Least-Coast Summer
Welcome back to the continuing saga of our soon-to-be-penniless cruisers.
We are still in Annapolis, doing yet more boat repair and maintenance. It really is a never-ending story.
We arrived in Annapolis on Friday, June 20, over 2 weeks ago. We're getting very well acquainted with Annapolis, and must say that we enjoy it very much, other than the weather. The setting is lovely, there's a huge amount of history in the area, and the people are all quite enjoyable. Good food, good services and every amenity possible just a short ways away. But there's that weather thing. We're into the dog days of summer with temps in the high 80's and low 90's every day and the humidity approaching 100%. And the frequent lightning storms would be cool, if we didn't own a boat with a high mast and lots of very sensitive very expensive electronics.
Last I had written we were about to investigate having the bottom repainted, the genoa refurbished, and possibly getting the dings on the bow repaired. We spent Monday and Tuesday locating a boatyard and did pretty well. Eastport Yacht Center is a pleasant little marina (106 slips) with a TraveLift (boat hoist) and an on-site full-service boat repair shop, J. Gordon. They offered us a reasonable price on hauling, pressure wash, and new bottom paint. In the course of our time here we added repair of our bow dings and a complete polish of the hull.
Since the boat was going to be out of the water for nearly a week, Maryann took the opportunity to visit her daughter Julia and son-in-law Morgan in Ithaca, NY. Wednesday morning, the 25th she headed off to catch the shuttle to the Amtrak station at BWI airport, and then on to Syracuse. By all accounts she had a nice long weekend visiting in up-state New York.
Thursday morning I cast off our mooring and motored around to the boatyard. They're located in Eastport, which is just across Spa Creek from Annapolis proper. The boatyard is on the south side of Eastport on Back Creek. The Chesapeake is full of these little creeks and it seems nearly every one of them has a boatyard; in this case, being Annapolis, there must be half a dozen boatyards on Back Creek.
By Tuesday the bottom was repainted and Maryann was back from New York. By Thursday the dings had been repaired and the hull polished. We had the genoa back with a new UV cover and some other damaged parts repaired. I had done some miscellaneous maintenance while Maryann was gone, but mostly just melted in the heat and humidity.
I did manage to add a layer of packing material to our rudder stuffing box, which is the opening where the rudder stock enters the boat. There's 3 layers of an impregnated flax packing material that keeps the ocean from entering the boat via the rudder stock, or at least that's the way it's supposed to work. We've had a persistent leak here since we purchased the boat, and were anxious to stem the leak and perhaps have a dry bilge for the first time ever. It wasn't a serious leak, maybe a tablespoon-full every 10 minutes or so, but still annoying.
It was a difficult job, as the only access is under the after berth, where we sleep. There's enough boat parts in the way making it a job that has to be done mostly by feel. And, in fact, I couldn't get enough access to remove the old packing, so contented myself with adding just a new layer. If I'd been willing to remove the steering quadrant (the large bronze casting that actually turns the rudder from side to side when the steering wheel is turned), I probably could have done a better job, but it seemed at the time like another layer of packing would fix the problem.
We were anxious to finish the work and get the boat back in the water. It's a nuisance trying to live aboard while "on-the-hard". At least this time we had new refrigeration that doesn't rely on the boat being in the water its operation. We had been hoping to be back in the water by Tuesday, but we didn't get splashed until late afternoon on Thursday, right before the 3-day holiday of the Fourth of July. We tied up to a dock here at the boatyard, intending to leave for Baltimore early on the 4th where we were hoping to tour Fort McHenry (of Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner fame), and then watch fireworks over the Baltimore Inner Harbor. But as usual, fate had a different plan.
Once we were splashed (and the boatyard staff all went home) I checked the rudder stock and found that water was coming into the boat at a prodigious rate, maybe a gallon a minute. I tightened and tightened the flange that compresses the packing material, but it didn't seem to have much effect. I finally held our small digital camera where the fittings are and took some close-up pictures. When I got them up on the computer screen I found that I had actually warped part of the fiberglass tube where the rudder stock enters the boat! Oh crap! And when I went to make sure the bilge pumps were handling the water I found the primary bilge pump inoperative and the secondary not working either. Oh, isn't this fun? We're going to fill the boat with water and sink it at the dock. The few moments of panic passed as the bilge emptied and I realized the electrical breaker for the backup bilge pump had been turned off. OK, so we have an automatic bilge pump that works.
