Oct 13
A cold front came through overnight, blowing pretty hard for a few hours. When we got up, the temp was about forty degrees. We need to be moving south, not stuck here.
By 10:00 when I hadn't heard anything yet from the yard, I called them. I'm not good at waiting. They put me on hold for a few minutes and then came back and said to bring it up and they would get us hauled today. I called the Tow Boats US guy and told him to come and get us. Bill from Tow Boats US is based at Herrington North, and he was to us in about half an hour. Bill got his boat tied to our starboard stern quarter and off we went. In thirteen years, this is the first time MoonSail has been under tow. And, any boat owner who isn't a member of either Sea Tow or Tow Boats US (or both) is plain foolish. One tow will pay for several years of membership. It took about forty-five minutes to cover the four miles from Herrington South to Herrington North, and along the way Bill gave me local knowledge of where to avoid going aground and having to call him again when we leave. A little before noon we were tied up at the service dock near the Travelift. It was just about lunchtime, so the yard guys came over and told us they would haul us right after lunch.
As we were coming in the marina, we noticed a boat named Jule-III at the transient dock. We have read their logs before and exchanged e-mails with them this spring when we learned that they had met our friends Wayne & Nancy from Dances With Dragons in Ft. Pierce, FL. They also are friends of the boat Moony, which we met in the Bahamas in April. There is a coffee and snack tent setup outside the cruiser's lounge right by the haulout slips. We went over to see what he had for a light lunch while we waited. He has primarily coffee and breakfast sandwiches and pastries, so we got breakfast sandwiches for lunch. As we were standing there, Denise from Moony walked by. We stopped her and said hello. Turns out Moony is docked right behind Jule-III and we just didn't see them. We'll get together later.
At 13:00 they guys came back form lunch and prepared to haul us. They used a little boat to turn MoonSail around and move her into the haulout slip. This yard is huge, with four haulout slips and four Travelifts. Six guys worked on handling lines and getting the boat in the slings correctly, while we just watched. I've never seen a place with so many hands working on haulouts. Once hauled the damage was painfully obvious. The rudder was bent and jammed against the hull, and had a large chunk out of the leading edge where the actual impact occurred. Steve, from Alpha Rigging, just happened to be right there when they hauled us, so I asked him to take a quick look and give an opinion. He said he thought he could straighten it, but he wouldn't be able to do anything until Monday.
So, off to the parking lot we went. Did I mention this place is huge. There are 750 slips in the marina, and a couple hundred more boats on land, with room on land for most of the ones in the water now to be hauled for the winter. The trip from water to parking space was probably nearly a quarter mile, and we are at the close end of the parking lot. They got the boat secure on blocks and stands, and did an excellent job getting it level. While sitting aboard we do not feel at all like we are listing. Since the parking lot has a slight slope to it, that's pretty good. We had read the "official" rules of the yard and they said you could not stay aboard while a boat was on the hard. We found that in reality, as long as you are actively working on it, they look the other way. So, we don't have to find a motel and car. There is power available in the yard, but it is only 15amp service which uses a regular three-prong household plug instead of our big 30a plug. We have an adapter that came with the boat, but the only time we ever tried to use it was in New Orleans last year and it didn't work. The yard guys there told me it was wired wrong. I dug it out and got my meter out, and sure enough one of the wires isn't connect inside. The plugs on both ends are molded and not made to be taken apart gracefully, so we figured we'd buy a new one. I walked to the marina office, which is a good half mile from the yard end of the marina, to officially check in and ask where there was a marine parts store. Turns out there is a West Marine on premise and it is just a couple hundred feet from the boat. I just didn't see it through the trees. We got a new adapter and now we have power.
Living aboard on land presents some new challenges. We have power, but not as much as we are used to, so we have to be careful. We can keep the batteries charged, the fridge and freezer run off the batteries, and the small heater in the aft cabin is electric, not a heat pump, so it can run while out of the water. The big heater that heats the main saloon is a heat pump and it needs to be in the water to work. We have water in our tanks, so we can use the sinks, but they just drain on the ground under the boat, so we need to be judicious about usage. The head uses seawater to flush so it doesn't work out of the water. We could keep a bucket of water handy for flushing, and it flushes into the holding tank, but in the time we will be here we would probably fill the tank and there is no way to pump it out. So, we have to hike to the bathrooms. We also need a ladder to get aboard. The marina has a strict rule about not lending ladders. That way they are not liable. Many boats have ladders under them, but they are chained and locked to the boats in some way. We were lucky enough to notice a small step ladder under the boat right next to us that was not locked. With our swim ladder down the step ladder will get us aboard. It's a little ungainly getting on and off, but it works.
