Summertime on Kent Island: 7/9 - 7/11

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, July 9  

We had a lot of wind and rain last night!  The remnants of Hurricane Elsa blew through the Chesapeake Bay as a much diminished storm.  I don't sleep well during these conditions because I lay awake listening for problems that need to be addressed quickly.  The sun was out nice and bright when we awoke.  The outside weather was cooler and less humid in the morning but by afternoon the warmth and humidity resumed.  (More rain is expected tonight.)

We worked all day on the port bulkhead, filling holes, sanding, washing with TSP, taping, and finally applying the first coat of (KILZ) primer.  We finished up for the day at 4:30 PM.  (This was a continuation of our "brightening up" the main salon following the completion of our starboard bulkhead.)

We taped off the frame of our liquor cabinet with Frog
Tape before priming the adjacent surfaces.  We
even primed the inside of the liquor cabinet
so that it doesn't appear so dark. (The first
coat of primer looks very uneven.)

We took a break at lunchtime and had a delicious lunch (salads with salmon) at nearby Ram's Head Tavern in Stevensville while the hole filler was drying. (I used Zar Patch wood filler in white color which dries hard in just 2 hours.)  When we came back from lunch I lightly sanded all surfaces with 220-grit sandpaper in my orbital sander.  Using the orbital sander really worked well!  (We will be sanding between every coat to try to maximize smoothness.)

Saturday, July 10

We had more rain last night and it led to lower humidity in the morning.  It was also slightly cooler than yesterday, low 70's in the morning and mid-80's in the afternoon.  A cool 10-knot breeze out of the northeast made it very comfortable in the morning.

Lola in the morning sun and very intent on
going outside. (This photo taken with
my iPad almost looks like a
black & white photo.)

We left the masking tape on from yesterday's first coat of primer on the port bulkhead.  I lightly sanded the entire surface with 220-grit sandpaper again with my vibrating sander in an attempt to maximize the smoothness.  Consequently Maggie was able to apply the second coat of primer in the morning--it really looked nice!  We pulled off the masking tape while the second coat of primer was still wet.  (We will apply new masking tape before applying the first topcoat tomorrow.  We can apply the final topcoat on Tuesday.)

The port bulkhead after applying the
second coat of primer.

Shortly after lunch (I made low-carb pizza) the thermometer display on the A/C went whacky again and we had another false HPF alarm (which corrected itself).  (Real HPF alarms never correct themselves--it usually requires cleaning the raw water strainer of blockage.)  So, it was time to change the cable between the thermostat and the motherboard which was the next step in our troubleshooting of the (intermittent) A/C problem. Changing the cable only took about 30 minutes.  (The next step is replacing the motherboard at a much greater expense if it comes to that.  We recently went three or four days without incident with the new thermostat--it may take quite a while to figure out if the new cable solved the problem.)

Sunday, July 11

A slight 4-knot breeze came out of the southern quadrant as the temperature warmed from 78 degrees in the morning to an expected high of 87 degrees in the afternoon.  Even on a Sunday, the marina was quiet except for a handful of birds chirping.  Across the channel from our boat, a fisherman prepared to go out for the day.  I guess one could say it was a typical day on Kent Island, very quiet and almost always a breeze.

From our galley, the smell of frying bacon was overwhelming my senses as Maggie prepared breakfast for us.  Scrambled eggs and bacon served in a low-carb sun dried tomato tortilla was our special breakfast for this day.

Today's breakfast was scrambled eggs with bacon
and cheese in a sun dried tomato tortilla.

This morning we applied the first (oil-based) topcoat (over the two coats of primer) on the port bulkhead.  Our tasks began by applying new masking tape, taking nearly an hour for the entire bulkhead.  I applied the masking tape (except for areas where I just couldn’t fit) and Maggie followed up by applying the topcoat.  (We have to wait another 48 hours before applying the second and last oil-based topcoat and we have agreed to wait at least 5 years before tackling another project like this one.)

Maggie applying the first topcoat to the port
bulkhead.  Even though the overhead
lights were turned on she was
painting while wearing a
head lamp. (Not your
standard practice
for painting!)

Another task I was reminded of (by my alarm set on my iPad) was cleaning the A/C’s raw water strainer, something we do weekly now that Summer is here.  After changing the basket to a spare one stored in a jar containing CLOROX and closing up the strainer, I primed the system, including the pump for the fridge supplemental cooling.  I also adjusted the fridge set point (ST2 on the cold plate) down to 12.3 degrees F so that our box temperature will be consistently below 40 degrees.

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The wackiness of our A/C's performance occurred again around noon.  The unit shutdown due to a false HPF alarm and then restarted--then the  temperature readings wandered all over the place, down as low as 14 then up to 61 and ultimately back to normal.  This wackiness lasted all of four minutes.  Even though, Cruisair can do diagnostic testing, our problem is intermittent (four isolated wacky minutes in a twenty-four hour period) which will make it extremely difficult to find.  (Do we simply keep replacing things until the problem goes away?)

I filled out the appropriate online service form for Annapolis Cruisair and submitted it online.  Fortunately, our A/C still works 99.72% of the time.  (We will await their service...)

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We've had an exciting long weekend from the remnants of Hurricane Elsa to the painting project from hell, to our continued A/C wackiness.  Who knows what is next?  Stay tuned...

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