2023-10-29 Dinghy chaps done (mostly) - Washer installed and running - heading south

As with last week, this week was boat projects.  Kris continued to work on the dinghy chaps, and Dean did some buffing and waxing, as well as helping with the chaps fitting and adjusting.

Kris finished the chaps - except the outboard cover, and shoe and life jacket bags.  Those can be done with the dink in the water.  Kris was tired of sewing, so wanted a break before starting on the bags.

Dinghy chaps finished (almost) - still have old outboard on.

All the cutouts were a pain to sew.  

Our friends Ed and Cathy on What If finished their work at the boatyard, so we rode with them to the boatyard on Tuesday, and drove their car back, while they brought the boat back to the dock.   

They graciously allowed us to run errands while having the car, so we stopped at a fabric store, Lowes, Walmart, Ace Hardware, United States Post Office, the UPS store, Publix grocery store - and to finalize the trip McDonalds.    Whew!    So nice to use the car, it was much appreciated.   We think we are pretty well stocked now for our trip south.  The pantry is full, plus extra in the V-berth.

Our pantry is stocked full 

We also got our washing machine fully installed, and have our door frames back on.

Kris reaching to hook up the hoses for the washing machine.

Isn't it pretty 😁

Our friends on Sojourn had been away from the boat, but came back, so it was time for a nice get together.  Everyone came over for Taco Wednesday (our schedule is a bit off)

Duane, Dean, Ed, Cathy and Karen.

3 Mantas at the dock.  A 38', a 40' and a 42'

We also put our new outboard engine on the dink.  It has been sitting in the cockpit for the past two weeks, so nice to put in on the dinghy.  Ed helped Dean get it out of the cockpit and down the dock and onto the dinghy - thanks Ed, could not have done it without you.

Jerry off of BlueJacket lives a couple doors down, and brought his small tractor over to help launch the dink back in the water.  Kris was excited, as the tractor was an old International Harvester tractor, almost identical to the one she spent many hours on while living on a small acreage while growing up.  

Duane on left, Jerry and Kris on right.  Tractor hooked up to dink.

With the dink in the water - it was time to see if everything worked.

Trying not to get the new cover dirty while getting in. 

Kris had started to make a pattern for a cover for the new outboard - you can see in the photos the blue tape on the outboard.  You can also see our old outboard is in the dink as well, where it will stay until we hopefully sell it in Carolina Beach, where we have a couple people who say they want it.

Success - the new engine started on first button push.  Kris so happy no more pull start.  

Dean got busy as well, and made a mount for our Starlink antenna.  We won't put it on until we get ready to leave the states, but we did test it and all worked well.

Mount ready for starlink antenna

We left the dock on Friday, saying goodbye to our friends until we see them further south.  Chilly morning but nice sunrise

Leaving the dock.  Last year we left on the 12th of October, so 15 days later this year.

We made a long motor trip of 60 miles, and anchored for the night, tired and ready for bed, but a boat came in late, went to motor behind us, and promptly grounded on the shallows.    They called SeaTow, who arrived around 9:30 p.m.    

Bright lights on SeaTow, as they converse to decide what to do.

There was lots of conversation about the best course of action, and we stayed up in case they needed us to move our boat, as we were in the path to deep water.   

SeaTow pulling - but no luck.

It was finally decided to wait for high tide early in the morning - which did work and the boat floated off.   Made for a late night for us.

We headed to Carolina Beach on Saturday - another long motor day, and seemed like the current was against us the entire way.  Lots of boats on the water on a warm Saturday.  Hopefully today we will sell our old outboard.

Looking south from our anchorage at the Carolina Beach Harbor

Its going to get very cold in a couple of days.  Although we would rather sail, we will most likely just motor down the ICW on Tuesday through Friday to get south to warmer weather.  The engines provide some heat to the boat, and moving is better than sitting and shivering.

We could get a spot in a Marina for the cold days, but diesel fuel is cheaper than a marina, and we accomplish two goals - staying warmish and heading south.

A high of 57 and low of 40 - just isn't fun 

2023-10-21 Sewing dinghy chaps - New washing machine

Well, we went to do some laundry, and the washer gave up on us.  Could not get a cycle to finish.  So wet still soapy clothes in a bucket, Dean hosed them off with the nice cold dock water, and threw them on the boat, the Kris wrung them out and hung them on the lifelines to dry.    - Guess we need a new washer/dryer.

Dean rinsing out the clothes.  Notice the jacket, it is chilly.

The weather is chilly, so we are quite happy to be at dock, where we have power to run our little electric heater.

45° for a low - BRRRRRRRRRRR

Kris continued working on the dinghy chaps project.  Patterns made - checked, fabric cut, checked, more patterns, more cutting, sewing, checking and repeat.  Dingy chaps are a pain to make - hope they turn out OK.

