Hop-O-Nose to Gravesend Bay

 WELL, we're just about ready to jump around NJ in the Atlantic again.  We pulled the hook this morning in Haverstraw Bay (first days journey south), and motor-sailed in 15 to 22 knots of wind from the West down the Hudson to NYC. 
We're currently (Friday night) anchored in Gravesend Bay.  Ususally, Susan and I go on South to Atlantic Highlands, but this year, being so late in leaving for warmer climates... we're going to blow right out and around to Delaware Bay...
It's an overnight sail to Cape May, and hopefully we'll catch the flood tide up the Delaware.  

One interesting thing happened today...we lost the Autopilot for a while....
Turns out that the pump got 'air bound'....and needed hydraulic oil from a reservoir....  which I quickly fabricated while under way....   So with that in place and Susan at the helm we did a series of port-starboard turns to purge the air out of the pump, and hydraulic ram.   Seems OK now...
GOOD... because I'm looking forward to using it tomorrow on the boring trip down the NJ coast.
:)

Shoving off for the South - Winter 2010-2011

We're finally clear to shove off for the South.  Date of collecting the dock lines = 10/20/2010.
That should be easy to remember.
The Honda Element is back in WNY, thanks to Ed Speidel who rode out here on the AmTrak, and drove it "home" for the winter.  
The White Honda (the 2004) is now back in Albany with Ruth, and James, and that makes us "boat people" with no "wheels" again.
SO............ with it getting colder each and every day we stay here.....  YEP... time to GO !!!

Plans this year.... WELL ?????   First South to warmth.... then we'll decide what areas to cruise, or in which to anchor...

New AutoPilot system

It's been an uphill journey, but the new Raymarine AutoPilot system is nearly installed.
The Autumn Borne has a chain and cable steering system, but was fitted with a hydraulic linear ram, and pump system by Cetrek when we purchaced her.  Unfortunately, this system was flawed to begin with, as half of the helm display had been damaged by water intrusion.  So...as long as you "remembered" your keystrokes, you could use it to maintain a heading...  but after two years the rudder sensor broke, and the unit lost it's mind...(turning full to port, and popping the breaker).  No parts available any more... 

Anyway... we researched autopilots, and decided to go with the manufacturer we had on our Bayfield (Raymarine).  We ordered the X-30 corepack (very smart system !!), the ST6002 helm display (because it fits perfectly in the old Cetrek coaming opening), and the Type 2 hydraulic pump (with the intention of using it to power our existing hydraulic ram). 

We followed all the electronic checklists on the Raymarine site, and ordered what we thought were all the parts we'd need.  WRONG!!!  Until the pump actually showed up here at the marina, no one ever mentioned the required solenoid controlled bypass valve.   Intuitively, I sort of "knew" it had to be in the circuit, but IF no-one ever mentioned it... well maybe you could spin the pump backward when hand steering...  
The answer is  NOPE... without the bypass valve... the helm is LOCKED UP tight as a drum... when the air is bled out of the ram.

Installing the new gear required some planning to fit into the existing space, and not interfere with the movement of the ram, as the rudder quadrant moves.  I chose to reuse the two existing hydraulic hoses, from the ram to the new solenoid, because they're truly weird sizes (could be metric, but we could not duplicate them at Piping Plus (here in Catskill, NY).   We did purchase three new hoses (one extra) to go from the pump to solenoid controlled bypass valve.  We "lucked out" by having the correct number and sized wires already in place from the old Cetrek system... so all we had to do was 'extend' them to the new X-30 corepack location at the Nav Station (x-30 has to be installed vertically).

Fabricating two aluminum mounting plates allowed us to mount all the gear in accessible, and functional locations.  I'm now waiting for the Adapters (brass fittings) that Raymarine forgot to ship with the bypass valve.  [Both the Type 2 pump, and the by-pass valve are machined with British Standard Pipe (BSP) threads and are not compatible with the 'same size' National Pipe Threads (NPT)].  The last photo shows the system complete, with the container of hydraulic fluid for bleeding air from the ram, and pump.  The container is now gone, and the needle valve closed.  So far so good.  Now we need some sea-room for the seatrials, and associated calibration moves.   Yeah !!!

Storm at Catskill NY - Dock Collapse

It was a scary time, last Thursday.  The previous two days we watched a huge storm come up the east coast of the U.S.   We watched the radar, and weather carefully and thought that the main rain fall was passing safely to the west of us....  Well that part was correct, but unfortunately the rain was falling in the watershed area of Catskill Creek (where we're secured to the docks at Hop-O-Nose Marina).

There's a series of photos below... more or less in order...(at least that's the plan), showing Thursday from beginning (Dawn) to the end...(afternoon)...

We awoke, at dawn,to find the creek being very high, muddy, and fast flowing.  OH OH...it's happening...The same thing happened last year, but with no damage.
We started to disconnect TV cables, water lines, and power (anything that connected us to the dock that couldn't be easily cut or untied.
By 0800 the debris in creek was unbelievable... whole trees with root balls, and leaves were floating down, as well as all the dead trees.  The first boat to float by, and out to the Hudson was a pontoon boat, then a kayak (upside down - we hoped no one was aboard), then a canoe (just the bow visable)...
By 0820 Sean came by and advised us to vacate the boat... as the docks were beginning to compress, and take an accordian bellows shape, making walking dangerous.
At 0830 two sections of dock broke loose, and carried three power boats, and a small sailing vessel out to the Hudson River. 
Things stabilized for a short while, then while we were warming up, and having coffee in the Creekside Restaurant...and looking out toward the creek... People started yelling "there she goes".... and we watched (not being able to do anything about it)...all the boats upstream of the Autumn Borne, and a Power Boat called "Ti amo" slowly moved with the collapsing main dock, downstream... The cables, and deadmen to the shore held, but let the docks swing toward the shore as they ripped the wood out of the dock section corners...allowing them to stack line playing cards, (all at scary angles).  The access walkways were pushed high into the air or submerged in the creek flow, making access to the remaining docks impossible, or very dangerous. 
Fortunately for us, the Autumn Borne was on a straight section of face dock with no finger piers, and we were parallel to the creek flow... 
The power boat "Ti Amo" deflected most of the surface debris... and the dock on which it was secured held fast (thanks to angle bracing at the corners, and one very strong cable to the shore).
The Canadian transient boat "Walk-about" had the good sense to bring not only their passports ashore, but also a case of beer.  So, with nothing else we could do about our vessels... we sat in lawn chairs, had "breakfast beers", and watched the show in front of us... 
Just before the main dock collapse two sections of the main dock left with two more power boats attached...
Sean, and Mike Schmidt chased them down in an open john boat, and anchored them in the Hudson River... for later retrieval.  Nice Work !!!!

 the very next day, nearly all of the boaters, here at Hop-O-Nose, plus the workers for Sean pitched in and had the damaged docks removed, scavanged other docks from the north end, patched in the missing sections, and basically returned the docks to a functional system.  There's limited electrical service, no TV cable, and no water on the docks now...  but everyone that wanted to stay in the water... is still here, and secure.  Unbelievable effort on everyone's part.  

We have not been able to check underneath the AB, but believe we have suffered no damage.  Line chafe is about the extent of the above waterline damage...

We couldn't get to the AB on Thursday night, so Sean (Owner of Hop-O-Nose) offered his apartment at the marina to us, and the couple from the S/V La Vita (Kat, and Paul).   As nerve wracking a day as it was, the evening with Paul and Kat was a nice ending.  Good conversations, with a little wine helped us wind down a bit, before trying to sleep.