Wow.. I can't believe I forgot to post this video on this blog.. This was back in November 2015 not long after I purchased the boat. This shows the 80 mile trip bringing transporting my boat home. It's also the first time I actually saw the boat (besides pictures)..



(The following is from my description on youtube back then, about the trip)

Transport of my recently purchased Grampian 26 sailboat from Sapelo Island to Tybee Island in Georgia. (about 80 miles).
 I purchased the boat from Fred Hay for $950,, who is the head biologist and manager of Sapelo Island (he works for the DNR). I had found it on Craigslist.

Since I'm currently completely inexperienced with boating such a distance, my friend George volunteered to captain the trip, and he brought along his friend Toni as well.

Emill, a retired WWII veteran, (another friend of mine) drove us all down to Meridian where I met up with Freds wife, saw the boat for the first time and paid for the boat and motor and received the bill of sale.
Next , Emil took us to the grocery store, where I lost my mind and bought way more groceries than we could ever possibly eat.. it was $118 dollars at the register, we were all shocked! We considered putting some of it back, but we had already took so much of Emils time, and it was already 2pm, and didn't feel like sorting through it all, so I said "screw it" and paid for it..

 Emil then drove us to the gas station.. where I realized I had mistakenly given Freds wife $1,000 for the boat (the other $50 I had in the envelope for the gas). So didn't have enough money left for gas!... sigh.. Well, George paid, and we filled 3 or 4 gas cans, and there was already some gas in the boat.

Finally Emil dropped us off at the boat, and he loaned me his GPS,... (It was a Garmin, the kind you use in a car, and it came in quiet handy. It showed exactly where we were in the intracoastal waterway, and where we had been, the current speed and direction, and it told me a couple of times that I was not on the road!)

We had to kind of maneuver the boat around the back of a Ferry which had docked there preparing to pick up some group, and finally we were on our way..

Although an acceptable set of sails (a main and a jib),  and all rigging was included, we have never sailed, - no one knew how, so we motored the entire trip with an older Honda 9.9 which I purchased from an associate of Fred's for $500 - The motor ran flawlessly the entire trip as the sails lay lonely, unused on the deck and in the head!

I gave Fred a call to inform him I had given his wife the extra $50, and to ask him about the new covers for the cushions that weren't there.. He explained he does have them and we'll get together soon so I can get them.

Anyway, It was late in the afternoon on Friday, November 21, 2015, at about 3pm when we left the Sapelo Island Ferry dock in Meridan,  We traveled until it got dark somewhere in the vicinity of St. Catherines Sound, and that's where we anchored for the night.

George and Toni took the Vberth, and I folded down the table of the dinette, it was very comfortable, but I didn't sleep much at all.. I repeatedly would get up and check to make sure the anchor wasn't dragging,.. it never did.. (George later told me I had a big anchor for a boat this size.. I don't know, but I take his word for it)
My mind raced with ideas and plans of upgrades and cosmetic alterations I will do next summer when I have some cash flow again. Oh, and yeah, I obviously need to learn to sail!

We pulled anchor shortly after daybreak Saturday, Most of the day was overcast, but it never rained, a little chilly with the strong Northeaster, but a pleasant ride anyway. My video camera went dead about halfway through the trip, mainly because I unknowingly had it in my pocket filming for about 20 minutes! (I filmed some more of the trip using my el-cheapo android tablet, but the video and sound was terrible! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u0TmN_Q4yIA so I gave up on that).

After a few hours I went below and took a hard nap in the aft berth. When I awoke we were getting close to Wilmington Island, and we made it all the way there by dark.
The original plan was to dock it at George's house on Wilmington (the next island over from Tybee) but unfortunately turned out to be an insufficient draft at low tide.
So we temporarily docked it at a friend of Toni's nearby.

This weekend (it actually ended up being three weeks later) we're going to anchor it across the back river at Tybee where it'll be close to me for the rest of the winter.

I bought a cheap inflatable boat from Walmart (was about $20 with oars and a foot pump) to get back and forth to it, until spring, when I'll have more income, at which point I'll probably dock it at Tybee Marina - Right now I simply can't afford the extra $320 a month it cost to dock there.

 I've wanted a sailboat for years, - an RV on the water, and now I finally have one, and I really love this boat!
I know a couple people who are sailors or have sailed that are going to assist me a little bit on learning to sail, and I really am looking forward to it... I'm actually going to use it frequently.
Eventually I'll take some long cruises.

The boat seems to be very sound, no soft spots, keel bolts are good,  recent deck hull joints rebed, bulkheads good, electrical good, new cabin sole,  however, the hatch cover hinges are in poor condition and needs repair or replacement, and the boat needs a good cleaning, paint, hull needs to be scraped and painted, but nothing major.

