Sept 2008

BOAT WORK We have the boat back in the water. A lot of things have been done to it. Nancy continues to work on the enclosure, its about 80 percent complete, just two more side windows, a couple of zippers and the final trim work on the bottoms of all the panels.

When the boat was first pulled from the water, the bottom was washed with a pressure washer by the crew at Herrington Harbor North. It was the worst bottom cleaning job I have ever seen. I won't get into all the details but it appeared that someone inexperienced with a high pressure wand cleaned the bottom at a sharp angle that tore through the paint as a narrow gouge and left growth on the rest of the bottom paint. Think of a Zebra. Because of that, I spent the next two days with a hand scrub brush cleaning the bottom of the hull so it could be painted with the anti-fouling paint. The hull bottom is in excellent shape. We had extensive hull work done three years ago and it's P E R F E C T. Thanks to Osprey Marine. While I was scrubbing, workers from Conlyn Marine were working on getting the prop shaft out. I don't think it had been removed since Solitaire was built, so a little soaking in rust remover for a couple days did the trick. Once the shaft was out, they sent it to a shop to check it for straightness, and have it cleaned and inspected. They just wanted to be extra sure of everything because when they replaced the engine mounts two weeks ago, they discovered the engine/prop shaft alignment had never been done at the factory when the boat was built. Oh, to get the prop shaft off, the rudder has to come off which means that the steering quadrant must come off. Well, with all these parts laying around I got out the sandpaper and stripped everything down to shining new metal and either painted or oiled it. The workers also removed the old propeller shaft support bearing (pillow bearing) and the packing hardware (its used to stop water from coming into the boat through the prop shaft). Anyway.. since all this stuff was removed from the aft two bilges, it looked like a good time to clean them. So I got out the acetone and cleaned. Then I got out Tilex and Spray Nine and cleaned. I almost repainted it as well, but everything looked soooo good. Phipps Boat Works installed a new through-hull for the water maker. We had been sharing a through-hull with the air conditioners and now it has its own. Cook Marine tuned up our 15 hp Honda dinghy motor. Just getting its annual oil change, impeller changed, spark plugs changed and overall general maintenance.

The prop shaft came back from the other shop in a couple of days and it was time to reinstall everything. So as the worker went about their jobs, Nancy quit sewing for the day and we taped and painted the bottom of the hull (pretty bottom). Prior to installing the prop shaft, the shop fiberglassed the area where the cutlass bearing is and tapped for screws to hold the bearing in. Once the rudder and steering quadrant was in place, I took the opportunity to replace the SSB radio ground wire that is attached to the rudder post. One thing does seem to lead to another.

So what was done, new prop shaft transmission coupler, new pillow bearing, new PYI drip less shaft seal and new cutlass bearing, new bottom paint and cleaning. Everything looks so nice and new I almost installed lighting in the bilges with windows so I could enjoy it longer.

Oh, I almost forgot, I also installed new solar panels (130 watts each), repaired the dinghy davits with new parts from KATO Marine, and reinforced the davit supports with bolts and backing plates (which involved drilling 3" holes in the aft bulkhead for access to the transom).

In some spare time Jay and Diana called and asked it we wanted to go out for dinner. Well, when you are living on the hard (staying on a boat out of the water with out the benefit of heat and water) we said YES. Steve joined us and we had a great evening.

This weekend we went to the SSCA GAM by Annapolis. OK, SSCA = Seven Seas Cruising Association, GAM = a gathering of ships at sea to exchange news and information. So here is the smiling crew and we were all waiting for someone to find the corkscrew and the glasses so that Happy Hour could begin. From left to right: Kathy, Mike, Jim, Nancy, Jay, Diana and Kate. A few more boaters also attended. The GAM was held at the YMCA camp that is right on the water with its own harbor and a lot of the people came by boat or should we say, had to come by boat. Several of the couples are still cruising the area waiting for hurricane season to be over before going to the Bahamas and south. We also ran across old friends Larry and Paula from Oklahoma City who kept a boat at our old marina Cedar Mills in Texas. They had just purchased a Valiant 42 and are going to start cruising this year. Congratulations to them. If you would like to follow their adventure go to http://www.sailinglapidus.com .

Nancy has started stocking the boat for our trip south. She has loaded about 90 pounds of canned meat onboard and made a trip to Sam's Club and loaded on a lot of other things. We still have some other tasks to do, so we will keep working on them before we start south in about 3 weeks.

September 11, 2008 We remember Sept. 11. I was still working at the FAA Academy and Nancy was meeting with her Washington D.C. workgroup for a final review of the system safety training that would be mandatory for all aviation safety inspectors. Her meeting was at the Academy and I walked downstairs from my office to tell those in attendance what was happening. A short time later everyone was watching the televisions we had set up around the campus. What a day. Just a note, that class received national awards and has been attended by not only the inspectors but also airline and military personnel.

