On the Road Again

[lustyslogger]

I have been the Captain of The Lusty Slogger since June 2010. In that time she has had five different "home ports" I need to keep her in the water because I cannot raise and lower the mast by myself and can't depend on finding kind souls to help me at the ramp. Anyway, her first home port was Dandridge Point Marina, Dandridge TN. I was there for about two years but moved because they would drain the lake every fall and I would have to pull her out. Plus, I was the only sailboat at that marina. So, I moved to Black Oak Marina in Jefferson City TN. I was one of about 40 sailboats there and the smallest boat at the dock. That was on Cherokee Lake and was an excellent marina with good dock mates. Then, unfortunately I moved to Ocala FL. One would think there would be tons of spots in Florida but alas, most water front is owned by private parties and what few marinas are in the area are frightfully expensive. My little 16 ft yacht would cost me over $300.00 a month for a slip. I finally found one on Lake Harris at Fisherman's Cove in Tavares FL. It was not a good slip because it was down a narrow channel that was clogged with hydrilla during the best sailing times. Plus again I was the only sailboat. So I moved to Pete's Pier in Crystal River. Again, in order to get an affordable slip I had to take a spot tucked in the corner with only 2 feet of water under me when the tide was out and only 3 feet when it was in. Plus it was crowded with tour boats for manatee viewing and fishing and scallop trips. So I am moving once again to Venetian Cove Marina in Leesburg Fl, again on Lake Harris. This one is like Black Creek and is open to the lake, there are a dozen or so vintage sailboats at the dock and I had been trying to get a slip there for over two years. Finally, on September 1 I will have a new home port for my little yacht. This one is owned by the city of Leesburg so is not likely to be turned into condos. I will let everyone know how it goes as time goes by.

https://www.floridabywater.com/lakes-an ... ove-marina

[Michel]

I wish you the best and peace and quiet for the years to come. Go sailing and enjoy it without any problems with marinas and the like.

[lustyslogger]

I wish you the best and peace and quiet for the years to come. Go sailing and enjoy it without any problems with marinas and the like.

Thank you and I want to say I always find great joy in your videos

[GregWads]

I need to keep her in the water because I cannot raise and lower the mast by myself and can't depend on finding kind souls to help me at the ramp.

I assume the Lustyslogger has a pivoting mast step. If not please disregard the following.

I used to have the same issue on my 19' Stuart Mariner. Until I built gin pole somewhat like the one shown in the following link. The winch cost me $15 dollars from a local farm supply store, which has a small boating section. The load on the blocks becomes greater the closer the mast is to horizontal. For my 40 lb, 25 foot mast the calculated load is over 600 lbs when the mast is horizontal. At 20 degrees above horizontal the calculated load is only a couple hundred lbs. I use a different method to stabilize the mast made from broomsticks connected to a spare goose-neck slide that moves up and down in the sail slot. The other end of the broomsticks are connected to the Jib Sheet turning blocks. I have never tried raising and lowering the mast on the water. But I know of another gentleman who does, because he has to go under a bridge to get to the lake.

http://skipmeisch.com/slowflight/upgrad ... nPole.html

Hope this helps,
Greg.

[lustyslogger]

I need to keep her in the water because I cannot raise and lower the mast by myself and can't depend on finding kind souls to help me at the ramp.

I assume the Lustyslogger has a pivoting mast step. If not please disregard the following.

I used to have the same issue on my 19' Stuart Mariner. Until I built gin pole somewhat like the one shown in the following link. The winch cost me $15 dollars from a local farm supply store, which has a small boating section. The load on the blocks becomes greater the closer the mast is to horizontal. For my 40 lb, 25 foot mast the calculated load is over 600 lbs when the mast is horizontal. At 20 degrees above horizontal the calculated load is only a couple hundred lbs. I use a different method to stabilize the mast made from broomsticks connected to a spare goose-neck slide that moves up and down in the sail slot. The other end of the broomsticks are connected to the Jib Sheet turning blocks. I have never tried raising and lowering the mast on the water. But I know of another gentleman who does, because he has to go under a bridge to get to the lake.

http://skipmeisch.com/slowflight/upgrad ... nPole.html

Hope this helps,
Greg.

