Getting To Know Our New Boat

Getting to know our boat, Kokomo

It's been two full weeks now that we have owned the boat and we headed back to Elliott Bay Marina to spend Saturday and Saturday night on it. We wanted to utilize this time to figure out all the ins and outs of the boat and also take my brother in law out on the sound with us for tips and practice.

The first thing Scott and Kurt did, was open up the engine hatch and check everything out. We had just had the oil changed this week by Monkey Fist Marine in the marina and all looked great there.  They said it really needed it badly. Remember, the previous owner hadn't ran the boat in almost two years!

Kurt wanted to look at the spark plugs and instantly that one cracked. So off I went to West Marine to get a bunch of spark plugs and some other stuff, including self repair tape for the "just in case" incidents.  They replaced a few that they had removed and Scott will do the rest of them when in a few weeks.

Then we headed out to the sound, so Kurt could listen to the engines and make sure everything sounded great. To be honest, I got freaked out last weekend when the engines would make different sounds as we moved across the sound, so I wanted Kurt (who used to be a Chief Engineer for the Ferries) to listen to them.

As we pulled out of Elliott Bay, a bizarre wave came at us - it was absolutely HUGE and we took a 6' nose dive. There were no ferries, no freighters  and no cruise ships. It was unexplainable! Let's say it freaked all of us out.  Kurt wanted to head to Blake Island across the sound.  It was a bit choppy with NNW at 8 mph, but he wasn't worried at all.

About 1/4 of the way of the trip, we were going full throttle when we heard and felt a huge "thug"! What the hell was that?!! Yep, we hit a log and thank God, it was not a big one. We were all okay, but now I was a bit white knuckled between the white caps and the log.  The key to the trip, was we were finding out that the "sounds" we were hearing was that there was cavitation in the engines as we were going up and over the waves.

Cavitation: The aeration (bubbling) and boiling effect of water caused by creation of a low pressure area. Generally caused by a solid shape (propeller blade) passing through the water, in such a position and speed, that a low pressure area is formed due to the inability to move through the water in nonresistant manner. An example is, a propeller blade that has a rough edge would not cut efficiently through the water, thus creating a low pressure area. If the pressure drops below the vapor pressure, a cavitation bubble will form in that region. These bubbles will collapse when they reach the higher pressure region of the blade. This causes a rapid change in pressure and can result in physical erosion. You may notice burns (erosion) at some area on the face of the blade.

Soon, we planed the boat and found the perfect RPM and we made it to Blake Island State Park in about 40 minutes.

They have 30 minute docks and overnight moorage. We pulled up to the 30 minute dock and walked around a little bit. We checked out Tillicum Village and then we had lunch on the boat. Of course, I had to get my photo with my Cougar flag (I do this in every new city).

Soon, the park ranger came knocking on our door - we had stayed too long.  By now the winds had shifted slightly and as we returned back, we had to close up all of the cockpit, as we were getting sprayed everywhere.

By the time we got back to Elliott Bay, the winds were fairly strong from the north, at about 12 mph. We headed to the fuel dock and twice, the winds pushed us off of the dock. The staff at the fuel dock was super helpful and on the third approach we nailed it. It didn't help that a 70' yacht was sharing the same fuel dock! LOL

I'm always a bit nervous doing the "S Turn" back to our slip between 3 yachts, especially in the wind, but Scott did an amazing job.  We still don't have a slip mate yet on our starboard side and so we have a bit of "room" when docking. This time, the northerly winds pushed us right into our side of the dock and he did great! We wouldn't have even hit them if they were there. LOL  Mac was happy the ride was over too. It was a bit too bumpy for him! As you can see by the photo of the cabin - things went flying! Lesson learned - secure everything!

We then spent the next two hours cleaning all of the salt water off of the boat! It was a mess! We couldn't see a thing out of any of the windows!

The best thing we love about boating, is relaxing after a fun day, in the sun with gorgeous surroundings! This weekend, we had a new yacht neighbor join us "Invader". It is one of the largest yachts in North America at 164' and it is owned by a media mogul.

We ended the day grilling steaks on our new Magma grill - it works perfect for us! Mac surely was tuckered out too.  Another thing we learned about the boat this weekend, is how fast we go thru water. I was prepping dinner, when I heard the water pump - we were nearly bone dry! We have an antibacterial hose that we use to fill the water tanks directly from our dock.

After dinner, we strolled to the west end of the marina to take in the sunset - Elliott Bay really is a beautiful place.  Unfortunately, for the month of June we won't get to spend much time on the boat, as we have trips or commitments. We will try and squeeze in a night towards the end of the month - but will definitely use it a lot in July and August. Until then........

#KokomoSeattle