal-ology! > >Barges, with their length, just sort of slide through the tube! > >..........and you find an economic pecking order in the canal shipping. > >Owners of oil tanker barges, chemical barges, are new, modern, live >aboard fast vessels. They have beautiful living quarters for the family, >including children (swing sets on the hatch covers) as well as the VW >Beetle or a FIAT 500 for land transportation. > >The bottom of the heap are very old, and barely useable, sand and gravel >barges. Towed by a tractor along a tow path, with the deck hand steering >using a long tiller (10 feet long) and a semicircle of wooden cleats on >the deck where he stands, so that he can brace himself against the tiller >pressure. No roof over his head - out in the open in all kinds of >weather; no cabin.............! I wonder what his wage rate is? > >Traveling the inland waterways is idyllic; quiet; peaceful; unhurried. > >Farmer's fields right and left of you, a row of poplars off in the >distance that line a French country road; the occasional fisherman >sitting on the banks of the canal with a line in the water; or a woman >washing laundry in the canal water.......... > >>From Paris, we also went up and down the Seine to Le Havre a few times. > >Above Rouen, you go through your last lock and then you are in tidal and >international waters. At Le Havre you have a tidal range of about 21 >feet! > >You go downstream from Rouen with the outgoing tide, and upstream with >the incoming tide, and since everyone else is waiting for the tide change >too, it becomes boat rush hour. Barges, coastal freighters; and >somewhere between them all, there you are trying to keep out of the Big >Boys way.......... > >It's a great way to see the Netherlands, Belgium and France. > >France has a most extensive canal system, and you can go from Paris to >the Mediterranean via the canals and the Rhone river. > >So, start dreaming Scott, and if you need more details, yell. I still >have my old canal handbooks with all vital information. > >Connie > > > > > > > > >------------------------------

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Cooking aboard
by BILLAMICASR＠aol.com 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

I saw a reference to an item called "Shuttle Chef" and although I haven't ordered one as yet, it looks to be a promising way to cook aboard small boats. Go to: http://www.coffee-makers-espresso-machines.com/thermos-nissan-kpa3000j-shut… -chef-thermal-crock-pot.html I have in the past semi-cooked foods in a pressure cooker and wrapped it in a sleeping bag to keep the foods slow cooking for a few hours to finish them off and have made some excellent meals. The shuttle chef does the same. It says to start the foods in the inner pot and then transfer the inner pot to the insulated outer shell which keeps the food cooking for hours. If anyone has experience with this item, please advise. I'll guess it works as advertised - It's made by Thermos Nissan. Lists for about $100.00.

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Re: M_Boats: for the old timers
by chbenneck＠juno.com 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

I have a vague recollection of what you are talking about. My head memory hard drive seems to recall that it was called a SPORTYAK. I hope that this jars someone else's memory and they can verify this name or correct it. Connie Ancient mariner

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centerboard reconditioning
by IDCLLC＠aol.com 22 Mar '04

22 Mar '04

Greetings Montgomery sailors. I just finished reconditioning the CB in my Potter and learned some things that may be useful to Monty owners with metal centerboards. I found out that it is common practice at many boat yards to coat metal keels with epoxy to protect them. While I had thought about doing this independantly, it's comforting to know that it does indeed work. Here's what I did: 1. Remove the CB so you can get to all of it (duh). 2. Sanded the board to remove loose rust, grunge and oxidized paint. 3. Used an automotive product that chemically fixes rust and simultaneously provides a primer. I believe there are several such products on the market. 4. Cleaned the board with denatured alcohol and put several coats of epoxy on by brushing. I managed three coats. Most authorities recommend 5-7 coats. I think they know how to put it on more thinly than I! I used West System's booklets for guidance, and RAKA epoxy. 5. After you're happy with the epoxy coating, apply paint of your choice. I used white rustoleum premium enamel because I have plenty of it and my boat never stays in the water more than 12 hours at a time. Plus, I only sail fresh water, although I hope that changes this summer :) 6. Reinstall centerboard (double duh) Functionally, the paint doesn't do much other than make it easier to see where you need to touch up your work in the yearly maintenance routine, unless you need an ablative of course. Epoxy is impervious to just about everything except UV...if your CB is getting eposed to UV, turn turtled boat back over ASAP to rectify! Hope this proves useful. Steve Tyree, P-15 #2098 "Amy Ann"

