Galesville to Newport

Dream Catcher is on the move again.  Our last night in Fenwick Island, we had the treat of watching the Strawberry moon rise over the ocean on the Summer Solstice.  Life is truly good!

After a month on land where many boat projects were accomplished by Greg (see previous blog entry) we prepared to head onto the water again.  Last project was to replace the propeller that was removed in order to have it re-pitched, hoping to help prevent the carbon build up on the transom.  Already having accomplished three other projects trying to prevent this, it was hoped this would make the difference.  However, after removing the prop and visiting the shop where they would do the work, the professional said that the prop was the correct pitch and no work would be needed.  So, the propeller got painted with anti-fouling paint and was ready to go back on.

Greg prepares the tools, Sharon learns the parts and process and into the water goes Greg - the muddy, cloudy, can't see unless you have a light and are within six inches of the object, water.  The chief mechanic (that would be Greg) is ready.  The propeller gets lowered into the water, lassoed by a long, beefy line and winched and tied in the cockpit (you really don't want to drop it in the water!)  First, the "key" which has been loaded up with "Lanocote" anti-corrosion goop, fits into the shaft notch and assured it is in tight.  The key and notch are at 12 o'clock today, which worked out great (not so easy to drop the key).  Then, the prop is fitted over the shaft end. Following the prop the appropriate nut gets handed to the chief mechanic.  The large wrench needed to secure this first nut is handed down and lassoed to the mechanic's wrist.  Then, the propeller gets tightened into place.  Then, another nut and the final cotter pin are put in place, which requires a small hammer to assure it is in and bent around properly.  Of course, all this while holding your breath!  It was a successful job - add it to the list!

The propeller is attached to the bottom of this line

Wonderful aluminum wrench! Looks way heavier than it is

Success!

Friday morning dawns a tad cloudy, but off we go out of the West River and north up the Chesapeake.  It was a motor day as the wind was on our nose.  Thirty miles to Fairlee Creek, setting us up for a good ride into the Chesapeake and Delaware Canal tomorrow.  Fairlee Creek is a lovely anchorage, but a little tricky to enter.  We headed straight into shore from red to red, took a hard left along the shore, then a hard right to enter the creek.  The current was running out and pushed the boat hard to the opposite shore.  Captain Greg masterfully threw the gear shift into reverse and gunned it, successfully pushing the stern to port, bow to starboard and setting us straight into the opening, then into forward and gunned it through the opening.  Whew!  We could smell something burning!  (Maybe that was what we needed to blow that carbon out for good!)  Once inside, we found a spot amidst the quickly gathering motor boats and settled down for a nice evening.

Heading out early the next morning, to avoid the heavy current, we followed another sailboat out.  Except, it was low tide.  Though there was no current to deal with, we ended up hitting bottom in the outside channel along the shore, just 40 feet from shore.  Again, Greg masterfully, moved fore and aft, this way and that, trying to find the deeper water.  Finally, off we went.  Whew!  As a high school friend told Sharon when she ran into him years later, "Anyone who says they haven't stuck their keel into the Chesapeake mud is lying!"  We have dipped ours in several times.  All part of sailing the Chesapeake and looking for those sweetest of anchorages.

On to the Canal, where we tied up alongside Schaefer's Canal House.  This is a crazy place on a summer weekend.  Lots of boats moving about between the southern and northern shore of the canal. Several restaurants and watering holes make it a popular destination for land and sea folk.  The Chesapeake and Delaware Canal is an amazing feat of engineering.  By connecting a series of creeks back in the early 1800's, a well-used shipping channel has resulted.  This saves huge amounts of time for those transiting to Philadelphia and Baltimore.

We love stopping at Schaefer's for two reasons.  One - the menu is filled with crab dishes - one of Sharon's favorite foods!  Two - our friends Lori and Tom always come to visit.  They live only about 45 minutes away and it is always a pleasure to see them.  We enjoyed a good meal, some local music and a long chat.  Tom, Lori and Lori's mom are faithful blog followers.  They pretty much know where we are at any given time.  We were chatting about our travels and Lori asked us how fast we go.  She said, I know you call it knots, but how would you compare it to miles per hour like in a car?  We said 6 mph.  The reaction was classic.  She cracked up and didn't stop laughing for a couple minutes!  She said - well I think I would have to go faster than that.  Ha - now you know why it takes us so long to go 200 miles!  Thanks for always being with us Lori and Tom, and Mom!

