Newly aquired 2nd Wind joins the Cape Dory 14, see the 2nd Wind tab

The Cape Dory Chronicles

Since 2002 I have explored the barrier Islands of the DELMARVA peninsula to the extent that is conveniently possible with 4WD, bicycles, aircraft and by foot. This includes OSV zones of Assateague Island in the Maryland district and Virginia district by Tom's Cove as well as portions that are hike in only south of the MD/VA state line. Left yet to be done are a number of islands at can only be access by water. This page then is a record of the fitting out for a journey in a small boat to explore those islands and the results obtained. Check back often, updates will be posted at the bottom.

While I own an 16 foot Old Town canoe that I have used for exploring rivers in Maryland and Virginia it really is the wrong type of boat for exploring the barrier islands. A canoe of that size with two adults and camping gear is fine to go down a gentle river, but not the kind of boat to take out in open water. Since my plan is to include camping on Mockhorn Island in the early spring (the best time year to do that mosquito and weather wise) the temperature of the water is also problematic for paddle boats in general. Longer distance in open water would require rowing instead of paddling interface. Better yet, a small sailing rig would be ideal. I have access to small motorboats I can borrow, but ruled them out as they would lack the ability to land conveniently on islands in very shallow water. My brother purchased a Cape Dory 14 but after using it a few times he realized the boat was just a little too heavy for his intended use. He prefers boats he can pick up himself. He conveyed the boat to me after I expressed and interest in using it to explore the barrier islands. The Cape Dory 14 looked about perfect for this type of trip, with its combination of two rowing stations and a small sailing rig. The transom can support a small outboard, but again operating in shallow water that would be a problem.

After bringing the boat home and getting the ownership transfer to my name for the boat and trailer I had to take time to address a few things on it. After a good bath I got canvas cover mounts squared away for trailer borne use, it previous was on a dock.

I sailed this boat one day, and rowed it about 2 miles or so, in the fall of 2019. During sailing the helm had a fair amount of lee bias sailing anywhere beam to upwind. This is obviously not desirable for stability and a result of the geometry of hull, sail area meta center, centerboard and rudder locations. Worse still, there was slack, or free play in the tiller movement. This was a slack of 5-10 degrees of free tiller movement between helm inputs!! Ghastly!!

There was one hole drilled in the tiller for a hiking stick, so I attached the hiking stick from the home made tiller to it without drilling a second hold using safety wire. This is because I expect a longer telescoping hiking stick will be needed and rather than put a hole now in the tiller I will wait till I know what I am going to install before I drill. Bottom line here is that rudder is ready to go of this season.

The steering slack was cause by two main free points. The brass pivot points of the rudder quadrant had about 2 mm of ID to OD clearance in them. Eventually I will turn out spacers in plastic on the lathe, but in the mean time I shimmed up the clearance with poly tape and grease. Result is a (temporary) zero free play. Next was the free play between the tiller and the rudder blade. The original tiller was not installed on rudder blade. This was based on observed excessive free-play between the rudder blade and original tiller slot. My brother had fab'd up a tiller from pressure treated lumber cutting by hand to fit snug. He did a good job making the tiller. After disassembly of the original tiller became apparent to me, based on the wear marks on the original tiller, that the large over sized plastic washers on the outside of the tiller actually went in between the rudder stock and tiller. In fact they were so hard to install I had to use straight slot screwdrivers to bow the tiller stock slightly apart to fit them. See the pictures, but it was very tight and the result is zero mechanical free play of the helm with the stock parts! There is still some elemental (structural) flex of the rudder blade itself, but that will have to wait for epoxy stiffing of the rudder if necessary.

Some of "balsa tea" draining from water tight compartments. See the pictures. It took me a while to decode the whole pitch angle to drain point program with this hull but the bottom line there is entrapped moisture that will require an access plate to allow complete drying. The boat is in overall such outstanding condition, and spends such little time in the water, that just airing out the area space should resolve the issue.

Centerboard line needs a cleat or cam block.

The boat came from original purchaser with oars of three different lengths. Baffling, as after rowing it for about 2 miles it was obvious to me that, from the center position, the longest oars were just not quite long enough for me. The forward rowing location, however, has the locks much closer together on the thwarts. I suspect the shorter oars may work better there. Donno. Riding two up rowing from the forward position will be the way know.

