2025-10-26 - Woohoo – we are on the move

Sunday we were working on Tracy’s boat Phoenix Rising.  Last project was to install new cams in the Spinlock clutches.  Manta catamarans did not do a good job here, the nuts you need to grab on to are underneath the headliner, with no great way to get to them.  We thought about taking down Tracy’s headliner, but it was glued up, so instead she cut an access area.  Always nerve racking to cut into a boat, even if it is just the headliner.   Bolts accessed, we finished the last of the projects (jinx), and made plans to leave on Tuesday morning.

Monday, Tracy let us borrow her car for a provisioning run.  Hit a few stores for some groceries.

Of course right before leaving, Kris found salt water in the V-berth, but we just sidelined it for a while, anxious to get off the dock.

Tuesday we left New Bern and headed south.  Motored to Beaufort, spent the night, and then the next two days on the ICW getting to Carolina Beach on Thursday.  

At Carolina Beach, we went out to eat dinner at Flaming Amy’s – a Mexican restaurant we enjoy, that was closing on Oct 31, so our last chance.  Great food, and we enjoyed the salsa bar thoroughly.  Tracy, and her friend and crew for the week Annette joined us.  It was nice getting to know Annette.   We stopped at the hardware store and grocery store as well, so a nice full evening.

After dinner Dean worked on the salt water in the V-berth mystery, and found our wash down pump had a leak, so he worked on that, replacing it with an old pump we had, but that did not work, so we will capture the small leak for now until we get a new pump.

Friday, we planned to head offshore, and sure enough, Wednesday morning Kris found a coolant leak on the starboard engine.  So she worked on getting that fixed, which was time-consuming, but not difficult, until she broke a fitting, but luckily had a back-up plug to use, so will properly fix that later as well, as parts are needed.

We left Friday, to head offshore, and Phoenix Rising continued down the ICW.   We had a nice, but chilly overnight sail for most of the trip, but winds lighter than expected, and we were not sure if we would get in and anchored to our planned spot by dark the next day, so we cut in early to Charleston, SC entrance.  Then motored south on the ICW to Toogoodoo Creek.  Gotta love the name – mixed information online of the name's origination.

Overnight was chilly, Kris had multiple layers on to stay warm outside in the wind.  It is getting below 60 at night - that is why we are hurrying south - to stay warm.   

Always interesting sites while motoring the ICW

Looks like that they purposely tipped this boat to do some work on it.

Longest walk to the dock where the boat is kept, pretty common in the marshy areas

We will head to Beaufort, SC today, and if the weather forecast holds, will be making a jump to Florida later in the week.

2025-10-19 Another week at the dock in Bridgeton

We are still at the dock, helping our friend Tracy on her boat, Phoenix Rising.

Our days have pretty much been, get up, eat breakfast and clean up, then head over to Phoenix Rising and work.   We have had some delays, waiting for parts to get shipped in, but have gotten the electrical work all finished. 

Dean tearing out the old stuff, and Tracy head deep in a cabinet helping to feed wiring

 

It's nice to be short when installing items in a tight cabinet

Tracy has been focused on getting her water maker installed.  Had to make a few runs into town to get supplies, which always takes more time than you think as well.

 

Always fun to see the bears in New Bern, lovely flowers everywhere as well.

Stopped at hardware store to get parts

Monday we had a nice break and went out for lunch with our friends Jerry and Donna off Bluejacket, who live in Oriental.  Delicious meal, and great to see them and spend time with them.  Having such a good time, forgot to take photos.   However, Dean did forget his wallet there.  Luckily they found it and he got it the next day. 

The very old worn out wallet was recovered

Tuesday, Toby and Dave off Jandals came over with donuts for all, and we had a nice break talking about boat projects.   

Tuesday evening was another good night, as we headed to Oriental to have Buy one, get one free pizza at Silos, and were joined by Ed and Cathy on What If, Jerry and Donna on Bluejacket, Tracy on Phoneix Rising, and Dave and Toby of Jandals.

 

The whole gang enjoying pizza

Wednesday, the boat projects for Tracy continued. You know how boat projects go – fix one thing, find another.  That has been the theme the last few days

Kris forgot to hook up one wire to the port engine, but that was good, as without that we might have not found out the port engine battery was dead and needed to be replaced.  (No, Kris did not cause the battery to die).

We helped Tracy run new line for her jib sheet, and that was good because without that Kris would not have found out that most of her spin lock clutches were not working properly and needed to be rebuilt.

Dean helped Tracy install bigger blocks on her dinghy lift and added a block to make it easier to lift her heavy dingy.

Friday we walked up to a local bakery, and got a few treats.   Nice way to start the morning, however it is getting cold in the mornings, down to 45 one morning.  Time to head south.

