Willoughby Bay (Anchorage)

Wednesday May 20, 2015
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Unfortunately the weather had deteriorated further during the night and conditions on the Chesapeake do not look good. So we met again and decided to just complete the Elizabeth River section of about 15 NM (?????) and anchor just out of the Chesapeake in Willoughby Bay. And here we are, a couple of hours later.

The interesting part is that we are anchored adjacent to the Navy Air Base and there is a lot of air activity around us. Lots of helicopters overhead - I think they are probably just running messages for the Admiral's wife.

We were scrutinized (Cavara in the background)

The "Ike"

View from our anchorage

All around us - the Marines doing their thing.

Top Rack Marina

Tuesday May 19, 2015
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I found the Yard Manager when he was having his coffee at about 7:30 AM. Seemed like a nice guy. The upshot was that he would arrange a haul that morning.  I returned to Tide Hiker to eat breakfast and wait.

At Noon I tracked him down again. Usual stuff "busy morning etc" but he agreed to come for a ride to listen to the noise. He arrived when promised and we headed up the river. His immediate conclusion was "singing prop" - not doing any damage and the only solution would be to haul the boat and send the props out to be tuned. Bugger that.

We dropped him off, called Barb and Don, and caught the 2 PM opening of the Great Bridge bridge and lock. The weather was predicted to turn bad so we only went a few miles to Top Rack where we took an hour or so to load fuel and water and pump out. Top Rack have the best diesel price for a 100 miles in both directions.

Tonight we took advantage of their "eat your dockage fee" at their fancy restaurant. Nice bottle of wine, crab soup and mahi mahi, all for "free". Good deal. At dinner we discussed plans for the trip north up the Chesapeake. Its a new and interesting dynamic with four opinions and data points

We resume our northern trip in the AM.

Atlantic Yacht Basin

Monday March 18, 2015
36 43.207 N
76 14.096 W

Our target for today was a marina on the Elizabeth River called "Top Rack". This is a favorite for two reasons: 1) Cheapest fuel at $2.31 tax paid, and 2) The dockage is about $80 but you can spend it in the restaurant! Great deal.

We had the anchor up at 8 AM sharp. Nice day, sunny with maybe 15 mph west wind. Unfortunately the "prop whine" was getting worse and sounds more like "metal on metal" and I was starting to get concerned. I called several people and got some input. Consensus was that I should take a look.

So after we had crossed the Albemarle Sound we found a quiet spot and dropped anchor so I could dive over the side. I wore my "shortie" wet suit, and was frustrated by the way it seems to shrink between wears! The water was not that cold but very "stained" by the run off from the swamps. Under the boat I could hardly see, but satisfied myself that all the parts were where they should be.

So we fired up the engines and moved on, thinking about "Plan B". We are aware of a large yard close to our day's destination and I called them to see if we could get hauled tomorrow morning. We are sitting at their dock now as I type this. Maybe I will ask a mechanic to take a ride in the AM and listen to the noise.

Alligator River

Sunday May 17, 2015
35 46 632 N
76 02 313 W

The big adventure started today. We were both underway at 8 AM in perfect weather. The initial target was the Belhaven anchorage with a couple of "stretch targets". Conditions were so comfortable that we kept moving and did not anchor until the sun was setting at about 8 PM half way north on the Alligator River. Was an uneventful day, except that Tide Hiker seems to have developed a case of "singing props".

The wind got up a bit as the sun was setting and we found the movement a bit unusual after 2 weeks on the hard. We anchored among a bunch of crab pots which made things a bit awkward. The wind settled down overnight for good sleeping weather.

During the day we traversed the Pungo River - Alligator River canal - 22 miles of man made canal with just one 20 degree bend in the whole length. The canal runs its entire length thru swamp grass. On the North side where the construction spoil was dumped there is enough elevation for trees to grow in a narrow band, but behind the trees is endless swamp grass. There is nothing to do other than look for critters and try and get a photo - but no dice.

The trickiest part about anchoring was finding space between bloody crap pot floats. They are such a curse, because if you tangle one on a prop it can stall the engine. Monday morning the crab-man was buzzing around emptying his pots. He seemed such a nice guy I felt guilty about the things I had muttered the night before.

This was the pattern on the chart plotter when we woke this AM. Obviously the wind and current did not change much last night. Perfect anchorage. The little triangle is where we pulled the boat forward to attach the snubber. 

The "Down East Loop"

The Down East Loop

We have talked about our plans for this summer with so many people that I did not realize that I had not explained the plan in our Blog. We are currently heading for New York, the starting point for the "Down East Loop".

