Projects / Maintenance

Friday 12 October: Edgewater MD, admin to line up jobs and yard time.
The passing of tropical storm Michael last night wasn’t too bad after all. We didn’t sleep well, partly with worry and partly due to the noises outside, of wind and squeaky fenders and ropes. As predicted, it started with very heavy rain from 11pm then gusting winds after 1.30am. We saw 27-35kts gusts. We could hear the wind howling in the trees around the pond but we were very protected at deck level, and the air temperature was now very cool. White water on the South River, but otherwise all good here.
At 2.30 Glen went on the deck to tie another safety rope to a post nearby. The gusts were pushing Cloudy Bay sideways and the bow wooden post we are tied to was moving slightly. So to take another line to a separate post seemed a good idea. He also add another fender between Cloudy Bay and Sea Devil. Gusts started to calm down towards dawn, and then we got our sleep.
We wake up to a clear sky and bright day. But still very chilly wind. Not a happy start for the day though, as we forgot to buy milk on the way to the boat yesterday, so no coffee this morning. I know, that was indeed painful!
And it’s straight on to business. Glen makes few calls and sends some emails to get quotes and line up jobs in the yard. Looks like we will definitely haul out next week. It was a bit of a complicated decision to make. We have a long list of jobs, some can be done only here in USA, some are a lot less expensive in Antigua.
Current situation is as follows:
Yard & haul-out: Herrington Harbor Boat Yard in Tracy’s Landing is the closest affordable location, and most services we need are available in this yard, or we can bring other service providers to do the jobs. $14/ft for lift and drop, $18/day dry dock. We found a much more economic yard in Deltaville, Virginia, at only $9/ft for the haul-out. But this yard is 3 hours away from Annapolis, with nothing much nearby, and most service providers are not willing to drive that distance for jobs.
There is a problem though: getting to Herrington Harbor! The river is only 7ft deep, and we draw 8ft. So we can only go at high tide. Plus, their requirement is we must take off the headsails. Which we don’t want to do, as it is a massive job for us to handle the genoa.
Paint: We received a quote from Osprey for the Awlgrip. To paint the blue stripe along the hull, they charge $8,000! Ridiculous! Plus, painting is very much weather and temperature dependent. As a result, we are now convinced by the vinyl strip option, which was quoted at $1,500 for the hull blue stripe. The cockpit blue strip will be a slightly more complicated and time consuming job, so still waiting on a cost estimate for it. Applying the vinyl strips will probably have to be the first job done, as it can’t be applied on wax. Mid-morning, Chris (from Accent Graphics) comes onboard to have a look at the blue stripes. He also brings color samples, and we choose a slightly darker blue than the current stripe.
Hull polish and wax: we received several estimates for hull and transom polish, from waterline to the gunwale. Anywhere from $700 to $2,000. And we will choose the service provider based on recommendation from other people who seen their work. Still working on getting such feedback.
Gelcoat repair (after collision): Osprey can do the gelcoat repair, as in filling the two dents.
Gunwale repair: We haven’t ordered the two new sections of gunwale to replace the damaged ones. We are not sure if it’s worth the trouble of full replacement. While in Herrington Harbor yard, we will ask the opinion of a woodwork expert. If they can repair neatly, then that would be the way to go. If they say the damage is too big for a neat repair, then we will have to look at how to order replacement sections and ship them over, probably to Antigua. For both action plans, we will still have to run the cost estimates through our insurance company and get their approval. Oh what a faff!
Fridge coolers: The Frigo Boat keel coolers have been delivered, now we need to find somebody to install them. Herrington Harbor has a refrigeration specialist, awaiting on a cost estimate from them.
Varnish: During the refit in Almerimar, Spain, in April 2017, Glen was very keen to varnish the gunwale, handrails, push-pit seats and the outboard bracket. I wasn’t taken with this idea at all, but it got done anyway. After a year, I got used with the varnished look and I like it. So now that Glen is contemplating on striping off all the varnish and let it all bare wood, I am not sure I want Cloudy Bay to go back at that look. Funny how opinions change, isn’t it?! 🙂 So on the re-varnishing task, the subject is still very much in the air. Here in USA this job will be very expensive due to much higher hourly rates for labor. Plus the weather (can’t varnish if it’s windy or rainy), meaning potentially extended yard time. So if we varnish, looks like it will probably be postponed for Antigua.
Other smaller tasks on our “yard jobs” list: changing some of the anodes, service the propeller, maybe service the linear autohelm drives too if we are happy with the electronics guys in the yard. Oooh, there will be some very busy days!
At mid-day we manage to leave the boat at long last and drive to a nearby grocery store for some minor but very precious provisioning: milk, yogurt, fruits & veggies. And we happily return onboard to have our well desired coffee.
Mid-afternoon Terry comes over to deliver our new McMurdo SmartFind G8 AIS EPIRB, and our old one which we left with him last week for servicing.
After our late lunch, which we have in the cockpit under the warm sun (we haven’t had that in a while), Glen attacks the front cabin. First, he removes the box that covers the Side-Power bow thruster, to get the model number (we’ll need to service it and maybe change the brushes). Then once the box goes back on, together with it we also put a plastic cover on top. With that, we hope less black greasy powder will spray over the items we store in that compartment.
Then it’s tidying up: dive bags, kites, kite boards, asymmetric spinnaker, comfort seat…they all go back into their usual place. We’ve had them all out for the last week, to let that locker dry properly after giving it a good scrub last week.
Early evening is spent with more emails, filling forms for orders, reading the epirb user manual, checking tides. And some Ebay time. On this particular occasion not to buy, but to sell! We decided to part with the Monster (our asymmetric spinnaker) if anybody will want to buy it. It is as good as new (we only used it very few times) and going forward we are looking at other options. Parasailor would be very tempting, but highly expensive. So we only dream of that one…
When cleaning the upper lockers in the front cabin, we notice there is a leak from the windlass. So yet more cleaning of salt, oils and mildew. Will we ever get rid of this mildew? We never had any before we arrived in Maine 🙁
Then Glen tackles the day fridge. There is condensation from the fridge under it, and we tried to keep it under control by adding some insulating foam on the fridge door perimeter. But it was a very soft foam and it absorbed water. Earlier today I peeled all that off, and now Glen tries another type of insulation, more rubbery.
We’ve done quite a bit of work today! Nothing better than a productive working day!