Alberg 30 "Gaelic Sea"

[Captain Smollett]

Well, we have settled on a name and will be having our renaming ceremony this weekend.  Our ceremony will be simple - we will simply ask G O D to bless her and all who sail on her, and my daughter will 'annoint' her bow with fresh water.

We started a project list to have this boat in 'blue water' and/or 'liveaboard' condition.  It's currently five pages and growing.

Near the top of the list of the big projects - I'd like to replace the porta-potty with a head+holding tank, so I am following the various holding tank threads here pretty closely.  Ya'll keep working out the bugs for me.   ;D

Well, I'm off to get some stuff for this weekend's set of projects....

-paint outboard lower unit
-replace set-screws with through-screws on stanchion bases
-child harness for my son
-some other stuff (  :) ) to numerous and minor to list

(The BIG project for this week is to get that blamed ob running...my parts finally came.  iShopMarine is great for listing the parts list online and exploded diagrams, but they take FOREVER to get the parts to you).

[AdriftAtSea]

CS-

A pretty name for the boat. 

One thought on the stanchion bases... you might want to drill an angled drain hole in them, so that less water sits in them.  Since you'll be drilling holes on them anyways... one extra as a drain might not be a bad idea.

Enjoy... ;)

[Captain Smollett]

Good idea.  Have some Grog.

The bases already have four holes (I guess so you can decide which one you want to use for the current set-screw) arrangment, so it would take little extra effort to just drill out the stanchion itself at least one of those.  If I do it this way, it won't be angled, but perhaps better than nothing?  And, it would provide a back-up in case something happened and the main hole thread became stripped (or head got sheared off, etc).  In other words, we could drill and tap TWO holes, but only put a screw into one and leave the other open.

Well, this will take NO effort for me...this is Becky's project.   ;D

[AdriftAtSea]

No wonder you were so happy to take on the extra work...

Personally, I wouldn't tap the holes... tapping stainless is a nightmare, and chews the heck out of your taps.  And if they're aluminum, threaded areas are generally more prone to corroding than unthreaded holes, especially if the fastener is stainless steel. 

I would just drill the holes and put the bolts through and use an acorn nut on the other side.  It is less likely to have a bolt corrode or seize and easier to remove if one does... since the nut isn't part of the stanchion base.  If the stanchion bases are aluminum, don't forget to coat the bolts with LanoCote or TefGel.

On my boat, I've also modified a couple of the stanchion bases to take a 1/4" or 5/16" fast pin, instead of a bolt... so that the railing section there can be easily removed without tools.  This is mainly for the solar panel setup, not the lifelines though. 

[Captain Smollett]

Personally, I wouldn't tap the holes... tapping stainless is a nightmare, and chews the heck out of your taps.  And if they're aluminum, threaded areas are generally more prone to corroding than unthreaded holes, especially if the fastener is stainless steel. 

I would just drill the holes and put the bolts through and use an acorn nut on the other side.

That's not what I'm doing.  All I'm doing is replacing the set-screw, which just pins the stanchion in place by friction, is drilling and tapping the stanchion so that a screw can be threaded into it.  In order for the stanchion to then come "up,"  it would have to either shear the screw to pull out of the deck.

With the stanchions being no thicker than they are, I'm not too worried about tapping the holes.

On my boat, I've also modified a couple of the stanchion bases to take a 1/4" or 5/16" fast pin, instead of a bolt... so that the railing section there can be easily removed without tools.  This is mainly for the solar panel setup, not the lifelines though. 

That's not a bad idea, either, especially where one might need to regularly drop it (like to get the dink on board).

[AdriftAtSea]

Ahh... :D thanks for the clarification.

[CharlieJ]

Actually it only took me about 15 minutes to drill and tap the holes in my bow pulpit.I used a battery powered drill, a little TapMagic and a hand tap. Stainless isn't THAT hard if you have a sharp tap.

