Summertime on Kent Island: 7/30 - 8/1

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, July 30  

This morning was sunny with a perfectly clear sky and a cool 9-knot northwesterly breeze—a beautiful start to the day!  (The expected high temperature for the afternoon was 87 degrees F.)  After a light breakfast onboard, we drove to our storage unit in Annapolis, primarily to changeout Maggie’s luggage.  (Starting tomorrow, Maggie will be spending next week at Bethany Beach for an annual family reunion of sorts.)

For me, today was a day of catching up on my rest and relaxation--I didn't have any real projects planned for today.  I ordered some more LED light bulbs, this time a little more powerful than my last order.  With respect to LED bulbs, the sellers should indicate the frequency of light (not just an opinion of "warm white" or "cool white'), the actual wattage consumed, and the lumens produced--this valuable data is completely neglected by sellers in most cases.

The above photo shows both sides of a disc type
LED bulb--the light is transmitted from the side
with the little yellow squares.  This particular
bulb produces about 220 lumens and
consumes less than 2 watts on a
12-volt system. (Just as a size
reference, the disc is about
one inch in diameter.)

This afternoon I did some more reading of a (kindle edition) book I bought some time ago--its called Photo Quest by Rick Sammon.  It has no photographs in it at all, which is very unusual for a book on photography.  It doesn't discuss equipment nor f-stops but, rather, the thought and motivation behind taking a photograph with meaning.

One of the reasons for our spending six months in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico this winter (beside the need for a change in lifestyle) involves improving my photography.

Saturday, July 31

The weather today was very cool--68 degrees in the AM and expected to reach a high of only 81 degrees in the afternoon.  The sky was mostly overcast and a cool 10-knot breeze was coming from the east northeast in the morning, expected to lighten up later and move around from the north.  

Maggie left with her daughter and son-in-law for the beach at 9 AM--unfortunately for them, it looks like the entire week will be relatively cool.  

I turned off the A/C and opened all the hatches.  It was like a Fall day, more like mid-October than late July.  With rain in the forecast for tomorrow, I decided to changeout fresh water hoses (inside the boat) tomorrow and troubleshoot our wind instrument (an outside task) today. 

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I purchased an identical used (Raymarine) wind instrument on eBay and it was delivered just a couple days ago.  Before starting anything, I confirmed that the problem still existed.

The problem with the wind instrument was that
it displayed three digits for the windspeed
without a decimal point and no relation
to the actual windspeed.

Currently the wind speed was shown as three digits without a decimal point and no relation to the actual current wind speed.  As you can see in the above photo the wind speed was registering as "260".  (The actual and speed was about 6 knots at the time of this photograph.)

Knowing that the problem originates in either the wind instrument itself, the masthead anemometer, or the connecting cable, my first effort to troubleshoot the problem was to changeout the instrument, cleaning all the contacts as I progressed with the changeout.  But before I changed out the instrument, I decided to clean the contacts (first, the network contacts) on the back of the instrument with electrical contact cleaner solution.  It worked--simply cleaning the (network) contacts on the back of the instrument solved the problem!  I couldn't believe it was that easy.

After cleaning the network contacts on the
back of the instrument, the windspeed
correctly read 2.6 knots!

One of the panel mounting screws came loose on the upper right hand corner (near the upper right corner of the wind instrument) which probably allowed moisture to get to the contacts.  This was certainly a case for over-preparation on my part.  Now I have a wind instrument that I don't need--time for an eBay re-sale!

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Since it was such beautiful day for outdoor tasks and my main task for the day was completed early, I decided to work on cleaning and waxing the cockpit, a boat project that I started several weeks ago but delayed due to hot weather.  I got most of the cleaning done but very little waxing as the afternoon wore on and it warmed up.

If you are sensitive to caffeine like me, this chart
may be of importance to you. I copied it
from a box of Bigelow-brand
decaffeinated tea bags.

One of the things I noticed while our A/C unit was shutdown was that our supplemental cooling pump for the fridge was frequently noisy.  One of my next projects (next week sometime) may be to try and reduce the noise it makes.  I have watched a few YouTube video describing the magnetically-driven impeller pumps and how to align them.

Sunday, August 1

I slept without the A/C last night and with the forward hatch open.  A light rain started around 4 AM--the forepeak tent prevented the rain from coming in the forward hatch.  The outside temperature was in the low 70’s and it was very comfortable.  I feel like I’ve slept better than any other time in the last couple weeks. 

Rain on our cockpit cushions
in the morning.

Since it was already raining and there was a 93% chance of rain throughout the day and an expected accumulation of three quarters of an inch, my plan to spend the day indoors was a good one.

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My primary task for today was replacing the 1/2-inch diameter reinforced vinyl fresh water hoses between the three onboard fresh water tanks and the distribution valves that control from which tank we are drawing water.  I decided to replace them because I noticed that they were severely discolored (probably from exposure to the bilge and they were not lined) and they were probably 30 years old.  I selected a polyester-reinforced vinyl hose with a white (FDA-approved) plasticized PVC lining which is ideal for cold potable water.  (I purchased a 50-foot roll at Fawcetts specifically for this purpose during this past week.)

Trident Marine's Style 164 hose
for cold potable water.

To get access to the fresh water hose from the forward tank, I had to remove the floor boards on the starboard side of the main salon.  This meant that our dining table had to be removed too--this was a major task in itself.  (Of course, you have to find a place to keep the floor boards and dining table while working on the hose replacement.  Needless to say, the main salon was a big mess while I was working on this project!)

This debris could have ended up
in our bilge pump!

A close up view of one end of the 35-year old
fresh water hose from our forward tank.  
(This hose was originally clear.  You
don't have to wonder why we were
changing it out, but rather, 
what took us so long.)

The new (white) fresh water hoses
 in place. (This photo was taken
before I cleaned up the
bilge area.)

I replaced the hose from the forward tank and from the starboard tank while the hose from the port tank was previously changed out and looked great.  It took me about 5-1/2 hours to change out two fresh water hoses, clean up the bilge area a little, and get the floorboards back in place.  A significant amount of time was spent trying to feed the new hose through a channel on the boat's centerline between the main salon and the v-berth beneath the floor.  (There is one more hose that needs to be changed out--this one leads from the fresh water strainer to the fresh water pump inlet in the engine compartment.  I will change out this old hose too, but next week.  Right now, I need a shower real bad!)

Stay tuned for some more preventative maintenance projects...

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