The Start of Our Two-Year Adventure

Bob's View:

Courses and Distance: 
1) Portland, Spring Point Marina, to Portsmouth, Wentworth By the Sea Marina - 41.4 miles (N)
2) Portsmouth to Gosport Harbor, Isle of Shoals - 5.8 miles (N)

3) Isle of Shoals to Boston, Constitution Marina - 50.0 miles (N), 45.79 miles through the water, indicating a tidal lift of almost 5 miles.

Seas and Weather:
1) less than 1 foot chop, swells 2-4 feet at 7-10 second periods, wind variable and light, overcast
2) less than 1 foot, wind light and variable, mostly a flat ocean, ample sunshine
3) less than 1 foot, wind light and variable.  Entrance to harbor very rocky due to idiots going way to fast and passing way to close 

It has been a few days now that VELOMER and her adventurous crew have been to sea.  

PM and I have slowly settled into a sea life attitude after many months on land.  Its hard to describe the difference other than to note land life has many more events to chase: shopping, visiting friends, dealing with supplies, making upgrades to the gear and systems on board, provisioning, dealing with work schedules and tasks, to mention a few. The most distinct difference is that on land, one is always being somewhere at a specific time.  On the water, this is perhaps the most dangerous thing one can do.  If you meet someone, at a specific time, you might need to deal with weather or mechanical delays that would require travel at inopportune times.  This should be avoided for obvious reasons.  When we do connect with someone, we tell them where or when but not both.   Most of our time at the marina in South Portland was spent doing things, going places, meeting people, and generally being very busy all day.  Or so it seems.
  

Now that we are off the shore, most of our time is spent observing things, like the pod of dolphin passing across our bow off Gloucester, the seals that often appear out of the deep water (> 40 fathoms) to look at us before resuming their underwater roaming, and the sea birds that swoop around us at times.  A small sea bird, a storm petrel, I think, landed on our stern rail to rest awhile as we passed Cape Ann.  We have seen no whales as yet but we have days yet to look for them before we enter the warm shallows of Long Island Sound.  Seeing whales, dolphins and various other sea life and feeling a part of their world has become a special treat for us and one we missed while away from the ocean the past 8 months.


Our first day was a long haul, almost 8 hours, as we cruised down the Maine coast to Portsmouth, passing out of Portland Harbor, the Portland Head Light wished us a bon voyage and safe travels, hooting a last horn call as we made for the Portland Light and Navigation Buoy (LNB) off the coast a few miles.  The 4212 Garmin chart-plotter on the flybridge was inoperative and despite attempts to remedy this at sea, we relied on a small back up plotter and paper charts and our eyes to arrive safely at Wentworth Marina on Castle Island outside Portsmouth Harbor.  This marina is a fine one with competent dock hands to secure our craft against the dock.  The available space was tight but with slow and deliberate maneuvering, we achieved a landing without drama,  I noted that the engine idle speed was 100 RPMs lower after the engine had run all day and I will readjust this to 725, a setting that sounds smooth and does not strain the transmission while changing gears.  With a 2.34 reduction, the shaft turns at less than 200 RPMs at idle.  I note that maneuvering VELOMER  is definitely easier after the rudder extension project completed this winter.  And she definitely tracks better using less adjustments by the auto pilot while underway, so adding the 6 inches to the rudder was a fine improvement.  

After our arrival. we began to look at the chart plotter problem.  The plotter provides us with critical position information and tracks our progress along a course entered in the memory.  Without it, cruising is certainly possible but more cumbersome as courses are now point to point with compass and paper chart.  Using the plotter allows us to enjoy the surroundings more and also have more "situational awareness" of the time and distance to go to the next waypoint or to estimate our time of arrival at our final destination that day.  So to fix the problem, I contacted Garmin tech support and we went through all the components of the system, isolating and testing each one as it was powered.  The issue turned out to be simple in the end, something i have noted time and tome again about boat problems.  A small fuse that powered the peripherals, (antenna and depth sounder) had blown.  This 3 ampere fast blow fuse was the one I did not have on board among all the dozens I had in my spares box.  After a trip to Radio Shack, the fuse was replaced.  Unfortunately this new fuse also blew and so the hunt was on for another reason the system kept crashing.  All the electrical fittings were disassembled and checked and refastened and tightened; the attachment to the Garmin backbone was disassembled and rebuilt; the antenna was taken down, taken apart and reassembled; the power cord was minutely examined and generally every inch of the system was inspected.  After replacing the fuse again, the system worked.  It is still working.  Perhaps the first replacement fuse was defective, perhaps it was the loose connection, but we have a working system again, and I know the chart plotter system intimately.




Day 2 of cruising brought us to Boston and Constitution Marina, one of our favorites from last year as it is located in the heart of Charlestown adjacent to the USS Constitution and a short walk across the Charlestown bridge form the North End, where delectable Italian food and the best chocolate on the eastern seaboard is to be found.


