Running like new... Finally!

More then a year after Nova Automotive completed rebuilding Kiskadee's Atomic 4 she is running like a new engine. (I'm still kicking myself in the ass for destroying my Robert Hess rebuilt engine after only 50 hours. An intake full of eal grass and no engine alarms was a bad thing.) Nova Automotive is an excellent machine shop, but they farmed my Atomic 4 out to another shop for assembly. Apparently a rookie Apprentice was having a bad week.

< This photo shows the Hess Marine short-block, when I opened the crate in Spring 2006. The subesquent rebuild by Nova Automotive wasn't even close to this quality.

When hot the engine would leak coolant from around the head bolts. I didn't know if this was a lack of sealant on the stud threads or a split/cracked head gasket. I hauled off the head and again was surprised that the head and block were coated in RTV on assembly. The piston tops, valves and combustion chamber were thick with carbon. True, she had run for many hours with the idle screw tightened fully in (thank you Nova Automotive) but this was thick for 100 hours of operation.

A quick check revealed that the valves had not bee set when assembled. They were supposed to be 0.010" intake and 0.012" exhaust. All were set from 0.030 to 0.042"... Duh. No wonder the engine was running so poorly. Well at least the Apprentice had not set them too tight or the seats would have been burnt. I cleaned away all of the carbon then middled the pistons and poured in a 1/2" of diesel fuel to soak in overnight. In the morning most of it has soaked past the rings, to loosen up any carbon that may have been starting to gum them up. I set the valves and reinstalled the head with the studs properly sealed.

After installing the clean carb she started right up. After warmup I put her in gear at half throttle and tweaked the timing. Then at idle I tweaked the carb until she was ticking over at a slow and smooth idle. After idling for 20 minutes it was time for a beer.

She has since been working like new for a couple weeks. After about 18 months I think I have finally solved most of what Nova did wrong. I finally have confidence in my Atomic 4 and again believe that it is the best little engine around.

Now she's all ready for winter racing and cruising. In fact last Sunday she raced for the first time since moving west. Kiskadee won Div 3 by 5 seconds. Yahoo!

Thanksgiving Cruise

October 2008

Three CFSA boats headed to Thetis Island to join up with the Bluewater Cruising Association for their Fall Rendezvous. Just south of Sidney Kiskadee's carb float stuck and she started overflowing raw gas into the bilge. Here's S/V Alphie towing us the last couple of miles into Sidney.

On Saturday morning we ripped her apart and found the carb full of dirt and rust. Within an hour it was cleaned and we were ready to head to Thetis Island. Unfortunately the wind was on the nose all day so we had to motor. In most areas out here the bottom falls away quickly from the shore. In this picture we're only about eighty feet from shore but in over 250' of water.

The weekend with the Bluewater Cruising Association was the most fun we've had since moving from Halifax. We are definitely joining as we have to hook up with these great people again. Dee cooked a turkey in Kiskadee's oven and we had a huge Thanksgiving potluck feast.

They had a driftwood sailboat race and our entry, Witches' Crew, looked like a real contender. Unfortunately she pitch-poled about two inches from the start and stayed inverted. We still had tons of laughs and learned enough to guarantee us a winning boat next year... Ha!

Kiskadee was well tucked-in, deep inside the marina at Thetis Island.

On Sunday evening they had a TV Theme Song contest. We scored 26.5 out of 50 and won. Our prize was a remote control talking Macaw, which has since learned a few bad words. We left for home at 0630 on Monday morning. The cold wind was on the nose and the threatened rain held off until we were alongside in Sidney. I returned on Tuesday evening and single-handed her home early on Tuesday morning. I'm not fond of 0630 departures, but it was necessary to ride the current.

September Maintenance

September 2008

After returning from the August cruise we completely overhauled the fuel system. I removed and cleaned the tank and installed all new lines, fittings, hoses, valves and filters. Everything from the deck fill to the carb is new and spotless. Here I'm using a shop-vac to blow dry the well scrubbed fuel tank.

During the cruise the fresh water cooling pump's impeller blew apart, shedding three of its six vanes. I ended up hauling the engine's water jacket apart to search for them. In the end I only found two and pray that the third is in the bilge. Here's the engine compartment all back together. The new fuel pump had just arrived from Moyer Marine in Maryland.

