Summer in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, September 14

We awoke to cool temperatures (high 60’s/low 70’s) and had a light breakfast onboard as we planned our day.  A nice cool 10-knot breeze was blowing out of the north.  Even before breakfast, I had selectively sanded and re-coated the areas of the forward toe rail where the Cetol soaked into the bare wood.  (I thought this selective sanding/coating) would help even out the finish in the end—we’ll see if it helps.)

Another dead fish picture!

We drove to Annapolis today--it has become habitual on Mondays.  One of the places we stopped was Annapolis Seafood Market where we picked up mussels and Red Snapper.

We stopped for lunch at Italian Market and at Giant for some groceries.  We got back to the boat at around 3 PM.  When we got back to the boat I noticed a few small areas where my morning touch-up efforts missed.  By this time the Cetol I applied to the forward toe rail this morning was dry--so, I selectively sanded the missed areas again and applied some more Cetol.

Tuesday, September 15

It was another cool morning.  In fact, quite chilly.  We pulled the boat's bow closer to the dock so that I could better reach the toe rail.  I sanded some selective spots on the toe rail that didn't look right.  I took the spots down to bare wood so that I could eliminate the "yellowed" areas in the finish.  I sanded the previously worn areas again and re-coated the top and outboard areas with Cetol.  (I plan to do this again tomorrow morning so that I can get more Cetol on these areas and  match the color of the old toe rail.)

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While the Cetol was drying I removed the guard over the fireplace chimney.  The butyl tape that was used to seal the mounting pads didn't look good at all.  The old butyl oozed out from beneath the mounting pads and cracked where it was exposed to the sun.  (At the center of the mounting pad the old butyl was still soft but I was concerned about it not sealing the mounting screws.)

The old butyl tape oozed out from under the
mounting pads many years after installation.

Before I remounted the guard, I applied BedIt-brand butyl tape which seemed like a lot higher quality that the white butyl tape I previously used.  Unfortunately, I didn't take a picture of applying the new butyl tape--it was applied in closely spaced strips and I trimmed the overhangs with sharp scissors.  When I tightened the screws the new butyl tape oozed out a bit (about 1/8 inch) and then I trimmed it off with a pocket knife. (I trimmed it again a couple days later.)

Wednesday, September 16

Last night was the third night in a row that we slept without our A/C running.  When I awoke the outside temperature was 57 degrees and the inside temperature was 68 degrees which was very comfortable.  The sky over Baltimore shows traces of the western wildfires that have worked their way eastward on the jet stream--it is rather strange.

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After lightly sanding and applying Cetol to the starboard forward toe rail, we drove to Annapolis.  Our primary reason for the trip was to replace one of my medications that was expired and was no longer effective.  While in Annapolis, we had lunch at Lemongrass Too.  We ran several errands while we waited (and waited, and waited) for our prescription to be refilled.  It was after 5 PM when we left Annapolis for home.

Thursday, September 17

It was cool again in the morning (mid 60s) but not quite as cool as the previous three days. I taped off the additional length of the teak toe rail for refinishing--between the water tank fill connections and the midship hause pipe.  (Yesterday I had touched up worn area in this section with Cetol.)  I lightly sanded the entire section to toe rail and applied a complete coat of Cetol, meaning that forward of the fill connections I had more coats of Cetol (three coats) than the section between the fill connections and the midship hause pipe (just one coat).  (Because the forward starboard section of the toe rail was replaced a few years ago, it is lighter in color than the remainder of the toe rail--I am trying to change this by adding more coats of Cetol to the forward section.)

The recent coating of Cetol on the
forward starboard toe rail.

I'm glad that I got the Cetol application done early since rain was expected later in the day.

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Well, tomorrow will be yet another day spent in Annapolis...stay tuned...

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