THE “BEST LAID PLANS” CRUISE
“The best laid schemes o’ mice an’ men / Gang aft a-gley.”
Robert Burns
The plan was to take our 10 year old grandson, Jack, on a cruise up the ICW, Dismal Swamp, Chesapeake, and Potomac, departing August 1, 2007 and arriving August 10. On the 11th the rest of his family was due to arrive in Washington DC by air. We would stay at the Capital Yacht Club near the Mall and do the tourist thing with them for a week, then the two of us would take Sunspot Baby back down the ICW to home in New Bern.
This was all planned well in advance with plenty of time to prepare. We had a yacht club event in late June and put the boat in a yard to do the bottom and service sail drives in early July. Bottom painting went well but with the 4th of July three day shut down in the yard; other work didn’t really begin until the second week. Then while inspecting the rigging, a crack was found in the halyard block. The mast had to come down. Some new stays were ordered and by the time the rig was back up and sail drive service was complete there was only about a week left to prepare for the trip.
With a full court press we were provisioned and equipped and Jack arrived on July 31. The next morning was hectic but by 2:00 pm we were out of the slip, fueled, and on our way. Little wind meant a leisurely motor down the river to Oriental. We did the Tiki Bar Wednesday night thing and had a light dinner at the Toucan Grill.
8/2/2007: The second was our longest planned day. Wind speed and direction again meant motoring but we made the Alligator River in good shape. When ready to anchor, we found the power windlass would not work and George deployed the secondary anchor to good effect. The next morning was so still it was eerily beautiful. We pulled the hook and headed for Elizabeth City’s free dock.
Motoring the whole way, not a breeze on the temperamental Albemarle Sound, we made Elizabeth City in the early afternoon. We found a mechanic to look at the windlass and he found nothing that could be fixed quickly. One always hopes. We tied to the face dock because their free slips are a maximum of 18’ wide, just a few inches too tight for Sunspot Baby.
8/4/2007: We timed our departure for scheduled bridge openings and found that weekends are not restricted. We were soon in a narrow winding channel that would eventually take us to the historic Dismal Swamp Canal. This is the oldest manmade canal system in the Americas and is rich in legend and history. On time for bridge and lock openings, we spent the night as the only boat at the visitor center docks. We rode bicycles down the trail and used shore side conveniences to charcoal steaks for Lynn’s birthday dinner.
Motoring north, we started getting a strange sound transmitted through the shift linkage to the helm. We isolated the source to the port sail drive and soon found the port engine would not go in gear forward or reverse. Motoring forward on one engine is fairly easy but backing up is a whole other story. We had to loiter at the northern bridge and lock, waiting for the opening, but surviving the few tense moments, we managed it.
Lynn was pouring through cruising guides and found Chesapeake Yachts was only a couple of miles from the end of the canal and could haul us. Although it was Sunday, they answered our call and told us to tie to their dock for the day. The owner drove down to meet us and had arranged a mechanic for the next day. We took advantage of the afternoon to go dinghy riding and swimming. Jack drove the dinghy but needs more time to get used to the counter intuitive activity of steering with a tiller.
8/6/2007: Early morning we had the dinghy stowed and were waiting for the mechanic. Finally about 10:00 we learned he would not be there until mid day. Once he arrived, near 1:00 pm he confirmed that the sail drive did not work and we would have to be hauled. He isolated the problem on the windlass to the solenoid box. Of course, while this mechanic seems to know his stuff, he is a Yanmar mechanic, not Volvo and did not want to repair our sail drive. Calling frantically all over Norfolk, Chesapeake, Virginia Beach, Hampton, etc. we could find no one either willing or with time to do the job. Our on site mechanic agreed to pull the drive and we would find someone to ship to take it to for service. The mechanic was scheduled for Wednesday.
8/7/2007: We rented a car, drove to New Bern, and picked up our own car. It looked like we would need transportation and would be in the yard for a while. Burning up cell phone minutes we found two places that would repair our drive. One is in Maine and the other is the mechanic who just serviced our drives in North Carolina.
