Summer in Baltimore
June 24 thru June 28
—Blogpost written by Bob
About ten days ago I purchased a used (but factory rebuilt) Katadyn 40E water maker on eBay (for about half the price of a new one). It recently arrived and I haven't opened it yet. I'm waiting for a brief break between other projects when I can plan its installation. Last year I added a 40-watt solar panel to our system--this panel alone can power the water maker. I am considering removing one of our (30-gallon) water tanks (our starboard tank) and install the new water maker in that compartment. It makes a lot of sense except for the fact that we would only have 70 gallons of fresh water capacity while traveling the ICW (areas where we wouldn't want to make fresh water because of all the sediment). I am trying to convince myself that 70 gallons is plenty for ICW travel--we have to stop for diesel fuel at least once a week anyway. We can simply fill our fresh water tanks at the same time.
Monday started out as a beautiful, sunny day but ended with overcast skies and light rain. I got the usual two coats of varnish on the table leg attachments, one in the morning (outside) and one in the later afternoon (inside).
I drove to Annapolis this morning to get a few more things for the drop down table construction. Among them, are two plain wooden yardsticks which I will be using to make a temporary leg as a pattern. Once I have it cut correctly, I will make the teak leg from a piece of teak I got recently at Exotic Lumber in Annapolis.
I spent a good bit of time this afternoon cleaning up the boat for Maggie's return.
Since I want to put a rubber pad on the foot of the table leg, I made a test of epoxying silicone rubber to teak.
Even though I am using 5-minute epoxy in my test, I have allowed it to cure overnight. (The next morning the silicone peeled off the teak rather easily--I have to use a different rubber or give up on this idea--I gave up on it!)
Today was one of those days where I got a lot of little things accomplished but at the end of the day, I didn't know where all my time went. I picked up Maggie at BWI airport after 10 PM. It's great to have her home finally!
It rained during the night, even though I didn't hear it. The day was beautiful, full of sunshine. One of my goals for the day was to remove the stain from the table's Formica surface--the dark wood stains bled between the pieces of the masking tape. I researched the removal of stains from Formica on-line and the consensus seemed to be the use of a baking soda and white vinegar paste. However, I decided to try simple mineral spirits first and it worked great, together with a razor blade to remove the tough areas.
I worked most of the morning on mounting the table. It was kind of tricky in that in the folded down position it had to be parallel to the door trim. (It is difficult to use a level on a boat except that we did use it fore-to-aft on the table to set the length of the leg.)
In the afternoon I developed a pattern for the table leg using two wooden yardsticks. I clamped them together while setting it up and then I screwed the two pieces together when I was satisfied with the angles--the yardstick assembly formed a pattern for the final leg made from teak.
Over the past couple days (and it will continue over the next couple days) the afternoon heat (mid 90's) forced me to work in the mornings when it is cooler. This morning was no exception. I setup my portable workbench on the pier to work on the table leg. I transferred the markings from the template to the teak and cut it using my jigsaw--the template idea worked great! I decided that I didn't need a quick release pin on the table-leg attachment after all--it may have caused more harm than good. So, I gave the table leg a coat of varnish after thoroughly sanding it.
I ended up having an easy day, ordering items I need for future projects, like 180 feet of 5/8-inch diameter (black) MegaBraid for new dock lines. Today was a good day overall.
It was a beautiful morning but you could tell that it would be very hot later in the day. We decided to drive to Annapolis and so some errands, returning some things (like Maggie's luggage) to storage and picking some things up (like small pieces of teak I need to make little bases for some LED lights I purchased.
Before we left for Annapolis I lightly sanded and applied the third and final coat of varnish to the table leg. (Yes, we have a one-legged table! The opposite end is supported by a piano hinge against the bulkhead.)
We stopped at Naval Bagels, then our storage unit, and then had lunch at Italian Market, one of our faves! Following lunch, we stopped at Storm Brothers for ice cream and then Bayshore Marine to order some engine parts for our upcoming haulout. We even stopped for groceries along the way back home. It was a busy day!
