SV Orion - Annapolis, MD

Late December - Home for the Holidays

12/31/2009

We chose to travel north by car this year, putting well over 3000 miles on the odometer and dodging the snow storms that consumed the east coast for much of the holidays. Winston-Salem, Rochester, Emporia, Winston-Salem and then back to Daytona Beach. We had a great time with family and friends while on the road. Christmas brought us some new toys to add to the boat. So, we’ll have some projects to do in the new year.

Below are some pictures of the festivities during our travels:

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Early December - Winter Chill

12/15/2009

Most of you don’t want to hear about chilly weather we might be experiencing, since almost invariably the temperatures where you are have routinely dropped below anything Georgia and Florida can dish up. However, when you have little heat on board, any drop in temperature is more difficult to bear. We had our coldest travel day so far as we made our way out of Cumberland Island at the southern tip of Georgia down to an anchorage just north of St. Augustine FL. Even inside our “greenhouse” of an enclosure, Cathy didn’t remove her foul weather coat (which was over a sweatshirt) until mid-afternoon. Since that day, the temperatures have been mostly working themselves up to a more tolerable range, so that we could put the heater away and pull out the shorts again.

Presbyterian church seen from the porch of Orange Hall

St. Mary's

We returned to St. Mary’s after a two-year absence to find it much the same – a sleepy little town, with a beautiful waterfront, with Spanish moss-covered trees lining the streets. This time we arrived after Thanksgiving and were able to stay to enjoy the Holiday Tree-lighting, which was a real community celebration. There were little ballerinas dancing the Nutcracker, choruses and soloists serenading us with Christmas carols, hot chocolate and cookies, and, of course, the star of the show, the holiday decorations that lit up the street, culminating in the lighting of the Christmas tree. Even the boats anchored in the harbor (and those of us in the marina) did our best to put on a display.

With our stay extended due to some stormy weather, we took in a few different sites. This time we toured Orange Hall, the home of a Presbyterian minister from the early 19th century that had a varied history since. The old home maintained her dignity despite the ravages of time and different owners. The curators had started decorating the house for Christmas, a process that wouldn’t be complete for a few days, but was already making the mansion sparkle.

Path through Cumberland’s Maritime forest

Cumberland Island

Although we had passed by Georgia’s southern-most barrier island many times and even anchored there once, we had never taken our dinghy ashore to explore. (Cathy had visited years ago when she was still a landlubber.) So, we left St. Mary’s on a Thursday morning and made a leisurely trip down the St. Mary’s river the short distance to the anchorage off the Sea Camp dock on Cumberland Island. In our 3 day visit, this first afternoon was going to give us the best weather to see the island. We walked through the maritime forest to the beach, getting our first glimpse of the large herd of wild horses on the island. We headed back shortly before sunset to ensure we were on the boat during the current change, since the 8 foot tidal swings create a substantial current that has caused Orion’s rode to wrap around her anchor in the past. (That didn’t happen at all this time.)

A trawler is dwarfed by the passing sub

Our next trip ashore was not until the following afternoon, and was cut short by the rain that had blown in with the cold north winds of the latest front. We limited our touring to a museum that gave the history of the island from the days of the Timucuan Indians to the days of the Carnegie mansions. As we were preparing to head back to the boat, we saw one of the subs heading out to sea, leaving the nearby Kings Bay Naval bases. It was an impressive site, especially when compared to the nearby trawler and Coast Guard escort, which were dwarfed by the impressive vessel. Fred explained some of the procedures for putting a sub out to sea from his many years maintaining them in his job at Kittery’s base.

Wild Horses graze on the lawn of the Dungeness mansion ruin.

The next day, the rain finally subsided, if not the wind. We bundled up and headed to shore to see more of the southern tip of the island where the imposing Dungeness ruins are. Several wild horses were grazing there, unperturbed by the pesky humans who insisted on staring at and photographing them. We joined the ranger tour to learn more of the island history, particularly about the Carnegie’s life on the island and the more unusual island wildlife – e.g., armadillos and wild turkeys.

Fred gazes longingly at some freshly dipped donuts.

Daytona Beach

Our time at Cumberland had to come to an end for a few reasons. We needed to move to Daytona Beach, where we would leave the boat for the month; we had spent several days seeing the island; and we needed to get further south to warm up. We arrived in Daytona Beach at the city’s Halifax Harbor Marina on December 8th, the first of a few record-setting warm days. It didn’t’ take long before we were in Angell and Phelps to watch the chocolate being fashioned, and, of course, get our free sample.

Since we were going to be here longer than in the past, we got to know the bus system, traveling out to the Home Depot and the mall, to the marine surplus store, Daytona’s famous Flea Market and even Krispy Kreme. Due to a rain delay, we were also in town once again for the Daytona Christmas parade, which helped get us in the Christmas spirit. By Dec. 15th, Fred and Pat were on their way to New Hampshire, and a couple of days later, we were headed north as well. We’ll spend about a week after Christmas getting the boats ready to leave again when we return.

Boat Stuff

We were juggling Christmas and travel preparations with boat projects over the past 2 weeks. Once we arrived in Daytona, we placed several orders for parts we were now in a position to receive. Dave discovered a good price on our failing A/C strainer at the marine surplus store. To our surprise, we not only installed it, but used it for a couple of days as the temperatures soared. Fred needed some work done on his outboard, and ours was starting to have a problem with a small fuel leak. Dave stumbled across an excellent outboard mechanic who sorted out our fuel leak, added the fitting for an external fuel tank and performed some maintenance on the outboard. His prices were reasonable and the work done was excellent.

The provisioning for the Bahamas began again, as we bought and stowed several cartloads of food and supplies. We’re not done, but we’ve made a good dent in it.

On the Road Again

So, we’re headed north by car for the holidays again this year, dodging snow storms instead of squalls, but looking forward to seeing the family for the holidays. We hope you are enjoying them as well.

Late November - Charleston

11/30/2009

Our travel south has been leisurely with a few days of travel broken by longer stays in port. When we arrived in Charleston, we signed up for a 2 week stay, knowing that we wanted to spend Thanksgiving there. It turned out to be a little less than 2 weeks, but we made the most of our time there.

Thanksgiving Repeat

With the assistance of the Maritime Center, the cruisers staying there were able to have a spectacular feast and lots of good company, with over 25 people attending. We even had the loan of a flat screen TV, so that the die-hards among us could participate in the football-watching ritual that accompanies stuffing ourselves. It had been three years since we had gathered here for our first Thanksgiving underway, and where we had met Pat and Fred for the first time. We had crossed a lot of miles in the interim and had a lot of experiences of friends to be thankful for in the intervening years.

Enjoying the Charleston Culinary Tour

A Taste Of Charleston

With Charleston a routine stop on our travels up and down the coast, we are always looking for new things to do with each visit. We found it this time in a Culinary Tour, which took us on a 2-1/2 hour walk through a sampling of Charleston’s restaurants fare. We tried grits, BBQ, chocolate, spices and more. We had a charming host and enjoyed all the good food.

The six flags that have flown at one time or another over Fort Sumter, fly together there now.

For the most part, it was a low key visit, with daily walks through the historic district and sampling some of the city’s wares. We took a return trip to Fort Sumter on a breezy day after Thanksgiving, enjoying the ride out and our time there, just wishing we could spend more time at the fort, with so much to see and learn. One night we stumbled on a fundraiser for a local teen shelter, where we enjoyed some appetizers, a drink and a live band on Market Street for a small donation. Tom and Cathie on Interlude happen to arrive that same day and joined us there. We managed to catch up with them again the next day before they headed out for points south, hoping to make St. Mary’s for Thanksgiving. With the rainy days that led up to Thanksgiving, we were happy to stay put and putter about Charleston.

