Leaving Lake Powell...

[tuxonpup]

We're finally moving the Millennium Guppy closer to home! I worked a half day on Monday and headed up to Lake Powell circa lunch time with both of us off for the rest of the week. We got in close to sunset and spent the first night at the Wahweap resort, then picked up the boat from storage the next morning and dropped the mast before towing it into town to finish refurbishing the brakes. We dry camped on the Guppy that night after the work was done and the next morning headed South towards Lake Pleasant...

[Russ]

Thanks for sharing.

Those houseboats are gigantic! I've seen brochures and they are floating apartments.

Replacing that tow bar was a wise move. It's a common failure point and when it fails it's catastrophic.

Does the new marina have slips available? it looks pretty large.

[tuxonpup]

Thanks for sharing.

Those houseboats are gigantic! I've seen brochures and they are floating apartments.

Replacing that tow bar was a wise move. It's a common failure point and when it fails it's catastrophic.

Does the new marina have slips available? it looks pretty large.

Yep, you can get a 30' wet slip for $412 a month, or a little more than that at the next marina over Scorpion Bay. We're paying $118 a month for the self launch dry storage, and you can reserve a wet slip for $50 per day on a week's notice, which we'll probably do when having family/friends up for an outing. It was $50 a month cheaper up at Lake Powell, but we were never gonna have family/friends be able to pop up for a day out on the water. We'll see how many days we get under 100 degrees to make it worthwhile, but right now the water is freezing so hot days are a no go.

[tuxonpup]

Well, my theater season wrapped last Sunday and all three days of Memorial Day weekend were free so we finally made it back up to Lake Pleasant. I contacted the local sailing school there a month ago about having the annual maintenance done on my Nissan two stroke, as they are a Tohatsu dealer, and after a couple check-ins over the weeks, he called on Friday to say she’s done. New impeller, plugs, oil and lower leg lube.
We got here around 1:30pm and started unpacking the mast from its tow position, re-attaching the furler and setting up the gin pole. It was over 90 degrees and I was taking repeated breaks in the truck’s AC while drinking chilled Mucho Mangos out of the 12V cooler. We started cranking the mast up and I was thinking I must be really spent as this winch is tough to crank, Vicky looked at the rig and said it looks like it’s bending. I climbed up and looked up the mast and yikes, there was a serious bend starboard at the top of the mast where it hangs off the stern. Following the rigging, the backstay cable had caught on the opposite winch and was holding the top of the mast to the starboard side as we cranked up the base. Lowered it back down and it thankfully straightened back out, aluminum is bendy!
We then switched to a combination of manual lift and cranking the winch to hold it in increments so I could check everything was free and got it vertical quickly. Vicky went around to pull the furler to pin it and we were a bit short, as usual. I leaned into the mast but was still two inches shy. Took a bit to try to remember how I solved this in the past, then finally disconnected the gin pole from the jib halyard, raised it up two feet, took out the slack and reconnected it. Then cranked the rig forward until she could slide the pin in, aluminum is bendy!
We got her down the ramp finally in the late afternoon and the motor started on the second crank, which has literally never happened before. I called Victor at the sailing school to let him know and he directed me to the fuel dock just past the house boat he lives on and we gave each other a wave as we cruised by.
We then motored out of the marina and I went up on deck to
attach the boom, thread the sail slides and untangle the furler lines. Yelling back at Vicky to keep the boat in irons wasn’t stopping the occasional wake waves from long off jet skis, but we eventually got the main up and the genoa unfurled to start moving 2-3 knots. As we approached Scorpion Bay Marina, the sun got low and the breeze picked up. Vicky steered as I ran the sheets and we headed for the coves past the marina to find some shelter from the open water to spend the night. We were heeling 15-20 degrees at points and some of our hastily stowed equipment was noisily tumbling into the aisle so as we approached the first no wake zone cove, we doused the sails and motored along the shore slowly. The first cove had steep walls but the second had a few soft landing spots sheltered behind islands from the main lake and we grounded on the most navigable one after a couple tries.
We lounged in the cockpit as darkness fell and while looking up I noticed the scenery rotating. We were not grounded apparently, as our bow was now facing the lake and we were drifting into the open cove. Okay, tried dropping the anchor a few times but felt like I was just dragging sand stone as nothing caught. Was pretty sure I could make out where we had initially grounded and headed back towards that spot. The bow came to rest a bit deeper than before, so I went down the bow ladder and found we had grounded on the port side shallows, so I carried the anchor to a soft spot off the starboard and ran the line back to the rear cleat to keep us from wandering.
It was dead calm when we laid down in the V-berth under the propped hatch, but as the night wore on some gusty winds kicked up and I had to go topside to secure the sail cover to make sure we didn’t do any unintentional night sailing. She was stuck well in place, even with us having to close the hatch to quiet it enough to sleep.
I was up at 5:30am per usual to watch the sunrise from the cockpit. We had gotten the Bimini screwed on the evening before, so I opened it as the sun crept up and installed the two 130w flex panels in their Velcro fasteners and ran the lines down to the MPPT controller to start recharging what we used in the night for the fridge and lights. Then I connected the propane line to the stove top and unpacked the French press. I’m typing this on my phone as I start on my second latte of the morning, sitting under the Bimini watching the third kayak group of the morning paddle by. I think it’s time for a morning dip off the back of the boat, perhaps that’ll rouse my snoozing shipmate, not likely if the smell of the coffee didn’t!

[NiceAft]

Nicely written. A good morning read. Thanks.

[dlandersson]

One of the best feelings ever.

I was up at 5:30am per usual to watch the sunrise from the cockpit.

[Russ]

Following the rigging, the backstay cable had caught on the opposite winch and was holding the top of the mast to the starboard side as we cranked up the base. Lowered it back down and it thankfully straightened back out, aluminum is bendy!

Wow, you "typed" all that on your phone. Impressive.

MANY times my rigging gets caught while raising the mast. Often the forestay/side stay shackle gets twisted and the forestay will be an inch too short to pin. Other times the sides get twisted. As you learned, it requires going slow to ensure rigging isn't tangled.


YES, aluminum is bendy. One year a snow/ice load on the cover pushed my mast down to the deck in a U shape. The middle was pressed down to the deck. I was freaking out when I saw it, thinking "a new mast is going to be spendy".

As soon as the snow load was removed, it bounced right back into shape. I was so relieved as I'm sure you were.

[OverEasy]

Hi Tuxonpup!

Sound like you’re off to a great start!
Nice write-up and photo!
Enjoy!

Best Regards,
Over Easy