Welcome to the Mid Atlantic

 03 Jan 22:

Hey WILLOW, Welcome to Virginia!

You too SMEDLEY.

Truth be told, this weather is Old Hat for the Sorg WILLOW, which was built in Detroit and spent most of her life in St. Clair, Michigan. And the Alcort Catfish SMEDLEY spent a great deal of time in Schenectady, NY. They are probably much happier with this weather than the wilting Florida heat.

The temp dropped from 60F to 30F, we got close to 4 inches of rain over 24 hours, but only the last bit of precipitation froze. Our max wind gust was 13.6. I think we like this, thanks Frida.

Trailer and Dolly TETRIS

 31 Dec 21:

We are trailer sailors again, trying to figure out to get 8 different types of boats from our high and dry boat yard out to the local beaches and boat ramps. The Armada of 15 boats ranges in size from an 8 foot punt to a 19 foot Drascombe Lugger. 4 of the largest boats, the 13 foot Catfish, 15 foot Sorg Runabout, 16 foot Day Sailer II and the 19 foot Drascombe Lugger have dedicated trailers, so that challenge is solved. What to do with the other 11 boats? The punt (1), kayaks (2) and Sailfish/Sunfish (6) fleets will fit on our 5x10 utility trailer using their Dynamic Dollies, and the 17 foot Grumman canoe has a nice car top loader. 

But what to do with the 14 foot Penobscot? ST. JACQUES is a tad heavy for consistent beach dolly launching and possibly too long for the utility trailer. We woke up this morning thinking that we may need yet another trailer. We found a few on Facebook Marketplace, but before we plopped down $1000 for another trailer we decided to see if the Penobscot would fit on the utility trailer. One obstacle was that the Penobscot dolly was over 5 feet wide, it wouldn't fit on the trailer bed. We fixed that by moving the Penobscot to a 5 foot wide Sunfish dolly, a feat in itself. Next we moved the punt off of the trailer and rolled the Penobscot up onto the trailer deck. We raised the ramp and had 4 foot of boat extending forward of the bed rails, but the dolly handle did not extend past the hitch coupler, a good thing. The weight of the boat was centered just forward of the trailer axle, a good spot, and the tongue weight sat around 120 pounds, another good thing. We threw on some straps, with plenty of spots to tie down the boat.

The only drawback is that the hatch on the tow vehicle can not be opened with this setup, but we can get around that by loading gear into the vehicle first and loading the boat last, then reverse the operation at the ramp. Turns out that works well, most of the gear, PFDs, towels, snacks, etc... can be transported in the boat down to the ramp versus multiple trips to and from the parking lot.

So Huzzah! No need to buy another trailer! Next we gave SCUPPERS a rinse with TILEX and fresh water, then stowed her in the Carriage House. At 62 pounds she's easy to move around, and this might be her semi-permanent spot, as I can work around her or roll her outside when we need more access.

The forecast is for rain and cold over the next few days, so we retired ST. JACQUES back to the Sunfish Shack. Shhhhh, don't tell her that she is not a Sunfish. She got a new spot on the starboard side, there is a good chance that she will see more action than the Sunfish, as she can row 4 crew or sail 3. Sunfish WAVE, in the center spot, will probably move over to the port side and have a straight shout out of the Shack when her name is called.  She can carry up to 500 pounds of crew, so when the water warms back up she'll be a fun boat to take out, along with a kayak or canoe. Speaking of kayaks and canoes, we have plans to put a rack on the utility trailer so we can carry kayaks and/or canoe over the top of a bed loaded boat.

Rewind to the first conversation of the morning, Skipper decreed that it was time to move WILLOW from the back porch to her temporary driveway spot, so we can hook her up easier during this cooler season. Skipper did the driving over the muddy backyard, she has the mud and sand driving skills from her beach days on South Padre Island. I did the wing walking, if I had done the driving, we'd have been calling a tow truck to pull out the tractor, boat, trailer and other vehicles I would have gotten stuck.

The front hitch performed flawlessly, pulling about 1200 pounds of boat, motor and trailer.

WILLOW will eventually be parked under a cover between the Carriage House and the RV, creating a straight shot to pull her in and out.

WILLOW, CYANE and ST. JACQUES. "Looks like a boatyard" is what Capn Jack would say. 