I bought Don Casey' "This Old Boat" book, a highly regarded Chilton manual of sorts specifically written for old boats  like this, and have already read most of it.. No old boat owner should be without it!

So that's my story, and here is the video of my first trip on my new old sailboat
 Comments welcomed..

A childhood memory concerning boats..

Suddenly I recall a book I had read as a child called The Wind in the Willows which was originally published in 1908. The same guy who wrote Mr Toads Great Adventure. Now in the public domain and freely downloadable from a number of sources as pdf or audiobook.

What's this got to do with the Grampian 26 or sailing?.. Nothing really, but for some reason a memory about the rat and the mole rowing down the river entered my mind, so I did a quick search and came across this quote from the book.. In the story, Mole and Rat are rowing up the river in the boat, when Rat explains:

"..Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing — absolutely nothing — half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats. Simply messing... about in boats — or with boats. In or out of 'em, it doesn't matter. Nothing seems really to matter, that's the charm of it.

Whether you get away, or whether you don't; whether you arrive at your destination or whether you reach somewhere else, or whether you never get anywhere at all, you're always busy, you never do anything in particular; and when you've done it there's always something else to do, and you can do it if you like, but you'd much better not..."

What a great quote!

Yoluh test on a Grampian 26

Ok, I may be going way off the beaten path here, off course, or whatever.. but I accidently came across this thing called a "Yoluh" during a "Grampian 26" google search which took me to http://sveasygo.blogspot.com/2011/04/easy-go-yuloh.html This guy and his wife push their good ole boat with one!

Here are a few snippets from their blog:

"..The Chinese yuloh is a viable alternative auxiliary propulsion devise for small to medium size sailing yachts. The thoughts of a Chinese lady with child slung on her back who can propel a 2 to 3 tonne sampan at up to 3 knots for prolonged periods is enticement enough for me... We have found, through experimentation, that it is indeed possible to abandon the Internal Combustion Engine for an environmentally superior form of auxiliary propulsion... 
..a Grampian 26 fibreglass boat was a test for both rowing and sculling with conventional yulohs. Rowing was a success and sculling left a great deal to be desired. The future of moving the yacht without a motor was a firmly planted idea and has encouraged our continued ongoing research...
The desire to push the yuloh quickly is counterproductive. Our modest experiments to date show that about 20 complete stroke cycles per minute, (20 to the left and 20 to the right for 40 strokes total) can be maintained for extended periods...
 Physical fitness will improve with use. Stomach muscles, arm muscles and the entire cardio respiratory system will leave one tired after extended use. The yuloh is a product of an ancient civilization and its use was ingrained at a very young age. Remember the baby mentioned at the beginning. In an era of rediscovery the yuloh is a device that is practical and valuable in the world of modern sailing, yachting, and small craft.
View the Photo Essay of the Easy Go Yuloh in action  "

On another site is provided plans for The $10 Yuloh! A cheap introduction to "scientific sculling." http://www.simplicityboats.com/yulohpage2.html
Snippets:

".. "yulohing" has been described as "scientific sculling" and it has remained the oar locomotion of
choice in the Orient for hundreds of years and maybe longer. Was it  only a matter of long standing tradition that kept the Chinese or Japanese from adopting western rowing techniques once they were exposed to them? I think not. Let me try to explain the Yuloh's advantages...   ...Like the western oar, the Yuloh makes use of a fulcrum and a lever, however rather than merely having your muscle and your body weight at the working end of the lever, you have a lanyard attached to the deck or bottom of the boat. This gives great assistance to the rower in counteracting the pressure of the water against the business end of the blade, which translates into forward thrust. "

A much more technical research approach look is found in this 12 page document entitled; Some Thoughts on the Yuloh, which concludes by saying..:
".. It would appear that western attempts at making yulohs with the bend designed to stow neatly around the gunwale and not designed for easiest use are not ideal, and by not placing the camber on the lower surface cannot achieve high efficiency. They do not encourage good use of the lanyard and good technique. It would appear to be pointless to make the shorter length yulohs used in most western attempts which do not encourage a relaxed stance. If the design can be optimised and the technique learnt then it may be possible for a westerner to compete with the little lady with the (grand) child slung on her back to produce good performance for long periods."

 

Here's a video of a 75 year old man setting out from Newport Beach Ca.for an approximant 3 month trip to Hawaii, then another 4 months to Japan using nothing but a Yoluh on his 20 footer with no engine or sails.. (crazy!).. A little research determined he actually made it to Hawaii in only 48 days, not sure if he went on to Japan or not..

 

 

There are quiet a few Yoluh videos on youtube, here's one of girl who appears to be making good progress!



I doubt I'll ever put a Yoluh on my Grampian, but you never know.. It's kinda fascinating

The port windows in the original design..



