Departure deferred to Sunday

Thursday 25 Nov, re-launch 2021, HHN day 57: Happy Thanksgiving, USA friends! Anchort windlass finished. Departure plan is now Sunday. Boat interior finally almost-shipshape.

Another early morning studying the weather over a steaming mug of tea. After our dilemmas of last evening, this morning we decide that leaving today would be just too much of a stretch. The windlass is still in bits, the boat interior no where near ready to sail, and lots of other small things to still do. And frankly we are both exhausted. So, we will let the cold front pass through tomorrow and Saturday, then plan to leave on the Sunday morning tide, when the wind also looks favorable for a nice gentle break-us-in sail down the Chesapeake.
It’s funny, isn’t it? Whenever we have returned to the Chesapeake at the end of a season, we have arrived after a long and dramatic passage of many days, with a mission to “just get there”. But whenever we leave again, we are like a couple of pussies, hardly daring to even sail down the river, let alone night sailing in the Atlantic! But that said, December weather is not May weather, and it feels healthy to be very cautious at this stage of the season. It always takes us a while to get into our stride.

So it’s a new, more relaxed, Captain, who steps onto the frosty deck midmorning, with a mission to finalise the windlass. The epoxy that has glued the new teak base to the deck has now hardened and I can drill-out any excess that has cascaded down the bolt holes.
I then lightly silicon the rubber gasket to the new teak base, only sealing around where the through-deck holes are located. Then, on top of that, I place the deck part of the windlass, having put ample quantity of Butyl around each bolt and items that need to be sealed against water going through the deck.

Then it’s below decks to install the new electric motor and gear box. This heavy beast is slid onto the windlass shaft then pushed up to the underside of the deck. With nuts added to the through-deck suds dangling from the windlass above, it is just a matter of torquing them up. This pulls the deck windlass hard onto its gasket above deck and secures the motor hard against the underside of the deck.
Then it is just a matter of reconnecting all the electric leads and wires, then testing it.
Happily, it works perfectly. By 1pm the chain is fed back through the new windlass and attached back onto the anchor. And Bob’s-your-uncle, we are back in the anchoring business again! Last job is to tidy up tools and give the windlass some polish. There, it looks like a million dollars: a shining new stainless-steel windlass, sitting on its new epoxied teak base. Lovely. Job done. The big test of course, is a) to actually anchor with it and b) to see if it leaks when waves next come over the foredeck. But I have no doubt, the result of both tests will be positive.

Then it is an afternoon of tidying up in the cabins, and doing some creative stowing of the wine and spirits we just purchased. Finally, the interior is looking all ship shape. The carpets to save the carpets are removed and our homely cozy cabin is restored to its full HR glory. Just like a house after a period of renovating or decorating.
I would have to say that it really feels like we are now ready to leave! Just laundry to do tomorrow. Wash and store Ken’s car and say goodbye to everyone. Then pray to the water-level gods to let us out of here on Sunday’s high tide.