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Cat TalesApril 1996 |
Ken and Diane Lang, LADY DI
Ken and Diane
Lang have volunteered as the Raft Captains for this year's first sailing event.
Once again this ice breaker (after this winter I hope this is not a literal
interpretation) will be held at Cindy's Marina.
The festivities will
begin with cocktail hour at 3:00 pm. Beverages will be provided by the club,
followed by a potluck with each boat bringing a covered dish and utensils for
its crew. Call Diane (301-540-6859) to coordinate food planning.
Cindy's
Marina (Sailor s Wharf Marina) can be reached both by sea and land.
BY
SEA, the marina is about a mile above Cantler's Riverside Inn on Mill Creek,
off Whitehall Bay (just above the Severn River). The prominent radio towers
will be the south entrance to Whitehall Bay. It is 300 yards wide, but stay
clear of Hackett Point, which has a wide shoal that reaches out to the Red #2
buoy. Past Red # 2, proceed 200 yards to a red day marker, giving it a wide
berth to starboard. The entrance to Mill creek is clearly marked, but pay
attention to which marker is next! YOU DON T WANT TO CUT ACROSS THE SHOAL. Past
the entrance, proceed up the Creek past Cantler s, on your port. As you pass
Cantler s, stay to the starboard side (about 75 feet from the shore) and make a
wide sweep to port. Once around the bend, move back to the center and continue
up the creek until you see the Catalina Raft.
BY LAND, Cindy s is at the
end of Orchard Drive. Turn off Route 50 at Old Mill Bottom Road and Bay Dale
Drive, which is where the Red, Hot and Blue Restaurant is located. Follow the
signs for Old Mill Bottom Road south, and then Route 648 to St. Margarets Road.
Take a right and proceed until you see an old grocery store at a Y
intersection, where Browns Wood Road joins St. Margarets. Make a sharp left
turn onto Browns Wood Road. At the end of Browns Wood turn right onto Orchard
Beach Road and take it to the end. Continue past the sign to a steep driveway
and parking.
Let's all be there to get the 1996 sailing schedule off on
the right note.
On Saturday April 13th the CCYC celebrated the arrival of spring (well
at least for a day here and there), with our annual Flag Raising Brunch. We met
and discussed our on-going boat preparations and upcoming cruising schedule as
we toasted our success at having survived the winter. Following these intense
one on one discussions and appropriate back- slapping and good-to-see-you-again
hugs, we sat down to a great brunch served by the staff of Bay Ridge
Inn.
The second highlight of the morning was a presentation by Bill
Shellenberger on the Chesapeake Bay s history and cruising destinations. Bill
started with a brief description of the Bay s geological history, beginning
with the Ice Age, to its development into the Bay as we know it. He also
included an historical context beginning with settlement of Jamestown and St.
Mary's City, to Captain Smith s exploration and mapping of the Bay. He
discussed the Bay's water quality (visibility...), and how and why it has
deteriorated and recently begun to improve. He noted that the Chesapeake Bay
Commission has documented significant improvements in water quality in the last
few years, as well as recovery of the bluefish.
But the focus of his
slide presentation was on the wonderful cruising destinations in each of the
Bay s seven regions. (As described in his book) Those regions range from the
Bay s Headwaters (Sassafras River and Still Pond), to Aberdeen (Pool s Island),
the Corsica River (Town Point, Chestertown), the Patapasco River, Annapolis
(Tangier Island, Chrisfield) the Eastern Bay (Wye River, Dividing Creek), the
Potomac (Point Lookout, St. Mary s River), to the southern Bay at Hampton Roads
(York Town, Cape Charles Harbor).
He showed us slides of and discussed
harbor entries, anchoring locations, good times, bad times, and items of
interest in each. There were so many intriguing locations all over the Bay that
reminded us that, yes, we are privileged to be sailing on one of the world's
greatest water bodies and sailing destinations.
Rod Waite, WYE WAITE II
This maintenance
tip is presented to help my fellow Yachtsmen from having engine performance
problems caused by contaminated diesel fuel or no fuel flow at all.