Around 17:00 we fixed ourselves a couple of beverages and walked down to the dock to say hello to Jule-III and Moony. They were all there and they were interested in seeing our damage, so we chatted as we walked back to MoonSail. We showed them our rudder and talked for a while. They have been here a month or so and are getting ready to take off in a few days, so it was good to see them.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 4. Total miles 6651.
Oct 14
I was premature in complaining about how cold it was yesterday morning. Today was in the low 30's. Now that we are on land, we can keep the aft cabin comfortable overnight with the heater, but the main saloon was 54. And we had to go outside right away to go to the bathrooms. Brrr.
Even though it was so cold, there were several couples at the table outside the cruiser's lounge enjoying coffee. So, we bought two cups and joined them. Bob & Ann from Jule-III, Wolfgang and Denise from Moony, and Jim & Karen from another boat on the hard were there. Jim & Karen have a Gulfstar 47 that they are totally rebuilding. They have been cruising before and have now been working on this boat for three years. We visited for about an hour.
Back at our boat, we met Rick & Tanya from Auriga, which is parked a few boats from us. They are from Nova Scotia and stopped here on their way south to do a bottom job. This is their first year of an open ended cruise like ours. They invited us to a little get together by the clubhouse this evening.
I spent some time chipping the remaining barnacles off the keel, and sanding spots on the bottom where the bottom paint has come off. I bought a quart of bottom paint to touch up the spots that need it. I also cleaned the hull. It had a fair amount of brown stain again already so I cleaned it good and took compound and got a few black marks off it that I recently put there courtesy of the fuel dock in NYC.
Years ago I found a Morgan 38 bulletin board online. It was primarily used by owners of pre-Catalina Morgan 38's, of which there are thousands, but I made contact there with a few other owners of Catalina Morgan 38's like MoonSail. One of them lives in this area and has a boat named Double Jeopardy. Last I had heard from him, he had bought a power boat and Double Jeopardy was for sale here at Herrington North. I asked at the office and found that it is parked two rows over from us. We looked it over from the ground and made comparisons. It was never outfitted to be a long-range cruising boat, so there's a lot less stuff on deck, but we noticed some differences that probably were different form Catalina, even though the two boats were only eleven apart in production. I exchanged e-mails yesterday with Dale, the owner, and they are going to be here today to get their powerboat ready for winter. Sure enough they showed up in the afternoon and we met face to face finally. Their powerboat is right across the aisle from us. They had plans already for the weekend, so we only got to visit a bit, but may get together again depending on how long we end up being here.
About 18:00, we went to the picnic area near the clubhouse for our potluck/barbeque. Rick & Tanya from Auriga were there, as were Kirby and Sue from Tobias, and several other couples. We enjoyed visiting and snacks, then fired up two grills for hot dogs and other goodies. Several folks brought salads, dips, cheeses and of course adult beverages. Once the sun went down it got quite cold, but we stuck it out for a couple hours of nice company before everybody had enough and we went back to our boats to get warm.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6651.
Oct 15
Sunday morning dawned as cold as the day before. After the cold walk to the bathrooms, we huddled aboard with coffee and waited for the sun to warm us up a little. It was definitely long pants, long sleeve shirt and sweatshirt weather - and that was inside. Once the sun got on the boat it became cool but tolerable.
Today I messed with my speed transducer again. Back in CT, I was going to replace it, but then found a bad connection which I thought resolved the issue. After we left there I found that I consistently had a reading now, so the connection was good, but it still was a bad reading and the water temperature which comes from the same transducer is whacky. I took the questionable connections apart and installed a nice terminal block in their place. I can spin the paddlewheel by hand and get a reading up over seven knots, but the temp is still wrong. So, I'm not trusting the transducer at all. Since it's under $100 and there is a West Marine right here, I'll get a new one.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6651.
Oct 16
Another cold morning greeted us. We were up sorta early since I don't know when the rigging guy will come to look at the rudder. By 10:00, I hadn't heard from him, so I called his office. I politely told the girl I was here and waiting whenever he got to us. I didn't want to piss him off, but didn't want to be forgotten either. I also walked over to the office of Osprey Marine, who does fiberglass work. There are two rudder issues. One is can the shaft be bent back, and the other is can the fiberglass be repaired. If either answer is no, then a new rudder will need to be ordered. My goal today is to have that answer. Jimmy form Osprey walked across the street to look at the rudder. He seemed to think he could fix the fiberglass part for six or seven hundred dollars. So, now we need to see if we can straighten it.