Another reason to remember is that on this day one year ago that the Coast Guard stopped us in the Delaware Bay for an inspection. We passed with no violations. We were coming back from our Maine trip to spend a few weeks in Deale Md. before we continued our trip to the Bahamas.

BOAT WORK We have been doing boat work this week. Nancy is working on the enclosure for the cockpit and the Marina is working on the cutlass bearing, prop shaft and if they can get it out, a new PYI dripless seal on the shaft along with a new support bearing. They had already changed out the engine mounts and what a difference that makes. I manufactured a mount for the new solar panels and installed them. I have the wiring yet to go. I also cleaned the hull with acid and I'm prepping the hull for new bottom paint. I also cleaned the rudder shaft and rudder cap. Oh forgot that KATO (our dinghy davit manufacturer) repaired some parts and I reinstalled them. The ocean and salt does tear things up.

In our infrequent free time, we have had some good fun with friends. One evening we went out to dinner with

Ken, Linda, Jeff, Tessa and Nancy. Aren't they cute??

Another evening we drove to the other side of Washington D.C. (my favorite trip) to Dulles Airport for a very delightful time with some old friends ( OK, some worked for Nancy but they are friends too).

Brenda, (Nancy's Asst. Office Manager, now a manager of a different Branch, Nancy, (Retired Office Manager), Tina (Program Analyst (I think)), Brad (Nancy's former Asst. Manager, now an Asst. Manager of a Major Air carrier Office), Mike, a new ATOS team member. We had so much fun someone thought that we should do it again tomorrow.

What's wrong with the picture????

Other than, its not red, no dancing girls on the bow, its a sail boat. The real answer is...... No one is at the helm, the engine is not running, and the only crew on board are cats. I took the picture of it not in its slip. Solitaire is being towed to the travel lift to be put on land for all the work we are doing.

September 1, 2008 Another trip to Florida. This time we emptied our storage units, loaded everything into a truck and moved it to the condo. We picked the time when tropical storm Fay was over I-95 and we ended up driving through the eye wall. One minute the wind and rain were going left to right in front of us and the next minute they were going right to left. We had to slow down on the vehicle speed a little, but we made it through. One good thing is that there was not much traffic on the Interstate Highway. (Hmmm - wonder why?)

We off-loaded everything the next day between the rain squalls (Nancy had off loaded about 3/4 of the truck when she came up with a lame knee. I didn't know if I should shoot her or take her to a vet and pay them to do it). We spent the next few days unpacking and making some last minute purchases. We hung pictures,

arranged our new nesting end tables,

sofa and recliner, (Tippy already has picked out her chair)

and did a hundred other things. We used the 21 year old cat for our colors.

She didn't mind one bit and just made herself at home.

The guest room is our family heritage room. The lamp is from my grandmother and the aviation chart on the wall belonged to my father. It was printed in 1945.

Not shown are Nancy's Great Grandmother's corner china cabinet and some pictures from my Grandmother. The china cabinet it filled with china and other things that belonged to my Grandmother. The hallway also has some family heirlooms. A little table from my Grandmother and an Anniversary clock from my Aunt Bunny (see hallway picture). More family things are yet to be displayed. We spent a little over a week getting the condo livable and we're really pleased with how it is all coming together. We do have a balcony project left to do (we took up the old outdoor carpet and we will tile it) and some more painting. We had painted the hallways and foyer before putting the pictures up. That paint job took us two days and now all we have left to paint are the living room, dining room, 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms and two closets. I'm getting tired thinking of that.

We left Florida feeling that we had accomplished a lot and as we arrived back at our boat, the remnants of tropical storm Fay were over our boat. The rain had just ended.

This weekend we went with S/V Veranda for dinner at S/V Alisios' home.

(Forgot a camera so the picture was taken by my phone). Matthew and Gail had invited us to their wonderful home in Bowie, MD. They are CLODS (Cruisers living on dirt). We had a great dinner and conversation. We had met them in the Bahamas and found out that our boats were slipped across the river from each other. Small world.

Herrington Harbour Marina (north and south) had a free slip holder crab feed this weekend. About 800 folks had sent their RSVP. Haven't heard how many really showed up.

This is the crab line.

It took about 15 minutes to go through that line. One thing that is mentioned in the crab recipes is to also have hot dogs. Well, Bill and I had hamburgers and hotdogs while Christy and Nancy had crab.

A drawing was also held and we won a $100.00 gift certificate for Cook's Marine Service. We will be using that.

Great evening and the band played on.

BOAT WORK The new engine mounts are installed and prop aligned, the new exhaust elbow is installed and all hooked up. Within the next week or two we will haul out and paint the bottom and get some more work done on the prop drive train. Nancy has started working on the new enclosure and I have been doing water work (clean all screens, double clamp hoses, fixed the faucet in the aft head etc.