The boat yard could make for its own story. It is a huge yard sparsely populated by boats. There is a row of six wooden PT boats which last saw service in Vietnam. The Enterprise guy who delivered our rent car said it looks like a place where boats go to die. We shudder at the thought.
8/8/2007: The mechanic was at the boat early and did a good job of removing the sail drive and arranging it so it would not leak oil in the car. The upper unit had some problems including the cone clutch but in particular the input shaft and fly wheel output flange had severely worn splines. This probably explains the occasional problem getting the unit to engage which we have experienced for years. Another road trip to New Bern to deliver it to the mechanic was topped by a barbeque dinner at Moore's. We arrived back at the boat about 11:00 pm. Our on site mechanic had failed to find the windlass part at a distributor, so while on the road we called the manufacturer and coaxed them to sell one direct to us. It should arrive at New Bern this week and we will retrieve it when we return for the sail drive.
8/9/2007: We took a little break from the boat drudge work although a one-hour stop at a laundromat caught us up on clean clothes. We stopped at the library and retrieved email, did a little shopping, had lunch out and drove to the beach. We played mini-golf, bought tourist souvenirs and generally enjoyed the day. We even found a West Marine.
The current plan is to drive Jack to DC 8/11 to meet his family. We will spend a couple of nights in a hotel and join them on some tours. By then, hopefully, parts for the sail drive will have arrived and it will be repaired. We will drive back to New Bern, pick it up and return. The mechanic can install it and the solenoid and we will do a truncated cruise returning via the Virginia Cut route of the ICW.
THE YOUNG GENTLEMAN: We have a habit of giving everyone on our cruises a title. On this voyage, Jack’s was Young Gentleman. We borrowed this from the Patrick O’Brian’s sea faring novels where the boys in training to become officers on a ship are referred to as Young Gentlemen.
Sunspot Baby has no air-conditioning and many days were over 100o F. Jack took the heat without a problem. He brought his Nintendo and I-Pod. We were concerned he might spend the days with earphones and eyes glued to a video game. Nope, he helped with the boat, practiced tying knots and sight seeing. He helped assemble bicycles, work on the fender board, and several other maintenance duties.
We played games, fished, and rode bicycles along the way. In Virginia Beach we did a beach walk, played mini-golf, and shopped for souvenirs. All in all he was an engaged and delightful member of the crew.
8/12/2007: We met our kids at Reagan National Saturday night and toted the baggage to the hotel. They too the Metro in. We had a hotel in Alexandria not far from the last stop on the Yellow line of the Metro.
Sunday morning, we shuttled everyone from Metro to Mt. Vernon where Becky had arranged a Congressional Tour. That allowed us to get in before the gates were open. We loved Mt. Vernon and took tons of pictures. Our original plan was to take the boat there and tie at the wharf. We did walk down to the landing and talked to the Wharf Master. We will make the stop here someday.
Monday we toured the Bureau of Printing and Engraving and watched them make currency. Then after a short stop at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, we took the Metro back to our car in Alexandria and drove back to Chesapeake to resume boat repair project management.
8/15/2007: Parts were to arrive on Monday 8/13 but the mechanic called to inform us that the upper gear set was on back order. There were none in the US. No idea how long it might take “a week, two weeks, a month, who knows.” George got on the phone and by Tuesday had found a set. I ordered them 2nd day air. We will drive to NC and deliver them to the mechanic Friday. Hopefully, the unit will be assembled by Wednesday 8/22 and we can start putting the boat back together.
8/17/2007: The parts arrived early so on the 16th we drove back to New Bern, picked them up and delivered to the mechanic. Lynn used our own laundry facility for a couple of loads and we brought a few extra tools and things back to the boat. Today we spent mostly at the library planning our trip home, balancing check books and the like.