Right after lunch, Steve and two other guys from Alpha Rigging showed up to see if they could straighten the rudder shaft. They tied a loop of rope around the rudder and keel, then put a pipe between the loop and started winding it up like a tourniquet. The rudder moved back where it is supposed to be, but when they released the pressure, it went back where it had been. They tried several times more, and while it came back some, it still touched the hull when the pressure was released. Steve suggested having Osprey trim the top edge off to give clearance, but given my concerns already about the shaft being rusted where it goes through the hull, I elected to order a whole new rudder.
I got on the phone to Warren at Catalina and told him we needed a new rudder. The choices are to ship us a rudder for a new Catalina 387, which is very similar but would need some fiberglass modification, or see if they can find the old molds from 1993 and build one just like ours. They will start looking for the mold and let me know.
I had also talked to Steve about the play in the rudder shaft and showed him where the bolts at the top of the shaft have loosened in the past. This may require some welding or redrilling once we get it all apart. Steve was ok with me doing as much of the work as I was comfortable with, so I told him I would take apart the rudder mounting and steering stuff inside and see what we found.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6651.
Oct 17
During the night, the wind blew pretty good as a storm rolled in. I awoke about 05:00 and really had to go to the bathroom even though it was still dark out. I got dressed and went out, only to find that the step ladder had blown over. I had to climb down the swim ladder and then jump the last five feet to the ground. Not that big a deal unless you have a very full bladder. I made it without injury or accident. Of course Barb didn't know about the ladder and thought I fell when she heard me hit the ground. It was just starting to rain and was in the thirties again.
By the time we got up for real, about 08:30, the rain was coming down pretty steady. Not a downpour, but moderate. We stayed inside most of the day, and actually watched day-time TV all day. Given we only have the regular over-the-air network channels, that sucked.
I spoke to Warren at Catalina several times during the day. They were hunting in the warehouse for the old mold, but had not found it yet. I took a picture and some measurements and e-mailed them to him so they could be sure they had the right one, assuming they find one. Mid-afternoon, Warren called with good news. Out in the field behind the warehouse, they had found a mold that appeared to be the right one. It was in good shape and they brought it in. It will take five working days to build and three or four days to truck up here. With this knowledge, we can make plans for the next week or two.
We had been hoping to be in New Bern, NC on the 24th for the Southbound Cruiser's Rendezvous. Obviously we won't be there by boat, but the new rudder won't be here until the 27th or 30th, so we are going to go to the rendezvous by car. I made hotel reservations and a car reservation. I had been really bummed about missing this, since this year will be our first trip south in the Caribbean, so I'm happier now that we are going to get there.
We went over to the on-premise sports bar for dinner and beer about 18:00. The rain is still coming down, but should be moving out this evening. The day had warmed up more than the last few as the warm air that brought the rain settled in. We stopped by the cruiser's lounge to use the bathrooms and found Rick & Tanya watching the TV. We joined them and visited for an hour or so. We talked a lot about the experiences they have had with US Homeland Security since they are Canadian. They have to check in with Immigration each time they move the boat. I had no idea we were so unfriendly to non-US boaters.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6651.
Oct 18
This morning was clearing and the temperature was probably in the fifties. Quite a change, but more cold air is coming tomorrow.
I tackled taking the rudder out today. I can't actually get it out of the boat without lifting the boat, but I got everything inside taken apart. I was happy to find that the holes where the upper mounting bolts go were not worn oblong from the bolts having loosened before. Getting them tight when it's reassembled should be sufficient. I still have a concern about the amount of play where the rudder shaft goes through the hull and Steve is going to stop by and check that out when he has a chance.
Our neighbors Rick & Tanya got launched this morning and will probably head south tomorrow. I'm itching to go, especially knowing there is more cold air on the way. We joined them and Kirby & Suzie from Tobias, and several local liveaboards for drinks this evening aboard Auriga. It's been nice meeting new cruisers again and getting back in cruiser mode. The summer has been fun, but we found it very different interacting mostly with seasonal boaters in the Northeast rather than full-time cruisers.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6651.
Oct 19
Today had been a kick back day. I installed the new speed transducer that I got the other day. The temperature still reads wrong, and I can't really tell anything about the speed without the boat moving. I'm not confident. Other than that, we have just read and surfed the net. The weather has been warm but very overcast, looking like rain at any minute, although none has fallen. It is supposed to rain tonight.
GPS N 38-46.450 W 076-34.023 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 6651.