I
own a 1980 Catalina 30 with the universal diesel engine. I have tried to
perform preventive maintenance on the fuel tank by keeping it toped off to
prevent a large air mass above the fuel helping to prevent moisture
condensation in the tank.
In addition I have added fuel stabilizers to
help prevent varnish or sludge from forming and even with these precautions I
still developed water and sludge in my tank. This became very evident when I
had the engine replaced in the early winter of 1994. The yard had unbolted the
tank to perform some shaft strut strengthening work under the tank. In doing so
the fuel in the tank was surged around causing the sludge laying in the bottom
to break loose. This caused the fuel line filters to clog up and cause the
engine to stall out five times during the season. Not much fun!!! Each time the
filters had to be replaced to restore operation.
In March of 1996 I
decided I had better take the tank out and get it steamed cleaned. I dreaded
the thought of pumping the fuel and figuring out where would I get rid of it.
It's a real problem these days. I checked with a couple of service stations to
see if the would steam clean the tank if I would get the tank out of the boat
and bring it to them. They all said they had stopped steam cleaning because the
run off would eventually go into the bay and the EPA had shut them down. Boy!
now what do I do??? I went to Vosberry Brothers, they would clean the tank for
sure. Wrong!! But they did give the name of two firms that cleaned fuel. One
would only suck the fuel out, clean it and pump it back in, but would not clean
out the tank. the other firm would clean the tank and fuel. This company
performed a professional service for which I was very satisfied.
They
have two portable dollies containing a pump and multi stage filtering system
which they can roll down on the dock or bulkhead to your boat. They do need
connection to 110 V power. Their suction and return hose are long enough to
accommodate any size boat. It cost $210 to filter the fuel. I had them install
a 6" inch diameter stainless steel hatch inspection plate on top of the tank.
It cost $160.00 for the parts and labor to install it. This accomplishes two
things. It allows easy access to get suction lines into the tank, and direct
access to remove the sludge. If you get a bad batch of fuel and have water in
your tank under way, you can siphon off the fuel in the tank and mop out the
water and return the fuel and continue on your way.
I thought I owe it
to tell my fellow sailors so they will not have to go through the problems I
had. The name and number of the company is noted below. Ric Conaway stated he
would give a 5% discount to Chesapeake Catalina Yacht Club members for fuel
cleaning services. All you have to do is identify yourselves as a member up
front.
PetroScrub, Contact: Ric Conaway, Manager Tel No.
(800)633-2533
Max Munger, CATALINA 30 Treasurer
Just got a call from the
Backyard Boats manager in Annapolis. The All Catalina sponsored rendezvous for
the east coast is set for AUG 9-10-11 at Harborview Marina in Baltimore, MD.
Harborview is very close to the inner harbor.
An announcement will be in
the next MAINSHEET. Costs are not finalized as yet. Get the dates out to all
your people for scheduling. I'll be there - how about you?
Earl Holliman, PAPILLON
I have noticed that a
few Fleet 11 members have high frequency amateur radios aboard. These
transmitters are relatively low power since they operate with 12 volt systems;
however, they can operate over great distances with proper selection of
frequency. The proper choice of frequency for a desired path depends upon
several factors, but mostly time, season, and ionospheric
conditions.
There are several ways of determining the optimum frequency
for any path and time, but in the last few years, computer programs permit easy
prediction of optimum frequencies for planning radio schedules. I will be glad
to offer free help to members, but will need the latitude and longitude of your
planned positions on route, and similar data for the station locations planned
for your communication. If you want some idea of the communication reliability,
include a description of your antenna and radio system.
PS.. Can anyone
give me the name and telephone number of a member who knows what size flax is
used to renew the stuffing (or packing) box on the shaft seal on the Catalina
30? Regards. (E-mail: 103612.512@CompuServe.COM) -Ear l Holliman, PAPILLON
Max Munger has put together a three page set of Boat Rafting Guidelines
for CCYC Fleet 11 members to help us make our outings even more enjoyable.
These guidelines will be are intended to help avoid accidents, confusion and
damage for new, as well as long term members.
The Guidelines include
sections requirements, responsibilities, and directions dealing with:
Please call this Editor for a complete copy of the Guidelines. We will also post the full text in the Cat Tales Internet web site for you to download.