Emptying out the back porch creates room to plan our screened porch and deck. And it gives Skipper the opportunity to pull out the pressure washer today :)

Sorg 15 Runabout WILLOW 12 Jul 20 Functional Check Float and Other Tidbits

12 Jul 20:

Air Temp 82F, Dewpoint 74F, Winds NE at 4 knots. Light swell.

We put a new lead acid battery in WILLOW and got some fresh gas with Merine StaBil added, time to take her out for a Functional Check Float (FCF). Lowered her cradle lift and headed towards the river looking for dolphin, they were either sleeping or were good at hide and seek. The motor ran great, water was flat once we left the bay and got into the river channel, so WILLOW stretched her legs and sped up to about 20 mph. We took a long sweeping turn past a townhouse we used to own and headed back to the pier. Florida outings are not lasting too long this time of year, heat index was already approaching 100F when we got everything put away.

The wooden lapstrake hull is holding up well, she needs a repaint some time in the next year as we are starting to see a few paint pops over fasteners that need attention. This paint was RustOleum Topside Oyster White, it's been our favorite Oyster White and it has been on the boat since 2014, with a lot of time in the Florida sun. I'm not sure if a more expensive paint would have held up longer, and I am not sure how many coats, primer, etc went on with this finish. So when it comes time to repaint we'll evaluate what colors are there and decide if we are going to use Topside again. We'd need a color just as beautiful to switch.

Bow lines. We like em. When we launch and retrieve I drive the tow vehicle and Skipper handles the lines. We have a nice long bow line, she grabs it before WILLOW goes in the water and then she can stand clear of the vehicle and trailer. At our ramp next door she has enough bow line to walk over to the dock and tug WILLOW behind her while I park the trailer, bow line is probably 18 feet long or so. We have also found a long bow line handy for different docks, plenty of room to get to cleats and some left over to act as a spring line. We also have 4 other dock lines on board, 2 aft and 2 amidships. We normally don't need them but don't like not having them.

We are also confused by the number of boats that we see launch next door that don't have lines, or boat hooks, people do some strange acrobatics to try and keep control of their boats next to the ramp and dock, many times dangerous stunts. We saw a young woman trying to fend a boat off the pier recently, no lines, no boat hooks, all she had was her arms and legs. She actually fell in and hit the boat with her head on the way down, luckily a glancing blow. ANd talk about acrobatics, you should see the lengths people go to to keep from getting their feet wet, climbing in and out of truck beds, over bumpers, across wet trailer tongues, up and over bows.....people, just bring a towel and some ramp shoes!

The Suzuki 25 still runs great. We are on the list to get some Preventitive Maintenance done in a few weeks, oil change, impeller replacement and we are going to maybe get an On/Off switch put on the battery box.

She's looking pretty good for age 61.

Log of WILLOW.

Outboard Motor Tips by Gary

06 Jul 20:

We bought our Suzuki outboards from Lou's Marine in Gulf Breeze, so far a 2 1/2 hp, a 4, a 6 and a 25. I scheduled our Sorg Runabout WILLOW for some Preventative Maintenance, bought her a new lead acid battery and asked Gary what he sees causing unscheduled maintenance. He says the top 3 reasons are bad fuel, bad fuel and bad fuel. He recommends using marine grade gas with no ehtanol, adding a fuel stabilizer like StaBil 360 and installing a water separating fuel filter.

WILLOW will get an oil change and a new water pump impeller, and we are also going to put an On/Off switch for the battery on the battery case. Speaking of batteries, I asked Gary if the AGM batteries were better and he said no, that Suzuki requires lead acid and using an AGM will actually void warranty coverage for some items. There are issues with the AGM batteries providing proper voltage to the Suzuki computers. I also asked Gary about chargers, we are getting a "Smart charger" for the battery that provides short and long term charging and he said that will work great.

Log of WILLOW.

PWC Lift for our Runabout WILLOW

19 Mar 20:

We picked a jet ski lift to handle our runabout WILLOW. 1500 pound capacity, plenty for her 600 pound hull. The bunks sit under the boat's stringers.



Log of WILLOW.