Boat Stuff

Having traveled several hours with our new Garmin 5208 chartplotter, we had a list of features that we didn’t understand or were looking to replicate from our 172C. But the most significant feature that wasn’t working was AIS. In the busy Charleston harbor, there was never a concern that there were no signals out there, so it was a good place to see what was happening. After changing a setting on the chartplotter, Dave was able to get the signals to display on the chartplotter as expected. However, within a few minutes, all the “targets” (i.e. ship signals) were lost and would not re-display until the unit had been off for several hours. He communicated with both Garmin and SmartRadio about the problem, but so far we have not been able to solve it. In the interim, we have been using Fugawi on the computer below as we have in the past. We still have issues with the chartplotter’s heading being derived from the auto-pilot, but we have a few ideas from Garmin that may allow us to solve that. The other items on the list are manageable, so we hope to resolve the 2 big ones so we can retire our 172C.

The only other projects in Charleston were more routine. We changed the oil and the Racor fuel filter. Dave took advantage of the fuel filter change to drain the dark fuel out of the 2nd Racor bowl and install another drain valve like the one he had installed on the other bowl in the spring.

On South

Weather sent us south earlier before our 2 weeks were up in Charleston, so we could take advantage of some calm conditions to make the jump out in the ocean to St. Mary’s

Early November - Further South

11/15/2009

We continue our annual migration south, returning to some favorite ports and visiting some new ones. With some of our longer stops slowing down our progress, many of our fellow travelers have moved on south of us, but we continue to see friends along the way.

New Garmin 5208 Display

Charting a Course

We’ve been very happy with our Garmin 172C chartplotter that has seen us through our travels almost from the moment we stepped aboard Orion. However, as we looked ahead, we wanted to add radar and also enable the AIS signals (i.e., the identity and position of other ships) displayed at the helm, rather than on a computer down below. This meant that we would need a different chartplotter (or to use the industry’s term a multi-function display).

After researching various alternatives, we determined that it was critical to have the radar and new chartplotter integrate well, which typically meant having both units made by the same manufacturer. This ultimately led us to choose Garmin units for both. So, when we stumbled into a Garmin 5208 on sale during the Boater’s World closeouts in the spring, we were one major step closer to putting the pieces together. The unit sat in a box for months before we were able to mount it at the helm soon after arriving in Deltaville, after which Dave gradually wired into all of the boat’s instruments.

After installing dozens of connections, the unit was performing as we expected until shortly before leaving Deltaville, when we finally completed the final hookup to the radar. The radar signals worked, but a couple of the screens wouldn’t display. After attempting a software upgrade, the unit would then no longer boot up. We quickly contacted Garmin who had us ship our unit in and sent a replacement. The next one worked for about a week, until Dave attempted to load the routes for our trip south, when it too failed to boot up. We were now strapped. We were going to start moving and couldn’t wait for them to send a replacement unit. So, we strapped our old Garmin 172C on to the helm and headed out. It wasn’t until early November that we were able to catch up with the new unit from Garmin and re-install it.

Our first sea trial with the new unit therefore took place on a short run from New Bern to Adams Creek in NC. We loaded our routes without incident this time and were able to follow them and our track back down the Neuse River toward the ICW. Radar worked like a charm as well. We were also starting to learn where to find the different features we were used to, as well as new features that we hadn’t had before.

Unfortunately, there were no AIS signals so we didn’t know whether that feature worked or not. However, once we were leaving the Beaufort Inlet with a large ship in view and no signal displayed, we realized this feature didn’t work, although it still did on the PC below. The other more significant problem was the fact that the 5208 seems to default to using the autopilot heading sensor instead of just using its own GPS to orient the display when in “track up” mode. This is a problem because our autopilot compass is routinely misaligned from our magnetic compass heading (and has been since we installed it 3 years ago), but we have easily worked around this before. Not so now. With the chartplotter using this incorrect heading information, it would appear that we were heading off the route (and out of the channel), when in fact we were right on course, giving an incorrect indication that a course correction is necessary. This wasn't something we could live with.

We have contacted Garmin to see how to correct these problems, but in the meantime our 172C will continue to be our fallback until we get comfortable with the new one.

Dave installs a check valve on the new bilge pump line.

Other Boat Stuff

The rudder repair was holding and remained dry for a week of travel, until we started down the Neuse River on a flat calm day on the way to New Bern. During one of our hourly checks, Dave discovered a fair amount of water there. But in the over 40 hours of travel since, including some higher waves on the ocean, it has remained perfectly dry. With the possibility of water accumulating there, Dave decided to install a bilge pump by the rudder, tying it into an existing through hull with a t-fitting. When tested, it appeared to work as desired, triggered by a manual switch Dave installed just above it. Let's just hope we don't need it.

In the process of doing some dinghy motor maintenance, Dave discovered that the fuel tank mounts were once again broken. (This happened before in early 2008, causing the fuel line to break free and leak.) He bought a replacement, but after consulting with an outboard mechanic, he came up with a way to make a sturdier substitute, which will hopefully delay another failure.

Carolina Travels

We traveled south through NC through the first 2 weeks of November, leaving Elizabeth City on Nov. 2nd for an anchorage in the remote southern Alligator River, which is surrounded by cypress swamps and not much else for miles. The trip across the Albemarle and down the Alligator was in 20-25 knot North winds, making for a good motorsail, with some pretty good following seas (i.e. from astern). Our usual anchorage at the bottom of the Alligator was churning from the wind and waves, so we tucked around the point to anchor in an area more protected from the strong north winds. As the day was quickly winding down and we were having trouble getting our anchor to set, we decided to raft to Marianna. Dave set up our anchor alarm to give us early warning if the additional load caused her anchor to drag, but we had no problems.

Unfortunately, the large following seas took a toll on Marianna’s autopilot steering plate. The next morning, Fred discovered that it had snapped and he was going to need to get it repaired. He wanted to be tied to a dock to investigate it further, so we pulled into R. E. Mayo for the next couple of nights. Since we had cell phone service here, Fred was able to make arrangements to get to a welder in New Bern which would be our next stop. We spent 2 nights on the dock at Hobucken, enjoying some of the fresh local catch (and filleting our first flounder), and exploring the tiny village of Hobucken. The bugs drove us below each night shortly before sunset. To the extent we ignored this precaution, we gave several large blood donations to the local mosquito population.

Filleting a flounder by committee

We spent 8 days in New Bern at Northwest Creek Marina, allowing Fred to repair his autopilot and to wait out some weather that obliterated the sun for almost a week. Before the storm set in, we rented a car and enjoyed 3 beautiful days traveling nearby New Bern. We finally visited Oriental, spending at least an hour at the local consignment store. With Fred’s impeccable timing, we slid on to the Minnesott Beach – Cherry Branch ferry seconds before it sailed and crossed the Neuse to its western side. The next day we drove down to Harker’s Island to explore the Cape Lookout National Seashore. We started in the Visitor’s Center and then took a picnic lunch over on the ferry to island. After anchoring in the bight on our trip south each of the past 2 years, it was good to finally get a closer look at the lighthouse (although we couldn’t climb it since it was currently under repair). The next day, we drove west to Kinston to visit the CSS Neuse museum. Unfortunately, it was closed, but the staff let us look around the next door Richard Caswell museum anyway. To end the day with an exclamation point, we had lunch at King’s BBQ, which had a buffet of home cooked southern food. It was delicious!

New Bern is the adopted home of Skip and Cherylle on Eleanor M, who had us over to their beautiful home a couple of times during our visit. We enjoyed their hospitality and the chance to catch up with them since we last saw them in Georgetown.