I really can't recall if I tapped just the tubing or tubing AND base. I'll have to look.

[BobW]

John,

(doing a little catching up from being off-line for a couple plus weeks)

Congratulations on the name!  I like it.

And good luck with all the projects, too.

[Captain Smollett]

Well, we are off on the first family "cruise" soon.  The past few weeks have been a whirlwind of work and the inevitable spending of $$.

We did preliminary provisioning, watering and fueling last weekend as well as finishing some projects.  Some of the preps we did for this trip:

• new 215 amp-hr 6V wet cells + bus bars and overall "cleaner" wiring set-up in the battery compartment
• some major cleaning; a five year old fits nicely for getting into hard-to-reach spaces and she was not afraid to get dirty   ;D
• a better lock for the companionway (thanks CapnK for the obvious answer)
• some fans, though the Caframo has not arrived yet after being backorderd a week
• a new dink; yes, Craig, I CAN get it back in the bag after deflating it  ;)....
• a new galley pump
• TONS of little projects, complete with a fair amount of splicing  ;D
• new 35 lb Manson Supreme + some chain for the primary
• last night, two days before departure, Becky and I were sewing curtains  ;D ; it ain't best the sewing that was ever done, but they should look ok
• Becky picked out new melanine galley ware from galleyware.com - I've been encouraging her to help make the boat "hers"
• She also picked up some pillow shams to stuff the bedding into and to make day-cushions

Right now we are looking carefully at the weather to decide between a 45 nm offshore jump vs. ICW.  The weather is right on the borderline (according to NWS forecast), so I've not decided what we'll do.  Earlier in the week it looked bad, then good, now boderline.  We may have to stick our nose out the jetties to see what is out there and decide from there.

See ya'll in about 10 days give or take.  Hope to have some pics upon the return.

[AdriftAtSea]

Fair winds... and take lots of photos.. :) 

[Frank]

Have fun !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!   how long are you going???

[Captain Smollett]

Made it back to the mooring in Georgetown last night around 6 pm and back here at the house about two hours ago.

Brief summary:

Southbound offshore (Georgetown to Charleston), 1 night hove-to off Charleston Sea Bouy, 4 nights at anchor, 0 nights in marinas (  ;D ), a total of 15 hours aground, and 12 hours motoring on the ICW back to GT.

Will post some more details later with some photos.

[Frank]

Ahhhh..an honest man..15hrs aground  ;D.   Sounds like you had quite the mini adventure.Details and pics..we need details and pics,

[AdriftAtSea]

How'd you end up aground for 15 hours???   Other than that, sounds like a good trip... Looking forward to pix and story. :D

[Captain Smollett]

How'd you end up aground for 15 hours??? 

Short answer:  more than one grounding.   ;D ;D

Still working on the details and pics.

[AdriftAtSea]

How'd you end up aground for 15 hours??? 

Short answer:  more than one grounding.   ;D ;D

Still working on the details and pics.

LOL...it was either that or you slept through a tide cycle... :)

[Captain Smollett]

5 Oct 2007

Arrived at boat to finish provisioning and make preparations.  The reality of taking my wife and young children offshore was setting in as I prepared the boat.  NOAA was predicting 10-15 kt with 20 kt gusts from the NE shifting to the E, seas 3-5 ft, and we needed to head SW; we therefore would have a leeshore on the W.  Key in my mind was the need to weather Cape Romain, a shoal area that 'interupts' the rhumb line from Winyah Bay to Charleston.  If we were to trust the NOAA forecast, the weather was about as good as it could be for the offshore jump, but we were putting off the 'official' decision until morning to see what the conditions really were. I got to sleep around 0100 on the 6th.