1000th Post! 1959 Sorg Runabout WILLOW 10 Feb 20 Bath Time

10 Feb 20:

Time for WILLOW to get a bath but first, this is our 1000th blog post. We started the blog 7 years ago, with the hopes of sharing information on small boats, getting them back out into their natural habitat. Along the way we have restored about 30 boats, plus maintained our Armada. We might have added a few boats to our collection, namely ZIP, CHIP, ZSA ZSA, WILLOW, WINNIE, SCOUT, SMEDLEY, SACAGAWEA, CLARK and ST. JACQUES. It has been fun and we enjoy seeing boats go off with new Skippers. We have learned a lot along the way from kindred spirits and look forward to future adventures and collaborations.

Back to business, we had the cover off of WILLOW for several weeks, she went back on the lift after the end of hurricane season and we hoped to run her about. Weather and timing have not cooperated and this time of year the pine pollen is horrendous, so WILLOW was getting hammered with pollen, humid mornings and random rain storms. The pollen turns into mold if we don't remove it, so on the 10th she got a bath. We left her on the lift, grabbed a bucket, some Dawn dishwashing liquid and the garden hose and went to work. She got a freshwater soaping top to bottom, we ran the bilge pump to keep her pumped out. Once she was washed off I used our cordless wet vac to remove the last bits of water. WILLOW has a lot of frames in her bilge, with gaps where the frames pass over the lapstrake planking. And around her passenger compartment she has even more intermediate frames. All of those little gaps collect water and debris, so we spend a bit of time vacuuming out all of those laps and gaps. Then we let the residual moisture air dry.

We picked the 4 stroke Suzuki 25 because it had tilt/trim, we need that in our shallow water and it works great to run a different speeds, and with different loads of 2-4 passengers. The 4 stroke 25s put out the same amount of thrust as the original 2 stroke 35, plus it burns cleaner, uses straight marine gas and is quieter.

The stock 6 gallon gas tank was too big for the boat, so we switched over to two 3 gallon tanks that fit neatly under the aft seat. When not in use or drying the bilge we set them on the stringers, that allows plenty of airflow. When we remember we head out on the tank with the lowest quantity, if we run that dry we should have enough in the other tank to get home. And for weight and balance we put the battery portside aft, that helps balance the driver weight a bit. The bilge pump also has an automatic float switch.

WILLOW's steering was upgraded from cable and drum to push/pull at the suggestion of our Suzuki dealer, much safer. He also wired all of the electrical and put in a USB port.

Ready for Florida Spring.

Once she got dried out we put her cover back, the yellow cloud of pine pollen will be around til mid Spring.

Log of WILLOW.

Sorg 15 Runabout WILLOW 04 Dec 19 Morning Coffee

04 Dec 19:

We needed to borrow WILLOW's trailer so we launched her and took a little cruise with some coffee. 50F with light winds, saw a few pelicans.

Put her on the lift. Now that the Summer Sauna and Hurricane Seasons are over we can get a little lapstrake time.

Took the trailer for a ride to check out a nearby Sunfish, WAVE had a few words of encouragement to say before we left.

Marine Traffic Control board updated.

Log of WILLOW.

Sorg 15 Runabout WILLOW 11 Nov 19 Cover

11 Nov 19:

We had 7 1/2 inches of rain on 30 Oct and I was wondering how WILLOW's did in keeping the bilge dry. We took the Sunbrella cover off and found about a cup of water in the bilge, sucked it out with our Porter Cable cordless shop vac. We were happy to find that the boat was pretty dry and there was not any indication of mold or mildew as a result of the deluge. We don't plan to store WILLOW out in the direct path of rain and sun for much longer, she'll either go back on the lift or into the Carriage House for a bit.

Log of WILLOW.

Sorg Runabout WILLOW 09 Oct 19 Storm Cover

09 Oct 19:

Lots of tropical disturbances boiling up in the Gulf, so we pulled WILLOW off the lift and put her under cover. We thought we were going to move her up to the Tidewater area but we couldn't get insurance written on her up there, as they just had Dorian go through a few days earlier. Ironic. The cover is holding up great, it's about 4 years old now, we snapped a few photos of the boat for insurance purposes, living near the ater is awesome!

Sorg 15 Runabout WILLOW 04 Sep 19 Detail Shots

04 Sep 19:

Getting an insurance binder on WILLOW and they wanted some current photos, here are some of the detail shots. We like these photos because they show the equipment that we carry vs some glamor shots we see where it looks like a boat show.

Log of WILLOW.