The Rudder - Volume 84 - 1968 -  Page 53

Somebody (on the Grampian Facebook site) noticed a peculiarity about the 1968 magazine review I posted about the first Grampian 26 as it was being produced. (right)

I had never noticed it before, but now I see the same thing in another 1968 advertisement (below)..

Evidently, the original design called for two large windows on each side.
So far as I am aware, none were built that way..
All G26's actually have a total of two large windows and four small ones (as shown in the last photo below).

Another peculiarity, is in the description (right) which states: "cockpit-and galley-access 8-cu. ft. icebox" ..But in reality, the large icebox is actually only accessible via the cockpit.. However, it does appear, at first glance anyway; that an access might be gained by modifying where the wood panel behind the dinettes aft bench is..

 

 Yachting Magazine late 1968

 The actual placement of ports

It's not useful information, but it is an interesting bit of trivia!

Found myself looking at that picture again..

Found myself looking at that picture again.. On the grampianowners.com website there's a picture in the G26 image gallery showing something I would like to do similarly on mine..
This is it, it's a small picture, so I have it blown up here, which is why it  looks so fuzzy:

http://www.grampianowners.com/G26/g26photo9.html


The galley appears to be cut back about 15", thus leaving the cabinet about 14" deep, and not much room left inside on the lower shelf due to the hulls curve, Almost half width of the exposed area of the aft berth is also cut back equal to the galley, and then two quick about 32 degree turns to bring it back out to match up with the rest of the berth and continues as normal beneath the cockpit.

This all was obviously was done (or so I presume) for the accompaniment of the wood/coal heater- but the final result also appears to have all but eliminated the boxy interior feel of the entire cabin, and adds an increased sense of comfort and openness in general.

It appears the removed portions would not lessen structural support for the hull, however, I suspect it might turn out being a much trickier job than it appears..  If I do end up going this route, it'll have to be well drawn out on paper before cutting anything back.

Drawback is that loss of storage space, but it could be recouped, and there's really a lot of storage capability on this boat anyway. It shouldn't be to expensive, and it will be easier to insulate that area while it's exposed during reconstruction, as I will be insulating everywhere anyway.

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My favorite two sources on how to insulate:

The Frugal Mariner: Insulating your boat

If you, like most people, want to insulate to keep your boat warm, you'll find it easier .... I am not an expert on insulating wooden boats, but I have had friends who ...

How To Insulate a Sailboat – Part 1 : SanJuanSufficiency.com

This article presents the research I've done in anticipation of insulating the hull of my sailboat. I'll cover the actual work in a future article.

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I'm definitely going to insulate, but, at this point, the reconstruction of the galley/aft-berth is still only just a thought; but I really like the idea - which is why I keep coming back to it.

TwentySixFeet - Life aboard a little boat

Came across a website today called "TwentySix Feet" by another Grampian 26 owner.. I've never seen this website before.. This guy named Ciprian ( Chip ) now lives aboard his G26 in Miami, Here's a brief excerpt from his "The Crew" page of how he came across his G26..

'...So I started looking for a sailboat, something cheap that I could afford and not too big since I never sailed in my life. And thanks to another video, I discovered Freedom, a 26 feet Grampian that was sailed from Canada to Florida by two young Canadians. And since their plans of sailing the boat to the Bahamas the next summer changed, I found out that she was for sale, and two days later I decided to buy her. About a month later, I was already on my way to Glades Boat Storage to bring her to Miami. And that’s how the adventure started…
At this time I’m alone aboard the sailboat as skipper and crew at the same time. And I guess it will stay like this for a while, enjoying sailing and living aboard..."

I've only glanced over the site so far, and shot him a brief email saying hello, and to check out my Grampian 26 blog... Well, basically I said to ignore my actual blog, but be sure to check out the "Front Pages" section from the menu at right side of the page, because that's where the goodies are!

His boat looks to be real nice, and further inspiration to improve my own. I'll be sure to take a closer look at his blog later, and will add it to my Grampian 26 Links section soon.

Be sure to check out his site at: http://twentysixfeet.com/

Addum: It just occurred to me that his boat is probably the same one I had mentioned about on ebay a few moths ago in a previous post here: http://grampian26sailboat.blogspot.com/2016/02/blue-blue-and-yellow-too.html .. How many yellow Grampian 26's could there be in Florida? - (His is yellow) Must be one in the same!

"An interesting biological fact"

 "..And it is an interesting biological fact that all of us have in our veins the exact same percentage of salt in our blood that exists in the ocean, and, therefore, we have salt in our blood, in our sweat, in our tears. We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea  - whether it is to sail or to watch it - we are going back from whence we came."
 John F. Kennedy
[Excerpt from his remarks at the Dinner for the America's Cup Crews, September 14 1962]”