Back on the Move, First Sail of 2024 - Episode 312 - Acorn to Arabella: Journey of a Wooden Boat
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- Опубликовано: 23 май 2024
- Steve and Robin only have 4 days before Arabella needs to leave Harwich Port. Meanwhile, there’s some spring cleaning that needs to be done. Winter clothes, boots, fenders, and some dock lines are removed from the boat to be stored until next winter.
This will be Arabella’s first sail of 2024. The plan is to move the boat to Mattapoisett. On day 1, the boat will sail to Cuttyhunk Island. On day 2, Arabella will sail to Buzzards Bay before reaching Mattapoisett, which is where the on-the-water journey began. It’s crazy to think that it’s almost been a year since Arabella launched.
The boat has been prepped for sailing-unhooked from shore power, systems fired up, and dock lines untied. Everything was good to go…or so they thought.
Around 6pm, when turning the engine back on to motor into the marina, the oil pressure light came on. Just before reaching the buoy of Cuttyhunk’s channel, the engine went dead. Fortunately, the wind was blowing toward the boat and away from the shallows, and luckily, the engine died just before entering the channel. And even more luckily, the tie-downs on the anchor chains were freed before taking off in case they needed to be deployed due to an emergency.
The crew decided to hook up outside the channel in water deep enough for everyone to feel safe. Unfortunately, that was the end of sailing for the day.
Luckily, everyone is okay, but time will tell if any permanent damage was done to the engine.
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Acorn to Arabella started as a wooden boat building project in Granby, Massachusetts. Steve began the journey as an amateur wooden boat builder crafting a 38' wooden sailboat in his backyard: designer William Atkin's Ingrid with a Stormy Petrel's gaff rig. These videos follow the journey from tree felling, to lumber milling, to lofting, to the lead keel pour and now sailing the boat-sharing details of the woodworking, carpentry, metal smithing, tool building, and tool maintenance that traditional wooden boats command. This ultimate DIY project continues beyond the boat shop, as Steve and crew travel and learn to cruise aboard the handmade wooden boat that they've built. Just kidding about all that, this channel is about a Siberian Laika named Akiva.
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The answer to these kinds of problems is checklists. Have them for basic operations (starting the engine, leaving port, winterizing, power change over,... ), but also common emergency conditions (loss of engine power, fire, taking on water, ...). Get them laminated, ring clip the pages together, store it on a line in the cockpit and another below deck.
I very much agree with laminated check lists... and grease pen... old sailor here.
I agree did you not have any spare oil? SoP's and check lists are essential. Humans are fallible..... The sea is a formidable foe, underestimate her at your peril. Pre start checks.... Shut down checks.... Break downs etc fire drills these are all super important and should be a part of your routine X safe travels guys love watching you
@@paulmcmanus6222SOPs are good until it’s an emergency and you don’t have time to find and read them. Some stuff you just have to know.
I spent many years in the Coast Guard as an engineer. It's watch stander checks. It's not like your Honda one can ignore. Can't be complacent on the wet stuff. It does get boring as hell to do it all day, every day. But i've caught everything from turbo oil fires, to cracked exhaust leaking CO into the boat. Ever vigilant. Even the time I yelled at the Skipper and told him we were dead out of fuel. "No we aren't." 100' feet from the dock both mains died and we hit a parked car on the pier. All 400 tons of us. Classic.
Air pilots do this including where to land if emergency after takeoff, emergency enroute and emergency before landing.
Captain Casey, the tow boat captain is a class act. One of the best!
Lovely to see the face of the man who has for years created the peaceful, joyful, melancholy (like life) tone and feel of these wonderful videos. Glad you didn't leave it on the cutting room floor, Ben.
Camera work was awesome in this episode! All the little details add a lot of visual to the narration. Good job Ben
I also liked the tone of his voice and style of narration. You notice that Ben knows what he does....