Starting in New York, the Down East Loop is about 2,400 NM and will take us all summer, and some more!. We plan to make it to NY harbor in mid to late May and to be back by mid September.

The basic route is made up of:

* Up the Hudson to Waterford
* Thru the Erie and Oswego canals to Lake Ontario
* Across Lake Ontario to Kingston, Canada
* Down the St. Lawrence "all the way" with visits to Montreal, Quebec City, and the Saguenay Fjord
* Into the Gulf of St. Lawrence and East around the Gaspe Peninsula
* East thru the Cumberland Straights to Prince Edward Island
* Back into the Atlantic and north to Cape Breton Island
* South down the coast of Nova Scotia
* Across the Bay of Fundy
* South down the Maine Coast to New England
* South to Boston and the Cape Cod Canal
* South to New England, stops at Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket
* Back to New York

We will be travelling with Barb and Don Cavin on Cavara. Don is an ex USAF and Northwest Airlines pilot and Barb is English and an ex Northwest Airlines stewardess.

This voyage will be quite a challenge for boat and crew. We will be travelling thru some rather raw territory. (The Gaspe peninsular has more wild moose than anywhere else in the continent. We will have to keep a sharp lookout!) We are keen to see some whales, but we are told the issue will not be seeing them, but avoiding them!

The tides and tidal currents are impressive in this part of the world. Our research has told us that we need at least four 60' docking lines to help cope with the large tidal rise and fall. So I purchased a reel of 600' of 3/4" nylon rope that we will split with Cavara.

Making mooring lines

Beaufort, NC (On the hard)

Monday May 4, 2015
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We are here to get hauled and to prepare for our adventure on the Down East Loop (Next posting). I am hoping to get in to the yard today and out on Friday. We had arrived exactly on schedule and the yard manager ("Keenan") was on board at 8 AM arranging for our haul. So far so good.

I find hauling a nervous business. Tide Hiker weighs about 35 tons, which seems a lot to lift safely. But all went well and we had been power washed (to get the slime off the hull) and blocked by 10 AM. So far I was impressed by the yard.

The approach - there was a bit of a current so I needed two tries.

Out of the water - waiting for the power wash

We can live on board while we are here. Its a bit like living on the second floor of a small condo. We are connected to shore power and have a nice set of stairs leading to the swim platform. We have water in our tanks - but only let water drain over the side at night! The yard has nice bathrooms and a boaters' lounge.

The yard manager and I had a planning meeting before lunch. My main objective is to have the hull sanded and painted. Tide Hiker also has a "bit of a vibration" and so I wanted to track that down. And I had some questions for a mechanic in the Engine Room.

According to Keenan, the vibration could be caused by:

1. Engine mounts
2. Either or both of the cutlass bearings (on the prop shaft)
3. A bent shaft
4. Prop damage

The mail was waiting for us. I spent much of the afternoon paying bills. We invited Don and Barb over for dinner.

The shaft/cutlass bearing contractor ("Mayda") turned up in the dark during dinner. After some chin scratching we decided to try the easier (meaning least expensive) repairs first - get the props balanced and change the outer cutlass bearings. One hour later the two props were off. Mayda promised he would be back Wednesday to install the replacement bearings.

The props are off and now at the "prop shop"

Tuesday May 5, 2015

Starting to clean the hull

Very calm night - the boat did not seem to move at all.

A young man ("Will") started sanding the hull at about 8:30 AM. Great.

The mechanic ("George") turned up about 9:00 AM. My list for the engine room:

1. Check the engine mounts (re the vibration)
2. Adjust the tappets on the main engines - has been 3 years since the last adjustment
3. Look for a small coolant leak on the stb engine
4. Look for a small fuel leak that maybe causing the stb engine to stall shortly after starting
5. Check the "Glendenning" engine speed synchronizing system.
6. Remove and inspect one of the main engine exhaust elbows.

George is a neat and tidy mechanic. The results of his visit:

1. Engine mounts are fine
2. Tappets are adjusted and I enjoyed a lesson on how to do it myself.
3. George found and resolved the coolant leak in 3 minutes
4. The fuel leak also took about 3 minutes - George believes the leak originates from the low pressure fuel pump - we will swap it out next visit
5. The Glendenning will have to be removed and sent back to the manufacturer - lets do that on another time - we do not have time this visit.
6. No need to remove the elbow - when the boat is back in the water George will flush the cooling system with a "Barnacle Buster" type product and that will clean the whole system, including the elbow.

Wednesday May 6, 2015

First thing this morning "Will" was back grinding. What a job! Thanks goodness for our Mexican friends. I busied myself dismantling the above deck parts of the windlass so as to apply a liberal coating of "Never Seize" to the working parts. I now feel "even" with the windlass.

