July 14th... Dobbins Island, Magothy River MD

By late afternoon, with threatening skies, the weekenders were gone. Two small sailboats with a troop of sea scouts had sailed in during the afternoon and anchored too close. As the front approach and the wind changed direction they realized their mistake and re-anchored about 50 yards away. It rained on and off most of the night but without much of a storm.

Since it was a well protected anchorage we decided to stay here a day or two and try to get our cushions put together. All the parts were cut out but before Kathy started sewing on our new machine I fabricated an extra table leg out of an old canoe paddle that had not been in service for months. The machine weighs in excess of 50 pounds and our work space is on a section where half of the table surface hinges up with a angle brace underneath. The new leg worked fine.

As Kathy began sewing I removed the sink to attempt to find a nagging leak in our water system. About once every 30 minutes the pump would come on and run for about 4 seconds. I had checked the lines as well as possible on a couple of occasions and come up empty handed. So it was time for a real effort. The sink came out revealing 95 percent of the entire system. After a few minutes I noticed some rust beginning to form on the water heater just below the point where the element is attached. So I drained the system and removed the element. After cleaning and greasing some electrical contacts I wiped on a little Permatex and put things back together. Before replacing the sink I depressurized the system to see if I had solved the problem and found a tiny leak in a weld at the top of the water heater.

After depressurizing and draining some water out of the tank, I cleaned the area with a Dremel and mixed up some J B Weld. The tube said that it hardened in 9 minutes so in thirty I turned the pump back on bring the water pressure back up. In about 5 minutes we had a tiny geyser spraying about 3 feet in the air.

So... I drained the tank again. (Please remember water is worth a little more on our boat that in your kitchen) By this time it is afternoon, Kathy is sewing away, the boat is torn up, there are tools everywhere and since I don't believe in stress, really had nothing to do but keep at it.

In our container of glues, solvents and epoxies, I found a stick of epoxy that you said it worked on water lines so after cleaning the tank again cut off a piece, mixed until the two colors turned into one, and then applied it to the tank.

By this time Kathy was in the final stages of sewing together the cushion cover so as I waited for my new patch to dry I assisted in the attempt to stuff the foam into the finished cover. We did get the foam inside but try as we may, couldn't get things smoothed like they should. We finally decided that our directions were not meant for closed cell foam (which doesn't compress as much as regular foam) and we needed to tear everything apart and start over.

It was way after lunch time by now and since we hadn't eaten anything all day, I cut up a couple of tomatoes and small cucumbers for a snack.

As Kathy sat in the cockpit and removed one stitch at a time, I repressurized the water system to find that my patch had held. After replacing the sink and beginning the task of putting things away... I took the fabric to the foredeck and cut the new sides for our second attempt at making cushion. I also optimistically cut out the top and bottom sections for the second cushion.

At this point I took over Kathy's job of removing stitches in the failed cover while Kathy sewed the zipper together for trial number two. We both finished about the same time and quit.

After relaxing for a bit, we grilled a steak, cooked some broccoli and mixed up some cucumbers and onions in sour cream. Along with our fresh bread, had a wonderful dinner.

We finished the day with an dinghy ride to explore Gray's Creek which empties into the bay where we anchored.