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. 

Visitor!

So, this little guy showed up this morning. Not sure how he got onboard…

Goodnight, Galesville

Dinghy

…is aboard!

West River

We're anchoring in the West River for a couple of nights. A bit cloudy today, but it's great to be out.

Dinghy

We tried out our new dinghy today. For the first time ever, we have a dinghy that will plane. This will extend our range considerably when we're exploring.

Davits

New davits are installed and rigged. We plan to hoist the dinghy aboard later this week.

Strut

We're welding a broken strut on the swim platform today. We're nearing the finish line on our projects, so we should be getting back in the water next week!

Bottom Paint

Bottom paint complete. Sweet.

Prop

The port prop has been repaired and tuned. Looks great!

Swim Platform

The swim platform repair is under way. We damaged this when we were caught in big seas and the dinghy broke loose from the davits. In this picture you can see where the carpenter has cut the aft plank to make it ready to scarf in a new plank.

Shower

I replaced the shower slider bar today. The old one was corroded, so this is a good improvement.

Shiny

Annual wax job completed. So shiny!

Cantler’s

Lunch at Cantler's today. Great day on the water!

Dinghy Davits

The parts for our dinghy davits have arrived. We will install these next week. This upgrade should make handling a larger dinghy possible. 

Oopsie

During our trip through the ICW we touched bottom briefly. Now that the boat is out of the water we can see that we put a ding in one blade of one of the props. It's not too serious, but we'll need to take it off and send it out to be fixed.

Haulout!

This always makes me a little nervous…!

Lunch on the Water

We had a nice day with our family, making a run down to the West River for lunch. Great to spend time together!

Fireworks!

Fireworks in Round Bay aboard our friends' boat.

Rolling and Tipping

This morning I applied what should be the last coat of gelcoat to the bottom of the dinghy. We'll see how it looks after it cures overnight. Then it will be time to flip the dinghy over and finish the inside.

Gelcoat

The first round of gelcoat is on. After it dries I'll sand with some fine grit paper and then buff it. This is an experiment for me since this is my first time using gelcoat. 

Sanding

After the first sanding, the surface is almost smooth. One more round of filler and another sanding before painting with GelCoat.

Repairing the Dinghy

We holed our dinghy on one of our first crossings in the Bahamas this season. We did a rough fiberglass repair the day after, but there were a lot of gouges. Today, I'm using epoxy filler to fair the gouges and then I'll sand the areas smooth. After that, I'll apply some new gelcoat. I'll post some more pictures as we make progress.

Blue Angels!

We're going out to watch the Blue Angels demonstration at the Naval Academy today. We love watching these guys!

Hooper Light

The fresnel lens of Hooper Light.