When you hoist a gaff sail, you should keep the gaff parallel to the deck. When the throat halliard is fully hoisted and sweated, make it fast and hoist the peak halliard all the way up. It is a lot easier that way and you adjust the sail shape with the peak. Congrats on the first sail of the season.
North up on the plotter, it's a navigation chart plotter, not a car turn by turn instructions screen. Try navigating at night and/or fog by the plotter with heading up and you'll likely end up doing circles if you aren't paying close attention to your compass.
On the same theme, always set your instruments to magnetic so they match your compass, that way you never have the confusion of what actual heading does 145° mean, all your instruments will agree what 145° is
I've been boating for 30+ years, it comes with time and experience, you're doing well just keep learning from the experiences and as others commented, a checklist is a great place to start. One thing I never do is leave the dock without having stowed all lines and fenders, except the last ones in use, and they get stowed immediately. The less clutter on the deck and the better organized and clean the stowing, the better you're going to be prepared for emergencies.
Glad to hear you were back in Mattapoisett for a visit and nice surprise to see my boat on your video at Ed’s yard. Safe travels and fair winds
Ben, your editing and storytelling was on point today. I felt like I was there sailing with you, Steve and Robin. And Akiva of course.
Who is Ben?
Hey crew...way to keep your cool 🌄 This was a sweet sail other then the caught hook..you two built your winged home beautifully..& made so many gorgeous build videos..I recall one of the earliest with our skipper up a tree..gracefully as a gusty wind falling a tree...if my memory serves me correctly..in a climbers harness, pale- skinny, exuding a beautiful degree of confidence.. You made it..your out there..happy as a fledgling dropping frim its twigged nest❤
That comment that the earth is round is going to trigger some Flerfs. Love it!
Shhhhhhhhhh.
Just remember, the FES have chapters, around the globe!
It triggered me, the earth isn't flat it's almost spherical
Nathan Oakley will not be happy... Good! 😆
Without a physical checklist I can always be assured that I will forget at least one thing that needs to be done.
I can't believe it's been almost 1 year since you were here in Mattapoisett launching Arabella !!! Now THAT was a fun Saturday...I had such a blast in the T-shirt tent. The christening and launch was the culmination of so many years of work on land. It was undoubtedly a "dream come true" for Steve & Robin--HAPPY ANNIVERSARY !!
Ben - your filming/editing was at Hollywood level. EXCELLENT story telling (often without narration)! Thank you for your talents. PS - I hope the engine is OK.
Finally what we've all been waiting for, Arabella walking on the sea on her own sail power!!
Thank you for the begining of sailing season. Fingers crossed the engine
The fact that Steve was mentally prepared to drop the anchor at the first sign of trouble tells me that nothing too terrible is likely to happen to this boat. Readiness to anchor has got to be the most often-overlooked yet safety critical decision you can make. So many boats are lost because the captain tries to fix a control/power failure near shore instead of immediately dropping the hook.
I'm so happy to hear you didn't lose your anchor (speaking as someone who has had to let one go)! I can only imagine the stress at the moment. It is a tough moment, but then it passes. The good thing is that no one was hurt or in danger, and the likelihood of a repeat of the same mistake goes down to just about nil.
Rediviva had to do it last year sometime and OUCH! was that expensive in their case!!!
We've all been there done that.
A picture of Ben at the tiller with the red nun over his shoulder would look nice on his desk.
No, I've NEVER been towed in before. Said no honest boat owner ever. Yes, I've seen the tow boat towed in before as well. It happens to us all. Hopefully we learn from it and our equipment is okay. Glad y'all were safe. 💯🙏🏻Arabella sure is beautiful.
Nice! You just dealt with what presented and learned from it!!! I love sailing and having done it with a Husky know what you’re dealing with and your humility is humbling! Bravo great start to the season!
Only the start of many emergencies issues to come.
