In our "Final Post" (Dec 30, 2020) I wrote "while this chapter of our cruising adventures has come to a close, you never know what a new year will bring...". It has been well over a year now ("too long") since I wrote that, but we have indeed started a new chapter of cruising adventures. I have been a little slow in re-establishing our cruising blog, and with everyone doing video blogs these days I knew I didn't have the time to attempt that, but I have been encouraged to provide commentary (as in the past) of our travels.

At the end of 2022 Cindy and I purchased a power catamaran after a long ("too long") search. After a "too short" get to know you cruise from Wilmington, NC to Beaufort, NC, she was put up in the Jarrett Bay yard for the winter to address the issues identified during the pre-purchase survey, and some things that we wanted done to better meet our specific needs and desires. After a "too long" period in the boat yard we finally got underway with this season's goal of exploring the Chesapeake Bay.

But first, a little background on the new-to-us boat. MV Songlines is a 2016 Malcolm Tennant 60. The name came from our experiences in Australia getting to know the indigenous people's culture. They shared the stories of their travels and experiences through "songlines". These stories were passed along through their art (dot paintings), verbal story telling and some times music and dance. While people see that we are from Austin and assume we are musicians, the real story behind the name is that MV Songlines is our vehicle for travel, experiencing cruising adventures, and telling those stories.

This is the 6th (and last) of a series of this Malcolm Tennant design (60 ft long, 20 ft beam and 4 ft draft) that was built by Orren Byrd (Cat Craft Marine). This specific boat was built by Orren as his boat (MV Cat Byrd) to retire on in the Bahamas. Unfortunately due to health issues, he was forced to move back a shore. We are the third owners. The boat is a composite build using strip-plank construction, in West-System Epoxy, wood, foam, and carbon fiber. It is a very "livable" boat, with easily accessed systems. The hull design and construction has resulted in a strong, light-weight, easily driven boat. The two Cummins 6BT (no after cooler) 210HP engines drive it easily at a nominal cruising speed of 9-10kts (1450 RPMs), while sipping fuel at less than 2 gph each. Yes, it will go faster (17kts WOT during the survey sea-trials), but we would only do that if there was a good reason. With the 1500 gallons of fuel (2 primary tanks and 2 day tanks), we have a cruising range of well over 3000nm (not that we will ever need it?). We also carry 450 gallons of Fresh Water and have both a watermaker and rain water collection systems. Our House Battery bank is 900AH at 24VDC (AGM batteries). The batteries are kept charged by a) 2400 watts of solar, b) 200AH 24VDC alternators (one on each engine - and yes they can power the A/C for Cindy while we are underway during these hot summer days), and c) if needed a 6KW 120VAC Genset. We use a single 50Amp shorepower connection. We have two 3.5KW Inverter/Chargers. All the electrical is managed by an Outback Power System. The boat has steering from both a lower helm station and the upper pilothouse (we have only used the upper pilothouse since it has such great visibility while underway).

Next time, what happens when the lock you are scheduled to go through is closed for repairs?