Anyone close to splash?

[Quantico Frank]

Glad your battery "sailed" through the Winter Frank.

I'm learning more about LiFePo batteries all the time, some of which I wish I would have known before I bought one such as different BMS (Battery Management System) capabilities. Some have a cold weather cutoff and even warming pads to aid in cold weather performance.

For example, LiFePo batteries can't charge when it's below freezing and it can damage them if you try. So some batteries have warmers that will let you do it, or will just shut off charging to prevent damage.

Mine does neither and for the most part that's not an issue. Only now when I've got it mounted in the boat and the solar panel is hooked up for more testing. It may not drop below freezing again until Fall but there's a chance it might in the next couple of weeks, so I'll have to keep an eye on it.

That's very useful info on cold's effect on the LiFePo batteries, Tom, thanks for sharing that. We had a warm winter here which may have contributed to my happy battery this Spring. The LiFePo4 is so light that it won't be a problem to pull it out in the Fall, and I may do that this year.

My happy report on "Spirit's" bottom doesn't look as happy now that the water has dried, so I will be towing it to the bottom painters this morning.

[tjspiel]

How do you get to/from your boat when its out on a bouy?

Most people will grab one of the two "tenders" (row boats) at the dock, row out to their boat, then either tow the tender or tow their boat back to the dock. Some will rig their boats at the mooring and tow the tender under sail back to the dock.

Since there are only two you can't just leave them at the mooring.

I take an inflatable kayak down the lake and usually leave it at the mooring. Sometimes I'll drag it around the lake with me if we're going to anchor and someone wants to paddle around on it.

It takes less than 10 minutes to inflate, so not a big deal but I've been toying with the idea of getting a canoe/kayak trailer for my bike so I can bring a regular kayak down there and skip the inflating part.

I've swam out to the mooring a few times pulling a dry bag and other people do it regularly.

[tjspiel]

Great to hear that Frank, given your past battery headaches.

Good luck in the draw Tom!

Edit: Tom, do they leave the buoy anchors on the bottom all year, and just remove the buoys for the Winter? If so, do they have to dive on each one to attach the buoy pendants?

Minneapolis does it a little differently from what Dan described. The mooring balls are removed for winter but everything else stays in the water. They run cables through the tops of the chains as they are removing the balls and the ends of the cables are left on or near shore.

In the spring they use the cables to pull the chains to the surface to re-attach the balls.

I don't know how many cables they use but they string one cable through multiple mooring chains. It could be 3 cables or a bunch of them.

[tjspiel]

Great to hear that Frank, given your past battery headaches.

Good luck in the draw Tom!

Edit: Tom, do they leave the buoy anchors on the bottom all year, and just remove the buoys for the Winter? If so, do they have to dive on each one to attach the buoy pendants?

Minneapolis does it a little differently from what Dan described. The mooring balls are removed for winter but everything else stays at the bottom of the lake. They run cables through the tops of the chains as they are removing the balls and the ends of the cables are left on or near shore.

In the spring they use the cables to pull the chains to the surface to re-attach the balls.

I don't know how many cables they use but they string one cable through multiple mooring chains. It could be 3 cables total or a bunch of them. I imagine that really long cables would be tough to deal with.

[tjspiel]

Great to hear that Frank, given your past battery headaches.

Good luck in the draw Tom!

Edit: Tom, do they leave the buoy anchors on the bottom all year, and just remove the buoys for the Winter? If so, do they have to dive on each one to attach the buoy pendants?

Minneapolis does it a little differently from what Dan described. The mooring balls are removed for winter but everything else stays at the bottom of the lake. They run cables through the tops of the chains as they are removing the balls and the ends of the cables are left on or near shore.

In the spring they use the cables to pull the chains to the surface to re-attach the balls.

That's how a friend who watched the process explained it to me.

I don't know how many cables they use but they string one cable through multiple mooring chains. It could be 3 cables total or a bunch of them. I imagine that really long cables would be tough to deal with.

They have a specialized flat bottom boat they use for this. I have seen that in action. Invariably they end up moving some moorings in the Spring to keep the spacing right. I don't know if the moorings get pulled or drift out of position or what happens.  But this boat has a winch on it that's strong enough to pull the moorings up so that they can be moved.

Dan, is your mooring locked in every year until such time you decide you don't want it?

[Riggerdood]

Interesting how they do (maybe have to do?) things differently in different places. For instance, the cable method works for a lake with the moorings relatively close to shore, but probably isn't feasible for an open bay?

[Ida Lewis]

The buoys on Mascoma Lake in Enfield, NH are expected to be set early or mid-May. Splash soon after. The "draw" does not seem to be public or transparent, so I just have to wait 'n see.
The sailing club has rowing dinghies for getting to and fro; members including buoy lessees are given the combination to a cable lock and a locker for the oars to use them. Low tech but seemingly effective.

[talbot]

Launched yesterday. All went well, except that I decided to forego the anti-sway rig, 'cuz it wasn't windy, and, you know, what could possibly go wrong? So now I have a modern expressionist sculpture instead of a mast step. But  it adds character, I suppose.

[Riggerdood]

I live in a glass house, so no stones will be coming from here! The second time I went to raise the mast after installing the single rigid baby stay, I neglected to connect it at the top before raising. The mast came off the aft mast support and immediately started swaying off to port. Luckily, the stbd upper caught on the mast support roller axle bolt, and stopped the masthead from going through the windshield of my neighbor's car! Lesson learned: add that step to the checklist ...

[tjspiel]

Launched yesterday. All went well, except that I decided to forego the anti-sway rig, 'cuz it wasn't windy, and, you know, what could possibly go wrong? So now I have a modern expressionist sculpture instead of a mast step. But  it adds character, I suppose.

There are worse things than unintentional art. Glad you're in !

[tjspiel]

The buoys on Mascoma Lake in Enfield, NH are expected to be set early or mid-May. Splash soon after. The "draw" does not seem to be public or transparent, so I just have to wait 'n see.
The sailing club has rowing dinghies for getting to and fro; members including buoy lessees are given the combination to a cable lock and a locker for the oars to use them. Low tech but seemingly effective.

Good luck in the draw !

Our tenders our also locked to the dock and we are given a key along with a numbered sticker to put on the boat that corresponds to our buoy number.

[talbot]

So I'm "in," technically, but then I got slammed at work, and have not been out to the boat since I created my metal sculpture from the mast step. I have never before lost a whole month of sailing because of work. Does this mean I'm growing up?

[tjspiel]

So I'm "in," technically, but then I got slammed at work, and have not been out to the boat since I created my metal sculpture from the mast step. I have never before lost a whole month of sailing because of work. Does this mean I'm growing up?

It means you haven't grown up enough to retire yet.

I'm shooting for Friday to get my boat in but have a few things to finish and the weather isn't cooperating. So it may be Sunday.