SO WHAT DID YOU DO WITH OR ON YOUR C-DORY TODAY??

Very nice salmon- sushi?

Washed the boat, re-routed some hydraulic lines, tightened the thru-hull fitting for the raw-water washdown. Been noticing some water in the cockpit, may have to remove the thru-hull and apply some new sealant.
 
Flapbreaker, CatyMae n Steve,

Beautiful fish! Does that mean I need to trailer down to Oregon to catch me a salmon? For the last couple of months, the fishing in the Puget Sound has sucked!

Peter
 
C-dancer,

I believe you might just have to chase the salmon down here. Actually by my account the fishing was really slow for the amount of boats. I feel very fortunate to have caught just the one but at least I was rewarded for my patience with a beauty.

I really wanted to fish the ocean this year for Salmon but it was nasty all summer with just a few spot day's here and there. As beautiful as the bay was there were 14 foot swells just across the bar. :disgust Needless to say we stayed in the bay.
 
Can't get enough of Apalachicola. Cathy and I went back down to visit our boat (getting a new top on). All the way down was in and out of bad weather. We got there about 4:30 Friday evening. Marc from Wefings (where we purchased our boat) had already put it in a slip for us. We quickly loaded up the boat with our weekend supplies with plans of going to our favorite seafood place for supper before the rain caught up to us again. We didn't quite make it. The clouds opened up and wind started blowing. We should have known something was up when all the old timers were gone from the marina. It was a ghost town! Then Marc called and told us a tornado had touched down on the west side of town and we should come to his home until the storm was over. We enjoyed Marc, Anita and the dog Sug's company and had a great meal. The power was off so Marc cooked on his new Cobb grill. We had seafood sausage. You will have to get the exact recipe from Marc but I know it had fresh shrimp, scallops, yukon gold potatoes, olive oil, dill all ground and packed in casings with tender love and care by Byrdman under Marcs supervision. ( Byrdman if you didn't get any it was goooood)! While eating we listened to the radio and found out that some sections of town had a few alterations to the scenery. Some close to but not at the marina. About 9 the storm seemed over and Cathy and I returned to spend the night on the boat. The power was still off and stayed off for about 36 hours. Gotta love those Honda Gens! We just watched late night TV and passed out being rocked by the wind.
Saturday was still very windy and being a rookie I felt better to leave the boat and see the sites. I think in this case I was lucky and made a smart choice instead of just being a chicken. We went to the neighboring town of Carrabelle and St. George Island.
Sunday was beautiful. We went to East Point for breakfast because I thought all the local restaurants that were out of power may not have much to serve. Then back to the boat and out on the river. Sunshine and great cruising the rest of the day. On the way back in we saw Anita, Marc and Sug beached and fishing. We joined them for a small chat then back to the marina. I put the boat in the slip the first time! No bumper boats or testing the bumper guard on big ugly posts with nails hanging off. I thought for sure since I was on the water instead of church on Sunday two weeks in a row the God of boat docking was going to get me bad.
Still have a few problems with the top but, that gave me an excuse to leave the boat, go back again and enjoy that beautiful part of the country. And that's what Cathy and I did on our C-Dory. :thup
 
flapbreaker":2h4b3lzk said:
C-dancer,

I believe you might just have to chase the salmon down here. Actually by my account the fishing was really slow for the amount of boats. I feel very fortunate to have caught just the one but at least I was rewarded for my patience with a beauty.

I really wanted to fish the ocean this year for Salmon but it was nasty all summer with just a few spot day's here and there. As beautiful as the bay was there were 14 foot swells just across the bar. :disgust Needless to say we stayed in the bay.

There were hardly any other boats fishing Saturday and Sunday on Yaquina River....I think everyone's given up and stayed home because the fishing has been so lousy...we too were fortunate to have gotten a couple of fish -- didn't see any other boats with any action at all...strange year fishing, that's for sure!
 
Drilled my first holes in the new C-Dory. It came with a rather odd
antenna that points off to starboard. Also, someone cut the cable off
at 2-3', which I understand isn't a good idea. Anyhow, bought a nice
Digital 8' whip; mounting it with starboard blocks on top and bottom
to give it some backing. The small one you can see in my album was
causing spidercracks. Also, moved it so hopefully I can raise and
lower without having to go outside.

