2023-07-23 Working engine - Amazon delivery - moving east again

We spent another day in Setauket.  Our dinghy has a slow leak, so Dean wanted to get some Flex Seal paint at the local Ace Hardware and try painting.   Of course we walked right by the deli, so had to stop.

Tried to count all the sandwiches on the menu at Se-Port deli, but stopped at 85, as our order was ready.

We got back just in time, as the winds picked up, and the rain started.  Got our tanks filled up though.

There has been lots of rain lately and the Connecticut River is flooding, washing down lots of debris, so we had to keep our eyes open when we headed out the next day to motor sail over to Duck Island.

Duck Island was just a quick overnight stop so we could get into our next spot at Old Saybrook early in the day.  

We did pass one large floating part of a tree on the way, 3 foot diameter and 35 feet long.

Not something we wanted to run into.

We were planning on anchoring in the river, as the mooring field we use at Old Saybrook is quite tight, but with the river flooding and all the debris washing down we decided the mooring field inside a protected cove would be safer.  The issue is that the cove is small, and the mooring field is quite tight.  To be prepared,  Kris stayed on the boat outside the mooring area, while Dean took the dinghy in and scoped it out.  He thought it was OK to proceed, so we did, and Dean was right.  A little tense and nerve racking, but we made it in on one engine through the tight mooring field, and got hooked up to the mooring ball without damaging our boat, or anyone else.

We met our friend John for lunch, and had a nice lunch with him.  John was also kind enough to be our shipping address for our new heat exchanger case, and some Amazon orders.

Finally, a heat exchanger case that is the correct one - BUT - it wasn't painted.  Luckily Kris had already got some official Volvo Penta engine paint, so se set up a small paint booth in the cockpit and went to work.

Unpainted raw cast aluminum heat exchanger case

Kris's paint booth.  Notice spinach cans holding up exchanger case (That is how you know Kris is doing it, Dean doesn't touch spinach 😀)

New painted on left, old on right

Dean also got busy, with the paint purchased earlier, and put a full coat on the dinghy.

Dean painting the dink.  It looks shiny and new like.  Hope it helps seal and keep it from leaking as well.

We also got some Amazon goodies.  Dean got a rain jacket, and Kris got some sprout trays.  She has wanted to try growing sprouts, as in the Bahamas just eating Romaine gets old.  Plus Dean likes sprouts, so maybe he will get some green in his diet as well.

Kris's first batch of Alfalfa sprouts.  One on left too full, one on right too empty, but both worked and sprouts were delicious (according to Kris - Dean has yet to try them)

One other Amazon purchase was  foldable hand cart, which we used the following day to get gasoline for the dinghy, and propane.  With the gas at 30 lbs and the propane at 25 lbs the cart made it an easy trip.

The cart worked excellently - pulled it about 3 miles, and no issues.

Old Saybrook is a cute little town, with a good hardware store, grocery store, small WalMart, Farmers market twice a week, and lots of little restaurants.

Cute sculpture outside the Library

Nice mural on main street downtown.

We had one stormy day on the mooring.  Kris got the heat exchanger case installed, and we stitched up some seams on our dinghy cover, and relaxed on the boat.

Stormy weather at Old Saybrook

Old Saybrook has a 72 hour limit on guest moorings, so we left on Saturday, and had a nice sail up to Enders Island.  Never anchored there before, but it seemed a good spot with the North winds, and once the boat traffic died down, it was a peaceful night.   Today the winds go south, so we will head over to Fisher Island, as Kris wants to check out a museum.  Winds should be good in a couple days to head to Newport Rhode Island, which will be our next long stop.

2023-07-16 Why are boat projects so hard? - At least we have good food

We made our way over to Fairfield Connecticut on Monday, where were we needed to do two things.  First on the agenda - of course - was to pick up some packages that we shipped to an Amazon dropbox, but more importantly - lunch at Super Duper Weenie.   For those that don't know, Dean used to work almost across the street from this famous restaurant (Yes famous - was featured on Food Channel show) and ate their weekly.   We go there for lunch anytime we are in the area.

