08-27-2023 Boat project week, heading south

We spent our last Sunday afternoon in Setauket, NY on boat projects.  It was a cloudy morning, so Kris decided that engine work should be done - she removed the exhaust mixing elbow, and heat exchanger, and cleaned both.   We had done this to the port engine when we had to install our new heat exchanger casing, and there was a surprising amount of debris that came out of the heat exchanger - so it was time to do the starboard engine now.

You can see some buildup in our mixing elbow that needs cleaned out.  This is 3 years worth of buildup.

To clean the mixing elbow, Kris got out the Dremel and ground out the hardened gunk on the sides of the stainless elbow.  Her Dremel extension she had gotten a couple of years ago has paid for itself, for working in small areas.

Kris showing her Dremel attachment, and please notice the scrape on the right wrist, and blood stains on the short - sacrificing the body for the good of the boat.

Heat exchanger soaking in vinegar solution - it really cleans and breaks down all the yuck quite well.

While Kris was engine tinkering, Dean got out the polish, and polished the stainless and buffed and waxed part of the topsides.  

Next day was putting heat exchanger back in, and rebuilding a spare raw water pump.   Our water pump had gone bad almost a year ago, and we got a new one, but kept the old one to rebuild.   Kris had been putting it off, but since she had to move it out of storage to work on the heat exchanger, she decided it was time to do it.   Dean continued to work on buffing and waxing the topsides.

Working on rebuilding the raw water pump

Had to take a break when Dean announced we had visitors.

These swans came right to the boat expecting to be fed - could not let them down.

With the engine projects done, Kris moved over to cleaning and decided the green growth on the dodger needed to come off.   Removed the dodger parts, and headed to the shower with them, to clean with a bleach, dishsoap water mix.

Its been a wet summer, and the green and black mold and dirt needed to come off.

Our shower is nice and large, and is not just for cleaning bodies.

So much better looking clean

We had decent winds on Tuesday to move further west, so off we went as soon as the morning rains stopped.   Weird sailing day, started with a double reefed main, and ended with flat seas and no wind and had to motor.   When we went to raise anchor the windlass worked for 90% of the raising, but then stopped.   When we dropped anchor, it stopped, so Kris took a hammer to the motor - and it started up again - so we figured the motor brushes might  be the culprit.

Our next anchorage was Port Washington, and as we got in later in the afternoon, the windlass project had to wait until the next day.    We did some troubleshooting, and Kris found no issues with the solenoids, so we decided that the motor needed to come out.

Windlass solenoids looked good, and functioned properly

Windlass motor apart and being worked on.

The windlass motor was quite rusty, so dean cleaned it up thoroughly, and painted it.   Kris removed all the brushes, and sanded them down.  They all had a weird ledge on them where than did not contact the commutator, so hoping that maybe was part of the issue.    Put it all back together, and seems to work well now, but time will tell.   We also took the windlass partially apart, and changed the orientation of the motor in regards to the wet chain coming in the locker, so hopefully will get less rust.

Next day we went out for a nice lunch at a Tex-Mex restaurant, and got some groceries, and relaxed on the boat.

Day after we walked up to the post office, as we had sold some line cutters for our prop that we no longer wanted on Ebay and had to mail them.   We walked by a protest going on by the local glaziers union, protesting some non-union workers doing jobs that they felt they had a contract to do.   It was a peaceful protest, but we enjoyed the giant rat inflatables they had put up to draw attention.

Next day we hiked back up the hardware store, as Dean had discovered a leak in a 3 way valve used in our water maker system.   Could not find a 3 way valve, but had a nice visit with the owner of the hardware store.  Has been in business for 100 plus years, and 3 generations of the family.

Shields Hardware in Port Washington - 100 years, and 3 generations.

We picked up a cheap valve that we can use until we get a replacement shipped.   Boat projects sometimes are about a way to get something working, until you can get the right parts to fix correctly.

We have been watching the weather looking for a good time to head south, as we must be in Baltimore area by September 8th, for Kris to fly back to Boise.   Nothing great coming, but unfortunately something not great coming.

Big purple swirls are bad

Hurricane Franklin is making its way north, as well as Tropical depression 10.  If we wait for Franklin to pass, we are pushing our schedule to make it to Baltimore.    So we have a small window to leave Saturday the 26th, at night, and arrive in the Deleware bay before Franklin affects the waves or wind in our route - so leaving tonight, will motor the east river in the dark, through New York City around 10:00 tonight, and overnight getting into Lewes, DE Sunday night.    

Wish us safe travels.

2023-08-20 Lots of moving - 3 trips in 7 days - New dink and new hookah

We had a nice breakfast with our friend John, and he was kind enough to allow us to ship a rather large package to his house, which he delivered.

We finally purchased a hookah system.  We have had to hire a diver once, rent dive tanks once, and borrow a hookah from our friends on Breathe once to do underwater boat work.    So we reasoned that having our own hookah would probably be a smart thing.    Found a lightly used one on Ebay for a good price, with two 100' hoses and regulators.  We checked it out above water, and it seems to work just fine.  It is a 12 volt system, so it is nice and quiet, and we can run it off of our massive Lithium Battery bank with no issues.  Just have to make some wiring connectors up.

