Category Archives: Repair

Where we fixed something that failed.

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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Boat Chores in Annapolis, MD

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Tuesday, October 14 — Sunday night was really rainy, but by the Monday morning, the precipitation slowed down to a drizzle. It was drizzly and cool all day, making it a great day for boat projects. Eric went back to the wing engine exhaust project. He undid the hoses and tightened the wing engine exhaust elbow. When he tested it, he was frustrated to see that there was still debris in the air. But after inspecting it more closely, he’d determined it was probably smoke from the paint; he’s pretty sure that the exhaust was properly put back together and wasn’t leaking. He’ll run it some more over the next few days to be certain.  

Once Keith was done with his school work, Eric and Keith went to a restaurant called the Iron Rooster, which was located near The Market. Christi stayed aboard to work on her land-life project.

In the afternoon, Eric again hosted two D & D sessions aboard Kosmos.

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Passage from Baltimore to Washington DC — Leg 2: Live Fire Exercises, Crab Traps and Toilet Repairs

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Friday, Sep. 19 — We again wanted to get an early start on our passage, so we got up at 0530. Much to our dismay, the mid-stateroom toilet was broken. Unfortunately, there was no time to worry about it this morning. Fortunately, we have two heads (bathrooms), so we were fine. Here was the crescent moon and a nearby planet glowing brightly pre-dawn.

Today the skies were clear, so when we pulled up anchor at 0620, there was enough light to see where we were going. That said, the anchor chain was very muddy, and we did need a flashlight in order to wash the chain. It was a glorious morning, with the sky taking on a rainbow of colors throughout the pre-dawn.

It was also a beautiful sunrise. 

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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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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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