Autumn in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, September 28

I started off the week by having a late breakfast at Starbucks, across the street from our marina.  The sky was overcast and rain appeared likely, though, according to the weather forecast, rain won’t occur until later tonight.  The traffic on Boston Street was light at mid-morning.  The only available seating at Starbucks was outdoors, indoor seating was still restricted because of the pandemic.  (The City of Baltimore has more strict pandemic restrictions than the remainder of the state at this time. The state’s net positivity rate is now about 2%.)  The clouds cleared out and the sun came out at 11 AM. Then, at 6:30 PM the rain came.

The rain started at 6:30 PM.

Maggie had put up the side curtains of our cockpit enclosure during the afternoon--they helped keep our cockpit dry when the rain came through.

Tuesday, September 29

The sky was heavily overcast again today.  Because rain was in the forecast, we decided to drive to Annapolis today. It looked like rain many times throughout the day even though the forecast had it raining late in the day and tonight.

We decided to go to the Boatyard in Eastport for lunch and it did not disappoint.  We ate outside in a large tent where tables were setup--it was in the restaurant's parking lot.

Looking east in the big tent used as a
dining room at the Boatyard.

Looking west in the big tent used as a 
dining room at the Boatyard.

The tables were spaced much more that 6 feet apart and it seemed very safe, from the standpoint of the pandemic.

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After lunch we stopped by Kato Marine to discuss some alternatives on our bow guard plates.  Terry at Kato recommended that we use a 11-gauge (0.120 inch thick) stainless steel, already with a mirror finish as opposed to a 7-gauge material as I originally designed the plates.  The 7-gauge (slightly less than 3/16 inch thick) plate did not have a mirror finish and would have to be polished to that state.  Kato was concerned about flexibility of the plate with regard to where I had located the three mounting holes.  So, I moved two of the three holes a bit closer the outer edge of the plate to eliminate this concern. I also reduced the size of the mounting screws from 5/16" to 1/4". The owners of Kato Marine were sailors themselves and can relate to most situations involved on a sailboat--they are good people, very honest and knowledgeable. (I expect to get the manufactured plates sometime in the middle of next week.)

We got back to the boat at around 3:30 PM.  Even though it was still overcast, the rain had not yet arrived. (I'm hoping to get the last coat of Cetol on the starboard toe rail tomorrow during a break in the rain.)

Wednesday, September 30

When we awoke the outside temperature was a cool 57 degrees and a 10-knot breeze was blowing out of the west.

I had to wait for some drying of last night’s rainwater on the toe rail before I started applying the fifth (and last) coat of Cetol to the aft portion of the starboard toe rail.  I wiped the area with an absorbent rag and allowed the breeze to dry it further.

While I was waiting for the breeze to complete the drying, I ordered Type 316 stainless steel (best stainless steel alloy for salt water exposure) fasteners for the bow guard plates.  I decided to use self-tapping screws because some of the screw locations were likely to be in inaccessible areas (from the back side) where through bolts would be a difficult alternative and any loads exerted on the guard plates would be minimal.  Self-tapping screws would also make a easier job.  I ordered both 3/4” long and 1” long #12 flat head self-tapping screws since I couldn’t easily determine the needed length.  

The nominal diameter of #12 screws is slightly less than 1/4-inch.  I plan on removing the core in the area where the screws are to be used and fill the 5/8” holes with epoxy and fiberglass cloth for maximum holding strength before drilling out the needed diameter for the self-tapping screw.  A Practical Sailor article describes this technique.  (The screws will arrive in about 5 days while the bow guard plates will be available in about a week from Kato Marine.)

When the toe rail was completely dry, I lightly sanded the toe rail with 400-grit sandpaper and applied the last coat of Cetol. (Tomorrow morning, I can remove the remaining masking tape and reassemble the jug restraints on the starboard side.)

I drove to Annapolis with Maggie after lunch.  Before leaving Annapolis, we stopped by the Mexican Cafe for a (notoriously strong) margarita, chips, and salsa. 

Happy hour at the Mexican Cafe
in Annapolis.

 

Having a margarita in the middle of a weekday afternoon was one of the “attitude resets” I had mentioned in our last blog post that I intended to initiate—another one will be going to the sporting clays shooting range tomorrow afternoon.

Thursday, October 1

Today was a beautiful autumn day with cool temperatures and low humidity.  It was sunny all day.  I started out the day by removing masking tape form the last section of toe rail that I refinished. 

I removed the masking tape from the
starboard toe rail this morning.

I also removed all adhesive residue left over from the masking tape with adhesive remover.  Then I reassembled the two starboard-side jerry jug mounts and the stainless steel strip on the tow rail at the starboard-side entrance.  The toe rail looks great!

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Yesterday we only had 3 COVID-19 deaths in Maryland, reaching a total so far of 3,949. The number of deaths in the U.S. was 974 yesterday and 270,000+ since the beginning of the pandemic.  As of yesterday, there were 92 days until the end of the year--it we maintain the rate of 1,000 deaths per day, we will have lost an unbelievable 362,000 people from COVID-19 in the U.S. by year's end.

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At lunchtime, Maggie had a box lunch with several other boat ladies here in the marina and I left to go shooting (sporting clays) at Prince George's Trap & Skeet Range.  There were a lot of changes at the range due to COVID-19: a person needs a reservation now to shoot sporting clays, the wobble trap range is only open on weekends, and the normal trap ranges are restricted to one person at a time (usually there are 5).  I was able to get a reservation on the spot for sporting clays.  

The breach of my SKB 28-gauge
over and under shotgun.

It has been over a year since I have shot sporting clays and I was clearly a little rusty--I probably hit only about a third of my 50 targets. However, I enjoyed being out in the fresh air and experiencing the smell of gunpowder as I fired my favorite 28-gauge over and under shotgun at the flying clay targets. (28-gauge is an unusual gauge for a shotgun--its size is between a 410 and a 20-gauge.  I like it because of its uniqueness and its low recoil.)

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I got back to the boat at 3:30 P.M. and the rain clouds gathered by 4:30 P.M.  It was time to publish this blogpost.

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