6-7 Oct 2007

Underway at 0620, about an hour before high tide and daylight.  Eased out of the Sampit River and into the Bay.  A bit after 0700, raised the sails and killed the ob.  It was nice sailing down the bay.  Becky was helping with the nighttime navigation and sailed the boat a few times while I made various adjustments on deck.  She noted that she liked helming Gaelic Sea better than Wave Function.  With the Georgetown Lighthouse abeam, I decide to reef to avoid the necessity offshore, believing the A-30 to like a "reef early" on the main with a genny up.  Kissed the #5 bouy for good luck and turned S, 170 Magnetic after getting 'pounded' by the steep 6-8 footers in the inlet (our spare gas cans washed overboard, but were tied to the boat so they were retrieved).

Conditions offshore were consistent with the NOAA forecast, so we continued on.  My rhumb line was ddw with the NE wind, so I broad reached at 170 for three hours.  5 foot seas were abeam, which made for a rolly ride, and this took it's toll on Hunter and Becky.  Hunter had her bucket in the cabin and quickly established a pattern before getting sick.  Becky's getting sick set me off I must confess, but Jonathan, 2 years old, never batted an eye.  I think the boy is a born sailor.  Becky did sail the boat some during this leg while I tended to chores above and below deck.  At one point, Hunter, our 5 yo daughter, exclaimed emphatically, "I hate this frickin' boat."

At 1245, Becky sited a cargo ship on the horizon to the ESE, which gave me a good idea that we were well within the 10 Fathom Line.  At 1300, I jibed the boat to head back inshore a little bit, and the seas were now dead astern.  We had the wind on a broad reach with astern seas - sweet sailing at 5.5-6 kts with reefed main and genoa.  During this leg, the girls' tummies settled down and those below got some rest.  Around 1530, I saw a shore based structure (the Cape Romain Light) though land itself was not visible.  I fired up the GPS to fix position, and was within 3 nm of my DR position based on estimated speed and compass heading.  We had cleared Cape Romain and were on the rhumb line between my projected Waypoints 2 and 3.   So far so good.

I dropped the main to run ddw under the headsail, which slowed our speed but put us on a direct course - sailing off course but faster vs direct and slower computed out to be about the same elapsed time.  I was REALLY missing not having a whisker pole, which would have been worth its weight in gold.  At 2130, we were within site of the Charleston sea bouy and the City was clearly visible.  I decided to wait out the night 'outside' rather than try to run the channel of the unknown harbor at night.  We hove-to, Becky stood watch and I took a nap.  I relieved her at 0000 and decided to buy some sea room and began beating into the wind which now had more easting in it (as predicted). 

For about 3 hours, I tacked back out toward the sea bouy and again had some sweet sailing.  The wind had dropped to 10 kts, so I had shaken the reef out of the main, and for one entire tack, Gaelic Sea steered herself, perfectly balanced close-hauled in 3 ft seas.  By 0400, I hove-to again to take a nap so Becky could stand watch in no wind.  The sails were slatting and banging and I tried to drop them and just ride it out.  No good - bad move.  At 0530, while attempting to raise the main again to steady her back up, the gooseneck fitting failed and the boom fell on my knee.  We lashed the boom to the deck, raised the jib, started the ob and began motor sailing toward the channel.  The Pilot boat passed us in the channel and circled back to check on us, and informed us the harbor was socked in with fog.  He advised we could anchor just south of the jetties to await a clear approach if need be, but that it MIGHT clear off before we got in.  It did, and we were glad to have gotten to continue in without having to anchor to await better weather.

As we were passing Ft. Sumter, a ship passed rolling the boat through about 50 degrees each side of vertical.  At this point, Jonathan was kneeling on the cockpit seat holding the coaming and looking out.  This large roll did not even phase him.  He never batted an eye or expressed concern in any way.   As I said, a natural.

Motoring was slow in large part to the falling tide but also as we were later to confirm, water in our fuel.  We approached the City Anchorage around noon; Jerry aboard his Catalina 30 informed us we were "too close" for his comfort, so we moved to a different spot.  We were anchored by 1245.  After a nap I set about boat chores, such as inflating the dink (stored deflated in its bag just abaft the mast on deck) and repairing the gooseneck.  Becky found the pin laying on deck, and I found the cotter ring that had come out!!  (Later on the trip, I replaced both cotter rings with cotter pins). 

