In my role as PYC Harbor Master I’ve heard a lot of questions from club members who have never used a pumpout station before. The new pumpout is very easy to use, but there are a few things you need to know.
The first and possibly most important thing to know starts on your own boat. The waste system on your boat must be properly vented. A plugged vent, or a kinked hose leading to the vent can cause serious problems. Not only will the pumpout be unable to draw the waste from your boat, there is a very real chance that it will collapse the tank on your boat. This will most likely cause you to have to replace the tank (no fun), and possibly crack the tank spilling it’s contents inside your boat.
If you have having difficulty emptying the waste from your boat, stop, and check the vent system on your boat.
The pumpout process is very simple. Remove the cap marked “Waste” on your deck. Press the rubber tip on the end of the pumpout hose into the fitting on your deck. Open the ball valve on the pumpout hose, and push the green “on” button on the pumpout stanchion.
The waste should flow quickly out of your boat, and you will be able to see when the tank is empty. The fluid in the clear section of the hose will go from being straight liquid to a surge of liquid and air when the tank is empty. The effect is no different than sucking the last bit of soda through a straw.
Leave the pumpout hose pressed into the deck fitting as you shut off the ball valve on the hose. If you remove the pumpout hose from your deck fitting without shutting off the valve first, all of the liquid in the end of the hose will immediately find it’s way to your deck. If you want to clean out your tank a bit, you can run some fresh water into your holding tank with the garden hose on the pumpout stanchion, and repeat the pumpout procedure. Now put the end of the pumpout hose into the lake and open the valve again. This will draw water out of the lake to flush out the pumpout hose.
Turn off the pumpout system with the red button, and you have successfully pumped out your boat.
A quick note about deck fittings: I have seen some deck fittings with a small tab inside for attaching the cap with a chain. If you don’t use this chain, I would recommend removing this tab if it prevents the hose from going far enough into the deck fitting. Anything that prevents a good seal from the pumpout hose to the deck fitting will make it very difficult to pump out your boat.
Everyone ate well, everyone worked hard, everyone had fun!
More than 75 people attended PYC’s Club Opening on Saturday, April 14.
Starting at 8:00 a.m. Sailin’ Sisters prepared a breakfast feast of pancakes, sausages, fresh fruit, coffee, juice, and more.
Commodore Mij Frierson got us started with general announcements, Property Manager Gary Templeton introduced tasks and crew chiefs, and we were off and running. We cut down trees, cleaned out the storage shed, serviced our committee boat, tuned our mower, installed dock rub rails, cleared brush, picked up trash, recommissioned the sewage pumpout, cleaned the kitchen, planted grass, distributed fire extinguishers, installed lights in the pavilion, and much more.
A lunch feast was prepared by Shirley Cline, Lisa Hockenberg (Social Co-Chairs), and the Kitchen Kittens and we ate like royalty.
Thanks to all who participated in this annual tradition and especially the crew chiefs. It was a terrific day. Now let’s go sailing!
Gary distributes highly coveted hats to crew chiefs.
The 2012 PYC Yearbook — the Windjammer — will be including small, close-up photos of members for the first time this year. We shot photos of many members at the winter meeting and intend to shoot more at the opening day work event April 14. Please join us at the post-work lunch at the clubhouse to have your photo taken. Or, if you can’t be there and want a photo in the yearbook, please send a good quality, close-up shot of you and/or your family electronically to Yearbook Editor Jean Dodd at dondod1996@gmail.com. Thanks!
Club opening is coming up on April 14th, 9 a.m. – noon, followed by lunch. There will be plenty of projects so bring your gloves, chainsaws, clippers, shovels, hammers, and tools. Some projects will be: cutting firewood, working on the docks, planting shrubs and plants, spreading grass seed, Spring cleaning in the kitchen and bathrooms. The list keeps growing.