We pulled out of Northwest Creek on a still-overcast Monday for a short trip to Cedar Creek, just off Adams Creek as we begin to travel East toward Beaufort, NC. The next day was also a short one, taking us to the docks of Sanitary Fish Market in Morehead City, where we enjoyed a seafood dinner after a leisurely stroll around the waterfront. Sunday wasn’t the best time to visit, since many of the shops and museums were closed. Maybe next time, we’ll get to see more.

Sunrise over Beaufort inlet

Out to Sea

We used Morehead City as the jumping off point for a trip outside to South Carolina, leaving early on Monday morning, Nov. 16th. Once Fred confirmed that his autopilot repair was holding, we set our course for Winyah Bay, just south of Georgetown, SC, arriving at the inlet early the next morning. We hooked up with the ICW and proceeded most of the day through the record high tides to Isle of Palms Marina, just north of Charleston. After collapsing into bed for a good night’s sleep, we were up early for our short run to Charleston, where we post this entry.

Late October - Moving Again

10/31/2009

Once we made it back into the water, it wasn’t long before we were on the move – and moving quickly. We left Deltaville on the 26th of October and were spending Halloween on the sea wall in Elizabeth City. We’ve moved on since then, but this entry will catch you up on how we finally took Orion off her jack stands and set her afloat again after more than 2 months of land sailing and boat projects.

It was a long wait, but the rudder was finally re-installed.

Steering With a Rudder (Finally)

It was becoming a constant topic of conversation. Every time someone asked when we were going to get launched, we would point to the rudder lying on its side beneath the boat and say, “we’re waiting for that to go back on”. Oh, I see was usually the reply. Although it’s possible to steer with the sails, we prefer the comfort of knowing that a turn of the wheel will actually turn the boat. It had been a bit of a rocky road, so we weren’t sure how smooth the final installation would go.

The first little hiccup occurred during the rudder removal. While Orion was still in the Travel Lift bands, hoisted up to allow room to remove the rudder post, a piece of the rudder quadrant broke during the process of removing the pin to drop the rudder. The stainless steel pin had frozen in the cast aluminum rudder quadrant, making it difficult to remove. After reviewing our options for a repair, we decided to have a replacement part machined in Deltaville.

Although the machinist didn't provide estimates, we were given a "ballpark" figure for the work. When the part arrived, it was well-crafted, but we were taken aback when the final cost came in over 3 times the ballpark figure he had given the boatyard. Thankfully for us, Matt helped us with the overall cost of the rudder repair, minimizing the impact of the machined part's cost. With it in hand, we were ready to replace the faulty o-ring and re-insert the rudder. Unfortunately, this process didn’t go smoothly at all. Every attempt to position it correctly was frustrated by the tightness of the opening. The o-ring would roll over as the rudder was inserted. After Matt inspected the process personally, he called for a break.

Inserting the o-ring from below, it kept rolling out of position.

In preparing a path forward, we did more work on the rudder to hopefully ensure a smoother installation. We polished the stainless steel band that sits just above the rudder until it shone. The boatyard put fiberglass on the post above the band so that the transition from the post to the stainless steel was smooth. The bronze bushing was removed and polished and the opening within the boat was cleaned and polished to ensure it was smooth with no obstructions. The first attempt to install the o-ring had nicked it, so we ordered another, but it had to come from France.

Matt supervised the 2nd attempt to re-install the rudder.

A couple of weeks later, the prep work was completed, and the o-ring was in hand, so a second install was scheduled. This attempt proved more successful than the first. However, the approach was completely different. With information received from Beneteau in France, the plan was to insert the o-ring from above. After carefully measuring the distance from the top of the rudder tube to the o-ring’s standard position, a wooden stick was cut and marked to assist in positioning the o-ring and ensure it was at the right location. With 2 people holding the rudder below, Dave on deck to insert the upper pin to hold the rudder and 2 people below decks to insert the o-ring, the installation began again. This time the process worked as planned. The o-ring stayed seated in place. We were golden – or maybe not quite.

Since this was a more unusual installation, Matt insisted the rudder quadrant be installed after we were in the water, so he could check the rudder for leaks and look down into the rudder shaft. He wanted to be able to turn the rudder, but without the quadrant, the wheel couldn’t be used. So, Dave dug out our emergency tiller, which we got to use for the first time. After turning the rudder through its entire arc several times with no problems, we had passed the next hurdle. So far, so good

We deployed the emergency tiller for the first time to test the rudder, and we were glad it just cleared the box for the generator.

We just had to have the rudder quadrant installed and then the take her out for a sea trial. The quadrant was on that afternoon, and we headed out the next morning for the sea trial. It looked good. No water by the rudder. We decided to head out for Mobjack Bay for the night. But only an hour out, we had to turn back. Water was coming in, and much faster than it had in the past (although not so much that we were in any danger). Once on the service dock, it didn’t take long to discover the likely cause. A rubber fitting at the top of the rudder sleeve apparently needed to be inserted into the sleeve before the quadrant was secured.

With this change in place, we were ready for another sea trial, which we tried the next day. But the conditions were flat calm and even with the assistance of the boatyard’s deadrise Jacqui Ann making waves, Orion was gliding smoothly through the water. Ironically, we were going to have to wait for worse conditions. When these arrived on Monday, Orion bounced through the waves without a drop of water leaking in. We were getting more confident that the problem was solved. We took a 2 hour ride out to meet Marianna coming in from her trip down the bay, with similar success. Looking better. Each day’s travel builds confidence in the repair, but when do you say that for sure? In the meantime, we keep checking the rudder once an hour while underway.

Jacqui Ann, the boatyard’s deadrise had some problems while attempt to wake us during our sea trial, so Orion did her first tow.

Finishing Up and Heading Out

Cliff tunes the rigging once Orion is in the water.

We had a few smaller projects to complete before heading out that were best done while we were at Deltaville. We had another section of caprail replaced under the port bow cleat, ensuring the spacer holding the cleat was once again replaced by one made of fiberglass-reinforced plastic, instead of stainless steel, to prevent the teak from splitting again. We also replaced the cleat in the process. Cathy then stripped the entire caprail and applied 3 coats of Cetol Natural Teak. With the damaged wood repaired and the new finish, the caprail looked the best it had in years. The final project for the boatyard was to tune the rigging once we were in the water. We hoisted the headsail again at the same time and furled and unfurled both sails to ensure they were still moving smoothly after the mast work. Cliff gave us some tips for making this job easier as well. Dave took some time to wire up the 2nd LED cabin light, giving us another extra bright light in the Main Saloon.

With some final provisioning done, and now that Marianna had caught up with us, we were ready to move south, and pretty much on schedule despite the delay at getting back in the water.

Boats tie up on both sides of the canal at Great Bridge.

Ahead of the Pack?

We left Deltaville on Tuesday, October 26th originally heading only for Mobjack Bay. We were still checking out the rudder for leaks and we had left later in the morning after a brief tour of Deltaville with Pat and Fred. However, we were making such good time, we decided to head for Hampton instead. We made it in well ahead of sunset and tied up on the public piers for a couple night stay. The public piers and the anchorage was full with boats staging for a trip south down the ICW and those preparing to leave for the Caribbean 1500 on Nov. 2nd. We left on Thursday for the free docks in Great Bridge, casting off just before sunrise and making it through the 11:30am lock opening along with 14 other boats. (We had come through the Gilmerton bridge at 10:30 with 17 other boats in what turned out to be about a 10 minute opening. We were shocked.) The dock was empty when we arrived, but that didn’t last. By 1pm, the dock was full and boats began tying up to the trees on the north wall of the canal.