Our first family offshore run was a little rough around the edges but we had made it and everyone, though very tired, was well.  Becky fixed hamburgers for dinner which REALLY hit the spot.  After the children were tucked in, Becky and I enjoyed the evening with a glass of Burgundy.

No photos of the trip down.

[Captain Smollett]

8 Oct 2007


Becky fixed egg mcmuffins for breakfast, which after our recent trip to Tybee Island, GA has come to be one of Hunter's favorites.  We dingied to shore at the City Marina.  The current was wicked and I soon discovered that one John-Power was insufficient to the task.  I tied up on one of the finger docks to let Becky and the children walk while I confirmed where the dinghy dock was and pay my fine fee.  We walked several blocks to find a bus stop for a bus to take us to the Aquarium.  The Charleston Aquarium is pretty cool - the exhibits run a sequence that covers all geological 'zones' of South Carolina from the mountains to the ocean.  We ate the lunch Becky packed at the Aquarium observation deck watching, among other things, one of the container ship gantries lower it's arm.  The hugeness of man's machines never ceases to amaze me.

We then walked ca. 2.5 miles to Battery Park to let the children play and to see the big guns that once guarded the City.  We then walked back into town to catch a bus back to the Marina.  Both walks took us through historic neighborhoods and numerous houses of historic significance.  Hunter was disappointed that we could not take a horse carriage ride.

After catching the bus, we learned of a bus stop right across the street from the marina!!  This sums up our experience with CARTA - overall a good, clean system that is predominantly on time, but the little brochure maps do NOT show all the stops!!

The idea was to row back across to the boat at slack water, and we were a little early.  While waiting, I went to the marina office to inquire about a place to dump or pump out the porta potty (the Thetford we have can be emptied either way) and to buy some gasoline.  Uh, Craig was NOT kidding when he said this place was NOT small boat or transient friendly.  If you don't dock your boat at the marina, they won't give you the time of day.  Never mind they hit your for your $5 per day dinghy dock fee.  Becky mentioned at one point to me that she, a practicing medical doctor, felt like Poor White Trash the way the marina people (and their customers) treated us while we were there - just because we chose to anchor out rather than pay $75 per night to tie up (it's $2 per foot, which means for my 30 footer, they would be totally ripping me off with their minimum).

In short, they would not pump us out and they told us they had no fuel - had to go to Ashley Marina to refuel.   Nope, they cannot suggest a place to pump out, either...maybe Ashley would do it, maybe not.  Cannot use they showers, only for paying customers.  Now, contrast this with the marinas I've encountered before - super friendly and very helpful.  Hazzard Marine in Georgetown, for example, will let anchored transients shower and do laundry, albeit for a price generally, but at least they don't just say "nope, can't do it." I just don't get it.  What a bunch of snobs.

The BP Station there at the marina was the exception.  Though technically part of the marina, the folks at the BP were very cool.  We bought Slushies for the children to cool off a little bit.

Anyway, while waiting for slack water, we ran into Jerry ashore walking his dog.  He offered to tow us back to the boat so I would not have to row. :)

No pics from being out today...we had forgotten the camera on the boat.

Back at the boat, Hunter and Jonathan were entertained by a group of young sailors practicing starts and doing capsize recover drills.



They had no trouble with close quarters sailing.  Yes, those boats are under way!!



We had dinner of chicken picatta.  Becky and I finished the Chardonay needed to cook dinner while cooling off after a hot day with a lot of walking.  The anchorage at night was rather beautiful.



Before turning in, I moved the outboard from the stern of Gaelic Sea to the dink.

[AdriftAtSea]

Were those taken with the D80???

[Captain Smollett]

Were those taken with the D80???

Yes.