Our new HookaMax

After our breakfast with John, we got back to the boat, and with very calm winds, were being inundated with small no-see ums that although were not biting, were very irritating, so we upped anchor, and made the short run over to Southold, NY, which is where our new dinghy was waiting for us.

Next day, we headed into Albertsons Marine - they let us tie up to their marina, and the store is just across the street.   Really nice folks.  They are an authorized AB Inflatable dealer.   We had lots of choices for a new dinghy - but we were happy with AB, and they had one in stock at a really good price, which helped our decision.  It is essentially just a newer model of our old one, but has bigger tubes, and a re-designed fiberglass floor.    The folks at Albertson Marine were super nice to work with.  They lifted our old dink out of the water, moved the heavy Honda outboard over to the new dink, and helped remove the dink cover and all the other stuff we keep in the dink over to the new one, and then put the new one in the water, and we were ready to go.

Old dink on left, new on right on forklift - notice cloudy weather - Dean in red jacket.

Of course now that we have a new dinghy - the old outboard started acting up.  Maybe it knows that it is next to be replaced.  

Anchorage at Southold, looking out into Bay - notice cloudy weather

The anchorage at Southold was a little lumpy, so after we got the dinghy back to the boat - we upped anchor and headed to Orient Bay, about 5 miles away, but a calmer spot, with less current effect.

Lighthouse at point at Orient Bay - notice cloudy weather

Kris had really wanted to go in at Orient Bay to have a slice of pie at a small local restaurant, but they were closed, so we just hung out on the boat instead, and worked on putting our old dink cover on the new dink.  It doesn't fit well, but will offer some protection until we can make a new one.   

You may have noticed the cloudy weather in all the photos - it has been an unusually cold summer up here in Long Island. It has been nice, but Kris doesn't do cool very well, so has been spending more time inside - it has been good as for the past few days she has been spending a lot of time laying out an electrical plan for our friends on Breathe, as we plan on helping them with a Lithium upgrade in October, so being inside on the computer has been a good way to spend the time.

On the 17th we finally got some east winds, some of the first of all summer, so we took advantage and headed west.  Had a nice sail under spinnaker all day, although chilly and cloudy.   We moved to Setauket, NY, an anchorage we have been at many times.    Had a rainy night, and Dean pre-scrubbed the boat, and the rain gave a nice wash off.     

The anchor windlass starting acting up when coming in to drop anchor - and just stopped working, so next day spent 2 hours looking over entire system, nothing seemed wrong - so suspect our solenoids may be failing - so will have to monitor that.

We did our usual at Setauket - walked into town, got some outboard motor oil at the Ace Hardware, stopped at the grocery store - and got pie - since Kris was still craving pie, and picked up some mail from the post office.  General Delivery is great for us to get small mail packages - we wish we could specify that at Amazon.

Our outboard still acting up - can't go fast, as when we try to the prop acts like it is out of the water and the boat doesn't go.    Dean changed the oil, spark plugs then sanded the prop down, which had lots of little rough edges - and that seems to have solved the issue.  Fingers crossed, as the new dink engine isn't planned until October.

We are starting our trip back south now - and will be waiting for good weather to head south, which looks like maybe the 27th of this month.    

2023-08-13 Block Island, Visit What If, Dinghy Decision

Most of you have heard the saying that plans are written in sand and low tide.  Well that seems to be our motto this last week.

We did head into town and got groceries - took a new route, which involved walking the tracks.

Wasn't a bad walk, but would stick to the road next time

We were planning on heading a bit north into Narraganset Bay, but rain put a damper on our motivation to move, so we just stayed in Newport.   On our second rainy day, we got a break in the afternoon, so went into town, had lunch, and the obligatory ice cream and then back to boat.    

Dinghy dock, and harbor office in Newport

One thing came of the wet weather, was the time to decide on the dinghy.  As you know, it has been having many slow leaks, and we finally decided to get a new one.    We also decided to get a new motor as well.    If you don't know, dinghy's are expensive, and so are motors - but luckily some fresh brownies helped us to feel less depressed about spending the money.

After the rain in Newport stopped, we had some decent winds to sail, so headed over to Block Island.  Lumpy sail, but nice to not motor.   Spent an afternoon walking around the downtown of Block Island, and our friends on What If came into the anchorage as well.    

Next day we all headed in, rented bikes, and had a nice ride around the island, including a stop for lunch.

Taking a break after a long hill, and seeing the view of the below photo

There is a trail that takes you around the lake, but we did not walk it this time.

 

Lighthouse at SE end of Block Island

Took a photo of us at a rock near the lighthouse,  took photo at same rock back in 2011 when cruising on What If

Our friend John, Derek and us.    Derek is now 23, living in Boise working full time as a full stack developer.  Our friend John still visits us on the boat every year when we come to Connecticut.   He also is kind enough to let us ship packages to him.

View from Bluffs on South coast of Block Island.

