Trojan Boat Forum

okay guys (gals too), here is an update on our adventure from long beach marina to parkside..... i arrived at the boat around 8 to get things ready, i stripped off all the canvas except for the bimini.... made for an great day on the water. phil got there about 930. we pulled the boat over to the pilings and swapped em over using the cowboy loop so we could undo them... that was the easy part. getting out of the slip and into the slipway was a real pucker factor as there is no room for error. thank the gods for no wind! ahhh underway under our own power.... out into the channel we advanced to plane, and believe me, she wants to jump on plane very quickly. we settled into cruise between 2500 and 3000.... she likes it right there. phil tested his skills at the helm (very solid he says) and walking on the decks.... (he said that he's amazed at how stable she is and he can walk the decks with ease underway). out to hart miller island and back into the essex are we go, into some of the small creeks to see how she can troll..... nice speed there too..... then i wanted to see if she would do the tri cabin turn on a dime.... into neutral, then spun her around using the transmissions.... yep, turns right on her center..... heading back into the channel near wilson point, just under 5mph (gps speed) and 6' of water, all of a sudden we hear THUMP THUMP WHAM (port side).... the boat shudders a bit, phil looks aft and sees what looks like a huge mud ball vaporize in our slow wake. he grabs the wheel and tells me 'i'll put her in neutral, you go below and sound the boat'' (mind you, until two years ago, he knew nothing about boats or boat handling). starting forward aft open up every hatch i can find and go to the engine compartment.... no leaks but the backing plate for the port strut is a 'tad moist' but no water is spewing into the boat. next, rip off the back bunk mattress and check the rudder stocks... okay, looks good no leaks there. i return to the helm and throttle up to about 1000 and get this nasty vibration. throttle back and vibration goes away. throttle up to 1000 again, and vibration returns. i'm thinking i totally fried my beautiful boat on our first trip out (is this an omen?) god i'm bummed. okay, if it is a prop ding, it can wait until the spring. (dad is INSISTING i have a diver go under the boat and check it out---NOW) i call my friends at parkside who are standing by to help us in when situation number 2 rears it's ugly head.... the port transmission will not disengage or go into reverse. i only have forward. i shut the port engine down, nose her into the T head and mike and chip climb aboard. mike goes into the engine room and discovers the link pin for the port transmission has come loose and reattaches it. (i'm asking you guys did hitting the sandbar cause this?) or was it just a dumb coincidence. after getting her into the slip with mike and chips assistance with the lines, i shut down and everyone around wants to see the new girl in town.
ego bruised, AND I MEAN REALLY BRUISED, i try to put on a happy face. you have no idea how much i'm smarting over this one. well, paul, you do.... and thanks for the shoulder to cry on yesterday......
not exactly how i wanted the day to go, but, after everyone leaves, phil said he's really in love with the boat and that i made a great decision on the tri cabin for us.
there you have it gang, a less than ospicious cruise. so, now what? i'm open to suggestions..... (btw...the boat is staying in the water for the winter at parkside)
aaron

Wow Aaron -

Compelling story - sorry for the mechanical blips but hopefully they won't be serious and can get worked out quickly. I wish I were closer to be able to stop and see your new lady.

Keep us posted on your progress. I envy you that you can keep her in the water for the entire year.

Sorry to hear about the run in with the sandbar. Mayhaps you got some gundge stuck on the prop and that's what's causing the vibration? Something similar happened on our canal trip when I "explored" an abandoned channel (did not know it was at the time) and picked up a mess of weeds on the prop. Your dad's suggestion of a diver is a good one if the boat's staying in the water....at least to find out if there's damage to the prop or my scenario is correct. Good luck!

Aaron, Although I do not know you, I definately know your type... and there is absolutely no way that you will make it to spring not knowing what the deal on the prop is. Go ahead and find a diver and check it out. A bent or broken fluke is what it sounds like, but, he may suprise you with a large cut out section of Poly that you entagled yourself with too. But, you are too high strung to wait until spring, take Dad's advice one more time..... On the tranny pin, it just fell out. Would have happened anyway, regardles of the grounding, you'd have all kind of damage if you hit hard enough to knock out a retaining pin.... it just wasn't ever folded into place right. Either way, welcome back into boating. No trip ever goes as planned and some of your worst days turn out to be your best.
P.S. I never got into the star trek thing until you got everone here posting pics of hot girls in spandex pants..... now I see what all you guys were doing late at night all those years!

Good luck to you

Aaron, you purchased a GHOST ship...it will forever haunt you! Just kidding of course, congrats on the purchase.

Shake this incident off and move forward. A sandbar, log, may have been what you hit... Ask the yard to haul the boat or have a diver inspect. Many of us have been though similar incidents at one time or another...no doubt about it, it sucks. You've come too far to let this mishap get to you, this early with the new boat. You know the saying...$hit happens!

I had my brother in from the west coast about 6 years ago. Taking him and his friends out fishing for the day. As I cleared one of the two markers into the river and starting up on plane, I heard a loud bang and shudder. Once the smoke cleared, I discovered oil pan pieces in the bilge with a connecting rod laying there, oil everywhere. Oh well, lets go fishing! Kept on going, spent the rest of the day making the most of it, catching fish with all having a great day, if only on one engine. I dealt with it later, shook it off and put another engine in it. Don't look back on the bad times, look forward to the good times!

