New Outboard for the Dinghy

7/17/12

so we've been rocking the dinghy around the harbor with a 30 lb. torque Minn Kota electric trolling motor wired to a car battery. as seen here below. it went just over walking speed. which was fine for a silent cruise around the harbor or even a venture out into the ocean on a calm day. but we needed more.

i searched craigslist for a few nights. looking for anything 4 to 7 horsepower made from the 1990's to now for under $500. there was so much garbage on there. but with my secret craigslist skills, i found what we were looking for.

isn't she beautiful? our 10ft. porta-bote. yes she folds up to the size of a surfboard. the boat weighs 80 lbs and the motor weighs 55 lbs.

so here it is! our 4 stroke 5HP 2001 mercury longshaft outboard. claire's first motor purchase! what a bad ass girlfriend. we paid $550 for the motor, fuel line, and gas can. the motor had only 6 hrs of fresh water use. the inside was factory new, shiny, untouched, original lube. unbelievable. basically a brand new motor that would go for $1400 retail for $550. he even put a fuel filter on the gas line so the gas is double filtered. and it sips gas. 

we are very happy with the new set up, it planes like a dream. watch out for claire zipping around in her new "jet ski"!

stove in action

i thought it'd be cool to show everyone how a gimbaled stove looks in action. (that's a greasey cast iron skillet full of bacon on there) it's definitely something strange to see for those who have no idea what i have been talking about in previous posts. well its been in full use for some time now and we really love it. i also got the grill hooked up to the propane tank now too. our propane conversion is complete!

anchoring lately

now that it's summer time we've been anchoring a lot lately. go for a quick sail, come in and relax on the hook. the new stove is awesome, the other day we made breakfast out there bobbing around. here's some pictures of our past adventures. we're on 240ft. of tri-braid line and 30ft. of 3/8" galvanized chain set to a 33 lb. bruce claw. i plan on stepping it up to 100ft. of chain in the near future. also we have a tiny bow roller. i have my eyes set on a nice stainless steel roller/anchor mount so that the anchor is locked up on the bow and ready for drop at any moment.

at the top of the photo there's claire reading her book on splendid isolation. i rowed to the sandbar to take a few photos.

the sandbar was 6 inches deep, warm, and crystal clear.

about to pull it all up. it's not too bad with this tiny roller, but it'll be way better with what i have in mind for the upgrade.

a few from our bed room window

claire driving off after i pulled up the anchor. 

cheyne paddling over to hang out with us off doheny.

registered the dinghy

7/2

so i bought this 10' port-a-bote in january off craigslist from the same guy i bought the beast AGM batteries. check out their website to learn more about this incredible dinghy (yes it folds up! and please watch the videos). i hadn't registered the dinghy because the guy i bought it from never did and he told me he used it for years as a tender for his sailboat, using an electric trolling motor, no problems. so i've been doing the same for the past 6 months. until memorial weekend came around and the harbor patrol was eagle eyeing everyone. 

a quick re-cap of the situation:

officer "stop and show me your registration"

me "who me? what registration?"

officer "yes you. you don't have registration?"

me "no why would i? i'm in a dinghy with an electric trolling motor"

claire "giggle giggle this is going to get good"

officer "well it's a motor isn't it? it needs registartion"

me "yes it's [clearly] a motor. i'm sorry sir, i don't have any registration i was told that it was not needed with an electric trolling motor"

officer "well it's a motor isn't it?"

me "yes it sure is. what about if this dinghy is a tender for my sailboat?"

officer "tender? (his facial expression changes to 'well gosh i didnt think this punk would know any laws') well a tender doesn't need registration because it is used for a boat traveling internationally for them to get to shore, do you have a boat here?"

me "yes sir it's over there on the island, A dock. i use this dinghy to putt around the harbor and came over here to the mainland to have dinner at this restaurant"

officer "you have a week to register that dinghy or i'm going to find you and give you a citation"

me "ok officer, thank you"

so my plan to never register the dinghy had come to an end. at least i rustled that guys feathers a bit.

and the dinghy sat behind my boat for quite a few weeks with out any sign of my friend or a citation. we just had to use it as a row boat for a while. i skipped the whole line at the DMV monday morning because i'm not an idiot and made an online reservation the week before, unlike the 286 people standing there waiting. i breezed through there in about 15 minutes and left waving at the people still holding their spots in line. 

hank and steve hooked it up with the decals!

claire putting on the decals

we both took the opportunity to stand the boat up on it's stern and scrub 3 months of growth off the bottom. i love this boat for a million reasons, one of which is it is super easy to clean.

in your face officer

i also took the opportunity to hook brian up with a favor. sense i was getting decals made for my dinghy i thought "brian's NEVER going to get a name slapped on his whaler. i gotta print him one too" we cruised on over to the sand bar to put his on. the water was a little chilly as you can tell. 

