Summer boat chores (to prep for a crazy winter!)

Now that we have been back at the boat we have been busy knocking out routine maintenance and also getting ready to put the boat on the hard for the year. It's weird for a lot of reasons, but one of the most striking is that since moving aboard in 2009 we have NEVER had to winterize the boat and now we will have to!

We kicked things off with a solid flushing/de-jellyfishing of the air conditioning system. It's a constant battle here in the lower Chesapeake Bay, but a/c is soooo nice!

A VERY clean strainer; the "to-do" post-its; picking up packages and parts with my partner.

Some of the other boaty things we've done:
- changed engine oil filter, fuel filters, Racor filters, v-belt, impeller, cleaned intake strainer
- changed transmission oil
- flushed and replaced coolant
- conducted outboard maintenance and lay-up
- topped off batteries
- lubed shaft seal
- washed and waxed the deck and cockpit

- applied a coat of Semco seal to the teak
- polished stainless steel
- cleaned the dinghy

Teamwork makes the dream work! The kid crew has been SUPER helpful in our endeavors!

A cleaned/waxed/sealed cockpit!

This next week will be spent purging as much as we possibly can, emptying the galley of all food, and prepping to move the boat down to Deltaville, VA at the end of the month. I am SUPER excited about our next adventure, but my heart breaks a little as I think about leaving our girl on the hard.

Love our home!

~Jo, 1st Mate (for at least another week!)

I broke it :(

I don't think there's a cruiser out there who hasn't had something break on their boat while they've been in the middle of paradise, but this year I seem to have been especially good at causing things to break! The galley faucet, the aft head (eh, not me specifically, but a team effort by the crew!), and the dinghy. The dinghy kind of broke my heart a little. I mean, she's NEW! But I'm 99% certain that the fish spike we found in the starboard tube was from the hogfish I speared and I was the one to take it to the dink, so...my fault. As much as I wasn't into putting chaps onto a hypalon dinghy, I'm starting to reconsider and will likely tackle that project before we head out cruising again. 

But anyway, we had to patch the dinghy! Thankfully we had the material and a good glue onboard, but finding the time to do it so that it could properly cure was probably the hardest part, followed closely by where exactly to put the dinghy while we did it. To properly do that patch we needed to deflate the tube, prep the area, put three layers of glue on the boat and the patch with varying setting times, then apply the patch and roll over it to bond the two surfaces, and finally let it cure for 24 hours before inflating. So we had to basically commit ourselves to being boat-bound for a day. We were in Rock Sound, had plenty of food, and a good anchorage so we went for it. 

We left the dink in the davits and just deflated the punctured tube. Then with the help of a small cutting board and some clamps we had a decent working area. And I'm happy to report...the repair went well! She's been holding pressure beautifully for about a week! Whew! I promise to take WAY better care of all things boat and crew from here on out!

A successful "boat project in paradise!"

About this time I also did a fun little poll on my Instagram story. We are approaching out 13th Boativersary and it can make us a little nostalgic about what we've done over the years. At this point, we've sailed about 19,000 nautical miles on Lehe Paine! She's a good boat and has cared for us well over the years.

It's been a good ride!

~Jo, 1st Mate

Project wrap-up, off-season 2021

Having finally cast off the lines after about four months at a dock, I'm taking a look back at some of the miscellaneous jobs we tackled over the summer around our travels and major projects! I've always said that this lifestyle isn't all cocktails and sunsets so I feel like it's important to note some of the less-glamorous aspects.

Water tanks were emptied, scrubbed, bleached, rinsed, rinsed, and rinsed! We hadn't done this before as water never really sits in the tanks for too long, but it was nice to wipe the slime off and know that we had a clean system.

Not such an easy task! Had to use some kitchen tongs to extend my reach.