Thank you

[Michel]

I wish you the best and peace and quiet for the years to come. Go sailing and enjoy it without any problems with marinas and the like.

Thank you and I want to say I always find great joy in your videos

Thank you! I appreciate!

[lustyslogger]

I need to keep her in the water because I cannot raise and lower the mast by myself and can't depend on finding kind souls to help me at the ramp.

I assume the Lustyslogger has a pivoting mast step. If not please disregard the following.

I used to have the same issue on my 19' Stuart Mariner. Until I built gin pole somewhat like the one shown in the following link. The winch cost me $15 dollars from a local farm supply store, which has a small boating section. The load on the blocks becomes greater the closer the mast is to horizontal. For my 40 lb, 25 foot mast the calculated load is over 600 lbs when the mast is horizontal. At 20 degrees above horizontal the calculated load is only a couple hundred lbs. I use a different method to stabilize the mast made from broomsticks connected to a spare goose-neck slide that moves up and down in the sail slot. The other end of the broomsticks are connected to the Jib Sheet turning blocks. I have never tried raising and lowering the mast on the water. But I know of another gentleman who does, because he has to go under a bridge to get to the lake.

http://skipmeisch.com/slowflight/upgrad ... nPole.html

Hope this helps,
Greg.

Interestingly, there is an article in the July/August edition of Small Craft Advisor on page 41 covering this same topic. Actually, on my trailer I have an extension that holds the mast that could serve the same purpose. I will have to try this.

Thanks again.

[GregWads]

I will have to go look up the latest issue of SCA to read the article.

I found a bunch of different articles about this, a large number of the ones of those use the fore-stay to pull up the mast.

I do not touch the side stays other than to make sure they are not tangled. I loosen the back stay as much as possible. I use the main halyard to raise and lower the mast. Because if you use the fore-stay you have to disconnect the fore-stay from the gin-pole to be able to connect it to the deck. What would keep it the mast from falling backward if you accidentally loose your grip. Also my main halyard comes down the front of the mast. So I can just crank the winch a couple of extra clicks to give me enough slack to connect the fore-stay to the deck. Another nice thing, is I did not have to drill any holes to add mount points for the mast raising system.

[lustyslogger]

OH Happy Day!

A couple weeks ago I went out to the Lusty Slogger and it was so full of water it was sitting on the bottom. It seems my automatic bilge pump decided it didn't want to work!. Although I have a makeshift cover on it that was sufficient as long as the bilge pump was pumping it had also come askew and allowed our normal torrential rains to fill the boat. Not only was the cockpit flooded but the inner hull was also full of water. Since I have had trouble in the past with the boat leaking my fear was that somehow it was also taking on water from below. It took two days to pump all the water out both the cockpit and the inner hull. I refitted the cover, saw that I had left the inspection port open in the cuddy and hoped that meant the inner hull had filed with rainwater as well. Well, I have been out to the boat several times since then and the inner hull is dry but I still had water in the cockpit since my cover is not doing its job.

But at least I know the boat is not leaking from the bottom so that was a big relief. Had it been leaking that would have been the end of the old girl since I did not think it was worth repairing one more time. The boat is 40 years old and has had a good life. However, now all I have to do is come up with a better covering system (it worked really well until this year) and to refurbish the bilge pump to insure it's working properly.

So, I am happy! On August 31 I will move her one last time to Leesburg and hopefully get more use out of her in the months to come. I probably won't do much sailing until the fall. Because of my failing health the 95 degree heat doesn't allow me to spend much time on the water. I suppose that quart of premium beer I poured into the bilge appeased the sea gods and they see fit to give me a few more good years!

[Michel]

There is the excessive heat! We have this too, even up north but there is worse!... There is a reason why I don,t sail a lot in July! You get attacked by these little monsters who bite like hell! There are lots of deers on the Saint-Lawrence islands so there are also a lot of these pests who can really ruin your day!
peste by Michel Boulet, sur Flickr

It gets a lot better in August. I only got bitten once yesterday!