Another day of surprises!

This morning got off to a great start when I received an email from Garmin stating that they were going to cover some of the costs incurred in determining that our small chart plotter was defective! YEESSS thank you Belinda for going to bat for us!

At lunch time we were scheduled for a "lunchtime hang" ... no not what you think! Pick us up out of the water - wash the bottom, check the zincs and drop us back in.

As we were motoring over to Port Annapolis our new large chart plotter went blank?????? I was a little concentrated in getting us in the travelift - deal with it later.

Out of the water we came - Maryse and I had a little bet on how much Ambition weighed with lots of water and fuel and causing stuff on board - I had figured 45,000 lbs Maryse guessed 46,000 - Maryse wins but Ambition tipped the scales at 50,000 lbs - our own little Miss Piggy! OMG

Getting the straps in the right location is IMPORTANT! 

All is good - out you come!

Always a nervous situation....

Our first surprise of the day turned out to be the vanishing antifouling paint. As they washed the hull, the barnacles showed up as did the lack of black paint. Ambition had 1 coat of blue followed by two coats of black. As the pressure washer removed more fuzzy stuff from the bottom, everywhere where the blue showed up ..... the barnacles had moved in. I am not pleased with myself! Obviously I had applied the black coats too thinly in the spring.

Blue paint peeking through and barnacles ...crap!

more damn barnacles....

At 1 PM the yard said that they could block the boat, sand it today and paint Tuesday.

Spent  the afternoon in the hang!

Dave - another Hylas owner that has helped us out here in Annapolis

At 3:30 we were still in the slings - executive decision - we will be in Tortola BVI in 3 weeks. Rather than miss the start of the rally we will deal with another haul-out in BVI and repaint her there. SPLASH we are back in the water.


I was able to turn the chart plotter on but the screen remained black. A quick hour on the phone with Garmin and a few troubleshooting tests and Garmin agreed to ship me another chart plotter. This is the second in two weeks - and we have two on board! Now that each has been changed, I hope that we will be over this hurdle once and for all.

Well the boat score today is one step forward and two backwards - kind of like sailing isn't it! The desired destination is not always attainable - stuff that is not in our control sometimes makes choices for us.

Tuesday we are scheduled to have the repairs completed on the headstay and get the mast all tuned and then we will say goodbye to Annapolis and head for Portsmouth VA. I have supported the Annapolis economy enough I think to allow a graceful exit! Here's hoping I don't break something else too soon!

Annapolis Boat Show and or Fixing Boats Far From Home!

After our seminars with Seven Seas Cruising Association we moved from Rhodes River to Back Creek, which is south of Annapolis near Eastport. 

Rhode River

A little estate on Rhode River

Rhode River

Crabin' on the Chesapeake

We are a short dinghy ride and walk to downtown Annapolis.

We picked up a mooring ball for a bunch of days close to a huge boatyard Burt Jabin’s Yacht Yard. They have a different business model than the marinas on Lake Champlain – the yard owns a ton of land and a fleet of 5 Travel lifts to launch and pull boats from the water. The yard itself does no work but charges the businesses and contractors a fee for all work that they do in the Jabin’s yard. Needless to say there are a ton of very specialized folks here. 

Port Annapolis Marina - Back Creek

More of Back Creek

It was fun watching the new boats get prepared for the show – polishing and buffing up. Many left the yard for the show carrying sofas, potted plants and assorted show furniture. 

Some very special friends joined us on board for the boat show weekend. The Saturday show visit was accompanied with torrential rain – the remnants of hurricane Matthew. It kept the crowds at bay but it sure was a soggy experience. We did get to see a number of spectacular sailboats. The big item on the "surprise to buy" list was a Sailrite sewing machine for Maryse to be able to repair sails, make sun covers and other assorted stuff. She wants to use old sails to make me shorts ….. JUST SAY NO TO CHAFE!!!

Once the show finished, we started work on a number of projects that needed the attention of people far more skilled than me.

First on the list was to find a solution to why the new Garmin autopilot would not talk nicely with the autopilot. The technician started by dismantling the entire NEMA 2000 network that connects all the various instruments.  He replaced wiring, network connections and assorted other items. Then one by one reconnected each instrument trying to isolate the root cause. After 3 days of testing he was able to isolate an intermittent issue with a chart plotter that created issues for the autopilot and the primary chart plotter. Now we are waiting for a warranty replacement chart plotter from Garmin but they will not cover any of the $1000’s I have spent on certified Garmin technicians to install and debug their equipment. At least the problem is resolved and will not cause issues at sea.

Oh Boy!!! Some re-assembly required

Everything in pieces!

At the helm - pieces also!

Next on the list was to get the rig inspected and retuned and correctly tensioned. Since we have owned Ambition this has never been done – It was paid to be done in Tampa but clearly since we were not there at the time I suspect real work was not performed. Anyway the inspection has turned up a few must change items like converting our 4 wire / rope halyards to rope only. Wire / rope is very old school and a high wear item so out they go. Re-bedding and caulking the 6 chain plates to avoid water infiltration will be done while the rig is tuned. These and a few maintenance items that will be taken care of in a few days.

I have given up trying to send and receive emails via the SSB (like a HAM radio). This technology is archaic and painful even if it is free. This is as close as I have come to beating equipment to death with a hammer ….. FRUSTRATIONS GALORE!!!!

I moved into the digital age solutions and purchased an Iridium Go satellite connection for voice as well as data / emails. As I write this we had tried for hours to download the required applications on the boat but the internet connection was way too weak so after a 1 hour walk, we are sitting in a McDonald’s using their free wifi to get what we need. This turned out to be a fiasco after 2 ½ hours downloading – it failed again! Luckily a friend is coming over tonight and it took him all of 2 minutes to download at his home – ahhhh the cruising lifestyle is wonderful! Now the iPad is updated, as is the iPhone and the Mac.

Lastly the aft toilet has become haunted – ghosts show up in the middle of the night and flush the vacuum head. This takes special Ghostbuster skills that I have determined I do not even WANT to have. Ripping it out and replacing it with a bucket did not pass the approval process from all crewmembers.

Well the “must do” list is getting shorter and the credit card limper which must indicate that we are almost ready to participate in the ARC 1500 Rally.