Springtime on Kent Island: 6/7 - 6/10

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Monday, June 7

Just what I needed—a beautiful Spring day so I could accomplish some boat tasks.  I had several tasks planned: (1) load the leaking auxiliary fuel tank into our car for drop off for weld repairs tomorrow, (2) finally take down the cockpit enclosure windows and roll them up so that they can go into our storage unit, (3) visit our storage unit for drop some offs and some pick ups, and (4) fill our fresh water tanks.

Our cockpit enclosure windows all rolled up
on a long pillow, ready to go into storage.
(The pillow holds the shape of
the roll as well as protection
 from damage.)

Lola was really clingy today, probably missing Maggie.  We were both missing Maggie!

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I decided to splurge tonight for dinner and make a one-person pizza using a small low-carb tortilla as the crust.  For toppings, I added diced green pepper, pepperoni and sliced jalapenos, in addition to mozzarella cheese and (sugar-free) tomato sauce.  (It seems to be getting easier to stick with this KETO diet now that we are being a little more creative than it was in the beginning.  I'm no longer hungry all the time.  I'm still beat in the late afternoons--I hope I get over that soon.)

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As I filled the fresh water tanks, my last task of the day, at about 8 PM, a nice breeze blew in out of the southwest.  The day was cooling down from its high of 87 degrees to a more comfortable temperature range in the low to mid 70’s.  (This is the beauty of being on Kent Island—it’s like being right on the bay. The highest elevation on Kent Island is listed as 13 feet but that probably doesn’t include buildings and highway overpasses.) 

Tuesday, June 8

Another sunny day with slightly cooler temperatures in the forecast should allow me to get a couple more boat tasks done today.  First on my agenda is to do more cockpit cleaning and then I must deliver the leaking auxiliary fuel tank to an aluminum welder on the mainland near the end of the day.  (the welder called later in the day asking me if we could postpone delivery until tomorrow, Wednesday.)

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My weigh in this morning revealed that I lost another 4-1/2 pounds, after not losing any weight after my second week on KETO.  One of the differences was that I completely cut out alcohol except for Friday, Saturday, and Sunday (only one drink per day on these days) and I've been drinking more water (which was recommended).  It is nice to know that KETO is working for me and that the sacrifices (no pastry, ice cream, pizza, etc.) were worthwhile.  (Once I hit my target weight I intend to relax on the diet somewhat.)

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While it wasn't on my agenda for the day, I tackled a little problem with our LUCI light.  LUCI lights are portable lights that are enclosed in an inflated cylinder and it has a small (silver) solar panel on the top for recharging.  We have used this light throughout our cruising, mostly to provide light in the cockpit.  The problem was that we could never find the on/off switch in the dark when we needed to use the light.  (Previously the on/off switch was white on the yellow top of the light which was difficult to see even in daylight.)  My solution was to add a small piece of red plastic tape over the on/off switch so we can feel its location in the dark, as well was easily see it during the day.  

The red plastic tape covers the on/off switch
which was nearly impossible to find in
the dark when we need this light.

On our boat we have a convention in terms of water tank usage.  After all tanks have been filled, we start using water from our forward (and largest tank)--it's capacity is 40 gallons.  When we use up the water in the forward tank, we switch to the port tank which holds 30 gallons.  When that one runs dry we switch to our starboard tank (which also acts as a day tank for our water maker)--it holds slightly less than 10 gallons.  At this point, we know we have to add water (either from a source on shore or from our water maker) to our system but we have a little remaining.  This convention has served us well during our cruising and we continue to follow it now when we are tied to a dock.

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I spent some time this afternoon trying to reduce my boat insurance (BoatUS/GEICO) and I got it reduced by $137, down to $863 per year (mostly by taking advantage of a GEICO companion auto discount and reducing my liability coverage) which is still unfathomably high in my opinion.  (I don't have a very favorable opinion of insurance companies, putting it mildly. I think they are all parasites with accounting closed to the public.)

Dishes drying on the dish rack.  (I don't 
think you will see a photograph like 
this one in many sailing blogs 
but it is part of real 
life onboard.)

About 4:30 PM a thunderstorm rolled through the marina.  The sky became dark and rumbles of thunder could be heard all around the marina.  During this time I did some dishes that have accumulated and made a chicken salad (using leftover rotisserie chicken) for dinner and placed it in the fridge to cool.

Wednesday, June 9

The sky was overcast when I woke up and the air was thick with humidity.

I originally planned to clean our sail cover and forepeak tent and then apply waterproofing today.  However, the weather forecast dictated a change in my plan since rain was now likely in the afternoon (predicted to start at 1 PM).  Instead, I decided to do more work in the cockpit (cleaning, waxing, and buffing) since I could work around the weather and stop when it rained.  (I postponed the task of cleaning and waterproofing the sail cover and forepeak tent until Saturday when the weather was expected to be more conducive to all-day drying.)

Buffing the bulkhead in the cockpit on the
starboard side of the companionway.  
(My old buffer was originally
intended for buffing cars.)

Since rain was expected, I simply worked on about 1/4 of the cockpit, on the forward starboard section.  I went over the same area twice with 3M Restorer/Wax before the rain appeared imminent and I stopped my outside work. 

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A funny thing happened as I started to pack up my equipment so it wouldn't get rained on.  I called Lola inside (she was under the forepeak tent) and she came running.  I still had the companionway door in place but the overhead slide was open.  Lola jumped up onto the overhead slide and suddenly realized it was open.  She grabbed onto the companionway slide with her front paws and pulled herself up onto the slide. (I will never underestimate the strength of our little princess!)

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At the end of the day, I drove to Deale, on the mainland, to deliver our auxiliary diesel tank for weld repairs.  (The welder will first do an air and soap bubble test just to find the leak since I couldn't see the leak anywhere.  It's funny that it leaked about 12 gallons into our bilge in about 3 hours and I couldn't see the leak point.)

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I left the marina shortly after 4 PM to deliver the auxiliary fuel tank to the aluminum welder in Deale.  He was running late, so I stopped at Pirates Cove for dinner.  It was a bit unusual ordering from a menu without advanced planning (KETO diet concerns) but I was able to order pan-seared scallops and steamed veggies to actually slightly exceed my carb requirements.  

My dinner (trying to stay within my KETO
guidelines) consisted of sea
scallops and steamed
veggies.

It was a pleasure eating at a place where we have dined a lot in the past.  The scallops were particularly tasty!  (I did come home feeling hungry because I was low on fat for the day.)

Thursday, June 10

An 83% probability of rain today limited my day's plans but I used the available decent weather early in the morning to do more cockpit cleaning. 

I drove to Annapolis at mid-morning to pick up my reading lights that arrived at Fawcetts.  Afterward I had lunch at the Main Ingredient (now known as Market & Main).  This is a great restaurant that has been around town for more than 20 years--I have been going here for luck for about twenty years!  It has always served a small raisin bran muffin with lunch--it is kind of a trademark for this restaurant (and they are delicious!).

A small raisin bran muffin is like a trademark
of the Main Ingredient restaurant.

For the first time that little raisin bran muffin
remained after my lunch was finished.

The rain clouds gathered as I arrived back on the island.  I took a much needed shower and headed out to our boat, way out on the end of "A" dock.

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During mid-afternoon I took down our forepeak tent since the wind was kicking up.  The high wind sometimes loosens one of the shock cord tie downs and it can slaps against the boat causing little nicks in the gelcoat.  I didn't want that to happen tonight.

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Tomorrow, we will be addressing some indoor projects: installing replacement lights in the navigation station and upgrading the seal on our ice box lid.  Stay tuned...

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