Autumn in Baltimore

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Wednesday, October 7

Today was a nice warm autumn day--the outside temperature actually made it into the mid-70's!  I got an early start on the toe rail refinishing this morning, applying the second full coat of Cetol on the forward port rail.

After lunch Maggie and I worked on the affixing the new bow guard plates.  Luckily, none of the hole locations caused any of the mounting holes to be made into the balsa core.  I used self-tapping screws on the two forward holes and a through bolt on the aft hole.  (I didn't need to do any fiberglassing for this installation!)  We applied a generous amount of 3M 4000 caulk to the back side of the plates before affixing them.

The starboard side bow
guard plate in place.

The port side bow
guard plate in place.

Before retiring fo the day, we completed our mail-in ballots, in preparation for mailing them from the post office in Annapolis on Friday.

Thursday, October 8

We were blessed with another beautiful autumn day—the high temperature for the day was only 70 degrees!  I lightly sanded and applied the third complete coat of Cetol on the forward port toe rail in the morning—this must be beginning to sound like a broken record (for those of us who can remember records, vinyl ones that is.)

Also on my agenda for the day was patching a hole in the fiberglass at the bow that was caused by an out-of-control anchor during our last cruising season and replacing a lifeline stanchion.

One of the forward port lifeline stanchions was very loose—it actually wobbled when force was applied to the lifeline.  It seemed like the hole in the stanchion base was too big for the stanchion.  (Frequently I have found old stanchions to be corroded fast to the stanchion bases and nearly impossible to remove.)

I planned to re-tap the hole for the set screw in the stanchion base for a 1/4-20 hex head cap screw and to do the tapping in place (close to the deck).  For this purpose, I recently ordered a ratcheting tap wrench on Amazon.  (It just arrived today!)

A ratcheting tap wrench
ordered from Amazon.
(This is cool!)

I removed the lifelines in the area and, then, easily removed the lifeline stanchion.  On the old stanchion (which was original to our 37-year old boat) a screw passed through the stanchion base and then engaged in a tapped hole in the lifeline stanchion.  Like I did recently on the starboard side, I tapped the stanchion base to receive a larger diameter (1/4") cap screw which, when tightened, puts a compressive load on the stanchion.  I put some thickened epoxy inside the stanchion hole which will harden over time and (hopefully) prevent the looseness that previously existed for this stanchion. 

I tightened the temporary cap screw and then reassembled the lifelines to complete this task.  I made a measurement of the required length of the cap screw (3/8-inch) and ordered twelve from BoltDepot.com in Type 316 stainless steel.

We were finished with all the day's boat projects at 4:30 P.M.  It was time for happy hour!

Friday, October 9

We drove to Annapolis early in the morning--I had to get a blood test in advance of my annual physical exam.  Another purpose for our trip was to mail in our ballots, which we did from the Post Office in Annapolis.

Mailing our ballots at the Post Office
in Annapolis on October 9.

We stopped by our winter home and re-checked locations of water and power.  The pedestal that contains both sources was located about mid-way out in the slip and the pier between the pilings ran about half way out in the slip as well.  This meant that we would be better backing into the slip, rather than coming in bow first.

Our winter slip arrangement
at Annapolis City Dock

After completing all our errands, we had a late lunch at Carrolls Creek Cafe--we had to be seated indoors because the greatly expanded outside area was fully utilized.  Inside, the tables in use were about 10 feet apart and all the servers all wore face masks--it seemed very safe.

We got back to the boat around 4 PM and quickly got to work on the forward port toe rail.  Maggie and I worked together, lightly sanding (with 320-grit sandpaper) and applying the fourth coat of Cetol.  This job went much faster with two people working at the same time.

I also removed the duct tape which covered a hole made by the point of our anchor and filled it with thickened and pigmented epoxy.  (The spot is now white on a cream-colored hull but it is just temporary.)

Saturday, October 10

The sky was overcast when we woke up--it looked like it might stay that way all day.  Heavy rain was forecasted for Sunday and Monday, the remnants of Hurricane Delta.  I adjusted my project "to do" list accordingly.

Maggie and I worked together, lightly sand and applying the fifth (and last) coat of Cetol to the forward port toe rail.  After the toe rail refinishing was done, I took pictures of several things for eBay ads, my old Nikon D-700 camera, our Honda 2 HP outboard motor, and a spare Nikon lens Maggie had for her old camera.  I got two listings done for eBay.

One of the pics I took for one of the
two ads I placed on eBay.

I still have to list two more items, one on eBay and the other on Craig's List.  More on that in our next blogpost...

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