Deep cleaned the cabins and fixing the headliner. Spending time in all sorts of climates and having four humans living in a small space can lead to some mildew and just general funk. I pretty regularly wipe the bulkheads down anyway, but this was a "pull-everything-out-and-clean-the-obscure-spots" effort that was conducted with a toothbrush, Spray Nine, and bleach. Our boat also has a known issue with the foam backing of the headliner/bulkhead liner degrading over time so I worked to remedy that, too. We have used 3M spray adhesive in the past and it holds for a few months. This time I used contact cement to adhere strips of stiff, yet flexible, plastic (from thick folders!) to the headliner to help lift it into place. It seems to be working so far, but time will tell.

This fabric...I hate it.

Cleaned the speed log which had been neglected for a bit, scrubbed the deck and waterline to combat some of the ICW/Chesapeake Bay growth and tannins, and paid a diver to clean the hull. This is part of the boat life work that just never goes away. I could still have more coats of wax on the boat, but...maybe soon! 

TONS of growth in this area.

The hull really needs a good wax, but it's tough when it's in the water.

And way back in the beginning of summer we freshened up the forward head! I had been wanting to hide where the water maker pump stuck out at the bottom of the door and took the opportunity to add some color, too. It's a little change, but I love it!

A little outdoor fabric and paint made a nice change.

And sure, there was the routine defrosting of the freezer, pulling dozens of jellyfish out of the a/c strainer, and bilge cleaning, too. I am happy we still have the energy and flexibility to pull off these tasks, and super happy that we kept up on chores and projects through a summer of fun. 

~Jo, 1st Mate

Getting the Arch Back on Solid Footing

One of the boat projects this summer was to fix our arch, or rather figure out what was wrong with it. Last year an audible squeak developed near the starboard side deck mount. We tightened the bolts, but it kept returning. The arch also had more play in it as it came under load (some is normal, but this seemed to move more than it had in the past) and I kept thinking I could see the deck flex a little. Uh oh. 

Let me back up. We first put the arch on the boat in late 2011. It's a Beneteau factory arch, but for a 423 model. It mounts with two feet on the top deck and two on the transom, and uses four bolts on each foot. It was shimmed to fit the angle on our 393 model transom and made our boating life so much easier. We had to take it off/remount it in 2017 as part of a cross-country move. And it was probably fine until we started cruising full time, loading more crap into the dinghy while it was on the davits, and sailing in rougher conditions. We keep the dinghy with the engine on it on the davits for our little offshore hops, tying off the dinghy so it doesn't swing in seas. The issue started in the spring of 2020. 

By the end of this winter cruising season we knew we had to really look at it. Being at a dock this summer afforded us the opportunity to do the work ourselves (saving money and accepting a hard job!). First step was to remove the arch and see if we could identify an issue. This involved removing the solar panels so they wouldn't get damaged in the process and disconnecting a bunch of wires. With the arch off and dangling off the back of the boat, Frank was able to get in and see what was up. 

The 1st Mate helps out with lazarette boat yoga as much as she can while taking the arch off. Solar panels were stored on the foredeck throughout the project and we suspended the arch with the topping lift.

We did get some good news! Seeing a deck flex brings fears of a rotted core and a big, involved repair to get the mushy wood out, but the section of deck we are dealing with is actually solid fiberglass! Yay! And it wasn't cracked that we could see. Now we always knew where the bolts came through the deck was a little weird, with some bolts just going through the layer of deck and 3 of 8 total deck bolts going through a wood backer/other component of the deck structure. Removing the whole arch also revealed that where the bolts went through the deck the fiberglass was only 3/8" thick whereas where it was mounted on the stern the fiberglass was almost 1" thick. And we found that one of the 16 bolts that mounted the arch was bent. Sooooo....our issue was likely a combination of the thinner top deck, the heavy load in the dinghy, and maybe taking some big lateral loads in waves at some point. 

Since the deck was solid fiberglass we decided to reinforce and level the mounting surface for the deck feet. Frank started by building up fiberglass blocks that would be used to level out the deck mounting areas. This took a lot of layers of fiberglass, then cutting to shape, then more fiberglass to get them the right thickness.

