Winter Onboard in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, November  20

Fortunately, the weather has warmed up a little--the temperature was in the mid-to-upper 40's last night.  The forecasted high temperature for the day was a pleasant 62 degrees!

My morning breakfast of sliced
bananas on bran flakes.

The plan for the day included winterization of the deck wash system and the engine cooling water system.  Since we have already had some nights at or near freezing, we decided to use this nice day to do most of the winterizing.  (We will wait until the very last minute to winterize the A/C system since we are still using it for heat.  When the outside water temperature drops to about 40 degrees F, we have to switch to two oil-filled radiators for heating the boat. The current water temperature is 53.8 degrees F.)

It has been a long time since we have lived aboard in cold weather--we have been cruising in the Bahamas during the last four winters.

We first winterized the deck wash system by pumping potable antifreeze through the system, opening each valve until the liquid looked pink.  We removed the hoses so that the little water that remained in them couldn't freeze over the winter.  (One of my winter projects is to replace both ends of these deck hoses.)

Next, we winterized the engine.  I simply closed the raw water intake seacock and removed a plug that was in a tee opposite the engine intake hose.  By hooking a short length of hose up to this tee I was able to allow the engine's water pump to circulate the potable antifreeze through the engine and the muffler.  (I use potable antifreeze to minimize the effects on wildlife. We only used two gallons of potable antifreeze today--we will need more to winterize the supplemental cooling for the fridge and the raw water cooling side of the A/C when the time comes.)

While we had the floor boards up in the companionway, we looked for a nagging little fresh water leak.  The only leakage we found was running down a hose from the water heater but we didn't fully investigate it because it was getting late--this will be project for early next week.

At the end of the day, my Makita inflator tool with battery and battery charger arrived.  I quickly checked out the operation so that we can use it to pump up two low fenders tomorrow.

Saturday, November 21

The sky was partly cloudy as I changed our propane feed line to our second propane tank.  (This involves removing the helm seat and the lid to the propane locker and changing the tank inlet connection using a 7/8-inch wrench.  A propane tank change seems to be needed at the most inopportune times, like this morning before I was fully awake.)

Two of the four throw pillows we
recently purchased on Etsy.

We had leftover baked French toast for breakfast—it tasted just as delicious as the first time we had it. 

About mid-morning I started my efforts to increase the pressure in a couple of boat fenders that looked very low.  I began by trying to use an inflation needle like you would use on a basketball or a football--but the needle was not long enough to get into the inflation area.  After watching a YouTube video by Polyfoam (the manufacturer of my fenders), I changed the tip to the supplied tapered plastic tip and merely held it firmly in place while pulling the trigger on the inflation tool--this worked perfectly!

The tapered plastic nozzle being inserted
into the fender's air inlet.

The tapered plastic nozzle being
held firmly in place.

The Makita inflator tool with the tapered
plastic tip in place.

This effort resulted in much more time being spent reading instructions (on the charger and the inflator tool) and watching the YouTube video (on the fender inflation) than actually inflating the fenders.

Penn State lost to Iowa by a score of 41 to 21, making Penn State's record 0-5.  It was another tough loss and the loss of star players continues to grow as tight end Pat Friermuth (who missed the Iowa game) will be having season ending surgery.  Penn State has three games remaining: Michigan, Rutgers, and Michigan State.

Sunday, November 22

The sky was overcast as the muscle cars rolled into the city parking lot next to s/v Rainy Days.  Rain wasn't expected until late in the day with most of the rain expected to occur  overnight.

Racing on a chilly Sunday afternoon in Annapolis.

Aft end of the boom in focus.

Lola's penetrating eyes on Sunday afternoon.
(This image was taken using my
favorite, 85mm f1.4, lens)

I continued my (on-line) search for a new slip during the afternoon.  Our list of alternatives grew to about ten, all of which we will visit before renting.  One interesting alternative near Rock Hall rented for an amount equal to our slip condo fee in Baltimore.

As I close out this blogpost, more than 256,000 deaths have occurred due to Covid-19 in the U.S.  The pandemic was completely out of control and all Trump was concerned about is how to overturn the election outcome!  How sad and pathetic!

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