A few minutes ago. Sunset in Fox Cove on Sucia Island. Fantastic!
Fox Cove, Sucia Island Sunset
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Be kind to your dinghy
As the title suggests, we have not been kind to ours. We expect our dinghy to transport us to shore and back, take us exploring, adventuring, joyriding, and perhaps even rescue us in the event of an emergency. Yet we treat ours poorly. Not intentionally. We always have the best of intentions. I’d call it benign neglect.
We’ve had our boat a bit over six years now. The inflatable came attached to the stern. Back in early ’12, we installed new davits, seats, steering, and a new 20 hp Tohatsu outboard. For anyone wishing to relive that exciting story, visit this post.
Since that time, the dinghy has lived on the davits on the back of our boat. Good weather and bad. Tipped up on the stern, it’s convenient to use, but not to work on. We wash it and keep it mostly clean, but that’s just about the extent of our care. As for the motor, I check the oil from time to time. I also check to make sure it is still firmly attached to the dinghy.
The most recent abuse came from sitting in salt water for a month while our boat was in the yard. Barnacles and various slimy things were growing on it when we finally pulled it out of the water. Yuck.
The whining is over
As I mentioned in a previous post, we’ve had a horrible whine in the port shaft ever since Seaview West put the new shaft in. The whine starts about 1000 rpm, gets louder through our cruising speed of 1650 rpm, and disappears about 1900 rpm. At normal cruise the whine was so loud, we had to close the aft stateroom doors. There is nothing wrong with the work Seaview did, so the propeller is the likely suspect.
Saturday, we motored over to Seaview West to haul the boat and work on the prop. It was a beautiful day for boating. A bit breezy, but beautiful.
And we are home
I fired up the engines, untied the lines, and we were off at 5:35 this morning. Time to head home. Wind speeds had been 19 knots overnight, but the indicator showed 1.5 knots this morning and everything was calm in Roche Harbor.
Wrapping up the Grand Banks rendezvous
The day started out great. More sun and fine weather. By afternoon, the wind had come up and clouds had covered the sky. Before that, though, I went for a nice walk. There were many canada geese over on the grass. Many babies around. It’s that time of year.
Friday at the Grand Banks Rendezvous
Friday started out (after coffee and doughnuts) with a talk by Bill Davis, the current PSGBOA president, about safety and dealing with emergencies afloat. A good subject and cause for thought. Kim and I think we are generally prepared, but we’ve not spent much time discussing and planning emergency procedures. That will soon change.
More from the Grand Banks rendezvous
Another gorgeous morning in Roche Harbor. Americas Odyssey, a Grand Banks 49, is backing into the slip in the foreground. Funny that we should meet up with this boat. It was for sale in San Francisco for several years. Kim and I looked at it several times and seriously considered buying it at one point. It’s a beautiful boat.