Some of the lines needed whipping and securing.

Lastly, in all of the documentation that came with this boat layed up in 1971, I found no indication it was named. I agree renaming a boat is bad luck and would never do it, but if it has never been named, then what to call a Barrier Island Exploring Vessle?? "Sea Turtle" or "Piping Plover" or "Marine Debris" ?

I used to think that if I ever owned a new boat I would name it "Arete" or "Teacher's Pet" or "Not a Motorcycle" but who knows

Notes from first sail March 2020

Getting the free play out of the rudder was a huge improvement. The steering still has a lot of spring or delay in it, but it is consistent and predictable and easy to work around. The rudder did have some problems kicking up when speed picked up. It might also be made worse by down pressure on the tiller which has the effect of pre-loading the rudder to kick up a little. I'll have to look at the latch and see if it can be sharped up a little to increase the release pressure needed to kick.

The rudder being tight now showed the center board is too loose. Steering inputs loading the board side to side it clunks. During mild rocking when not moving it bangs in the trunk annoyingly. Its needs to be shimmed. On the way back a fair amount of water gets pumped up in the trunk and comes out inside the hull as speed rises. This happens anytime we got up to 5 or so. I suspect a plastic deflector is needed for the trunk.

I'm not sure a hiking stick is needed, so I want a easy to remove one.

The forward rowing oar lock receptacles will not receive the locks. Some filing is needed.

The halyard cleat does not seem to me to be robust enough.

A cleat or cam jamb will be needed for the sheet for long distance.

Stowage for the oars needs to be something other than tucking them under the center seat, that conflicts with carrying any amount of gear.

Using the oar as your depth sounder is not good. A one inch diameter PVC pipe marked on half foot lines, like I used to use on my Ensign, is needed

A fast deployment for the anchor is necessary. I had to wave off my first attempt to land as I did not have the line and anchor ready to go. Also need a smaller anchor. I used the anchor from the Ensign which is too big, unless your overnight unattended.

For safety I think LED running lights powered by a LiPo motorcycle battery that can be recharged from the car when the boat is on the trailer.

Not related to the boat but germane to the camping trip is I have to redo the dry bag stowage. It is folly to have large bags that you need to get into under way. A smaller bag to hold incidentals is better.

All in all it pretty much confirmed all my research about the Mockhorn clumps being a great camping destination and the CD14 is as small of a boat I would want to take that much gear with two people in water that open.

Notes from second sail April 2020

On April 14th I said out to Smith Island from the same launching ramp at Wise Point in Cape Charles. The idea was to see explore some of the interesting features on the island that I had noted on google earth. In particular the lighthouse on Smith Island was of interest to me. Prior to this trip I had made several modifications based on what I learned on the first.

First I was able to dress up the release face of the rudder hold down mechanism and that pretty well fixed the issue of it kicking up in March.

I created a shock cord loop for holding the hiking stick to the tiller. Much easier to handle the tiller rudder assembly.

I removed the forward rowing lock receptacles and cleaned up the casting flange that was preventing the locks from sliding in them. I used a round file and did the work on a vise.

I ran a easier to grab and shorter line for the centerboard pulleys. The line that was on it was brand new and thin. Its slippery surface made it hard to pull. At the same time, for the gear storage, I needed some way to tie dry bags in front of the centerboard trunk. Generally I believe you should wait a year before drilling a hole on your boat as many times what you think you need a hole for you do not. So I whipped the bitter end of the centerboard line with a loop to have a tie down point for the bags in case of a capsize. This way I have a tie down point I can use while I wait to see if I actually want to drill and mount some hardware there.

On the dry storage angle I was able to adapt a set of roll top dry saddle bags from my collection of motorcycle gear. With minimal adjustment the straps fit right over the centerboard trunk fine and provide some in close easy to reach dry storage.

Notes from thrid sail May 2020

I decided that the third row / sail out on the Cape Dory 14 was to be to Hog Island Virginia. The logistics of sailing to Hog Island would really test the whole concept of a barrier island exploration vessel. In addition to having to land on the island, I would have figure out how to sleep overnight on the boat. The reason is simple, of the islands off Virginia only Mockhorn Island allows camping overnight in the dispersed fashion. While I do plan to return to Mockhorn to camp upon its collection of small islets, this was going to be a longer and different journey.

