Chores Galore Aboard Nine of Cups

Surprise! Surprise! We have chores to accomplish on Nine of Cups before we can leave the Atlantic Yacht Basin. We've certainly been in more exotic places, but the chore list remains pretty much the same no matter where we are. The to-do list is always LONG! Some chores can wait, like polishing the stainless, but it just makes sense to do some of them before we leave while we have access to shore power and a chandlery. With several days of rain due to the hurricane passing through, we're already behind. Really … some things don't change. One easy task was to replace the clockworks in our lovely ship's clock and to have both the barometer and the clock polished and lacquered. Both are solid brass and were showing considerable tarnish and weathering after 16 years aboard. The clockworks part was easy although we did go through a reputable clockworks dealer, Clockworks, rather than picking up a cheapie movement in a hobby shop. We'd tried our usual polish on the cases, as well as a host of other products designed for brass, but to no avail. We ended up sending the cases out to Refinishing and Plating Company in Milwaukee. What a great company to work with and the results were outstanding. David replaced the quartz movement and hands on the clock, reassembled the barometer, and hung them on the first day we were back. What an improvement, not to mention we have a clock that's right more than twice a day.

The manual galley foot pump for fresh water had quit working in St. Augustine, but we didn't have a chance to find a replacement before we left. David ordered one on-line and we brought it back. The installation should have been easy, but then “nothing's ever easy on a boat”. He couldn't find the exact replacement, but that wasn't the biggest bugaboo. Once under the galley sink, he found the plywood floor beneath the sink had deteriorated and needed replacement. A 2-hour project has become a 4-day ( 2-3 hours/day) project as he's gathered marine plywood, measured and cut replacement plywood pieces, installed the wood and epoxied. There's still painting and then finally installing the foot pump left to do. In the meantime, all his tools and the contents of the undersink locker are piled up and stacked in the galley, aft cabin and the saloon.

One other bigger project on the to-do list is enlarging the thru-hull/drain from the propane locker. David has modified the drain in the past by adding a screen to keep debris from clogging it, but the drain itself is just too small. Whenever there are hard rains, the locker fills and eventually the tanks are floating around and we have leaks into the locker below. He ordered the parts and we've been waiting for some sunny days to get the job done … after the galley pump is installed.

There are several niggly items on the list like replacing all the watermaker hoses (it's time) and fixing the lamp over the aft sink. With Hurricane Hermine's torrential downpours, we discovered three new leaks, all from hatches, which need to be addressed. And, of course, there's always varnishing to be done … both interior and exterior.

Because David's brother Paul is coming aboard soon, we've had to make room on the forward bunk, so he'd have a place to sleep. Actually, we had to find the forward bunk first; it's been loaded to capacity for more than a decade with “stuff”. We unloaded lots of gear before we left last July, but there was more to do to make it habitable for crew. I cleaned and found places to re-stow most of the gear elsewhere. We found that neither the fan nor the berth light worked, so we ordered replacements and the installation crept onto David's list.

Before we left Vegas, we ordered more “stuff” to replace some of the old “stuff” we had aboard. Our shore power cordset, for instance, had seen better days, so we ordered a new one. The gear hammocks were pretty sad, too. We'd mended them a few times, but figured perhaps new wasn't a bad idea. Now that we're back in the States, we can take advantage of Amazon Prime. Instant gratification!

Since we've been here, we also ordered some new 5-gallon gas cans to replace the old weather-worn ones we keep on deck. We use gasoline for the dinghy engine and the gas generator we have aboard. We'll eventually need to replace all the diesel cans, too, but this is a good start.

One new item aboard arrived as a surprise. Our Simplex tea kettle was 20 years old and had quite a few dents and bruises, having suffered from weather and rough seas over the years. It was looking pretty sad. The president of Simplex, Graham Tweed, is a sailor and has followed our travels for some time. He obviously enjoyed the comments about our Simplex kettle over the years because to celebrate our circumnavigation, he sent us a new one. It was sent to Lin in Boston to make shipping instructions easy, but we only got to see and use it recently. What a lovely addition to the galley. Quite an extravagant and wonderful gift! Thanks, Graham!

So … with all there is to be done, when will we leave? Well, the Captain is working hard to complete as many projects as possible, but none of them seem to be on the “A-must complete before departure” list. We'll complete what we can until Paul arrives and then head out as soon as he gets settled aboard.

Where to? Out of the ICW and into the Chesapeake Bay and then … ???

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Back to Nine of Cups - Chesapeake, VA

We're back! We left the dry heat of Las Vegas at 11 am (PDT) and arrived in Baltimore at 6:30 pm (EDT). After a 4-1/2 hour direct flight, a 3-hour time change and 2113.6 mi (3401.4 km), the humid heat of Baltimore smacked us in the face as soon as we walked down the jetway. We had reserved a one-way car rental to get us from Baltimore to Chesapeake, VA another 3-1/2 hours away where Cups was waiting patiently for us. Wimps that we are, we managed about an hour of road time before we opted for a picnic lunch from Safeway and a cool room for the night just south of Washington, DC.

