Going Dinghy

When you are cruising your dinghy is your method for getting to and from the boat.  While the boat has been at the docks the dinghy was not needed.  That changed as we left Morehead City.  

Just before we left we found the carburetor was not working so had to order a new one.  The new one showed up at New Bern and did the job, the engine ran well.  Then the engine kept shutting down because we were not getting water flowing through the engine to keep it cool.  OK -  order a new impeller kit and that showed up at Washington today. 

 

Before repair - Where are the impeller fins?

Like they say - Well there's your problem.  New on top, old in pieces on bottom of photo

Now have cooling water going through the engine, and the engine starts on the first pull.

Found out that the old impeller was really not doing the job.  Took the dinghy out for a test run and had no issues other than it is fast.  Not an issue we can't deal with. 

Cool new Shades

When we replaced the plexiglass on the salon windows we went from tinted to clear.  We knew that sooner or later we would have to add some additional shading but we wanted to have as much light as possible.  The other day Kris ordered some 70% shade factor fabric and today we went ahead and made/installed them.

Using old magazine pages we taped pages together to form a template/pattern to then cut out the material in the shape and size needed.  

Template

Finished shade

We have only attached them with Velcro in a couple of places, it is held in place with the boat's sun visor as well.  Inside we figured the new shades will reduce the heat and glare more than reduce the light.  From the outside it gives a cleaner look with out the break in the white in the sun visor.  So now we be looking more cool :)

Old look

New Cool Shades

New Engine Controls

It has been a long road to get here, a lot of it has been bumpy as well.  In the end it made sense to replace the old engine instruments at the helm and go with new ones from AC DC Marine.  AC DC makes display setup for different boats and we have ones that has gauges for tach, oil pressure and water temp.  We went with the white color vs. the older ones that were black.  Now we will not have ANY issues with the engines.

Old instruments

Installing new ones

Wow, nice job Kris

Kris is even selling the old engine displays on eBay to recover some of the spent money for the new ones.

Wanabe Cruiser

We anchored the other day and settled down in the cockpit to relax and take it easy.  As we were looking out onto the anchorage we noticed something swimming towards the boat.  Being brave souls we took a couple steps down the rear steps to identify what was in the water.  It didn't take long for both of us to be back up the steps because we recognized it was a snake swimming towards us.  

Bugs, Bugs, and more Bugs

Anchoring out has not been an issue with bugs but as we were leaving our last anchorage and heading to New Bern that drastically changed.  We have had some may flies but nothing that made you want to stay in the boat.  When we woke the morning to leave there was a noticeable amount of small flying insects on the boat.  So we worked around them and raised anchor for our short motor trip to New Bern.  

Not sure when the bugs really became noticeable but they seemed to multiply every minute.  Kris took the pleasure of watching from inside the boat and letting me know there were a lot of bugs out there.  At least the bugs did not bite and wanted to stay landed and left me alone for the most part.  When we pulled into the marina the boat went for a major shower and the bugs either flew away or were washed away.  At the marina we haven't had any issues but in a few days we will have to travel back along the bug route.  Hopefully this time they avoid the boat.

No the speaker is all white, or should be

Yes it should be all white.

A little research at the Marina, while we have internet led us to the conclusion that these irritating little visitors are midges.   They hatch under water, swim to surface and then mate in large swarms.  This can go on for several weeks.   

They are attracted to light, so we will try to anchor where there is more appealing light than our boat for them to go to, and try to keep our night light to a minimum, which is hard to do, since we do not have shades.  I guess we can go to bed early, or suffer the consequences in the morning.   

On the road again, see us live on a webcam

Morehead Yacht Basin

Well it isn't much but today, 4/13, we left Morehead Yacht Basin Marina, Charm's home for the last 5 months.  The marina was a great spot to stay at, people friendly, marine services within walking distance, and food a mid walk away.  It may have not been the best day to leave, winds of 15 to 20 out of the north, so leaving the dock was right into the wind.  We did stop and fill up with diesel as well so getting away from the dock twice was a challenge but captain Kris handled it well.

We only moved 1 hour away but are now anchored and listening to new noises, feeling the boat move around and seeing different scenery is good.  Will head up to New Bern NC by the end of the week to get some packages, a new carburetor for the outboard engine is high on the list.

Home sweet home at Morehead

Looks odd with Charm gone

At the fuel dock getting ready to leave

4/20 update:

We anchored out for a week and now have taken a slip at New Bern Grand Marina.  We have some packages being sent and needed a spot for them to go to.  You can check us out on their webcam, camera #7 at the far right side.  There is blue hull sailboat between us and the camera but you can see the green sail covers and the back arch.

https://www.newberngrandmarinayachtclub.com/index.php/marina-cam/camera7

AIS tracking

AIS, Automatic Identification System, is an automatic tracking system that uses transceivers on ships that is unique to each vessel.  AIS will give the name of the vessel, speed, and direction to other vessels to avoid collisions.  Commercial vessels are required to have it and more and more private vessels are adding it to their ship.

We have added it to ours and while we are near shore the shore based antennas will broadcast the info to other land based units.  At sea the unit will broadcast to other vessels in the 10 mile area.  If you want to take a look at ours you can go to:  https://www.marinetraffic.com/en/ais/home/centerx:-76.705/centery:34.722/zoom:18

Short update:  we have a small issue with our router.  All the info is shared thru our boat wifi system but the NETGEAR router doesn't seem to like our ship data and shops sharing it.  So onto a new router and yes AMAZON will deliver it prior to us leaving the dock.

bad router

Update:

New router arrived.  very easy to hook up and use.  Bought a TP Link brand, and so far it works very well.  

Anyone need a slightly used very irritating NetGear?