Summer in Baltimore

June 12 thru June 15

—Blogpost written by Bob

Yesterday, Maggie finished the back rests for our cockpit cushions and they really add some class to our cockpit!

This photo was taken with the bright late afternoon
sun in Maggie's face.  In this photo you can
see the seat backs that we designed
and Maggie constructed.  They
are really classy!

Another item we checked off the "to do" list yesterday was to find and fix the rainwater leak in the head's cabinet.  We used a fresh water hose and found a leaking cap screw in the genoa track--all it needed was to be tightened up from the underside.

Wednesday, June 12

This morning marked Lola's first swim in the harbor.  We knew it would happen sooner or later.  It appears that she fell in off the bow of the boat and then swam back along the pier where I scooped her out of the water.  Soaking wet, she high tailed it into the boat all the way to the v-berth (where she probably feels most secure) and then into the quarter berth where I snapped the following photo.

Lola drying off after her first swim in the
harbor.  At this point I'm sure she
doesn't realize that a bath
comes next.

Now, both cats have ended up in the harbor this year.

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After giving it a lot of thought, I purchased a factory rebuilt water maker this morning on eBay for about half the price of a new one.  It will arrive by the third week in June.  The Katadyn 40E was on our list to purchase (new) after our summer haulout--we saved about $2,000 by buying this used, factory rebuilt unit.  (A boat neighbor in Marsh Harbor had a unit like this and they really liked it--their positive experience plus the quiet operation and low power draw paved the way for this purchase.)

The photo of our new water maker.  (This poor quality
photo was captured from the eBay ad.)

This water maker produces about 1.5 gallons per hours and will consume about 4 amps while making fresh water.  We added another solar panel last year just to power this water maker.  This will make our life much easier in the Exumas by saving us carting 5-gallon jugs of (expensive) fresh water to the boat in the dinghy.  (This is our second attempt at a water maker, the first being a RAINMAN which didn't work out very well for us.)

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Today was a “take it easy” day and a beautiful day, weather wise. I applied the third coat of varnish on the switch plates early this morning but my day’s progress temporarily halted there.

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We drove to Annapolis, did many errands, and went out for lunch at Jack’s Fortune. Afterward, we drove to Prince George’s County Trap & Skeet Range in Bowie to do some (shotgun) shooting. Maggie and I shot a round of wobble trap and then I shot a round of skeet with Maggie pulling for me.

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When we got back to the marina and I opened up my new lens that arrived today, I realized pretty quickly that it was not the lens I thought it was—it was an older manual focus 85mm f1.4 lens. The description in eBay was 100% correct. It’s in near mint condition but it not what I thought I was buying. I’ve contacted the seller to see if I can return it. If I can’t, I will make the best of it and use it. (Later, the seller agreed to a return.)

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In the evening, I applied the fourth coat of varnish to the teak switch plates after lightly sanding them. They are starting to look good!

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Geez, I’m starting to feel old. I’m getting grouchy. I have new pains everyday, even though some pains (like my knee problem—I don’t even remember which knee it was) went away this year.  And, I hate it when old people like me talk about all their pains!

Thursday, June 13

At 3 AM, the high easterly winds (24 knots, gusting to 31) and rain came through the marina. I immediately got out of bed and brought the back cushions into the boat so that they wouldn’t blow away. (We haven’t attached fastenings yet.) It took me a while to get back to sleep.

Lola was right there with me throughout my little expedition into the wet cockpit in my skivvies, watching out for me. It seems like our bond has only increased after scooping her out of the harbor yesterday whereas her bond with Maggie has diminished because she is the one who gave her a bath afterward. Cats are funny like that. They consider baths almost like evil acts.

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Last night before going to sleep I watched a few YouTube episodes of “Finding Simon.” (He has made over 130 episodes to date and I may have watched only two dozen or so.) Watching them makes me feel good about the finished state of our boat and the few projects I have scattered around in various states of completion. I don’t allow projects to needlessly linger but varnishing takes time to get the finish I prefer and sometimes I have to wait for speciality cables, fasteners, or caulk to finish a boat project.

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Last night I learned that the leaking cap screw on our starboard genoa sheet track my not be the only rainwater leak in the cabinet in the head. I have to make a deliberate effort to tighten every bolt—there might be a total of 25 or 30 on each side of the boat. (Later, I counted them at 26 each side.  I just added this to my list of summer projects so that it doesn’t get forgotten. Maybe I should buy a box of nylon-inserted nuts and a box of fender washers and simply replace all the old ones.)