We pulled away from the dock the next morning and continued on our way to an overnight stop off in Cape May.  From Cape May, we headed out early Monday morning along with all the fishing charters, and set the auto pilot for 61 degrees.  For the next 24 hours we would leave it in that spot changing course only to avoid the ships and fishing vessels around the New York ship channel area.  80 miles of shipping channels shaped like a fan line the NY/NJ coast all arranged to organize shipping in and out of New York Harbor.  They extend to over 100 miles out to sea and help them and everyone else avoid each other, especially at night.  At one point, Sharon counted 15 AIS signals (ship transponder signals) on the chart at 3am - all within 20 miles of us!  Why is it that all the fishing boats are out at night?  Are fish really nocturnal?  And what are they doing fishing right in the middle of the shipping channels?

Fairly typical fishing vessel, somewhere around 100 feet in length;
always keep a safe distance as they often have nets in the water

The fishing vessels are the triangles, the large blocks are large cargo vessels;
that is us, the black vessel right in the middle!
The yellow arrow that appears to be pointing at us is the wind direction.  

The final hours on Tuesday morning take us along the Southern coast of Long Island.  By this time, we are ready for a shower and the smooth water of a harbor.  The constant rock and roll created by easterly swells begins to wear on us, along with sleep deprivation and boredom.  But, we had one last wonder, a large black whale that surfaced right in front of the boat.  Sharon saw the spray first, then the whale's body came up in a giant arch maybe 50 - 100 feet in front of us.  Greg says the expression on Sharon's face was total amazement.  Greg stood up just in time to see a second surfacing, then he was gone.  What a cool treat!

By 2pm, we were finally in flatter water and making the turn into Great Salt Pond, Block Island, Rhode Island.  205 miles in 30 hours!  Still cloudy and a bit drippy, we were happy to see calm water.  Anchor down, text messages sent to those worried about us, we both crashed for some much needed quiet rest.  Showers and a full night's sleep has us feeling back to normal today.  As the fog has settled in right about now, we will hang out for a day, then head to Newport tomorrow.

Happy Fourth to all!  'Til next time -

Boat Chores in Galesville

The boat and Greg have been in a small marina in Galesville, MD about 15 minutes from Annapolis since May 15th. We were there last year in order to have specialized help install new radar and electronics. At that time we had the boat hauled, painted the bottom and used the four weeks to do a seasonal refit.....make a list, fix, replace or add whatever was needed. It takes weeks!

This year we have a similar, but different list. We thought it might be interesting for home-dwellers to see what sort of work a boat requires. So, here's this year's seasonal refit list for the Summer of 2016 (even if you aren't interested...check out our new friend, Mr. Eel, later in this post):