Arts and Crafts time on Lehe Paine with! Building and shaping the blocks was a multi-day process, but it was worth it. 

And that was the easy part! Then he had to wedge himself into the lazarettes multiple times to place the fiberglass blocks and then coat the entire mounting area with layers of fiberglass to ensure it was one complete, solid structure. This whole process stretched over a few weeks with curing times, weather delays, and other fun. 

More boat yoga! We had some really hot days that made this task miserable; fitting the blocks.

When the deck was reinforced he went a step further and epoxied 1/4" G-10 fiberglass board as a backing plate at each of the four mounting locations for the arch. And because Frank doesn't underbuild anything he also went with beefier, longer bolts.

Trent drills through the new layers; the bolt upgrade; G-10 backer boards in place.

With the deck beefed up the guys drilled through the new layers of glass, we slapped some 3M 4200 sealant/adhesive all over the place and remounted the arch! Ok, it wasn't actually that easy...4200 got everywhere, I was terrified we would drop the shim in the water, the rubber mallet was used extensively to push bolts in, and a few of the bolts were actually too long to clear the arch legs as they were going in and had to be cut. But it is back on and better than ever! The deck mount actually looks way better and more flush than when the rigger put it on in 2017. Add in the many gelcoat cracks that Frank fixed as part of the project and it really looks fabulous! (FYI, spider cracks in gelcoat are common, especially on a boat that's as old as ours.   It's usually just a cosmetic issue.)

The "car" is back in the "garage" and the deck was SOLID!

We feel pretty confident that this should solve the issues we were having (or will rip the entire stern to pieces)...guess it's about time to head out and test it out on the ocean!

Back home! (sort of!)

After a few days of dodging storms the Captain and kid crew met me at our dock for the next MONTH! That's right, we paid for a whole month. Why? We have some boat projects that would greatly benefit from access to shore power and water, we have some big deliveries to get ready for (a new "car!"), we have some shipments to prep (boo, shipping the girl to France!), and this spot put us in reach of all of that and friends and family. So where the heck are we? Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Maryland (a.k.a. NAS Pax River)!

There are two military marinas in the area that are priced the same, but this one was much nicer and deeper. Getting to use these military marinas is a huge financial win for us. The transient rate for our vessel is about $350 per month here, including power, water, and wifi. We would get 3-4 nights at our old marina in Herring Bay for that same amount. While the amenities aren't quite the same as those found at our old resort marina, and we have to drive about an hour to see friends, it's still a win. We have our car so this really made the decision for us. After a week here I can say that this was a good decision. While the dock we are at only has single 30-amp service at each slip, the slip next to us is vacant so we can fully power up and run the air conditioners (not a big deal if we can't as the solar panels provide what we need for house usage). The marina staff is super friendly and extremely competent, which has not always been our experience on bases. We have close access to a decent bathhouse with a washer and dryer ($2.50 for a complete load), easy parking, a commissary (our grocery store) nearby, a pool we can use as a retiree family, and plenty of safe, walkable roads for exercise. There is even an easy-to-access pump-out here! The only thing that's missing? Fuel, but everyone just goes across the river to Solomons Island for that. And our neighbors have been super nice and inviting. So...we like it!

How have we spent our time during this first week? The kids got their second COVID jab, we found a great skatepark a mile away, we hit the base pool, Katreina and I made some sweet new pillows for the cockpit, we visited friends in Rose Haven, all four of us knocked out our dental exams, Katreina and I got some "girl time" with local friends, the guys hit one of their favorite paintball parks with friends, I deep cleaned the port side of the salon and treated the wood, we started cleaning up the old dinghy (to sell it!), I began a "refresh" of the composting head, and we found amazing Thai food. Busy, fun, and productive week! 

2nd jab...DONE! Let's travel!

Our peaceful marina and some of our pool and marina fun.

K helped me make some fluffy new pillows for the cockpit.

Cleaning cabinets and bulkheads and refreshing the forward head (yep, that's a toilet seat that I'm spray painting!)

