Month: November 2015

The only thing that was disappointing about our Annapolis trip was our inability to take the boat on plain. It did not hamper us in any way, but it would have been nice to know that we could take it up to 25 knots if needed. Time to take care of the over-heating problem once and for all.

We noticed that one of the risers on the starboard engine felt much hotter to the touch than the other riser, so we decided to take it off and have a look. We ordered a new gasket from West Marine and it had just arrived, so we headed down to the marina to get our hands dirty.

It was not difficult to remove the riser. Just 4 bolts and a hose clamp and it came right off. Upon inspection, it looked fine, but we decided to soak it in muriatic acid overnight to see what would happen. I lot of bubbling, so we were hopeful.

We installed it the next day and took her for a test run. No luck. Same over-heating problem, perhaps a tiny bit better. This left us with one more option – the dreaded oil cooler. Not that the cooler is hard to remove – just a couple of bolts and hose clamps. The problem is getting to it on our boat. The starboard side of the engine compartment is very small. Getting into the area should be fine, getting out had us a little worried. Then it dawned on me: the oil cooler was mounted vertically on the engine, with the hoses connected at the top. If I removed the hoses, and hooked up longer ones, I could use a funnel to pure the acid into the cooler without removing it from the engine.

We picked up a couple of 1 ¼ hoses at Lowes, another couple gallons of acid and a bucket to collect the acid after it ran through the cooler. We pulled out the zinc plug at the bottom of the cooler to let whatever water was in it run out. The zinc was completely depleted – a possible clue. We put the plug back in and then ran about half a gallon of acid through the hose on the inlet side, until it came out of the hose on the outlet side, and into the bucket. We let the acid sit ion the cooler for about a half hour, then ran water through the hoses to see what would come out.

The bucket filled with black, sooty water. Finally, a sign that we might have found the problem! We repeated the above process 2 more times, until the water going into the bucket looked clean. We then re-installed the original hoses and took the boat out for a test.

Perfect! The temperature stayed at a steady 160 degrees, even when we took it on plain at 3300 rpms. It was now running even cooler than the port engine by 5 degrees. It looks like we will be cleaning the port oil cooler some time soon!

On our way back up the Chesapeake we decided to take our chances and cut across the bay, outside the shipping lanes. It turned out to be a mistake, but not a huge one. We found that the areas outside the channel is filled with crab traps. We had to be on continuous lookout for floating pots the whole way across. Next time I will just stay in the channel.

We decided to stay overnight at a marina about halfway home and Chesapeake Inn Marina on the C&D Canal seemed perfect. We called ahead to make a reservation and hailed the dock master when we were ¼ mile out. Entering was a little tricky because of the strong current on the C&D but the current quickly disappears as soon as you get into the marina, and there is a lot of space to maneuver.

They asked us to dock at the T end on one of the piers, which was great for us. The dock hand was incredible. He met us at the slip, helped pull us in, and tied us up. His name was XXX and he was so experienced he did not even bend over to tie the lines. He just lassoed the cleats like a rodeo cowboy. It was fun to watch but I think it will be a few years before I master that skill.

Chesapeake Marina is a great place to for transient boaters. They have several restaurants, including a large outdoor bar. On weekends it is like one big party, with dozens of boats, live music, great food and interesting people. We will definitely stop here on our next trip through the C&D!

The dock-hands told us that if we got under way at 10:00 the next morning we would have the current with us all the way down the canal, so we called it an early night. We wanted some time in the morning to wash the boat, and we also needed to get gas. Chesapeake Marina does not sell fuel so we planned to stop at Summit North Marina, which was just a few miles down the canal.

Summit North is a large marina on the northern side of the canal. It is easy to access, although there is a strong current close to the entrance. We filled the tanks but decided against stopping at the restaurant since we wanted to catch the current.

The rest of the ride was smooth sailing all the way up the Delaware. We arrived at our home marina at 3:00 and poured the martinis, celebrating our first real boat trip!

I had spent the past few days trying to figure out how I was going to get our boat out of the slip. The dock master told me that many captains just back the boat all the way out, others turned it around in the small open space just outside the slip, then went out bow first. Neither seemed appealing to me. I had never tried backing for more than the length of a slip, let alone 150 yards, and there were boats lined up all along the channel that I needed to traverse. On the other hand, trying to turn the boat around in such a small space, without hitting other boats, seemed just as bad. I am sure that an experienced captain would have laughed at my predicament but it was nerve racking for me.

Eventually, I decided to just back the boat straight out and hope for the best. And … it was easy as pie. Turns out backing a boat up is even easier than going forward. Who knew! With the steering now in front, I was able to control the boat perfectly, and took her right out in a matter of minutes. I pulled back up to the fuel dock to top of the tanks and we were on our way home!

We left the marina at 10:00am for the final leg of our trip to Annapolis. It was a cloudy and rainy day but the water was reasonably calm. We decided that we would stay in the shipping lanes for the whole trip. There appeared to be a shorter way to cut across the Chesapeake, but since it was our first trip we did not want to take any chances.

There were very few other boats on the water, due to weather, so we pretty much had the bay to ourselves. This was the furthest we had ever been from land and it was very exciting. The boat was running perfectly, and at 10 knots we were getting good mileage.

By the time we arrived in Annapolis the weather had cleared and the sun was peaking out. We hailed Annapolis City Marina and they instructed us to pull up to the fuel dock to check-in and get a slip assignment. They have a nice dock store, with all the basic supplies and the the staff was very nice. After helping us tie up, they walked us over to the slip that we were assigned to. I now understood why they asked us to stop at the fuel dock first.

The slip was in the back corner of the marina, next to a parking garage. It required us to sail through a narrow 150 yard long channel and pull, bow first, into the slip. The marina was much tighter than the marinas we had been in so far, and it was very intimidating for novices like us. Getting in was a breeze, but with almost no room to turn the boat around, I had no idea how we were going to get out.

No matter – for now. We planned to stay for two days and explore the city, so we could worry about it later. Annapolis is a great town, with plenty of things to do. We had been here for the boat show back in October and already had a few favorite restaurants we wanted to re-visit.

First on the list was Middleton Tavern for oyster shooters! Apparently this is an Annapolis tradition – at least at Middletons. They put an oyster in a large shot glass with cocktail sauce, and with every one that you order you receive a large beer shot. First you suck down the oyster, slam the glass down and then chug the beer shot. We had about two dozen of them before moving on!

We spent the better part our trip restaurant and bar hopping on Main Street near the Naval Academy. We had such a good time we decided to extend our stay another day!