One of our most important finds of the day was a 3/4" bronze through hull with a 1/4-turn valve made by Wilcox-Crittenden--this matches the other seacocks on our boat (and they are no longer made). (This will be installed during our upcoming haulout for our new water maker's raw water source.)
It was nearly 4 PM when we got back to the boat. It was still hot outside (91 degrees) when we got back to the boat. There was an 8 knot breeze which was helpful in tolerating the heat. (Of course, inside the boat it was an air-conditioned and pleasant 73 degrees!)
Maggie decided to work on the new hatch covers today so we had to take the dinghy down from the foredeck first thing in the morning. We lowered it into the water at the bow of the boat. This gave us access to the forward hatch.
We put up the forepeak tent, which we haven't used since last summer. It is a good shield against the summer heat. (The high temperature is expected to be 93 degrees F today and 96 degrees tomorrow.)
Annapolis Custom Yacht Canvas called me and requested that I bring the solar panels to them so that they could fit up the snaps. So, I drove to Annapolis in the morning with our flexible solar panels. The bimini and dodger windows looked great! They will be probably completed on Monday or Tuesday but I think some fitting will be needed on the front window.
I waited until about 4 PM when the bow was fully shielded from the sun before I started some caulking work on the bow. There were two areas that I wanted to address: (1) the gap on both sides where the fiberglass meets the aluminum bow casting, and (2) two 1/8" wide gaps in the rub rail where I had to replace a section a long time ago. (As far as I know neither area was leaking--it was simply a cosmetic issue.)
By the time the sun was shielded, thunderstorms were in the area. I had to put off the caulking repairs until tomorrow morning. More on the results of this project in our next blogpost.
Hopefully, in our next blogpost you will also see our completed new bimini and possibly even our new dodger windows. Stay tuned...
Thanks for following our blog!
Monday, June 24
Monday started out as a beautiful, sunny day but ended with overcast skies and light rain. I got the usual two coats of varnish on the table leg attachments, one in the morning (outside) and one in the later afternoon (inside).
 |
| These pieces are small but vital attachments between the table and its leg. This was the fifth coat of varnish. |
I drove to Annapolis this morning to get a few more things for the drop down table construction. Among them, are two plain wooden yardsticks which I will be using to make a temporary leg as a pattern. Once I have it cut correctly, I will make the teak leg from a piece of teak I got recently at Exotic Lumber in Annapolis.
I spent a good bit of time this afternoon cleaning up the boat for Maggie's return.
Since I want to put a rubber pad on the foot of the table leg, I made a test of epoxying silicone rubber to teak.
 |
| Testing the adhesion of an epoxy joint between silicone rubber and teak. |
Even though I am using 5-minute epoxy in my test, I have allowed it to cure overnight. (The next morning the silicone peeled off the teak rather easily--I have to use a different rubber or give up on this idea--I gave up on it!)
 |
| Looking out toward the harbor in the late evening, with the reflection of the sky on the water's surface. |
 |
| Looking into the setting sun in the late evening. |
Today was one of those days where I got a lot of little things accomplished but at the end of the day, I didn't know where all my time went. I picked up Maggie at BWI airport after 10 PM. It's great to have her home finally!
Tuesday, June 25
It rained during the night, even though I didn't hear it. The day was beautiful, full of sunshine. One of my goals for the day was to remove the stain from the table's Formica surface--the dark wood stains bled between the pieces of the masking tape. I researched the removal of stains from Formica on-line and the consensus seemed to be the use of a baking soda and white vinegar paste. However, I decided to try simple mineral spirits first and it worked great, together with a razor blade to remove the tough areas.
