Summer in Baltimore

September 17 thru September 20

—Blogpost written by Bob

Tuesday, September 17

I had every intention of changing the seals in our water maker this morning but I got sidetracked on a few little boat jobs.  I read the instructions about changing the seals and then we went out for lunch.  

The 11-page instructions provided an estimate of
one hour to change the seals but 3 hours
when doing it for the first time.

When we returned I adjusted the raw water strainer (I had to tighten an elbow was was too loose) but I really didn't feel like committing 3 hours (the estimate for the first time seal changeout) this afternoon.  I won't be able to get back to this project until later in the week.  (Damn, I'm getting good at procrastinating!  I think I'm completely spent on boat projects.)

Wednesday, September 18

Today started easy enough--an appointment with our tax accountant.  However, it went down hill from there.  After meeting with our tax accountant on Kent Island, we went out for lunch at Bridges Restaurant on Kent Island before returning across the bay bridge.  When we got to Annapolis on our way back, Maggie realized that she left her iPhone at the restaurant—so, we went back across the bridge to retrieve her iPhone.  We did a little shopping at the outlets in Queenstown before returning across the bay bridge again.  We drove directly back to the boat in Baltimore and got there at about 4 PM. 

When we opened the companionway hatch, it was warm inside the boat. Immediately upon noticing the warmer-than-usual temperature, I looked at the air conditioner control panel and saw that it was blinking “HPF” (which stands for high pressure fault). Generally, this means a cooling water blockage had occurred. 

I pulled up the floor panel for access to the raw water strainer—it was severely blocked with marine growth.  So, I pulled the blocked basket out of the strainer housing and put in a spare (clean) basket along with a bromine tablet (we use these to inhibit marine growth in the system). We tried to restart the air conditioner and it again shutdown and blinked “HPF.” So, clearly more investigation was necessary. 

The first attempts to solve the problem were made
through the normal access panel to
the raw water strainer.

We flushed the intake hoses with fresh water as well as all the interconnecting raw water hoses—still, there was no solution at hand. Finally, I pulled off the discharge hose from the circulating water pump and tried the air conditioner momentarily—the water simply “spritzed” out of the pump discharge, even though the strainer housing (at the pump’s inlet) was full of water. The impeller was ruined (apparently because it ran dry for so long while we were away from the boat during the day). (We will buy a replacement pump tomorrow in Annapolis.) 

In the above photo, the discharge hose from
the pump was removed for inspection. 
(The pump is the orange-colored 
device on the right side of the 
image and the unfastened 
discharge hose is on 
the left side of this 
image.)

Later, I looked up in my daily planner when I last cleaned the raw water strainer—it was 3-1/2 weeks ago! Somehow I missed one of my scheduled bi-weekly (meaning every two weeks) cleanings. This was another reminder about the importance of preventative maintenance on a boat!

Lola lounges in the cockpit
as the sun goes down.

Thursday, September 19

Fortunately for us it was cool last night (high 60's) since our air conditioner was out of service.  I was actually cold at one point during the night.

We drove to Annapolis early in the morning and went directly to Annapolis Cruisair to get the circulating water pump for our air conditioner--it cost $420!

Then we stopped by PetsMart to get 42 pounds of kitty litter for our trip south.  We still need to buy more, maybe 84 pounds more!  A nice lunch at Lemongrass was our next stop.  From there we went to Severna Park for our dentist appointments.  We could live for a month on what it cost us at the dentist office.

When we got back to the boat I removed the old circulating water pump and installed the new one--it worked fine from the get go.  We cleaned up the old pump and I might get a chance to rebuild it next summer and keep it as a spare.  For now, we will put in in our storage unit.

Our air conditioner is absolutely necessary during the summer months in Baltimore and it is very nice used in reverse cycle mode for heat going down the ICW when we stop in marinas and have access to shore power.

Tomorrow morning, I plan to change the seals in the water maker...

Friday, September 20

The temperature got down into the mid-50's last night and is expected to reach a high of only 81 degrees today.  

Last night, Maggie decided to visit her daughter in Johnstown PA over the weekend.  Consequently she was going to be here for the day and then gone for a couple days.  So, instead of changing the seals in the water maker I decided that addressing the sag in the v-berth platform (which supports our mattress) was a higher priority.

The sag in the v-berth platform proved to be
between 3/8" and 1/2" and it was located
where our butts are normally
positioned for sleeping.

We removed the two panels that comprise the v-berth platform.  (Years ago I had added a cross member (made from a 2x4) and screwed the panels down all around in an attempt to make the platform stiffer.)

A top view of the structure beneath the v-berth
platform with shims recently added.

I made the primary shim from a yardstick that 
was 1/4" thick.  The second shim (not 
shown above) was made from a 
1/8" thick paint stirring stick.)

Finally we achieved a flat 
v-berth platform!

This little (but important) project took all morning but I hope the improved rest we get at night will be worth all the effort.


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