Mike
 
We spent the weekend on Lake Martin...as usual. :lol:

Tried our hands at fishing here for the first time. Sure is different than Alaska. The gear is so darn small...hard for my bifocals to see that little snap swivel. Anyway, here's Donna's first Alabama bass...and the first fish ever brought onboard since we owned the boat. Team McKenzie has to thank our sponsor Wefing's Marine for the quality apparel. Kept us warm throughout the weekend. "Wefings...serving the marine line since 1909!" :lol:

Donna_s_first_bass_4.jpg

It was also a test for sleeping in the cooler temps of the fall. We had a fair amount of condensation in the berth and cabin come morning. Low of 45 during the night, but we were comfy in our nest. We didn't use a heater this time out. Looking into that spray on insulation that some of you folks have tried.

Overall, a great time...except for the fact that Donna's bass was bigger than mine! :oops:

Florida and grouper, dorado and other big stuff...here we come...
 
416rigby, how is your suspension modification with the Supersprings working out? If you were to do it again would you go the same route?
My wife is talking about dragging the boat long distances so I'm doing homework on airbags, springs , weight distributing hitches ect.
 
We got back Monday evening from three days of poking around with Wild Blue; out in the Gulf, the ICW, and some river cruising. Just over 120 miles, about 30 gallons of fuel. The evenings here have cooled off enough to make for comfortable sleeping aboard. One night we anchored in about 3' in a backwater off the Arroyo Colorado, and woke up the next morning to a first for us... the braying of three donkeys. (Proof for the Blonde that I am not the only jackass around here 8) ) We spent another night in Port Mansfield; I used to call it the last "undiscovered" waterfront property on the Gulf Coast. No longer; since we were here a couple years ago, the quiet little fishing village has filled with condos and townhouses on the water. Progress. And something I've never seen around here: a sign in the harbor proclaiming a manatee zone... maybe it's just a way to get folks to slow down?

On the leg home, we came up against 30 mph winds right on the nose. The Laguna Madre can build up fast; we had 3-5' close waves that were breaking. We had to slow down, but we were dry and comfortable. The cat slept through all but the roughest stuff, when she hopped out of the v-berth, hollered at me on the way, and laid on the floor under the dinette. The normally pretty water was a nasty greenish-brown...

1162437291.jpg


Today was uncommonly calm here (we are one of the top 10 wind surfing areas in the country). We took Wild Blue into some shallows in the Laguna and gave her bottom a good scrubbin'.

1162434812.jpg


Then across the beautiful turquoise water of the bay and into the blue of the Gulf. Imagine 2' swells with a long period... this kind of motion is heavenly!

Here's a shot coming back in from the Gulf...

1162438145.jpg


We watched the dolphins play and the pelicans dive. Saw some Coast Guard gents putting up a daymark and cleaning the solar panel on another (it isn't all chasing bad guys). And then a sign that we see everyday as we come into our canal:

1162438031.jpg


The literal translation is: don't make waves. Not a bad philosophy.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
Oops...

I figured you probably saw our post before we left Alaska that we had to replace my 4Runner and get a new truck...long story...so it turned out we have never used the supersprings. After trailering the boat from Nevada to Alabama and to Florida for the Gulf Gathering and every weekend to Lake Martin, I would hesitate to tow the boat with the Jimmy unless I absolutely had to, like if the F-250 broke down and we had to get the boat home somehow. I just think that it is too much boat for that size vehicle.

I think the springs will certainly help, and the ride when not loaded down is no different than before.

Rick
 
Oops! I wuz diggin' thru the archives when your post about the auxillary springs came up. I didn't realize you had changed tow rigs.

Carry on...
 
JamesTXSD":3398kmme said:
and woke up the next morning to a first for us... the braying of three donkeys.
Jim - Terri and I got a couple of young miniature Sardinian Donkeys about a month ago. She likes the braying sound of the donkey but as of today not a peep out of either of them. The male is the one that generally does the braying.

We have one male and one female. I think Black Jack our male is too much in love with Dolly the female to be interested in anything else. They are separated now.

