02/09/2010, Washington, NC
The above photo shows the fall colors and a castle we got to enjoy seeing as we travelled along the Hudson River early in our voyage.
Each day this week there are shipments arriving of items we have purchased to accomplish the things on the "project list".
We were given a helpful tip the other day and drove about an hour to the West Marine Store in Morehead City, NC - the store is moving to a new location and the clearance items were an additional 50% off - we found some great bargains; thanks for the tip, Charlie!
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Comments [3]
01/30/2010, Washington, NC
The above photo was taken on the afternoon of the first day of our voyage shortly after leaving Chipman Point.
A few days ago I got to have my first ride in the new dingy with the new outboard motor, both of which we purchased just before leaving Lake Champlain, and have hardly used so far. Previously, my only short rides in the new dingy were without the motor - just using the paddles. The other day we took advantage of the warm afternoon sun and did a little exploring further up Broad Creek from McCotters Marina.
During said exploration, for the first time, we saw a sailboat that was on its side with water over the cabin top, and looked like it had been in that state for quite some time. Previously, I had only ever seen photographs of such sights...but, now I have seen one in person.
A few days prior to that, we got to see the opposite of that story. We met up with a couple here at the marina who have been restoring a magnificent wooden boat. Within moments of our acquaintance, they graciously invited us for a tour, including the story. They bought the boat for a dollar - it had been damaged in Florida during hurricane Hugo, and had been on land, totally infested by termites - they even showed us a piece they had saved of the wood with all the termites holes. Six years of weekends later, they have lovingly restored her to show-stopping beauty. There are still finishing touches they want to do, and then hope to travel the Great Loop with her in a few years. She will surely be a head turner.
In recent days, there has been much diligent, focused work accomplished from Grace's project list, with more happening each day.
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01/20/2010, Washington, NC
I had begun to wonder if we should have inquired about tickets to ride for Grace, Captain Kevin, and I on the two Hawaii Superferries (pictured above) that we saw docked in Norfolk last month. Thankfully, the past few days we have been enjoying much warmer temperatures than the previous three weeks. Today we had everything possible open to allow the fresh air breeze to flow through the cabin, while we both were out in the cockpit most of the afternoon. We even went for ice cream a few days ago.
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01/16/2010, McCotters
In all of our information we share about the boat and our travels I sometimes do not mention the day to day stuff some of which is really cool and some of which can be heart wrenching.
Our friend we met traveling down the hudson, Ken with the sailboat Element quest lost his boat at sea between New York and Bermuda. All 3 people on board were rescued thankfully. Their story can be read here. http://www.adrenalinsports.ca/thequest/
We had stopped into a local coffee/artist shop in Washington, the owner who's name I have forgotten introduced us over the phone to a gentleman he was friends with who has a boat here at McCotters. Deb spoke to him but we never met in person. Several days ago I was headed to the bath houses in the morning and noticed 3-4 police cars in the marina. Of course when I Asked they would not say what was up. I found out later that Jonavan the person Deb talked with had taken his life on his boat. I really wish we had a chance to meet him in person.
Today I helped an older gentleman get his boat into the lift well where thankfully we had finally gotten out yesterday. ( yup the ice melted, today was near 60 degrees) Later on talking with him. Fred Willard is his name. He told me all about his late in life career as a local archeologist. He is also a former and possibly future Morgan boat owner. A very interesting man we had a nice visit on Grace, His web site is here. He is the older bearded fellow in some of the pictures.
http://lost-colony.com/home.html
Yesterday and today we saw boats sailing on the river, boy do I want to take Grace and Debbie out.
After we got the engine back in and running It became apparent that our exhaust now needs replacing. I ordered a new waterlift muffler today and hope to get it done this coming week. Then we can take Grace out for some sea trials with our improved engine situation.
Here's hoping it stays warm,
Kevin
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01/13/2010, Lift well Mcotters Marina
The Palmer is back! Danny and I put her back in the boat yesterday. After about 2 hours of reconnecting prop shaft, exhaust and other stuff it would not start. :(
All down the coast during our trip the engine has gotten harder and harder to start. This has caused me much concern as sometimes you need to get the engine running quickly and get out of harms way. I was assuming it was carburetor related, so when the engine was out I had them rebuild the carb. When it still did not help I started thinking about the ignition system. I had updated with electronic ignition and all new coil, plug wires etc.. Everything was new and less than a year old. I have on board most spare parts we may need so I started out testing the coil first. (Thank you to Mad Dog Borden for showing me how to test one with multimeter.) The coil in use and the new one I had did not quite match with the ohms test. The new read about 11000 and the old about 9000 so I figured it was worth changing it. After the new coil it started right up, I wish I had figured that out months ago.
