SPOT Messenger on Prairie Gold

You can now follow the tracks of Prairie Gold online due to the acquisition of the SPOT messenger system. Dan bought this for Phil on his birthday. By following this link you will connect to the Prairie Gold SPOT website where you can check in to see where Prairie Gold is located as well as follow her sailing tracks.

First Sail of the Season (leg 1)

Today was the long awaited day to put sails on and bring Prairie Gold to her summer home back in Constitution Marina. We had seen that there were low winds of 5-7kts predicted, which would make adding sails in the marina an easy job. By the time Yolande and I finished putting sails on, winds were gusting to 25kts off the beam. As you can imagine this made life a little difficult. Also, low tide was at 11:05am and in Marina Bay, we had only inches to spare so we went to Capn Fishbones for a leisurely brunch. By the time we returned to Prairie Gold we decided it would be difficult to navigate slowly through the marina with the cross winds (especially since some reversing was needed) so we waited to a couple of hours. Eventually the wind died to 11 kts gusting to 20, so we decided to disembark. This had given several hours for the tide to come in and for there to be some depth going through the narrow channel, which at one point is reported to be 4ft at low tide. As we approached Spectacle island we decided to check if the sails were attached properly. We had a great sail back around to Constitution Marina. We saw only two other sailboats the whole time leading to the feeling that we had the harbor to ourselves.

New Cup Holder installed

Rachel and Julia purchased a new cup holder for Prairie Gold because I keep spilling drinks. Set up beautifully and need to get the wine bottles on board.

Test of Bilge Pump

We turned on the hose pipe at full force directly into the bilge to test the system. Not a problem. The new modifications passed with flying colors.

Moving in line Check-Valve in Bilge Pump

In our catalina 350 mkII an in line check valve was installed at the outlet of the bilge pump. We have had problems with the pump being able to pump bilge water out of the boat. After reading several articles and talking to the local distributor we decided to move the check valve to a different location in the bilge system. We chose to move it to close to the output of the bilge, which we accessed at the starboard stern of the boat (above) Installation of the check valve was simple (black component in the white tube and now the system works flawlessly (fingers crossed).

In-line check valve

Barbeque installed

A few steps closer to sailing

This afternoon we added the barbecue, life sling, overboard pole, and the Bimini. Winds were over 20kts so sails are still in their bags. Engine ran on first attempt. The re-commissioning list is getting smaller. It looks like a beautiful day in the picture, but images can be deceiving. with a strong crosswind and temperature of only 40F it was mighty chilly out on the deck.

Boat on the water at marina bay

Boat is in the water!

Just got the call from Marina Bay, Quincy, that they put Prairie Gold on to the water today. Must visit tonight and will provide pictures. Until later

Prairie Gold is Ready for a new season

The ablatives bottom paint has been added and she looks good. It is interesting to compare this rudder picture to the picture we posted on November 7th 2010 - before and after.
with today's work Prairie gold is now ready to go in the water. Today's tasks involved waxing the starboard hull, checking through hulls are closed, all tubes are reconnected to through hulls as well as checking radar and other instruments. Last year our water temperature measurement was getting high. Today it read 60C. Something needs to be fixed. Otherwise all is well.

Keel

ablative paint

Dan taking the boat cover off

bottom paint application

Hull Bottom Paint is completed

This year we did a total bottom clean/scrape and full paint job