Summer in Baltimore

July 4 thru July 7

—Blogpost written by Bob

Thursday, July 4

Today was Independence Day and it is very hot outside (90 degrees but it feels like 109 degrees because of the humidity) and I'm taking it easy today.  One of the few accomplishments of the day was to cut down the length of the center strut on the bimini frame.  (As I was getting to the end of the cut with a hacksaw, one of my boat neighbors from a little further out on D dock offered the use of his chop saw.)

I had to cut off 1-3/8" from the length off the
center strut in order for it to fit it in
place on the bimini.

Maggie used Craig's List to give our bikes away to a worthy cause, transportation for people getting their lives back together.  We carried our bikes all the way from Charleston on the deck of our boat and they have tons of rust to show for it.  The situation that made our give away a little more urgent was a notice from our marina that we (as slip holders) couldn't store our bikes on the marina's bike racks.  Now, the bike racks are completely empty.  (It doesn't make sense to us either.)

Two guys came in a pick up truck that
barely ran to pick up our bikes.

The afternoon thunderstorms cleared up just in time for the fireworks.  The fireworks in Baltimore's harbor were fantastic as always.

Friday, July 5

It was overcast in the morning (but extremely humid) and I got right to work polishing our (Solbian-brand) flexible solar panels (using NOVUS #2) and re-installing them on our new bimini.

Our bimini's flexible solar panels
are polished and back in place.

Now, the solar panel on the dodger really shows that is needs polishing too.  (I might be able to get to that tomorrow morning.)

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We're getting prepared for an upcoming trip to Annapolis on Monday morning--a casual trip to our old marina, Annapolis Landing Marina, which is like a resort.  While there, Annapolis Custom Yacht Canvas will measure and make our bimini-to-dodger connector and install our new dodger windows.  They will also make patterns for the new cockpit enclosure windows.  We plan to do a lot of lounging by the pool and taking dinghy rides into town.  It should be a nice relaxing week away just before our annual haulout.  At the end of next week, we will take our boat to Galesville to be hauled out for maintenance and we will be staying in the Hartge Guest Cottage.

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In the late afternoon, I made up new 5/8-inch diameter 12-strand dock lines from the rope I ordered from Fisheries Supply, who had the best price on 5/8" black MEGABRAID.  (By "made up" I mean cutting them to my preferred 45-foot length and whipping the ends with waxed polyester twine.  By the way, all the dock lines did not end up being the same lengths--one is 41 feet long and some are a little longer than 45 feet.)

One of the new dock lines hanging
on the stern rail.  (I don't know
if I can bring myself to throw
away the old ones.)

Saturday, July 6

I used the cooler morning hours adding the second coat of varnish to what we call the "soda can shelf."  It is a simple piece of 1/4-inch thick teak plywood cut to fit so that it sits on top of a layer of soda cans and then supports an additional layer of soda cans on top. 

The second coat of varnish was applied to
the soda can shelf in the morning.

Since this shelf is seldom seen, I have experimented with a stain that (I think) more closely matches the finish on our interior teak--it is called WATCO Danish Oil-Cherry.  The instructions call for two applications about 30 minutes apart and wiping dry about 15 minutes after each coat.  (The only downside of this stain is that you have to wait 72 hours before applying varnish. WATCO Danish Oil finish is available on Amazon at the link above.)

This product closely matches the finish
on the teak in the interior
of C&C sailboats.

After our usual Saturday morning breakfast in the boater's lounge, I polished our oldest solar panel--the 100-watt unit on top of our hard dodger.  (We have a total of 340 watts of solar panels and they have served us well so far.)

The newly polished solar
panel on the dodger.

Even though there was no noticeable degradation in its performance, the solar panel was very cloudy.  However, the NOVUS #2 fine scratch remover did a great job of restoring it's appearance.

NOVUS #2 did an excellent job of
restoring the appearance of
our flexible solar panels.

By 10 AM it was already hot and humid outside (91 degrees but it felt like 105 degrees).  I decided to work inside the boat for the remainder of the day.

One of the little duck families
in the marina.  They were
swimming away from me
as fast as they could.

Despite the fact that the instructions on the Epifanes varnish can says to wait 24 hours between coats, I have been able to apply coats of varnish just 12 hours apart.  I applied the third and final coat of varnish to the soda can shelf in the evening.

Sunday, July 7

Sunday was our last day in our Baltimore slip for a while since tomorrow we will be leaving for Annapolis for a week of mostly relaxation and then, Galesville for another week for our annual haulout.  We rented a car for the day so that we could move our car without causing a friend in the marina to lose their parking space for the day.

Our day was choreographed so that we could drop some things off at our storage unit and pick other things up so that, in the end, our dinghy bag was back at the boat and things that we need while in Galesville will remain in our car (since it will be stored at the marina where the boat will be hauled out).  It was a very busy but fruitful day.

Next up will be our trip to Annapolis...


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