But opening day isn’t the only time maintenance gets done at PYC. This year we are working on putting a second boat lot to the south of the current one. Some of the boats and trailers will be moved so that ground work can be done. There will also be some maintenance work done to the current lot. The entrance road to the club will have cracks filled and sealed this year.
Landscaping around the clubhouse and the caretakers’ house will begin this Spring. If you have an interest in helping plan landscaping or donating plants, hosta, vinca, ajuga, or sedem are just a few that we think will survive at the club. Send me an email at pmorganks@aol.com.
The winter has been so mild; it’s hard to tell that summer is on its way.
With dues collected and boats being launched, docks can be assigned . I have open slips so tell your sailing friends to come to PYC.
After we determine which members won’t be returning and account for the unpaid slips I can move members to other slips they desire. Just let me know if you would like to move. I will try to get you what you want.
As we near the midpoint of March and get that much closer to opening the club and readying the boats, I wanted to update everyone on how we are doing with the PYC Dues Renewal Drive. Of the 150 leasable slips we have the following results (color-coded on the dock map below):
Paid in Full (green): 108 slips (72%)
Deposit Only (red): 19 slips (13%)
Open Slips (yellow): 6 slips (4%)
No Payment (white): 17 slips (11)%
If you have not yet paid your full 2012 membership dues please think of me next time you have the checkbook out – and send me the dues! For those of you who have paid, thank you.
The 2012 PYC membership applications have been sent out and that means we’re another step closer to the new sailing season. Now the hard part: We have to pay dues! Please remember that dues are to be paid in full by March 1.
Please let Doug McCall or me know if you plan to return for the 2012 season. It would be especially helpful if you would let me know if you are not returning to your slip. I have some members on the wait list and other issues that require me to move members around in the harbor so this information will help me expedite this effort.
Please remember: if you are using another member’s slip for the winter please move as soon as the weather permits (the harbor does not look like it will freeze).
Think warm and windy… and I will see you next season
Perry Yacht Club was founded over forty years ago. Times have changed and so has our club and newsletter.
In its early days the Perry Yacht Club News Letter was a publication written with a manual typewriter. Articles were collated and photos were taped to its pages. Upon completion the original was hand-carried to a copy shop, reprinted, individually addressed, stamped, and sent to PYC members via the U.S. Postal Service.
Over the past decade the renamed Branch Creek Harbor News has evolved into an electronic publication. Articles have been composed on computers and digital photos have been electronically pasted into these articles. These articles have been transformed into newsletter format, saved as a PDF, and uploaded onto the PYC website for all to read.
With all its strengths our newsletter’s PDF format has had technical limitations. For example it has been difficult to search for a topic or phrase across multiple newsletters. It’s not been possible to cross-reference articles by topic, year, author, etc. And it is not easy to post new information to our newsletter on an as-needed basis.
So in an effort to address these limitations our newsletter has recently evolved into the dynamic format you are currently reading. This format is based on a database content management system. In its new format the content of every PYC newsletter is stored in a single database and organized by date and category. As new articles are published the past month’s articles are automatically archived so they are easily searched as a database. This dynamic format is the same as that used by most national and local newspapers (e.g., Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Lawrence Journal World, Kansas City Star). It is also the format used by social media outlets like Facebook.
One of the most exciting features of this new format is that you can now reply to or comment on articles. Please take advantage of this feature; it has the potential to generate lots of interesting discussion and be great fun just like other forms of social media. In addition to feedback regarding content feel free to offer suggestions about the design of our newsletter. As suggested earlier, the PYC newsletter will always be a work in progress.
In closing I’d like to make a request. If you haven’t already done so please take a self-guided tour of the new format. Click on an article and see how it looks on your computer. Search for an article by a keyword (e.g., “PYC”, “sailboat”, or your name). And consider posting a reply/comment at the end of any article. I look forward to hearing from you.
In my role as PYC Harbor Master I’ve heard a lot of questions from club members who have never used a pumpout station before. The new pumpout is very easy to use, but there are a few things you need to know.
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