Launched my Kormoran weekender today

Refueler

Refueler

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Decided to launch my weekender for river jaunts today .. and wondered if the garden Tractor would pull it ...

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No problem ... towed her to the bank and its a bit steep there with a sudden drop at end ... so unhitched tractor and let her run ...

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One little push at end to get bow of the trailer and she was fine.

Took a line across to the pontoon - she can use that till pontoon is moved to river ...

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Then it was rig mast / boom ... one man affair ..

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Looks like I shall be having a trip on the river this weekend ....
 
Put my small Johnson 3.3 on back ... and fired it up ...... no telltale water ...

Because its lost one of the handles on the mount bolts - I need an adjustable spanner ... dropped the ****** spanner in the water !! Usually I have a light line to spanners when working overside .. but this time in too much hurry.,

Will lift off ...... squirt some anti-calc stuff in and then try it again ... I have a Johnson 4.5 twin I can use instead ...

I was hoping to use the 3.3 as its less drag in the water and lets her sail a bit better.
 
The boat is Polish and were popular in the Soviet Marine Schools - Ventspils had 5 ... when independence happened - 4 of them disappeared .. and 1 was left ...

I noticed her moored near the town bridge and got one of my Inspectors to find out who owned it. Turned out to be a couple of pensioners who were glad of some money for it.
It was in a bit of a state ... but she's been a good boat for the river ... has massive leeway when sailing but I reckon its a good boat to teach people with. The sails were more like round open bags !! I got hold of some sails of a size to fit - but they are a bit too much for her ... so need to either get them recut smaller or get hold of some more.

It has twin hinged metal plate keels ... so up - she draws about 20cm ... keels down about 1m. 2 berth cabin ...
 
Took engine off ... turned on side .... got some bowden cable with clean cut end ... and wound it into the tell tale ... I'd already tried with 1mm welding wire ... pulled it out and it was covered in black gunge ... not what I expected.

Did it 3x and then put motor back on mount .. started her up ... initially it was blobs and drips then it started to quicken ... till it was a steady stream at 1/3rd throttle ... I know these small Evinrude / Johnson motors can give fast drips at idle with stream at higher throttle ... so all seems good now ...
No need to hump that 4.5 with gearbox down there !!
 
Today gave her freedom and took her for a short sail ... 30C .. blue skies ... light airs with occasional gusts ...

Had a go at wafting her out of channel - but she needed the engine just to get her through the grass at the end .. out to river and she was in her element.

Really enjoyed it out there for an hour ... but it was hot and humid and I'd forgotten my 'coldies' ...

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Had a couple of things highlighted that need sorting ... the cabin vent fwd catches the jib sheets - so will remove it and either fit the Solar vent I have or just blank of the hole ...
Second was the sails are from a large dinghy ... jib is just right - but it broke the clip at tack ... luckily the clip was via a shackle, so I just discarded the broken clip and shackled on. Will replace with better clip.
Mainsail is just about 5cms too long in the luff so will need to take a small amount in 'reef' to the boom.
Strange I never noticed the luff length as problem before .....
The original sails are so bad - when you handle them - they literally fall apart ...

Anyway - enjoyed it ...
 
Its the river at bottom of my garden ..... wide and deep.

With that boat - I can use about 30km of river .... with keels up - she only draws about 20cm. In fact the outboard on the back draws more then.
 
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