Have a Day!

In my last entry, Warehouse Creek, I mentioned some prehistoric fish that surrounded our boat Friday night as the sun went down.  We looked them up and are pretty sure they were striped bass and they were spawning.  We were surrounded by these incredible fish that some folks will spend a lot of time and money trying to catch.  We were feeding them wads of bread.  We probably coulda just dipped our net in and snagged a couple without even trying.  It was quite a sight and even better now that we know what they were.  Some of them were that big too, I'm not kidding.  That's my fish story and I'm stickin' to it.

Back in February I came across an ad that was placed by a guy named Vince who has the same model boat as La Vida Dulce, an Island Packet 420. He had ordered some really nice leather cushions to replace the ones he had in the Main Salon.  He was trying to find an owner for the old ones before he got stuck with two sets of cushions.  I wrote to him and asked for pictures and more info.  He didn't have any pictures and the boat was under a layer of snow up in New York state.  He did say they were dark blue and in "like new" condition.  I told him we weren't in a big hurry and could wait until he found time to get down to the boat.  March rolled around and he sent some pictures.  Wow!  They looked really great.  Our cushions are in good shape but they still look worn from service in the charter fleet despite our best efforts to restore them.  Truth is, they look downright shabby next to these.  So we wrote back and made him an offer he couldn't refuse.  I've been waiting 39 years to say that.

Last Friday we loaded up the car and headed out on a five hour roadtrip to Haverstraw Marina on the Hudson River, about 30 minutes up from New York City.  We camped out overnight in a hotel and met Vince bright and early the next morning at the marina.  It was something like 20 degrees out with patches of snow on the ground.  His boat is on the hard until the icebreaker gets that far upstream, probably some time in July.  He welcomed us aboard and we got our first sight of the cushions.  They were just as described and in near perfect condition.  We formed a chain and loaded them all up in our Ford Escape, a pint sized mini-SUV.  He even gave us the mattress from the forward cabin since he had ordered an innerspring mattress to replace it.  We didn't need it but figured we could keep the extra fabric and dump the foam when we got home.  This turned out to be the deal of the century.  I think we cut a fair deal on the price and we all felt pretty pleased.  Vince turned out to be a really nice guy.  We enjoyed meeting him, talking about our boats, and discussed trying to get together some time in the future.  I'm thinking this would be a really nice sail, up through the C+D canal, up the coast to the Hudson River and then up the river to his marina.  Probably be something like a week or 10 days round trip if we really took our time.  Cool!

So, we're driving home with the inside of the car stacked to the roof with cushions.  I missed my turn going into New Jersey and ended up going across the George Washington Bridge into New York.  Cost me $9.00 to make a u-turn!  Driving back through NJ we stopped to pay the toll and the chick in the booth had a mighty nasty attitude, kinda like she had no time for whitey.  After we paid I said "have a good one" and she says "have a day".  Not "have a nice day", couldn't make that much effort.  Great representative for the State of New Jersey.  So now Cheri and my favoritest saying is"have a day".

We got the cushions home and they look great!  The difference is really incredible.  I told Cheri we just added $10,000 in value to the boat.  The darker color really adds some pizzaz, makes the interior look richer, colors deeper.  Really brings out the color in the teak.  Sweet.

So, we thought it was nuts up in New York with snow on the ground when only a week ago we were sailing in 70 degree weather.  Sunday we woke up to an inch of snow on the dock.  Gadzukes!  Never take anything for granted.

Warehouse Creek off Eastern Bay

Chart Showing Warehouse Creek

Pictures From Our Warehouse Creek Trip

Thursday, 3-17-11, was forecast to be excellent weather, continuing on through the weekend.  We used my recent birthday as an excuse to take a four day weekend and spend some time on the hook.  We spent most of the morning taking care of our regular weekend chores and finally headed out past the breakwater around 1100.  We're concentrating on having Cheri experience all parts of sailing first hand so for the next few months she's the skipper and I'm first mate.  She took the helm while I handled the lines leaving the slip.  This chick is a natural.  Won't take long before she's teaching me.

We had three days to blow and wanted to be able to sit at anchor for most of that.  Our primary choices for anchorages were the Choptank River and Eastern Bay.  When we got out into the middle of the Chesapeake the winds were light, 10 to 12 knots, and blowing out of the SE.  We decided to make the most of that and headed up to Eastern Bay.

From Herring Bay it's almost a straight shot on course 075 into Eastern Bay, cutting across the north end of Poplar Island.  With the light winds we were only making about 5 or 6 knots but it was a beautiful day and we were in no hurry.  Once in Eastern Bay we sighted R2A and drove for a spot halfway between it and Long Pt., which is on the south-eastern tip of Kent Island.  There's some shallow water that extends off this point and taking this course kept us in deep water, mostly 30'.  Once past Long Pt. we lined up R2A and the mouth of Cox Creek and headed north, roughly on course 010.

