Dinghy or kayak or maybe both

I ran over to Annapolis to check on Zoe this week. It drives my crazy to not be able to run down to the boat and just check to make sure everything is ok. I had raised the dink on its davits the last time we were there. Upon my return I found one of the tubes had gone flat. I suspected the valve as the o-ring sealed cap was in very poor condition. I tracked down a new cap at Annapolis Inflatables and decided now might be a good time to do a little rehab. I loaded the dinghy in my pickup with the help of my tommy lift.(everyone should have one of these) and headed home. I picked up some sealant from west marine and have been flopping said dink around my back yard to distribute the sealant in the tubes.

I think I'll do a little fiberglass touch up and maybe buy some paint to dress it up.

Our other addition is a used inflatable kayak.

Worked great in the living room. I can't wait to see how it does on water.

Capt. Mike

Docked in Annapolis

Labor Day Sept 2nd

We spent the morning cleaning and packing. One of my chores was to hang the motor from the back rail and raise the dinghy on the davits. This is a bit of a challenge as we have a canoe stern. I have worked out a system in which I raise the motor to its bracket using the lift on the radar mast then hook up the dinghy and climb over the stern rail into the boat. After dragging my overweight self over the rail and raising the dinghy, I realized I had left the plug in. Of course that won't work as the dinghy would collect water and collapse the davits. I tried to stretch between the rails and reach the plug rather than going back through the whole process. I managed to get the plug out but had extended to far and could not pull myself back through the rails. All I could think was "Oh lord, I can't call the rescue squad". I could see myself on the evening news. "fat guy stuck upside down between rails on his sailboat, film at 11:00". Anyway, fear of humiliation gave me enough strength to squeeze my rib cage back through the rails. Man did that hurt!

So for the next year Zoe will berth in Annapolis while we work out more kinks and plan our eventual escape.
Capt. Mike

Solomons to Annapolis

Sunday Sept 1

Woke up from a great nights sleep on Mill Creek. We got everything stowed and I hit the switch on the windlass to raise the anchor. Of course, nothing happened. I guess I will add another line to the repair list. After a great morning workout hauling 60 feet of chain and a 60 lb spade, we headed out to calm water and very little wind. I am happy to report that the drive line repair was a success and we experienced much less vibration as we motored north.

Made for much better napping.

As we reached the West River, we ran into an ongoing Regatta

Since Zoe really doesn't sail in much less than 15 knots, we zig zagged between the boats and headed on.

We reached Annapolis around 3:00 after 7 hours of motor sailing and jumped off the dock into a taxi to rent a car and retrieve our truck from Point Lookout.
Capt. Mike

Headed north again

Saturday Aug 31
Zoe is back together and we are headed for the Solomon islands. We are timing our departure from Point Lookout Marina on the Potomac for a high tide and falling tide to ride down the river.

Our plan was perfect. We had a nice reach out of the river with 10 to 15 knots from the south. We turned the corner and had a downhill ride to the Solomons. Total trip time 5 hours. We anchored in Mill creek. We found plenty of water and a quiet setting for the evening.
Capt. Mike

Shear Pin

Well, I think we caught a break. Turns out our driveline failure was a brass shear pin in the drive coupling. I will elaborate further when I get back to the boat and check it out. I think it would have been a good idea to find out where the shear pins were before we took off the first time. Man do I feel stupid.
Upon further review, the part that failed was the brass key stock in the propellor side of the shaft coupling. it apparently was installed incorrectly as only about a third of the key was in the keyway. I will mention that the last installer was Diversified Marine Services in Annapolis. I will also mention that they did my winterization last fall and the fridge hasn't worked since. I can't actually place blame for the fridge but it was working before and was not after. I have to say I am impressed with the service at Lookout Point. Unfortunately, it is a long run up there. Time will tell but our conversations have led me to believe the they have a pretty good handle on the repair business. They certainly seem to have a following in the big money go boats. We are going to do a short haul, check the shaft and get the prop reconditioned and balanced. Hopefully the tranny will last until we are ready to repower in a few years.

Capt. Mike

Back Home for Now

Saturday the 17th, We started the toe rail refinishing project. I guess if you can't sail you can always find a project to work on.

We headed out about 3:00 and will return in a week to see how things are progressing. We have found ourselves, not only paying for space in Point Lookout but also, a dock in Deltaville and our new one in Annapolis. hopefully, the outlays will slow down soon.

Capt. Mike

Hangin at Point Lookout

We had Service Manager Jake and Mechanic Bobby stop by Friday to assess the situation. After checking things out and conferring with the other mechanics, it was determined that our Volvo transmission, although appearing to have been well maintained, had simply worn out. I am not sure what the average lifespan of a transmission is but this one appears to have lasted for approximately 3000 hours. we are hoping for a short layover while the trans is rebuilt. We have been told about a week and a half. Kat and I keep hearing the Eric Stone song "It'll be ready tomorrow". We were able to rent a car from Enterprise and head back to Deltaville and retrieve the truck so we could head back to work for Monday. That killed the rest of the day as it was a 6 hour journey.