[Rhodes22-list] More Outboard Problems

[Roger Pihlaja]

Jim,

In July, 1993; my family took our R-22 on a cruise in western Lake Erie.
Besides myself, my crew consisted of my 2 sons; Daniel, age 10, & Gary, age
7 at the time.

We launched from an industrial marina in Sandusky, OH & sailed out to
Kelly's Island on July 3rd.  We spent a couple of days on Kelly's Island,
rented bicycles to tour the island, saw the prehistoric Indian petroglyphs,
the glacial grooves, & enjoyed the fireworks on the evening of the 4th.
Then, we made a Lake Erie crossing to Pelee Island, Ontario.  After Canada,
we sailed back to Middle Bass Island & then Put-In-Bay on South Bass Island.
Finally, after a week on the boat, we closed the loop by sailing back to
Sandusky.  The grand finale was going to be a visit to Cedar Point Amusement
Park directly across Sandusky Bay from our launch site.  Keeping Cedar Point
over their heads during the week long cruise enabled Captain Dad to maintain
discipline aboard ship during the week!  Cedar Point has one of the nicest
marinas I've ever seen.  It's protected from Lake Erie by a long rock rip
rap breakwater.

The sailing conditions across Lake Erie had been great fun; 20 - 25 knot
winds from the SW, sunny, waves 3 - 5 feet, small craft advisory posted.
Out on the big lake, the point of sail was a fast beam reach.  In
retrospect, I should have topped up the gas tank at Put-In-Bay on South Bass
Island.  But, I had about 1/3 tank of fuel & the South Bass Island to Cedar
Point crossing was only about 16 nm.  With the prevailing conditions, I only
expected to use the engine for docking manuevering inside the Cedar Point
Marina.  Anyway, when we rounded the point of the Marblehead Peninsula to
make the turn into Sandusky Bay, conditions changed drastically.  Sandusky
Bay is quite shallow &, with the offshore SW wind running down the whole
length of the bay, the waves picked up to 4 - 7 feet & got a lot steeper.
The point of sail also hardened up to close hauled after we made the turn.
By this point, the huge roller coasters & other rides in the amusement park
were readily visible beyond the marina breakwater.  The boys were chomping
at the bit to get off the boat & into Cedar Point, the suddenly rough
conditions scared us all a little, & were very uncomfortable.  So, I dropped
sail & started the engine, intending to motor the last 3 - 4 nm rather than
having to tack back & forth numerous times across the rough Sandusky Bay.
But, conditions for motoring were impossible.  Not only was the prop
alternately lifting clear of the water & slamming back down, but the
sloshing fuel in the mostly empty gas tank was causing the engine to be
intermittently starved of fuel & stall out.  I still had the old Evinrude 6
hp 2-cycle outboard in those days.  The repeated stalling tended to foul the
spark plugs, making the engine difficult to restart & run poorly as well.
During all the frogging around with the engine, the wind & waves kept
pushing us closer & closer towards the Cedar Point breakwater.  The waves
were breaking against the huge boulders & splashing higher than the mast!
Finally, with about 100 yards to go before we hit the rocks, I announced we
couldn't depend upon the engine & would have to sail out this situation.  I
had Daniel drive while Gary & I quickly put 2 sloppy reefs into the mainsail
& hoisted it.  By the time, we had the mainsail up, the rocks were about 75
yards away.  The boat wouldn't come about!  I quickly realized we needed
more speed to enable the boat to turn under these conditions.  I took the
helm from Daniel & ran before the wind right at the breakwater.  There
wasn't time to explain & Daniel & Gary's eyes got as big as saucers.  They
thought their dad had lost his mind!  With about 25 yards to go, we jibbed
to port & sailed about 1/4 mile out into the big lake.  Now, with lots of
searoom, we hove to & got things straightened around.  I propped up one end
of the gas tank, so the fuel pickup wouldn't get uncovered during the
rocking and rolling, changed the spark plugs, & we got the sail plan
reconfigured for some serious upwind work.  This worked & we carefully
motorsailed our way back up Sandusky Bay & into the Cedar Point Marina.
Docking in this cross wind was fairly difficult.  But, with some help from
other boaters, we got into our slip OK.

By the way, visiting Cedar Point on your own boat is absolutely wonderful.
The marina has its own restaurant & private entrance into the amusement
park.  We purchased the evening admission tickets & stayed until the park
closed down.  Then, instead of a long drive home in heavy traffic, we
stumbled back to the marina, climbed into our nice warm bunks, & soon fell
fast asleep.

The next morning, the wind & waves had died down.  I topped up the fuel tank
& we motored back across Sandusky Bay to our launch site.

The R-22 can be sailed in much rougher conditions than it can be motored in.
Never depend upon your motor too much!  This cruise had a lot to do with my
decision to replace the 2-cycle, long shaft, 6 hp Evinrude outboard with a
4-cycle, extra long shaft, 8 hp Honda outboard when the time came to replace
the engine on Dynamic Equilibrium a few years later.  The 4-cycle engine
doesn't foul spark plugs & the extra couple of shaft length make a
significant difference in ability to motor in heavy conditions without
cavitating the prop & water pump.

Roger Pihlaja
S/V Dynamic Equilibrium

----- Original Message -----
From: <LafingBear at aol.com>
To: <rhodes22-list at rhodes22.org>
Sent: Tuesday, July 15, 2003 11:37 PM
Subject: [Rhodes22-list] Problems with the launching of Carmie Anne


> I finally got the boat ready to launch after endless delays and a death in
> the family. My daughter and her husband came down from Mass. and we had
one day
> to get her in the water. It was Sat. it,was windy, it was choppy, and the
> marina was crowded.   After backing her off the trailer there was no room
to turn
> her around, so I kept backing her out between the two rows of big boats.
> Because of the heavy chop, the motor kept bobbing up out of the water and
just as I
> got ready to reverse direction ,the motor quit. The wind was between
1-15kts
> and I'm now driftng rapidly towards the docked boats. I had removed my
light
> anchor to replace the chain and I didn't have time to drop the main
anchor.
> Sooo, I told my daughter to drop the centerboard all the way(  it would
act as a
> brake as I  went up on the gravel shoreline and it would straighten out
the
> boat so I had some steerage.) There was one open slip at the end of the
docks
> and I got the boat close enough to get a line over a post and we  stopped
her
> just four feet from the shore. Neat way to start the season!!. I have now
> ordered a long shaft 4cycle Mercury as my other motor is burned out and
not
> trustworthy. I was amazed at how fast a motor can seize up! Live and
learn, and don't
> forget!
> For those of you who sail on Lake Wallenpaupack, in Pa., the Carmie Anne
has
> a dark blue hull, red rubline, and white topsides and she's docked at
Woodland
> Hills, next to the Cove Haven resort. I'll be up at the lake most of
August
> and would like to meet up with the other Rhodies on the lake.
> Jim Gifford
> __________________________________________________
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