Pre-haulout Projects in Baltimore

Jun 8 thru Jun 13

--Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, June 8

My list of boat projects is very fluid. I’m constantly adding/postponing/completing them.  I keep my project list on my iPad and have five timing categories: (1) pre-haulout, (2) during haulout, (3) post-haulout, (4) completed, and (5) postponed to 2019.  Currently, I’m working on my “pre-haulout” projects.  This year’s annual haulout is scheduled for July 7 thru July 21.

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Yesterday, as one of my pre-haulout projects, I purchased a new steaming/foredeck flood light combo fixture to be installed during this year’s haulout. The fixture I selected is the Aqua Signal Series 41.  The built in foredeck flood light will replace my current single spreader light which frequently has a burned out bulb.

I purchased the above Aqua Signal Series 41
steaming/foredeck flood light combo
for installation on our mast during
our upcoming haulout.

The Series 41 lights are available in black or white housings.  While I like the appearance of the white housing, the black housing (because of the carbon black in the black plastic) has increased resistance to UV.

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Refinishing the bulkhead in the navigation station/quarter berth is a project that I’ve recently added and I want to complete it before our annual haulout. Consequently, I’m applying most of my effort to this project at the moment. (However, I have a lot of free time between coats of stain/varnish to accomplish other smaller projects simultaneously.)

This morning I applied the fourth coat of EPIFANES varnish to the documentation board after sanding it with 180-grit sandpaper in my powered vibratory (pad) sander—this helps to flatten the finish which is necessary to eliminates the unwanted crevices in the wood.

I also lightly sanded the bulkhead in the area where I plugged some excess holes and applied my pre-mixed stain. After about 15 minutes, I wiped off the excess stain. I went back and re-stained a couple spots after the following photo was taken. I then allowed the stain to fully dry (overnight).

After one coat of stain on the upper bulkhead
in the navigation station.  After 6 hours,
I applied a second coat of stain.

The speaker in the above photo is a remote speaker for the ICOM VHF radio in the navigation station.  When the radio is turned on we can easily hear it in the cockpit.  (In addition, we have a helm-mounted VHF radio which we use more often, but the range is not as great because of the lower antenna.)

Why not take a bath during an
afternoon thunderstorm?

Sunday, June 10

I like to work on my projects early in the morning.  I was never an "early morning" person during my working days but in retirement, all that has changed.  During the past two seasons in the Bahamas, our travel days always started early in the morning (to make as much distance as possible during the daylight hours) and waking up early just habitually continued for me.  Of course, this is one of the things we hope to change this coming season, having only 25 to 30-mile days.

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It was overcast and cool right from the start of the day.  Rain is expected this evening.  There is a light breeze out of the east.

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I put the fifth and (hopefully) last coat of EPIFANES varnish on the documentation board this morning as well as the first coat of varnish on the starboard bulkhead. The fist coat on the bulkhead was EPIFANES gloss—the second coat will be gloss as well. Follow up coats will be EPIFANES satin finish. (The gloss varnish has UV inhibitors which the satin varnish doesn’t.) I’m trying to blend the refinished area into the remainder of the bulkhead. By doing this, I’m keeping the project as controlled as possible with the least disruption to our (limited) living space.

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I did a lot of reading today while the varnish was drying.  Right now, I’m reading James Clapper’s new book, Facts and Fears: Hard Truths From a Life in Intelligence.  It is a very good read.

The book by James Clapper that
I am currently reading.

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Before our day was over, I sanded the first coat of gloss varnish on the bulkhead.

Monday, June 11

It rained through the night and into the morning. It was a nice light rain—no thunderstorms nor driving winds, just a gentle rain. The rain is expected to continue through mid-day.  We have our dinghy stored upside down on our foredeck—so, it makes the v-berth where we sleep very dark, especially so when it is overcast and rainy.

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I got up early in the morning and put the last coat of gloss varnish on the uppermost portion on the bulkhead where it experienced the most sunlight. (From this point on, I will be applying satin varnish over the gloss varnish and blending it into the old finish where the sunlight has not affected it.)

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I’ve noticed that we get some rainwater that leaks onto the area where the teak step is located near the companionway.  I think it is coming from the screws that fasten the coaming over the companionway’s sliding hatch.  From these outside screws, the water runs down inside the fiberglass liner and exits through some old unused screw holes just above the step.  When the rain stops, I will re-bed these outside screws. This is not a new leak but one that I never seem to get around to fixing--it is now on my list!

