Summer in Baltimore
May 7 thru May 11
—Blogpost written by Bob
Tuesday, May 7
It was sunny and very warm today, getting up into the low 80's. Today is our ninth wedding anniversary! To celebrate, we decided to go out for lunch (our main meal lately) at Mama's on the Half Shell in Canton--the best restaurant within miles of our marina (in our opinion). Maggie had a delicious crab cake and a salad while I had six oysters on the half shell and a hamburger.
Mama's on the Half Shell had about four different types of oysters available on the half shell--I chose the cold water oysters from Maine. Since reading two books about oyster production and the various types of oysters around the world plus sampling many different types in Charleston over the winter, I feel that I have a much better appreciation for oysters. (I also found out that Mama's on the half Shell have oysters available all year round instead of just those months that contain an "R" in the name of the month. I think this is due to the oyster farming that is currently producing most oysters.)
Before lunch and after lunch we applied the first coat of epoxy to the ridges on the underside edges of our hard dodger. This was accomplished by Maggie "spooging" a glob at a time of thickened epoxy on the ridges while I smoothed them all over the surface with my gloved hand. This was a messy job on a hot day! (Because the job was so messy I didn't get any photo's of the first application of epoxy.) It took all day for us to apply the first coat of epoxy. Maggie did an excellent job of cleaning the stainless steel dodger frames.
It was cool (mid to high 60's) today--an excellent day for doing anything outside. I decided to do just that--I sanded (by hand for 2 hours) and applied the second coat of epoxy to the underside edges of our hard dodger in the late morning. This operation was like painting with peanut butter.
Since we had to go to our storage unit in Annapolis to pick up a couple of my power sanders, we decided to have lunch at Italian Market while in Annapolis. We figured that by the time we returned to the boat, the painted epoxy would have cured and we can continue to work on the project. We got back to the boat at about 2:30 PM. One side of the hard dodger was cured but the opposite side wasn't. I couldn't do any further work on it until the epoxy fully cured.
Picking up the project from yesterday where I left off, I thoroughly sanded the epoxied surfaces (on the underside edges of our hard dodger) with a vibratory sander and my Fein sander to get in close spaces. Even though I got the surface relatively smooth there was still indentations (like pock marks) on both surfaces. So, I mixed up another batch of thickened epoxy and trowed it into the indentations and used a piece of thin flexible plastic to smear the epoxy as flat as possible throughout the curvature.
While I was waiting for the epoxy to cure, I continued with the installation of the new AIS transponder. I got it in place but I don't have the proper cables to hook it into the boat's network. So, I'm on hold on this until I can identify and order the necessary cables.
With two projects on hold, I removed a GFCI outlet in the main salon that was somehow interfering with a sensor in the marina's new shore power pedestal. This problem prevented us from using the 110-volt outlets on our boat since we arrived. Once the GFCI outlet was removed, I switched on the outlets and everything worked fine! So, I will be installing a standard outlet in place of the GFCI outlet that I removed. So, in essence, this project is also on hold until I get the new non-GFCI outlet.
The sky was overcast and it looked like rain but I applied the primer to the epoxied surfaces anyway. We decided to run some errands in Annapolis--one of the things I had to do was to exchange the beige paint we got for the dodger's hardtop and got white paint. (Yes, we made a revision to our plan! We will be painting the top of the hard dodger white.)
When we got back from Annapolis we decided to cover the entire underside of the hard dodger with primer (Interlux-brand Pre-Kote Primer) inside of just portions to it. This way the coverage of the light blue we intend to use on the underside will have more even coverage (so we think anyway--we'll find out tomorrow).
Continuing with my list of "to do's", I reconnected the galvanic isolator since it was not the problem with our new electrical issue, replaced the composting toilet's fan with a new one of the proper capacity, and ran the network cable from the new AIS transponder to beneath the quarter berth so that it can be connected to the nearest network backbone. (I can't hook up the GPS for the AIS until I get the hard dodger repairs done.)
The rain arrived at 4 PM. During the night a thunderstorm barreled through the marina with gusts up to 40 knots. I got out of my berth and tied the hard dodger down so that it wouldn't blow away. I was completely soaked by the time I cam back in to the boat!
Today was yet another day with overcast skies and outside temperatures in the 60's. Rain is expected late in the day--so, I needed to get the first coat of light blue paint in the underside of the hard dodger early in the day.
At 8 AM I lightly sanded (using 220-grit sandpaper) the primed surfaces of the underside of the hard dodger and applied the first coat of light blue paint. The paint we're using is Interlux-brand Brightside Polyurethane (#4351 Light Blue). You may ask why light blue? Many people in the deep South paint their porch ceilings a soft blue-green to ward off evil spirits called "haints." (We saw this in Charleston over the winter. It may actually fool insects as well.) We're not too worried about warding off evil spirits but we think it will present a nice clean contrast to the toast-colored canvas. (We're also going to paint the inside of our dorade vents the same color.)
The weather forecast now calls for rain starting at the end of today and continuing through Monday. It looks like my hard dodger painting project will have to wait until Tuesday for the second coat of light blue paint on the underside.
Stay tuned for the completion of some more of our summer boat projects...
Thanks for following our blog!