We were back on the road by 8 am enjoying the scenery. Signs for crab and shrimp began appearing. Thick, green forests lined two-lane roads. There were antique shops galore. We passed through Windsor, Virginia … peanut capital of the world, they claim. Historical battle sites and markers were common and the Civil War iconic split-rail fences snaked along the roadside. And then there was the smell of salt and we were getting closer.

After a quick stop at Wal-Mart for some basic provisions and new pillows, we arrived at the Atlantic Yacht Basin. There was Nine of Cups gently bobbing in the water right where we left her. Inside, she was musty and had that closed-up smell, but there was no mildew nor mold to complain about. We opened all the hatches and ports, lugged all the duffels and gear aboard and began getting straightened away.

She was looking a bit forlorn with lots of pine needles and tree debris on her decks, but all in all, she was in fine shape. We washed the decks and got rid of a few new liveaboards … namely spider webs in the rigging and mud wasp nests in the cockpit. In no time at all, she was looking shipshape.

A day and night aboard and it was as if we'd never left … that is except for Hurricane Hermine which was quickly approaching. By the time she reached the Chesapeake, she'd lost some of her oomph and we only saw heavy rains and winds at about 30-40 mph.

There was significant surge and flooding along the coastal areas, but the Atlantic Yacht Basin is snug and secure and we experienced nothing beyond discovering a new hatch leak and a bit of rocking and rolling. We checked the lines and adjusted the fenders a few times, but otherwise neither we nor Cups were any worse for the wear.

So … now that we've weathered the hurricane, what's the plan? Well, David's brother, Paul, is hopefully heading our way in the next week. While awaiting his arrival, we have plenty of chores and repairs to catch up on. We're making plans for the few weeks we have on the Chesapeake, but mostly … it's just good to be home.

Happy Labor Day!

The Blue View - Replacing Fuel Tanks Pt. 2

In last week's Blue View, I talked about removing the tops from the old fuel tanks, making the drawings for the new tanks, then building mock-ups out of plywood. Once I was happy with the fit and the drawings, I hired a “flete”, sort of a combination small truck and taxi driver, and made the trip to the metal fabricator. After a lengthy discussion that required Marcie's reasonable Spanish, my crappy Spanish enhanced with a great deal of hand gestures, the drawings and the mock-ups, the fabricator assured us he understood what was needed. He gave us a quote and promised delivery in about a week.

Sure enough, 8 days later I got a message that the new tanks were ready. We rounded up several hundred dollars (Ecuador uses the U.S. dollar as its currency), stuffed them into our pockets and hired a taxi to take us back to the fabricator. The shiny new tanks were lined up alongside the mock-ups, and looked identical. I asked the manager if they had been pressure-checked, and his response was “Si claro, Señor, claro”, which meant “Yes certainly, sir, of course”. I paid him the remaining amount due and arranged to have the tanks transported to Nine of Cups.

They arrived the next morning, all carefully wrapped to protect them during the trip. We loaded the first one into the dinghy and transported it out to Cups. I made a small harness and attached a spare halyard to the tank, then Marcie cranked away at a cockpit winch while I guided the tank up out of the dinghy, down the hatch and into the saloon, trying very hard not to damage the varnished teak in the process. Once it was below deck, I guided it into the old, cut-away fuel tank, and then slid it into place, securing it temporarily with a couple of bolts.

This process was repeated with the second tank, but when we tried to install the third tank, it wouldn't fit into place. We found that the hose fittings were not to specification...something we hadn't noticed when we looked at them at the fabricators...and thus wouldn't fit. Out they came, and we hauled them back one by one to shore in the dinghy, hired a flete once again and took them back to the fabricators. Oh, man!

By the end of the week, they had fixed the problem and the tanks were re-delivered to us. We got them all in, plumbed and ready for the final pressure testing. They had been tested at the fabricators, of course, but this was the final check before filling them with fuel. Leaks...leaks...leaks! It was hard to identify them all in-situ, but there were a lot of pinhole leaks in the welds! So much for the fabricator's assurance that they had been pressure tested. We were sick about it.

Out they all came, and we transported them ashore once again, one at a time. I also hauled my compressor and extension cords as well as several hoses and fittings ashore. We pressure checked all three tanks and found more than 30 leaks in all! We marked each leak and worked with a local welder to make the repairs. It was cheaper and quicker than hiring a flete and returning the tanks to the fabricator. After a new coat of paint, the tanks were ready to go back aboard – for the third iteration.

This time, after the tanks were installed and plumbed, they passed the final pressure check. I secured each in place with bolts, then reinstalled the floor stringers, floorboards and table. Hoorah!

All-in-all, the fuel tanks turned out well, and I was quite pleased with the results. Like most of my boat projects, however, building the new tanks took about three times as long as I planned. On the other hand, I was quite pleased with the cost – looking at the bright side, it came in at only about 50% over budget as opposed to the usual double or triple.