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Buy a M17 for use in NJ
by Ushergusher＠aol.com 21 Mar '04

21 Mar '04

Anyone selling a M17? I would appreciate any contact. George

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Check List
by Seawitch 21 Mar '04

21 Mar '04

Hi all, When I first started sailing my M15 last year, I found myself wishing I had a check list which would walk me step by step through what I needed to be doing and when to do it and also remind me to do some critical things. Since, I had no such list, I developed one, I have modified it over the course of the year and after some trial and errors. I thought maybe some of the new owners, new to trailering might find it of some use. I print it on 11 x 14, cut it and laminated it so I could carry it with me and not worry about getting it wet. I may punch a hole in one corner and chain it on the boat. It is in Excel so you can easily personalize it. Enjoy, hope it helps. Time for a cool change! Sandra(Seawitch #617)

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Link error in Upgrade and Renovation Ledgers
by Doug King 21 Mar '04

21 Mar '04

I got in too much of a hurry. The Features and Finish ledgers weren't linked correctly, but they should be working now. If you've already tried it, you should download all of the Feature and Finish ledgers again. Structure ledgers were OK. Find them all under How-To, at the bottom. Lemme know if anyone finds a problem. I aim to please. ------------------------------------------ Doug King M-17 #404 "Vixen" Montgomery Sailboats Owners Group Web site: http://msog.org Email: msog(a)msog.org

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Re: M_Boats: Re: montgomery_boats Digest, Vol 13, Issue 7
by chbenneck＠juno.com 20 Mar '04

20 Mar '04

Hi Scott, I don't know the dimensions of the Flicka, but if you have luck, some bear grease, and a big shoe horn you just might fit the Flicka into a 20 foot container for shipment to Europe and ensuing European adventures. Does the Flicka have a small one lung diesel installed? This would be the ideal situation for your travels. Everywhere in Europe diesel fuel is the only thing available on waterways, and harbors. Reason: diesel is tax free for shipping............. Gasoline is only used in cars and today is costing about the same in dollars for a liter of gasoline as we pay for a gallon - i.e. the European gasoline price is about 4 times as high as our price is............! ChrisCraft showed up in France selling American powerboats (2 x Chevy gasoline engines) about '65. Lots of people bought them because of the gee-whiz factor, but they were all being sold at big discounts, or converted to diesel engines - sedate displacement operation, within 2 years..............! With gasoline costing (then ) over $2.00 a gallon........... nobody could afford to run the things........... Someone at ChrisCraft sure didn't do his homework...............! I had an Atomic 4 in my Tripp-Lentsch, and when I needed gasoline the natives in Italy or Yugoslavia would point me to the automobile gas station at the edge of town (95 degrees F; not a cloud in the sky; 2 kilometers each way carrying 5 gallon jerry cans)................. So to solve that problem I bought an Italian Benelli fold-up little motorcycle. It fit in my sail locker; could be lifted into the dinghy and onto the quay where I would unfold the handlebars; open the breather on the crankcase oil breather - and the gas cap, and away I'd go............. The motorized dinghy for land use! So, diesel is the only way to go if you want to play in French, Dutch or Belgian canals or head across the Adriatic to explore Yugoslavia. The Yugoslavians have built a number of marinas since the last time I was there (hard currency from all the Germans keeping their boats there) so maybe buying gasoline isn't the problem it was when I sailed there. But even so, almost every boat built in Europe is diesel powered..........., and the only gasoline used is for an outboard. Start dreaming; I'll help with the details! Connie

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