After sorting out the engine I finally tackeled a long overdue cockpit table project. In the end I'd spent $30 to build a folding table. It's perfect for a meal for two or snacks for six. It also holds the chart booklet and Current Atlas when I'm sailing. Hopefully it will survive the winter.

Here's Kiskadee, ready once more for her next cruise. I recently bought a 1970 Evinrude 4hp outboard to get around the anchorages. At last we can make waves and noise.

Summer Cruise 2008

August 2008
After a couple months of shaking things down and day sailing, we finally got away for a couple of weeks. We quickly learned about the huge currents on this coast. If you plan correctly you get a couple knot boost. If you plan wrong it's a long day. In this pic you can see the water being churned up during a current change. It sometimes instantly swings the bow up to 30 degrees.

Here's Dee enjoying healthy sailing food: Bottled water, cookies and twizzlers!

We spent almost two weeks cruising up to Nanaimo and back. The fuel system crapped out from dirt stirred up while being hauled across the continent, so we ran on jerry cans in the cockpit for most of the trip. We covered a lot of ground to get a feel for the area that you just can't get from the charts. Our stops at anchor and alongside included: Sidney Spit, Nanaimo, Maple Bay, Ganges, Port Browning and Sidney Spit.

Here we're entering Dodd Narrows, following a long line of south bound boats rushing through during slack water at the turn of the tide.














One has to always keep an eye out for tugs towing barges and for the ever-present BC Ferries.














On the return trip we stopped again at Sidney Spit. This time we hiked out and around the light house. It's a great spot and only $10 per night for a mooring ball.














It was a beautiful evening with the promising red sky. We went to bed early and left at 0700 to catch the ebbing currents and knock a couple hours off the trip back to Esquimalt.

Tall Ships

June 2008

We spent a couple days sailing off Victoria with the Tall Ships. Below shows the Bounty heading out and starting to hoist sail. We watched a multi-ship mock cannon battle, sailing about a quarter mile astern of the fleet.













When the Tall Ships left they raced to Washington state. Here the USCGS Eagle has her 21 sails hoisted and cranked on speed to cross the Strait. We sailed hard, but she quickly outran Kiskadee.

Taste of the Pacific

April 2008













Kiskadee arrived in Esquimalt on March 25th. Yes that's a different truck, as the original truck's engine died in Quebec. Other than road dirt and a sheared gooseneck, she was in excellent condition. A quick rabbit resulted in a replacement gooseneck that is far superior to the original. Thank you Canadian taxpayers.

New Gooseneck

Sheared Gooseneck

Over a couple days I replaced a cracked thru-hull, painted her bottom dark blue and rigged her mast. She was launched on 31 March. Every ocean is a new adventure and this was Kiskadee's first taste of Pacific salt water.

Kiskadee's big trip

March 2008

We lucked in and found a fantastic boat-hauler on uship.com named House of Boats. They are from Texas but haul across the continent. They locked our move in for a little over $11K. This was far better then the lowest Canadian hauler's quote of $19K.

Kiskadee was loaded at SYC on a bitter cold and windy day by a bunch of great friends. Pat took charge and everyone jumped in and had her craned on and strapped down before frostbite set in. Being in charge, Pat spent the day walking around with the check-list... But it was so cold that his eyes froze and Gary had to help him read it.

Sagadore Cranes, as always, did an excellent job handling an difficult load in high winds.

A lot of friends showed up and made things go quicker in the bitter cold.


Eleven people made it a light lift to hang the mast on the trailer.

Loaded and heading for the highway.

Pacific Bound

February 2008.

Dee and I moved west in February. Dee has accepted a promotion within Investors Group to become a Divisional Director in Victoria. (More $alary = more boat stuff!) We drove across and Kiskadee will come later by truck.

We bought a house in Langford. Prices are not like Halifax, but the math is easy. You can get half the house for twice the price.

We joined CFSA Esquimalt and will have a temporary spot for Kiskadee once she arrives.


We drove across through lots of snow and temps as low as -37 on the Praries. In BC Avalanche Control had all of the major highways closed so we spent many extra hours on muddy backroads in the middle of nowhere.

