2025-08-23 Worton Creek anchorage and marina - haulout did not happen

 

Sunday we walked up to JoJo's Diner in Chesapeake City for a nice lunch out.  Then back to the boat, relaxing and started prepping the boat to be hauled on Thursday.  Just general organizing, and going through our lists of things to do.

Monday we had a brisk sail from Chesapeake City to an anchorage just outside of Worton Creek.  Weather was brisker than planned, so made really good time with a single reef, and then just a jib for a while.  It was chilly out though, temperatures lower than normal it seems, which is OK with us, as usually the Chesapeake is hot and humid.

Tuesday we took the dinghy in to Worton Creek Marina, where we were getting hauled on Thursday. To make sure everything was on schedule, and see if they needed anything from us.  All was good.   We did stop to see and talk to the shop guys, and they have a large motorboat – maybe 100’ hauled out in the travel lift, but also blocked underneath.   It had a bent strut and shaft, and was out for emergency repairs.   Huge boat.    No one could get the exact story of what actually happened to do the damage, but the owner was at the helm, not the hired captain.    

A very large boat hauled out for work, taking up the travel lift and most of the roadway

We spent the rest of Tuesday and Wednesday on the boat, relaxing and doing some miscellaneous prep for haul out.  Cloudy and rain off and on.  Kris under a blanket most of the day, keeping warm.

Thursday, Kris got up early, and found an email from the yard saying they could not haul us, as the big powerboat still was not fixed.   Bummer.  The yard was nice, and has provided us a free dock space so we can collect the packages that we had shipped in, and Kris could start working on the engine.  If needed, they have a boat that can move us from the dock to the travel lift, so we don’t need working engines to do it.  So we moved into the dock.

Thursday afternoon, Kris started working on the starboard engine.  There has been a small oil leak that is about a cup per oil change – more of an irritant, but it is getting worse.  Kris decided to tackle the leak, which we knew ahead of time was more work than it is worth, as the entire timing gear cover comes off, the fuel return line and injection pump to injector fuel lines must come off, cables disconnected as well.  Once all off, it is just a small little O-ring.  But the old gasket has to come off as well.   Taking off the old gasket took most of Friday with razor blades, and numerous Dremel tools, and dental picks, and anything else she could use.   She decided to replace the crankcase seal while she had the cover off, which won’t come in until Monday, so the project will have to be finished when we get back to the boat from visiting in Boise.

Kris cleaning up old gasket material off engine

Hurricane Erin is offshore, but we did not see any wind this far up the Chesapeake, but the tides were sure high, with water right up to the dock.

Tides were quite high from hurricane Erin

Usually the water is a couple of feet below the dock.  Made getting on and off the boat difficult for those people with short legs

Dean did a few miscellaneous projects, but since most of his hard work will come once the boat is out of the water.  He did install new outdoor speakers, as the old ones had stopped working, and cleaned out a locker where we need fiberglass work done.    He also worked on a change to how our boom vang is attached, as sometimes it develops an irritating clunking noise we hope to stop.

Not much more we can do until we get hauled, so today and Monday might be pretty relaxing until we fly out on Tuesday afternoon.    Internet access and cell phone coverage here is pretty poor, so we will just have to be entertained by the cormorants and our local blue heron.  Life is hard :)