Oriental, NC

 The dinghy came with a nice fabric seat cushion/organizer.  It holds 4 life jackets and has a couple of pockets for miscellaneous items.

Unfortunately, the 3 metal zipper pulls have corroded beyond repair in the salty environment and must be replaced.

 

Turned inside-out for zipper removal. 

 

For replacement, I'm using white #5 Vislon plastic zippers since that's what I had on board.  And using plastic pulls this time since they won't corrode! (Thanks Cathy, for the extra zipper pulls as I didn't have enough.  Really nice to have neighbors with the same interests!)

 

Re-assembling the large pocket with the new zipper.  It's a bit more complicated than sewing a new construction since you have a "closed environment".  You have to unzip the zipper partway thru in order to have access to sew your seam.

 

And several tedious hours later I have all 3 zippers replaced.  The small pocket zippers were particularly maddening since the pockets are actually "box" shaped.  Trust me, it was a pain!

 

Reinstalled on the dinghy, ready for more salty adventures!

Oriental, NC

 First, I've got to admit a boo-boo.  

This spring in the Bahamas, we took the dinghy chaps off and I re-sewed all the seams because the thread was breaking down.  It never entered my mind that I needed to wash them off.  Not too smart on my part since they were probably heavily laden with salt from being used in salt water every day!  

I pulled my sewing machine out of its storage and was appalled at the rust!  I should have known.  Really silly of me.  

Luckily, the rust is confined to just the areas right around the needle where the salty fabric was touching.  The bobbin area was involved as well.  This area looks worse than it really is because some of that rustiness is a mixture of rust and lent.

 The only solution seemed to be to wash it.....so I removed all the coverings and literally hosed it off with copious amounts of fresh water (protecting the motor of course).  Not something you think of when it comes to sewing machines....

There are still some traces of rust, but after being heavily oiled, I hope it will stop any further rust. 

 All back together and it seems to be working just fine.

We spent a good while doing some mowing and weed-eating on both the lots....it's sorta hot and muggy here!  

I came back to the boat for a shower and was shocked a bit to see what I looked like!  Good fun!

Oriental, NC

 More projects - this one all Duane's!

He's installing another set of lithium batteries - bringing the total to 600AH.  Here he's got all of the batteries out  doing the initial balance.   Yay!  More power for me!

And installed back in it's "home".  Just a few items needed to do the final securing to make it "sea-worthy".

As we were enjoying happy hour and left-over pizza outside with Ed & Cathy, a storm was brewing.   We ended up 1/2 way through dinner scurrying back to the boat.

 

As is oftentimes the case, the storm skirted us and never really was a problem.  It made for a pretty sunset though!

 

Oriental, NC

 Another small project that I've been meaning to do for a while.  The trim around one of our salon hatches is old and a yucky yellow color that old plastics seem to acquire. 

 

The miracle of a can of spray paint!  Now the trim will blend in nicely with the solid white ceiling material.

(I can't seem to get a good photo of it installed because the sun is too bright shining thru, but you get the idea.  Much nicer than yucky yellow!)

Ended the day by a trip to the Silo's restaurant with the crews from Blue Jacket and What If for their great buy-one-get-one pizza night.  Always fun.  Sunset was soft and pretty.

Oriental, NC

I've been complaining for a couple of years that the fans in our berth are not the best.   They are a good brand, but they don't put out as much air as I'd like.   Plus they're pretty noisy on medium or high.....

 

So I ordered a couple of these fans - we have similar ones in the salon area and they are terrific.  So quiet and they move a lot of air for such a small fan.

 

Installed - much better! (Two installed - one within easy reach of both of us.)    An added bonus is that these fans pivot/swivel all around so it's easy to point them exactly where you want.  We'll appreciate them on the very few muggy nights we get in the Bahamas.

We ended the evening with a picnic courtesy of Ed and Cathy.  They'd invited neighbors Donna and Jerry from Bluejacket to join us.  Fun catching up!

Oriental, NC

 Our cockpit seat cushions need some attention.  For the past couple of years, they've been deteriorating.  When I washed them, I could see little particles of the interior foam sifting thru the outer mesh.  So, the foam was breaking down due to age.  (They are 7 years old).

You can see that the cushion is deformed and flat and not very cushion-y.   The exterior Phifertex mesh material is in great shape though.

