The First Steps To the Water

As spring approached, I faced the task of christening the boat that I had decided to name "Solar Wind". The closest real lake was more than two hours away while the Mississippi River was 45 minutes from home. A slip in a marina on the Mississippi River seemed the logical choice as a starting point for this venture. While this would be an odd shaped body of water for a sailing venue (1/4 to 1 mile wide and 2400 miles long), it would have to do.

I had kept the boat at a local storage lot for the winter. This left me the option of removing some of the larger teak parts and refinishing them in the basement at home. The companion way hatch board and bowsprit were treated in this manner. A strong brushing with a 50/50 mixture of bleach removed the majority of the dirt and mold residue. Extensive sanding finished the preparation work. Three coats of CETOL Marine provided the required protection for the first season. I prefer a gloss finish to the teak so the project required an additional two coats of CETOL Gloss. Since each coat required 24 hours to dry, this took up some significant time.

The last large piece of wood on the boat was the outboard motor bracket. The existing bracket was beyond redemption. Therefore I built one from two pieces of ¾ inch plywood. This bracket was two times the width of the previous one since I wanted to allow for the installation of two electric motors side by side. Again, three coats of CETOL Marine and two coats of CETOL Gloss completed the work.

Depth Finder

Sailing on the Mississippi would have some unique challenges. One would be the absence of updated charts in a region where the water depth is always changing. With the river being always muddy (Ever since the days of Mark Twain, the Mississippi River water has been described as being too thick to drink and too thin to plow) running aground would be a real problem.

This necessitated the installation of a depth finder. Since "sailing type" depth finders are generally expensive and not too practical on a small boat, I have installed a Humminbird Wide One Hundred Fish Finder. This unit is available for just less than  100 dollars and the standard "Transom Mount" transducer can be glued to the inside of the hull with epoxy.  Using this technique, no holes are required in the hull.   While the best location for this transducer would be in the pocket under the V-Berth, another position would be glued to the bottom of the Bilge.

An entry level fish finder of this type will give the water depth below the transducer but does not allow for the calibration of an offset.  In other words, you cannot set the "zero point" to be equivalent to the water surface or better yet, the bottom of your keel.  If the depth reads 3 feet, you will need to calculate that the transducer is 1 foot below the water line and your draft is two feet so that in reality, you have 2 feet of water below the keel.

A depth gauge is most useful in avoiding a grounding, and in determining the amount of anchor rode to deploy for the proper scope.  The model I chose will display depths from 2 feet to 600 feet in fresh water which more than covers the range of interest for me.  The model is also equipped with a bottom alarm which will sound a signal when entering shallow water.  This will be helpful in normal sailing as well as anchoring situations.  Since the unit draws about 0.25 amps, the power requirement is more than compensated for by the information generated.

The other advantage of a fish finder is that it will display an image of the bottom contour for a significant period of time.  You don't have to keep remembering what the last reading of your depth gauge was.  You can see the graph of depth versus time directly on the small screen.

After using this model for a few days, I did object slightly to the fact that it will reset to it's defaults every time you turn the unit on.  This means that the bottom alarm would be deactivated and reset to 15 feet.  While this makes me take the time to reactivate the bottom alarm and reset the alarm point  to a more reasonable 6 feet, I feel that it was still the correct choice.  One of these days, I may actually try to see if all of those fish that are being reported are really there.

Launch Day

On "Launch Day", the temperature was in the mid 60s with a 5 to 10 knot breeze out of the north. Not a bad start for a new venture. I had still not completed the mast re-wiring and planned to do this work on the water. Backing down the ramp was easier than I had thought - especially with the guidance from my wife as lookout. Once the stern hit the water, I could push the boat free of the trailer. Bow and Stern lines then pulled the boat to the dock so that I could mount the trolling motor.

When the moment of truth arrived, I cast off from the dock and turned the motor to it's slowest speed. We then started a stately turn around the ramp area and out to the main part of the marina. The motor was so quiet that my wife thought we were being pushed by the wind. She couldn't hear the motor till I turned the speed up to the third position. This was enough to move us at slow walk speed while only generating a very faint humming sound. Turning the speed to full, moved the boat at a speed equivalent to a comfortable stroll which I estimated to be at about 3 knots with just a minor increase in the motor sound. In any event, it seemed a perfect speed for in harbor use. Turning the corner at the harbor's edge brought us into about a 10 knot breeze straight on the bow which had no impact on boat speed.

My goal of about three knots boat speed in no wind seems to have been achieved. Solar Wind had survived her first sea trial.