Since we were ahead of the Nov. 1st date, the only thing we could figure is that boats were worried about the announced restrictions in the Gilmerton Bridge schedule that started on Friday. However, we learned that day that the restrictions applied only to large commercial vessels, not small boats like us.

Marianna under sail to Elizabeth City

On Friday, we headed out to Coinjock on a beautiful warm day. We enjoyed the Friday night band at Crabby’s, while we enjoyed some of their appetizers on Marianna, which was docked just behind the restaurant. On Saturday, we had a great sail up to Elizabeth City, a new port for us. We took 2 of the last 3 spots on the free docks and were grateful to have them, since the winds were going to blow pretty hard for the next couple of days.

Elizabeth City is famous on the ICW for its Rose Buddies greeting crew.

We took advantage of our couple of days on the dock to tour the town and visit the wonderful Museum of the Albemarle just off the dock. We were glad we manage to work this visit in to our schedule this year.

Our middle grandson picks out his pumpkin.

Friends and Family

With the arrival of fall came some quickly falling temperatures and lots more rain than we had had. We were glad then for the chance to get away for a couple of weekends to visit our grandchildren and participate in some fall rituals with them. We helped pick pumpkins and enjoyed the Hampton Halloween festival. We were endlessly grateful to Steve on Bay Dreamer who picked us up in Deltaville when we couldn’t find a car rental on such short notice for the Halloween Festival. (We had thought we would be in Hampton with Orion.) He put us and 2 of our grandsons up at his house and allowed us to continue what has become an annual tradition of trick or treating in Hampton.

Rusty Tom and Cathie in Rusty and Joy’s new home.

Joy and Rusty on Slow Dancin’ came to our rescue during the cold snap in mid-October and allowed us to stay at their beautiful new home for a couple of nights and warm up. One of those nights we enjoyed the company also of Tom and Cathie from Interlude and Corning and Tita from Blessed Spirit who were starting out on their journey south.

Fred and Debbie from Early Out at Great Bridge.

As we traveled out of Deltaville on our first day out, we were hailed by Fred and Debbie on Early Out, who had just left Deltaville themselves. (They had just installed a new VHF and were shocked to hear Marianna and Orion on the radio, as if they were still in Cat Island.) We met up with them in person at Great Bridge and spent an evening together.

Moving On

We’re continuing to move south, not well ahead of the pack, but hopefully still in the warm weather.

Early October - Its the Climb

10/15/2009

There’s a popular song on the radio these days that tells us it’s not about reaching the goal, it’s about working out the challenges to get there – the climb – that keeps us going. If we didn’t enjoy working on Orion, we certainly wouldn’t have enjoyed the past couple of weeks at all. And the work, despite our complaints about it all, does keep us going.

Fixing the Spreader

When we pulled into the boatyard, Dave asked to take advantage of the free rigging inspection from the boatyard’s rigging company, Southern Bay Rigging. We almost made it through without any concerns until Mike checked out the upper spreaders and discovered a crack in the base on the starboard side. Since this point in the rigging is under the most stress, this was a potentially serious problem.

The crane hoisted Clifton up the mast

So, we ordered a replacement base, but were confused by discussions with the mast manufacturer about a plate that sat under the spreader base that wasn’t original to the mast. Apparently there had been a repair before we bought the boat. When Clifton went up the mast to install it, he found he had to remove the plate, which revealed the original damage.

This generated a bit of discussion between the boatyard and the mast manufacturer about whether the original repair was OK or not. The manufacturer assured us that it was, especially since it was a furling mast, which has an additional channel within it to hold the mainsail, adding another structural support element. So, Cliff went back up the mast to replace the spreader with the original plate and its new base.

The rig will still need to be tuned once we are back in the water and sails are on, and we’ll continue to keep an eye on this spreader for any new signs of wear.

Cliff descends from the mast after completing the repair.

Covered with protective gear, Dave finishes the bottom painting.

Bottom Painting - An Ugly Business

When Orion was hauled after less than a year in the water, her bottom paint was in very good shape. Had we not hauled this year, we would have waited until next year to paint the bottom. However, since we did haul out this year, it made sense to paint the bottom again.

The rudder with barrier paint applied.

We used the same paint, Trinidad SR, and changed the color to blue, so we could tell when it was wearing through. With the rudder off waiting for a repair, Dave noticed some fine cracks in the surface. He was advised to strip the paint off and barrier coat these areas. So, he applied several coats of barrier paint before applying the final bottom paint coat to the rudder. Timing is critical with the final barrier coat, since it has to be a little wet as the bottom paint is applied.

The Ospho treatment turns the rust to black and makes it inert.

The other area needing preparation was the keel. Being made of cast iron, it always has some areas of rust after being in the water for so long. Dave sprayed Ospho on these to neutralize the rust before painting. As he did this, Cathy taped the waterline and the depth transducer to protect them. Then Dave rubbed the entire surface of the bottom with acetone to remove any oils before painting.

The bottom is prepped for painting.

With all the prep done, it took a few hours for Dave to roll on the paint, while Cathy painted around the thru-hulls and jack stands with a brush. The keel was finished the next day, allowing the Ospho to cure 24 hours. Bottom painting is a smelly, messy job, but we were glad to have it finally completed.

The finished job

Cathy uses Dorothy’s sewing machine on her projects.

Cathy - a Seamstress?

We had a couple of small canvas projects to do on the boat, which Cathy reluctantly decided to tackle. Without much sewing background (having come along just after the Home Economics classes were abandoned curriculum), she had little of her own training to draw on, so she relied on the expertise (and equipment) of those around her to get started.

Helm colver afters modifications

The first project was a re-design of our helm cover. With the addition of the new nav pod, there was no longer any way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h the existing one to fit. With some Sunbrella scraps obtained from the local canvas shop and a rough idea of what we wanted it to look like, she opened up some seams and pinned and stapled in a new piece of fabric to get the desired shape – something she jokingly refers to as a “hunchback” look.

Generator box with its new cover

The second project was a cover for our generator box, which was quickly disintegrating from too much UV exposure. It was on this project that she realized that it was a wise idea to talk to the actual user (Dave) carefully before proceeding. Cathy had envisioned a big cover to go over the whole box. But Dave didn’t want to remove it every time he opened the box. So she decided to make 2 pieces – one for the top and one for the sides-- each permanently attached to the box with Velcro. We ordered sew-on Velcro for the fabric and the stick-on version for the box. With every thing stapled in place, after several fittings, Cathy was able to make sure the cover would fit snugly.

Thanks to Dorothy on Dot’s Way, Cathy was then able to sew the finished product, since Dorothy graciously gave her access to her sewing machine and advice on the sticky problems of sewing it all together.

With her confidence built from these 2 projects completed, Cathy also sewed some new fabric into one of our anchor bags, giving us a spare when the next one wears out. None of the canvasmakers among our readers need worry about any competition coming from Cathy in the near future. Your clients are safe. However, she did feel good to be able to accomplish these small projects mostly on her own.

Chain, Chain, Chain

For years, Dave has been trying to hook up with another cruiser (or two) who might be interested in splitting a barrel of anchor chain. This would allow a lower cost per foot for both parties, and it would allow us to increase our chain on board from 130 to over 200 feet. He finally got his chance when he happened to engage in a conversation with Roger, another boater who was looking for 250 feet of chain. With that fortuitous encounter, a deal was struck. Since we were at a boatyard, the barrel could be delivered by a freight carrier without problem, and the price, including shipping, for a 550ft chain barrel of ACCO 5/16” G4 was the best they could find.

