Thursday, May 29, 2014

Atlantic Yacht Basin - Life in a Boatyard


 Atlantic Yacht Basin - Life in a Boatyard
 A brief word of explanation:  please forgive any weird spacing in this post.  Google's blogspot program has been unusually recalcitrant, and since this entry is already way overdue, we decided to post as is.  If any of our readers know this program, let us know. We'll take any help we can get to make creating the posts easier and the final result better.

Nearly a month ago, on Thursday, May 1st, we arrived at Atlantic Yacht Basin in Chesapeake, VA and settled in for repairs. Because our fuel injector pump was being rebuilt, we had to be towed from the dock to the work shed. Russell, at the helm of the tug, delivered us with ease and expertise. This little workhorse moves boats far larger than our 38' trawler and makes it look easy. 
Russell at the tug's helm
We spent 18 days in the shed, protected from the wind and rain. The drawbacks?  It’s gloomy, and the wifi signal can’t penetrate the corrugated metal, so we hung out in the Marine Store “lounge” when it was hot or raining or at the picnic table on pretty days to do our internet surfing.  And when the South wind blows hard enough, it pushes enough water into the shed and the work barn in front of it to create a three inch deep wading pool, covering the walkway to the boat.  Midas didn’t mind, but Mike and I would rather not wade bare-footed through water that may be contaminated. We invested in rubber boots for both of us on one of our trips
Wading to the boat, pre-boots
to Walmart and will find more uses for them along the way.   


The repair work is done, and the various craftsmen – no, artisans – at AYB have Midas Touch looking better than she did when we bought her.  Dave, the canvas guy, installed the new bimini top, and the workmanship far exceeds the original. AYB and its various contractors have now installed a new VHF antenna, replaced the broken section of windscreen, and added the final coat of trim paint along the port side rail.  Mike and Marian's tasks:  clean, clean, and clean some more.  The outside of the boat had a fine coat of dust from fiberglass sanding and reflected our general lack of routine “boatkeeping” while it was in the shed, so we devoted most of last Wednesday to getting Midas Touch truly shipshape before we started cruising again. We also cleaned the top of the aft deck roof, scrubbed the aft deck, and cleaned the windows. And there’s always vacuuming, using the small shop vac, Marian's favorite boat accessory.

So what do you do when you’re stuck in the boatyard for repairs?  From May 
5 – 8, we attended the Spring Rendezvous of the AGLCA (America’s Great Loop Cruisers’ Association) in nearby Norfolk, where we learned tons about the territory we’ll travel over the next several months and met fellow Loopers – past, present and future, and we toured the area between boat projects. 
Norfolk - Mermaids Everywhere
Norfolk is known as the Mermaid City.  
This is just one of the
The Duck - Chrysler Museum
dozens of mermaid statues we saw. 

The Chrysler Museum of Art re-opened while we were in the area, and the 40' duck in the pool behind it was part of the celebration.  We had to see it in person.

 There's always something interesting to watch at AYB,  like resetting a mast that had been "stepped," or to admire, like the classic boat "Scout," one of our shed neighbors. 

Scout - beautiful mahogany
Up in the bosun's chair

Bosun's chair in action
Washington and Jefferson worshiped here - Bruton Parish
Episcopal Church in Williamsburg


Williamsburg - mustering the troops

                                           

We visited the Historic Triangle of Jamestown, Williamsburg and Yorktown, but in reverse historical order.  
Just one of 40+ models by August  and Winifred Crabtree
Another Crabtree model
We spent one Saturday at the Mariners’ Museum in Newport News and still didn’t see everything this superb historical site has to offer. We recommend adding it to your must see list if you plan to travel to eastern Virginia or the Washington, DC area. (http://www.marinersmuseum.org/)


Then there were the days devoted to laundry and running errands, shopping for the round fenders we’ll need when we travel through locks, provisioning the boat, adding a high water bilge pump, replacing the flushing mechanism for the aft head toilet, rewiring a “pigtail” so that we can plug our 30 amp shore power cord into a 110 volt outlet, straightening and stowing items to reduce clutter…. there’s always work to do on a boat. 
Jamestown sailor 
  
Our fold-up little red wagon

We thought that Memorial Day     
Weekend would not be the time 
to resume cruising; seasoned 
Loopers tell us it’s best to travel 
during the week and stay anchored 
or at a marina during the weekends, avoiding all the recreational small boat traffic.
But the work was done, and we were ready to get back on the  water.  
Friday we cleaned the outside of Midas Touch, washing off the dust she had accumulated in the shed and getting the aft deck better organized. Since Midas wouldn't use his potty patch, we discarded it, moved the big ice chest to a spot behind the starboard bench on the upper helm, and secured our folding tables and two wooden chairs to the inside of the aft deck rails. Mike had bleached the chairs and Marian treated them with teak oil; they don't look new, but they look much better.  Big improvement! Saturday: one more trip to Walmart for miscellaneous items and provisions, including a folding cart that will be especially useful when we walk to grocery stores, a trip to West Marine, then rental car return.  We had decided to leave Sunday and head north through the Chesapeake.

