Category Archives: Boat Technical

Specifics about the boat.

Fueling Up and Changing Marinas in Annapolis, MD

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Dawn on Wednesday, October 22, taken from the fuel dock.

It was the perfect day to get fuel. It had rained overnight, but was clear now. The wind was supposed to pick up soon, but was calm now. It was close to high tide, so it was easy to get on and off the boat for tying/untying. The fuel dock was conveniently located at our marina. We untied and went around the corner, where two staff caught the lines and tied us up to the fuel dock. Christi was relieved because she was not good at tying up to pylons, which was very different than tying up to cleats.

One of the tricky aspects of pylons was fenders. Eric had tied some of the fenders sideways while we were in the slip, and he hadn’t moved them prior to coming in to the fuel dock. We’re glad that he had them that way as we probably would have collided with a pylon sticking out from the fuel dock (the photo of the new marina has clear photos of how the pylons stick out from the docks).

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And Even More Exploring and Boat Chores in Annapolis, MD

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The dawn on Monday, October 20 wasn’t dramatic. But one of the things that makes dawns special was that they were rarely the same.

We were pleased to report that it was calm in marina today, which was a huge relief. We needed to rent a car to stock up on supplies for our upcoming trip to the Caribbean. The marina was going to charge us $40 per night for parking. Eric did a little searching and found another marina just outside of town that was less expensive and had free parking — the marina fee and car rental fee together would be the same as what we were paying now for the slip here in Annapolis Yacht Basin. Eric made arrangement to move Kosmos to the other marina on Wednesday and rent a car on Thursday. We decided to fuel up during the move. 

In anticipation for the fuel up, Eric checked all the raycor filters and added the fuel additives Biobor and Stanadyne to the tank. Eric forgot there was back pressure in the new pump and spilled some fuel when checking the filters. He got fuel all over himself.  

After we finished school and chores, we walked to Picante for lunch. Eric hadn’t eaten there yet, and he loved it. Eric hadn’t really done much sightseeing in town yet, so we walked by the State House and took side streets back to the City Dock, including several that none of us had been on before. While most of the trees were still green, a few were changing colors.

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Rolly Marina and The Wicked Corn Maze in Maryland

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Sunday, October 19 — Yesterday’s sunrise was colorful.

Yesterday morning, Eric changed the oil and O ring on the main engine. While he was doing that task, It was slightly rolly. As the day went on, it got rollier and rollier. Sauvage came over in the late afternoon. By the time they arrived, the rolling was so bad that it was somewhat uncomfortable to be onboard. We had a nice visit with them none-the-less.

One of the concerns was that we were on fixed docks, and it was a king tide right now. Adjusting the lines properly was tricky, as the lines tended to be too tight at high tide and too slack at low tide. Eric was concerned about crashing into the pylons and/or dock. He spent a lot of time readjusting the lines and fenders, and eventually came up with a fender set up that he was happy with.

The motion continued to worsen throughout the night. By morning, it was so rolly that we felt like we were at sea. None of us slept well. In addition to the motion being uncomfortable, the lines were creaking like crazy from all the motion — and the noise wasn’t only from Kosmos’s lines; the lines on the nearby boats were making a lot of noise, too.

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Annapolis Back to Normal, Boat Maintenance and Socializing

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continued… On the walk back, we marveled at how different the town looked now that the extra infrastructure for the boat show had been cleared away. This entire street had been part of the show. Only the sidewalk in front of the stores had been open to the public. Even yesterday, the road was open, but the parking spots were still closed off, and so was pedestrian traffic along the waterfront.

The Market was to the right, on the other side of the street.

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Boat Chores and More Exploring Annapolis, MD

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Thursday, October 16 — Dawn this morning.

Yesterday morning, Eric was busy with more boat maintenance. He changed the batteries in the refrigerator sensors. He unpacked the lazarette in order to access the wireless temperature sensor for the inverter blower and changed the batteries in it. Eric was relieved that the system remembered all the settings and he didn’t need to reprogram the settings.

We have two modes of operation: anchoring and marina. When we’re in a marina, some of the gear that we need for anchoring gets stowed in the dinghy. He unpacked the dinghy so that he could work on it. Then he tested the new dinghy motor battery that he’d bought at the boat show (it had arrived via UPS a couple of days ago) and confirmed it worked.

Next he tackled the handles. Our dinghy has 6 handles that were factory installed. As we’d already mentioned, two had broken. While we were in Norfolk, Eric had purchased special line specifically for the handle repair project. He installed the lines and the handles (the one he’d purchased and the hose). Much to his delight, the hose worked great as a handle — almost as good as the one we’d bought.

The black one is the purchased handle, the red one is the hose.

When he was done, he put all the stuff away that had come out of the dinghy and the lazarette, which was a significant task.  

At one point, we all took a break from chores/school so we could go say our goodbyes to Blue Heeler, who were leaving today to start heading south. Since we were going to the Eastern Caribbean and they were going to The Bahamas, we likely wouldn’t see them again. The hardest part about boating is leaving the friends that have been made.

After we finished chores/school, we went to The Market for lunch. Now that the boat show was over, the tents and other obstructions were being removed, and we were starting to see what the City Dock area actually looked like.

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