The last day before Vancouver was a very long one, but we had to push on as the Vancouver Boat Show had just started and we didn't want to miss any good deals!

Another winter on the hard...

With the engine not being ready until mid-summer we had long decided to call the trip south off for this year. We spent the rest of the season harbour sailing and enjoying club races. All too soon it was all over and Kiskadee was once more left cold and dry in her cradle.

Our new winter cover worked very well, shedding snow and standing up to some big winds.





In November we travelled to the west coast to visit Dee's relatives. Here we are in Gibson's Landing. This trip was a sign of big things to come, but we had no idea when we posed for the picture.

Two more weeks in Mahone Bay.

OK, pretend it's still late August...

After a good night sleep I awoke, well rested and still quite satisfied with the single-hand sleigh-ride from Halifax. I sailed into Mahone Bay town and hooked up with Rick and Shirley aboard Tide-N-Knots. They had come down a couple days earlier, while I was home. We enjoyed an excellent lunch at the Mug & Anchor, which is always a good feed spot. Dee came down late in the day and we spent the night on a town mooring for $15.

The photo at right shows a beautiful sunset, viewed from the town mooring. You can see the "Three Churches" ahead and the town on the left. That's Tide-N-Knots alongside the town marina for the night. The Mug & Anchor pub is the dark red building, third from the left. Check out our new ProFurl C350 furler that Dee bought Kiskadee. This is the nicest little town with a very friendly and welcoming personality and great shopping.

We spent the next two weeks with Dee running back and forth to work in Halifax and friends coming and going.

Marge and Chuck came during two of the foggiest days on the bay. We sailed from town and visability was often up to several miles... Enough to give us confidence to head back to Cross Island. Half way there it really closed down with less than 100 yards vis and light winds. Chuck went for a nap as we motored on. Half way in the channel to the Cross Island mooring , at 4.2 knots, I found the first hard grounding since we bought Kiskadee. I slip 1.5 inches skyward on a table-top rock and the currets held her from turning to motor off. I paddled out a kedge anchor but it fouled just as the bow was coming around. Our saviour, Wayne, came out in his 16 ' open aluminum boat and towed us off using a halyard. I fiollowed him in and the deep channel was along the southern side of the channel, almost against the rocks. When I showed Wayne the pilot guide that said to stay in the centre he said, "No wonder I haul at least one boat off those rocks every week." Chuck woke well rested as we tied to the mooring ball, wondering what we were talking about... What grounding? I the picture Marge is getting her camera ready in the main saloon.

Peta came for a day sail on Sep 2nd. We went to Lunenburg Yacht Club for fuel, ice and fast showers. A stop at BAckman's Island let Dee paddle Peta ashore for a quick tour before we went up to Chester and back. In the picture we're heading west towards Round Island Nubble.

We did lunch with Rick & Shirley (Tide-N-Knots) at LYC. Our daughter Terri drove down and picked Dee up to return to work in Halifax. I spent the night at Backman's Island, peaceful but lonely. I enjoy my solitude but I also enjoy Dee's company... Ah, life's quandrys.

Pat came while Dee was at work and we spent the day exploring the bay and then raced across from Chester to Deep Cove in a 20 knot stern breeze. We entered the cove at 7.2 knots on half of a jib. Deep Cove was beautiful as always and we enjoyed a hearty feed and much rum. We shared the cove with S/V Galatea V, another Hughes 38 that was custom built between 1979 and 1982. Her dark hull was very attractive... But Kiskadee shall remain white.

The right hand picture was taken by Pat and shows how close our stern was to the rocks while moored. There was still 5' under the rudder at low tide. This is a great spot.

We left Deep Cove and went to explore Backman Island. The left hand picture shows Pat on the Island and Kiskadee in the background. It was sunny but cool.

On Sep 6thDee came back as Pat left. We spent a night alone at Backman's and enjoyed private baths in the warm waters... Enough said. On the 8th we took a day off and rested at Backman's. It was a great recharge and we really enjoyed the break.

