Summertime on Kent Island: 9/6 - 9/9
—Blogpost written by Bob
Monday, September 6
(Labor Day)
It rained lightly during night (around 1/4" or thereabouts) even though about an inch of rain had accumulated in our dinghy--it seems like our dinghy has been nothing but a rain catcher this season. High stratus clouds allowed the sun to mostly shine through the early morning sky. Six knots of breeze came out the northwest as the morning temperature remained in the very comfortable low 70's. The morning hours are one of the most beautiful times in the marina.
The squawking of marina ducks broke the eery silence of the morning. Both cats were intrigued by the ducks. After the ducks moved on, Lola went inside (perhaps for a nibble of food--Lola is a grazer when it comes to eating.) and Kali was right behind her. Their constantly developing “little sister/big sister” relationship is fun to watch. (They were born into a very modern day family arrangement--they have the same father but different mothers. Obviously they are from two different litters. I wonder if they feel a "family" connection?)
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| Kali's keen interest in the squawking ducks this morning. (At this point in her young life she is "all ears and tail.") |
Maggie spent the afternoon at the pool and I spent the afternoon preparing a Mediterranean style dinner for us. I was using a recipe for Roasted Balsamic Chicken with Brussels Sprouts but I used country spare ribs (instead of chicken thighs), Brussels sprouts, and two different types of small potatoes cut into quarters. It all worked out quite well but the spare ribs took a lot longer to cook than chicken thighs would have.
Tuesday, September 7
(Maggie's 70th birthday)
You could tell that today was going to be a warm day right from the start. There was no wind to speak of. The sun, unobstructed by clouds, felt warm, even at 8 AM even at it’s relatively low angle. (The expected high temperature for the afternoon was 83 degrees.)
In the background, I could hear the traffic humming along on Route 50 as peoples' work week started. Around the marina, garbage trucks made their rounds with their banging and clanging noises. The working world was alive and well. It has been about six years since I left that “working world.” There have been a few rare times that I’ve missed working but most of the time I don’t.
As I sat in the cockpit supervising our cats’ outside time, I could hear the gurgling stream from the fridge’s supplemental cooling pump as it landed on the surface of the water. (It is so nice on the boat when everything is working as it should. (More times than not, it seems like I’m involved with fixing something that has broken.)
Kali likes to push the limits of her freedom by walking on the cockpit coaming—that line that divides her allowable space in the cockpit from her prohibited space on the boat’s deck. Twice this morning I’ve had to retrieve her from positions just outside the coaming peering into the water. (It won’t be long before she accidentally or intentionally ends up in the water. All our cats have been in the water at one point or another--they didn't mind the swim so much but the bath in the head sink afterward was hell!)
Kali's eye color was finally turning more gold like Lola’s—it was this week’s change in her appearance. (Last week, her tail had become much fuller.)
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Three major subjects are high on my day’s agenda: (1) going out for Maggie's birthday lunch, (2) affixing the remaining lower piling guard at low tide (about noon), and (3) making a lot of progress toward mounting our round teak dining table.
First up, was a much needed shower and then a trip to the nearby post office. This morning I got an email notice from eBay that my second multi tool (the SOG) had sold--I shipped this multi tool this morning at the post office to its new owner in Pennsylvania. (Now, all that remains to be sold is the Raymarine wind instrument and a SOG-brand Woodbine pocket knife.)
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| Our nearby (Chester) post office. |
Before leaving for lunch we tried to mount the lower piling guard again and we made it except for the lower screws. We couldn't get the 2-inch long lag screws into the rotted piling near the low tide water line--so, we decided to pick up some 4-inch long lag screws and try again another day.
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We went out for lunch at the Fisherman's Crab Deck (again) as part of Maggie's continuing birthday celebration. (Maggie had a crab cake sandwich and I had blackened fish tacos--we shared a slice of Smith Island cake for dessert.)
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It was 3 PM before we got back to the boat and got ready to start preparing the round teak table for mounting. (The replacement drill guides came in the mail today!)
We drilled the table legs from the bottom using the 1/4-inch drill guide and the plywood template I made previously. I wish I could say that it worked perfectly but it didn't. A couple of the holes are not exactly centered on the thickness of the table leg as I wanted but it was close enough--there was nothing I could do about it after the fact. I used the table as the template and my very long 1/4" drill bit and drilled the holes through the floorboards. (There was one hole that ended up directly over an aluminum floorboard support--I didn't use this hole.) Then I installed the three threaded inserts using a 1/4-inch bolt though the insert and Maggie watching with the square as I installed the inserts--they had to be perpendicular to the floor or they wouldn't align with the table. I had to open up the holes in the table legs slightly in order to get all three bolts installed. At 6 PM we were finished!