That's kinda the nature of the beast... and remaining calm and solving problems is the key. Stephen's pretty good at that. I won't kick him while he's down. I know what it's like to have to care for a critically ill mom who has cancer. I'd pull this kinda move had I been in this spot. As someone else said, checklists are critical to avoid human error with oversight.
Frankly…you ain’t seen nothing yet. Bluewater sailing requires experience you don’t yet have. Please take your time and enjoy coastal boating as long as possible.
Thank you for all the hard work in making these excellent videos.
One idea that worked for us is to have a pre departure check list. Its so easy to forget something especially if it's the first time back on the boat. Good luck, you'll both get there!
These videos are a gift
I'm glad to see you elected to remain safe at anchor rather than risk trying to sail that narrow passage. Live to fight another day, and learn from experiences. Here's hoping the oil issue is a simple fix.
a tripping line on the anchor would have helped.
Daily engine check: WOBBLES:
Water
Oil
Belts
Bilges (look for leaks)
Exhaust (cooling water)
Smoke (clean exhaust)
I am glad you got to see cuttyhunk; it is a small harbor that i have visited many times. It is just right for a boat like Arabella! I am glad to see you under saila gain! TM long time sailor.
I expected Ben to be tied to the mast yelling " I'm sailing!"
Well, occurred, but this part he edited out!
Edit: ;)) hehehe
Hey Steve, this is what makes boating less of a pastime and more an adventure!
Arabella under sail, that's a nice sight to see! Hopefully, the low oil cutoff stopped the engine before damage was done (its exact job), and just needs to be reset... A cliffhanger for us!
The stack pacs are looking so good, and I love their origin!
Steve, may I strongly suggest that you move your new engine start switch to a weather-protected location. Where it sits now is only a matter of time before the salt water intrudes sufficiently to either keep you from starting the engine, or even worse, energizing the starter when you least expect it. I have personally witnessed both cases. We are keeping our fingers crossed that your engine is not harmed. If it is set up to stop the engine due to overheated coolant or low oil pressure, disable these circuits. A loud alarm is all you really need to protect your engine. You have just learned the hard way what a sudden engine stoppage can do to you. You were lucky this time. Accept this advice from a world circumnavigator 1997-2012. SY Cormorant Corbin 39.
Wow, a nautical emergency. Those can be scary. You guys did well.
Great video story telling, Ben. And great music!
You could make a good living diving for anchors among the boulders off the Elizabeths. Glad you got it back.
Yea and maybe it had snagged on another anchor.
Congrats on starting the season. And glad that there appears to have been no physical damage or injury involved. Btw, Ben really knows how to tell a compelling story!
I purchased a new Kubota tractor mower about 3 years ago which has the Kubota diesel. The engine oil has been changed during regular maintenance otherwise no oil has been added and the oil level has remained on the full mark. Your new engine should not have used enough oil that the light came on and you had low pressure. Hopefully your engine has a low pressure switch to prevent damage, regardless the engine is using a significant and unacceptable amount of oil.
This was a beautiful video. Well done.
There was no oil pressure or temperature alarm? The oil pressure alarm is what is beeping when it starts.
Just keep sailing, just keep sailing... 🎶
I have watched every episode and I have to say that Arabella is a beautiful creation
Good morning, 'bella fam! Happy Friday! ☕
Good morning Akiva 🐺 and Crew 😸😺
Thank goodness anchor came up !!
And the hard lesson on the value of an official full pre-trip checklist is learned. Glad you were all okay and didn’t have a rough night!
💙 enjoyed the extra scenes of "nearer the water" views. 💙
Pushing off. Towed to mooring ball. All safe. Lessons learned. Departure checklist and getting reacquainted with boatlife.
Another very strong line is used for pulling electrical conductors in underground conduits
Noticeable difference in Photography style. Nice one Ben.
Every step is a learning step, better to happen now than far away from help......