Our yummy treats from the bakery

Dean took some time to organize his side of the closet.  When he moved on the boat 5 years ago, he packed all his clothes and put them in the closet.   You all know Dean, he hasn't seen the clothes in the bottom of the closet for 5 years.   So pulled them all out, and found 3 nice jackets he forgot he had, which will be handy in the cold weather.  Also found a bunch of clothes that he will not wear that we will donate, and some old worn stained stuff that was time to get rid of.   He also found a shirt that we got in 1993 still in good shape.  It's from Monitor wind vanes, and we got it when we installed a monitor wind vane our on the first cruising boat that we took from Seattle, WA down into Mexico.

Dean in his old shirt

Today more projects on Tracy's boat, and getting ready to head out on Tuesday.

 

2025-10-12 A week in Bridgeton at the dock

Sunday we motor sailed 33 miles from our friend's place in Oriental to Bridgeton, NC.  Our friend Tracy had lost her Manta 38 catamaran in hurricane Beryl, and now has Phoenix Rising, a Manta 42.  She offered to pay for us to dock in Bridgeton next to her, in exchange for help with some needed upgrades on her boat.   Tracy is a single hander – and many of the jobs she needed to do required more than two hands.   We were happy to accept her invitation.

So all week we have been mostly helping Tracy with various projects, mainly focused on getting ready to install her new lithium batteries and assorted supporting items like solar controllers, chargers, inverters and DC-DC converters.   Like our boat, when we bought it, lots of old wiring to no longer existing items were left in the boat, so we spent a bit of time just pulling out old cables and such to clean things up before installing new.    

Tracy in her closet pulling out old wires

Tracy has a car – so lunches out while running errands has been a real treat for us as well. 

On Tuesday we got a treat – went to lunch with Tracy, but Dave and Toby on Jandals, a Manta 42 who are hauled out in a yard nearby joined us, and Duane and Karen of Sojourn drove up to join as well.  Great visiting with everyone.

Wednesday, Tracy was great help to us.  You might remember that our new jib from Doyle did not fit properly.   It was fairly calm Wednesday morning, so Tracy held the phone while we were on a video call with Doyle.  We put the new sail on, in the manner they wanted, and hoisted it.  Tracy wandered all over, showing them the angles and views they needed while we wrested the sail.  Happy to say, by the end of day Wednesday we got an email from Doyle saying they were building us a brand-new sail.  Way to go, Doyle - great customer service.

We still had to decide what to do about our camberspar sheave, which was all worn out - and decided that we will deal with it further south.

The sheave isn't totally gone, just wearing out and needs to be replaced

Since we are at the dock, we also have a place to ship items, so large Amazon and Walmart orders were placed to start stocking up the boat for the planned 6 months in the Bahamas this winter.  Friday we borrowed Tracy's car and while Kris and Tracy tackled projects on Phoenix Rising, Dean picked up the Walmart order of groceries.  Over $600 worth of food.

All those gray bags are full of groceries.

We found Amazon cheaper than Walmart for some items, so got plenty of stuff from them as well.

Amazon order.  Lots of food, and a roll of weatherstripping.

More food and sundries from Amazon

We did also do our own boat project of replacing the rear seal again. Yes, again.  Saturday was rain all day, so we tacked that project. Kris had done this job with much help from Dean when we were hauled, but as we motored south, the leak at the rear seal on the port engine was even worse than before we “fixed it”.  So while at dock we separated the engine from the sail drive once again, and replaced the seal – once again.   We did find the seal we just put in had a small nick in it, looks like the spring in the seal must have come out while putting it on, and got trapped under the seal a bit and tore it.   

Tracy came over to help out with the rear seal project, and admire our brightly lit engine room

Rear seal, you can see a small nick in the center rubber ring

Speaking of springs in seals, while putting the engine back together after putting the new seal on, Kris dropped her flashlight, and reached down to grab it, and felt something under her fingers – yes, the spring from the new seal.  It had fallen out when she was putting the new seal on, and she did not notice.  No way to get the new seal off without damage, so we just left the spring off and put the engine and sail drive back together. Kris is bummed to say the least. 😖

We ran the engine for an hour and no leaks, so hoping for the best, but may have to do it again in the future.  

It got cold and windy here the last couple of days, so quite happy to be at dock with power for heat.  Had over 2" of rain yesterday and today, looking forward to some sun and warm weather.  Should finish up Tracy's projects next week, so then it is just a wait for a weather window to head south.

