Messages

I am reaching out to C34IA members who are not members of Fleet 12 to invite you to be part of what I hope to be the largest gathering of C34 owners on the Chesapeake Bay.

Fleet 12 will sponsor an informal C34 Rendezvous June 25th, on the lawn, at Hartge Yacht  Harbor in Galesville, MD on the West River starting at 2:00pm.  There will be no charge for  this event.  The event will be held rain or shine so if it is blowing "stink" there is plenty of parking.  If coming by boat, see slip reservation information below.  There are  places to anchor and if you don't have a dink, someone will have one to ferry you ashore.
The program will be round tables on technical issues hosted by Ron Hill, on cruising hosted by Phyllis Hill and Susan Recla and any other topics you want to address.  We will provide light refreshments.  Please R.S.V. P. to Dave and Janet Ewing at 443-994-8131 or email  cherette9@aol.com.

I want to publish a directory of C-34 boats on the Bay.If you want to be included you  can send your personal and boat information to Hank Recla at hjrecla@comcast.net.  Please  include name, address, phone contact, email address, boat name and hull number and marina. It will be in spreadsheet form so it  can be sorted.

We have members who have lived aboard , been down the ICW. and have done the Delmarva loop and I hope they will attend and share their experiences.  There are projects to share, and stories to tell, not too tall I hope,  We will have a table for a nautical flea market. So mark your calender and help make this a success.

New members are the life blood of any organization and Fleet 12 is not exception. Our dues are $20.00 and can be sent to Susan Recla, 13006 Emmet Court, Woodbridge, VA 22192.
Please include the following information.
Name
Address
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Email address
Boat Name and Hull number
Marina location

You will receive a membership list and notices of events.
Jim Brener
brenerj@cox.net@cox.net

Fleet 12 will  attempt to compile a directory of all the C-34 owners on the Chesapeake Bay.  If you are a member of the C34IA we have your basic information as provided by Stu Jackson and will make an effort to contact you.   We do not have email addresses or other information we would like to include in the directory.  It will be very helpful, if you wish to be included in the directory to send me the following information.
Name
Address
Home Phone
Cell Phone
Email address
Boat Name and Hull Number
Marina location

I will post Fleet 12 membership information in the Fleet 12 Forum on this site. As I said in a mailing to our members, our boats are no longer being made and if you want to sell your boat, having an active Fleet 12 should  be meaningful to a new owner knowing that there is a local support and social network of experienced C-34 owners.

Jim Brener
Fleet Captain
brenerj@cox.net

I am the newly installed Fleet Captain for Fleet 12 and would like to talk to you about the Fleet and its up coming activities.  As Ron Hill said, I can be reached at brenerj@cox.net or by cell 703-856-6149.

Jim Brener
s/v Wind Spirit #504

Ron, the holes are through the hard white gel coat but not down to the lead.  May have been there before but why would they show up now, after all these years.  Looks like a giant barnicle was pried off but I have not seen any that large. No harm done, just a mystery.

When the boat was hauled this year I found over a dozen quarter to 50 cent holes on the keel, more on the port side than starboard, that went through the gelcoat to the epoxy/fiber lay up. In the 9 years we have has the boat, we have never had blisters and these did not look like a blister.  I have no idea what caused them.  Being short of time on the hard, I filled them with Marine Tex and see if that holds until the next haul out. 

Any thoughts on what could cause these holes?

If you are in or near the Washington-Baltimore Metro area, Precision Plastics, 6405-A Ammendale Road, Beltsville, MD 20705  301-937-1317 can cut these strips.  They are cutting a fixed port for me, beveled edge and all.  Will pick it up tomorrow.  They found a piece to use that avoided my purchasing a full size sheet. Cost $120.00.  The cost of 2- 1" x 60" white Lexan is $25.00.  An email contact is  greg@precisionplastics.com.  I found other sources in the Norfolk, VA area.