We painted one link red every 10 feet. This wears off eventually, but it gives Dave a guess at how many feet are being deployed as it feeds out.

Dave hauls the last of the new chain on board.

The order arrived in less than a week and was delivered right to Roger’s boat. Within a couple of days, it had been divided into 300 ft for Roger and 250 ft for us. We marked ours with red paint every 10 feet and then with different colored cable ties to delineate the specific distances. Then Dave spliced 55’ of new 1/2” line to the end. This replaced the 164 ft of 5/8” line that we had used before. With the larger amount of chain on board, we felt that we were unlikely to anchor on the rope part of the rode. This would be primarily used to attach the chain to the boat. With the new chain then attached to our anchor, Dave hauled it back on board. The original chain is now stowed out of the way on board until we find an interested buyer. (Could that be you?)

Our new (to us) Xantrex Truecharge40 battery charger will allow the batteries to be equalized more effectively.

Charging On

Orion’s battery charging system consists of a 20amp Xantrex charger for shore power, a 55-amp Iota charger for use with the generator, some flexible solar panels, and, of course the alternator when the engine is running. However, none of these devices seemed to do a good job of equalizing the batteries (i.e., increasing the voltage for a period time to dissolve the accumulated sulfur(?) on the plates inside the batteries). So Dave was pleased to discover a Xantrex 40-amp charger on the free shelf at the marina. He was able to successfully install this and was pleased that it now seems to do a good job of equalizing the batteries, sending 15+ volts to a fully charged bank. Its only flaw is that is missing the lights on its display, but our Xantrex 20 Battery Monitor compensates by telling us what it is doing.

Maybe this winter we’ll have less worries about battery power. On second thought, that’s not possible.

The Garmin radome is put in place

Seeing In The Dark

The final pieces were put in place to complete the radar installation, when Clifton went up the mast to install the Garmin radome. We then routed the wires through the deck at the base of the mast and connected them in the cabin to the power and Ethernet connections to the chartplotter. Then, the moment of truth. Would the radar display on the chartplotter? Sure enough, we saw that we were surrounded by boats as the orange images displayed on the screen. It worked!

The new LED cabin light makes a huge difference.

Other Boat Projects

Dave stumbled across a battery-powered fluorescent light at Wal-mart that he felt would hold our new LED light strip. He wired it into our 12-volt Main Saloon lights so that it is controlled by the same switch. Plus there is a switch on the light itself. Once installed, it worked like a charm and now is sits permanently over the table in the Main Saloon. We can actually read by this light. We like it so much, we’ve already ordered a second to install on the other side of the table.

In her spare time, Cathy re-applied Cetol to the cockpit, but limited it to one coat, since it was in good shape, and we want to eventually switch to the Natural Teak version. We also used the Collinite wax to wax the upper deck surfaces.

And what about FUN?

Yes, we had some time for relaxation. We are surrounded by other boaters, all of whom seem to be scrambling to get done and head back into the water for points south. Dorothy and Glenn on Dot’s Way, who had been our neighbors for several weeks, finally launched on Columbus Day and headed out shortly after. We had a pizza party, with homemade grilled pizzas in the screen room the night before they left. Rick and Carla on Euphoria organized it. They had returned from their summer up north and were hauled to a spot right next to us. They also introduced us to Martin and Kathy on Morning Glory, who joined us to celebrate Rick’s birthday. John and Sue on The Suzanne, who are not cruising this year, came to winterize their boat, sitting just in front of us. They took us on a road trip for breakfast and shopping at Wal-mart in Gloucester. Big times! There are of course, many more, but you get the idea.

So, are you in the water yet?

Sigh! We are still not in the water. And it’s getting COLD! We can only hope to be launched the week of the 19th, but time will tell. We’ll keep you up-to-date.

September - Cleaning Up and Fixing Up

9/30/2009

It’s been a busy month, both on Orion and off. We left Rochester with Dave’s sister, Diane, to visit with her for about a week before heading on south – to Deltaville for Dave and to NC for Cathy. Dave would pick up on the boat projects and Cathy went to visit her mom and sisters for a week before rejoining him again.

Let it Shine

We were going to have some gelcoat work done on the hull to repair some damage sustained over the winter (see our Late January entry). To prepare for this, Dave washed the boat and then used a strong cleaner to remove the waterline stains acquired from the long trip in the ICW. With the hull now white again, he applied 2 coats of wax – first a cleaner wax, then a regular liquid wax to get her shiny.

Stanley from Deltaville Boatyard repairs Orion’s gelcoat, delivering a seamless finish.

He then handed it over to Deltaville Boatyard’s gelcoat expert, Stanley, who did a beautiful job filling the gouges and restoring the smooth finish to Orion’s starboard side. Even knowing where the damage originally was won’t help you find evidence of it now. With the repairs completed, we were almost done. Dave had talked to a fellow boater who sung the praises of the effectiveness of Colinite Fleetwax. He had used their heavy duty paste wax product that had resisted the inevitable ICW stain for most of the winter. After then seeing the product survive being acid washed on another boat, Dave was sold. We applied one coat of Colinite’s liquid cleaner wax and then followed with the paste wax. Of course, Orion now gleams, but we’re hoping the shine won’t fade so quickly this year. Time will tell.

Straightening the Bow

Damaged bow pulpit

Straightening the Bow

The other damage to Orion from the winter’s incident was more obvious – the dented bow pulpit on her starboard side. Earlier in the summer, Dave had ordered a replacement piece from Beneteau, which arrived at the boatyard about the same time we did. He just needed to remove the old one and replace it with the new one. Simple, right?

Well, there were a few other things to consider. There were wires running through it that fed the bow navigation light. Since it holds the forward edge of our lifelines, these would have to be taken down, requiring the work to be done with little between the worker and the 10 foot drop to the ground. The anchors would have to be stowed elsewhere as well. Also, since the original bow pulpit had never been removed, the bolts holding it to the deck might not be easy to unscrew.

Without a bow pulpit, little lies between you and the ground.

Dave was pleased to discover that the new bow pulpit had been pre-wired, reducing the work on this aspect to simply transferring the existing bow light to the new fixture and re-attaching the wires in the anchor locker. (While he was working on the light, he replaced the incandescent bulb with a new LED one to save power while sailing at night.) After removing all of the lifelines and anchors, he removed the bolts without too much difficulty. With some help from a fellow boater, he then removed the old bow pulpit and lifted the new one into place, fastening the bolts and re-attaching the wires for the navigation lights. After confirming the bow light worked as before, he reattached the lifelines.

With this repair and the gelcoat work already done, Orion looked whole again.

Orion’s bow pulpit after repair.

Orion’s prop with Propspeed re-applied.

Smooth Running

After applying Propspeed to our propeller last summer, we were pleased with the results for most of the intervening months. The prop rarely had any growth at all, and what was there came off by simply wiping. However, in early June, Dave was disappointed to see barnacle growth that required more scraping to get off. He contacted Propspeed, and their MD rep, Chris, contacted Dave to get a look at the prop. He arranged to meet us at the boatyard, inspect the prop and re-apply the Propspeed for free.

On a particularly hot, humid, September day, Chris arrived early and he and Dave worked to sand and paint the prop. His best guess was that the prop wasn’t prepared properly before. After watching him at work, we can only guess that our prop was originally too smooth, since the finished surface this time was a little rough from the 80-grit sandpaper finish.

After sanding the prop, Chris, washed it with an acid to remove any remaining residue, rinsed it thoroughly, and then dried it in preparation for the primer coat. He supervised the mixing of the primer with its hardening agent. Then he and Dave applied the primer, followed quickly by the clear coat. They had enough left over that he also coated the prop of another boat in the yard who expressed some interest. We’re optimistic, based on the experience of the other boaters we talked to, that this should work better than the first time.