We're all here to help in any way, once you've gotten a better idea of what happened and the recommended repairs or adjustments.

Dude! I feel your pain, did almost the same thing on the maiden trip of La Dolce Vita. We left Va. Beach went across the bay played all day had a blast, went to her new homeport and on the way in to the channel I was off the mark and the next thing I felt was the muddy bottom of Davis Creek I felt a hole in the pit of my guts. I suggest you haul her and look at her because it'll drive you nutz all winter wonderin whats wrong. And look at it this look at her now and you'll know what parts you need to have on hand for the spring hull cleaning. And then you'll be ready for a spring together. And the pin just came out. And it comes in 3'S and you got all 3 done in one trip 1, ran a ground 2, shifter lock pin came out and 3, the embarrassment of it all has you bring her to her new homeport. So as I see it you're golden now.

sehord wrote:Aaron, Although I do not know you, I definately know your type... and there is absolutely no way that you will make it to spring not knowing what the deal on the prop is. Go ahead and find a diver and check it out. A bent or broken fluke is what it sounds like, but, he may suprise you with a large cut out section of Poly that you entagled yourself with too. But, you are too high strung to wait until spring, take Dad's advice one more time..... On the tranny pin, it just fell out. Would have happened anyway, regardles of the grounding, you'd have all kind of damage if you hit hard enough to knock out a retaining pin.... it just wasn't ever folded into place right. Either way, welcome back into boating. No trip ever goes as planned and some of your worst days turn out to be your best.
P.S. I never got into the star trek thing until you got everone here posting pics of hot girls in spandex pants..... now I see what all you guys were doing late at night all those years!

Good luck to you

YOU GUYS ARE THE ABSOLUTE BEST! I'M SO BLESSED TO HAVE YOU ALL IN MY LIFE.
me? high strung? i don't know what you mean..... you are right though, it will bug me for months if i don't know something about what is going on under the boat. so, yesterday afternoon i met up with my friend and mechanic, john stump of bluewater marine. we chatted a bit about this and he gave me the number and name of a diver. i mentioned that when i was on the boat yesterday morning, i was in the aft stateroom and when the boat rocked, i kept hearing this CLINKCLINK, CLINKCLINK metal sound each time she rocked side to side. the sound was coming from the port side aft end of the boat. he said to me, ''you know what? you might have picked up line and an old scrap of crab pot that was burried in the mud. that would explain the THUMP THUMP under the boat and the mud ball vaporizing behind.'' he also explained that if i was dragging something, it would of course act like some sort of anchor and cause the shudder when accelerating. makes sense to me i guess. i sounded the boat again yesterday and did not see any water pouring into the boat or seepage from the backing plates of the rudder stocks or shaft struts. either way, i was fully intending on having the props reconditioned in the spring as they really never have been done. as for the transmission linkage disengaging, he was perplexed but surmised that something might have just give way and was going to happen at some point with or with out the 'impact'. he also said, ''i know how much you love this boat aaron, do not let this in anyway damage your relationship with her. she will test you from time to time and you two just need to establish who is who.'' good advice all around as i fully remember that it too took some time before EVENT HORIZON and i got along. i know she's testing me otherwise i would not have heard her siren song in the first place. odd how someone like me that 'plays for a different team' can be totally sucked in by a 'female'.

i do have to laud my partner phil though for his quick reaction during the emergency. like i've said a number of times, he knew nothing about boats or boating two years ago when we got the f-32. maybe he's starting to listen to me and learn and look at me like a busy signal. he was amazed at how quickly though i systematically went from stem to stern opening hatches and sounding the boat. i told him i went into FLIGHT ATTENDANT EMERGENCY MODE. to be honest guys, i didn't really think, i just reacted.

that's it for now, thanks guys for the kind and supportive words.

aaron

I feel a group hug coming on...

Aaron,

Maybe you should just take it to Edwards Yacht Yard, I think they are pretty
inexpensive for a quick haul.

Aaron - you ran across Jimmy Hoffa's necktie - call Geraldo!

Is Hart-Miller Island a Jinx for trojans? Had mine for two weeks and went there for the afternoon. First time out since the purchase. Went to leave and return to the marina. While hauling the anchor in the port engine quit wouldn't restart. Had to go in on one engine and dock it on one engine. Got it done though, not an easy task specially with my left arm in a cast! Next day found the person who changed the fuel filters last didn't know how to do it right. Engine had sucked air and went dry. Put new filter in, correctly I might add, haven't had a problem since with engine cutting out. Don't give up its just testing you. Good luck with the boat!

Allen Sr - I think we now know who connected your manual bilge pump to your holding tank rather than the bilge. It was probably the fuel filter guy.

No cause I know of the people that did the fuel filter. 'Mechanic, Broker, General Rip Off Artist' That was why I bypassed the broker and dealt one on one with the owner and got the boat ALOT less than the broker listed it for. The fuel filter was the most serious problem the rest is just sitting back and figuring out what they did otherwise. Have found no real problems other than what I have mentioned. The boat basicaly was taken care of very well, had two owners prior to me. First owner kept it 8yrs, second owner kept it til he passed away, I purchased it from his estate. I believe the original owners had the macerator and other pump done. They used to take the boat to Florida a lot from what I found in all the paperwork.

rickalan35 wrote:Allen Sr - I think we now know who connected your manual bilge pump to your holding tank rather than the bilge. It was probably the fuel filter guy.

Now that was funny.