Summer Life in Baltimore

Aug 18 thru Aug 24

—Blogpost written by Bob

Saturday, August 18

There were nine people involved in a boating accident between a charter fishing boat and a chartered sailboat near Thomas Point Light on Friday, August 17.  The guy on the sailboat is using his cell phone to call someone.  Can you imagine the conversation he could be having with the company he chartered the boat from?  How in the world could an accident like this happen on such a beautiful clear day?   Note the sailboat's boom was sheared off at the gooseneck (the attachment to the mast).   (Obviously, the charter fishing boat is at fault since a sailboat under sail would have the right of way over a power boat in almost all situations.)

This is a photograph of a boating accident
that occurred near Thomas Point Light
on Friday, August 17.  This photo
was taken by the Annapolis
Fire Department.

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My friend, Bill, just left this morning, driving back to his home near Atlantic City, NJ.  After he left, I installed a heat shrink tube over the TV antenna connection splice that will remain in the bilge area under the v-berth and used cable ties to secure the antenna cable as it was routed through our clothes hamper.  The heat shrink tube will prevent corrosion and prevent the connection from becoming loose sometime in the future. 

I used a 1/2-inch diameter x 3-1/2-inch long
heat shrink tube to cover the connection
splice in the TV antenna cable that
resides in the forward bilge area.

This was my second use of the red heat shrink tubing from a 130-piece kit I purchased on Amazon for about ten bucks.  I really like this kit because of the six different sizes (3/32”, 1/8”, 3/16”, 1/4”, 3/8”, and 1/2”) and the 3-to-1 shrink ratio (many others are just 2-to-1).  All the pieces are 3-1/2 inches long but they can easily be cut to shorter lengths as needed.

The 130-piece heat shrink tubing kit I recently
purchased from Amazon.

Sunday, August 19

The sky was overcast this morning and the outside temperature was much cooler than it had been previously. The respite from the mid-90’s and the very high humidity was welcomed.

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This morning, I ordered a new 6.5” diameter subwoofer, a speaker that produces good bass sound, for our new stereo system, on eBay.  I plan to power it off one of the amplifier’s 45-watt channels and mount it facing downward inside an open storage compartment (or in the upper portion of our hanging locker) on the port side of the boat.  

The new subwoofer measures 6-1/2 inches
in diameter and approximately
3 inches in depth.

I need to keep the speaker's strong (16-ounce) magnet pretty far away from the autopilot’s electronic compass (which is located under the v-berth)--I'm leaning toward a mount in the hanging locker.  So, a mounting board for this new speaker will be on my upcoming project list. I’m hoping that I can connect it to the amplifier without completely disassembling the stereo cabinet another time.

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I was saddened by the passing of Aretha Franklin this week.  She was 76 years old, just five years older than I am right now.  To me, this is yet another reminder that life is short.  For me, it reinforces our decision of a few years ago to sell our house and live aboard our sailboat. 

Tuesday, August 21

Maggie came back from visiting her adult kids yesterday.  We didn't do much else than unpack and get reacquainted.

It rained all day today. You know, how much I like rainy days—particularly warm rainy days. Today was very relaxing. The only productive things I did today was laminating a couple things (the local TV station listing and the single-page operating instructions for our new amplifier) and read a book.

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I read Omarosa’s new book, Unhinged: An Insider’s Account of the Trump White House.

Omarosa grew up in Youngstown, Ohio in a single parent household--her father and brother were lost to gun violence.  She went on to get a PhD and is an ordained minister.  She is best known for her character as a villain on the reality TV show "The Apprentice."  This was her connection to Trump and her induction into the cult commonly called Trumpworld.

The cover of Omarosa'a new book about
her time in Trumpworld.

I found the book very well written. A few of the new things that were noteworthy in her book were the following:

▪️The author describes Trumpworld as a cult where loyalty is more valuable than anything else. (We've heard about his needs for loyalty but the situation was never referred to as a cult previously but it is understandable.)

▪️”Donald Trump’s single greatest character flaw as a leader and human being is his complete and total lack of empathy.”

▪️As Omarosa says “I just don’t think that he (Trump) had the attention span to even watch a documentary about Russia (and he has a very low reading level and doesn’t read books). He was fixated on Vladimir Putin as a feared, respected, and admired leader.  I believe he was envious of the control that Putin exerts over his people.” 