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| The table legs have been fastened using EZ-Lok brass threaded inserts in the floorboards and 3-inch long hex head cap screws--it is very solid! |
The counterbore tool worked pretty well to get a flat area where the washer would rest but it did chatter a little and it was tough going for a while. Despite the fact that I only used three floor anchors, the table was very solidly mounted with a shim under one of the feet (the one without the bolt installed).
Wednesday, September 8
The fact that I fully screwed down only three of the four table legs yesterday bugged me to no end last night—I was determined to mount that fourth table leg today and then remove the table for a day or two for touching up the varnish in four spots on the legs. (Call me crazy but that is just how I am wired—do it right or don’t do it at all.)
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| Kali right at home on the companionway slider during her supervised morning outside time. |
After our morning cat supervision in the cockpit, we stopped by Starbucks for a quick breakfast on our way driving to Annapolis. It was cool outside (low 70’s), enhanced by the 10 to 15 knots of wind out of the south. The cloud cover was increasing in thickness, leading to the rain expected very late in the day and overnight. In Annapolis, we planned to get Maggie’s sewing machine repaired and to meet her 11:30 AM doctor’s appointment. (I was basically just along for the ride and the two free meals OR should I say for the “sharing and companionship,” as Maggie would prefer to think.)
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| We went out for lunch at Italian Market, one of our favorite casual restaurants on the outskirts of town. The pizza and salad was outstanding as usual. |
When we returned to the boat in the afternoon, I began my task of fastening the fourth table leg, the one I postponed from yesterday. I (again) drilled through the floorboard where the fourth cap screw and brass insert would be installed using the very long 1/4” drill bit. Then I removed the other three cap screws so that I could enlarge the fourth hole in the table leg by 1/32” and install the brass insert in the floorboard. I drilled down into the floorboard (using the 1/4” holes as a pilot hole) just until the 21/64” drill bit met the aluminum floor support beam. (I removed some remaining floor board material at the very bottom of the hole with my Dremel tool.) Then, with Maggie’s assistance eyeing the square and the bolt driving the insert to keep it perpendicular to the floor, I installed the last brass insert. (As before, I applied Vaseline to the external threads of the brass insert to make the entry as smooth as possible.)
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| The fourth (and last) brass insert installed in the floorboard. |
With the table already dismounted, I lightly sanded the area around all four holes in the table legs and applied the first coat of satin varnish to the freshly exposed teak around the holes outside in the cockpit.
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| Outside in the cockpit, I sanded and varnished the newly exposed spots of teak around the mounting bolt holes. (These spots will get two more coats tomorrow.) |
We moved the table down into the cockpit between the two cockpit seats and covered it with plastic for the night since rain was in the forecast.
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As part of our preparations for our boat’s winterization and our trip to Mexico later this month, we have been deliberately trying to use up partial bottles of liquor. Last night we finished off the last of a bottle of blue curaçao, and tonight, a bottle of Cuervo Gold tequila. (Next up is the remnants of a bottle of Sailor Jerry’s spiced rum.) This was one of the fun parts of preparation for winter than we had not previously experienced.
Thursday, September 9
It rained heavily last night, actually early this morning about 4 AM. The rain clouds were still hanging around in the morning when we woke up and there was a significant chance of the rain continuing until about 11 AM. The sky was expected to be cloudy for the entire day. Since it was relatively wet outside, we postponed our cats' outside time until later in the day.
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| A rainy morning at Castle Marina. |
One of the items that has been on my agenda but has been postponed several times was making sure that all my camera equipment can be packed in my existing camera bag for our trip to Mexico. (If I needed to order a larger camera bag I needed to do it soon.) I decided to work on this item while the rain threatened outside in the morning.
At first I thought that buying a new camera bag was inevitable and I searched Amazon to find one. However, they were either too small or too big (like a backpack) and many of the reviews reported malfunctions of various types. So, I decided to reorganize my camera equipment. I removed a lot of stuff that, even if I want to take along to Mexico, it doesn't have to be with my camera in a bag. (For example, even though I need a battery charger, I don't have to carry it with me everywhere since I carry an extra battery anyway.) By selectively sorting things out I could make everything I needed to carry with me fit in my existing (DOMKE-brand) camera bag.
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| Kali's new collar came in the mail today! |
All in all, today was a pretty easy day and I accomplished everything I set out to accomplish. I worked more on our list of haulout projects and will be finalizing it tomorrow. Stay tuned...
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