THE VOYAGE HOME. ENTERPRISE HEADS TO PARKSIDE

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 7:54 pm

but not before running her up to 3000rpm where, for now, she found her sweet spot. at this speed, she was cruising at a nice clip of 17mph. the weather was great, the water was choppy, the temp was perfect.
with a great crew, (mike kulp and his wife kathy) we took the shamrock shuttle from parkside to sue island to pick up the boat.

after some prep time, we departed sue island then headed out to the open channel. she performed like a champ, never slamming any of the swells, she just rode over them and gently settled down. engines and genset ran perfectly, no vibration and she tracked true.

it was a great way to spend an afternoon, but man, once docked safely at parkside, the fatigue hit me like a ton of bricks.
my special thanks to mike kulp for being a very patient teacher. and thanks to him, he slipped her into her slip as i was not feeling too confident with my skills due to the winds. i'll get the hang of it eventually.

glad she's home at parkside. now i can further enjoy her. it was great hearing water slapping against her hull.

here are some pics of our journey.

aaron

THE WATER WAS CHOPPY, BUT NOT TOO BAD. ENTERPRISE HANDLED LIKE A CHAMP.

ME (L) AND MIKE KULP (R)

ME AT THE HELM, ENROUTE TO PARKSIDE

MattSC · Post by **MattSC** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:20 pm

Congratulations Aaron! Glad to hear everything went well for you today, you can tell by the photos how happy you are. You definitely deserve it!
Take care and enjoy,
Matt

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:40 pm

MattSC wrote:Congratulations Aaron! Glad to hear everything went well for you today, you can tell by the photos how happy you are. You definitely deserve it!
Take care and enjoy,
Matt

thanks matt. i really had a good time. nothing like hearing your engines (genset too) humming along like they are supposed to. the lack of vibration with the re-tuned props was amazing. smooth at all speeds. i love how this boat handles the rough water. it even impressed mike, and he's not so easy to impress. having he and his wife along made it that much more enjoyable. i feel so at ease with the two of them onboard. those two function like a well oiled machine on their international, and is something to witness. when they are crew, well, i know i'm in good hands. i'm just glad she's back 'home' and ready for me to enjoy again. have to admit though, i'm wiped. i'm beyond fatigued. my energy level is just not what it was 'pretreatment'. which really sucks!!!! so, having said that, at the tender hour of 2030 on a sat night, i'm bunking down for the evening.
aaron

Big D · Post by **Big D** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 8:44 pm

Nice Aaron, very nice. Very little in life that comepares to that feeling of a great trip on the water with family and good friends. Thanks for sharing.

rbcool · Post by **rbcool** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:18 pm

Love to hear it Aaron !! You're exactly right!
And as a side note.....we might be across from you in Pasadena very soon

Ron

Bubbabuda · Post by **Bubbabuda** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 9:51 pm

Congrats Aaron, very nice to hear. In time you will be running as strong as your engines.

The Dog House · Post by **The Dog House** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 10:22 pm

Congratulations Aaron! Seeing those pictures make me long to get out on the water. Unfortunately I have to wait until Spring, since I'm shrink wrapping my boat on Monday. Glad you're enjoying your boat.

prowlersfish · Post by **prowlersfish** » Sat Sep 22, 2012 11:08 pm

Nothing like a good day on the water

Commissionpoint · Post by **Commissionpoint** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 12:17 am

YEAH!!!
Whack it big dawg!!!

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 4:13 am

forgot to mention how we got from parkside to sue island. a mutual friend, chip and his wife lisa (they own a 1998 ocean 45 super sport--- it's for sale btw) took mike, kathy and myself over in chips shamrock center console.
sort of the 'shamrock shuttle'. nice little boat btw. makes it easy to get from one marina to another w/ out burning a ton of fuel.