• We've had poor transmitting quality on our ship's radio for a few months. So, we needed to test the VHF radio, antenna wiring, antenna, remote microphone and all associated wiring. This took about four hours with a great technician, Mike. Then...
• Greg climbed the mast, Mike tested the antenna, Greg replaced it with a new one, then tested again - about two hours. Also, Greg found a rusted cell phone antenna at the top of the mast (18 months old) so, plan another replacement, research, purchase it online and expect another trip up the mast before leaving the area!!!
• After researching and purchasing a new VHF radio online and new remote microphone Greg installed them. Mike tested again - two hours research, two hours install - much better!
• Dream Catcher's rudder is as tall as and wider than a man. It's driven by a two inch diameter steel shaft that runs through the hull to the steering mechanism. The shaft is encased at the hull by a "stuffing box", a heavy duty rubber tube filled with special synthetic oil-encased fabric to keep the ocean on the outside. Our stuffing box leaks too much when the rudder works very hard, for example when sailing with strong winds and a lot of sail up. To fix this, Greg removed the rudder shaft stuffing and replaced it with new material. Two hours of research, purchase materials, five hours of working in very small, very tight spaces. Very good results!
• The propeller that drives the boat while motoring has a similar device. It also drips too much, which means it is time to either tighten it or replace the old material. Greg chose to remove the old shaft stuffing and replace it. After four hours he had to give up. The two and a half inch locknut was really locked! So, hire help to break the old fitting out a couple of days later, then two more hours after help left to complete the job. Sore hands, and shoulders, but good results again!
• Varnish exterior teak - two days, 7AM to 6PM.  The job includes toe rails - this is the teak trim that surrounds Dream Catcher's deck. They are six inches wide and about five inches high. Since the boat is 42 feet long, about 10 feet wide at the stern and two feet wide at the bow pulpit there are 96 linear feet by 11 inches of teak, almost 90 square feet of toe rail teak. The cockpit has two eight foot coamings and a helm seat. And the cabin top has two 30 foot long grab rails. Altogether that's well over 100 square feet of teak to sand, clean and varnish twice (and the cockpit teak gets an additional coat). The results, however, are fabulous!
• We've had a very small incessant leak on the starboard side of the cabin whenever heavy rain occurs. Fixing it required forcing a special caulk into a space between the toe rail and fiberglass deck. Removed the toe rail rub strake, drilled 3/8 inch holes every four inches for 25 feet, filled with caulk. Then filled every screw hole every six inches, replaced rub strake; about two days work. Heavy rain swept over Dream Catcher a few days later. The boat is dry and happy!
• Paint dorades (those small air intakes on the cabin top) - less than two hours for this job. Easy work and a nice result.
• Remove each shroud's chain plate, remove old caulking, replace - four hours. Chain plates are the deck level base fittings of the stainless steel cables holding up the mast.
• Coat all canvas with 303 (like Scotch Guard) - one hour (easy work for a sunny day!)
• Re-stuff helm and coaming cushions - one hour after finding and purchasing material.
• Replace rusted ground wire lugs at rudder post and main through-hull - two hours. But, finding correct lugs was tough! 
• Dream Catcher's steering system has become a little sluggish - a little too much play in the wheel when you turn it. So, we contacted the manufacturer and after some discussion made a short video so that they could see and diagnose the problem. You can view the video here: Steering play video - click here. The repair included disassembling the steering system's top end, grinding the brass worm gear fan to enable it to be raised 1/16th of an inch, prying this unit up to fit snuggly and tightening it up. This took about four hours, plus two with the manufacturer on the phone, several emails…..but, excellent results! We now have a happy steering system again.
• Replace two inch diameter aft shower drain hose. This project necessitated cutting a hole in a sub-floor bulkhead forward of the engine compartment, then reaching where it is almost impossible to reach in order to fish the new hose into position. The old hose was initially connected to the new one in order to simply enable the new one to be pulled through, but it broke - of course! This turned into an all day job. But, the new hose now reaches the shower sump basin and the system works as it should.
• Repair numerous small dings in deck, cockpit and inside cabin floor. The old GelKote (fiberglass paint) was too hard to use, so new stuff was ordered....$100 a pint and a three day wait! After it arrived this job was completed in the expected time, a few hours. These jobs are nice becasue you see an immediate visible improvement!
• And, of course, change oil, filter and fuel filters. Check antifreeze (plan to change it out soon).
• Paint main bilge areas. An easy hour. 
• Dream Catcher's microwave is 20 years old and looks like it. We've wanted to buy a new one, but the area it takes up was so small we couldn't find one to fit. We needed a ship's carpenter to make that area larger. We were lucky enough to find a semi-retired pro living in an exquisite Tayana sailboat in the next marina. He spent an hour with Greg and the result was perfect. We purchased and installed the new unit and now all that remains is fastening small brackets under the unit to make sure it stays in place under sailing conditions.
• Dream Catcher has been creating too much carbon on her transom when motoring for long periods of time. After having the injectors serviced, valves adjusted and cleaning the water systems the next obvious thing is an over pitched propeller. Tomorrow Greg brings the boat to the marina next door for it to be hauled in order to clean the bottom, but more importantly to have the prop removed for service. Once it's removed, the marina hands will push Dream Catcher back to her slip and tie her up. Greg will then drive to Baltimore and drop off the prop, where they will clean and evaluate it before going the next step. This involves re-pitching it by heating and bending the blades to be less aggressive and perfectly aligned with each other. It'll be delivered to the marina in a few days where a diver will put it back on its shaft. We'll have to wait for our next long journey to find out if this actually has the desired effect. Stay tuned!

Still to do:

• Wax hull, cabin, deck.
• Build Liferaft cover from Sunbrella.
• Repair minor damage to main sail. Inspect others.
• Sew new cloth flap in overhead cockpit canvas in order to fend off rain infiltration during high winds.

A few photos of current projects:

The results of a nice varnish job!

Dream Catcher's steering system. 

You can see the prop tucked in front of the rudder.

Forward bilge all clean and painted!

Main bilge

Cockpit taped off waiting for new can of GelKote paint

More tape

Helm seat with new cushioning...

Propeller shaft and stuffing box (the brass nuts). There is an 18 inch by 12 inch window two feet above this assembly to work through. Then find tools that can grip two of these nuts to unscrew them from each other. One broken wrench and four hours later Greg called for reinforcements. BTW, we see another bilge painting project in the near future!

Earnie the Eel!

After a long day of boat projects Greg found it was almost impossible to get the head pump to work, which means he couldn't flush the toilet!  During the prior 24 hours it had become more and more restricted. Water just would not pump into the toilet. Greg broke down the two pumping mechanisms, installed new parts, cleared the hoses and still no luck! Then he removed the only other piece in the system, the hose and valve to the outside water (ocean water). There is a check valve there, too, allowing water in but not out. Upon removing the check valve this little guy fell out! He's probably ten inches long and he was lodged in a valve four inches long!  Sheesh! A two hour project at the end of a long day! Ernie is no longer with us! But, the cabin sole got another coat of varnish!

So, after a month of hard work, we expect to soon be on the water again and enjoying all these new improvements.  

We'll let you know how the rest of the story goes.  'Til next time -