Thai food! I have a friend who has a love affair with Khao Soi, but says it's tough to find in the U.S. so when I saw it on the menu I just had to try it! Soooo good!

~Jo, 1st Mate

No time to relax in Jax

What started out as a planned one-week stay in Jacksonville for medical appointments (and paintball!) turned into a two-week stay with medical appointments, paintball, skateboarding, tons of boat maintenance, and even a flight to Illinois for 3/4 of the crew! 

The fun

So what did we manage to knock out while tied to a dock for two weeks? Other than four doc appointments, final COVID shots for the adults, a few trips to the local skatepark, two awesome days of paintball fun, and lots of WiFi downloads, we:

- picked up tons of mail (and started a passport renewal!)

- waxed the hull of the boat

- started some interior wood care

- updated our spice wall in the galley

- cleaned the bilges

- filled the bilges with Trader Joe’s goodies

- replaced the water heater

- refilled water heater coolant

- changed engine oil & filter

- changed Yanmar and Racor fuel filters

- replaced pre-filters on the water maker

- pickled the water maker 

- reinforced the arch connections to the deck with steel backing plates 

- lubricated the shaft seal

- inspected the steering system

- topped off battery bank water

- replaced the aft condensate pump

- dewatered the lazerette from the condensate pump failure 

- cleaned the engine seawater strainer

- inspected engine impeller 

- topped off water/diesel/gas

- laundry, laundry, laundry (it was FREE!)

- filed taxes

- graded schoolwork (JUST KIDDING! Still behind there...)

A little bit of the work

There was some shopping and good dining in there as well, along with our Mother’s Day and Illinois fun, but we definitely took advantage of this stop for some maintenance. 

Weather is still not great, but we are itching to move along and make some progress north while we watch for a good offshore weather window. We are in reach of St. Mary’s Inlet with a decision to make—inside through Georgia (new and terrifying) or wait almost a week to go outside. Which will it be?

Leaving JAX

Brief stop for repairs!

We’ve been deferring a few repairs on the boat, but as we sailed to Cat Island we discovered one that just can’t wait—the shackle at the mainsail tack had started to loosen itself! We safely anchored and made a few decisions:

1. We are on Spring Break. We are so behind on grading from hanging out with friends, transiting, and just exploring that we need to catch up. And we are at a “new” island! Katreina can do French and Geometry (her book is headed to another cruiser as soon as she’s done) and Trent has to read, but that’s it!

2. We need a down day or two. Or maybe just I do (introvert). 

3. We need to fix the mainsail, the macerator, the fridge latch, and the small leak in the dinghy, and we need to make water and do laundry!

We anchored away from other boats in the Bight at the southern end of Cat Island and got to work. Water making started (Trent is about to fully take that job over!), I did laundry, and Frank tackled the crappy job of fixing the macerator pump. We have a brand new spare pump, but the discharge fitting was broken off so he basically used parts from both pumps to create the new one! A clogged blade and broken impeller were the problems, and he gloved up and got it fixed! 

A 💩 job

We spent the afternoon relaxing, playing games, and skinny dipping (adults only!)! It was so nice to have some complete chill time. We ate a simple dinner, watched the sun set together, and watched a movie...it was awesome. 

This morning winds were super light so we tackled fixing the main sail. We had to release the main halyard to free up the shackle, but dang the sail was stuck! We finally worked it free, reattached the shackle, and furled and unfurled it a few times for good measure. 

The issue (left) and all fixed (right)

Next up...a trip up the mast to inspect the rigging and to re-run a spare halyard that we noticed was rubbing on the genoa halyard. Fun fact—we don’t have electric winches onboard, so the wench is hand-winched up the mast by the Skipper! We checked the navigation lights, looked for any broken strands in the standing rigging, ensured all cotter pins were in place, checked chafe points, looked for signs of anything more than surface rust, and just generally looked for anything sketchy! Once we re-ran the spare halyard everything checked out and I took a ton of pics for the boss man to review. And the view from the top of the mast is always great!

