2018 Haulout in Galesville

July 10 thru July 13

—Blogpost written by Bob

Tuesday, July 10

This is our second day of our annual maintenance haulout. I’m always glad to be through the first (and most hectic) day of the haulout! (I spent most of yesterday with our boat as the mast was lifted out and the boat was hauled out of the water.)

Staying in the cottage while our boat is hauled out has been great! We have grilled our dinner on the marina’s gas grills and eaten outside at the picnic tables overlooking the West River for the past two nights and will probably continue that for as long as the nice weather holds.

A model sailing ship in the window of the
cottage in the early morning of July 10.

It took a little while for Lola, our new Maine Coon kitten, to adapt to a different place but this is all part of her learning curve in adapting to different environments. (We want to take her on a few short car rides during these two weeks to teach her that there’s nothing to fear in the car.)  This morning, she was laying in the bathtub.

I went to the boat this morning to check on progress and the hull cleaning was well underway and the mechanic, Mike, was removing the propeller to check on the plastic sleeve that was used because the hole in the prop was bigger than the shaft.  The plastic sleeve caused the prop to be isolated galvanically from the shaft—some corrosion was observed on the bronze key. They also confirmed that the cutlass bearing was badly worn (as I suspected) and needed to be replaced.

The new cutlass bearing is in place.

Luke, Guy, and I met separately to discuss the autopilot’s computer. Guy had confirmed its failure by testing it on the bench. Luke found out that that the computer could be repaired by RayMarine (for $1000) but they couldn’t stand behind the repair for more than 2 weeks. Consequently, we decided to replace the computer, the gyro compass, and the display with new units. It was my intention to buy the new autopilot equipment from West Marine in Annapolis but they no longer had any RayMarine equipment in the store and no one was really knowledgeable about it. We stopped at three other companies in Annapolis listed on RayMarine’s website as dealers but the first one was not open for business at 11 AM, the second hadn’t dealt with RayMarine for years, and the third listed an address occupied by a yacht broker. (Is RayMarine going out of business?)  Hartge Yacht Yard is now procuring the equipment for me.

----------

Later back at the cottage I started the work on the ice box lid, removing the old 1/2" long #4 screws and replacing them with 1 inch long screws.  I found that I really didn't have to use a pilot drill to make the holes longer--the longer screws bit into the ends of the plywood very nicely.

The old #4 screws were only 1/2 inch long
while the new screws are 1 inch long.

While on the subject of wood screws I found a website online that discusses 13 ways to deal with worn out holes in wood, particularly holes for door hinges.  This site would be very interesting to handymen (or handy persons?)

I installed the new seal around the perimeter of the ice box lid by applying 3/8 inch wide VHB tape and then 3/8 inch wide x 1/16 inch thick neoprene strip.

A close up view of the new seal
applied to the ice box lid.

Maggie constructed a new 5 feet x 8 feet sunshade tarp today constructed from Textilene and Sunbrella edges.  She also made a stitching repair to our front dodger window.

We made a lot of progress today, crossing several things off our "to do" list.

Wednesday, July 11

Another beautiful day awaited us in Galesville, although a little warmer than yesterday. 

An osprey has built its nest on the bow of a sailboat
on a mooring buoy in the West River.

A close up view of the next reveals some
 little osprey chicks in the nest.

We noticed the above osprey nest from Thursdays while we were having lunch there.  I drove the dinghy out this morning to take photographs of the nest.  

-----------

We had a busy day today, dropping off our dinghy's outboard motor for annual service and then getting our Toyota Prius serviced as well.  

While we were getting our car serviced we checked out the new Plug-in Prius. The new Plug-in Prius gets 133 miles per gallon of gas! Plus it looks a lot more attractive than the regular Prius. However, our 5-year old Prius is running so well that there is no reason to get a new car (just yet anyway).

----------

Maggie finished making two lifeline cushions today using foam pipe insulation as the core and toast-colored Sunbrella as the cover.  They turned out great!

This photo shows just one end of one of the lifeline
cushions.  They are 6 feet long and
about 2 inches in diameter.

----------

I also to kept tabs on the progress being made on the boat throughout the day.  The mast re-wiring was started today and the boat is scheduled to be splashed back in the water on Friday morning.  (The mast probably will not be re-installed until sometime on Tuesday. The new autopilot components will arrive on Monday.)  There is still a lot of work to be done while it’s in the water—it will take most of next week.

Thursday, July 12

We drove to Kennett Square, Pennsylvania today to visit with two of Maggie's sisters (and their husbands) and had a nice lunch together.  On the way back we stopped at Anchorage Marina and had a discussion about the extension electrolysis we experienced in the last two  months in the slip.  Nothing had been done yet about my phone call or my follow-up email.

When we got back to Galesville, I checked on the progress made on the boat during the day.  The mast re-wiring is complete but the ends are not connected yet.  The plastic spacer in the prop-to-shaft connection was replaced with a bronze one and the prop was in place.  They had not installed the second shaft zinc yet.

This photo shows the new bronze spacer
between the shaft and the propeller.

In this photo the propeller is in place but the second
shaft zinc had not been installed yet.  The
prop has yet to be coated with
barnacle preventing paint.  

Friday, July 13

Uh oh, Friday the 13th!  I don't think today is a good day to splash the boat but that is the plan.

S/V Rainy Days sits in the slings of the travel lift
as spots previously covered by the jack
stands are touched up with bottom
paint. (Tenthouse Creek
is in the background.)

I went to the boat early ini the morning and we discussed the work yet to be done and particularly the potential problem in using the old turnbuckles.  We decided to soak the old turnbuckles in penetrating oil over the weekend to loosen them up a bit and try use to them.  The alternative was to change out the standing rigging (at great expense).

----------

I purchased a galvanic isolator online early this morning.  Once it arrives, I will install it.  This will prevent any stray currents entering the boat through our shore power cord.  It will do nothing about the stray currents in the marina if they are the cause of the electrolysis damage we experienced.

----------

Late in the morning, I coated the dinghy seat bag and the new lifeline cushions with waterproofing liquid--this was a task we planned to do while living in the cottage. 

My sister, Barbara, and her husband, Fred, will be visiting us for the weekend.  On Monday, it will be back to work on the boat.  Stay tuned...


Thanks for following our blog!