Well Ben, you got a little extra on your first sail. Thanks for the great video's
Always up for more than I bargained for!
great videos
Yo, Steve. I'm a landlubber, but I've been tracking with you since before you poured the keel. Could you have imagined ten or twelve years ago that this is what you'd be up to today? Good on you and Robin! And thanks, Ben, for the great videography! Cheers!
Greetings, Happy Friday and A2A day. From Plymouth UK
Welcome back! Safe travels!
Great episode, guys. Might I suggest contacting Kevin from How To Sail Oceans for advice on getting into port without a motor? He sails a gaff cutter all over the place with no engine. Short tacks down narrow channels.
IIRC Cutty hunk channel entrance cannot be entered from the vineyard side if you have to tack at all, it's barely 40ft wide and the current is often ripping 2-3kts. It's a motor only cut. If you're going to try sailing in, it's only accessible on the north side of the island
@fpnbrian fair point. Never been there. It'd probably be like trying to tack into Rock Harbor in Orleans. My first boat is the rotten tahiti ketch I'm restoring and documenting on this channel
Kevin definitely has the engineless sailing figured out.
For a moment there I feared the worst, luckily it turned out fine, happy sailing, all problems can be overcome.
@ 6:01 That's not an annoying beeping sound! That's Kiva! He's a husky! That's what they do! But seriously. Thanks for the videos, as always.
Yes you had a problem Steve .But you made the right call waiting for Morning ...you did not make a drama out of a crisis by doing it at night !!!! so all is well that ends well !!!!!!
You opted to BUILD A FRICKIN' BOAT and go learn sailing afterward, which is epic. This is the learning part, which you will conquer splendidly (and which hopefully lasts a lifetime).
I was surprised how much weathering some of the wood has already taken on. Overall she’s holding up well.
Sorry about the mishap with the engine. I hope you get it sorted without too much hassle and cost. Love following your build and progress so far.
Beautiful videography!
Hope you kept SOME dock lines
Happy Pizza and old war movie Friday ! Think I will see Master & Commander with Russel Crowe !! That is in honor of wooden sailing vessels !!
Another great episode. Loved the shot of Arabella with a bone in her teeth. Champaign sailing, that.
I noticed a dock line hanging into the water off the bow @13:38 which makes me wonder if the engine problem is a dock line fouled prop.
Robin sure looked cold when she was helming. The jacket she was wearing looked like it would be very warm if it was dry but appeared to be completely soaked. Does she have a set of foul weather gear? Being in the Pacific Northwest, I was once told, "There is no such thing as bad sailing weather, just inappropriate sailing clothing".
To be fair, that's a new engine and it should not be losing ANY oil, The manufacture dropped that ball on that one.
Yo are making sweeping assumptions.
I'd far sooner suspect the installation, as I recall the oil filter was relocated with rubber hose and clamps, that's the first place I would look. Could also be a false alarm, dead/damaged sensor or whatever, I didn't hear it rattle.
It's actually a quite old engine that was refurbished and modified to fit Arabella.
The manufacturer
Happy Friday from Normandy, Fra(waiting for lunch as usual....) cheers...rr
It's cool to see you guys in this learning process. Make a check list to follow before sailing out of dock?
Good Morning neighbors, from Barnstable MA.
I'm glad that all worked out. I assume you have BoatUS Unlimited towing. What a great thing that is. I can't possibly say if I've used it myself (cough). Initially I was like " What the heck(word substitution ), why not go through Woods Hole, it's 25 mile less?". But, that's no place for engine failure. No, not at all !! So I suppose Cutty Hunk was a fortunate call indeed. But Hadley's is a great spot to drop the hook. Great episode, and awesome to see Ben.
What a wonderful video! I loved the close-up views of parts of the boat, people's facial expressions, the water against the hull, etc. And you let the camera linger a bit on each view. It's what I might have experienced if I had been aboard. I tend to look at things longer and feel the motion of the boat.