 

Heading south – insurance, bears and engines – Oh my

We motored and sailed south from Annapolis area without issue.  Well, that’s a lie – one small issue, our starboard motor would not start.  Kris thought it might be the starter, and several light applications of hammer therapy seemed to do the trick, and it started.   After Kris though about it a while, she thought maybe it is just a loose relay – we think.  Kris will look at it more once we stop moving.  The engine starts for her, but not always for Dean.

Motor sailing down the Chesapeake

While we have been heading south, Kris has been emailing and calling about our insurance.  Our insurer we had for a couple of years – Jackline through Markel insurance –  was discontinued.  Markel offered a different plan but would not insure us as our lithium batteries were not made in the USA, and not installed by a ABYC certified installer.   So we found alternate insurance – through Manifest Marine brokerage – called Windsor Mt. Joy.   Had that for a year, then they decided not to cover any boats outside the USA – so no Bahamas.  Then Manifest found a couple options for us, but they were more expensive. 

Our friend recently got insurance in North Carolina through State Farm, so called the same agent located in New Bern.  They said they could not insure us because we did not have a North Carolina residence.  Called State Farm in Idaho – where our home address is, and they said – New Bern is wrong, call an agent where the boat will be physically located.  So called a different agent in New Bern, and gave them a physical address of the marina we will stay a bit in, and all was great until they said they would not insure boats that traveled in the Chesapeake Bay.    

So called a State Farm agent in Maryland.  Yes, they would insure the Chesapeake and Long Island sound, and part of the Bahamas, but only boats valued up to $200,000.  But only $1,200 a year.

Next called a State Farm agent in Virginia.  Great – they just asked if we were live aboard, and we said yes, and they would insure us everywhere, with some limitations of areas in the Bahamas.  Only $1,100 a year.  Woohoo – finally.     Anyway - insurance is sorted for the year.

The weather is slightly chilly, so jackets in order

We found a friend on the boat, when we raised sail.   Not the kind of friend we like, we threw them overboard.     We had seen mud daubers in the yard, but did not know they were building a home under the sail cover on our sail.

Mud dauber nest

We stopped for the night in the Solomons, and then early the next morning further south, stopped for the night in Deltaville.

Nice sunset in Deltaville

Next day, up early again and headed to Portsmouth.   We have been moving fast, as there are two hurricanes offshore making high winds, and we wanted to get somewhere protected before they made it to us.

Got into Portsmouth early enough, we walked down and got Guads Mexican for dinner.  Nice to get off and walk a bit.

Found a nice wall mural in Portsmouth on our walk

Next morning, we headed out of Norfolk, filled up with diesel, and headed into the Dismal Swamp

Sights on our way through Norfolk

Always interesting seeing the ships

Very industrial section of the area

Going through this bridge a bit of nerve racking, as the barge took up a fair portion of the width

Stopped and got pizza and groceries at Deep Creek bridge, and then continued on.   We were the only boat in the entire 20-mile canal.   Lock operators were surprised that there was not much boat traffic at all.

In the Dismal

In the Dismal we saw ducks, herons and turtles.  We stopped at the Dismal Swamp visitor center to wait out the strong winds from the two offshore hurricanes, Humberto and Imelda.  It was blustery, but not bad at the visitor center.   

Charm all alone at the Visitor Center dock

Kris went for a nice walk and saw some pretty bugs, flowers and lots of American Beauty berries ripe and ready to eat.  We did not pick any.  

Don't know what this was, but there was a bit of it, and very pretty

American beauty berries

Kris also fixed the relay issue, so should have no more issues starting the engine – remember that.

Kris is starting to feel like she spends way too much time in the engine areas

Working on loose wire in relay box.

On her walk, she also met another walker, who warned her about a raised spot in the trail.  He had tripped while jogging in his name brand neon green shoes, Nike apparel, cell phone in had and ear buds in.  He was going to complain because the raised spot did not have a warning sign.    Sometimes Kris just wants to move into the woods and avoid all humans for years at a time after encounters like that.

The trail Kris was walking.

The raised bump the guy fell on.

Dean took out our windlass motor and painted it, because as a condition of getting insurance, we had to prove that all items from the last survey had been taken care of.   On item on our last survey was rust on the windlass motor.  We don't worry about it because it will just rust again.   But Dean sanded and painted it so we could show the insurance company it was taken care of.

Rusty windlass motor

Painted up all nice

It got quite chilly moving south, so full sweats, slippers and sweatshirts for Kris.

Going through the south lock, you can see how high we are in the lock

After the lock is drained, you can see how far down we are.

Ran into some duckweed south of the locks, but no issues.

After the Dismal, we stopped for the night in Elizabeth City.  Gusty winds as we came into dock, and Kris did a bad docking job and crunched into a piling while docking.  Just scuffed the rub rail a bit, but she felt horrible, as the boat was so nice looking after the haul out, hate to mar it, even if it will clean up and not be noticeable.