Can't say much for the decor, but -----

They make good dogs and fries.

One of the Amazon packages was  new set of screwdrivers.  It is hard to keep things non-rusty on the boat, and the screwdrivers we had were some of the same ones we had on What If - 9 years ago.  It was time to clear out the screwdriver stash.

All 32 screwdrivers on board

OK, still have 20, but its better.

The only issue, is that Kris hates to throw things that still have use in them away, so the old screwdrivers are still onboard, until she can find a place to donate them.

We also met with our friend, and financial advisor while in Fairfield.  Bob was kind enough to allow us to ship our new (used) heat exchanger to his house.   We had a good meeting with him, and he treated us to lunch at the Boca Oyster Bar.  If you are ever in the Bridgeport, CT area near the water - it is excellent food.

Feeling good with two excellent lunches under our belt (our loosened belt after all the food), we opened up our heat exchanger to clean and prep for install when Kris said "Uh Oh".

Yep, they sent us the wrong part.  Kris had a little panic, checked to make sure it was not her mistake, and then contacted the company in the Netherlands.  Of course - they were already closed, but next day they agreed, they had shipped the wrong item and they would give us a full refund, and pay to ship the part back to them.   

Of course, this left us without a heat exchanger, and having to find a place to ship back the part.  So instead of heading further NE up to Rhode Island, back across the sound to Port Jefferson / Setauket we went.   

Still being down an engine, Kris got online, and luckily found a new Heat Exchanger for only $1400 (ouch).    She called them, and they confirmed it was the right one, and was in stock.  So after a little crying, we pried open the wallet and purchased it.  Order placed, we focused on returning the one shipped from the Netherlands.  Found a place to ship the part back, so Dean hauled the 35 lb part, up hill for 1.5 miles to the shipping place, where they said it would be $350 to ship it back to the Netherlands.    So Dean hauled it back downhill 1.5 miles and back to the boat.   We did stop and get some great sandwiches at Se-Port Deli in Setauket.  They have huge tasty sandwiches.

1/2 a Se-Port Deli sandwich.

Contacted the Netherlands, and let them know the shipping, so they agreed, and arranged shipping through their account.   So next day - yep - back up the 1.5 mile hill to the shipping place with the heavy part, but this time we got it shipped.    Back to the boat, and got an email saying the heat exchanger that was in stock - was actually not in stock - so sorry, but they could get one in 5 to 7 days.    We didn't not trust them anymore so Kris contacted the Volvo Penta dealer we worked with when we had What If, and we have used for parts when in the Northern U.S -   McDonnell Marine Service.  Kris had talked to them when this all started, but they said there were no exchangers and were backordered.

Lucky for us, they were now 2 in the U.S. Volvo warehouse.  And now only $1,500 dollars.  The used one from the Netherlands was only $600.   Ordered that - and still have high hopes it actually exists and is in shipment.    We now had some time to kill, until it arrived so had time for some touristy stuff.   Port Jefferson is a touristy town, and we normally don't go there, but they had a Farmers Market that looked interesting.

Port Jefferson used to be quite the shipbuilding area.

Port Jefferson - Farmers market in the background

Downtown near the ferry terminal

Marina and ferry terminal at Port Jefferson

Farmers market was too expensive for our tastes, so we enjoyed a nice walk around, but then back to boat.   

Dean continued to look for a dinghy leak - as it is still losing a bit of air, and Kris worked on making new sunshades for the cockpit.   The new shades are larger, and different material.

New cockpit sun shades.

Kris also has done a bit of kayaking, as the winds have been calm in the mornings.  It is interesting to see the waterfront homes.  Wonder how these poor folks can stand to live in some of the run down shacks 😄

One of the medium sized homes.

We shipped our new heat exchanger to our friend John over in Connecticut - and it should arrive Monday or Tuesday, so we will leave today, and hopefully have a nice sail the 44 miles to our next spot.  Usually we take a free mooring in a small cove by where John lives, but it is tight, and we don't feel comfortable going in on one engine, so we will try a new anchorage in the river.  We will see how it goes.

