Hi all,
I spent the week before the 4th in St. Petersburg, FL, took the Seawitch and my
daughter and 3 grandkids for a vacation and to get in some sailing. Typical of FL at
this time of year, it was hot, humid and we experienced daily thunder and rain storms.
And as usual, we had our little adventures, aka learning opportunities. With the
winds being light and usually dying by mid day, we started our days with a sail.
Winds usually south west at about 5k. This was good, as the location of the marina
where I had the boat was on the west side of tampa bay, and that allowed us to get a
nice sail once away from the headlands. Having learned from previous experience to
fill the gas tank on the motor before leaving the dock, that has become routine. So,
when the winds died, and we were motoring back I was somewhat suprised when the motor
died but no problem, I had the oil and a funnel aboard. And with the water flat, and
another adult on board to keep us heading in the right direction, I
managed to fill the oil. Got the engine started again, and moving along nicely when
it started to smoke and quit. Now we're in the channel with the marina in sight but
no wind, and the tide is pushing us towards the rocks on the side of the channel.
Kids are miserable and we are baking. So, I did the unthinkable and called for a tow.
Thanks to a membership in BoatUS, that did not cost me an arm and a leg but it did
cause me major embarassment. Next day, after leaving the motor sit overnight and
calling around to see if we could get it serviced on short notice and talking to
service guys, we went out and after a lot of attempts were finally able to get it
started and ran it for over an hour. Yes, I had overfilled the oil, and with the way
the guage is on the Honda, it is very difficult to read the level, expecially in
bright light and with old eyes. One of the marina live aboards stopped by to comment
on the unheard of towing in of a sailboat, and our oil stream in the water.
Very demoralizing. However, he later came by asking to take my little M15 for a
sail, so of course I took him out. He was a past sailing instructor, and lives on a
40 foot boat. So for him this was a different and fun sail. What I learned from this
experience I pass on to any other Honda 4stroke owners. Since the motor only holds 8
oz. of oil, and the difficulty of filling it in the water, I went out to a store that
sells beauty supplies to hair salons and purchased these little plastic bottles which
have funnel shaped tops with snap on lids they hold 4oz. and will eliminate the need
for carrying a funnell and for carrying the oil container. I am sure that one would
rarely ever need to put in a full 8 oz. so with these small containers, maybe I would
not overfill again.
I also, learned that I don't want to sail in FL in the summer again, and if I did, I
would find a launch ramp which would give closer access to the Gulf side which is
where we found the winds to be better. We did have some good experiences in that
dolphins played around the boat on several occasions, the kids loved that. The marina
we had the boat in has a nice pool where the kids could swim while I tinkered with the
boat. All great learning experiences.
Time for a cool change!
Sandra(Seawitch #617)
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