Sunday morning:  we were up early, had a quick breakfast, backed out of the shed, swung by the face dock for a pump-out, said good-bye to Dockmaster Ed, then joined the line of five other boats waiting for the 7:00 AM opening of Great Bridge and our first lock.  The Great Bridge lock lifted us about two feet, and we were on our way through Norfolk, passing industrial areas, the Navy Base, and the downtown area where we had attended the AGLCA rendezvous the first week we were here.  
Leaving Great Bridge Lock, #5 of 6

Industrial side of Norfolk, approaching downtown


Ships in a Portsmouth boatyard
Still in line as we reach Norfolk 


Sheraton Waterside, location of the AGLCA Rendezvous

Just one of many BIG ships





The weather was gorgeous, the winds were light, the water was calm, and we reached our anchorage in East River, off Mobjack Bay, by 3:00. We launched the dinghy and took Midas ashore to "get busy," then settled in for a quiet Sunday evening on the hook.  While Mike grilled chicken and chatted with a local friend of fellow Loopers Beth and Ray, who had anchored there the night before, Marian prepared our favorite salad.  We ran the generator long enough to watch the PBS Memorial Day broadcast, then turned in early.  On Memorial Day, we reached Deltaville, where we took advantage of a door prize from the Rendezvous to spend a free night in a town that the veterans say is a must see stop.  
Instead of spending a second day in Deltaville, we were "off the dock" by 6:55 on Tuesday, taking advantage of clear skies and a light breeze to continue north along the Chesapeake's western shore. The Bay had only a light chop for most of our trip, and we had reached Smith Point, our planned destination on the south shore of the Potomac, before noon. With a light southerly breeze at our stern, increasing our speed to 8 miles per hour, we decided to cross the mouth of the Potomac while we had ideal weather, knowing that storms were predicted for the next two days and that the Potomac can be treacherous.  We reached the excellent Point Lookout Marina, six miles west of the Bay, by early afternoon, and Midas made another new friend, Jasmine, whose people run the show.  Her sister Carmen is not as friendly, so her treat came later.

New friends; "Sit" = "treat"

The engine had cut off several times as we moved north, and we didn't want to push further until we diagnosed the problem. The weatherman was correct about the storms, but wrong about their arrival time.  After a hot afternoon, a swim and a shower on the dock for Midas, and dinner aboard, the promised thunderstorm and wind arrived at dusk.  We felt the impact of the wind, but thanks to boat neighbor Dave's advice, our bumpers are tied to the dock pilings, not the boat, and the wind and rain did no damage.  We're settled in here for Wednesday night, with another storm threatening, waiting for replacement fuel filters to arrive tomorrow. Mike, with a few phone calls to Yacht Doc Ken, figured out that it was time to replace the fuel filter. Depending on what time FedEx arrives, we'll stay at Point Lookout one more night or push on toward the Solomons, at the mouth of the Patuxent River. 
                                                                                                                     Osprey nest at the end of our dock, including the daily delivery of lunch from local fishermen in the top picture and a close up showing the eggs in the bottom view.
                           

Notes from the Captain: Life in the underworld

You gotta learn to love the smell of diesel to keep this old gal going. Let me make it clear that I’m talking about the Ford Lehman here.  So, when you hear loud and clear the words, “HOLE IN THE DECK,” you’ll know Mike has put on his knee pads, pulled the cover and is crawling down below in the engine room to talk sweetly to Betty, my name for the engine.  That’s the Ford Lehman 120.  If you treat her well, give her clean fuel to drink, cool water to take the heat away, and change her dirty oil on a regular basis, she’ll take you any where you want to go, as long as you have at least four feet of water under the keel.  If you don’t, she’ll get very moody, stubborn, and sometimes, like crossing the Potomac, she’ll just quit and refuse to talk to you.  (I told Marian I might try to find a job as a diesel mechanic after the Loop because I’m serving my apprenticeship here on the Loop.)
The Midas Touch has two fuel filters and you can switch from #1 to #2. I have always run on #1 fuel filter, because when I switched to #2, the engine quit. While we were in the yard for repairs, Yacht Doc, who replaced the bad injector pump, recommended that we upgrade Betty’s #2 to a newer, drop in cartridge fuel filter.  We ordered a new fuel filter and I installed it.  However, I didn’t have the chance to switch to it and test it until the clogged #1 fuel filter caused the engine to conk out as we cruised up Chesapeake Bay and into the Potomac River.






Once we were docked at Point Lookout Marina, I could do some diagnostic work, and discovered that #1 filter was very dirty. On Wednesday, since we had to wait on #1’s replacement fuel filters the boatyard here had to order, I decided to get Betty running on the new #2 fuel filter.   The plan was to clean out the old #1 fuel filter so I could get her running, then switch to #2 to run on it.

New fuel filter installed by Mike
   


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You see, when you change the fuel filter, you have a chance of getting a little air into the lines. Betty does not like air in her fuel, doncha know.




So, here we go. “Marian, hit it!” She would crank the engine; it would run a while and then die. We repeated this process over and over, hoping the air would work its way out of the lines, with no luck.  I finally crawled back out of the hole, called Ken, the “Yacht Doc,” back in Chesapeake, and we talked it out.  To help Ken visualize the situation, I suggested sending him a photo of the filter hanging on the bulkhead in the engine room.  When he called me back, I was frustrated and about ready to call in the troops (code for calling the local mechanic for help). Ken said, “Go back down and take a look at the #2 filter.”  I crawled back down once again, this time with my phone. He said, “Take a close look at the #2 filter and see if you can read where the fuel line goes into the head of the filter.” I looked closely at the line coming from the supply tanks and it read “OUT.”  He said,  “Captain, you’ve got your filter installed backwards.”  The only word that I could think to say was “Doofus.” A quick turn around and Betty was running on #2 and purring like a kitten. Ken and his family will be receiving a two pound box of assorted goodies from Dahlonega's Fudge Factory.







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