 

When I unzipped the cushion I was amazed at the condition of the foam!!  Yuck.  (The cushion is designed with the soft foam on top and a harder black foam on bottom for structure.  The black harder base foam is like new).

 

So I set about taking all 4 cushions apart and discarding the powdery soft foam.

 

Then I turned the cushion covers inside-out and used a water hose to jettison all the powdery mess from the seams.  It took over an hour to spray wash all the powder away as it was embedded in all the seams and zippers. 

 

Nice and clean now.  Ready for new soft foam.  I ordered a full sheet of 2" Dry Fast foam.  This foam allows water to pass right thru, not retaining the water like a normal sponge would.

 

Traced the piping from the covers with a Sharpie marker.

 

Using a electric knife, cutting the foam using  a straight edge.  We cut it 1/2" large on all sides so it would "fill up" the covers.

 

Repeated for all the cushions.

 Luckily, Duane was there with muscle to stuff the cushions back inside the covers.  No small feat.  

 

I am tickled with the results.   So cushy!!  (And no more powdery mess!)  Should be good for several years.

 

Oriental, NC

 Back to normal at the boat.....

Cathy (and Ed) have been working for a while on new dinghy chaps and she's about finished.   A project that I'm sure they're glad to have a check-mark beside.

 

And most importantly, it was Cathy's birthday - so we ended the day with a bbq and birthday cake!

Ocracoke to Oriental, NC

 Last day at Ocracoke - just a pretty photo with our flags flying on Sojourn.

 

We got together with the crew from Skoolz Out for a "all-Manta" bike ride around the island.  Stopped at a lot of the highlights.  The Ocracoke lighthouse (not open to the public except when a Ranger is present).

 

And on to the Springer Point walking path.  We were pleased that there were no mosquitos!

 

The path leads to a lovely little beach overlooking the clamming grounds.

 

And the interior pathway is so shady and cool with cool twisty trees!

 

Next up was a ride over to Lifeguard Beach.

 

Beautiful dunes - lucky that NPS has protected this area from human corruption!

 

Walking the deserted beach - Duane was with us, just walking up ahead...

 

We biked back thru town, stopping at the British Cemetery and at Zillies for one last beverage on the porch.  And just like that, it was time to shove off the dock.  Ed and Cathy were catching a ferry and we'd meet back in Oriental on the dock.

Going out the channel, we were immediately met with an incoming ferry.

 

No problem, plenty of room.

 

Colorful para-sailing over the sound.

 

A different ferry - lots of them!

 

The winds/waves were a bit stronger than predicted - reaching about 25 knots a few times.  Good sailing though!  This little power boat was not having so much fun in the opposite direction though, crashing into waves.

 

But we had all the sails up and it was a great trip.

 

Home in just a little over 5 hours - docking was a bit of a challenge as the wind was still blowing.  With a little help from Ed and Cathy, no one or boat was injured, so we'll call it good.

Ocracoke, NC

First thing this morning, we texted Skoolz Out that there was a space open on the NPS dock - so they pulled anchor and came over.  After they got settled into their rather tight spot, the small boat behind them left.  Always fun to see the movements around the dock.  No boats were injured so a good day!  (Bob on Pelican is to the left....I'm sure just making sure no bumper-boats occurred!)

 And the morning's adventure - To the ponies!!!  

The sailing club gathered at the dock to ride the 8 miles north to the "pony pen".  We're going to be there for the 10AM talk to be given by the nice Park Ranger we met at last night's pot luck.

After a very nice ride, we're resting a bit before the 10AM talk.

Ed and Cathy having a good time.

The bike ride was 8 miles - don't pay any attention to the time or speed - I forgot to turn the recording off so my Garmin watch continued to record thru the Ranger talk.

 At the appointed hour, our NPS Ranger (I think his name was Matt) gave a very spirited talk about the ponies that have lived on the island for hundreds of years.  All very interesting and well presented. 

 

 

The sailing club enjoying the talk.

 

The ponies didn't cooperate by coming close for a treat or anything....just peacefully grazing.

A short walk did give us a little better view. 

All the sailing club bikes parked - we wandered across the highway for a quick glimpse at the ocean. 

And we had very relaxing down-wind cycle back to the 1718 Brew Pub.  The plan was for us to have lunch there - and most of the club did so.  We didn't really like the menu so we biked back to the boat for a relaxing afternoon.  I didn't take any more photos - shame on me.  We ended up getting a couple of yummy Jason's pizzas and had an early night.