Somehow this video really helped me feel what it would be like to be on the boat. I find that's not the case with many boating videos. I could try to analyze it, but I'll just credit the videographer!
Great video
Steve, dock lines are the last thing you take off the boat. When you need them, you NEED them.
Yup. I was second engineer on a 500 ton sailing vessel and we had a check list of at least 15 things before engine start.
We got a new chief engineer who saw me for the first time starting up and bollocked me for having to look at the list as the orher chiefs did. Well a couple of weeks later, I was heading down to the engine room after the chief had started up a few hours previous and noticed the transmission lube pump was not on! When he came down, I rubbed in why we used a check list and this was a senior engineer with a lifetime on the sea.....
If you caught it quick, the engine should be ok. I was on my friends' Catalina when the coolant hose rubbed a hole in the oil filter. I was at the helm and noticed the oil light start flickering, then come on, go off, come back on over the course of about thirty seconds. I closed the throttle to idle and had my friend check the engine. Oil everywhere! I immediately shut the engine off. I'm an engineer, so i went down to engine compartment while my friends took over navigation and hoisted the sail. Took me half an hour to find the pin hole leak in the filter. Luckily, they kept a spare filter and oil onboard. Changed the filter, refilled the oil, and duct tape around the coolant hose so it didn't happen again. We motored back to the dock with nothing worse than bad words from a couple of fishing boats that had to give way when the sails went up.
Marine diesels in sail boats aren't race motors. As long as you didn't try to run it after noticing it didn't have oil, it should be ok. But it's a good idea to stash spare filters, oil, and coolant aboard just in case.
If you make it to England I'd be happy to show you around the solent and the south west, you might have to put in a reef or two, I'm not sure my floating caravan could keep up.
I have a club of people who have done some dumb stuff on their boats and lived to tell the tale. At this point you still can’t join, so be thankful;). Nobody even got hurt so how bad can it be?
Steve, Good to see you wearing your PFD, Robin and Akiva should be as well ! Self-Inflating PFD's do not qualify as a required life-jacket under CG Regs. unless they are worn !
I think it came on after engine was running.
Thank God for oil pressure (or level)switches! I think they would have heard it if they ruined the engine.
I hope the engine will be easy to fix.
Hopefully, just tripped on limit switch and didn't seize. Great job keeping off the rocks
Happy Friday everyone....
👋
What a shame that happened, the engine problem I mean. I put a brand new Nanni diesel in the 9.5 metere yacht I built and it didn't use any oil at all, as I expected. Maybe the engine shut down because of another fault? Good luck in finding the reason and I hope ii is easy to resolve. Cheers Ian
I saw nothing wrong.
Have been sailing for 44 years and always made sure everybody was save and no damage to persons or the boat was done. Cheers to you!
We all forget things once in a while and mostly (or only) when we have guests on board. This breaks routine.
I would, however smart ass this may sound, clear the deck and all loose lines asap when leaving the box.
Don't tempt lines to take on your prop.
To clear the deck is clearing your mind imho.
Don't take it so hard on yourself Steve. Let go. You got nothing to prove unless it's to yourself. Laughing at our mistakes ( you made none) brightens the day.
You made a wise decision staying out on anchor and the anchor came up on the deck clean in the end.
I applaud this young skipper!
A little excitement to start the Memorial Day Weekend. Hope there’s no damage to the engine. Still a little confused on what the missed moment was on the departure. Have a great weekend and stay safe!
Gotta learn to check the oil every time.
That’s why airplane pilots use a check list before takeoff and another before landing.
Make a check list!!
No oil pressure and the engine stalls, there is going to be serious damages. Engine out and full rebuild kind of damages. Hopefully there was some kind of sensor error and failsafe shutdown.