A few other tweaks with the choke cable and verifying oil pressure and Kevin was pretty happy. My last concern of idle speed was fixed when Danny the mechanic got here today. He adjusted the throttle to idle about 700 rpms. I really like that.
After running in gear for about an hour I saw no sign of oil leaks. although we really will not know until we leave the docks and push the engine hard for several hours I feel pretty good about it.
Tomorrow if the ice melts we will move back to a slip.
Tonight I am getting drunk..
Maybe.
A very happy Capt Kevin
Just posted palmer flying in. Chip pay close attention!!!!!
here is the link http://picasaweb.google.com/KevinDebbieStone/PalmerCanFly#
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01/05/2010
The water was so frozen today, between it and the low tide I could not back out of the slip we are in. I was happily able to get back in after getting stuck. After a bit the 2 dan's from the boatyard got a skiff running and busted up a path in the ice to tow us through. even that was a trial with their engine stalling out several times and the wind drifting us toward other boats. I had graces engine running so I was able to stay out of trouble, Deb was running around on the dock and other docked boats in case I needed to be fended off them.
We got to the lift well where their hoist comes over. Danny and I got the engine reedy to come out and used the hoist rigged with a block and tackle to snake it up and out of grace, pretty easy. It only took a few hours. I found a tractor place to get gaskets about 20 miles from here. Hopefully now the issues get fixed and back in with no surprises.
Deb is making dinner, we have the boat sort of back together after moving everything forward out of the way, and I need a shower.
The pic today also shows the new shore power panel.
Brr it sure is cold.
Capt Kevin
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01/04/2010, Washington, NC
Well tomorrow is the day. We will start readying Graces engine to come out in the morning. Danny the mechanic here look at her today and will try to solve the oil leak, along with whatever else we feel should be done while its out.
Wish us luck
Kevin
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12/31/2009
Happy New Year, everyone!
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12/29/2009, NC
Well, I have our shore power upgrade about done, I had to order a cover plate for the back side of the new panel. Installing that and securing the cables are all that is left. A happy discovery I made as part of this is that I opened our water heater up to see if I could add an electric element to it. Lo and behold it was all set up for ac power all I had to do was wire it to the new panel. We now have hot water without running the engine to heat it. As long as we are plugged into shore power that is.
I also got some work done on our teak toerails. They are the source of some annoying rainwater leaks. One more coat of Cetol varnish and I can try to seal them to the deck with 5200 (caulk).
I am getting anxious for the marina to reopen so I can push our engine work along, maybe then we will continue south.
Happy New Year, we hope to see my sister and family tomorrow.
Capt Kevin
In answer to Vals question... A toerail runs on the outside of the deck. it gives you a place to brace your feet in bad weather when going forward. It is also the attachment point for tracks which have blocks that have our sail control lines run through. The ones on Grace are made from teak a wood often used on boats.
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12/26/2009, Washington, NC
Above: Grace all gussied up for the holiday!
Our first christmas living on the boat we did not spend on the boat. After picking up Debs car we treated ourselves to 2 nights in hotels on the way back. We went to a movie last night. There was snow in Maryland where the car was, back here now in NC it was near 60 degrees today.
We got started right away on our project list as the parts I had ordered were on the boat when we got back. I decided to upgrade the shore power 1st as it will be an immediate benefit to us. I have installed a new 30 amp power panel with breakers for up to 6 circuits. I will use 4 I think, Battery charger, engine room heater, and 2 outlet circuits. We ran the wire and installed 2 new outlets, one near the table for electronics and one in the v berth for the electric blanket. No more extension cords strewn around. Tomorrow I will install new outlets in the engine room and one for our cabin heater. While we are dock people with electricity we use an electric heater, when at anchor we will use the propane cabin heater if we need it.
With the car being here we are able to move some of our excess stuff off the boat. This will make the projects smoother without having to move so much stuff to work.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!
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