You can certainly tell the difference when Orion’s running gear is fouled versus her performance when she’s clean.

Thru-Hulls

On the advice of our survey inspector last year, Dave had been thinking about replacing the engine thru-hulls with bronze sea cocks, instead of the original plastic connections, which had no shut off at the hull and were susceptible to damage from the engine vibrations. Since we would have to empty the aft cabin to prepare for our rudder work anyway, this seemed the time to make the investment.

This was another job for the boatyard. This time, Ben did the work of removing the old thru-hulls, detaching the hoses from them, installing the new bronze fittings and sea cocks and then re-attaching the engine hoses. Of course, we won’t be able to truly test this installation until the boat goes back in the water. But for a brief time, they sure do look nice.

Other Boat Stuff

We did a few other projects that weren’t as dramatic, but still had to get done.

-     Dave replaced the stern light, which had a broken lens and replaced the bulb with an LED version, making the boat’s navigation and anchoring lights completely LED.

-     Cathy took the bimini in for some re-stitching, since the wear of taking it down and putting it back up had shown some weaknesses.

-     Our generator box is gradually breaking down and new leaks had to be repaired with generous amounts of sealant.

-     Dave was thrilled to be the recipient of 2 almost new batteries (about 2 months newer than the others we purchased at Sam’s Club last year) from another boater who was replacing his entire battery bank. These were quickly installed in place of 2 aging Trojan batteries that were already on the list to be replaced, since they were no longer charging well.

Family Times

Cathy hitched a ride with Bonnie, Troy and little Troy back to Deltaville on her way back from NC. They had come with their fishing boat in tow, looking forward to getting some time fishing on the Bay and getting a little boating advice from Dave. Afterwards, we enjoyed some great food at the marina’s annual Crab Festival, with all you can eat crabs.

More Work in Sight

The list of projects is getting shorter, but there’s still a couple of big ones to finish. You’ll get the lowdown on those in our next update, which hopefully will find us in the water – or on our way there.

Late August - Working Hard

8/31/2009

Stripping Down

Swim platform in the midst of sanding.

Although we have been keeping up with the maintenance of our teak, over time the finish has dulled and darkened, and some areas were showing signs of more significant wear. So, we decided to begin the process of stripping the teak down to bare wood to start with a fresh surface. Since we were going to put in that much work, we decided to switch from Cetol Light to Cetol Natural Teak, which we’ve heard good things about from a number of sources. Cathy started with the swim platform and the side steps, sanding down to the wood, and then applying 4 coats of Cetol. The results made the effort worthwhile.

Finished swim platform

Helm with Raymarine Tridata mounted in NavPod.

With a new, larger chartplotter now installed at the helm, we had displaced one of our Raymarine instruments, which now had to be relocated into a NavPod, mounted onto a metal arm. We purchased the NavPod online, but it arrived with a fixed sleeve that could not slide onto the curved rail at the top of our pedestal. So, Dave began looking for a solution. He finally found it on a website selling bimini hardware. It was a T fitting, that opened in 2 halves with a hinge. It still needed some grinding to ensure a solid fit, but once fitted, the arm was strong.

Now, with all the instruments in place, Dave began to re-connect them to power and to each other. Once Dave realized, with the number and complexity of the connections that would be required, it merited a plan to ensure he didn’t miss anything. With the plan in place, he could order enough of the connectors he needed to ensure the splices would be solid and watertight. Next, we began running the new wires that would be needed, in increasing order of difficulty: first, from the helm to the engine room, second, from the autopilot computer to the engine room, third, from the engine room to the nav station, and finally, from the nav station to the base of the mast.

With the wires run, the next step was to start connecting them and then to test the results. Dave powered up the chartplotter, and then connected it to its GPS. He also re-powered the wind and autopilot and connected their SeaTalk wires to each other. The Garmin would now give us our position, track to a waypoint, and display charts and routes. But one of the advantages we were looking to gain with the new chartplotter was to get AIS information (i.e., position and bearing of other boats) at the helm. So, it felt like a major victory when we connected the AIS to the Garmin and began seeing boats in motion on the Bay.

But we couldn’t leave the existing instruments behind. Once we had the TriData installed in its new NavPod, we ran the wires down the metal arm and into the pedestal to enable it to connect to power and the other Raymarine instruments. With the SeaTalk connections restored and the new NEMA 0183 connections in place, we were able to view depth, speed, wind, etc. on the MultiData instrument below decks and (for the first time) view the same information on the Garmin chartplotter. (We did have to change a setting on the MultiData to enable the NEMA data to display.) With the exception of the radar, all the instruments were working, with more information at our fingertips.

That left one more connection to restore: the chartplotter to the PC. However, Garmin confirmed that we would no longer be able to send data to the 5208 from the computer. This highlighted a few of the changes from our existing 172C. The 5208 holds fewer routes and fewer waypoints than the 172C, and it no longer allows the charts to be displayed on the PC using Mapsource software. So, Dave decided to remove the wires that would have connected to the PC. Instead, he invested in multiple SD cards and card readers, since we will now need to use the cards more often to transfer information from the PC to the 5208 and vice versa.

We had a few more connections to make down below before we could have all of our functionality back. The VHF radio wire to its antenna had been disconnected to allow it to be used as a fish wire between the bottom of the mast and the nav station for the radar power and data. Once this was reconnected, we were able to transmit and receive again on the VHF. Then we connected the Garmin to the radio, enabling the radio to display our position again, and ensuring a DSC distress call would contain our position. There was only a small problem with the information that now displayed on the radio. It now had the date and time, but it was showing Jan. 6, with an incorrect time. After some searching, Dave discovered that a setting on the Garmin had caused the date/time to be reset to January 2000 when we connected the GPS. Once Dave changed the setting, the date/time reset to the current date.

Now, we just need to connect the radar . . .

Mike goes up the mast to install the radar mount and a few other things.

Lighting Up

With plans to install a radar dome on the mast, we began looking at the list of projects that we could piggyback onto a trip up the mast. We planned to use the steaming light wires to fish the radar power and data cables down the mast to the deck, so it made sense to replace this light with a steaming / deck light combination. We had made several unsuccessful attempts to replace the 8W incandescent bulb in the anchoring fixture with an LED bulb, so we had been hoping to replace that fixture as well. Also, sometime over the winter, the Windex (an arrow indicating wind angle) had become bent and needed replacing. So, we ordered replacements for the 2 lights, the Windex, and then some LED bulbs for the fixtures (from mastlight.com). Mike, from the boatyard, then mounted them as he climbed the mast to do the radar installation. To make the installation easier, we replaced the anchoring light fixture with the same model. He still had a few problems, since one of the bolts would not release easily. It just convinced us of the wisdom of having someone else install them.

Of course, the primary reason for the trip up the mast was the installation of the radar mount. Dave had decided to go with one from Kato, which is easier to install because it is made to the specifications of our mast, and comes with a guard to prevent the headsail from being entangled with the dome or the mount. Mike drilled the holes for the mount, and then fed the power and data cables down the mast as Dave pulled them through. He then installed the mount, positioning it for the dome installation – but that would have to wait. Time had run out. Orion needed to be hauled and we were heading out of town the next day.

With the exception of the bottom of the keel, Orion's hull was clean.

