Baltimore to Galesville

July 7 thru Jul 9

—Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, July 7

We were up early and prepared our boat for the 6-hour trip to Galesville for our boat’s haulout.  My friend, Bill, arrived about an hour early to make the trip with us. The weather was very cool and there was a nice breeze (10 to 12 knots out of the north) as we made our way out the Potapsco River toward the Chesapeake Bay.  As soon as we got out of the marina (about 9:30 AM), I could tell that we had a lot of barnacles on our propeller because we couldn’t achieve our normal boat speed—in fact, far from it. We could only make 4.5 knots, 2 knots less than normal plus I couldn’t achieve over about 1700 RPMs in engine speed.  I’ve never had barnacle growth this bad previously. (We couldn’t do much to correct the barnacle accumulation because we didn’t have our snorkel gear with us.  Later, we learned we actually did have it with us.)

The wind became lighter and more variable as the day progressed. We motor-sailed (with mainsail and jib) the entire trip to Galesville and arrived at about 4:30 PM—it took us about 7 hours.  After arriving at Hartge Yacht Yard, we made several trips between Hartge Yacht Yard and Hartge Yacht Harbor in our car carrying mostly clothing, food, and cat paraphernalia.  Dinner at Pirates’s Cove, a popular Galesville restaurant was the last thing on our agenda for the day!

Sunday , July 8

We slept like babies in the guest house.  The Hartge Guest House is perfectly imperfect. The furniture doesn’t match and the fixtures are old but it is very comfortable.

The Hartge Guest House is perfectly imperfect. The
furniture doesn’t match and the fixtures
are old but it is very comfortable.

We took the sails off the boat today and brought the quarter berth cushions back to the cottage.  We also brought all the food in the boat's refrigerator back to the cottage.  We took Bill back to his truck in Baltimore and he was safely on his way home and then went grocery shopping for the next several days.  

We called it quits for the day about 4 PM.  It was a hard day of work!

Monday, July 9

I was up and out of the cottage relatively early this morning so that I could get the boat's dining table removed (since it is mounted to the mast and the mast will be removed).  We (actually Maggie) removed all the screws that hold the floors down in preparation for the removal of the mast and the re-wiring.

The boatyard installed the repaired drive unit for the autopilot first thing in the morning.  However, it kept blowing fuses in the autopilot's computer.  So, the autopilot's computer was packed to send off to the manufacturer, RayMarine, for repairs.

Shortly thereafter the boat was moved around to the travel lift area for mast removal.

Three guys worked on loosening the turnbuckles.  This
was a very difficult job that required lots of PB
Blaster and even heat from a torch. 

A mast lift harness was attached
to the mast for the lift.

After all the old wiring was cut and all standing
rigging was removed, the mast
was reading to be lifted.

The mast is out!

The mast was transported to the laydown area
where the re-wiring will be done.

By the time the mast was removed at transported to the laydown area it was 11:30 AM and time for lunch.  While the boatyard workers ate their lunches, we went out for lunch too.  When we returned the boat was already being moved toward the travel lift.

S/V Rainy Days is mast-less here and
being moved into the travel lift.

Very heavy barnacle growth covered both sides
of the three-bladed propeller.  I have
never seen it this bad!

At this point our boat was sitting in the travel lift
without a mast and the bottom was
being pressure washed, 

The excessive barnacle growth on the prop was from sitting in Baltimore Harbor for only three months without moving--just 3 months!  The barnacle growth on the prop as shown in one of the above photo's was responsible for our recent 2-knot reduction in speed under motor.

As I close this blogpost, we have encountered a problem with RayMarine's ability to repair our old autopilot and a problem in finding a new RayMarine computer that is compatible with our repaired drive unit.  Stay tuned for the outcome...


Thanks for following our blog!