Kris laying out material for the chaps.   Funny, did not realize how much gray I had in my hair until I saw this photo.

We searched for a used washer/dryer, but no luck, so went ahead and ordered new ($$$ ouch).   Now we had to get the old one out.   Unfortunately, the washer/dryer was installed when the boat was built.  They install them before they put the deck on the hull.   The washer/dryer is 22 5/8" wide, while our doorways are only 18 1/2" wide.    That means we have to take the frames off the doors, and then we have 20 1/2".     That means we are still 1/8" too narrow.  No worries - the washer is junk - so we can take it out in pieces, which is what we did.  

All 185 lbs of it.

185 lbs of broken washer sitting on dock.  The dark grey pieces are heavy weights (lead?) that keep the drum from banging around.

Frames off the doors in the starboard hull.   Washer is located in the forward V-berth cabin.

Dean now had to shave some material off the door openings.   Taped off the area, and he used the vibrating saw and sander to give a little more room.  

Meanwhile Kris still working on dinghy chaps

These are all the protective vinyl cutouts that will go on to the chaps.  Each one is two layers thick.  Took a full day just to cut them out, and sew them together.

New washer/dryer arrived.  Used hand cart to take it from truck down to dock, then rigged up some lines running to the boom, to lift it onto the boat.

Dean working on taking all the parts that stick out off the new washer to make it "thin" enough to get through the doorways.

And Kris still working on dingy chaps.

Checking fit up for the 167th time (OK, maybe it just feels that way)

Got all the extra bits off the washer, and got it through the first door, then down the stairs and then - no further.  Guess we need to sand a bit more off the doors.

Washer sitting at base of stairs.  You can see the doors on our wet locker were removed as well, so as not to scratch or bang anything up while moving the washer in.

Our boat looks like a disaster area with the washer parts sitting around and the sewing project going on.

Dean got to sanding, and we got the washer through both doorways, with only a minor scratch on the washer.  Now to put all the bits back on we took off to move it.

Kris working in the tight space to help put parts back on the washer.

Door frames and doors back on.  Now just to hook up dryer hose, and lift washer up into compartment.

Should get washer/dryer install finished today.  And Kris thinks the dinghy chaps will be done by end of day Monday.   

Its all coming together.  Will be nice to have the work done, and get the boat cleaned up.

2023-01-15 - Leaving one dock for another

We thought we were done with our work on Breathe, as everything seemed to be working fine - until it wasn't.  Spent some time on Monday trying to diagnose an issue with the Charger - finally determined that the new Inverter/Charger was bad.  Bummer.

Nice sunrise from the dock (sorry about the finger in the photo)

We decided to go ahead and put our washing machine back in the cabinet, and run it till it died completely, as we found out the bearings that are squealing are not replaceable.  So we stuck it back in the cabinet and ran a load of clothes - and surprise - it did not squeal and ran fine.  Maybe all the Boeshield we sprayed in the bearing area will work.   (12:31pm update - spoke too soon, the GFCI breaker keeps popping and the squeal is back :)  )  

We left the dock on Tuesday.  We had ordered Starlink for the boat a week ago, and expected it to arrive before we left - but it had not - so we needed to stay in the area until it did .   and since it was going to be a chilly week coming up, we decided to move to another dock  - our friends on Sojourn are super nice and let us stay at their dock.  Breathe left as well, but headed south, as they need to get south sooner than us for scheduling commitments.

Breathe heading out early in the morning.

We had a nice sail to Sojourn's dock, and later in the evening went out to dinner with Duane and Karen off Sojourn, Ed and Cathy off What If, and Jerry and Donna off BlueJacket.  Local restaurant Silo's has a BOGO night for pizza.  It was quite yummy. 

Charm docked next to Sojourn

Next day, we headed to Bridgeton Boat Works, where our friends on What If, had their boat hauled for biennial bottom work.  Ed had been working on fixing a small oil leak on the engine, which was just a small o-ring - but as it goes with engines and boats - its never easy.  A small spring that controls the throttle had to be removed and reinstalled, and of course the spring only accessible through a small hole that you could only get two fingers in (if you have small fingers).    We volunteered to help, as Kris's smaller size makes some jobs very much easier for her to do - than a normal sized man.  Kris and Ed worked for about an hour, but together got everything back together.    Dean helped Cathy outside stripping old wax off the boat.   

Ed, Kris and Cathy by What If

After Dean ran out of stripper, and Cathy went to buy more, we helped Ed sand and get the props ready to paint.

Dean working on sanding props and hubs.

Ed and Cathy are really nice folks, so we were happy to help out for the day.   

While What If is hauled out, Ed and Cathy stay in their trailer on Sojourn's lot by the water.  Very pretty area.

Next day was rainy, so we just relaxed on the boat, doing some small odd projects inside.  Ed and Cathy brought BBQ over and Sojourn, What If, and us had a nice BBQ dinner on the boat.  

