Mike
06/19/2008, Solomons, MD

June 16th... Solomons, MD

After coffee we hiked down to Boaters World and Food Lion which is a good walk and picked up some boat wax and another length of shock cord. We made a few purchases at the grocery and then hiked back.

There were more thunderstorms forecast for this evening as another front moves through the area so we moved Sapphire about 200 yards and anchored in the lea of a three story condo. The anchor held well when Kathy backed down...so we were set.

Kathy spent the day finishing the stainless and then began working on the gunnels, first using rubbing compound and then a coat of wax. It is a difficult area of the boat to address. I tore apart the toilet and found a part that had been mounted upside-down. I really think that it is made that way, but in our application the tolerances are skewed a little. Anyway, when I flipped the valve and reassembled, it worked.

The next task was to replace the shock cord on our "Lazy Jack" system which only took about an hour.

By then the day was about finished and the sky was beginning to darken so we quit and watched the storms approach. When the front hit we had wind gusts to about 40 knots but the thunderstorms missed us. We had a little lightening but were spared the worst of things. The most noticeable was the temperature change. We lost about 20 degrees in 2 minutes. Since most of the wind was deflected by the condo we didn't worry much about the second line of storms and went to bed.


June 17th... Solomons, MD

We started work early. First I used the stain remover on the forepeak to get rid of a year's worth of mud while Kathy continued her waxing. We mixed up a batch of "West Systems" and filled a few holes where some chain locks had been moved and also glued together one of our grab rails that has been cracked since we owned the boat.

The next area that needed attention was the blue stripe on our topsides which I scrubbed and then applied three coats of Poli-Glo, which seems to do a better job of keeping it shiny than anything else we've tried.

After lunch I sanded a few areas that needed attention and applied some gelcoat patch.

By about 4:30, after a two days working on her knees, Kathy finished the waxing of everything on deck.

We grilled some chicken and called it a day.

June 18... Solomons

With thunderstorms forecast for the afternoon and lots more jobs to do, we decided to stay another day. Kathy started applying a second coat of wax while I resealed one of our forward hatches. I also worked on a second hatch cleaning up a rusted hinge. With those jobs out of the way I shifted to waxing and by about 11 we had a second coat on everything.

I need to go up both masts at some point but put that job off for sometime when there are more people around.

We got cleaned up, packed up all our waxing rags for the laundry and our garbage and went to shore. Our first stop was a Bar B Que place for lunch. After we got the rags in the wash Kathy got a hair cut while I checked out the seafood market and the grocery store. We hiked down to West Marine to look for a clip to mount our solar lantern at night but failed. We did however find a replacement blade for one of our fans.

After folding the clothes we picked up a few items at the store and headed back to the boat.

We read for a couple of hours before steaming a nice filet of cod on the grill for supper.

We finally did get a thunderstorm later in the evening but it was of no consequence.

Comments [1]

06/16/2008, Solomons, MD

June 15... Solomons, MD

I was in the dinghy early to finish waxing before the day got too warm. Kathy was working again on polishing stainless. By noon we were finished with both jobs and Sapphire looks noticeably better. In the afternoon we worked on waxing the cabin sides ant other flat surfaces but by then we had to take lots of breaks from the sun.

Later we took a dinghy ride and explored a little more of the area. We found the "Old Town" area but didn't have any money. We'll make that trip some time when I remember my billfold (and shoes).

Tomorrow I have to fix the toilet. If we leave the seacock open it fills up with outside water. It shouldn't be a problem. I think that we have the part in question on board. I also need to rebuild the shock cord sections of our lazy-jack system which basically catches the main sail when it is lowered.

After that we'll look for a weather window to go explore the Chesapeake.


June 14... Solomon's. Md

We were off early this morning to beat the heat and walked a little over a mile to the Boater's World store and then to the Food Lion. With full backpacks and bags we made our way back without much difficulty.

After lunch Kathy started on the stainless while I began the process of getting the brown stain off our waterline. I think that the stain is caused mostly by the tannins in the water on the northern ICW and Dismal Swamp. Motoring through soot covered water probably didn't help much either. This junk is just a fact of life for folks who choose to travel the ICW and hang out in the Chesapeake.

The problem with getting rid of the stain is that when you're finished the wax is gone as well. Waxing becomes the next job. I am ¼ done with that task and will finish tomorrow...weather permitting.

I watched thunder storms form on the computer all afternoon and they finally hit us about dinner time. Although at times we swung close to a shoal, the storms were reasonably mild here.

Comments [0]

Mike
06/13/2008, Solomons, MD

June 12... Mobjack Bay, VA to Solomons Island, MD

What a difference a day makes. Today the water in the Chesapeake was perfectly flat most of the time and slightly rippled the rest of the time. We occasionally put out our head sail but never gained much lift. Our goal was to be Reedville but at some point in the morning Kathy and I discussed the idea of continuing on to Solomons. It would make for a long day but our plans are to stay there for a few days so we would have lots of time to recover.

About 15 minutes later Jim radioed wondering if we might entertain the thought of pushing on to the Solomons....which would make their trip into their home port of North Herrington Harbor on Friday much shorter. By the time we got anchors settled we had been on the water for a little over 13 hours and had covered about 80 miles. (almost all of which was into a 2 knot current)

We had eaten on the way in so before dark we dinghied over to say our good-byes even though we'll be seeing them in a few days.


June 13... Solomons Island, MD

We both slept in this morning and it was 10 am by the time we were finished with breakfast. Our goal for the day was laundry and so we sorted everything and loaded up the dinghy for a ride to shore. The Holiday Inn here has an attached marina and allows folks at anchor to dock their dinghies for $2 a day. When we were here in the fall and there were so many boats that the dinghy dock was always crowded and no one ever tracked us down to pay. Today they caught up with us on the second docking.

The laundromat is located in a little strip mall about a block away (it's actually about ¼ mile) and very convenient. There is also a fish market, grocery, a bank and a few other businesses. We finished a little after noon and returned our clothes to the boat before another trip in to West Marine and lunch at a Chinese place. We made a few more stops and then returned to sit and read. (One of us made the bed with clean sheets and put laundry away before sitting and reading.)

Comments [2]