Graham and Lynda joined us on Sep 8th. After a quick detour to LYC for fuel we headed for Chester. We enjoyed an excellent meal with beverages at the Rope Loft restaurant. We docked right alongside at the restaurant's marina. What a great spot.

After lunch we headed over to Deep Cove for the night. The next day Graham took over the helm and piloting. I got to relax as he took us across the bay and back to Mahone Bay town. He took Kiskadee alongside like he'd been doing it all of his life. Once a seaman always a seaman. Graham and Lynda left for home and unfortunately so did Dee. Back to work to pay for this life.

I spent the night at Backman's Island and changed the impellor, trying to cure the overheating problem. The next morning, Sep 10th, I slipped at 0756 to head for home. The winds were fine at fiorst but came around to the 10 degrees off of the rhum line, so I motored most of the way. This single-handed trip wasn't half the fun, but it was very relaxing none the less. A whale came up for air a coujple timesright off the stern then headed out to sea... Lucky whale.

After rounding Chebucto Head I saw Dee on the shore waving. She'd driven out to watch me come in. With my spirits raised I brought up the revs and motored towards Halifax at 6 knots. Just after passing Maughers Beach the over-temp alarm went off. I shut off the engine and unfurled the job, to run in with a light stern breeze. While avoiding several outbound sailboats (heading upwind) I swapped around cooling lines and switched her over to raw water cooling in minutes. She started and immediately ran cool... Grrr.

S/V Acushla, withBob and George aboard, met me as I approached SYC. Dee was waiting on the dock and it was good to be home. A couple days later I finally took the ends off of the heat exchanger and found it half full of eel grass... A left-over from last summer's overheating. Once flushed clear iit ran strong and hasn't run hot at all. A reliable engine at last!

Singlehanding to Mahone Bay

Another overdue post to catch up on the summer's events.
Imagine it's August 28th...

With Dee back at work we'd been home for two nights when I was wishing I was still in Mahone Bay. Then I remembered... I'm retired! I could still be in Mahone Bay. I told Dee the plan and she quickly agreed. I'd single-hand Kiskadee back to Mahone Bay and she could drive back and forth as work permitted.

On Tuesday, August 28th, I spent much of the morning loading provisions and prepping the boat. I slipped from SYC at 1030, hoping to make it to a mooring at Backman's Island before dark. The wind was light from the south and was expected to come up to SW-15 in the afternoon. I still had some blockage in the heat exchanger so couldn't run much above 5 knots without overheating after 30 minutes, so a long motor sail was out of the question. I expected to spend much of the day tacking into the SW wind. I ended up sailing out of the harbour with every tourist boat afloat. I should be charging tourists to be in so many of their vacation albums. I made it to Chebucto Head by 1245 and ran Sambro Channel, only needing the engine for 30 minutes once past Sambro. The wind was up and down so I made several trips to the mast to put in or remove mainsail reefs.

The GPS trip computer was showing my ETA as 2330 hrs so I decided to open her up under full sail. With winds SW 15-20, and 35 degrees of heal, she averaged 7.5 knots heading west towards East Ironbound Island. I kept my offshore harness hooked on for the entire trip. (If I'd fallen overboard Kiskadee would have let her auto-pilot guide her most of the way there without me.) Here's a short video of the trip.

The wind veered WSW just as I turned WNW to pass between East Ironbound and Flat Islands, again making for an easy sail without having to do much trimming. The trip computer was now telling me that I'd arrive at Backman's just before sunset... Could this day be any better? Well yes... I dropped sail about a mile from Backman's Island and started to motor in. Looking ahead I saw a beautiful sunset and looking astern I saw a more beautiful moonrise with a full moon. Unfortunately I deleted the sunset picture but here's the moonrise:

I tied to a mooring ball in Backman's Island at 2038 hrs and secured the boat for the night. I tossed a steak on the BBQ, poured myself a Goslings dark rum and coke, then settled back in the cockpit to unwind. Damn this is a good life and I'm a very lucky man to have enjoyed the gift of such a great day. A couple other boats shared the cove but it was a very quiet night, and after the long sail there I slept like a log. I did feel a bit greedy about enjoying the day so much and not having shared it with Dee... But we'll share others.

This is a panoramic composite picture of the cove at Backman's Island, a favoured spot.