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| We celebrated our ninth wedding anniversary at Mama's on the Half Shell on O'Donnell Street. |
Mama's on the Half Shell had about four different types of oysters available on the half shell--I chose the cold water oysters from Maine. Since reading two books about oyster production and the various types of oysters around the world plus sampling many different types in Charleston over the winter, I feel that I have a much better appreciation for oysters. (I also found out that Mama's on the half Shell have oysters available all year round instead of just those months that contain an "R" in the name of the month. I think this is due to the oyster farming that is currently producing most oysters.)
Before lunch and after lunch we applied the first coat of epoxy to the ridges on the underside edges of our hard dodger. This was accomplished by Maggie "spooging" a glob at a time of thickened epoxy on the ridges while I smoothed them all over the surface with my gloved hand. This was a messy job on a hot day! (Because the job was so messy I didn't get any photo's of the first application of epoxy.) It took all day for us to apply the first coat of epoxy. Maggie did an excellent job of cleaning the stainless steel dodger frames.
Wednesday, May 8
It was cool (mid to high 60's) today--an excellent day for doing anything outside. I decided to do just that--I sanded (by hand for 2 hours) and applied the second coat of epoxy to the underside edges of our hard dodger in the late morning. This operation was like painting with peanut butter.
 |
| This is an old photo showing the ridges on the underside edges of our hard dodger. We decided to eliminate the ridges. (The ridges were created by the kerf cuts I used in shaping the dodger and the plastic welds I applied to cover them up.) |
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| This was the second coat of epoxy which was painted on using a 2-1/2-inch wide disposable paint brush. (This operation was like painting with peanut butter!) |
Since we had to go to our storage unit in Annapolis to pick up a couple of my power sanders, we decided to have lunch at Italian Market while in Annapolis. We figured that by the time we returned to the boat, the painted epoxy would have cured and we can continue to work on the project. We got back to the boat at about 2:30 PM. One side of the hard dodger was cured but the opposite side wasn't. I couldn't do any further work on it until the epoxy fully cured.
Thursday, May 9
Picking up the project from yesterday where I left off, I thoroughly sanded the epoxied surfaces (on the underside edges of our hard dodger) with a vibratory sander and my Fein sander to get in close spaces. Even though I got the surface relatively smooth there was still indentations (like pock marks) on both surfaces. So, I mixed up another batch of thickened epoxy and trowed it into the indentations and used a piece of thin flexible plastic to smear the epoxy as flat as possible throughout the curvature.
While I was waiting for the epoxy to cure, I continued with the installation of the new AIS transponder. I got it in place but I don't have the proper cables to hook it into the boat's network. So, I'm on hold on this until I can identify and order the necessary cables.
 |
| This is where I stand on the installation of the new AIS transponder. |
With two projects on hold, I removed a GFCI outlet in the main salon that was somehow interfering with a sensor in the marina's new shore power pedestal. This problem prevented us from using the 110-volt outlets on our boat since we arrived. Once the GFCI outlet was removed, I switched on the outlets and everything worked fine! So, I will be installing a standard outlet in place of the GFCI outlet that I removed. So, in essence, this project is also on hold until I get the new non-GFCI outlet.
Friday, May 10
The sky was overcast and it looked like rain but I applied the primer to the epoxied surfaces anyway. We decided to run some errands in Annapolis--one of the things I had to do was to exchange the beige paint we got for the dodger's hardtop and got white paint. (Yes, we made a revision to our plan! We will be painting the top of the hard dodger white.)
When we got back from Annapolis we decided to cover the entire underside of the hard dodger with primer (Interlux-brand Pre-Kote Primer) inside of just portions to it. This way the coverage of the light blue we intend to use on the underside will have more even coverage (so we think anyway--we'll find out tomorrow).
 |
| The complete underside of the dodger was primed with Interlux-brand Pre-Kote. |
Continuing with my list of "to do's", I reconnected the galvanic isolator since it was not the problem with our new electrical issue, replaced the composting toilet's fan with a new one of the proper capacity, and ran the network cable from the new AIS transponder to beneath the quarter berth so that it can be connected to the nearest network backbone. (I can't hook up the GPS for the AIS until I get the hard dodger repairs done.)
The rain arrived at 4 PM. During the night a thunderstorm barreled through the marina with gusts up to 40 knots. I got out of my berth and tied the hard dodger down so that it wouldn't blow away. I was completely soaked by the time I cam back in to the boat!
Saturday, May 11
Today was yet another day with overcast skies and outside temperatures in the 60's. Rain is expected late in the day--so, I needed to get the first coat of light blue paint in the underside of the hard dodger early in the day.
At 8 AM I lightly sanded (using 220-grit sandpaper) the primed surfaces of the underside of the hard dodger and applied the first coat of light blue paint. The paint we're using is Interlux-brand Brightside Polyurethane (#4351 Light Blue). You may ask why light blue? Many people in the deep South paint their porch ceilings a soft blue-green to ward off evil spirits called "haints." (We saw this in Charleston over the winter. It may actually fool insects as well.) We're not too worried about warding off evil spirits but we think it will present a nice clean contrast to the toast-colored canvas. (We're also going to paint the inside of our dorade vents the same color.)
 |
| The first coat of light blue paint on the underside of the hard dodger. It will require 2 or 3 coats for sufficient coverage. |
The weather forecast now calls for rain starting at the end of today and continuing through Monday. It looks like my hard dodger painting project will have to wait until Tuesday for the second coat of light blue paint on the underside.
 |
| One of the baby spider plants Maggie recently transplanted. |
Stay tuned for the completion of some more of our summer boat projects...
Thanks for following our blog!
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