The First Two Weeks

After the launch and brief trip through the marina, I secured Solar Wind to her new slip with new 3/8 inch three strand nylon dock lines fore and aft.  I also added an aft spring line to limit the bow's forward movement toward the dock.  I had purchased two fenders and resolved to add a third since the two did not really seem sufficient.

Unfortunately, that was the last I was able to do with the boat for almost two weeks.  Mother Nature and Old Man River  combined with storms and flooding to prevent further access to Solar Wind.  The only road between myself and the marina spent the period submerged under one or two feet of flood water.  I was able to get to the boat for two days during a brief respite in the flood; then the river reclaimed the road for another four days.

The Shakedown Cruises

The first two cruises were uneventful.  I went out under electric motor power each time with light breezes and raised the jib and main just inside the lee of a rock wall jetty by the marina.  These trips were just of one or two hours duration in order to get the feel of the conditions.

The third trip was scheduled to be more ambitious.  I went out under jib alone and planned to test raising sail combinations on the water singlehanded.  I wanted to see what I would need to do with the tiller during these maneuvers.   The current was due south and the wind was about 5 to 10 knots with gusts to 15 knots from the northwest.  However, I had failed to realize that the three foot drop in the river level during the previous two days had significantly increased the current.

I went out  (after being warned by another sailor that the current was too strong for a trolling motor) and turned north raising the working jib in the calm of the marina outlet.  I then sailed in place for the next hour gaining ground during the gusts and falling back during the lulls.  I had drifted about 1/4 mile off shore during this time period and so decided to raise the main.  However, no matter what I did, I could not get the boat to head into the wind.  The current was just too swift - the boat would immediately turn around and go south.  The electric motor at top speed could not keep the boat heading west across the current and into the wind long enough to raise the main.

After trying this several times, I found myself about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile downstream of the marina and at the edge of the main channel (about 1/3 of a mile off shore) where the water goes from 20 feet deep to 40 feet deep.  Along with the increased depth, there was a further  increase in the current, a large number of whirlpools and large eddy currents.  This was not a good situation since I still only had the working jib up and the current was significantly stronger.

While I could have turned downstream and then used the electric motor and jib to move into shallower and calmer waters, I ended up waiting for a lull in the wind and then quickly raised the main (reefed).  This was enough to get me back moving north again.  I ended up taking more than an hour to sail back to the marina and then motoring in again - dropping the sails at the marina mouth in the lee of a rock wall jetty.  Needless to say, I learned a lesson or two.

Now, l'll try to find an outboard of about 3.5 to 5 HP.  I'll still use the electric whenever possible, I just want the security of a little more power when Old Man River or Mother Nature decide to teach another lesson.

Under Power

Having purchased a Mercury 4 Horsepower motor and ordered it with a 6 inch pitch propeller (rather than the standard 7 inch pitch), I started on another shakedown cruise.  This time, I needed to go out for at least one hour in order to complete the manufacturer's break in period recommendations.  Since the day was completely calm with just a slight breeze, it would be a perfect test.  The motor handled very well as I continuously varied the speed from idle to about 3/4 full throttle for the first hour.  After a total of 75 minutes under power, I found myself about 4.5 miles up river and time to turn around.  The return trip was at a reasonably steady 1/4 to 1/2 throttle and was completed in 40 minutes.

During the trip, I intentionally went through another section of river where the depth changes rapidly due to an underwater wing dam by a power generation installation.  Here there were also some significant eddy currents and smaller whirlpools as the depth changed from 20 feet to almost 50 feet and then back again.   While I had to pay more attention to the tiller in this area, the motor took the challenge in stride.

The next "power cruise" was required to determine fuel consumption rates for this motor.  I needed to know just how long my fuel supply would last using at least two power settings.  The first experiment was to run up river at about 1/4 throttle.  Since I was going against a strong current, I would make little progress over the ground during this trial but I could really determine the fuel consumption.  I ran at this setting for two hours and it looked like I had only consumed 2/3 of the 2.6 quarts contained in the onboard fuel tank.  This translates to a consumption rate of about one gallon of fuel every 6 hours.

For the higher throttle position test, I refilled the onboard tank and set the speed to about 1/2 throttle.  I then continued up river making good progress against the current for another 30 minutes and then turned around and went all the way back down the river to my home marina.  The higher speed portion of this test took exactly one hour and consumed most of the onboard tank contents for an estimated   consumption rate of one gallon every two hours.

I now have two small gas containers on board - each with a capacity of just over two gallons.  In addition to the 1/2 gallon in the motor's own tank, this gives me a significant range under power if this becomes a requirement.

This page was last updated:  09/14/00 05:11:34 PM