Note the warped fiberglass beneath the bronze stuffing tube, and the water rushing in!
After a somewhat sleepless night we were up bright and early on the 4th. We canceled our reservations for a slip in Baltimore and I found the primary bilge pump working just fine. Still have no idea what was going on there! Perhaps just the panic of the previous night when water was overflowing the bilge? At any rate, we now had 2 bilge pumps working again, and much to my surprise the water coming into the boat had slowed considerably. We knew we'd have to pull the boat out of the water again Monday and have someone with a bit more experience effect repairs on the rudder stock, but at least we probably weren't going to sink at the dock before then.
Friday evening we headed over to Annapolis, had pizza while the 4th of July parade marched by, and then walked out by the state capitol buildings while waiting for the fireworks to begin. Unfortunately, we had a pretty intense thunderstorm come through while on our walk; luckily we had our umbrellas with us, so didn't get too terribly soaked. We caught one the free shuttle buses back to town, and watched the fireworks over the naval academy. Would have been better with music as we're used to from Shoreline Amphitheatre on the 4th, but it was still nice.
Yesterday morning we made arrangements to have the folks at J Gordon repair things and the boat was pulled yet again in the early afternoon. We've been going back and forth with them, trying to figure out the best way to fix things and whether or not to remove the rudder entirely. We finally made the decision to repair things in place, and those repairs are continuing as I type this. We're hoping to be back in the water tomorrow, though it's remotely possible they'll be done this afternoon.
Meanwhile, we're getting pretty discouraged. Things seem to continue to break or require maintenance at a furious rate. We determined the other night that we've spent nearly half of our 10-year budget in just 2 years of cruising. Not to mention the rather ridiculous amount we spent to outfit the boat (we bought things that we just won't need if we aren't doing a circumnavigation, and I'd say it looks pretty doubtful that we're sailing around the world anytime soon). I would list all of the work we've done and have had done since we arrived in Lauderdale in May, but it would only depress me. And with our principal invested in the tanking stock market, we have even less.
Is it time to throw in the towel? Stay tuned.
We are still in Annapolis, doing yet more boat repair and maintenance. It really is a never-ending story.
We arrived in Annapolis on Friday, June 20, over 2 weeks ago. We're getting very well acquainted with Annapolis, and must say that we enjoy it very much, other than the weather. The setting is lovely, there's a huge amount of history in the area, and the people are all quite enjoyable. Good food, good services and every amenity possible just a short ways away. But there's that weather thing. We're into the dog days of summer with temps in the high 80's and low 90's every day and the humidity approaching 100%. And the frequent lightning storms would be cool, if we didn't own a boat with a high mast and lots of very sensitive very expensive electronics.
Last I had written we were about to investigate having the bottom repainted, the genoa refurbished, and possibly getting the dings on the bow repaired. We spent Monday and Tuesday locating a boatyard and did pretty well. Eastport Yacht Center is a pleasant little marina (106 slips) with a TraveLift (boat hoist) and an on-site full-service boat repair shop, J. Gordon. They offered us a reasonable price on hauling, pressure wash, and new bottom paint. In the course of our time here we added repair of our bow dings and a complete polish of the hull.
Since the boat was going to be out of the water for nearly a week, Maryann took the opportunity to visit her daughter Julia and son-in-law Morgan in Ithaca, NY. Wednesday morning, the 25th she headed off to catch the shuttle to the Amtrak station at BWI airport, and then on to Syracuse. By all accounts she had a nice long weekend visiting in up-state New York.
Thursday morning I cast off our mooring and motored around to the boatyard. They're located in Eastport, which is just across Spa Creek from Annapolis proper. The boatyard is on the south side of Eastport on Back Creek. The Chesapeake is full of these little creeks and it seems nearly every one of them has a boatyard; in this case, being Annapolis, there must be half a dozen boatyards on Back Creek.
By Tuesday the bottom was repainted and Maryann was back from New York. By Thursday the dings had been repaired and the hull polished. We had the genoa back with a new UV cover and some other damaged parts repaired. I had done some miscellaneous maintenance while Maryann was gone, but mostly just melted in the heat and humidity.
