Millions of baby oysters lurk under the docks at York River Yacht Harbor. The Sarah Creek Shellfish company buys seed oysters in Maine and grows them in tubs and racks under the docks here. When they get to be over an inch, they move them out into beds in the bay and then harvest them at three inches. It appears to be economically viable and it helps clean up the water as each oyster filters two gallons of water every hour.
Boat projects, parts and temps in the 90’s with rain made this a good time to stay in the Yorktown area, actually Glocester, and work on the boat. Ted Leonard received parts shipments and loaned us a spare car, so that really made things easier. We replaced the engine compartment cooling fan and took time to change the engine oil and transmission fluid. For those that haven’t had the joy of working on a marine engine, there isn’t enough space under most to drain out the oil, so you use a pump to suck it up through the dipstick.
We installed a radio receiver just before we left that receives position reports from commercial ships and shows them on a chart in your computer. It is a safety feature as it warns you how long before a ship might be a risk of collision. We had a terrible time getting it to work with our navigation software. Called MaxSea, and they informed us that it is another $250 to activate that feature and we would probably also need to upgrade from version 11 to version 12 for another $125. I had thought there might be something wrong with our receiver wiring, but that was not the case. We downloaded a trial of Coastal Explorer and it worked right off the bat. Ordered a copy and they shipped it second day (for free!) and we installed it. Seems to do everything we need, but will report back after we have more experience with it.
The new drinking water filter came and that is installed. We bought one last fall at the Annapolis boat show and it ended up being the wrong size. We waited until the beginning of the voyage to put it in so it would be fresh. Don’t wait until just before you go to test things!
Also spent an afternoon trying to get the refrigerator lining molded around the door seals using some wooden jigs and a heat gun (as if it isn’t hot enough). Came to the conclusion that we will be cutting flat strips and gluing them together for this trip.
The sail was the biggest disappointment as it is getting stuck in a position where we can’t get it rolled up could be dangerous.
We spent a day cleaning ad lubricating the mechanism, but it still wouldn’t furl. Ended up replacing the furling line so it would be smoother and might not catch in the future. It is working now, but still not as easy to roll up as it should be. We may have to tension the headstay.
We spent a day cleaning ad lubricating the mechanism, but it still wouldn’t furl. Ended up replacing the furling line so it would be smoother and might not catch in the future. It is working now, but still not as easy to roll up as it should be. We may have to tension the headstay.
We’ve debated about going offshore from here instead of going up the Chesapeake and down the Delaware. Decided that we want to stay where there are maintenance facilities until we get a little more comfortable that everything is working okay. Today we will head up the bay to the Deltaville area. It is supposed to be relatively windless and hot for the next 4-5 days.
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