Day 75 - WortonCreek, MD
14 June 2012 | Docked at Worton Creek Marina
Thu 14 Jun 2012
Docked at Worton Creek Marina
There was, indeed, enough breeze and coolness to the air to sleep comfortably. When Duane awoke around 0600 to let Clyde out in the cockpit, it was actually very cool, and time to put the coffee percolator on the burner. Diane arose fairly early and we had our cereal in the cockpit. It was a good thing, too, for seeing all the gleaming stainless steel tubing reminded her that I still needed to finish part of the starboard side midships. Furthermore, she knew it was best to get it done before the sun rose above the tree line. It was good she remembered or I would have had to endure a long, relaxing, cup of coffee and my book. LOL
The weather is very nice, with mostly sunny blue skies and a gentle NW wind. It will be out of the N or NE over the next few days, so if we leave Fri we will be traveling with the current and against the wind and it will be choppy. Diane has been briefed that the plan is a longish day up to and through the Chesapeake & Delaware canal to Delaware City. Then is will be a fairly long day to Cape May, where we plan to spend 2 nights. Then it will be another long day to Little Egg Inlet and Beach Haven where we plan to spend 2 days. After that, the target is Manasquan Inlet for a quick overnight, and then a relatively short day to Sandy Hook where we expect to spend 2 nights. That is about 275 miles in 7 days, but with the rest days in between, we hope it won't seem so bad.
As of 1145, the parts had arrived and Duane retrieved them from the office and confirmed on the boat that they were the correct ones (yay!). I started doing a final cleaning up of the gasket surfaces and am now awaiting the mechanic to return from lunch and we will get going.
Well, the overall outcome of the afternoon's work was good, but we encountered several delaying problems and the engine is still not quite together and tested. First, the gear case gasket was not exactly correct. There are 4 O-rings that need to have clearance on the gasket, so I suggested we open them up. A hole punch didn't work since we found out the gasket is thin metal covered in thin rubber and the punch wouldn't cut it. The final solution was a carbide nib in an air grinder using the old gasket as a reference. That put us back over an hour and at least $100.
Diane had wisely left the boat with the bicycle, but went the long way to her chosen destination and was dehydrated when she finally made it back. She then headed for the pool to leave us to our task.
Near 1700, we had the majority of the engine reassembled, but the mechanic wants to run the engine as a test and get it hot. When it cools we will re-torque the head bolts and check/adjust the valve clearances. John was agreeable to continue into the evening, but I know that we would still not be in a position to leave early tomorrow, so why push it. We will carry on tomorrow morning and hope that we can catch the northerly current around 1300 and get at least to the entrance to the C & D canal.
Duane cleaned up the boat a bit and headed for the shower. The pool was already locked, but having hand-washed the clothing and sitting wet in the breeze at the top of the hill cooled him off quickly and thoroughly.
Dinner was excellent and well-deserved after the day's ordeal. We had made crab cakes earlier in the morning and heated them along with the leftover mashed potato/onion mixture and some fresh broccoli.
It is a very pleasant evening and we were reading in the cockpit when a dock-mate came calling. Slightly different than the original story, it turns out that his boat was not tied to the dock properly and when it drifted away with a wind shift, the electrical cord ripped the socket out of the power pole. I helped him re-connect all 4 wires to the connector and reattach it to the pole. His wife confirmed that all was working OK and I went back to our boat.
It will likely be an early night again tonight.