The entrance to Cox Creek is clearly marked by red 2CC and we held that close on our starboard side.  Once inside the creek the channel is centered between shores and about 13' deep.  All along both sides of the creek are large homes with private docks extending way out there to get to deep water.  It's good to keep this in mind because the channel is fairly narrow and the water on either side gets shallow quickly.  The charts show a marker, red nun 4, farther up but it musta been washed out in a storm because we didn't see it.  Just past this spot is the entrance to Warehouse Creek, off to the left.

We're a bare bones operation.  We don't have a chart plotter or GPS or radar or any of the high-dollar high-tech instrumentation.  At least not yet.  For now we have paper charts that are reasonably up to date and a compass that's accurate within about 5 degrees, some really nice binoculars and a depth gauge.  On the south side of Warehouse Creek are a few homes and the channel is about 30' out from the end of their docks.  As we headed in our depth gauge quickly went from 13' to 6'.  We backed down hard and swung to starboard and watched the depth return to 13'.  Remember the game "Operation"?  It's kinda like that.  We took it slow, 3.5 knots all the way in, dodging port and starboard to stay in the deep water.

There's only two houses on Warehouse Creek, both towards the entrance on the south side.  The second one in is called Batts Neck Plantation on the charts.  It's not historical since it has a swimming pool and tennis courts but it's a big ol' dump with lotsa square footage, numerous outbuildings and over 400 acres.  I looked it up on the internet and there may have been a plantation on this site at one time but I think this house was built in the 1980's.  This is the last building on Warehouse Creek and the shoreline beyond and to the North is natural with marshland, tall grasses and forest.  We dropped anchor in the widest part of the creek just out from the "Plantation".  This spot has about 8' depth with a muddy bottom and is pretty well protected from all sides.  We set anchor around 1830 with about 55' of line out.  Later on Friday night the wind got up to 30 knots out of the NW and we stuck like glue.  I know this because I checked on it every two hours and finally went and sat in the cockpit at 0400 and waited for the sun to come up.  What, me worry?

So, we're anchored and got all settled in and had a Bloody Mary to toast the fine day.  For dinner we had home made crab soup and then settled down to watch a movie.  About 5 minutes into the movie our cool-man 37" LED flatscreen went nuts and the picture got all weird looking.  We were concerned about causing damage so we shut it down.  It didn't take long to figure this one out.  When we're away from the dock we have a power inverter that takes 12 volts DC from our bank of "house" batteries and creates 110 volts AC so we can use our coffee pot and TV, among other things.  The problem here is that our inverter (Xantrex Feedom 2000) is "old school" and doesn't provide what's called "pure sine" voltage.  Compared to the picture above, our sine wave would be chopped off at the top and bottom and maybe even kinda ragged on the rise and fall.  This creates havoc with sensitive electronics.  Looks like we'll have to look into a small inverter to provide clean power for things like our computers and home theater.  We'll eventually upgrade our system with more storage (batteries) and increased supply through additional solar panels, wind generator and a diesel generator.  When that happens we'll probably be looking into a new inverter too.

Friday was absolutely gorgeous with temperatures in the mid 70's.  We had blueberry pancakes and cinnamon coffee for breakfast.  Mmm, mmm, good!  I spent part of the afternoon chasing ghosts in our electrical system and Cheri kicked back and enjoyed the peace and quiet. I eventually sat down and buried myself in a good book out in the cockpit.  It got so warm we had to open up the enclosure to let the breeze blow through and considered shorts and T-shirts for the day.  Friday night's dinner was pork chops.  We try to eat well to keep from feeling like we're camping.  Towards sunset we noticed things poking out of the water all around us.  At first we thought they were turtles because they looked kinda rough, almost prehistoric.  Cheri broke out the binoculars and found they were fish, about 1' to 2' long, cruising slowly at the surface and what we were seeing was their dorsal fins.  I have no idea what kind of fish these were.  I'm thinking Jurassic Park.


Like I said earlier, the wind kicked up Friday evening and neither of us got much sleep.  When we first set anchor the wind was out of the SE.  It was now blowing out of the N and WNW at 30 knots.  I was concerned the anchor would pull loose and we'd wind up on the beach.  I kept going up topside to check my bearings and everything was fine.  OK, check my bearings?  When we first anchored I took sightings with the compass to easily identifiable spots all around us and wrote them down for later reference.  If the boat moved more than just swinging on the anchor these readings would change.  This is the old fashioned way of doing things because nowadays all you have to do is set the alarm on your phone's GPS and it'll wake you up from a sound sleep.  In fact I have this feature on my phone.  I just don't use it because just like those fish, I'm a dinosaur.  So at 0400 it was really blowing hard and I finally got up, made some coffee and sat up in the cockpit and waited for the sun to come up.  If anything happened I could fire up the engine and keep us in deep water.  While sitting there I saw gusts over 35 knots but I did notice that the water never got very choppy because this spot is relatively protected.