With the rain gone, and the sun out the next day was project day.   Sojourn loaned us their dinghy trailer and helped to pull our dink out of the water so Kris could start making new dinghy chaps.   Dean got busy buffing and waxing the topsides.

Dinghy on trailer, and Kris making patterns

Back to boat to cut material.  

The only negative about Sojourn's lot is the mosquitos - they can get quite thick at times.  Really don't have them out at the boat, but when you get to end of the dock, where land starts you need protection.

Kept the mosquito spray at the bench at the end of the dock - it was a must use for being on land.

We will be here most the week, as still waiting on our Starlink, which should arrive Monday or Tuesday, but it is a chilly week, and we would like to finish the dinghy chaps while we have the dink out of the water.

2023-10-08 At the dock and working hard - unexpected issue with washer

We hung out a couple days at anchor, and did nothing, but it was great, as it gave us the chance to recover from our Flu/Covid (pretty sure Covid, but we did not test).  On Tuesday afternoon we headed the short 6 mile trip to New Bern, where we had a reservation at Galley Stores Marina.

Lots of small fish dead in the water on the trip up - think it was from agricultural run off - at least that is what the locals said.

Passing by dead little fishes

Unfortunately, some mix up in communication on the Marina's part - meant they only had room for one of us, but after an hour or so, we worked it all out.   Breathe - had to dock temporarily with no power until the next day around noon.  

Since we were not starting work on Breathe yet, we got the marina loaner car, and headed out to get some groceries, and had a nice dinner out of Mexican food.    

Next day Breathe moved to their new dock site around noon, so after lunch we started ripping out all the old electrical off the boat - batteries, inverter and wiring.   Got it all ripped out, and started running some new lines.  Kris had to crawl into a couple tight spots, and luckily Dean was on hand to pull her back out.

Kris in a locker on Breathe, working on wiring.

Kris getting helped out of locker by Dean

We met up with our friends on What If, and Sojourn, who drove to New Bern to meet us all for dinner.  Breathe, and some of their friend's joined as well, and we all had a fun time visiting.

The gang out for dinner.

New Bern has a nice little downtown, and we also enjoyed the walk to dinner and back.  Halloween décor is already up.

Jason goofing off with the Halloween decorations

Next day, back to work on Breathe.   Kris focused on tight cabinet work, and Dean made up wiring runs, and Jason and Monica helped everywhere.

Dean making sure the new batteries are topped up before install

Kris in the locker, installing bus bars and such

Had to take a break when our new purchase arrived - We ordered a new outboard motor for the dink.  An electric start and electric tilt - will be nice, as Kris had a hard time starting the old Honda 4 stroke pull start.  Hate to spend the cash, but sometimes quality of life matters, and this will help with that.

We were so happy to have Jason and Monica to help get it off the truck and down to the boat, as it weighs about 116 lbs.

New engine arrives.

Our new outboard

Went out for dinner again the next night with another Manta owner in the area - Cerca Trova.  They are new to the boat, and doing a bunch of projects, so the nights conversation was on boat work.

Another nice walk, and more views of New Bern

More Halloween decorations

One of the pretty homes in downtown New Bern

Next day was more boat work, but we had started some laundry, and our washer would not drain.   Finally got it drained, but a large squealing noise developed when it was spinning - so needed to check that out.   We got the washer out of the cabinet - no small feat - and started investigating.   Looks like our drum bearings are pretty shot - so now we have to make a big decision on what to do. - Fix or get new?

Washer out of cabinet, and checking out the squealing noise.

On Friday we did some more work on Breathe, finalizing the install, but had to take a break when our Walmart grocery delivery arrived.   Around $800 worth of groceries and supplies.

Now we just have to find space for it all inside.

Unfortunately, Walmart only had one package of our Lemon cookies.  - Will need about 6 more before we leave the US.

We went out for pizza dinner - it was Friday pizza night after all, and back to boat to relax, as the long work days were catching up with all of us, and Dean still recovering from Covid.

Saturday we walked to the Farmers Market, where Kris got some honey she was wanting, and then we walked too another marina to visit with Cerca Trova, and see the damage they got on their boat during a large storm. 

Nice artwork on the walk to the Farmers Market.

New Bern is known for being the birthplace of Pepsi-Cola, and also for having multiple bear statues located inside businesses, and outside as well.  They are all painted differently, and it is fun to see all the different ones.

One of the bears

Bear outside by Farmers Market

Bear at hardware store with Mums

Fun for the day over, it was back to work on Breathe electrical, and our broken washing machine.

Finished up on Breathe, except for some final configuration work, and decided to look for a new washing machine, as the bearings are near impossible to access and replace, and the machine has also had intermittent issues with draining.  Now begins the project of finding and getting it to the boat - and then through some very tight passages into the V berth.