Always fun going aloft!

We got underway by sailing off the anchor and are moving north a bit to go do some sightseeing and get some provisions. We are finally ready to enjoy Cat Island!

More shade

While our dinghy woes had us hanging around the boat I decided to tackle a sewing project—more shade! Last season I knocked out a set of deck shades while we were at a dock on New Providence Island. That project left me with big, triangle-shaped scraps that I just couldn’t bring myself to send to a landfill. More than a year later, the scraps have been painstakingly  stitched together (5, perfectly symmetrical panels 😩) to make our new stern shade! This one will be awesome as the sun sets and we swing in the prevailing easterlies. Bring on the sundowners!

Sailrite tools:

- Ultrafeed LS-1

- Edge hot-knife

- Pres-n-snap tool

- Parasol (steel gray) fabric

- thread, snaps, grommets 

Back in business!

Our dinghy engine is fixed!!! How did we do it? Not to over-simplify the process, but we ordered the part to ship to Maker’s Air in Florida, filled out a ton of forms, chose how quickly (and expensively) we wanted it shipped, and awaited the flight! As our dinghy was just not able to get into town we were very fortunate to have multiple cruising friends offer assistance. The part was due to arrive Friday and as the crew of S/V Tortuga was heading into town for errands, they offered to grab the propeller for us! Even as the flight got delayed, they lingered in town...so awesome! The cruising community is wonderful! 

This is a good time to mention some “new” provisions I added to the bilge this year—cans of wine! We don’t carry bottles but I wanted to be able to thank anyone that helped us along the way (because boaters are always helping each other)...cans of wine to the rescue! I know, I know, the wine snobs are cringing at this (and my boxed wine), but you can get some decent wines in a can! Kim Crawford and Dark Horse come to mind...and a can of wine is like half a bottle, so we can give two cans of wine (and even mix a white and a red) instead of a bottle of wine to say “thanks!” We got to test this out Friday when we accepted our propeller from Tortuga and handed off two cans of wine—no broken bottles and smiles all around!

Of course, the dink was fixed just in time for a big, 2-day blow. We managed to squeeze in a little snorkeling and dinner at the yacht club before the winds really kicked up, but we will be boat-bound for a bit longer...just for weather now!

Back in Staniel Cay for fuel, fun, and now...parts!

We made it to Staniel Cay! The first order of business was getting our propane tank filled—that’s our cooking fuel. I just have this fear of having no way to cook and after the leak I was nervous! The dinghy motor struggled at low idle the whole way there and back, but it started up just fine after a bit. Carb issue? Maybe it got jostled too hard in our transit?

Once the tank was dropped off we shifted to fun mode and loaded up the dinghy to head to Thunderball Grotto! We really like snorkeling there. Low tide is late in the day right now so we went a little earlier than would have been perfect, but we all still had fun!

Thunderball Grotto

On the way back, the dinghy engine all but died. It’s like the prop was spinning, but not much. We limped back to the boat at idle speed...a little research revealed that it was likely a blown propeller hub. Grrr...one of the only spares we don’t have onboard! The next day, we moved the big boat over closer to town so we could retrieve the filled tank and work to find a prop. With none to be found, we placed our order and will stay here to receive one via Maker’s Air. One of the local guys at the yacht club also said he’d look for one for us. 

There are worse places to be in this predicament. There are daily flights to Staniel and Maker’s Air does this stuff all the time. We have food, a protected anchorage, and clear water all around! The kids and I had some fun and even met a new friend!

Fun at anchor 

This morning we got a call from Chubby at the yacht club—he had a prop we could try! Frank set off on the long, slow journey only to have the hub fail even more so he busted out the oars. It’s a LONG haul from the anchorage! Luckily a mega yacht tender took mercy on him and towed him in. Unfortunately, the prop didn’t work so he started rowing back. This time, a local named Larry in a flat bottom boat towed him in. We happily passed him some cash for fuel and have resigned ourselves to hanging right around the boat until the part makes it to the island. At that point, we may try to hitch a ride in—even with moving the big boat we can’t get super close to town (draft) without being at the mercy of currents. For now, we wait. Kalik! Kalik!