Saturday morning was windy and chilly, in the 40's.  We decided to pack up early and head back home.  We pulled anchor which was challenging in a 25 knot blow.  It took two tries before I finally got it and it brought with it a huge clump of mud and oyster shells.  While I hosed it off Cheri headed out the creek.  After we made the turn into Cox Creek it was difficult to tell where the channel was.  There was a streak of muddy water coming off Warehouse Creek and it made the water look shallow, like a sandbar.  We veered around it and immediately ran hard aground.  We backed down hard, full throttle, churned up the mud and clawed our way back to deep water.  We then veered back over to the middle of the creek and continued on like it never happened.  Running aground is a time-honored tradition on the Chesapeake Bay.

We continued under power all the way out to R2A before setting our sails because I wanted to check our knot meter for accuracy.  The charts show the distance between CC2 and R2A so I timed it to get a reading.  Turned out to be right on.  We held a steady course from R2A all the way back to Herring Bay with the wind varying between 15 and 25 knots.  Once we got near Herring Bay it kicked up to 30 knots and we had a pleasant sail in under full Main and Staysail at 8.5 knots.  We dropped our sails after rounding R2 and motored back to our slip.  The entire way over from Eastern Bay we never saw another boat until we got into Herring Bay and then it was just one other guy and his two kids.  As we came through the breakwater we looked back and saw them out there heeled way over, rail in the water.  Looked like they were having a ball.

So, I think we found a nice spot to hide away on Eastern Bay.  It had a few drawbacks that are worth noting.  The swampy areas are probably a real source of bugs in warmer weather.  The location is several miles south of Stevensville, which is at the eastern foot of the Bay Bridge on Rte 50.  During our stay we were aware of a low background roar of traffic but you had to listen for it.  We didn't find it intrusive but it might be worse in the Summer, especially at 0200 when sound seems to really carry.  It is a nice spot and we'll add it to our list of places to re-visit during other seasons.

Eastern Bay is big and has lots of potential anchorages for us to try out.  The Miles River branches off at the eastern end with many great looking spots, including the town of St. Michaels.  There's also Shipping Creek, Crab Alley Bay and Prospect Bay to explore.  Considering that this is all within a few hours sail from where we hang out at Herrington Harbour North I'd say we'll be spending a lot of time on Eastern Bay.

Pre-Season Chores

This past Thursday (3-10-11) I got home from work around 1900.  The wind had been blowing fiercely all day out of the SE and we also got around 2" of rain.  The water level at our dock was high, about 3" below the dock, which is about 3.5' higher than normal.  Usually La Vida Dulce's deck is level with the dock.  Look at the second  picture and you'll get a good idea of how much higher it was. The boat was way up there and Cheri was waiting in the cockpit for me with a 5 gallon bucket that I could flip over and use as a step to get aboard.  We tied a leash onto the bucket handle and clipped it to the railing on our boat so it wouldn't try to swim away.  Sit bucket, stay.  Good bucket.

When I got aboard I found that the marina had killed the power for our dock because of the high water.  Cheri had fired up the diesel heater to keep things warm and we kept it going through the night.  I wasn't sure how much power this thing would eat up through the night so we limited the use of lights and went to bed early, around 2130.  I woke up at 0200 and found that the power had been restored and we had both systems running now, the Espar diesel heater and reverse cycle system, so the boat was plenty warm.  I secured the Espar heater and took a look outside, found the water level had dropped about 6", the dock lines were doing OK and everything was as it should be, so I went back to bed.

 Friday morning Cheri had an appointment in DC and while she was out Brian Butler from Conlyn Marine Services came down to the boat to take a look at the engine.  Conlyn is the local Yanmar dealer and they're located right at Herrington Harbour North.  Brian's a real nice guy and spent about an hour going over things, explaining everything  to me and answering my questions as he went.  At $92/hr this was money well spent.  I told him about our fun experience with the prop shaft coming loose so he took a close look at that.  He explained that the shaft has to be installed so there's no run-out or vibration when it's turning.  Oops.  When I did the repair we were floating around outside the breakwater and I neglected to get my dial indicator and check the run-out.  Turns out I got lucky because it was dead on.  Brian also checked the hoses, alternator belt, coolant, oil and filter and the fuel filter, the motor mounts, turbo charger and the tranny.  We fired up the engine and ran it in gear and inspected the exhaust, which looked kinda smokey to me.  He said the smoke is normal when the diesel is cold and it did clear up as the engine warmed up.  He noticed some fuel droplets in the exhaust which indicated the injectors needed attention but said it wasn't a problem just yet and could wait until next season.  He gave me a list of things to do which included changing the oil and oil filter, replacing both primary and secondary fuel filters and replacing the alternator belt.  The belt was still in good condition but needed to be tightened up and he suggested replacing it and using the old one as a spare.  Brian said that over-all, the engine was in really good condition.  It's got 3,600 hours on it, which is high, but he said that Yanmars last forever and take all kinds of punishment.  With basic maintenance it should last a long time.  That's just what I wanted to hear.

