Tenthouse Creek to Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob

Monday, July 6

On Monday, July 6, we waited around all morning for our short haul for the reinstallation of our transmission.  The transmission was not in the boatyard yet, even though it was thought to have been finished last Thursday.  After lunch we found out the there was a foul up at the transmission shop and one of the parts got scored at reassembly and they are replacing it.  Re-installation is now scheduled for tomorrow morning (fingers crossed!).

s/v Rainy Days has been sitting
in this spot for almost three
 weeks while awaiting
transmission repairs.

In the early afternoon our A/C system stopped working and we got a High Pressure Fault (HPF) alarm.  I just assumed we sucked up a jellyfish.  I never found the jellyfish but they were all around our boat.  I removed the raw water strainer basket (but there was no blockage) and then I removed the inlet hose and checked the water flow through the seacock and, then, through the hose—both seemed fine.   When I primed the system, the water flow rate coming out of the strainer vent connection was still somewhat low after cleaning the associated systems.

I ran the A/C again and thought I heard air sucking into the pump inlet. I found one threaded fitting in the intake header that was very loose. I removed the entire intake header and hooked the inlet of the raw water pump directly to the output connection on the strainer, completely eliminating most of the threaded fittings. After doing this, the A/C seemed to run fine. (I’m still concerned about the low flow rate when I prime the raw water strainer but that will have to wait until another time. I added reworking the A/C’s raw water intake header to the top of my summer project list.)

A severe thunderstorm with high wind rolled through the boatyard just after sundown—it lasted several hours.

Tuesday, July 7

Our car engine ran all night long—in fact, for nearly 18 hours. (I was very surprised that we had a half tank of fuel remaining in the morning!)  It’s a hybrid and, consequently, is very quiet. All I can say, I wasn’t responsible for this debacle, without pointing fingers. Since Luke, the boatyard Manager, pointed it out to me (I think he was snickering too) on my way back from the shower, I’m sure the entire staff in the boatyard knew about it.

Our fuel gauge after 18 hours
of run time overnight!

The sky was still heavily overcast in the morning. The outside temperature was much cooler than yesterday but rain still appeared imminent. The atmosphere was thick with humidity as we waited (and waited, and waited) for our rebuilt transmission to come rolling down the dock in a dock cart being pushed by the mechanic.

As we were leaving for lunch (and to do laundry) we were informed that our rebuilt transmission will arrive at the marina late this afternoon and will be installed first thing tomorrow (Wednesday) morning. We were also told that no short haul will be required for the transmission installation.

In the afternoon, the sun came out in force, as the temperature increased into the mid-80’s. An afternoon thunderstorm threatened as we got back to the boat around 3 PM, even though it never happened.

The problem with our failing propane sensor persisted today—so, I changed out the sensor beneath the galley stove. This solved the problem and we were able to use our propane system once more.

Wednesday, July 8

The mechanic arrived at our boat at 7:30 AM as promised. We then drove to Annapolis to get breakfast (Naval Bagels, eating at an outside table) and to run some errands. The outside temperature was already in the 80’s!

After breakfast we stopped at Fawcetts to pick up fittings and some water hose to modify the A/C’s raw water inlet header. (Cooler temperatures will prevail on Friday—it seems like a good day to make these modifications.) I was able to buy everything I needed except the hose which was out of stock. (I noticed that their stock of stainless steel fasteners was seriously depleted as well.)

Our rebuilt transmission was installed while we were away form the boatyard.  When it was completed, the shift lever was a lot stiffer than it was previously. The added stiffness was not due to the transmission--it was the cable and we could not figure out what was causing it. (I have a spare cable and I think I will change it out sometime during the summer. We decided to live with it for the time being.)

Tenthouse Creek to Baltimore

On Thursday, July 9, we departed from Hartge's Yacht Yard on Tenthouse Creek at 8:45 AM.  We made it to the West River Fuel Dock shortly after 9 AM, when they opened.  We filled both diesel tanks--it took 29 gallons in total.  By 9:30 AM we were on our way to Baltimore.

In a little over an hour we passed Thomas Point Light, the most photographed lighthouse on the bay.  Of course, I had to take another photo--I never seem to have enough.

There are usually people fishing around Thomas
Point Light and today was no exception.

I captured this image
while underway.

For the most part, today was a beautiful day on the water.  The cloudy sky kept it cool and a 10-knot breeze was blowing out of the north (exactly where we were headed).  Around noon, the wind got lighter and switched directions a little and the outside temperature got much warmer (87 degrees!).

We arrived at Anchorage Marina in Baltimore between 2:30 and 3 PM.  It was nice to finally be in our summer slip!

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