This is and will always be recalled as the marina where PM discovered the rear head was not working.  I thought it was more than likely a simple blockage and rigged a hose from the dock to force water through the run from the rear head to the holding tank.  This fix did not produce the result I was hoping for, to the say the least, and I spent most of the rest of the first day at the marina cleaning the area around the head.  Enough said.  This problem, as all boat problems, needed but the right tool. After a few minutes gathering my thoughts and calming down after accusing myself of being a complete idiot for the solution I had attempted, a little research on my I-phone and I found an Ace Hardware in the North End, made the hike across the Charles River Bridge and purchased a snake.  Despite PM's thought of bringing in a Roto Rooter professional, this was a task I felt I could accomplish as an amature.  So another dis-assembly of all the components of the  head to access the 2 1/2 inch line and then detach it from the holding tank at the other end and we were ready.  The blockage proved incredibly hard to dislodge.  We tried liquid Tide and vinegar and let it sit awhile, hoping that that process would soften the whatever.  Another attempt to run the snake through the line from the holding tank end and we were successful in getting it through to other end of the line to the head.  

Then a second error in judgement for the day occurred.  We tied a short piece of clothes line to the snake, thinking this would help clear the line as it was extracted.  This worked for about 10 feet then the snake with the knotted line attached would not budge.  I had PM pull on the line, "harder, harder", I urged.   I had a vision at this point of the blockage freeing with disastrous consequences to PM, who was directly in the line of fire. Fortunately, after an Herculean effort by PM,  the snake suddenly was free and came through with the knotted clothes line still attached. This was followed by a bunch of messy white goo, more like Crisco than the sludge we were expecting.
  

To make a very detailed story short, which I can share to those who wish the full story, it turns out the oil and vinegar we had regularly been putting in the head to lubricate the valves and deodorize the system over the past two years had combined with salt water to form what can be delicately described as arterial sclerosis.  VELOMER needed a dose of Lipitor.  Essentially, we had to perform a colonoscopy on the pipe from the head to the holding tank.  

And we decided another solution to keeping the lines clear was needed,  PM researched the issue on the AGLCA website ( America Great Loop Cruising Association) and found an article by a women, I'll call her the Head Mistress, who knows all about marine heads.  Not only do the lines from marine heads that use salt water accumulate scale, or calcium deposits, but also the animal fats in human waste combine with the salt water to form a pasty substance which eventually will close down the pipe.  In our case the cheap vegetable oil we had been using added fat.  She recommends a solution of 1/2 cup liquid detergent and 1/2 cup of vinegar monthly to keep the lines clear and the components moving freely. So our heads no longer smell like salad dressing but if we ever pump out at sea, a trail of bubbles will follow surely us to port.  We will substitute our former salad dressing with  liquid Tide and vinegar as an anti cholesterol treatment.

It seems that each time we use a marina as a destination, something needs fixing.  This is boat life and often I recall the wisdom of an old boater who intoned, "evr'thang on a boat is broke, you just don know it yet".

So tomorrow we cruise on south to Hingham Boatyard, where we can re provision at a Market Basket and perhaps catch a movie, if we have the time after fixing something else.  

Every day boat life throws a puzzle our way.  VELOMER is certainly keeping us mentally fit to solve these.


I do love this life.

PM's Perspective

Preparing for two years away from home port is a daunting task.  Without ready access to the self-storage unit or the office, we need to think about all the things we may need during the next two years in terms of clothing, equipment, favorite movies, books, kitchen items and the like.  Do I need/want the salad spinner?  The blender?  A magic bullet?  A thermos? How about a Keurig coffee machine?  The electric kettle?  A microwave oven?  What clothes do we really need? We also need to understand the limited storage space on Velomer.  If we have to have an item on board, we have to figure out where to store it, not always a simple task. 


Take for instance, shoes.  Phil and Bettina are getting married October 11 in New York.  A woman needs shoes for such an event.  I'm not sure yet what I am going to wear and I need shoes to go with the outfit.  If I already have a suitable pair of shoes, I can't see spending money on another pair of shoes.  The only solution is to bring several pair of dress up shoes on the boat just in case I need them in October.  The floor of my closet area is already taken up by two pairs of flip-flops, one pair of boating shoes, three pairs of crocs, one pair of athletic shoes, one pair of sandals, one pair of "big-girl" shoes suitable for the office and a pair of hiking boots.  Where am I going to put dress-up shoes?
  


Dampness is also another issue.  You don't want to store shoes in a damp area as leather shoes can get moldy and cloth shoes can rot.  So options are limited.


Last summer during our 100 days out of home port, we became aware that we watched very few movies and listened to very few CDs.  In addition, we have Netflix and Bob has access to music on his I-Phone.  So most of the DVDs and CDs came off the boat.  I also noticed that we had too many towels aboard.  How many towels does a person need?  I figured two each for Bob and me plus two for guests plus two beach towels, three hand towels.  The rest came off the boat and into self-storage.


I know I have too many clothes aboard, but I am having a hard time culling. I have a rain coat, an overcoat, two winter coats (one with a hood, one without), two fleeces, two pairs of jeans, two pairs of khakis, two pairs of black pants, one pair of white pants, countless tops, so say nothing of under garments.  However, we will be gone for two years.  It will be interesting to see if I do where everything at least once.


We've stocked up on lots of toilet paper (which never goes down the head!), paper towels, boxed wine, and dark chocolate (can't have too much dark chocolate).  Fortunately, most marinas are within proximity to grocery stores and have laundry facilities on site. I am ready to roll!