That afternoon I changed the oil and oil filter.  On a car's engine you change the oil by pulling the plug at the bottom of the oil pan and drain it into a container.  It's a quick and fairly easy process, takes maybe fifteen minutes and removes almost all the old oil from the engine.    On our boat there is no access to the bottom of the engine and the oil has to be sucked out through the dipstick tube.  I found a spot on-line where they suggested using a hand pump with a hose pushed over the top of the dip-stick tube.  It's really clean and simple but from what I know of engines, the dip-stick tube does not extend all the way to the bottom of the oil pan so there's no way you're going to get all the old oil out.  Not even close.  As soon as you put in your fresh clean oil it gets contaminated with the old oil and will circulate dirt throughout the engine, which is just what we're trying to avoid.  You might as well run that old oil for another season or two and save yourself the time.  I got a pump that uses a skinny little tube that gets stuck down the dip-stick tube and forced down into the bottom of the pan.  This pump is pretty cool because once you've built up suction it continues to pull oil out until it's 8 quart reservoir is full at which point a float switch will break vacuum and stop the process.  Hopefully.  Our little Yanmar engine holds something like 6.3 liters of oil (1 liter = 1.056688 quarts, US, liquid - I had to look that up) so we're not going to fill this baby up even if we get all the oil out.  I hooked it up, made vacuum and watched.  This is a slow process because of that skinny little tube and took forever with just a dribble of oil coming out.  When it started sucking air like it was done there was less than 5.5 quarts in the reservoir.  I pumped it a few times to get better vacuum and really jammed the hose down hard to get more oil.  I went through this about 5 more times before I finally felt confident that I had gotten as much of the old oil as I could.  After replacing the oil filter I added about 6 quarts of 15w-40 oil, ran the engine for a few minutes to circulate the oil, checked the dipstick and found the level to be perfect.  OK, this took way too long and made a mess too.  The technique I saw on-line could be modified to get all the oil out and would be way better than this.  I think I'll try that next time.

Sunday I worked on the fuel system.  Our engine has the primary fuel filter mounted on the engine compartment door in the galley.  This is comprised of a glass bowl with a 30 micron Racor filter inside.  The top has a T handle that screws off for access to the filter and the bottom has a brass plug that can be removed to flush out the bowl.  To the left of the filter is an electric fuel pump with a toggle switch that can be used to prime the system after you change the filter.  You need to prime the system to get any air out of the lines that might cause the engine to stop running.  The previous owner had used 10 micron filters in the primary and when we bought the boat there was a bag of 20 spares.  They must have really bad fuel down in the BVI.  Brian Butler told me not to use the 10 micron filters because it puts too much pressure on the fuel pump and the secondary filter catches the finer stuff anyway.  I asked him if I could trade him my 10's for some 30's but he said he had no use for them.  Bummer.

While I was playing with the engine Cheri was  getting a head start on the Spring cleaning.  We decided we wanted to really go over the boat with a fine toothed comb, really spiff it up before the warm weather got here.  We were originally planning on starting on it around April 1st but guess what?  April Fools!  Something else came up on the schedule and all of a sudden we only had 2 or 3 weekends to get it done.  We had planned to take it on together since it's such a big job but with the change of plans we decided to divide and conquer.  Cheri doesn't fool around with Spring cleaning and tears stuff apart to expose all the hiding places, cleans out the cracks and crevices with a toothbrush, scrubs everything down and then oils all the wood.  She managed to get through the forward head and our stateroom in the time it took me to service the engine.  No, I didn't plan it out that way.  I just work really, really slowly.

Next thing to take care of is the cooling system.   I'm going to pull the heat exchanger and take the core to Conlyn where they'll put it in a chemical bath to remove any build-up inside.  I'll replace the hoses connected to that and also replace the impeller that pumps the water through the heat exchanger. The plan is to get this done this coming weekend.  Of course the weatherman says it's going to be really nice this weekend with temperatures in the 70's and ten knot winds.  Figures.  Might just have to go sailing instead.