Lifeboat Tested - May 26, 2011

Keith Otto volunteered a day off from his work to help me with a very important task:  Setting up and testing the lifeboat functions of Kelly IV's Portland Pudgy dinghy.  Also, since I'll be departing on my first full-time cruise on Friday, May 27, I needed a ride to Erie, since I am leaving my car at home.  Keith was a terrific help on both counts.

We drove to Erie on Wednesday night, getting in late and stowing our gear in a rainstorm.  We were up early as Bob Arlet, Shipwright, came to the boat to get the fuel sender in the port fuel tank working properly.  While Bob tackled that task, Keith and I lowered the dinghy from the davits and

pulled all the exposure canopy pieces from their storage bags.  It took a little fussing with the clips, tabs, webbing and hand pump, but in short order we got the lifeboat exposure canopy in place properly.  Of course, we tried each step, then checked the instructions.  After a few false starts, It finally dawned on me that I should read the direction FIRST, then follow them actually setting up the lifeboat.  It is fascinating how well things work, when done that way.  :-)

Keith clamped the Torqeedo electric outboard onto the Pudgy, which work quite well even with the exposure canopy in place.  He took me for a spin, first on the calm waters by the Erie Library and Maritime Museum but into a stiff breeze, then out past Dobbins Landing on the open bay, bucking short, steep 1 foot waves and a 20 knot breeze.  The dinghy and Torqeedo both performed well and we returned to Kelly to find that Bob had successfully completed his work and presented me with two fully functioning fuel gauges.  If you have any shipwright boat projects, Bob is the man to call.  You can reach him at 814-449-3962 or rarlet@msn.com.

When Keith and I went to grab a bit of lunch, we also stopped at the store and got materials and numbers so we could display the newly acquired Pennsylvania registration numbers on the Pudgy.  In Pennsylvania it is required that all powered vessels be registered.  With her new Torqeedo outboard, the dinghy became a powered vessel and so I got her registered.  Keith did the work of applying the numbers and the special sticker from the state to the new plastic boards and I tied them into place at the port and starboard bow.  Now she looks official!  Also, it is another way to confirm that the Pudgy is in fact titled to me in the state of Pennsylvania.

Keith took the dinghy for another ride with the exposure canopy in place so I could get some photos, as you see here. 

Then we had an early dinner as Keith had to depart for home and work in the morning.  Once Keith left, it began to feel as if I'm really beginning my full-time cruising since I had no car and my only means of transportation is now Kelly IV or the Pudgy.  I took a few photos of Kelly from the dinghy so I could show the classy neighbors we have here in Erie, especially the tall-masted

brig, Niagara, the restoration of Perry's ship that enabled him to defeat the British on Lake Erie in 1813 and write his commanding officer:  “We have met the enemy and they are ours.”

Tomorrow evening my two crew for the leg to Toronto arrive and the weather seems in our favor for a night sail across Lake Erie to Port Colborne, the entrance to the Welland Canal.