Kaimusailing

Although the new release of Navigatrix 64bit installs properly (navigatrix.net), I was unable to get the cheap Realtek based wifi adapter to work. The internal wifi works. The marina’s wifi is weak and needs the external USB antenna for a connection. When I was in the boatyard I needed the USB antenna on a long USB extension to access wifi.
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We had wind and rain, so my activities were confined to below decks. When it cleared up a bit I tried out the Minwax tung oil finish on the inside surfaces of the hatch drop boards. First I cleaned with Awesome cleaner from the dollar store, a small scrub brush, and a scotch brite sponge. This was supposed to be an easy simple task just to fill the time. It turned out to be messy and I’m sure my shoulder will be sore from scrubbing. A ton of old tung oil finish, dirt, and oxidation came off the surfaces. Catalina used a proprietary oil finish that was one of Frank Butler’s products, I think it was called Watco Teak Oil. Today’s product is not the same formulation as it was back in 1978.
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Cleaning the teak surface and allowing it to dry lightens it. Applying the Minwax product darkens the teak. In the end it looks about the same as it did before all the work. The wood looks like I’ve just cleaned it a little.
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During the high winds and rain a sailboat must have come into a nearby slip, it is about 30 feet away and I have been looking at it and trying to identify it. It is a double ender with an outboard rudder. I think it is a Thomas Gillmer design, about 32 feet LOA. He has several designs in that range and I tried to compare the cabin windows with the images on sailboatdata.com, also searching Google images, but no exact match. It looks like a handy boat, bluewater, stout windlass, self-steering wind vane, nice dodger, and a radar reflector on the mast. The color scheme of the sail cover and other canvas is green, just like Sunsplash. Oddly, there is no name or hailing port on the stern.
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OK, last night the owner of the aforementioned sailboat arrived on the dock and I dropped what I was doing to ask him about the boat. He is a very salty looking sailor dude and he says he is from Crisfield, sailed the boat up from the Carolinas. The strange thing is he was in the Red Shell Shanty while we were there and the ladies commented on him. Now we know, the boat is a Southern Cross 31 and the sailor has 5 kids. No mysteries in Crisfield, or in the marina, or on a boat.
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It was too windy today to go up the mast. Now there is a severe thunderstorm watch. Maybe tomorrow. After that it’s rain till next week.
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Now a few hours later, no severe thunderstorms, yet.
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There is a local newspaper, the County Times, or maybe The Somerset County Times. I browsed it online. I want to be up on the local activities, which there are a few. Memorial Day weekend is a kickoff for the season, and this is a tourist town. The main attraction is there are no main attractions, just peaceful waterfront, birds, fish, crabs, watermen plying their trade, I can ride my bike through an intersection without fear, now. There is no activity. A great town to bike around, except for the wind, keep it in mind, bear off and plan on a downwind ride. The wind keeps the big wind turbine spinning and generating power, I guess for the water department. It is a landmark.
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There is a soft crab festival coming this weekend. The late Spring and Summer seasons are when the crabs molt, and thus you get crabs who have lost their shells and are soft crabs. In the wild they hide in the reeds that line the shores here. The crabmen catch them and put them in tanks where they shed their shells, then they are captured again, and end up getting fried, mostly, in a sandwich, or as Eve did, as a delicious appetizer.
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There are mentions in the newspaper of various restaurants and crab shacks opening for the season, but no mention of the Red Shell Shanty. It has been busy there lately, and they have added Sunday till 6, so they are open 3 days a week.
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When I was constructing Kaimu the catamaran in Norwalk Cove in Connecticut I noticed expensive cars driven by young people through the boatyard to the West. One day I changed out of my boatyard clothes and dressed sensibly and went West to see what it was they were going to. There it was, The Sunset Grill, overlooking Norwalk harbor to the West and getting a great sunset view. The clientele consisted of locals from East Norwalk, Westport, and maybe some from Stamford, moneyed and wearing boater gear, woven leather belts with Buck knives in sheathes. Docksiders. They just wanted to blend in with the boatyard and be in a place off the beaten path, which is hard to find on the Connecticut shore.
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Now I am in a similar place, but not on the Connecticut Shore, this is on the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake. A view to the West of the sunset. No financial advisers with Buck knives, just locals who know the place, busy and fun. Red Shell Shanty, aka The Pink Pussycat. I will help keep them in business.
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We had a lull in the wind and rain, a really beautiful day, and I had planned to go up the mast on such a day, but I chickened out and began working on a less daunting project, fixing loose cleats at the stern.