Things never go as planned but right now it looks like the sail drive will be repaired by Tuesday and should go back in the boat on Thursday. We could then depart Friday and get back to New Bern about the 28th. I have a chance to do a delivery of a small (24') sail boat from Oriental to Colonial Beach, VA starting a day or two after that. The delivery contract is not finalized but sounds promising.
8/23/2007: Tuesday night we had a serious thunderstorm. A couple of lightning strikes seemed very close. More about this later.
The emotional roller coaster continues. When we took parts to the mechanic last Thursday, it became clear he had not ordered the remaining parts that were his responsibility. He said he would order them that day, second day air for arrival on Monday since he couldn’t work on it until then anyway. I called Tuesday morning to find that no parts had arrived. We had planned to pick up the unit that day.
Wednesday, about 9:00 I called and he expected them soon. “His part supplier didn’t have one of the parts in stock and she had to receive them before shipping.
10:10 we called and he had the parts; unit was already disassembled and ready to start going back together. We dropped everything and headed south. 4 ½ hours later has I picked it up in the unit, he held up the old output flange and said “they didn’t send this part, oh and by the way, we didn’t get the outer booty.” Damn, damn, double damn! While I was there, we called his part supplier. The flange is a back order item. “None in the US.” The booty was just forgotten.
When we returned to the boat yesterday, our battery state was low and the fridge had quit working. Everything was melting and/or warm. We are not seeing enough amperage from the shore power or normal outlets on the nearby pole to charge our batteries. Our handy dandy little Honda give us more amps so we run it periodically to keep things going. The boat yard owner of course figures the problem is on the boat. All my “is and is not analysis” points to the power source as the problem, but until I can get to another to prove my hypothesis, Correlation should not be confused with cause but the lightning storm could be a player here, although I have no proof. Even if I am right, I will be gone. There are a couple of niggling things that tell me there could be a contributing factor in my battery charger. Gee, with everything else happening, I would rather not have to buy a new charger/inverter right now.
Our Virginia mechanic was scheduled for today, so we called him to let him know. He still came and installed the part for the windlass so at least that goes up and down.
I had already called the last folks that bailed us out on backordered parts but by afternoon, we had no solution. Using their last success as my guide, I called the marina where they found the last part. They had what I needed and now, parts are due here tomorrow, morning delivery. Let’s hope that happens. Now we have to get the local mechanic to put us back in his schedule.
Fingers crossed we proceed.
8/24/07: The part arrived and it’s different, but will probably work. It’s a redesign to absorb some of the shock on the spline when shifting gears. Judging from the shape of our old splines probably a much needed redesign. The local mechanic has us on his schedule for Tuesday. Progress.
8/26/07: (Excerpts from a family email by Lynn) As reported we finally have all the parts for the sail drive. We are scheduled to reinstalled it Tuesday, and hope to splash back in the water late Tuesday or at least Wednesday morning. Then (optimistically at this point but not really believing it will happen), we could be home in 3-4 days.
We had a bad lighting storm about 4 nights ago, which began the sequence of events which are causing us to wonder if although we didn’t get a direct hit, we may have some electrical damage. The refrigerator has stopped working. It’s remaining contents are in a cooler and we are buying ice. The batteries aren’t holding a charge, which may be because they are (1) getting up there in age, (2) damaged by the lighting, or (3) not being charged by the Big Boat Battery Charger, which may have been damaged by lightning. The radar is funky but we really won’t know about that until we get back in the water. George mentioned most of this in his earlier posting, so this is basically a reinforcement that we are continuing to work through diagnostics and trying to figure out what’s going on. Yesterday we drove home one more time, swapped the car for the truck, and picked up a battery charger to help with the electrical issues.
There was a pre-season Bronco game last night, and we hit a local sports bar hoping to watch it. However, it was only televised regionally so we didn’t see it, but understand the Broncos lost to Cleveland 16-17. It’s only pre-season, but it would have been nice to divert our attentions away from the boat and onto a sporting event.
The weather has been warm here – in the high 90’s. When we got back to the boat yesterday afternoon it was 109o inside.
