Just a quick post launch update… We spent about a week after
the launch tied up at the pier at our Mare Island build site finishing up
details prior to the trip home. The boat certainly feels much more at home in
the water than she did on blocks on the pier. We spent most of week
commissioning the plumbing systems, and putting all the basics onboard for the
trip down to Sausalito. This is about a 25 mile trip and was a good shakedown
for the propulsion related systems. After some basic dock trials and a quick
run around Mare Island Straits we were good to go. Our good friends Chris and
Inka from Galilee harbor met us in the harbor Skiff and acted as chase boat for
the first few miles. Once we got down into San Pablo bay, things were running so
well that we had everyone ride home on Kama Hele, towing the skiff behind.
We arrived at Galillee Harbor about 3 hours later to a very nice homecoming
with all our friends and neighbors. The boat handled great and after getting
comfortable with the pivot point and turn rate, maneuvering with the single
screw and big rudder was predictable and drama free. We ran this first trip at
1700rpm on average, which gave us between 7 and 10 knots (varied with the
current at the change of the tide). Our fuel burn was 2.5-2.75 gallons per hour
at this speed. A Couple of weeks after this, we ran back to Mare Island to meet
a fuel truck back at the build site (50 mile round trip) so we could get some
diesel in the tanks. On this trip we were able to play with the speed and fuel
burn a little more. There seems to be a sweet spot at 1250-1300 rpm where we
are running 6.5-7kts and only burning about 1.5 gallons per hour. At this speed
the boat feels like she is just coasting along with little effort and very
little noise and vibration from the engine and running gear. With a sail rig up
I think this may be a very good motor-sailing speed. Fueling went fine with no
issues with the plumbing or tanks. The single camlock fill pipe and manifold
system worked as planned and the big 1” tank vents (two per tank) allowed us to
fill at a pretty quick rate (up to 80 gal per minute). We are now carrying
about 80% of our total fuel capacity of 1580 gallons. The boat trims pretty
nicely with the fuel divided among all 6 storage tanks and we still look to
have decent capacity for stores and cargo. Now that we're home, our pace of work on the boat has slowed as we attempt to get back to a more "normal" lifestyle. We've been doing a lot of little
domestic projects lately and I’ll post some pictures of those soon.