Thank you, Larry!

Two weeks into the season...what’s broken?

Cruise long enough and you’ll find that there is always a project on a boat. After all, it’s just like a house but in a much harsher environment! If you’re lucky, they are projects of your choosing, both in extent and timing. If you’re not...you’re scrounging for parts and solutions in a foreign land to fix a critical system. 

We’ve been in the Bahamas for two whole weeks...what’s broken? And how bad is it?

1. The water heater. I mentioned this in a previous post, but we traced a leak to the water heater. We rarely use it down here anyway (only heat water via the engine when we are motoring) so we decided to just secure the water pump at night to limit how much water makes it to the bilge and routinely dewater the bilge when I am pulling stores each week. We can just replace the unit when we are back in the States. UPDATE! Somehow our jostling and investigating seems to have curiously stopped the leak! It’s an enclosed unit so impossible to see what the heck is going on, but the bilge has stayed dry and the pump doesn’t run at odd times. We will take it!

2. The propane system. After fixing a leak while we were in St. Augustine we really though this was behind us. Then one morning while we were in Great Harbour Cay I went to make coffee and got nothing. Tanks run out, but we had used the oven the night before with no signs of running out and now I didn’t even get the littlest amount of gas. Sure enough, one bottle was completely gone. Frank hooked up the other and immediately got a hissing sound. FFFFFFF! This is bad for plenty of reasons bust most of all because getting propane filled in the Bahamas is not straightforward. He located two leaks, repaired them, and we are back in business with one tank. As they don’t fill propane locally in the Berry’s (it’s a week-long mailboat process) and we do not want to stop at New Providence Island, we need to last on our remaining tank until the Exumas where we can either ship the bottle off on a mailboat to get filled or find a local fill. In the meantime we are turning the tank valve on only when we need it just in case there are small leaks in the lines. We are also strictly sticking to propane use only for coffee/breakfast and dinner—cold lunches for the crew! And while I normally look for opportunities to use the solar oven or pressure cooker to conserve fuel, it’s a much higher priority until we get a back-up bottle filled. We don’t have a microwave or any electric cooking appliance so this one is stressing me out a bit.

3. The dinghy. Our dinghy isn’t pretty—she’s old, beat up, and can’t get on plane with all four of us, but she’s been dependable...until now! We felt like we were having to pump it up more frequently and sure enough we found a small leak in the forward air chamber. Not a serious issue yet, but it sure has me looking at the budget for a replacement in a few months (with a beefier outboard!). 

4. Shoes. This is crazy, but a whole bunch of our shoes are falling apart after their first few trips into the water and onto the rough shore. Looks like we will have an arts and crafts day with contact cement in the near future.

And while not broken, my provisioning has met challenges in the form of my children. Seriously, I have a kid that NEVER eats breakfast. But get to the Bahamas and suddenly she’s on a granola kick...every single day. So “my” granola is now gone (thank goodness I like eggs!) and can only be replaced here at about $10 a bag. The boy is, well, a 13yo boy and therefore is always hungry!  And don’t get me started on the fact that one reported they were out of graph paper at the one-week point...

Challenges for sure, but so far we are able to mitigate the problems. Hoping I didn’t jinx us by writing that! 😬

10 nights moored in St. Augustine

We managed to secure a reservation for a mooring in the St. Augustine Municipal Marina mooring field for 10 days over the Christmas holiday! Moorings are cheap (<$25/day), the facilities are nice, mobile pump-out is easy, and it’s a fantastic location in the heart of downtown! This time of year it’s also all lit up for “Nights of Lights.” While we still thoroughly enjoyed the historic charm of the “Oldest City,” it was really crowded in the afternoons and evenings with holiday travelers. It would have been a little crowded for my taste during normal times, and given the global pandemic we chose to retreat to the quieter streets or the boat to keep some distance at times. 

