Little dinghy ride

I putzed around on the dinghy a little - it hadn't been run in a while and needed some "exercise".   Cranked on the first pull - and I'm usually not very good with pull-starts!

Looking backwards -

Looking forward -

Beautiful day!

Making custom fitted sheet

Our berth, like most on boats, is not a standard size.  It's not even rectangular!  My process for making the bed involves using a queen size flat sheet and wrestling with it to tuck under all the excess sheet material.

I decided it was time to make a custom fit sheet!

With the sheet on the bed, I just went around the perimeter and used straight pins to mark the pattern.

I cut the excess material away - 8" from the edge.

Then I made a large dart at each of the 4 corners.

Then I just hemmed the entire edge....and sewed about 2' of elastic (stretched) to each of the corners.

And that's about it!  A fitted sheet for a odd shaped boat mattress!

And here it is in place.  I'm pretty pleased with the results!

Wet sails

I dropped the sails as we motored in the channel approaching Oriental, Duane was at the helm.

So, it's sortof my responsibility to "tidy-up" the sails.  But, I didn't.  I said I'd do it later......

And then it rained.

This photo is un-retouched.  This is really what it looked like from the back of the boat!

 But, a day later all was sunny!  The only problem is, I left the sail cover open and the sail was soaking wet!

So, even though it was pretty blustery, I winched the sail up while tied up in the slip.

 After letting it dry for a couple of hours, I dropped the sail and zipped it up safe and sound!  All done!

A bit of sailing

We need to calibrate the auto-pilot, so a little sailing was in order!

Beautiful day!

Pat and Diane on their boat....

And we had a great sail - going wing-n-wing with the wind out our back for the peaceful sail back  to the marina.

More autopilot installation

Duane has been working on the autopilot installation again.....now the linear drive unit is installed.  This is in the aft cabin - the drive unit is attached directly to the rudder.  It won't be visible in the berth after we put the cover back in place.  I know, not all that exciting to look at, but a lot of work to get to this point!

Linear Drive for our AutoHelm autopilot

Duane does not like our existing autopilot.  It's called a "wheel pilot" and it actually moves the steering wheel.   There is a better system - it's called a "linear drive".  It steers the boat by directly moving the rudders.

So of course, we got one!   I know, it's not much to look at.....

New wiring had to be run.   And that's about all there is to the installation so far....although much progress was made snaking the new wire from this control panel area back 15' to the rear of the boat!  (not a simple task when you can't reach or see what you're doing!)

Replacing Goit portlight seal

The portlight in one of the cabins was leaking pretty bad if it rained hard....so we started searching for the material.    We found the gasket material at a marine supply in St. Maarten - couldn't find it in the US! 

We removed the window from the porthole.

Closeup of the gasket....no wonder it leaked!!

Cleaned up the plexiglass and removed all the old glue with denatured alcohol.

I taped the edges with masking tape just to prevent and contact cement from oozing out.  Just painted a nice thick coating of cement and allowed to dry to tacky.

Painted the glue on the pre-measured and cut, new gasket.

Once everything was just the right amount of tacky....carefully placed the new gasket in the groove.

All done and ready to install.

Installed and water tight!!

Pecan Grove Marina fall Pig-Pickin'

We flew down to the boat, mostly just to attend the annual fall get-together at the marina.

Nice day and nice gathering!

The marina developers treat us to a nice catered meal.

Good turn-out and good food - (no "pig" for me of course) - the banana pudding was terrific!!

Fall weekend at the boat

Gorgeous fall weather! We went with Pat and Diane on their boat for an evening sail.

The next morning it was time for a chore.  Pat had taken our sails off the boat a few weeks ago when we were in Utah.  Hurricane Joaquin was threatening our marina and the sails needed to be removed to reduce the chance of damage.

So, the sails needed to be put back on.  In the process, I wanted to wash the foresail really well - it had grown a green mold over the summer on the edges.

Nothing a good spraying of bleach wouldn't solve.

All washed off and rinsed really well.  Just pulled up the sails and let them dry in the breeze/sunshine!

Visited the Ol’ Front Porch Music Festival in Oriental - friend Rick Higgins and his ukulele  band "Far From Done"

And wandered thru the old car show along the waterfront.

And some fun time just on the back of the boat with Pat and Diane!

Sailing Washington, NC to Oriental

I guess all good trips have to come to an end sometime....and this one has to because we've got more adventures planned soon!!

Up early again.

And it was foggy!

Thru the open railroad bridge.

But, as usual, the sun came up!

We passed closer to the phosphate mine.  Huge operation.

Very nice winds.

Eventually we were in the "ditch" - part of the Intercoastal Waterway.

US Coast Guard station.

Mayo docks....big fishing boats.

A couple of hours of this view....

Then finally back out on the open Pamlico Sound.  A phosphate barge splashing thru the by then choppy seas.

And we were on a converging course with this nice sailboat. 

And that about wraps up the almost 3 weeks that we cruised the coast of NC!  More adventures await!!

Washington, NC

 Our buddies Reid and Laurie (they went on the Bahamas charter trip with us) have recently purchased a condo in this building along the waterfront at Washington.  They offered to let us stay tonight at their dock.

So we pedaled over to investigate.  The end dock is the only one our wide boat would fit.

So we moved over.  Snug fit.

Then we tried out the "complementary showers" that the Town of Washington provides for boaters.  Very nice!  Again, the price is right.  I took this photo because I was amused at the nice shampoo they had left in the shower.  Mane 'n Tail.  Haha.

We had to pedal to Bill's Hot Dogs for lunch.  We had visited here with Buddy and Sharon about 30 years ago.  Exactly the same.  They've been selling hot dogs, and only hot dogs for about 100 years!

They have 3 condiments - mustard, onions and a wild white bean chili.  I, of course can't eat the hot dog....so they made me a "chili dog" - extra bean chili and onions.  Was delicious.  All 3 were, in fact!

Late in the afternoon, Reid/Laurie and Buddy/Sharon arrived.  This is the view of the boat from their 2nd story condo.

The plans for the night were to go see a concert - mainly Scott Kirby - a folksy singer we had all seen together a couple of years ago at Key West.  After a nice dinner with a crowd of Reid's childhood friends, we all headed to the Turnage Theater.  Very much like what I remember the Carolina Theater to be like - but very nicely re-done!

Sharon and Buddy trying to escape a photo! 

At the concert - a fun time.  Scott Kirby was with a small group including Peter Mayer (one of Jimmy Buffet's bandmembers and his son Brendan).  

Here is a little snippet - look out for Brendan Mayer - I bet he'll make it big some day!