Thursday, September 20, 2018

Shattemuc on the Hudson River - At a dock

The Hudson River is navigatable for some very large ships
The trip down the Hudson was delightful. We had an ebb tide so we were making 8.5 kts near the end of the run. I had sold my previous dinghy to Jack Mace who happened to be a member of this yacht club. He invited us for a night's stay as his guest so we took him up on the offer. It's very nice with a large clubhouse and even a swimming pool although it's closed this time of the year. They just installed a new set of docks that aren't even on the satellite photos. They are very heavy concrete docks that dampen the waves rolling in from passing boats. It seemed to help.

The Bear Mountain bridge held the title of the longest suspension bridge in the world for 18 months!
On the way down, we heard a call on the VHF that the Tappen Zee was closed to marine traffic!
Well, that was a wake-up call. It seems they are still in the process of removing the old bridge and they periodically close the river. You have to request a passage from the Coast Guard and you'll eventually get through. At least, that was working today, we'll find out Friday for sure.

Shattemuc YC is very nice, we're out on the end towards the river
We will leave early Friday to reach the Atlantic Highlands in the afternoon. The Atlantic seems to be settling down and we intend to take advantage of it for a quick trip down the coast. I refuse to look at weather forecasts until Friday afternoon, we're committed anyway. What the weather Gods allow, we'll take, what else to do?

2 comments:

Billie said...

Bob, Last season you had problems with a leaky dingy. Think you mentioned the cause of leaks might have been from Hoolie. What kind of dingy did you replace it with?

Bob423 said...

Billie, I did a lot of comparisons and settled on one made by Defender, their Hypalon RIB, 9’ 10” made in the same factory in China that makes Zodiac and Mercury. It was designed by the CEO of Defender based on all the ways he saw inflatables failing. For example, large patches on the bottom of aft tubes to protect from dragging it up on a beach, moulded rubber reinforcements where the tubes attach to the transom, over inflation relief valves, rub rail on the centerline of the rib to protect the fiberglass, splash guards in the corners of the aft transom, safety lines all around, attachments for a second seat (one seat comes with it), Hypalon fabric made by Achilles (best made), pump with pressure gauge, very wide rub rail all around, hard plastic inserts in the aft tubes to protect against backing into a dock, all seams taped on both sides (inside and outside), repair kit, attachment rings all around for docking and adding extra lines, pull ring mounted in fiberglass for towing, two pull rings on dinghy if you prefer that method, etc.