Terri did not want a baby donkey in the winter but did not think anything would happen with them being together one night. I did not have separate pens when we first brought them home. The next morning when she went up to the barn, she caught them together.
 
oldgrowth":kkg6cnq4 said:
Terri did not want a baby donkey in the winter but did not think anything would happen with them being together one night. I did not have separate pens when we first brought them home. The next morning when she went up to the barn, she caught them together.[/color][/b]

Boys will be boys, and girls will be girls, and together they shall go forth and make.........................................................donkeys!

Congratulations!

When's the blessed event expected?

Will Grandma and Grampa carry photo albums?

You WILL be expected to post photos here, of course!

Hope the seasonal difficulties aren't too great for you or them.

Joe.
 
Goodness, Dave, that's like having teenagers around the house! OK, except the donkeys probably aren't as messy. I've not thought of myself as a city-boy, but apparently the place we were anchored near didn't have any roosters, so the donkeys handled the "sunrise duty." :wink: That's part of the fun of this cruising around stuff: always something new. Molly the cat was facinated by the sound of those critters and kept a close watch on them.

With your male and female donkeys, are you and Terri considering an ARK with your 16???

Best wishes,
JIm & Joan
 
JamesTXSD":1r9i402j said:
- - - but apparently the place we were anchored near didn't have any roosters, so the donkeys handled the "sunrise duty." :wink:
Maybe that is our problem. The donkey pen is next to the chicken pen and we have an old rooster that is always crowing.

JamesTXSD":1r9i402j said:
- - - With your male and female donkeys, are you and Terri considering an ARK with your 16???
I think that will have to wait until we get the 22 footer.
 
Well, I had so much fun on the Apalachicola Fl. C Dory Cruise two weeks ago, I repeated it this last week. This weekend was the Sea Food Festivle.. But I went down with two trawlers, which gave me a chance to see what the fuel consumption of the Tom Cat 255 was at 7.5 to 8 knots--almost exactly the same as going at 24 knots! I went down (about 220 miles from my house) in 3 days, and came home in a little over 8 hours.
I found I had to drop to less than 6 knots to get much better economy.

We anchored by a wild life refuge building--which had a dock and launching ramp, for the dinghies. Marie drove down, so we had a car to get into town. There were over 100 Sea Rays--and one Tom Cat 255!
Fortunately I could outrun the Sea Rays going home--and didn't get "waked" as I did going down with the trawlers!

The highlight of Saturday was the "Parade"--Wefing's Marine (C Dory dealer) was in the first 1/4 of the parade with a truck towing a boat--not a C Dory. One of our party was a retired librarian--she claimed it was the only parade she had seen with two book mobiles in it! Every Police, Fire and other agency for 3 counties, along with little miss XXXX infant, child all of the way up to the third runner up in the high school prom--was on a car or truck!

There was a carnival with all of the rides, crafts--and most important--the Sea Food: First Church of Christ raw oysters (Marie and I comsumed at least 4 dozen of these), Catholic Gumbo, Babist Boiled shrimp etc, Methodist Grouper and chips! Of course, Wefing's had a display of boats--mostly cameo tin boats for fall hunters.. plus A C Dory 16 and 22. I had thought that perhaps they would have had the C Ranger 25 or a Tom Cat..but no. Actually it was a lot of fun and another excuse to run the ICW and enjoy our Tom Cat!
 
It was a full moon tonight... and a perfect opportunity to do a sunset cruise, watch the dolphins play, and hang out long enough to watch the full moon rise. Gorgeous! Fired up the radar and made our way down the ship channel, through the turning basin, and into the canal to our dock. A beautiful evening, still 75º when we got back around 8:00 or so.

Other than one crew boat heading out into the Gulf, we had the water to ourselves after dark. The E-80 screen on night mode, the radio silent, and the lights of our small town reflecting on the water along with the moon. A great night to be onboard.

Best wishes,
Jim B.
 
That sounds neat, Jim. Especially the 75º part.

It isn't cold here, but it has been raining and blowing for three days. I just went down and checked on the boat and all is well. Sure glad I got the cabin leak fixed a couple years back. It's completely dry inside. What I have to keep an eye on are the deck drains. They exit below the water line, having hoses from the thru-hulls up to grates in the floor. The grates can get plugged easily - especially with whatever junk may wash off the crabpots sitting in the back. If the drains plug, then the rainwater gets into the hatches and the auto bilge pump is the last saving grace. I prefer to keep the drains open.

Sure glad I don't have to try and park the thing tonight. Blowing miserably.
 
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