Solar

Taking care of the batteries on a cold winter day.

Sensei on Ice!

Snow!

'Twas quite snowy in Annapolis yesterday!

Flagstaffs

 

Varnishing is complete, and the hardware has been reassembled. Ready for another season!

Winterized

We finished our winterizing today. Now we wait for spring.

Progress

Here we are after two coats of varnish (Interlux Schooner). It's too cold today to do any more, so I'll wait for a warmer day.

Flag Staffs

I'm beginning the project of revarnishing the flag staffs. Just starting the sanding process today.

Bay Bridge Marina

Sensei

Last weekend we flew over our marina and I captured this picture of Sensei in her berth.

Pressure Relief Valve

While winterizing, I noticed that the original pressure relief valve had rusted and failed. So, today I installed a new one while draining the hot water heater for the winter. It took some squirming around in the engine room to get to it, but we got it done!

LED Lights

I found some LED replacement bulbs so that we can stop using halogen bulbs onboard. The halogens run hot and consume about 10 times as much power.

Dinghy Cover

We modified our dinghy cover with some zippers to allow us to use the cover while it's hanging from the davits. Very nice fit!

Swim Ladder

Today I reinstalled the ladder on the opposite side of the swim platform to accommodate the dinghy location. Everything fits without interference!

Swim Ladder

I spent the morning at a friend's wood shop repairing the swim ladder which lost one of the treads this season. Thanks Dennis!

Mill Creek

We anchored in Mill Creek and visited Cantler's for lunch.

Goodnight, Annapolis

Annapolis Harbor

We almost never take a mooring in our home port, because, hey, we live here. But it's a nice change of pace to sit onboard in the harbor and watch the scene.

Thomas Point

Heading back to Annapolis today to meet some friends for a birthday celebration.

Goodnight, Rhode River

Winterizing is Coming

I always dread the end of the season!

Stan and Joe’s

Lunch was at Stan and Joe's yesterday. It was great to hang out with friends for the day.

Schooner Race

We had a nice day with friends aboard for the Chesapeake Bay Schooner Race start. There was just enough wind, 5 to 10 knots, to keep these heavy boats moving, and the tide was helping them too. This photo is of the Pride of Baltimore, one of our favorites.

Winterizing is Coming

I'm starting to noodle out how I'll winterize the many systems aboard Sensei. Below is a picture of the sea strainer that feeds raw water to the engine. There are similar strainers for the generator and the air conditioners.

I had the idea of buying a spare cap that I could drill a hole in to install a fitting to feed antifreeze into the sea strainer. But, it turns out that when I started researching this idea I found that someone else has already created just what I need:

Perfect! It's made by a company called TRAC, called a TRAC Flush Cap, and it's available on Amazon.

Davit Crossbar

Today I installed the crossbar for the davits. It makes a huge difference for the stability of the davits. The makers had to create a custom bend in the bar to make it work with the steering pedestal, and it worked out great.

Grasshopper

Our new dinghy, also known as "Grasshopper", is working well for us. We're now easily able to get around when the boat is at anchor!

Clear

We had a clear night, and Orion was rising.

Goodnight, San Domingo Creek

Goodnight, Oxford

Entering the Choptank!

On our way to Oxford.

Shower Drain

I spent yesterday rebuilding the shower sump. The float switch appeared to have failed, but after a thorough cleanup to get all of the gak off, it works fine.