Probably because I have been reading a Farley Mowat Book “The Boat Who Wouldn’t Float”, and possibly because of our circumstances, I have decided that Sunspot Baby is not really fond of northern trips and is sending us a message. South is her preferred direction, and she is letting us know it. I told her this morning that if she’d just get out of this snit, we would take her south, and would think seriously about never making her go this far north again, especially in August.
8/27/2007: We are on pins and needles hoping for no more surprises. We think everything is in place but are keeping our fingers crossed. We spent a little time at the library to stay up on email but have little to add.
8/28/2007: The mechanic arrived about 10:00 am. The reinstallation went pretty well if a little slow. Finally, about 4:00 pm we were ready to go back in the water.
We almost had a Catch 22 situation. The yard would not put us back in the water until the bill was paid. They charge 15% of the mechanic’s bill and had to have his final number before launching me. He needed the boat in the water to make sure everything worked and to make final adjustments to the shift linkage and could not finalize his bill until that was done.
Finally, the yard agreed to let us hang in the lift with the sail drive in the water and the mechanic agreed to estimate the last work with the boat afloat.
She floats and is not leaking. The propeller goes around and we generally feel pretty good. We did find, however, a leak in the exhaust hose on the port engine. It is a little long and had a small crimp in it. The crimp probably occurred due to all the crawling around in the engine room (hole?). We put some “magic” tape on it. Stuff we bought that said you could fix anything with it. It got us home but a new hose is needed.
We caught the Steel Bridge opening as it came off restrictions at 6:00 pm, went through the Great Bridge Lock and Great Bridge. We fueled at Atlantic Yacht Basin (AYB) which operates its fuel dock 24/7. We added a little water to the tanks, but we caught enough rain water in the yard that we were in pretty good shape on fresh water.
We then crossed the channel and tied up at the free dock there. A good surprise for a change. AYB has free Wi-Fi and the signal is strong across the channel. We were broadband bandits for a while. Took a nice shower and walked a couple of blocks to a Wild Wings type place for a couple of cold ones and some food.
It is great to be back in the water.
8/29/2007: Departing just in time to make the Next bridge as it came off restrictions at 8:30, we still made about 60 nm for the day and stopped in a great little anchorage called Broad Creek off the North Landing River. The windlass operates flawlessly with the new solenoid box. Thanks Lewmar for agreeing to sell it direct.
8/30/2007: Our yacht club, Fairfield Harbour Yacht Club, had group of boats beginning a 5 week gunkholers cruise to the Chesapeake. We met them in the Alligator River, smiled, waved, and took pictures.
There was a good following wind in the Alligator River and we flew the Genoa most of the way down it. We were motor sailing, but it helped a little with speed and a lot with fuel economy.
We anchored in Belhaven; something we have wanted to do for a long time. Launching the dinghy, we explored town, which was closed. dingying to the US 264 bridge where Lynn walked about ¼ mile to a service station and bought a couple of bags of ice.
The grain elevator near the anchorage was filling a barge and shortly after dark, the tug pulled away. He managed to miss the boats anchored nearby. Good job skipper.
8/31/2007: There was not much wind in the morning as we motored down the Pungo River and across the Pamlico. By the time we got through the ICW channel between the Pamlico and Neuse the wind had picked up. We motor sailed the rest of the way home, making great time and arriving in Northwest Creek Marina (home port) well before their closing time.
Showers and dinner ashore made a prefect end to our odyssey. We have lots of things to fix and/or replace but we think we have found all the electrics/electronics that died in the lightning storm. The sail drive would have failed going south this winter and this was probably a better time to find the problem.
9/1/2007: We are back in the house. Being so close to home and being able to retrieve our own vehicle made the 3 weeks in the yard more bearable. It meant we made an extra trip to pick up the truck. We had a nice breakfast with some of the left over steak from last night’s dinner ashore but have agreed we are no more comfortable at the house than we are on the boat.