Springtime on Kent Island: 5/28 - 5/30

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, May 28

A brisk cool wind was blowing out of the east as the sun came up .  The outside temperature was noticeably cooler (66 degrees F) and I closed the windows of our cockpit enclosure to keep some of the wind at bay.  High wind and pretty much continuous rain was expected for the next couple days. (It always seems to rain on Memorial Day weekend!)

Epoxying the lower nuts in place on
the screw jack I constructed.

I mixed up a batch of thickened epoxy (using West System's #407 low-density fairing filler) mixed to the consistency of peanut butter.  By 8 AM I had epoxied the lower nuts fast to the screw jack assembly.

The purpose of the epoxy is simply to keep
the nuts from turning while the
screw jack is being used.

I needed to wait about six hours for the epoxy to harden but I waited a full 24 hours for it to fully cure before I try used it.

My trusty companion after I frantically
searched for her for about 1/2 hour.  
(All along she was inside the boat.)

Today, I was into my eleventh day on the KETO diet while Maggie was into her fourth day.  It's been difficult, probably more difficult for me than for her.  During this time my resting blood sugar has plummeted, at times leaving me with extremely low blood sugar (only 52 one day) in the morning, probably from the lack of carbs during the previous day.  I've had to reduce my meds to compensate for the extremely low blood sugar in the morning.  (Even though I figured out how to allow more carbs on my diet, I've still maintained my original limit of 25 grams of carbs per day.)

Maggie modified the backrest (making it thinner) 
for the navigation station seat so that my legs 
can more easily fit into the seat due to the 
companionway stairs being so close.

Shortly after lunch, we took down the forepeak tent in preparation for the high winds that were expected to accompany the upcoming storm front. The rain started at 1 PM, about 2 hours ahead of the forecast and then stopped for a couple hours.

For dinner, we had one of our tastiest KETO dinners yet, beef and cheese enchiladas made with roast beef, Mexican blend cheese, sliced jalapeños, salsa, and low-carb spinach tortillas.

Saturday, May 29

The overcast sky, cool temperature (in the 50's), and varying amounts of rain described our morning hours today.  The rain was very heavy at times and light at other times. The wind was out of the east at 13 to 15 knots, gusting to as high as 25 knots--right on our stern.  This wind direction was very unusual.  Rain was expected for the entire day as we planned only indoor activities.  We had our reverse-cycle heat on most of the day. 

Rain surrounded our location
(the blue dot in the center
of the image) at 8:30 AM.

It was time to give the screw jack a try in lifting out the auxiliary fuel tank from the black caulk still holding it in place!  We started this task at 9:30 AM.  It was very slow going at first just to get the jack in position and hold the ends of the 5/8-inch threaded rods onto a suitable spots to jack from.  (The rotation of the threaded rod tended to allow the rods to “walk off” the edge of the fiberglass angle we were jacking from and we couldn’t fit a suitably sized piece of wood to use between the two.  Also, Maggie kept reminding herself of “righty tighty” and was still caught turning in the wrong direction sometimes.)

Eventually, we used a short piece of 2x4 and a very large screw driver wedged in between to keep the ends of the threaded rods from “walking.”  This way, I could do it all by myself.

View of screw jack from
above the tank.

As I tightened the threaded rods, alternating between the two, we could hear “cracking noises” and the tank appeared to the angling upward on the outboard end where we were jacking.  (The cracking noise was either the caulk gradually letting loose or the weld on nozzle breaking.  We didn’t know which one.)

The screw jack was in place and
under load during lunch.

At this point we took a break for lunch (a delicious pizza made on a large low-carb tortilla) and allowed the jack to sit under load.

Maggie made this delicious pizza on
a low-carb 12-inch tortilla

We had to drive to Annapolis after lunch to run some errands--it took us about 2 hours.  One of the things I had to get was a 10-inch long piece of 2x2 lumber.  When we returned I added the piece of 2x2 under the jack to provide support on the bottom and worked on the task until a little before 5 PM when I stopped for Happy Hour.  The tank still had not budged.

Lola's favorite place for a nap is on
my shirts in our v-berth closet.  
She was there the entire
time we were in
Annapolis.

Sunday, May 30

The rain lightened up a bit in the morning, as well as the wind (but it still howled occasionally).   The sky was overcast and the outside temperature was only 51 degrees!  Rain was expected to resume and continue all day. There was still a considerable amount of boat motion due to the direction of the wind.

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For breakfast Maggie made ham and cheese omelets, all in accordance with our KETO diet.  Because we had not used all our allotted carbs for breakfast, we ate about six one-inch cube-size chunks of fresh watermelon which was a real treat. (We consumed more carbs in the little bit of watermelon treat than in the omelets.)

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The tank's not budging was nagging at me this morning.  After trying to budge it most of the day yesterday, I intended to try one more time.  If today's attempt doesn't work I may have to remove it through complete destruction in place at another time.  I could cut it into pieces with a grinder and remove it piece by piece.  (I will probably wait until Maggie is away visiting her son in Texas before doing this, if it comes to that.)

If our cruising days are behind us (the possibility of which we have discussed), we won't need the auxiliary tank. In which case, we wouldn't replace it.  (If one more cruise to the Bahamas in in our future, we WILL replace the tank with a new one.)

We started our second day of tank removal efforts at about 9 AM.  I positioned wooden blocks in an improved fashion so that we weren't putting all the load on the 2x2, but rather the 2x4.  I had to cut off the corner of the 2x4 to be able to get it into the tight space.  We positioned the jack as close to the inlet nozzle as possible.  We jacked the tank up incrementally, turning one screw a few turns and then the other.  After 30 to 45 minutes of applying the jack the tank started to noticeably tilt.

The tank starting to tilt as
result of the jacking.

We, then, removed the load and repositioned the jack to get more vertical movement.  All of a sudden, the tank became loose.  We removed the screw jack and the blocks of wood and lifted the tank out of the hole manually.

 

The tank was out of the hole
by 10:30 AM!

We moved the tank out into the cockpit and placed it upside down an angle  so any diesel fuel remaining in the tank would not leak out.  We tried to locate the leak but could not at the time.

Our auxiliary diesel tank placed upside
down at an angle in the cockpit.

There is no way we could have removed this tank without the screw jack I constructed.  But, in the future I will not be using any caulk beneath a tank, even if it did provide a nice uniform support for the tank.  (I think the caulk was Sikaflex--nothing else but 5200 could be this tough to remove.)

As we look further around the removed tank I fully expect to find the leak at a weld seam.  I wonder if having the tank held so tightly in place may have caused the weld seam to open up when the boat flexed.  The leak started on a trip between Annapolis and Kent Island back in late-March.  (We will deliver this tank to a welder next week who will weld repair the tank and then we will reinstall it.)

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We will be installing some new lights next week and working on some other boat maintenance.  Stay tuned...

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