This afternoon Don and I loaded my props into the rental and took them to the "prop shop" - will be ready Monday - maybe. Back at the boat I borrowed some scaffold and started waxing the hull. Dinner on board and a quiet evening.


Thursday May 7, 2015

Mayda turned up bright and early and removed the old cutlass bearings and installed the new. I was his understudy and enjoyed the experience. Hopefully I will never need to apply that experience on Tide Hiker.

The old cutlass bearing being pressed out.

Mayda then directed his talents to the port rudder post, and after removing the packing we decided to remove and replace the packing on both sides. It was a dirty, awkward job executed in a very confined space. The old flax packing is now out - waiting for the new synthetic packing material to arrive.

The rain started about midday, and is generally forecast to last for a week! The hulls cannot be painted in the rain, so we are looking at a delay.

Dinner out with Kathy and John from Sea Grace. 

Friday May 8, 2015

Now we have Tropical Storm "Ana" heading straight for us! Its "no big deal" except that we can expect more and more rain, and less and less progress on Tide Hiker. We are using up "weather days" and we have not even started the loop. So we have decided to rent a car for a few days and visit some friends and do some exploring.

Don and barb came over for a drink and a chat after dinner.

Saturday May 9, 2015

The car rental place has run out of cars so we did dot get our car till after lunch today. But it is a nice car (Chrysler 200) and is the "weekend special" - only $33 for three days. We drove around and re-acquainted ourselves with Beaufort, NC and did some shopping, including lumber and rope for the fender boards.

Back in the yard we set up the fender boards and tried them out for size on Tide Hiker. We will store them on the top deck lashed to the rail.

Midships fender board.

Lisa and Tom Noyse also own a DeFever 49 RPH and live in New Bern, about 45 miles away. We met them in Stuart, FL on the day we purchased Tide Hiker 3 years ago and have kept in touch. They kindly invited us to meet them for dinner (with Lisa's Mum, Wanda) in Beaufort tonight. The company and food was great.

From the left - Lisa, Wanda (Lisa's Mum) Jeff, Bob and Deidre

Sunday May 10, 2015

We were on the road by 9 AM and into the rain. Tropical storm Ana was crossing the coast south of us as we headed south. Did not emerge till a few miles north of Charleston. Mason was pleased to see us!

Monday May 11, 2015

Kylie and Ryan were off to work early and Mason deposited at "school". We drove the 265 miles back to Beaufort without any rain and dropped into the prop shop to check on progress. They were not ready

Tuesday, May 12, 2015


Picked up the props today and Mayda installed them. There is a problem with the cutters so I ordered the parts "rush".

Wow!

Wednesday May 13, 2015

Not much going on. But the weather has improved and we are starting to see progress on the hull.

We are all blotchy

A barge passing on the river

Thursday, May 14, 2015


"The more I learn the more I realize what don't know." The other day Don changed the electrode in his hot water service. I did not know that they even had a sacrificial electrode, let alone that they needed to be changed once a year. So I ordered a new one and it arrived today. Needless to say it seems the change might have been "just in time".


Friday May 15, 2015

The painting was completed today. Needs 8 hours to dry, so we will be launched Saturday morning. We are all ready for it.

This classic "Trumpy" yacht was hauled at the yard next door today and is sitting right behind us. What a beauty!

Saturday May 16, 2015

We were up at 7 AM preparing Tide Hiker to be relaunched. The travel-lift was right on time and we were in the water by 9 AM. The only hassle was that the Stb engine would not run - discovered the silly mechanic had turned the fuel off and forgotten to turn it on again.

Tide Hiker and Cavara

Beaufort, NC (At the yard dock)

Sunday, May 3, 2015
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We were heading out into the Atlantic today for an easy 75 NM run to Beaufort, NC. Our target destination was the True World Marine boat yard about 10 miles up the Newport River. The weather was perfect, sunny with very little wind. We had the anchor up and we were underway at a leisurely 7 AM.

But first - today id Deidre's birthday. I had a cake for her (I had really lucked out at Ocean Isle - a mile or so from the dock I found a bakery!) and some candles and so once we were on course and handed over to the autopilot we had our little celebration.

The weather remained clear and calm. We seemed to catch 1/3 of a knot of favorable current, so that made me happy. A few dolphins came to visit us and ride our bow. We made the channel bouy by 4 PM and headed up the river past downtown Beaufort and arrived at the yard dock by 5:30 PM. Barb and Don ("Cavara") were waiting at the dock and took our lines. After a chat and a quick beer they drove us (they have a rental) into town for birthday dinner.