Category Archives: Maintenance

Where we did maintenance to keep the boat running well.

Seeing Jeff Merrill in Baltimore, Maryland

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Sunrise on Sunday, September 14

Sunday through Tuesday were quiet days overall. We’d intended to make a three-day trip to Washington DC on Monday, so we spent Sunday getting Kosmos ready for sea. We also went to Safeway to stock up on passage foods. Since the choices for passage foods at Safeway weren’t great, we went for an early dinner at Verde, and each got an extra to-go pizza for the passage. While we were eating dinner, Eric pulled out his phone to check the weather and saw that the forecast had changed dramatically. A storm was coming on Tuesday, so we decided to postpone leaving until after the storm passed. Twilight on Sunday:

We don’t think we’ve mentioned this yet: Eric had ordered a new exhaust elbow for the wing-engine that had arrived a few days ago. On Monday, he decided change the elbow. Once he began working on it, he realized the elbow couldn’t really be separated from the rest of the exhaust; the whole exhaust fitting needed to be replaced. So after cleaning up in the engine room, he spent some time trying to hunt down the full exhaust fitting replacement part. He found it at a supplier in Annapolis and made arrangements to pick it up when we go in Annapolis for the boat show.

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The Wharf in Washington DC

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continued… At this point, we were all hungry. Eric checked the map app and saw there was nothing other than snack stands in close walking distance. We continued on the loop, which became muddy and overgrown.

Near where we’d parked, the walking trail had been a little uneven, indicating that the sea wall had settled. Near the George Mason Memorial, the walking trail had actually been fenced off, with construction equipment behind the fence. A sign had said that the Tidal Basin and Potomac parks were created in the 1880s as part of a land reclamation project. The sea wall had deteriorated, and they were in the process of restoring the wall. There were quite a few geese on this side.

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The Great Fish Die Off and The Chesapeake and Ohio (C & O) Canal National Monument, Maryland

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Friday, August 22 — As predicted, the hurricane passed on Wednesday night/Thursday early morning with little effect on Baltimore. Conditions were more severe in Norfolk, so we were glad we’d moved. Yesterday was another cool day, with 10-knots of sustained wind with occasional gusts in high teens, no rain, and temperatures in the 60s. 

Yesterday morning, the alternator belt that Eric had ordered arrived, and he installed it right away. The one he’d ordered was 1/2″ less in diameter than the belts he’d been using, and he was pleased to see that it was a perfect fit! There was just enough room left for adjustment. He also ran main engine and cleaned one of the sea strainers. Surprisingly, it was clean. We were worried they’d be muddy and full of creatures like they’d been in Little Creek.

In the early afternoon, we went to Sprouts, which we knew had some particular items we wanted to stock up on, and then to Target for a more general stock up. In the evening, we had dinner an Italian restaurant in the neighborhood called Verde. They had Napolese style pizza, which was our preferred type of pizza. The cheese was made in house, and it was amazing.

This morning, we walked up to a foul odor. There were thousands of small dead fish floating in the bay!

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Life in Lighthouse Marina and More Exploring Canton, Baltimore MD

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Tuesday, August 19 – There was a hurricane coming. We’d expected the weather to be hot and humid, but it wasn’t; the temperatures outside were idyllic. The hurricane was causing giant waves at the beaches. Baltimore was a good hour drive from the beach, so Kosmos was totally safe. Eric wanted to drive out to the shore to see the waves, but we were told that was a bad idea as the beach areas were prone to flooding. So instead, we took advantage of the coolness to get some chores done.  

Eric and Keith cleaned waterline with a brush, cleaned rust stains off the hull/decks, took off secondary alternator belt in anticipation of replacing it, and changed one of the vent-loop filters. Eric went out to get our empty propane tank filled and then to an auto parts store to pick up the replacement belt. They didn’t have the one he wanted int stock, and he wound up it ordering online. While Eric was out, Keith worked on tightening the screws on deck. Christi cooked, cleaned, and did laundry.

Today is a good day to talk about life in the marina (literally, not figuratively). The thing that we will probably remember most vividly about Baltimore is the bubbly water.

We know it looks like rain, but it wasn’t. According to our neighbor, the various industries in Baltimore dumped hydrocarbons in the bay for hundreds of years. The hydrocarbons now come back up as oily bubbles. While the bubbles never really go away, there are significantly more at low tide. Our neighbor explained that the lower the tide, the more pressure on the ground, and thus the more bubbles that come up. The bubbles are stinky, too. At low tide, it smells bad and there is an oily sheen over the water. At high tide, it smells fine and the sheen vanishes (for the most part).

We would have thought the oily water and noxious air would have killed off all the creatures, but life seems to be thriving around the marina. We’ve seen lots and lots of crabs swimming in the marina and have seen some fish jumping out of the water now and again.

There were lots and lots of ducks, geese and other birds around.

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Replacing Anchor Chain Markers and Exploring Fell’s Point, Baltimore, Maryland

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Monday, August 18 — Today there was no rain in forecast, but it was ominous outside. It was 73-degrees Fahrenheit, a strong, cool wind and very grey skies. Eric decided it was a good day to redo the chain markers. Over the years, we’ve tried an assortment of ways to try to mark the chain at every 50-feet so that we knew exactly how much chain was out. We started with paint, which flaked off quickly. We tried plastic inserts next, but they popped out pretty fast. We then tried colored zip ties and colored tapes, but they tended to break and fall off after a while.

A while ago, Eric had found some plastic inserts that screwed in, and he was hopeful that the screw would mean they would stay in place and not pop out. We hadn’t put them in yet because we needed the right kind of dock – one with a pole at the end that could handle the weight and one long enough to stretch the chain all the way out. This was the spot. We carefully lowered the anchor and placed it on the dock. Then we let out all the chain, winding it up and down the length of the finger.

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