Some Family, Friends and Boat Projects
01 November 2019 | Selby Bay, Edgewater, MD
Mike
September 25 to November 1, 2019
We spent the month visiting friends and family along with the chiropractor, eye doctor and dentist. We attended dozens of happy hours and dinners to catch up with as many friends as we could but the month went fast and we missed many.
Sharon did a lot of provisioning taking advantage of having our car available. Mike removed the boat’s transmission with the help of the chiropractor visits. He had Maryland Transmission rebuild the unit rather than just replace the leaking rear oil seal. An expensive decision but one that will give us peace of mind while going south. While the transmission was out Mike replaced the engine mounts, he had purchased last year and while investigating a small intermittent coolant leak discover the exhaust manifold need to be replaced. A previous saltwater leak in the vacuum loop had eroded the aluminum on the manifold and exposed the o-ring sealing the tube bundle. Expensive but available in New Jersey, we had Bay Shore Marine order us a new manifold. Mike had to remove the alternator to get the old manifold out but luckily the bolts hadn’t frozen over the past thirty years. The new manifold slipped in and after reinstalling the hoses and changing the antifreeze the engine started up and seemed to be running well. But as Captain Ron would say we will find out when we are out there.
After Mike finally finished with the engine, he replaced the rusty anchor chain going from 50’ to 120’. To make room for the chain he converted the holding tank that was in the bow (don’t ask about cleaning the tank) into a chain locker for the second rode of 60’ of chain. Both rodes also have 200’ of 5/8” three strand nylon.
Last on Mike’s list, at least the last item he got to, was applying quarter inch polyethylene starboard to the bathroom to cover the flaking laminate. Oh, and he refinished the teak steps in the companionway while Sharon was off to Pittsburg to visit family. It took three days for the application of the Cetol finish on the steps making getting in and out of the boat a challenge Mike didn’t want Sharon to take on.
We even found time to attend the Annapolis boat show and two events our sailing club had. We did a presentation at one on our trip to Nova Scotia that was well received though we don’t think we sold anyone on making the trip.
With our boating funds severely depleted after a month in port we finally got Monarch filled to the deck with provisions. A vicious cold front came through with strong winds our last night in port bringing the first of the cold artic air into the east coast. Along with the flocks of geese flying over the bay we knew for sure it was time to flee south.