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I couldn’t see the ends of the cleat bolts inside the quarter berth, so I cleared out the berth, a big job, everything was stowed in there, then cleaned the surface so I could crawl in there and get to work. Still couldn’t see the ends of the bolts, measured up on deck, 80 inches from the rear of the cabin, then measured inside, 80 inches is past the end of the quarter berth. There was a panel there, difficult to work in such a tight space, remove screws, panel wouldn’t budge, pry, applying utmost pressure and the panel popped off and fell like a guillotine blade. Fortunately I was clear of it. What a way to go. Behind the panel was the lazarette locker. I could have gotten into that space simply by opening the lazarette hatch.
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The two cleats on the quarter berth side of the stern were both loose. One had been improperly installed without backing washers or backing plate inside. The bolts had pulled into the liner and looked somewhat corroded. Hard to reach them. I removed the other cleat which had lost one of it’s nuts. There was no lock washer on the remaining bolt. I hunted around for lock washers and a nut and backing washer. I reinstalled the cleat properly. To do this I had to fit myself into the lazarette. It is a tiny space and I am not very flexible. I felt like the lady who’s fallen and can’t get up, I had trouble getting in and out of the lazarette. I found other loose nuts and tightened them. I was feeling exhausted and then realized I hadn’t had any lunch and only a very light breakfast early in the morning.
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I decided to have a snack of pickled herring. The jar was not completely full and I finished it off and sat on the settee. The cabin was now packed with all the stuff that came out of the quarter berth. I was bushed. Rain is in the forecast and there was stuff out in the cockpit that had to come in. I didn’t feel like doing anything more. The phone rang and it was Eve asking if I wanted to come over and have steak with her and CM’s mom. I declined. I washed up and cleared the settee enough for sleep. Early to bed.
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I woke at a quarter to four. I was starving. I made breakfast before sun up. The sky brightened revealing clouds overcast and bringing rain. I had better finish up my work on deck and in the lazarette and stow things below again. To remove the remaining loose cleat I had to put vise grips on each nut and unscrew the bolt. Thus I was crawling in and out of the lazarette 4 times plus one for when the vise grips fell off. I then went off and showered and took one of the bolts to the hardware store on the bike. I purchased 4 fender washers and a potable water garden hose. The marina had removed my hose from the water spigot on the dock and then had it draped over the finger pier with both ends in the water. Of course the hose was fouled and no longer usable.
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I stopped at Food Lion for water, I was out. I was feeling very warm when I returned to the boat and started drinking water. After a while I felt much better and began the process of reinstalling the cleat. Down in the lazarette, put fender washer, lock washer, and nut on bolt, up on deck, begin screwing bolt. The first bolt had galled, I think the lock washer gouged into the bolt threads. I saved that bolt for last and continued. I was able to ungall the bolt by running a nut up and down the bolt with the Makita drill and a bit that fit the bolt. Finally I was finished. It is just short of 11 AM, some days I’m still in the sack at that time.
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Later we gathered at the Red Shell Shanty again for appetizers and Orange Crushes. We had Memorial Day weekend coming as well as a nasty cold front. The next day was chilly, rainy, and very windy. I puttered around trying to get the Fagor pressure cooker to seal with the new lid seal. It was obvious that it wouldn’t fit, but it was soft rubbery plastic, so I could trim it. After several sessions with it, including running the cooker dry, using up a propane cylinder, and running the risk of a small galley fire, I was saved by a phone call, flounder dinner at CM’s mom’s house.
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I continued on the pressure cooker sealing ring the next day and found by trimming the flanges off the ring it would fit the groove in the Fagor lid. This is probably the Classic 6 qt. model. I pressured up the cooker, now with a Presto canner jiggler valve. This valve is in 3 parts so that it can be set for 5, 10, or 15 psi. 15 psi is about 1 bar and is what most USA pressure cookers run at. However, the Fagor blew its safety valve well before the jiggler started jiggling. I did some research and found Fagor operates at .55 bar, or just under 10 psi. I removed one of the weight rings from the jiggler and ran it up to 10 psi with no problems. I also ordered Presto part number 09915, pressure safety release plug, which I will install to run the cooker at 1 bar, 15 psi. Cooking time at 1 bar vs .55 bar is 13 minutes vs 20 minutes, also canning meat products requires the higher pressure. I’m sure the Fagor is strong enough for the higher pressure.
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Memorial Day itself was cool and clear. A barbecue cookout was on the schedule and I was asked to pick up some corn at the grocers. Others arrived with potato salad, slaw, beans and bacon, Smith Island cake, and Eve, who was hosting, baked ribs and jalapeno poppers, which were the best I ever tasted. There was also wine, a lot of it, and good conversation into the evening.
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The image is a shot at the beach at Jaynes Island on the Chesapeake Bay side.
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This post is long because the internet has been down in the marina for almost a week, thus a double long post.