I worked most of the morning on mounting the table. It was kind of tricky in that in the folded down position it had to be parallel to the door trim. (It is difficult to use a level on a boat except that we did use it fore-to-aft on the table to set the length of the leg.)
 |
| The new table in its folded down position. |
In the afternoon I developed a pattern for the table leg using two wooden yardsticks. I clamped them together while setting it up and then I screwed the two pieces together when I was satisfied with the angles--the yardstick assembly formed a pattern for the final leg made from teak.
 |
| Lola feels safe and secure sitting under the dinghy. (We keep our dinghy on the foredeck while in a slip.) |
Wednesday, June 26
Over the past couple days (and it will continue over the next couple days) the afternoon heat (mid 90's) forced me to work in the mornings when it is cooler. This morning was no exception. I setup my portable workbench on the pier to work on the table leg. I transferred the markings from the template to the teak and cut it using my jigsaw--the template idea worked great! I decided that I didn't need a quick release pin on the table-leg attachment after all--it may have caused more harm than good. So, I gave the table leg a coat of varnish after thoroughly sanding it.
I ended up having an easy day, ordering items I need for future projects, like 180 feet of 5/8-inch diameter (black) MegaBraid for new dock lines. Today was a good day overall.
 |
| I applied the second coat of varnish to the table leg as the sun was setting. (I'm only going to apply 3 coats.) |
Thursday, June 27
It was a beautiful morning but you could tell that it would be very hot later in the day. We decided to drive to Annapolis and so some errands, returning some things (like Maggie's luggage) to storage and picking some things up (like small pieces of teak I need to make little bases for some LED lights I purchased.
Before we left for Annapolis I lightly sanded and applied the third and final coat of varnish to the table leg. (Yes, we have a one-legged table! The opposite end is supported by a piano hinge against the bulkhead.)
We stopped at Naval Bagels, then our storage unit, and then had lunch at Italian Market, one of our faves! Following lunch, we stopped at Storm Brothers for ice cream and then Bayshore Marine to order some engine parts for our upcoming haulout. We even stopped for groceries along the way back home. It was a busy day!
One of our most important finds of the day was a 3/4" bronze through hull with a 1/4-turn valve made by Wilcox-Crittenden--this matches the other seacocks on our boat (and they are no longer made). (This will be installed during our upcoming haulout for our new water maker's raw water source.)
 |
| The inside of Italian Market is like a small outdoor cafe in Italy. Their New York style pizza is the best around! |
It was nearly 4 PM when we got back to the boat. It was still hot outside (91 degrees) when we got back to the boat. There was an 8 knot breeze which was helpful in tolerating the heat. (Of course, inside the boat it was an air-conditioned and pleasant 73 degrees!)
Friday, June 28
Maggie decided to work on the new hatch covers today so we had to take the dinghy down from the foredeck first thing in the morning. We lowered it into the water at the bow of the boat. This gave us access to the forward hatch.
 |
| We lifted the dinghy off the bow with a halyard and then eased it into the water. It will stay in the water through our upcoming haulout. |
We put up the forepeak tent, which we haven't used since last summer. It is a good shield against the summer heat. (The high temperature is expected to be 93 degrees F today and 96 degrees tomorrow.)
----------
Annapolis Custom Yacht Canvas called me and requested that I bring the solar panels to them so that they could fit up the snaps. So, I drove to Annapolis in the morning with our flexible solar panels. The bimini and dodger windows looked great! They will be probably completed on Monday or Tuesday but I think some fitting will be needed on the front window.
----------
I waited until about 4 PM when the bow was fully shielded from the sun before I started some caulking work on the bow. There were two areas that I wanted to address: (1) the gap on both sides where the fiberglass meets the aluminum bow casting, and (2) two 1/8" wide gaps in the rub rail where I had to replace a section a long time ago. (As far as I know neither area was leaking--it was simply a cosmetic issue.)
 |
| There is a large gap on both sides of the bow where the rub rail meets the aluminum bow casting (shown in the center of this image). |
 |
| One of the two gaps in the rub rail (just below the end of the green line). |
By the time the sun was shielded, thunderstorms were in the area. I had to put off the caulking repairs until tomorrow morning. More on the results of this project in our next blogpost.
Hopefully, in our next blogpost you will also see our completed new bimini and possibly even our new dodger windows. Stay tuned...
Thanks for following our blog!
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