Thanks to all who took the time to reply.  JSI in Florida does the newer boats that are made in Florida. The patterns for a 1987 boat are in CA. We sent our old covers to Catalina who honored our quote given that there has been a price increase. Ordered Ultra Leather, hope we will be happy with the choice of color.  Short lead time, under 3 weeks.

We have to replace all our interior cushions, why, is a subject for another day.  I will be interested in any experience with Catalina's Ultra Leather fabric, durability, ease of cleaning, stain resistance, repair etc.
that you would like to share.  The good, bad and the ugly will be appreciated.

A bit off the subject. I don't have a windless and retrieve the anchor and rode by hand.  So many times I have seen others risk injury by using their arms and back to muscle it up.  What works for me is to squat down like sitting down in a chair, butt back, and knees not forward of your toes, then stand up, using the large muscles of the leg, when almost upright, move hands to a new position, squat down and repeat until the anchor is seated. I always use gloves when deploying the anchor and retrieval.

A fitness instructor or book will give you suggestions on how to strengthen your leg muscles. Don't do this against medical advise.  An added benefit, working the large muscles burns calories.

Back on the subject, I pull the line and chain until I can't, lock the chain around the cleat, motor forward until the boat surges forward, then pull the rest of the way. Now the sticky, thick, Chesapeake mud is another issue.

I am in the finishing phase of single line reefing.  To get the best reef, the sail should lay on the boom which means removing the sail stop. How has anyone closed the slot so the sail lugs do not fall out.  In my old C-22 I screwed a strip of aluminum to the mast but now looking for a better way or some existing part but have not found it yet.  Any suggestions out there.

If there are any pack rats that have parts for an Autohelm 3000 that they wish to part with,  I need the foot lever that tightens the belt to the drive.  The mfg. does not have any parts for this unit.  If you can help, please reply via email to brenerjm@cox.net or to this message or via cell phone to 703-856-6149.

I posted this on the  "looking for parts" section but this may get read by more members.

Thank you
Jim Brener
Wind Spirit #504

MY engine was rebuilt 4 years and 300 hours ago and about a year or so thereafter I noticed white to slightly blue/gray smoke.  I see it most  the time and  I  motor at just round 7 kn at 2500 rpm on the gauge and a clean bottom,  top rpm is 2700 and I usually back off from that. Engine sounds fine, a least to me. In light of past posting, does this sound like an injector problem? With the wind off the stern, exhaust odor is noticed at the wheel.  I replace the injectors about a year before the rebuilt and suspect that the shop did not mess with the injectors as they were concentrating  on the main problem.

Any suggestions?

For those of you who go on the cheap and use a blue tarp, 15x20, as I have for many years, here are some suggestions.  Buy a roll of 5" wide stretch film, I think Home Depot sell them, or Uline or contact me.  Cut a length of heavy PVC pipe to go from the split in the back stay to  several feet past the end of boom. Place the pipe up against the V and use the stretch film to secure it around the back stay.  On the boom, wrap the film around the boom and the pipe stretching the film as you wrap.  The pole will stay secure all winter. I fit a tarp over the boom, cut a hole for the topping lift reinforce with duct tape and use line and water bottles, 3/4 full of water,  hung under the life lines and over the side,  to hold the cover as tight as possible and line to lace the tarp at the stern. I use the tarp grommets where possible and plastic tarp clamps.  I have done this when the boat is stored in the water and on land. One has to check over the winter as things happen and need to be repaired but I don't get rain,snow,ice or leaves in the cock pit which is the main concern and the area aft of the mast remains dry.  I have tried to protect the bow forward of the mast with limited success. A tarp will usually last 2 years depending on how hard the winter is.  If I had a new or newer boat I would consider the investment in a cover. It must work as one year I found 4 duck eggs nested among the main sheet.

I installed a new C-100 Cold Machine and the noise level was high enough to disrupt sleep.  Added some thick closed foam strips under the base of the unit before screwing it down and that took care of the problem. Still have a problem with the +/- wires pulling out from the terminal strip on the control module, just wrote to A/B for advise. Can not locate a set screw.