Week Before Haulout

June 30 thru July 6

—Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, June 30

Maggie was visiting family in northern NJ today. If our car were here I would have been demonstrating in Washington DC with hundreds of thousands of others for the reunification of the separated immigrant families. I didn’t know about the demonstrations in advance or I would have made other arrangements to be there but I was there in spirit for sure.

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I sanded two repair spots that are inside the cabin today. I didn’t care to work outside in the heat and humidity to work on two others—I’ll work on them tomorrow morning while it is (hopefully) cooler.

Sunday, July 1

Well, today is even hotter and more humid than yesterday! So, the last few little ongoing boat projects remained idle today. Sunday should be a day of relaxation anyway.

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I just finished reading John McCain’s recent book (available here on Amazon), The Restless Wave: Good Times, Just Causes, Great Fights, and Other Appreciations. 

The cover of John McCain's recent book.

John McCain, a true statesman, offers his views on the changes he has seen in politics over the past couple decades.  I was surprised to learn about all the efforts he made to promote democracy in the far corners of the globe.  On many of his trips abroad, he took younger colleagues, even from the opposing political party.  The book describes behind the scenes events on the campaign trail during his unsuccessful presidential campaign in 2008.

It is a well written book and very worthwhile reading.

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I’ve noticed that our fridge is working particularly hard during the heat wave we are currently experiencing.  Even though I’ve added insulation during our preparations prior to cruising, I clearly didn’t add enough insulation to deal with summers on the Chesapeake Bay (the worst case).  My next effort in this area involves improving the seal on the ice box lid—I will be working on this during the boat’s haulout while the fridge is shutdown. I ordered materials (3/8-inch wide x 1/16-inch thick neoprene strip and 3/8-inch wide VHB tape) for this upcoming little project today.

We decided to clean our raw water strainers this afternoon. Our air conditioner uses raw water cooling and our fridge uses supplemental raw water cooling. Two different raw water strainers are located beneath the floorboards in the quarter berth area—they were both covered in marine growth. From now until the end of the summer, we have to clean them weekly, despite putting two chlorine tablets in each strainer to minimize marine growth in our air conditioner coils and refrigeration coils. (The tablets probably only last one day but they are strong enough to kill any marine growth in the system.)

We didn’t really get much done today and tomorrow is predicted to be even warmer than today (and the hottest day of the week). We decided to drive to Annapolis tomorrow morning...

Monday, July 2

We drove to Annapolis to pick up a replacement fiberglass batten for the forward port edge of our forepeak tent, a repair we want to make while we are staying in the boatyard’s cottage. We also picked up some black Velcro from Bacon’s for some repairs we want to make to the side window covers. While at Bacon’s we became interested in looking for a used asymmetrical spinnaker but they didn’t have one that matched our boat’s dimensions at the present time—we are on a waiting list though.

After stopping at the UPS Store and the post office, we had lunch at the Boatyard, one of our favorite restaurants in Eastport. We each had soft shell crabs which were huge and delicious!

By the time we got back to the boat, the outside temperature was 98 degrees!

I had to re-prime the pump for the supplemental cooling for the fridge—it was air locked from cleaning the raw water strainers yesterday. (I noticed it before we left for Annapolis and turned the pump off until we got back.)

Tuesday, July 3

When I got up I noticed that the pump for the fridge’s supplemental cooling sounded more noisy than usual. No water was coming out at the stern when I checked.  

The supplemental water cooling
pump for the fridge.

Since this has been a persistent problem lately, I believe we have marine growth (barnacles, etc.) in the intake line—we had this problem once before. When it happens the water intake rate is less than the pump’s rating—so, the pump is starved for water and the impeller just spins. I turned the pump off until we can address the issue. So, I guess I know one of the things we will be doing later today, replacing the inlet hose (or maybe not).

This was Lola's idea of the way our carpets should
be arranged.  This rearrangement was
after her morning playtime,

Maggie repairing a hole in a batten pocket on
our forepeak tent.  We lost the batten into
the wind and had to replace it.  (We
did this work in our marina's
boater's lounge.)

While we had the forepeak tent down to make repairs, we put the dinghy back into the water for our trip to Galesville at the end of this week.  

It is currently 93 degrees outside and is expected to hit 95 this afternoon!  Instead of replacing the inlet hose to the supplemental cooling pump (which requires that we shutoff our onboard air conditioner) we decided to postpone this little project until tomorrow morning when it is cooler.