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About 8 AM I started browning beef cubes for beef bourguignon that I am cooking in the crockpot for tonight’s dinner (and maybe two dinners of leftovers). In addition to the beef cubes, I added fresh mushrooms, carrots, and pearl onions—plus a bottle of my favorite (Erath) Pinot Noir (instead of burgundy which is normally used).  Maybe I should call this dish "Beef Pinot Noir."  This is by far the best dish that I make.

Beef Bourguignon in the crockpot
before cooking all day.

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Just before lunch, we pulled apart the starboard settee looking for a leak in our starboard fresh water tank (and cleaning as we go).  The tank was partially full (it was in use) so we couldn’t remove it and look for the leak.  However, we topped it off and watched for bilge pump activity—there was none.  So, for now, we believe this tank is leaktight.  Since we recently replaced the port tank, the next most likely source for a water leak has to be the forward tank. (We feel sure that at least one tank leaks because just after filling the tanks, the bilge pump has a lot of activity.)

Our next step in finding the leak was to top off the forward tank and monitor an area where any leakage would find its way to the bilge.  First, we had to clean up kitty litter that somehow spilled in the area. We topped off the forward tank and watched for water leaking through this area. No water came through the area! 

This is an accessible area just aft of the forward
water tank.  Any leakage from the tank
would have to drain through
this area on its way
to the bilge.  

So, we now believe that our two oldest tanks are leaktight, leaving the port tank that we replaced in August 2015 as the most likely culprit.  Looking at the port tank will have to wait until another time but it’s now on my project list.

In the afternoon (after the second coat of varnish on the starboard bulkhead was well on its way to drying) I sanded the port bulkhead and applied the first coat of stain. Later in the afternoon (actually about 4 hours later) I applied the second coat of stain.

Tuesday, June 12

It was a beautiful cool sunny day today, right from the start. We drove to Annapolis this morning to accomplish several chores and to have lunch at our favorite pizza restaurant, Italian Market.

We got back to the boat at 2 PM. The (satin) varnish I applied early this morning was already dry to the touch but I decided to wait until later this afternoon to lightly sand it and apply the last coat. (Tonight I can put the navigation station back together!)

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During the last two days we’ve been encouraging Lola (our new Maine Coon kitten) to come outside in the cockpit with us. The first time, she abruptly turned around and came right back inside where she felt more secure. Today, she stayed outside for about 10 to 15 seconds before turning around and coming below.  I can see that this is going to take time and patience with her.

Lola is quite active but not quite ready
to venture into the cockpit with us.

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I called the New Bern Grand Marina in New Bern NC this afternoon to make reservations to stay there this winter. We made our reservation. We’ll be on C-dock but we will not get our actual slip assignment until October 1. We expect to leave Baltimore in mid-October and arrive in New Bern NC in mid-November—we’ll head back to Baltimore in mid-April 2019.

A satellite view of New Bern.  The red
arrow points to C-dock in the marina.

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I put the navigation station back together!  I’m still working on the port side of the bulkhead. 

The refinished bulkhead in the navigation station.
Note the new door frame on the
left side of this image.

Wednesday, June 13

We were awoken by a duck walking on the deck of the boat this morning.  The cats were both excited at the prospect of chasing it away (or catching it).

I think this duck was looking for a place to nest as she
walked around on the deck this morning.

We faced an overcast sky this morning, as a contrast to the beautiful sunny day yesterday.  Before breakfast, I applied the second (and last) coat of gloss varnish to the port bulkhead this morning. 

Our project du jour was cleaning out the bilge with the shop vac.  We brought the shop vac from our storage unit yesterday anticipating this project.  I took the fabric filter out of the shop vac before using it to suck up water.  As I vacuumed out the yucky water in the bilge, I found a big hunk of plastic among the junk on the bottom.  We vacuumed up a lot of cat litter and oily gunk mixed with cat hair--this could have been a real problem for the bilge pump.  

After the bilge cleaning we cleaned all the raw water strainers.  The raw water goes through these strainers before it is used by our air conditioner and our fridge's supplemental cooling.  The strainers were surprisingly clean.  As usual, before putting them back into service I popped two coloring tablets into each strainer basket--this keeps things from growing in there.

From the strainers we continued with our cleaning gig and disposed of the solids in our composting toilet (in the marina's trash bin).  Maggie spent about an hour cleaning the toilet once we removed it from the boat.  After we charged it with composting medium (coconut coir), we went out for lunch nearby.

Stay tuned for a few more minor projects before our boat is hauled out for annual maintenance...

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