Summertime on Kent Island: 8/27 - 8/29

—Blogpost written by Bob 

Friday, August 27  

Today was another hot and humid day with a tiny breeze out of the southwest to offset some of the heat and humidity.  The expected high temperature for the day was 88 degrees F (I bet it will go higher yet) with a good chance of rain late in the day and overnight tonight.

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It was really nice having Maggie back home.  She certainly adds "order" to my otherwise somewhat chaotic lifestyle on the boat.

Late in the week, my new pocket knife, a Cevivi
ELEMENTUM, arrived.  It has an olive
Micarta handle with a D2 stainless
steel blade.  (This will replace
my trusty old GERBER as my
every day carry knife.)

I removed the pocket clip from my new pocket knife, one of the first actions I take with almost any new pocket knife.  This knife was designed in the U.S.A. but made in China--it only cost $53 on Amazon.  (Now, however, I have a lot of old pocket knives in my collection to sell on eBay.)

Our two cats are now getting together so
well that here they appear as one.

We went out for lunch again today--this time hamburgers and fries at the Fisherman Inn's Crab Deck in Kent Narrows.  We went out to do some grocery shopping afterward.

About 6 PM a thunderstorm
approached us from
the West.

Rain was in the forecast for after 6 PM and into the night.  (I'm hoping this storm breaks the high humidity we have been experiencing lately!)

Saturday, August 28

The rain last night had significantly reduced the humidity for the day.  The temperature reached about 84 degrees in the afternoon and there was a 15% chance of rain during the day and a 12 to 13 knot breeze out of the north.

We drove to the nearby post office to pick up our packages and the counterbore tool had arrived.  So, we finally had everything we need to complete the task of mounting the round teak table.

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Back at the boat, we started drilling the holes in the template (using the drill guide) while out on the dock.  As we were finishing the last 1/4-inch hole in the template, I accidentally dropped the 1/4-inch drill guide (the only one I needed) into the 7-feet deep murky water beside the boat.  

I dropped the 1/4-inch drill bushing from this
drill guide kit into the water.

We tried to recover it using a strong magnet on a string but our 1-1/2-hour long recovery effort was fruitless.  Consequently, we had to postpone progress on the table mounting project until a new drill guide kit could be obtained (about a week).  (I may continue trying to find the dropped drill bushing with the magnet this evening--if I find it I could cancel my second order and continue with the project tomorrow.)

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In the afternoon I listened to the first Big Ten football game of the season between Illinois and Nebraska.   Illinois won the early season game by a score of 30-22.

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In the early evening I used the magnet (as well as a makeshift net on a long boat hook) for another 1-1/2 hours to try to retrieve the drill bushing lost overboard but I was without luck again.

Sunday. August 29

In the morning, the sky was overcast and there was a cool 5 to 8 knot breeze out of the north.  The outside temperature was in the mid 70’s at mid-morning while an afternoon high temperature of 83 degrees was in the weather forecast.  It was actually very pleasant outside, particularly for a day in August.  (Lola had lots of outside time this morning while Kali remained inside the boat, at our insistence.)

Lola on the companionway
slider this morning.

Our little HELLA fan in the v-berth died again last night—this time it was not due to Lola’s fiddling with the wires as I found out this morning—it was simply a natural death.  Fortunately, we have an extra HELLA fan in our storage unit (which I was surprised to find recently).  We decided to make a trip to Annapolis this morning to get it and connect it up in the afternoon.

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After visiting our storage unit, we went out for lunch at Chevy’s, one of our favorite Mexican restaurants on the outskirts of Annapolis.

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As it turned out the fan in our storage unit was a slightly smaller model.  I decided to remove the fan in the quarter berth (which is an exact replacement for the failed one in the v-berth) and put the smaller model in the quarter berth (which doesn’t get much use).  While this decision doubled the work for me, it saved me from buying a new fan now (costing between $70 and $80).  (I removed the identical fan from the quarter berth and installed it in the v-berth but did not yet install the smaller model in the quarter berth.)

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Today, we set the timetable for transitioning from being sailboat dwellers to being dirt dwellers in Mexico for 6 months:

      Sail/motor boat to Galesville - Saturday (9/25) or Sunday (9/26) 

      Boatyard maintenance starts - Monday (9/27)

      Start driving to Mexico - Wednesday (9/29) or Thursday (9/30)

      Arrive in San Miguel de Allende - Tuesday (10/5) or Wednesday (10/6)

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It now look like our mounting of the round teak table will be postponed until at least next weekend because of the delay in getting a replacement drill guide. Stay tuned for our progress on this project...

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