Summer in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, August 31

Before the rain clouds moved in I applied the fifth coat of Cetol on the exterior of the companionway frame. Afterward, we had a quick breakfast and then headed to Annapolis (by car) for the day. We stopped by Naval Bagels and then onto a doctor's appointment (for me). The doctor's prognosis was an infected cyst and I was prescribed a course of antibiotics to treat the infection.  Ten or more days later, I will probably need surgery to remove the cyst.

The rain started about noon, as we were having lunch at Italian Market in Annapolis and it was very light for the remainder of the day.  We stopped at Fawcetts for some materials for upcoming boat projects, the UPS Store to ship my old Nikon D700 camera off for repairs, and, finally, Giant for some groceries.

We got back to the boat at 4:30 PM, a little later than our usual trips to Annapolis.

Tuesday, September 1

The weather today was overcast and rainy but I was able to remove the masking tape from around the newly refinished companionway frame.

During a break in the weather, we offloaded the anchor onto the dock and disconnected it from the anchor chain.  I cut off about 6 inches of anchor chain because it was corroded.  While the anchor was off the boat and out of the way, I substituted a longer bolt on the port side of the bail.  (I still have to change out the nut on the starboard side of the bail--it will arrive in the mail tomorrow.)

In the afternoon we drove to the nearby Ace Hardware and picked up two cans of spray paint: one a gray automotive primer (for use on the chain's end and on the epoxy plug I have to make for in the anchor slot) and the other, a white clean metal primer (for use in repainting the marks on the anchor chain).  (Working on the anchor and anchor chain is one of my next projects.)

I picked up two cans of spray paint today
for my upcoming anchor project.

Wednesday, September 2

The sky was overcast most of the day.  We drove to Annapolis, primarily to pick up Maggie's new glasses, but we accomplished a number of other errands as well.  On the way to Annapolis, we stopped at Wegman's (a very unique grocery store) in Crofton--this is always a nice excursion and, a bit later, we stopped at Diehls Produce in Annapolis for fresh corn and peaches.

We got back to the boat at 4 PM, the day was just about shot.  My planned tasks on my boat projects suffered a delay today.  Time to reschedule...

Thursday, September 3

With rain showers expected later in the day, I got an early start on my boat projects but it was still very warm outside and very humid.

Completion of Anchor Bail Installation

The stainless jam nuts that I ordered from BoltDepot.com arrived in the mail yesterday.  A jam nut is a thinner-than-normal hex nut--in this case, the 5/16" jam nut is 3/16" thick.  (The thickness of standard nuts is equal to the nominal diameter of the threads.)  I wanted to use a thin jam nut on the starboard side to increase the clearance for the secondary anchor rode (which is seldom used).  I used lock washers to keep the bail in its angled position and to keep the jam nut from coming loose.

The new anchor bail in place over
the primary anchor roller.

I had intended to fill most of the gap in the anchor slot so that I could reliably use my Ultra Flip Anchor Swivel but I had second thoughts about it.  Even though I realize what the problem was and how to correct it, I had completely lost confidence in the Ultra Flip Anchor Swivel.  I feel that it was undersized as well.  I put the old KONG anchor swivel back in place and restored the anchor to its normal position on port bow roller.

In this image you should note how the bail
matches the angle of the bow.

Note the damage to the fiberglass around
the bow--now I can start fixing this.

As I was working around the bow I noticed several areas where the out-of-control anchor had bashed the bow casting very hard.  I also have about three gashes in the fiberglass caused by the anchor--these still have to be fixed but I wanted to fix the cause first.  We still intend to tie down the anchor (to the anchor roller) in rough seas.  The out-of-control anchor comes about when in rough seas--specifically when a wave breaks over the bow.  The wave lifts the flukes of the anchor and the rush of water forces the chain stopper to open.  (If I were doing it all over again, I would use a chain stopper that is lockable.)

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In the early evening, strong rain showers came thru the harbor.  Just to our north and south there was tornado activity.  There was a special live broadcast on TV tracking the nearby tornados.

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