On the “fun” side of things, we visited the iconic lighthouse (holy crowded!), the Oldest House (good history lesson), and the distillery (we couldn’t pass up this favorite). We walked/jogged the streets and alleys, took in the lights from sea and land, ate lots of great take-out, and celebrated Christmas from our cozy home. We enjoyed the ease of Amazon Prime/Whole Foods delivery of our provisions, and Trent spend hours hanging with me in the laundry room/lounge so he could fully update his Xbox using the marina WiFi.

Lighthouse (left) and Oldest House (right)

Around town

Nights of Lights (and our contribution to the display!)

Merry Christmas!

On the “not-so-fun” side, we were beam-on to a 40+ knot blow on Christmas Eve which caused a few minutes of “discomfort.” We had some blissfully warm days, but also had to have the heater on a few times! We also suffered a propane leak (on Christmas Day, of course!) which required a long hike with a heavy propane tank to get it refilled and two hikes through throngs of tourists to get to the hardware store for parts. In the end, the Chief Engineer simplified our propane system a bit as part of the fix. He also recommissioned the water maker! Ok, that wasn’t so bad, but it was “work!”

A pesky propane leak resulted in lots of exercise, but the water maker is also back in business!

Time to get this party rolling south into the new year!

Adulting and playing in Jax

We tend to hit Jacksonville (Jax) on our transits for a couple of reasons—it’s near our mail facility (St. Brendan’s Isle), near our storage unit, we can provision easily, we can usually stay on base cheap, our doctor is nearby, and we are technically residents of nearby Green Cove Springs! This time there wasn’t room on base, but after negotiating a shallow spot (<6” under the keel!), we made it to the Ortega River Marina and really had a great stay. What did I like? It was tidy but not pretentious, great showers and laundry, fast WiFi, easy walk to stores (West Marine, Publix, CVS, etc.), a KILLER burrito shop next door, and super nice folks that offered us rides. I would absolutely return.

We rented a car for the week and managed to knock out medical appointments (including a few referrals), a huge mail pickup, renewing boat/car registration, a trip to the storage unit, lots of provisioning, and even a trip to a dive shop to freshen up our gear stash. On the fun side, the fam had a day of fun at a paintball field while I stuffed booze and food into the bilge. We didn’t have anything too major to take care of on the boat—only had to run up the mast to fix the steaming light (I hate festoon bulbs—so finicky in their mounts!). And we put up our Christmas lights! So we are ready for the holidays, mostly ready to cross to the Bahamas, and very ready to quarantine ourselves if needed.

Last night we also got to meet another liveaboard, Oak Meadow homeschooling family that I had connected with ages ago via Instagram. It was so great to finally meet in person, and we met another boating couple as well. That’s what’s great about being in FL—we can still have safe, outdoor gatherings without totally freezing. It really made me long for the days of boater beach parties. Someday...  

We made it out of the Ortega River and are bound for St. Augustine for the holidays!

At home on the Chesapeake

We’ve been back on the Bay for a few weeks and have had all the excitement of a visit “home.”

We spent the first week on a mooring ball in Annapolis. The weekly rate basically gives you a free day, the showers are pretty good, and the boat-watching can’t be beat! A friend delivered our car to us so we were able to hit the local marine chandlers and head off-boat to visit family for a few days. I even got to spend a day hitting the marine stores with a fellow cruising mom—it was fun!

We ended up spending the next week in and around our old marina, Herrington Harbour South. It was great to see old friends and neighbors, and we even tied up to a dock for a few nights—hello, power and water! The kids got to go to a paintball park with Frank, so they were happy! We knocked out a few boat chores/projects while there including installation of a new nav light, a new shower drain pump guard, and a holding tank vent filter; gave the boat a good bath; cleaned the bilge; re-sealed the teak seats; blew out the air conditioning lines with fresh water; deep-cleaned the composting head and refit it for a larger liquids tank; and applied fabric guard to all of the canvas. We almost thought we were going to have a big project on our hands—the charger/inverter wasn’t working when we got back to the boat last night, but after reading up on it the Captain got it reset and working!