After about 6.5 miles of bike riding, it was time for lunch, and Ed and Cathy led us to a nice place with Lobster rolls and other good food.  Had a nice visit with lunch, then rode another 8.5 miles after lunch to the north end of the island and back.   Even saw some seals off the coast of the northwest shore.

We were planning on leaving next day - and heading over to Southold, NY where our new dinghy was waiting for us, but got a message from our friend John, that he had to travel out of state soon, so we changed plans, and headed to Old Saybrook to meet up with him instead.    

One of the things about cruising - you have to be willing to change plans as weather dictates, and avoid making firm schedules.   We enjoy that aspect - its nice to have flexibility.

We will stay here in Old Saybrook and meet up with John tomorrow - and not only getting to visit with John, but also pick up a new boat toy that he let us ship to him 😁

Stay tuned for next update to see what we got, and also should have our new dinghy next week.

2023-08-06 Bristol, RI and back to Newport

We did not want to leave Newport yet, as we had mail coming in, but we were not enjoying our lumpy anchorage.  First thing Monday morning, we headed to the post office, as our mail was in.  Newport is much different early in the morning before the tourists arrive.

Bowens Wharf is a popular tourist stop when in Newport for shopping and dining.

Bowens wharf, with virtually no people

We got to the post office a bit before it opened.  You can see how large it is, look at Dean on the bench waiting out front.

Once our mail was in hand, we headed back to the boat so we could up anchor and head north to Bristol, RI

We passed this old fishing boat many times going to and from land, always seems so out of place amongst the mega yachts.   Newport does have small area just for these fishing boats, but this one doesn't move, as we could tell by the growth on the bottom of the hull, and rust through the hull just slightly above water line.

We had a partial motor partial sail up to Bristol, but the sailing was slow, did not go ashore the first day, but next day we headed  in to see the sights.

The harbor master office is in the stone "castle"

We stopped at the Herreshoff museum.  The Herreshoff brothers, John, who was blind and handled the business side of the business, and Nat who was the engineer, designing and overseeing boat construction are famous in the sailing world.  They built many boats, and many Americas cup boats that won (and some that lost)

Inside the museum, directly overhead is a model of a catamaran.  Herreshoff has the first US patent for a catamaran.

Inside museum

After our museum stop, we walked the town to the other end, where we had lunch plans.

Walking the streets

Bristol is a nice little town, and we would use the word quaint - but I think there are too many large expensive homes here for quaint to work.  It is a pretty little place, and worth the stop just to see the town.

Nice looking church

Linden Place - is open to tours and events

This is now a school

Just one of the many old nice homes passed on our walk.

We got to the north end of town, where we found a truly old, run down diner to eat at.

Doesn't look like much from the front door.

Did not look much better inside - in fact a bit worse, but the $6 cheeseburger was 

Dean spent more time looking for leaks in the dinghy - this is becoming a constant project.

Cover off the dink, and Dean with his soapy water looking for leaks.

He found another small one, so patched that with hope that it will hold air more than 24 hours.

Winds were heading south again, so after a couple days in Bristol, we headed back to Newport for good southerly wind protection, and to see the World 12 meter yachts races which were in Newport.  

The dink patch done in Bristol did not work, and we were still losing air, so we took a 25 minute bus ride up to a store that had only inflatables. Marine Services had 3 of the inflatable brands we were looking at in stock, and we were able to determine from our visit which new inflatable we would get if it comes to that, so the trip was well worth it.

Kris was feeling restless, so took a wandering walk through Newport residential area.  One of the draws of Newport is its many mansions, some of which are open for tours.   But there are many mansions that are privately owned which are quite impressive as well.

Such an imposing looking home

Detail on the cornerstone of the fence

The fence around the property costs more than most peoples homes

Even the common clock on the street corner is fancy

Still enjoy the funky homes just as much as the really huge ones.

One of the other common tourist things to do in Newport is take the Cliff Walk, which runs along the water, and give also a view of some of the mansions from the rear.  Most the walk has tourists, but the rougher portions of the walk are more scenic.   We walked the rough sections, which made a nice loop for us of just over 6 miles.

You can see the large stones, this is actually part of the walk, navigating your way across the large stones - it is pretty easy really, as the stones are flat and placed close together.

Another section of the trail, where it is still natural stone makes the walk more difficult, but still not bad.

View of a mansion from the walk

This one is open for tours

Imagine the maintenance and upkeep cost

View of the anchorage coming back from our walk.  Charm is on the left side

We made it back to the boat in time to watch the 12 meter boats parade through the anchorage before the final races of the day. The world 12 meter boat race was going on so there were 10 boats racing in two categories for the week.

We were in the perfect spot, as the parade passed right by us.

Some of the older 12 meters were quite pretty with lots of brass and brightwork, and others were more competitive.   All were fun to see, and also the difference in the crews were interesting as well.  Some were all younger men, with beefy muscles for grinding winches, and some were a mix of young, old, men and women.

We will head into the grocery store today, get some food, and plan to head back up the Narraganset to an anchorage off Goddard Park., as stronger West and SW winds coming, and we would also like a change of scenery.