Cleaning Up

Orion needed to be hauled in order to complete the repairs on her rudder, and we were reluctant to leave her in the water as we traveled north to Rochester as the hurricane season started to heat up. So, on the afternoon before we were to leave, she was hauled and we scrambled to clean even the smallest amount of growth from the bottom while it was wet and easy to remove. This would make it easier to do the bottom painting when we returned. Then, with the specter of a tropical storm on the horizon, we decided to do a full storm prep, removing canvas and securing loose items on deck.

Cathy took advantage of the removal of all of the glass in the enclosure to clean and waterproof the bimini. She also had the glass in the main windshield, which had been accidentally scratched, replaced by the local canvas maker, Ship’s Tailor, who made quick and economical work of the repair.

Living It Up

After working so hard on Orion, it was a treat to head to Rochester and a surprise 80th birthday party for Dave’s dad. We arrived the day before and spent much of the next day trying to set-up for the party, while keeping the surprise intact. It worked, and he was celebrated in style.

While in Rochester, we made our annual visit to the dentist, visited with Dave’s family and enjoyed some true Rochester cuisine, such as Italian sausage at Giovanni’s stand in Victor and chocolate almond fudge custard at Don’s Original. Mmmmm. . .

Cathy put Dave’s dad to work part of the time (keeping him distracted from birthday preparations), helping her make a second cockpit pocket. He did a great job, but sewing canvas is not going to be his new hobby.

Moving On

Rochester had the coolest temperatures we had seen all summer, which was a welcome relief from the heat of southern VA, but highs in the 60’s were a little too cool. So we’re ready to head further south in search of warmer weather (but not too much warmer).

Late July / Early August - Hampton No More

8/15/2009

We finally cast off the dock lines at Joy’s Marina and headed out of the Hampton River for the last time this summer. We headed north to Deltaville, which will be Orion’s home for the next couple of months, as she gets her annual check-up, some repairs and some sprucing up. But before we took her north, we took a road trip to northern VA for our annual check-ups and to visit with friends while there.

Dave in DC Metro

Checking Up

For the first time in a long time, we traveled by Greyhound bus, boarding at the nearby Hampton terminal and arriving in DC at the bus terminal a short walk north of Union Station. From there we took Dave’s old commuter route via the Metro and commuter bus to Reston, where we were to stay with Cookie, our former neighbor and on-going friend.

We like to do a project to say thank you for her hospitality. This time, we dove into the dismantling of a malfunctioning hot tub. Luckily, the weather was cool that day, since it took most of the day to finish the job, reducing it to the size we thought would be acceptable to the trash pickup company. (It was a little much, but Cookie managed to sweet talk them into taking it anyway.)

After a Sunday spent relaxing and visiting our former church family, we spent Monday morning at the doctor for routine exams that were thankfully uneventful. After Dave met with his colleagues from CNCS on Tuesday, we headed out Wednesday morning for Hampton, retracing our steps through the Metro and bus system. We took time to meet with our financial planners in DC before boarding the bus home to Hampton.

Water: It’s either too much or too little

As the summer heats up, we rely more and more on Orion’s air conditioning to make life comfortable on board. Like most marine A/C systems, it uses raw water drawn in through a thru-hull sea-cock as a “heat pump”, extracting its cooler temperature to cool the air. As the air cools, condensate forms and is routed into the bilge, where it must be pumped out periodically or (eventually) the space under the floor would fill with water. So, to ensure the A/C’s efficiency, we need to ensure a steady flow of raw water, and a routine emptying of our bilge.

Up to now, the raw water flow has been amazingly strong and unaffected by the body of water Orion is sitting in. However, this summer has been wetter than normal, and the Hampton River was churned up more than usual. We were becoming aware that the flow of water coming out of the A/C thru hull had slowed to a trickle by early August, causing us to shut down the system and flush it out with a hose. This restored the flow, but within days, it was slowing again, causing us to flush it a second time. As it started to slow for the 3rd time, we were glad we were headed to Deltaville. The water flow has been steady since we moved north, with no need to flush it any more. (Knock wood.)

As for the bilge, we have routinely been manually activating the bilge pump whenever the A/C is running. However, our rudder leak prompted Dave to install 2 float switches, to ensure we had plenty of notice of any water coming into the boat unexpectedly. He installed one in the main bilge compartment at the foot of the companionway stairs and the other in the stern next to the rudder assembly. These switches are then wired into a new buzzer that, like the one hooked up to our GPS, will wake the dead when it sounds. Being highly motivated to keep the bilge dry (and the alarm silent), Dave then moved our automatic bilge pump lower in the bilge, so that it will pump the water out before reaching the float switch. It’s been working like a charm, and we’re wondering why we didn’t do this sooner. Sometimes it’s the simple things you miss.

Engine Maintenance

When we arrived in Deltaville, it wasn’t long before John was on the boat checking out the engine. However, he was pretty pleased with what he found and the list of to-do items was small.

Dave had wanted to change the engine water pump, but had been plagued by a persistent leak when he tried to install the replacement. John explained that this was a sign not of a faulty installation, but of a faulty pump that needed replacing. With that information, we instead replaced the impeller on the existing pump and plan to order a new water pump as a spare.

Over the winter, Dave had been disappointed with the performance of the boat’s alternator in charging the batteries, so John did a check of the alternator and gave it a clean bill of health. He also checked the motor mounts and the mixing elbow. He changed the air filter, the on-engine fuel filter and the on-engine raw water strainer gasket.

Other than that, the engine was fine. After 2 years of more intense effort on the engine, we were glad to spend our attention (and therefore our money) elsewhere.

Charting a new path

GPS installed on deck

After much discussion, we decided to install our new Garmin 5208 chartplotter to enable us to display AIS and Radar at the helm. The first decision we needed to make was the new layout at the helm, since the chartplotter has a bigger footprint than its predecessor 172C. Mike from Deltaville Boatyard helped us envision the new layout. With the dissimilarity in the footprints, we decided to lay a piece of starboard over the existing pedestal top to give us a clean surface to work with. The boatyard’s carpenter milled the edges and cut out the holes for the new layout and attached it to the existing pedestal. When he was done, it looked great.

Unfortunately, it just looked great. We now have to do the tedious work of connecting all the wires to make it work.

The first thing we installed was the new GPS. We mounted this on the starboard side of the companionway, removing the headliner below to attach the bolts and run the wire to the engine room, so it could be connected to the 5208 at the helm. There are still dozens of connections to make to ensure everything will work together before it’s done.

Jayden blows out his candles for his 3rd birthday.

Family Time

After celebrating our middle grandson’s 3rd birthday, Cathy took the older one to the beach for a few days with her family before returning to Hampton and Grandpa to spend the remainder of his vacation with us on Orion. Droz found crabs, “super” jellyfish, oysters, and all the river wildlife to be exciting, but what he most enjoyed was playing with friends on the dock, whether in Hampton on in Deltaville, where he ended his stay. He got to take his first long sailing trip (where we actually sailed most of the way) with us from Hampton to Deltaville. He even manned the helm for the last hour under motor.

More boat stuff to come

If you’ve been feeling deprived because we’ve had so little to say about boat projects in the past few entries, this and the next entry should satisfy your hunger, since we are already knee-deep in several tasks that will make the next few updates.

Early July - Independence Day

7/15/2009

Parade of Sails in Hampton Roads

Dave shows Steve features of his Garmin chartplotter

Independence Day Celebrations

Although we didn’t see any fireworks over Independence Day weekend, we did have a great time celebrating with family and friends. On Friday, we took a ride on Bay Dreamer with Steve and some of his friends to get a closer view of Norfolk’s Parade of Sail. It was an unbelievably great sailing day – cool with a steady breeze, so rare for July. So we joined the parade, sailing behind the 4 tall ships and the many smaller boats up the Elizabeth River toward Waterside. After a couple of hours sailing south toward Norfolk, we turned back toward home and didn’t power up until the entering the Hampton River.

