Winter Onboard in Annapolis

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, December 14

Today was a  very cold and rainy day from the get go and it lasted almost all day.  In the morning, we drove to Baltimore to meet with a potential buyer for our condo slip (let’s refer to him as Buyer #1) but he went to see the slip on Saturday and failed to tell us that we didn’t have to drive up.  In the rain, we removed things (mostly tools) that were still in our dock box and then we drove back to Annapolis.

While we were in Baltimore we got an email from another prospective buyer in Florida (let’s refer to him as Buyer #2)—he wants to see more pics of the slip.  (He is a sailor and has family in the Baltimore area and he seems like a better fit than Buyer #1.)

Selling a condo slip is kinda like selling a house
except that there is not much to look at.

Since we are expecting snow on Wednesday, we may drive to Baltimore again tomorrow (Tuesday) afternoon to take the pics for Buyer #2 first thing in the AM.  We have to drop off the things we retrieved today at our storage unit tomorrow morning.

Tuesday, December 15

I answered a lot of questions from Buyer #2 by email in the morning.  We decided against driving to Baltimore again today because we had no clear need for more photographs.  We dropped off things that we retrieved from our dock box at our storage unit at about mid-morning. 

The sky was clear and the temperature was a bit brisk but it was hard to believe that a winter storm was coming.  Grocery shopping in anticipation of the coming winter storm was high on our agenda and the grocery store was very busy.  We were pretty much out of everything.

When we returned from grocery shopping, the dockside fresh water system was being winterized.  Instead of simply draining the fresh water system as you might expect, potable antifreeze (the pink stuff) was being pumped through the fresh water system from a nearby truck.  

Ducks snoozing in the late
afternoon sun

While Maggie was doing laundry early in the afternoon, I was taking a nice hot shower.  (I have yet to see anyone else in the men's shower room!)  The shower room is always nice and warm and the water is hot.

One of the best looking sailboats
at City Dock for the winter.

I decided to completely cut out alcohol (and diet sodas) from my diet today.  No more happy hours for me.  This is an attempt to cleanse my system.  I have also recently (few days ago) stopped taking statins--I think that has been what was causing the joint pain in my hip and knees.

A dock line from the Harbor Queen
hangs from a nearby piling

Wednesday, December 16

Outside, it was a damp cold that was all around the boat.  One could tell that a winter storm was on the way.  Even though the outside water temperature had already dropped to 46 degrees F we were able to keep the inside of the boat at a warm and cozy 75 degrees (using the reverse-cycle heat and one oil-filled radiator on the low setting)!

Sunrise before the winter storm arrived.

Our small mid-ship hatches have been leaking rainwater for some time now.  We decided to make temporary plastic covers for them before the winter storm arrived.  To do this, we used a plastic sheet (that was originally intended as a drop cloth) that we still had in our car from moving things out of our dock box.  We laid a piece of sheet plastic over the hatch and traced the contour of the hatch frame using a permanent marker.  Then we allowed two inches all around the marked perimeter and roughly cut them to shape.

A temporary sheet plastic
cover for one of the
small mid-ship
hatches.

To apply them to the small hatches we tied the excess plastic sheet all around using yellow shock cord.  This worked perfectly to cover the entire area around the hatch.

One of the  temporary plastic sheet covers
in place over one of the small
mid-ship hatches.

The rain/sleet mixture began to fall about 11:30 AM—it continued throughout the remainder of the day.  At 2:30 PM it looked like it was beginning to get dark outside.  We kept busy with inside tasks—Maggie worked on her quilt and I watched some YouTube videos at the nav station and did some reading while laying on the heavy blanket in the v-berth.  (I also sprayed my winter jacket with waterproofing material.)  It was a lazy kind of day (for me anyway).  (I was so glad that we installed the temporary sheet plastic hatch covers to keep the rainwater completely outside!)

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I got caught up on some much needed organization of my list of boat projects.  I currently have 10 projects that I want to complete this winter—they are all indoor projects.  I have 15 projects for the Spring/Summer time frame—these are mostly outdoor projects or ones that I have to take down systems for awhile (which is difficult to do in the winter).

Thursday, December 17

The rain/sleet mixture continued throughout the night but the sun was shining brightly in the morning.  We had virtually no accumulation, just a sheet of ice on the dock.  Since we didn't  have to go anywhere, we waited until the ice melted to go outside.

A sheet of ice covered the dock
in the morning.

Small pockets in areas (mostly in the extremities) of the boat interior were very cool but generally the reverse-cycle heat kept us nice and warm.  The outside air temperature was 27 degrees this morning while the water temperature was down to 43.9 degrees.  (Once the water temperature gets blow 40 degrees, we won't be able to use our reverse-cycle heat any longer.)  This is the kind of morning that I would have liked to use the onboard propane fireplace but it would have interfered with the thermostat for the reverse-cycle heat.

Ice on the toe rail in the A.M

In the afternoon, the sun warmed up everything, particularly the enclosed cockpit.

The warm afternoon sun on deck.

The boat's floor still felt cold, even in the afternoon.  Two years ago we made custom carpets for the floors but Lola thought they were neat to slide on--she would run the length of the boat and then stop and slide for the last couple feet.  Needless to say, the carpets didn't last long.

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