I did manage to add a layer of packing material to our rudder stuffing box, which is the opening where the rudder stock enters the boat. There's 3 layers of an impregnated flax packing material that keeps the ocean from entering the boat via the rudder stock, or at least that's the way it's supposed to work. We've had a persistent leak here since we purchased the boat, and were anxious to stem the leak and perhaps have a dry bilge for the first time ever. It wasn't a serious leak, maybe a tablespoon-full every 10 minutes or so, but still annoying.
It was a difficult job, as the only access is under the after berth, where we sleep. There's enough boat parts in the way making it a job that has to be done mostly by feel. And, in fact, I couldn't get enough access to remove the old packing, so contented myself with adding just a new layer. If I'd been willing to remove the steering quadrant (the large bronze casting that actually turns the rudder from side to side when the steering wheel is turned), I probably could have done a better job, but it seemed at the time like another layer of packing would fix the problem.
We were anxious to finish the work and get the boat back in the water. It's a nuisance trying to live aboard while "on-the-hard". At least this time we had new refrigeration that doesn't rely on the boat being in the water its operation. We had been hoping to be back in the water by Tuesday, but we didn't get splashed until late afternoon on Thursday, right before the 3-day holiday of the Fourth of July. We tied up to a dock here at the boatyard, intending to leave for Baltimore early on the 4th where we were hoping to tour Fort McHenry (of Francis Scott Key and the Star Spangled Banner fame), and then watch fireworks over the Baltimore Inner Harbor. But as usual, fate had a different plan.
Once we were splashed (and the boatyard staff all went home) I checked the rudder stock and found that water was coming into the boat at a prodigious rate, maybe a gallon a minute. I tightened and tightened the flange that compresses the packing material, but it didn't seem to have much effect. I finally held our small digital camera where the fittings are and took some close-up pictures. When I got them up on the computer screen I found that I had actually warped part of the fiberglass tube where the rudder stock enters the boat! Oh crap! And when I went to make sure the bilge pumps were handling the water I found the primary bilge pump inoperative and the secondary not working either. Oh, isn't this fun? We're going to fill the boat with water and sink it at the dock. The few moments of panic passed as the bilge emptied and I realized the electrical breaker for the backup bilge pump had been turned off. OK, so we have an automatic bilge pump that works.
Note the warped fiberglass beneath the bronze stuffing tube, and the water rushing in!
After a somewhat sleepless night we were up bright and early on the 4th. We canceled our reservations for a slip in Baltimore and I found the primary bilge pump working just fine. Still have no idea what was going on there! Perhaps just the panic of the previous night when water was overflowing the bilge? At any rate, we now had 2 bilge pumps working again, and much to my surprise the water coming into the boat had slowed considerably. We knew we'd have to pull the boat out of the water again Monday and have someone with a bit more experience effect repairs on the rudder stock, but at least we probably weren't going to sink at the dock before then.
Friday evening we headed over to Annapolis, had pizza while the 4th of July parade marched by, and then walked out by the state capitol buildings while waiting for the fireworks to begin. Unfortunately, we had a pretty intense thunderstorm come through while on our walk; luckily we had our umbrellas with us, so didn't get too terribly soaked. We caught one the free shuttle buses back to town, and watched the fireworks over the naval academy. Would have been better with music as we're used to from Shoreline Amphitheatre on the 4th, but it was still nice.
Yesterday morning we made arrangements to have the folks at J Gordon repair things and the boat was pulled yet again in the early afternoon. We've been going back and forth with them, trying to figure out the best way to fix things and whether or not to remove the rudder entirely. We finally made the decision to repair things in place, and those repairs are continuing as I type this. We're hoping to be back in the water tomorrow, though it's remotely possible they'll be done this afternoon.
Meanwhile, we're getting pretty discouraged. Things seem to continue to break or require maintenance at a furious rate. We determined the other night that we've spent nearly half of our 10-year budget in just 2 years of cruising. Not to mention the rather ridiculous amount we spent to outfit the boat (we bought things that we just won't need if we aren't doing a circumnavigation, and I'd say it looks pretty doubtful that we're sailing around the world anytime soon). I would list all of the work we've done and have had done since we arrived in Lauderdale in May, but it would only depress me. And with our principal invested in the tanking stock market, we have even less.
Is it time to throw in the towel? Stay tuned.
posted by Ken at
8:12 AM |
1 Comments:
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