Of course, I applied two additional coats of varnish on the teak switch plates today, in the morning and in the evening. (The varnishing should be completely done tomorrow evening!)

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We did some major grocery shopping today at Safeway, across the street from the marina. 

Cheerios has one of the lowest carb content
among breakfast cereals.  It's the
main reason that we buy it.

When we returned from grocery shopping, I planned and laid out the outline of new sewing table I’m making (from the piece of countertop that covered the original stove). I’ll be cutting the countertop and fitting teak trim tomorrow afternoon.

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It rained lightly throughout the day and into the afternoon. The rain stopped at around 3 PM and, shortly thereafter, the sun came out. The temperature was in the 70’s all day, which was very nice for this time of year.

At the end of the day, a thunderstorm took
aim on Baltimore Harbor.

Friday, June 14

After applying the seventh (and final) coat of varnish to the teak switch plates and eating a light breakfast, I drove to Annapolis for some supplies (teak trim, a stainless steel piano hinge, and fasteners) needed to make the new fold down table. (Maggie stayed in Baltimore to do some sewing.) I need to get the supplies today because I don’t want to drive on the weekend and risk losing my nice indoor parking space at the marina. I hoped to make a lot of progress on the new table this weekend so that I can varnish all the trim next week while Maggie is away visiting two of her adult kids.

 

Before applying the last (seventh) of varnish I dulled the
previous coat with bronze wool.  (Bronze wool
is preferred on boats rather than steel wool
because steel wool leaves tiny particles
that turn into rust spots.  Bronze wool
is generally available in 3 grades:
fine, medium, and course.)

I worked on the new fold-down table most of the day today.  Of course, my work was interrupted by a trip to Annapolis for needed supplies.  When I finally got back to work it seemed like obstacles were everywhere.  First, the thickness of the counter (because it had formica on both sides) was thicker than 1/2-inch.  (The trim I bought was for 1/2-inch thick panels.)  I tried to use my router to reduce the thickness of the countertop where the trim should fit but the surface was too hard for my router bits.  I found that it was easier (but more time consuming) sanding one leg off the trim.  By the end of the day I had cut the table to size and epoxied two modified outside corners in place.  I realize that this is not a lot to show for a day's work.  I hope I can make it up tomorrow because we are supposed to have a lot of rain next week.

Saturday, June 15

I seem obsessed with this new fold-down table construction. I even dream about it in my sleep. This morning, I fitted the straight trim piece between the corners and epoxied it in place with thickened (using colloidal silica filler) epoxy. The photographs below are of the underside (the ugly side) of the table. Making this table pretty will require some very creative finishing!

Looking at the bottom of the table, one corner
is shown along with the thickened
epoxy I used.

This underside of the table showing two corners
and a straight piece between them
attached to the table
with epoxy.

While the epoxy was curing on the straight piece of trim at the table’s end, Maggie & I installed heavy-duty Velcro fasteners on the cockpit cushion back rests. (We simply adhered them to both sides today but Maggie will have to sew the Velcro onto the cushions eventually.)  We put three fasteners on each backrest.

The port backrest fastened in place.

I would guess that Lola likes
the new cushions.

After the fasteners were installed for the back rests, I cut the piano hinge (for the drop-down table) to length with a hacksaw and cleaned up the cut ends with my Dremel tool. I borrowed the bench saw that I gave to Joe (Maggie’s son-in-law) when we moved out of our house—this was necessary to make the hinge-side frame. In a couple hours, I had made everything I needed with the bench saw. At times, it seemed like I had an entire wood working shop (with a bench saw, drill press, router, etc.) set up on the pier. By 4 PM, I had everything put away, much of it in our car. (Tomorrow, It should take me about 3 to 4 hours to fit up and epoxy the two pieces of straight trim on the sides since there is fitting to be done on both ends of each piece.)

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Today was a beautiful day to work outside—with a low temperature of 60 degrees in the morning and a high temperature of 87 degrees in the afternoon. The breeze was blowing 7 to 10 knots out of the northeast most of the day.

I feel like I made a lot of progress today. I also got some great news—our new bimini is being sewn today--this means it might be installed next week!  Stay tuned for the completion of some of our boat projects...

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