2023-07-09 Heat Exchanger is dead, Surrounded by fireworks, Boat Projects

Monday morning we headed to the post office, and picked up the remaining engine parts to fix our heat exchanger.  Luck would have it, the post office employee was a sailor, and when he saw the package was "gaskets", he got quite lively talking about sailing.   Other folks in line were a bit upset, as our transaction took a bit longer than normal.

Back to boat, and installed fixed heat exchanger case, with new gaskets.  Filled with coolant, and - UH OH - leaking coolant.   Took everything back apart - and found the exchanger case still leaking.  Just too much material had corroded away, and the pitting inside must have been weakened with the heat from welding enough to spring a leak.  Can't get the welding tip inside far enough to fix, so Plan B.  Found a used one online from the Netherlands and put the order in.    We though about a new one, but they are on backorder - late August or September at earlies to get one.  

Welded up, but you can see a small puddle of coolant inside - too far to reach with welder.

Glad we have two engines.  

We had planned on moving east to see some fireworks, but that plan wasn't going to happen since we needed to now plan on getting our new engine part in Connecticut in a few days.  So we stuck around, and had a 4th of July in Port Washington.    We don't have a traditional lifestyle, but we did do a traditional meal - sort of.  Chips and dip during the day, and a big afternoon meal of hot dogs, beans and soda.

Dean's 4th of July all Americana dinner

We knew the town was not going to put on a fireworks show that night, so did not expect much, but pleasantly surprised.  The neighboring town did a show, and we could see it quite well from the anchorage.  All three yacht clubs also had small fireworks shows, and across the bay were two more shows.  That plus some of the homeowners having parties with smaller shows.   We sat on the boat and swiveled our necks for an hour watching show after show.  We were literally surrounded by fireworks.  Impossible to see them all, so we just picked the best shows, then the closest shows, then the further shows.  There was a constant rumble of exploding fireworks from around 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. without a break.  We could hear the rumble of the New York fireworks, even though we could not see them.

We were surrounded by fireworks

We had not cleaned the boat in a while, and it had the yellow stain "mustache" that we get every year when travelling north or south on the ICW, from the tannins in the water.   Dean decided it was time, and when the winds was light and the anchorage calm, he took the dink around the boat cleaning and waxing.

You can see our yellow "mustache"

Dean working on the side of the boat.

While Dean scrubbed, Kris worked on sewing new sun shades for the cockpit.  They are still not done, need some webbing to finish, and it is on order.

One last grocery trip, and we were ready to leave Port Washington.   It is a nice stop, convenient for groceries, and has a nice hardware store as well.  

Port Washington dinghy dock

We had hoped to sail up to Lloyd harbor, but it was a motor trip.  Pretty day on the sound though.

Execution Rocks Lighthouse

Tub pushing a barge, NY in background

Lighthouse in Lloyd harbor by anchorage

Next day, was a combination of motoring and sailing up to Port Jefferson.  When we see floating balloons we try to detour and pick them up.   This trip we got 2, but lost one.

Dean with his catch for the day.

Kris's catch, a very large one, might be over the legal limit

Port Jefferson is a busy harbor, but the anchorage is in a restricted speed zone, so it is not too bad.   

We took the dink into the dinghy dock, and walked up to the hardware store for some PVC pipe we will used in our cockpit shades.  Tide was quite low.

Steep ramp down to dingy dock in Setauket (town by Lloyd Harbor)

Went for a nice kayak trip, as the winds were calm.  One of the things about cruising that is interesting is seeing the change in geology, biology, and human culture as you travel.  Different vegetation, different sand and rocks, different animals, different architecture, accents, etc.

You would be hard pressed to find a rock like this near shore anywhere south of Maryland.

Nice boulder, left from last ice age (I think)

While Kris paddled away, seeing birds, turtles and rock, Dean worked on finding the latest leak in our dinghy.