Work

Play

I really highly recommend Herrington Harbour South for transiting cruisers. The facilities are immaculate, the staff is wonderful, and the adjacent restaurant and market are really good!

Repairs in Rockland

We hit up Rockland for a fun working port! Hamilton Marine for parts, Hannaford’s for groceries, CGEX to refill the liquor locker, and a cheap mooring with easy trash, laundry, fuel, and water at the Landings Marina—let’s do it! (And of course, yummy food options galore!)

So...the freshwater pump. It’s sounded like it wants to die for some time, running well past when we shut off the faucet. A few interim fixes kept it going, but it was time. Like any good boat project, almost the entire salon was emptied to access the pump. Fortunately we had all the right connectors for the new pump and it went in pretty easily. The result? WHY DID WE WAIT? Holy smokes, this new pump is so quiet! She purrs instead of thundering along the port side. I. Love. It. Frank will rebuild the old one and keep it as a spare.

The pump wasn’t the only awesome boat project! While in town we went ahead and completed the replacement of our genoa. Yes, yes, the new sail has been up for a bit, but yesterday we took the old sail to Sea Bags Maine for recycling. How did that go? We had pre-coordinated via email so we just walked the two blocks up from the marina and dropped it off. They weighed it and offered us a trade—a new bag! We got to pick from a wide variety and went with this cute, functional souvenir to mark our trip to Maine. We love it so much, and already put it to work on the grocery run!

🦞🦞🦞🦞🦞

More work, some play in Annapolis

While we were still in Herring Bay we knocked out one more project—move the jerry can storage. We had cans port and starboard back aft by the cockpit. While it was convenient to have the fuel near where we would use it, I got sick of trying to wedge my foot between the cans and the cabin top and they didn’t make for the nicest view either. We also had too much weight back aft and on the port side. Moving the boards forward and putting most of the cans on the starboard side would help. While this was in no way a “must do” project, I’m thrilled with the result. While we now have boards forward on both sides, all of our cans fit on the starboard board so we are going to try them out there. It’s where we need the weight and it keeps them clear of the genoa.

So much tidier on deck now!

With a part for the engine on its way to Annapolis, we headed there, too! We picked up a mooring ball right off of Bert Jabin’s Yacht Yard for a few nights and enjoyed gawking at the yard operation, making a small dinghy repair, walking to marine and grocery stores, and paddle boarding on Back Creek. When the part came in, a quick dinghy ride saw it delivered and install of the new engine coolant lines began immediately. While wrapping up that project we were surprised with a visit from the crew of S/V Traveler whom we had met in George Town, Exuma! It was great to see them again and was yet another reminder of how small the ocean and cruising community can be.

Hot work, but the fuel line has been repaired!

I told them it was a STAND UP paddle board!

Mid-project. It went back together! (Whew!)

With all the work done we decided to shift to the main Annapolis mooring field for one last night so we could relax, walk around town, and get ice cream and Painkillers. Pro tip: you can get a half gallon of Painkillers to-go from Pusser’s for $40! It was a great way to officially wrap up this work period!

This round of maintenance...done!

And just like that, our time in the boat yard is over! We splashed Thursday, exactly one week after we were hauled. We now have a good idea of how long painting and waxing takes us and we know how much bottom paint we need (3 gallons for 2 coats!).

I made a few runs to the grocery store, the kids enjoyed their last day of land life with new (used) skateboards, we said our goodbyes, and we are anchored in Herring Bay for the night. Katreina took over my anchoring roles while I drove the car between the marines and did great!

We will get fuel and pump out in the morning and be on our way. It was a busy, but wonderful stop!

Food!

Two boards for $40!!!

Nice anchoring, 2nd Mate!