The next day was equally cool and pleasant, which made it a great time to spend outdoors at a barbecue at our son’s house. Adam graciously made the trip to Hampton to pick us up and bring us home, allowing us to spend the weekend with his and Bonnie’s family. We spent most of the day in the yard with the kids and then spent the next morning in church before a farewell brunch with the family.

Bay Dreamer under tow approaching the dock.

Bay Dreamer's Woes
Our neighbor, Steve, has had a rough month on Bay Dreamer. After sailing out into the Bay to watch fireworks on July 4th, he returned to the dock to discover water up to the floorboards in his bilge. He began pumping the water out and looking for the source of the leak, which he located at the drive shaft seal. It was after midnight before he headed home, his head spinning with possible solutions for the problem. On Monday, Dave helped him repair the drive shaft, such that Steve felt good about heading out on the weekend with us for a planned trip to Mobjack Bay.

It wasn’t destined to be that simple however.

Although we managed to take advantage of the building southwesterly winds to travel north to Mobjack Bay, our return trip was going to rely on the motor, as the winds were almost non-existent for most of the trip south. We arrived well ahead of Bay Dreamer back at the dock, but we had barely tied on the dock lines when we got a call from Krista, saying that Bay Dreamer’s engine would not go into gear, so Steve had put up the sails and was trying to sail back as best as he could, with the hope that he could use the engine or a tow for the final trip into the slip. However, with little wind and opposing current, he was barely making 2 knots. It would take him hours to get back to the dock. Dave described a way for him to use his dinghy to “tow” his boat, but this was going to be a tricky maneuver underway in the Bay. Instead, Dave solicited the help of Paul on Beaudacious, a new arrival on the dock, who had his dinghy with 15hp motor on davits (therefore easily launched), to head out to Bay Dreamer to offer assistance.

After meeting up with Steve and Christa just off Fort Monroe, Dave and Paul tied the dinghy to the fore and aft cleats of the boat, and then began to use the dinghy to provide the power that Bay Dreamer needed to move up the Hampton River. Using the big boat's helm to steer, Steve maneuvered her into the harbor toward the slip. At the last minute, the dinghy was released to allow the boat to back into the slip, acting as a tiny tug to nudge Bay Dreamer’s bow around, lining her up between the pilings. With the help of a few hands on shore, she was secured in a matter of minutes. The next day, after 24 hours of imagining the worst (i.e. most expensive) solutions for the problem, Steve was relieved to discover, with Paul and Dave’s help, that the solution was a simple key that had disintegrated. That solution removed several zeroes from the possible cost of fixing it. Whew!

Steve hopes to have the mechanic at Deltaville Boatyard look over the engine and help him make sure everything is OK when he joins us for the trip north in a few weeks.

Bay Dreamer in the Severn River

Where'd that boat go?

Despite its dramatic end, our trip to Mobjack Bay was a good time. Since the winds were going to be up overnight, we headed into the SW branch of the Severn River to anchor with more protection than our usual anchorage at the mouth of the river. Once we were both anchored, Steve and Krista dinghyed over to join us for cocktails and dinner. Not long before sunset, the anchorage population increased by 50% when we were joined by one other boat, Hooyah (can you guess which branch of the service he hails from). Other than that, the anchorage was quiet, and we were congratulating ourselves on an uneventful and delightful day.

But, as forecast, the winds howled overnight as a front moved through, and we were awakened around 4:30 the next morning as our anchor drag alarm was sounding. We were holding, but our anchor had slid almost 50 feet in the higher winds across the hard bottom, as had Bay Dreamer. Worse yet, Hooyah had moved across the channel and appeared to be in shallow water on the other side, although not obviously aground. A couple of hours later, their status had changed for the worse, since their waterline was showing higher, as they settled into the shallow water off the channel. Dave and Steve went over to see if there was any was they could help, but it was going to be a waiting game, since they were firmly aground, until the tide rose or BoatUS came, whichever happened first. The good news was that by 10am, they were floating again and on their way.

Nothing like a low-tech solution to the problem. But perhaps we'll look for another anchorage to get out of weather next time.

Cathy prepping the magazine rack for the last coat of varnish.

Boat Stuff

Cathy spent a week sanding and varnishing a new magazine rack that is a welcome addition to the cabin, organizing an unsightly pile of publications into a much neater cubby on the Main Saloon bulkhead. She has also started updating the boat inventory, an on-line record of the contents of all the hidden spaces on the boat. Although we update this throughout the year, it helps to do a more methodical review every so often.

Dave installing fuse box in engine room.

Dave spent some time upgrading the wiring in the engine room in preparation for some new electronics that we anticipate installing later in the summer. He replaced a small buss bar and several individual fuses that had served as the connection point for a number of electrical devices with a new fuse box that will make adding devices and changing fuses much easier.

The arrival of a new computer kept Dave busy configuring it to replace our existing household computer, which was starting to show signs of wear.

Other on-going maintenance doesn’t go away just because we are at a dock. Cathy started polishing the stainless steel. We hired a diver to clean the bottom and replace the zinc, which had disappeared. We changed the engine and transmission oil.

And then we had a few things that needed fixing.

Some of the canvas enclosure fittings had pulled loose, so Cathy re-seated these with larger screws. Our near-constant use of the Air Conditioning caused us to look into the strainer to discover it filled with seaweed. (We found ourselves lucky that we weren’t sucking in jellyfish like some of our neighbors.) We also discovered that it was plumbed “backward”, meaning that instead of sending the raw water into the strainer and out through the bowl to the condenser, the water flows into the bowl and then into the strainer out to the condenser. Dave took some time to re-plumb this the correct way, making it much easier to clean by just removing the strainer. And last, but not least, our Honda EU2000 generator needed some maintenance, since it was running very rough and would stall easily. After consulting the company where we purchased it, Dave learned that he simply needed to clean the carburetor with a carburetor cleaner spray. Apparently this is a common problem when gas sits unused in the generator. After he finished the cleaning, the generator started up and ran smoothly.

New Chartplotter

We tried for a week to sell a recently-acquired Garmin 5208 chartplotter on eBay. We found it at the Boater's World going out of business sale. However, it wasn't quite what we were looking for. We actually prefer the Garmin 4208. Since we've been unsuccessful in selling the 5208 that we purchased, we're starting to get our heads around keeping it instead. Dave installed the latest software and updated the charts to the most recent version. We won't mount it until we get to Deltaville, since we'll need to move some of our other instruments around at the helm. With the wiring changes and the updates to the unit, we're positioning ourselves to make the final install easier. We haven't completely given up hope of selling the 5208, but time is starting run out on that option.

New Neighbors

The newest addition to the dock was Beaudacious with Paul and Lynn, who had brought their Catalina 47 from San Francisco Bay to Hampton over the past 3 years. They had decided to leave the boat in Hampton while they went back to California for a while. We enjoyed meeting them and showing them around. We shared tips on getting access to services without a car, such as haircuts at the downtown Virginia School of Hair Design and the exercise facilities at the Old Hampton Community Center. They took us down to the Surfrider restaurant using their dinghy. We shared rides in Steve’s loaned car to the grocery store. And, of course, Paul was a big help to Steve on Bay Dreamer. We hope to see them again this fall when they return.

More Dock Time

We’ll be on the dock in Hampton for a few more weeks before moving north to Deltaville to start our boat work. We’ll do a little traveling off the boat as well. The summer has been milder than last year, so we’re enjoying the ability to walk over for a swim each day. And there’s always something to be done on the boat . . .

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