Tuesday 16 October: Herrington Harbor North – lift out didn’t happen due to low water, and we get other jobs done.
Lots of rain last night, and noisy squeaky mooring lines. According to forecast, the last rain band for a while, so we hope it will be dry the rest of the week.
Early rise, to organize ourselves with the yard. Very chilly morning, and when we make coffee, we joke “maybe we should leave the antifouling job for Antigua!” 🙂
Glen lowers the dinghy and rows to the haul-out slip to check depth with the hand held depth sounder. 2.3m. Not good. We’ll have to wait for the tide to raise at least another 20cm.
So we walk to the yard office where we check some rates. When we return to our dock, Pete Goss’ boat is just getting lifted out. Very interesting way of handling the boat, manually pulling it along the dock. No motoring into the slip. Apparently this is how they do this here.
The tide is still not high enough. In theory it should be highest at 11am but it’s actually going down not up! And after chatting to the travel lift guys, sounds like we won’t be able to haul out today. Wind seems to be more of a factor in the water level than the tide itself. North wind blows water out of the Chesapeake and south wind blows it in. Oh dear, the forecast for the week is north winds!
Ray, our acquaintance from YouTube who works here in the Weaver boat yard, stops by and we have a very nice chat to him. With yet more useful info: where to fill our gas bottles, recommendations of companies for various services, among which a refrigeration one.
Fridge keel coolers: At the Shiver Me Timbers refrigeration company, we are declined the job as they don’t connect Frigo Boat keel coolers to Isotherm systems (they don’t do braising). But they provided us with the contact details of another company who does, and from which we are still awaiting feedback. Ray recommended us a technician too, but he is not available for the job. From one phone call to the other, we find out that is not that complicated to connect the keel cooler pipes to the compressors. Maybe we just do it with refrigeration grade swageloks.
Gelcoat repair: Mike, from Osprey, comes over to assess the sections which need repair. The two dents from the collision, and some minor chips on the bow from where we touched against shackles of mooring buoys.
Hull polish and antifouling: Mike is the guy for this jobs too. He previously confirmed the polishing and waxing part. But for antifouling he wanted to see the boat first. He gives us an estimate which is reasonable, and we have this task off our backs. Great that he can do the antifouling sanding and painting, we escaped from this dirty and time consuming job again!
Woodwork: Guy from Phipps also turns up to assess the damage to the gunwale. He thinks it’s best to just plane it back and see how it looks.
Electronics: We have onboard a SSB Icom 801E which we used in the previous two years to get Grib weather forecast. And it worked just fine. But recently it seems we are unable to connect to the stations, no matter what time of day we try. So clearly the antenna needs some attention. Maybe the connector at the bottom of the backstay, or maybe the entire length of cable. The VHF seems to have some issues too, as over the last month each time we used it, the sound was breaking up, both ways. So we pay a visit to MTS, the electronics technicians here in the yard, and once we get Cloudy Bay back in the water they will come onboard and have a look.
Rigging: The cutter halyard chaffed, and needs splicing at the other end. There is a rigging company in the yard which can attend to that, and they already picked up the halyard. We also booked them for a full rig inspection. $150 for peace of mind and a report to give to the insurance. Furler: Last evening, Glen lifted the cutter Furlex and attended the corrosion on the hydraulic connectors. Today, in daylight, he noticed a gap in the swege fitting. So we will have to ask the riggers to have a look at it. Maybe that’s why the cutter doesn’t seem to tension properly.
Canvas: While sailing from Antigua to USA we had the cockpit tent up most of time, and it clips onto the deck right behind the main sheet winches. One night we were in a panic to pull the main in, and the sheet caught the canvas. The power in the winches is so big, that it shredded the fabric. We could still use the tent after Glen stitched it, but we need that entire section redone properly. So we left the tent for attendance with Canvas Connection.
Mast head: In the afternoon, we rig the bosons chair and I winch Glen up the mast. For a general inspection of the head of the mast and the bundle of equipments there. But mostly for the VHF antenna. MTS suggested that maybe the VHF antenna will need to be taken off and sent to the workshop for service. Trouble is our antenna is not just the usual VHF one, but a Pacific multi use antenna. And what more, it is firmly in. If it comes off, it won’t come in one piece!
Mid afternoon we check depth again: 2.3m, we are now firmly in the mud. It’s not only Cloudy Bay who is “sinking”, so are our hearts, with growing concern: when it comes to leaving, how are we going to get out of here? Were we just lucky yesterday? Maybe we will have to wait for the right wind, to bring more tide into the bay.
Late afternoon we need to go pick up our hire car. Since there was no Uber car available, we call Europcar and they send somebody to pick us up. We have our car in no time, and we drive to our temporary accommodation for the next week, to check out the place and what we need to bring. All good. And since we are here anyway, we indulge and have a bath before returning to Cloudy Bay. Bath tub is one of the things I miss the most, especially on a chilly day.
Back at Cloudy Bay we have more admin on laptop, sending out emails with various enquiries. And Glen gets enthralled into reading the Selden manual. That should give him nice dreams tonight…or not. 🙂
Our last evening sleeping onboard, so we hope.