We went to have lunch at Big Boss Burrito, a place we always go to in Elizabeth City, but it has closed.  So second option – but it was closing in 10 minutes.  So third option – OK but not a place we will go to again.  Will have to find a new place we like in Elizabeth City.

Friday we headed south across the Albemarle and down the Alligator River.  Had a nice sail, but we left at 6:30 a.m. as the bridge shuts down from 7 to 9 a.m.  It was cold cold – 59 degrees.  We made good time, averaging around 7 knots, so were able to get in 66 miles of southerly travel.    Part of the travel was the 20 miles of motoring down the Alligator Pungo Canal.  (https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281271147_Sawyer_Roy_T_2008_Inland_waterway_canal_comes_to_the_Alligator_River_A_Chronology_Life_on_the_Alligator_River_Tyrrell_Branches_Vol_13_No_1_pp_30-41_Tyrrell_County_Genealogical_and_Historical_Society_C) 

Kris was on watch, and saw a black object in the water ahead, thought it was a crab pot float, but the object moved – she got out the binoculars – and it was a black bear swimming across the canal.   Called Dean up, and he tried for photos, but we were a bit far for really good pictures.

Black bear swimming across the Alligator Pungo canal

After the canal, we went to anchor, and could not get the starboard engine to start.   After 3 or 4 tries, it did, but then died.  After dinner, we changed the fuel filter, and that seemed to do the trick, and it started right up. 

Next morning another long day, but made it all the way to Oriental, and stopped at our friend's place.  Duane and Karen have Sojourn, a Manta 40.  Great catching up with them.

Had a nice evening with Duane and Karen

What If and Sojourn at the dock.  Couple of nice looking Manta's.

2025-09-28 Back in the water and headed south.

Sunday, Kris added some bracing to the stern step access hole repair, and Dean did some scrubbing.  The boat was filthy after sitting on the hard for so long.  It did not help that we were next to some large trees, who daily shed many leaves on deck.   Dean had a hard job, because where leaves had sat and gotten wet, they left a brown tannin stain he had to get out.

Giving the boat a good scrub

Sunday afternoon Kris did a couple loads of laundry of work clothes and such, and bedding that is large and a pain to wash in our little washer on board

Monday morning, they lifted the boat, and repositioned the blocks under the keel so we could paint those spots.  We hung in the slings all day Monday.  Kris did more laundry and cleaned the inside of the boat, and waxed part of the cockpit.  Dean sanded and painted several times during the day on the spots that needed it.

Tuesday morning by 10:00 we were headed for the water. 

Going back in the water

No leaks which is always good – and hurrah the engines started up and ran well – although the throttle for the starboard engine was off a bit.

Kris hates watching the boat move, so she wandered over and talked to some fisherman unloading the catch of Channel Catfish

Quite a load of Channel Catfish, caught in a fish trap

We got some diesel and headed out and motored the 33 miles into light and building south winds to Harness creek, near Annapolis, MD.   Good to be on the water, even if it was a motor trip, and the last 2 hours was a bit of pounding into seas. 

Wednesday Kris checked the sail drives and engine oil, and topped it off, as she knew it would need, as it does after oil changes.   She also checked for oil leaks and found the rear seal was still leaking.  We will have to do that job again.   Rather disappointing.   Still cheaper than hiring it done, and the leak is not bad so we can live with it for a while.  

Wednesday was also shopping day.  Even through we could order stuff from the local store while hauled, which we did, it was not the same as picking out your own food.   First we had to do some Amazon return, so we walked the 3.5 miles to the UPS store to do returns, then back to the Ace Hardware, then to McDonald's for lunch, and then groceries and then back to the boat.  Total trip was 6 miles, and we were tired and dragging a bit by the time we got back.

Our load of groceries

Thursday was cloudy with some rain with stronger south winds, so we just stayed put waiting on weather.  We had very bad internet and cell service at Worton Creek, so we did a bunch of computer catch up stuff.  Talked to the sailmaker about the jib, and made plans for later to work on that when it wasn’t rainy.  Also talked to our insurance broker.  Our insurance company decided not to insure anyone going to the Bahamas or Caribbean anymore, and gave us a whole 15 days notice.  So busy looking for alternatives.

We got the starboard throttle fixed, so now the starboard runs great.

Friday was very light winds, so we motored the 41 miles down to Solomons, MD.  Had a wonderful homemade pizza dinner and relaxed in the evening.

Saturday was rain, and rain and east to SE winds, so once again we stayed put.  Finally, a day of doing pretty much nothing.

We are trying to head south quickly, as we have a friend in New Bern, NC area we would like to help with some boat project, plus the weather is cooling, so south we go.