@@AcornToArabellaI went back and watched the departure and now I get it. Someone already asked where did the oil go? I guess that’s going to be explained in a future episode. Hopefully that engine did have some kind of protection. Even an oil light. Just changed the oil in my car this week at the normal interval at 100,000+ miles, I’m not going to say the make and model because even the Auto parts guys are aware of it reputation for burning 1qt per 1000 miles. It must really burn it on the second half of the interval because I keep an eye on it and fed it a qt about halfway through to bring it up to full. I was thinking the advice of using a heavy oil might have made a difference. Not so much, 6 qt capacity and only drained 2qts. Never saw an oil light. The auto parts guy’s say this car dies after reaching warranty mileage limit.
@@AcornToArabella .........G'day
Absolutely! It's the "LIFE BLOOD".
Cheers, stay safe and God bless,
Malcolm.
Steve and Robin, it's just sailing. These things happen to anybody who actually takes the boat out of the slip, the key is how you react to the situation at hand. I do recall an anchor raising tip from an old sailor, take up on the slack you can get and just tie it off there. Sit back and have a cuppa and check the anchor in 30 minutes. Most time the miracle of wind, water, and wave action slowly works the anchor loose with anybody breaking their back. Fair winds...... Jeff and Julie s/v OoLaLa Westsail32 hull#81
Am I correct in assuming that you're running the main gaff a tad slack? I'm wondering why the main has a very loose section running from the mast/gaff connection down to the boom. Happy sailing. She's quite a beauty.
"A ship or boat in port is safe....but that's not what ships and boats are for!" DD
You feared to run aground and Tally Ho did it 😄😄
Save Buzzards! 😮
Bom dia. Eu vi fazer este barco do começo ser feito. Parabéns. Ficou top...
Steve, I have a few thoughts for you on boat handling. Keeping in mind I have been sailing full time for 8 years now.
When coming on and off the dock, I never jump from the boat to the dock, and I never let my crew do it either, I have seen several people go in the water doing this, I am familiar with a couple of fatalities that have happened in doing so.
When you are ready to leave what I do is run a spring line from an amidships cleat aft looped around a cleat, put the engine in forward and tug against that line, then I lock the helm with a bit of rudder pushing the nose of the boat to the dock.
I will step off, untie the lines throw them aboard and secure them, and then get my boat hook, then I put the boat in reverse for a couple seconds to slack the spring line, pick it up off the cleat with a boat hook, then I am on my way.
I will wait till I clear the break water to pull my fenders in.
The same operation applies in reverse when coming back into the dock, this time you have your fenders out, catch the cleat with the spring line using the boat hook, then pull against the spring line to hold the boat against the dock using the rudder to make her line up parallel to the dock.
Once you master this technique it makes docking easy!
The other thought I have is you might consider mounting your refrigerator on some drawer slides, I know McMaster has some that are 1000lbs+ rated at full extension which would be more than enough to move the fridge forward ~ 30-36" to make servicing your motor much easier.
Food for thought anyways.
Also, I have a policy that before I move my boat on any voyage, I have a route pre-planned you can do this in open CPN and send it to your chart plotter, I always have that up and running and active before even starting the engine. Especially when coming in and out of places like that where you have a tight channel, that plotter is going to be your friend giving you very clear indication where you are at.
Stay awesome! Hope everything is ok with the engine!
I'd like to say at least you didn't run into a bridge! I also remember this saying which might not fit the situation but...."Don't you feel silly? Don't you feel small? Never mind, doesn't matter. Happens to us all." I guess the more modern is Stuff Happens.
Fingers crossed the diesel is ok
Steve, you taught us all how to build a beautiful boat. Now you need to have someone teach you Seamanship. This is not a criticism of you. It's my humble opinion. I'm a Master Mariner with 45 years experience.
Remember if you put your mooring lin on top of your pins a wave can jump it of if you want to put a eye splice over your Sampson post one side at a time always have a mooring line underneath your pins that way it can't hop off
Oh for sure. This was just getting attached. I put the camera down and helped steve get the mooring shackle on there too.
A stroke of bad luck, but you handled it just right and all is well.
great camera work.