They two closest launching ramps for Hog Island would be at Willis Warf and Red Bank Boat Ramp in Virginia. Either of these would require about a 7-mile passage across open Hog Island Bay. I have seen Hog Island Bay also referred to as Broadwater Bay. With a fetch that long, the winds would be key issue on a small open sailboat. I also wanted to time my arrival for a rising tide to make landing and departing the island easier. In my research, I found several interesting features about Hog Island to see. Some at the south end of the island and some at the north end. The Island is almost 7 miles long and about ¾ of a mile wide at its north end. The idea was to attempt to cover both of the areas in on trip, staying overnight. That was the idea anyway.

So why hog island? Well it has a very interesting history, see the Hog Island tab on the Barrier Islands page for some background into. On the island there are several historic structures, more about that on the Hog Island page. The idea was to land at the north end first, then after getting some pictures and video, go to the sound end staying the night at anchor somewhere betwixt the two. This brings me to the next big obstacle of the trip. How to sleep on the Cape Dory 14?

In studying the boat I noticed that there is basically a flat surface formed by the seats. Its not continuous enough to sleep on, but the basic form it there. Using a long piano hinge and two pieces of plywood cut I was able to make a small sleeping rack space that would match up to my 2.5 Thermarest sleeping pad I use when camping. With the folding rack in place I could lay out comfortable along the centerline of the boat. When not in use the plywood base folded into the area just forward of the centerboard and was secure in place. My original idea was to use the sail and three spars in some fashion to form a tent over the cockpit in case it rained and to provide some degree of privacy. No amount of rigging came up with a configuration that would suffice. So I ended up rigging a poly tarp as a boom tent over me. It was pretty easy to set up and should hold up in winds as the ends were open. In a real storm I would get wet, but the idea was to pick a weather window where I did not have to worry about that. I also was able to attach an extra set of motorcycle luggage around the mast and over the plywood rack base to carry extra gear. The bags had dry liners. The last modification for this trip was the addition of a LiPo 12VDC motorcycle battery to provide the ability to recharge my phone at and run the GPS continuously.

Notes from 5/23/20 Camping trip to Pax River

On memorial day weekend a couple of us had rented a paddle in camp site on the Patuxent River in Jug Bay. The camping sites were all closed due to Covid, but since the reservations were made in January, Jug Bay decided to let us go. It was a great time! The camp site was fantastic, lots of firewood and a clean port-a-potty. Total row was 6.2 miles over the two days with a lot of gear. At low tide Jug Bay is pretty shallow outside the channels. I ran out of water twice on way to the camp site getting stuck briefly in the mud. On the way back I just stayed in the channel. I rigged a anchor with haul line to set the boat out in the water at night. The Patuxent River is filthy compared to the Atlantic barriers bays. Lots of oil, and particulate suspend in the water. The smell wasn't bad, but there is a nasty scum line on the boat that is pretty gross. I had to take all the anchor lines, which were visibly stained, and soak them in a bucket with simple green. But all in all it was a great time.

Set up suggestions from my brother 6/2/20

My brother who builds racing sail boats and races all over the world gave me some of the following feedback. His points with my reply underneath.