▪️With regard to his attacking Obama’s education while he was still in office “Trump himself has greatly inflated his own wealth. He has (also) said that he graduated in the top of his class (at U of P), which has been proven to be untrue. Trump is the one who has the sketchy bio, and he overcompensated for it by attacking Obama to feed his base.”

▪️”A select Trump campaign mailing list received daily emails directly from a producer at Fox News that summarized the news of the day, broke down talking points and spin suggestions, and offered resources. For example, a typical @foxnews.com email would have a complete transcript of a recent Hillary Clinton speech, a second-by-second breakdown and analysis, with specific suggestions for how to respond to her, line by line.” (...and this is from a network with the byline “fair and balanced”.)

▪️In campaign appointments there was a complete “lack of vetting. This was a major party presidential campaign, and it seemed like no one was being sufficiently legally checked out before being put in leadership roles. This would come back to bite us again and again.”

▪️”In fact, I (Omarosa) lay some of the blame for Hillary’s low turnout on those assurances from the media that her victory was a sure thing.  Voter behavior indicates that if voters believe their candidate has it in the bag, they will not, for example, take off work to go vote and lose a day’s wages, believing their vote isn’t needed.  The press (through their erroneous projections) actually demotivated her base.”

Omarosa, like authors of other books about #45's debacle, describes the daily chaos, both throughout the campaign and now in the White House.  Trump encourages it and feeds on it but, in my opinion, it is very poor management.

Wednesday, August 22

The rain had cleared out (after raining very hard last night) but the sky was still overcast this morning.  Just as I started to take the mainsail cover off to replace a clamp on the aft flaking line (one of my little projects) it started to rain, very lightly at first. The wind got a little stronger (like from an approaching cold front) and I retreated to the cockpit where it was dry. Later in the day, I experimented with my new Apple Pencil. 

In the evening, I taped off the chain links so that I could re-paint my anchor rode markings. I used zinc chromate primer for the first coat of yellow paint. I only had to paint markings for the first four markers (up to 120 feet) since I seldom used anchor rode lengths greater than this.

This is the second painted marker (60 feet) on
the anchor rode.  The chain link in
the middle is fully taped off.

I will allow the first coat to dry overnight before applying additional coats.

Thursday, August 23

When I woke in the morning I spray painted the second coat of zinc chromate on the chain markers.  The zinc chromate paint is relatively thin, which is good because I don't want a build up that will be quickly worn off as the chain goes through the windlass.

Also on my project list was to add a few washers between the anchor stem and the anchor swivel--I never liked how sloppy the fit was and I thought it produced some extra strain on the anchor stem as a result.  I previously purchased 5/8-inch diameter stainless steel flat washers for this purpose.  I was able to fit three washers in the space.  (When reassembling the anchor swivel, I used blue (Loctite-brand) thread sealant to lock the single socket head capscrew in place.)

Flat washers added between the anchor
stem and the anchor swivel.

At lunchtime I added another coat of zinc chromate paint to the anchor chain markers--this was the last coat.

This is one of the final re-painted chain
markers.  Four yellow links
equals 120 feet.

Besides completing the maintenance work on the anchor chain today, we (actually Maggie) cleaned the onboard barbecue grill and it’s cover. My new subwoofer speaker came today and we tried it out—it sounds great! Now, I have to build an enclosure for it constructed from teak or teak-veneered plywood. (I might delay building the speaker enclosure until we are in New Bern NC since I understand there is an excellent carpenter shop where I can use their tools.)

Friday, August 24

We had a nice breakfast onboard before starting our primary task for the day: applying a coat of waterproofing to our bimini and connector. To remove the bimini, we first had to take off three solar panels—we temporarily stored them in the v-berth. Then we spot washed the canvas and hung it out along the dock to dry.

Bimini drying while resting
on our dock box.

When we get to this point, cleaning the barbecue grill and waterproofing canvas, we really getting ready to leave--leaving is less than 2 months away.

Maggie is applying (303-brand) water repellent
to the bimini--both top side
and under side.

The 303-brand water repellent doubled in price this year, compared to last year.  Could it be due to the trade tariffs?  Nevertheless, we ordered another gallon to replace the one we used.We got a lot done this week but it seems like we always have more boat projects ahead of us--they are never done!  Stay tuned for more...


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