"Legacy": June 2011

Friday, June 3, 2011

AutoProp Install (Finally)

Back when I first had Legacy hauled for the survey, I was struck by how much that big three-blade prop would affect sailing performance. It was then that I decided on some type of feathering prop. I agonized over the decision and wrote two blog posts, Decisions, decisions verse 1- Propeller, and Autoprop it is back in August of last year. Well, I did get the Autoprop but received it too late to have it installed while the boat was out of the water. I finally got around to getting it done this weekend.

My Mom and I took the boat over to Gig Harbor Marina to be hauled and have them install the prop. Gig Harbor Marina has the only Travelift and haul-out facility in Gig Harbor. It is a lot more convenient than taking the boat into Tacoma to have it hauled and my experience with them there at Gig Harbor Marina was excellent. The staff is friendly and helpful and seem very knowledgeable. Installing the Autoprop isn't a hard job, but I decided that since I don't have a prop puller, I'd let them do it. While the boat was out of the water, I had them wash down the hull and replace all the zincs. I have a diver that takes care of that for me, but since it was out it was easy.

The install went well. We did need to grind away some of the prop strut to give adequate clearance for the prop. Fortunately, a Catalina 400 owner who also has an Autoprop on the Catalina400 Yahoo group had mentioned the potential problem with clearing the strut. If he hadn't mentioned it, I'm not sure if either me or the installer would have noticed it. If you look at the photos you can see that the prop could have hit strut as it was changing from forward to reverse. A few minutes with a grinder and that problem was taken care of.

Here is a close up of where the prop would hit the strut.

After a couple minutes with a grinder, this is what it looked like.

Another, closer shot.

After waiting four hours for the tide to come in to give us enough water under the Travelift (it was a -2 tide today) we dropped Legacy back in the water.

With the standard 3-blade prop, 2500rpm would give us 6.1 knots on flat water with no wind. After the Autoprop was installed, we went out sailing on a beautiful day. Temperatures were in the 70's, we had 15 knots of wind, and it was bright and clear. (Those of you not from the PNW have no idea how unusual this is. We almost never get the combination of wind, sun, and warm temperatures. We are lucky if we get two out of the three.) Anyway with a 15 knot headwind and a light chop, 2500rpm now gave us 6.9 knots. More importantly, 2000-2200 rpm, which is a very comfortable power level for the Yanmar, gave a respectable 6.4 knots.

Reverse performance was better but it didn't eliminate the prop walk in reverse. This still means that getting in and out of our slip is going to continue to be a challenge depending on wind and tide.

Anyway, after just a short time I'm happy with it. Time will tell of course. Given the typical light winds we have here, I'm looking forward to seeing how it improves motor sailing performance.

Legacy

My parents taught me to sail at age 5 in Gig Harbor, WA. Much of my childhood was spent going to sailing regattas with my folks. We either were racing boats, or my Father was prepping Clark boats to sell. Selling boats allowed him to afford the sailing habit. Never the accomplished skipper my father was, or as good at sail trim as my mother, I do have a box of old trophies from racing in my childhood.

My folks moved to larger boats as the Clark Boat Co., based in Kent, WA. started to make larger boats. We had a San Juan 21, then raced and cruised on a San Juan 24.

My folks took a break from boat ownership for a while as life got busier and money got tighter. I was busy with school activities and didn't have the time, nor passion, for sailing at the time.

Eventually, my folks got the urge again and bought a few boats finally owning a Cal-29 for some years. They named the boat "Revival" in recognition of both their reawakening faith as well as their return to serious boating. They cruised on "Revival" all over Puget Sound and into the San Juan Islands and Canadian Gulf Islands. All the grandkids learned to sail small boats while living on board "Revival" for a week or two each summer.

As the grandkids grew, it got to be a tight fit to have all 5 of the kids, with them on the boat. My Dad found an older, poorly treated, Catalina 36 and bought it. It took my folks over a year of evening and weekend labor before the boat was fit to sail and cruise on. They named this boat "Vision", both because of what their vision was for how the boat could be used by the family, as well as a nod to my father's and my optometric practice.

My father died suddenly of a stroke and cerebral hemorrhage while my folks were cruising in the Canadian Gulf Islands in 2006.

As the kids left for college, and I got a little more time, we started to use "Vision" more and then started to yearn for a little more space and a rig that was a bit easier for the two of us to sail comfortably. We decided to sell "Vision" and look for a Catalina 400.

Hence "Legacy". My parents have passed on to me, my sister, our families, and our children a love of sailing and being on the water. For us, a boat is more about shared family experience, than anything else. This is the real legacy left to us by my parents, and one for which I'll be forever grateful.