I went out to the boat a couple weeks ago. The weather seemed perfect….at least while I was on the drive out there. It was sunny and a couple of clouds with about 7 mph wind.
Shortly after I arrived at the marina, though, a calmness took over and no wind graced the area at all!
I decided to just run the new motor for a bit to work on the break-in period. According to the Tohatsu user’s manual, the first 10 minutes of run-time should be at idle speed, then up to 2 hours it should not exceed 1/2 throttle. From 2 to 3 hours it calls for no more than 3/4 throttle, then after 3 hours it can be used as desired.
So I started the motor, and immediately felt the relief of having a reliable motor. I already had a half hour on the motor, so I let it warm up for a few minutes, then put it in forward gear while at the slip and eased the throttle up to about 1/4 throttle. I let it “test the dock lines” for a about 15 minutes, then did the same thing in reverse gear.
While all this was happening, I decided to do some cleaning up in the cabin and was buzzed several times by a mud dauber wasp. Although these wasps look VERY menacing, I know from experience they’re not aggressive at all and usually won’t bother me, I didn’t want it on the boat. At one point, I finally found where it was actively building a nest. I waited until it flew back outside to [presumably] get more dirt for it’s nest, then I took the nest and fed it to the fish. It returned a few minutes later and wasn’t able to locate the nest, so thankfully it flew away.
Karma enjoyed hanging out in the cockpit while I was working inside. Several ducks came up to the stern, hoping for a treat that I didn’t have. But I did snap a pretty good photo of Karma posing with the ducks!
Finally, the wind picked up a little, so I prepared everything for sailing and left the harbor. Once I got out in the open, I raised the sails and got about 3 minutes of wind before it stopped completely. The lake was like glass. Hardly a ripple. I decided since I was out already, I might as well do some more break-in of the motor. I motored around for a while, then headed back to the slip. On the way back in, I passed the 2 hour mark, so I throttled up to 3/4 throttle. Surprisingly I didn’t see much of a difference between 1/2 and 3/4 throttle. I think even at 1/2 throttle I was approaching my boat’s hull speed, so I guess the additional throttle didn’t do much. I’m really pleased at the performance of this Tohatsu motor. It seems like this new 6 hp motor is putting out at least as much [if not more] power than the previous 36 year old 9.9 hp.
Siochana,
Mike
Here’s some photos:
I had found out mud daubers were finding there way into my boat while it was on the water. While I was doing some work on the boat while at the dock, one flew in. After a few times back and forth, I was able to track down where it was going and knocked out the clump of mud. There were a few of those clumps. Even more were found on the folded up main sail.
After that, I started using tape to cover the small gap at the companion way boards/hatch. Now, if only I could get rid of those pesky spiders.
hopefully they don’t bother you too much. Good luck on the wind picking up.
Hi Daniel…you’re absolutely right about pesky spiders! Man, every time I go out I’ve got to clear a path through the webs. I’ll clear out what I can find immediately, but I always find more in the mainsail and mainsail cover. I’m thinking about using one of those bug foggers and see if that helps any.
Mike
I so hated those blasted mud daubers when we lived on the lake. It’s taken a whole year but I think I may have finally gotten them all!
Deb
S/V Kintala
http://www.theretirementproject.blogspot.com
Between waiting on parts and looking for time to do a little repair work, I didn’t get our boat out for about three weeks. When I took the sail cover off to go out that next time I found a mud dauber nest. It went over the side. Then I found two more when I raised the main. They fell to the deck where I stood on them before I realized they were there. The dirt went everywhere. I came in with a boat that looked more like I’d been out 4 wheeling than one that had spent a few hours on a lake.
Haha, Stan. It sure doesn’t take long for them to start taking over. The mud daubers and the spiders; three weeks is plenty of time to get a full-on infestation.
Mike
As a fellow lake sailor with many mud wasps and spiders, I empathize, however as an entomologist I must point out that the wasps provision their mud nests with tranquilized spiders that they lay an egg on in each cell, so keeping the wasps around might help with the spiders!
Lol Hugh, guess I’ll always be dealing with either or both then! Honestly I like the trade-off of having the mud daubers instead of the spiders. Maybe I’ll just let them be for a while.