Centerline hiking strap from back of cbd trunk to front of rear seat tank. need this in case you get into sudden higher winds - will serve to help keep you in the boat while sitting on the rail
1. 1. I have the hiking straps from Dulcina and was planning to install them after some modification
You gotta cover that bow - you are one surf into the back of a wave event away from swamping and capsizing. not much buoyancy in the bow of that thing. get into a following sea while transitioning to shallow water and its surprising how you can get into trouble without realizing it.
1. 1. On the bow digging in you are 100% correct. I don't know if you read the description of why I was running with the sail down but it was exactly that reason. The wind was running 180 out from about 2 knot current and the standing waves were 2-3 foot high. With no way to de-power the boat was very twitchie. In addition to taking water over the bow, the rudder would come half way out as she peaked over a wave and I would loose rudder authority if I needed anything other than a slight input. I dropped the rig and just ran thru it with bare pole and me standing and it was fine. As soon as I cleared the waves I put the rig up and finished sailing to the ramp.
You gotta secure that water resistant bag inside the boat if you haven't already done so - also so that it will be inside the boat after righting after a capsize event. if its dragging in the water after righting the added drag and yaw moment could contribute to another capsize. the sealed bag in the bilge will also displace some water so when righted there will be less to bail out and therefore the boat will float higher, increasing the likelihood of self rescue.
1. 1. All the bags in the boat were tied in place. The tie down points need to be streamlined with additional hardware. Also access plates for the water tight chambers would be nice as I could stow some of that stuff in there.
Make the main sheet long enough that, if you let it go, the boom is able to swing all the way in front of the boat - if you get into an over powered situation you can let go and the main will weathervane all the way around and decrease the likelihood of a capsize or death roll. With all that twist in the sail you are in a situation where if you ease the sail in response to a gust the net heeling moment will shift from leeward to windward across a very small change in boom angle to the boat - if you are not sensitive to this - and you may or may not be - this could result in sudden and seemingly unexpected death roll to windward in the event of either a large wind gust and/or decrease in speed due to stuffing the bow into a wave. with the main sheet really long you can always just let go and fail safe - if it does not go all the way forward you will flip.
1. 1. You are 100% spot on about the main sheet not being long enough. Part of the reason I dropped the rig. Later as I was sailing up the narrow channel, in addition to not gybing around and only tacking when sailing dead down wind, I just luffed into the wind, dropped the sail, tacked the boat, then hoisted the sail on the other tack. A new version of the "chicken jybe" for me...:-) It was way over powered sailing dead down wind. I thought about rowing the entire distance but the two knot current I was bucking would have taken me a while. It was safe as the channel was narrow and other than making a mess I would not have been at risk if I floundered.
Keep a knot in the end of the main sheet set to juuuust allow it to swing all the way around - so you do not get the main sheet wrapped under the bow in when released all the way - this will enable you to recover. recover by pulling the main sheet in a bit - you will get a strong roll to weather so head up. try to get the boat to nearly 90 degrees to the wind sit to windward and sheet in, head up a small amount and then get going again.
1. 1. I had a knot in the end of the too short main sheet you saw in the video. When I go to a longer sheet I will be sure to keep the knot as I have done in the past.
As for reefing, a slab reef system should work - you will have to ease the halyard and tie the main down to the boom. best to do this prior to raising the sail but it can be rigged to function with the sail up and while sailing. The slab reef should result in the boom higher in the boat than normal - so that you don't trip over the boom and capsize if it were to hit the waves while heeling.
1. 1. Reefing of some sort is going to be necessary. I have thought it through and a second halyard that attached to the sail need to be installed. When I get back from Colorado I will bring it down to your place to get your input.
You might want to check to be certain that neither the centerboard nor rudder will become detached from the boat and sink in the case of a turtle event. They need to be pinned or captured to the boat in some way. I think you said the centerboard was aluminum.
1. 1. Centerboard is 316 stainless steel. It can't come totally away as the lines retain it, but there is a problem. It needs a preventer to hold it extended. If I turtle I will fall back into the trunk. I tie a short line from the rudder to the boat to keep it if I get ass over tea kettle. The good news is the rudder was not kicking up under way due to cleaning up the engagement lugs.
Do you have a compass? get one. I was sailing off Hyannis MA once and a fog bank rolled in. We had about 60 seconds to figure out which way to go and get a compass heading before it closed up. 200 foot visibility the rest of the day. Sailing where you are near the ocean this sort of stuff can happen. I have seen this on the potomac in the winter. gps works - when it works.
1. 1. I had two redundant nav systems. The primary was a Garmin GPS 76. Waterproof and floats. It has a compass that works independent of GPS reception. It was tied to the boat. The second was my waterproof phone with had all the data on it and an internal magnetic compass should gps blink out. It was zipped in the pocket on my chest in a Otter-box heavy duty case. I also had a small LiPo motorcycle battery with charging cord should I need extra electrons for either. I do have the compass from Dulcina and eventually I want to install it. I have to send it back to the manufacture to get it serviced.

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