THE SHAMROCK SHUTTLE, PARKSIDE TO SUE ISLAND.
mikes wife kathy (port), chips wife lisa (starboard)

and yes. if i had the spare $$, i might even consider something like this or smaller just to buzz around in. just one more toy for the toy box!!

k9th · Post by **k9th** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 5:32 pm

Best therapy in the world for mind and body - a great day on the water

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 8:10 pm

k9th wrote:Best therapy in the world for mind and body - a great day on the water

you said it tim. today i want down to do some 'housekeeping' and had a blast just putzing around and shooting the breeze with mike and kathy, chip and lisa and others at parkside. phil even came down for a few hours of dockside interaction.
aaron

TBone · Post by **TBone** » Sun Sep 23, 2012 10:03 pm

Glad to hear that your trip went well. You really deserve/needed it.

Tom

aaronbocknek · Post by **aaronbocknek** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:51 am

TBone wrote:Glad to hear that your trip went well. You really deserve/needed it.

Tom

i had such a great time with mike and kathy by my side. i always enjoy their company. mike is always willing to let me hang around when he's working on his boat as i learn a great deal from him, and, no matter how many absurd questions i ask, he's always patient. AND HE MAKES ONE HELL OF A BLOODY MARY!!!! i mean, i've had bloody marys before, but NOTHING and i mean nothing, compares to the likes of his. i have to slow down when consuming one because i could down the thing in one swig!!! anyway, i digress...... the absolute total thrill of firing up the engines and hearing them purr like kittens, the genset, although cranky, turns over eventually and ran like a champ. i did some below the waterline cleaning after the bottom paint was applied. why yard workers insist on painting over every hole in the through hulls is beyond my comprehension. the genset has a small round pickup that's nothing but small holes. when i look up and saw maybe 10 out of the 30 or so the only ones open, i immediately got a drill bit in my hand and started cleaning that out. when i fired up the genset on friday, i was amazed at how much cooler she was running. after an hour, i did a laser temp check on the exhaust water.... 88 degrees and no visible smoke at all. all holes open i then attacked the scoops for the a/c and the engines. again, some of the slits were so congested with paint, it's amazing any cooling water made it in. took my plastic scraper and cleaned them out too. the a/c runs much cooler (condenser temp check) as do the engines. after looking at perrys project of pulling apart the underwater exhaust system, i have a new appreciation for it. the engineering alone is amazing and the amount of bronze used makes the assembly heavy and robust.

heading out into open water, boat traffic and all, ENTERPRISE just wanted to get up and go. i was only too happy to give her what she wanted. the thing that really amazed me though, i forgot to secure some items on the counter in the galley and even after being bounced around and picking up spray, when i got back into the slip and started to tidy things up, not one item moved on the counter. like i didn't even move the boat. that's how stable the tri cabin is.

sunday was great here in baltimore, mild temps, a nice breeze and great people at the marina. (mike and kathy were there too---great neighbors)
i tackled some house keeping issues that had been bugging me and even phil came down to 'assist'. when i say assist,i mean he had his deck chair on the bow and promptly dozed off. that's why i have to keep him moving on the boat. if i don't he's down for the count. many of the female first mates give him such a hard time about that too!!! darlene, the first mate of a sea ray 40 behind me, really gave phil the what for. it's okay, she's a cancer survivor and made it known in no uncertain terms that i needed to take it easy and he needed to step up and as she put it, 'grow some'. thanks darlene!!!!

today i'm going to give her a bath. she's far too schmutzy for my comfort level. it will be nice to get the boat yard schmutz off of her. i HATE when my boat looks sad.

aaron

Mike Kulp · Post by **Mike Kulp** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 12:43 pm

Hey Aaron it was good to take the tri cabin out for a cruise I never ran one before, Internationals and F series but never a tri cabin, they do handle the rough water well but when you turn sideways to the wind it has a lot more surface area than my mid cabin and you know I am always complaining that you can not see the corners when backing in that will take some getting use to. Hopefully you will be down next weekend so we can take it out again and run it some more.