Last Freedom holds a strong place in his heart and it's a damn good back story. feel free to hand him a beer and ask him all about it.

new life lines - new flag

7/2

i've been meaning to do this sense i first got the boat. starboard side had a rusty, but good quality life line. port side had a rope. pretty sketchy set up, but not that big of a deal for harbor sailing. well we've been lagging on big projects so i thought i should stay busy and get other things done. it's time to upgrade the life lines.

brass clips. i got all the cable for like $18. it's stainless steel covered with clear rubber. it's 350 lb. test.

hard to see but there's the new line running up to the bow.

here's the cockpit line. with the new set up i made two sections, the deck of the boat up to the bow and the cock pit. so it unclips separately just for the cockpit, which is a nice feature. instead of having to sag the whole line down you can just "open the gate".

i went to check the mailbox today and there was a surprise package inside. my mother must have noticed that my NC flag was a little weathered and sent me a new one! thanks mom!

5+ years old.

the new

stove and propane line

i picked up a gimbaled stove off craigslist for $100. as a chef i want a proper kitchen in my galley. this project took about 2 weeks working on and off. having to search for parts, order parts, return things, company staying with us...it took a while but we're very happy now.

here's our old set up. mini fridge at the bottom. which is nice if you're living off shore power. but i want this boat to be off the grid and this will take too much of our power. my nice convection oven that i got at costco, used for a year, then returned for full price! and then our one burner camping stove. pretty ghetto set up but it worked for well over a year.

here's the new stove i picked up off craigslist.

everything removed. 

i got some old copper from work and added on to the copper that was already there. there were some scars on the wall from my demolition that needed to be covered.

claire and i ran the 30ft. of propane line that we ordered through west marine.

we threw a few loops in the line to keep it slack. this prevents any chaffing while the stove swings. we don't want that propane line to get any cracks and leak on us.

outside we installed this black unit which is solid stainless steel with a belt strap. it's meant to hold igloo coolers off the back of work trucks, but it will hold our propane tank just fine.

i sprayed the mounts with my blue rust proof tractor paint just to insure it lasts the elements.

supports through the bottom too. damn the hidden spots on this boat are nasty and need to be loved some day.

here it is mounted.

we poked a hole and ran the line through. i picked up propane line protectors (the metal slinky) so nothing can damage the line outside of the boat.

got a T valve to split the propane line. the 30ft. runs inside to the stove and i capped the other end. it's going to be hooked to the grill once i pick up that attachment.

chained it down and pad locked it to the boat to prevent theft and incase it tries to fall overboard.

back inside, the line connected to the stove with another chaff protector.

gimbals we put it

this piece locks the stove into the wall to keep it from swinging while we're docked or when the boat is level.

checking the unit. it works! to prevent gas leaking we turn the tank off before the actual burner. this way it keeps the line open and burns off any existing fuel out of the line.

our new cutting board! my mother and i found this at minney's parking lot sale too. i cut it to fit perfectly on top of the stove. its big enough to butcher fish on! the cutting board comes off and slides under the stove snugly while we're sailing.

or to make a pb&j

our new galley!

(note to the left of the stove, that white scarred wall was covered by the copper)

spit shine

well my mother and my cousin taylor came and stayed on the boat with claire and i a couple weeks ago. we did a lot of cleaning/organizing before, during, and after their stay!

a few days before they came i totally emptied both the quarter berths. scrubbed them out completely. my mom slept on the port side quarter berth which would be on your right in this photo.

taylor, my mother debbie-lyn, and of course myself enjoying a train/ferry trip to coronado

my mother insisted that the boat needed a wax job so she bought me a 3M fiberglass oxidation product that only needs to be applied once or twice a year.

taylor helped

notice the fresh wax on the left and the oxidation on your right.

they went for an exploration walk on the beach while i sat behind and built this...

my mom was all about helping find new things for the boat. here's an awesome stainless steel vintage towel rod she picked up.

this is for you mother! that teak storage shelf just under the mirror is something new that we found at minney's street sale. i had to rearrange the whole wall to fit it in but it worked out great. claire sat back and told me where to hold all the frames just to make sure everything was laid out perfectly. we decided to use the new teak shelf for our mail, pens, and notes.

while my mom and taylor were here we got a lot of cool baskets and storage containers for some of our food, clothing, and tools. plus we scored on dividers for all the drawers and they are super clean now. it's important for everything on my boat to be in it's proper place so that i can always find it when i need it.