Leak is located next to an already patched area

He found a leak, next to an area that we already patched, so now a larger patch is needed.   We keep hoping the dinghy will last a few more years, but it is showing its age - now 18 years old.

We will stay here today, and Monday head over to Fairfield Connecticut area, to pick up some Amazon items, and our replacement heat exchanger casing.  If this one doesn't work, then we would be up the creek without an engine for a while, so lets hope it works.

2023-07-02 Engine issues, made it to New York

Well our plan to head north and time the currents worked exceptionally well, except for the wind.   We had a pleasant motor down the Delaware Bay, and even got a little sun in.  Did not see much large boat traffic and current in our favor for almost the entire trip.

Passed by a large ship.  It is neat to see how much water is pushed by the nose bulbs of the ship.

When we got to the end of the Delaware, the winds started to come in so we decided to push on.  We got in around 8 hours of good sailing, then the wind died.   We motored offshore, and timing worked well, that we did not stop, and hit the Verrazano bridge at right before tide change.

Cool cloudy day approaching Verrazano Bridge

The clouds stayed with us, so not one of the more scenic trips through NYC that we have had.

Statue of Liberty can be seen over barge, cloudy smoky day.

Interesting how some clouds are lower than the tops of the buildings

Current was in our favor, so we motored on one engine down the East River, and noticed that our white smoke issue was back on the port engine.  Oh well, we have two engines, so switched back to only the starboard engine - so happy current in our favor.

It is always an interesting trip down the east river.  We enjoy looking at the different buildings and architecture with a different view than most people ever see.

Always take a photo of these buildings,  they are just funky and fun

Can you imagine the architect on this thinking "I know, I will turn part of it sideways"

They are building a new building inside the old Domino Sugar building, keeping the exoskeleton

Enjoy the mix of architectural styles

On irritant on the trip is the fast ferries, that really make the water choppy during parts of the trip.

Lots and lots of buildings

We get a different perspective on the bridges than the normal New Yorker

Eventually the city fades away, the trip is less scenic and more industrial looking.

Within a matter of less than a mile, the riverside property goes from expensive buildings to run down factories.

We made it into Port Washington, which is one of our normal stops, as it has a very nice grocery store, dinghy dock, hardware stores, and marine stores all within easy walk.  It is also a protected anchorage, and has a bit of boat traffic that is fun to watch as well.  

Kris still worried about the white smoke started to work on the engine the day after arrival.   Took the mixing elbow off the heat exchanger case of the engine and found some corrosion, but did not see any holes where coolant could be leaking into the exhaust.

Heat exchanger case where mixing elbow attaches. No holes apparent.

Kris decided to clean it up a bit, and took a scraper to it, and quickly found the issue, when the scraper punched through the thin cast aluminum.   At that point, it was decided the heat exchanger case needed to come out.

Case removed, and you can see the large hole now.

We called around and found a welder who could work on the case, and took an Uber ride to his shop.  It was actually a sign shop, that does signs and flagpoles, but they work in aluminum,, and it seemed the guy new what he was doing.   He cleaned the case up even more, exposing two other holes, and making the other one even larger.

Case cleaned up, and holes now fully exposed.

The welder even helped to remove the studs, and polish the finished welds flat.

Not pretty, but structurally sound, and all holes filled in.  We will polish a bit more, paint and install.

Getting the part welded only cost us $250, plus almost $100 in Uber rides, but well worth it, as it seems the part is no longer made, so a replacement is not easy.

We have to wait on new gaskets before we can re-install, so we will hang out here in Port Washington, until those come in to the local post office - care of general delivery.  Kris is really hoping that this is the cause of the white smoke, and that she can be done with engine repairs.  We will have to see.

Time to move onto another project - cleaning all the yellow stain off the hull from the trip up the ICW.

Dean working on cleaning the lower steps.

We will work on the hull when the winds are calm, and some other projects.  It has been nice, and so far have seen some fireworks almost every night since we arrived.