Wednesday, July 4

When our day started the sky was overcast and the humidity just hung in the air like a low cloud.  There is a very slim chance for rain showers today but it is supposed to be cooler, only hitting 91 degrees.  The sun appeared around 7:30 AM and began to burn off the cloud cover.  I decided not to replace the inlet hose today (postponing the job to Friday when it is supposed to rain all day) and to just take the holiday off from boat projects.

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I just finished reading Auschwitz #34207: The Joe Rubinstein Story by Nancy Sprowell Geise.   Joe Rubinstein was taken from his childhood home in Radom, Poland at the age of 19 by the Nazi’s in the middle of the night, never to see his family again.  

The book cover of Auschwitz #34207.

He was taken to Auschwitz where he labored carrying dead bodies from the gas chambers (as well as some from the barracks) to the mass grave sites. Joe survived 25 lashes with a whip (for allowing his water cup to spill during the night.  He later was assigned to work in the coal mine.  His story of survival is truly remarkable.

While I was reading his account of being separated from his family I was thinking of the recent family separations happening at our southern border and the dehumanizing "hate speak" coming from the White House to describe the Central American immigrants (as murderers and rapists) who are seeking asylum in our country.  I know it’s not nearly as bad as what went on in Poland and elsewhere during the Nazi occupation, but it is the most dehumanizing atrocity happening on American soil during my lifetime.

This book is very well written by the author telling Joe’s story in first person.  The chapters are very short and the descriptions very vivid.  Every once in a while I had to put the book down and come back to my real life (getting away from Joe’s life) but I consider this book one of the best I’ve read lately.  The book is available in Kindle edition here on Amazon.

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Baltimore's fireworks display as viewed
from the cockpit of our sailboat.

In the evening after the sun went down, we sat out in the cockpit waiting for the fireworks to start.  Lola came out and spent about 15 minutes in the cockpit with us--the longest she has stayed outside to date.  Of course, one the fireworks began, she and Captain Jack dove below and found a safe and secure spot.

Thursday, July 5

The day started out overcast (again). Since we had a long list of things to do in Annapolis, we got an early start to our drive. The very first thing we elected to do was to look at the used asymmetrical spinnaker (#35-HARAE-113) at Bacon’s. It was a beautiful sail with green, yellow, and red panels and it was in good shape. The sail bag was in bad shape and we would have to buy a new turtle bag which allows the spinnaker to be hoisted right out of the bag—but this was not a deal breaker. We decided to think about it a little more and we talked ourselves out of buying it because we thought flying it would be a lot of hassle and frustration (and we’re not getting any younger when it comes to sail handling on the foredeck). (This is basically the same conclusion we came to when buying our new sets of sails in 2015.  One of the thoughts I had this morning is that at my age I should be buying a rocking chair instead of a spinnaker.)

After Bacon’s, we visited Fawcett’s to get some new (longer) screws for the hinge on our ice box lid (a project I will be working on during our boat’s haulout). We also looked at some lifeline cushions to place on the upper life lines where our newly designed weather cloths will be mounted. However, rather than spending $150 on really nice lifeline cushions that will be covered up by the weather cloths, we opted to buy some inexpensive pipe insulation tubes from the nearby hardware store that we can build into the weather cloths, creating the same function. (I realize that this makes me sound like a cheapskate but I refuse to admit it.)

After a few other stops, we had lunch at Italian Market, our favorite pizza restaurant. After lunch we drove back to Baltimore, dodging some rain showers along the way. 

When the rain showers passed, I finished sanding a few fiberglass repair spots in preparation for the gel coat to be applied at the boatyard during the boat's haulout.

Friday, July 6

This was our last day in Baltimore before our boat's haulout.  This morning started out overcast again and scattered rain showers are expected throughout the day.  It is a little cooler than yesterday (in the mid 80’s) and there is a slight breeze out of the west.

Maggie had a doctor’s appointment in Annapolis this morning and had a rental car so that we could drop off our car in Galesville today ahead of our boat trip.  Since we kept s/v Rainy Days at Hartge Yacht Harbor in Galesville for so long, it seems like a second home to us.

This is the Hartge Guest House. We will be renting it
for the next two weeks while our boat is
hauled out for maintenance,

Some historic motor vessels (like this Owens) are
sheltered from the sun in covered slips.

We made it back to Baltimore and turned in the rental car.  We have lots of little loose ends to tie up before we head to Galesville tomorrow morning...

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