Category Archives: Maintenance

Where we did maintenance to keep the boat running well.

The National Cryptologic Museum in Annapolis, Maryland — Part 1

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Saturday, Sept 27 — First thing this morning, Eric went to move car. His plan was to move the car out of the lot and then park right back in it. However, the lot was closed – cars could only leave, they couldn’t enter. Since it was so early in the morning, he decided to see if he could find street parking along The Wharf. He found a spot, but the tire popped when he bumped into the curb while parallel parking. Then he noticed the sign said 10-minute parking. Argh!

He changed the tire with the donut in the trunk, then went to the car rental agency at the airport to exchange cars. The staff in the office told him they couldn’t help him until after he called into the customer service line. He was very frustrated about being on hold for 7-minutes while the staff at the counter were twiddling their thumbs. Fortunately, the agency exchanged the car with no issues, though they did charge $100 for the tire. And he’d forgotten to fill the tank up before returning the car, and we are still waiting to find out what they’re going to charge us for the gas. 

Meanwhile, on The Wharf, there was a big event. Christi and Keith watched a giant crowd of people congregate on the pier to the west of the marina, with loud music playing. The music stopped and the whole crowd moved to the boardwalk and started walking east. They thought it may have been a fundraiser walk, but weren’t sure. Here was a photo of the pier after the crowd cleared out.

Once Eric had the replacement car, he headed back to The Wharf. He drove around for a solid half-hour and couldn’t find a parking spot anywhere. Much to his frustration, many of the lots and garages were closed on the weekends. He gave up and finally parked at the outrageously expensive Wharf parking garage. We tried to hurry, but since we hadn’t realized there would be a rush to leave, none of us had really gotten going on the day yet. By the time each of us showered, ate breakfast and got everything ready to go out for the day, almost two hours had passed. The parking fee was $24.00. 

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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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