[Nota bene - this is copied from an Email to the Brothers of the Chesapeake Bay Table and others in the sphere of Rob & Holly's affection.]Hello everyone,
No we didn’t sail off the edge of the world, though our summer was not exactly as we had hoped for when perusing the brochures! We had put the boat in the boat yards for maintenance, had planned a short visit to England to see mum and family, had planned a boat trip to upstate NY to visit daughter and get out of the hot weather on Long Island Sound before heading back to North Carolina in September. Well, the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.
The boat yard went very well, and we started looking into flights to England. Commercial airfares were very high, so we decided to fly military and see where we got. There’s a large military airport in Norfolk and we hoped to get on a flight there, but no luck. Though they said they had some flights coming through, when we showed up they had been scrubbed, so back home we came. I called Dover DE and they said they had semi routine flights to Spain most days, so we headed that way and got lucky. We got seats on a flight heading out that night, heading for Rota Spain – yeh it does work!
From there we flew commercial to England and had a lovely couple of weeks with mum before Holly slipped down a couple of stairs and shattered her ankle –OUCH. So off we went to check out the National Health Service. Holly was admitted to the local hospital and waited for surgery, and waited for surgery, and waited for surgery – it took a week before they could get her fixed, apparently everyone had broken ankles that week. We spent another couple of weeks for her to begin recuperation before flying home. Because of her discomfort we decided to fly commercial, ouch again but this time in the wallet. One-way tickets were very expensive, so we got return tickets – for next July!
Obviously, Holly was in no condition to climb on and off the boat with a leg cast and our daughter invited us to upstate NY for a few weeks. She had a handicap accessible home and things were a little easier. We spent a month there, enjoying some lovely weather (for upstate NY), warm temperatures and blue skies and family. Unfortunately, her relationship was deteriorating and we ended up leaving there with her and heading back to Norfolk. Holly was in a walking boot with crutches at this time and able to at least get around somewhat, so was able to get on and off the boat if necessary. Daughter Reyna has decided to leave the frigid northlands and stay in Norfolk. She has a job (just started Nov 9th) and an apartment and is excited about being able to start anew.
We have been eagerly awaiting Holly’s recuperation and planning on heading south as soon as she was able, but again things didn’t go as planned. She is doing very well, walking without a cane or crutches; she’s not wearing a boot around the boat, putting most of her weight on her bad foot. Looking good. Our friend Rob was waiting for us before leaving on his boat and coming south with us. But it was not to be, after a couple of trips to the emergency room, he was scheduled for surgery to remove his gall bladder. We would not be leaving before a couple of weeks recuperation for him.
And we had some mechanical issues that had to be rectified before we could go anywhere.
It seems like we always have some issues when we get ready to leave and this year was no exception. I was tensioning the fan belt when I was looking around the lazzerettes and noticed some bronze filings on top of the fuel tank – oh dear. Further inspection showed it came from the steering system idler pulleys, being a little out of line. Not too bad, a little adjustment and we could be on our way. But no, as I was cleaning and inspecting the idler assembly I noticed a small crack in the stainless steel mounting bracket. No way to fix, so I ordered up another assembly. Edson got it here quickly and I proceeded to dismantle the old and install the new one. It was during this evolution that I discovered the second issue; this one could have been catastrophic. I was, again, in the lazzerettes installing the idler when I looked around me.
Now, for those who are not boaters, our masts are held up with some heavy duty cables, which in turn are secured to the boat at strong-points using stainless steel chainplates. I was looking at one of these and noticed some rust, so I got out my wire brush and cleaned it up, but no, below the rust was a crack – not too big but worrisome on a 33 year old boat. And it was in the backstay, which holds up the main mast. Well I finished the steering problem and managed to get it installed and working properly.
I took out the faulty chainplate and discovered that the crack went about ¾ the way through on the backside, the side I couldn’t see! If these had failed with the sails up we would have lost our mast and sails and may even have suffered serious injury if it fell down upon us! So we decided to check ALL the chainplates – all 12 of them. Some were OK, but 4 or 5 had cracks. We’re glad we decided to check them all. That project has been nearly completed. I need to install a couple of plates and then tension the rig. Yeh almost able to leave!
I was checking on the engine when we had the 3rd mishap. I had noticed an occasional over heating problem when we run the engine at higher rpms. I talked it over with our mechanic friend, Mike and he suggested that we flush the coolant system and see if that helped. So I removed the thermostat, emptied the coolant, and replaced it with flushing liquid. After running the engine I drained it out, flushed with fresh water, replaced the thermostat with a new one, and filled up with fresh antifreeze. As I was running the engine I noticed some coolant around the bottom end of the engine block. At first I thought it was some over filling, so I cleaned it up and looked to see if it continued. Alas it did. Oh dear, or some other similar expletive. I thought I had cracked the block or blown the cylinder head gasket, major problems. So I settled in for a head removal project, which entails removing the inlet and exhaust manifolds, the thermostat. bunches of hoses, and odds and ends of motor parts etc before I could get to the head bolts! Needless to say I closed the engine room door and headed up to the pub for a beer, I’ll look at it again in the morning, maybe the Perkins fairy would have fixed it.
But no Perkins fairies showed up that night, so I started removing some hoses and the thermostat housing. As I was looking at the housing I noticed that there was a small area where the seal didn’t seem to have held, maybe the coolant was coming from a leaking thermostat gasket. But as I was removing the valve cover I noticed some coolant under the cover, and an area on the gasket that was not sealed either. I was hoping that the thermostat had leaked and entered the valve cover area and had not caused major damage. I again called our friend Mike, and asked if he could come and have a look and give me an assessment, before I continued to remove the head from the engine. Luckily, he was in the area and had Dave with him – they would stop by and take a look. At last some good news, they agreed that the coolant came from the thermostat leaking and entered the valve cover gasket. The oil level was very high, indicating that coolant had mixed with the oil, but it looked as though the heads and gasket was OK and would not need to be removed and reworked. All I had to do was flush through the oil with a couple of oil and filter changes and the engine should be back to normal. Time consuming but easier than removing the head and having it reworked.
And so that brings us back to today Wednesday 11/11), we are just about ready to leave Norfolk and head south for the winter. We need to clean the boat, get in some supplies and food, plenty of beer and wine and we can get out of here. But wait, things are never that easy, Hurricane Ida was coming up the Gulf of Mexico and the remnants would probably head our way. Add to that a deep low-pressure system churning off the Carolina coast and we are going nowhere for a few days. Winds are forecast to get up to 50mph for Thursday and since we like to keep the pleasure in pleasure boating, we will stay until the weather clears and calms down to make travel pleasant. Hopefully we will be able to leave on Saturday or Sunday, or Monday, or Tuesday or –well you get the picture. I’ll be back with some routine, periodic emails as we make our way to warmer weather.
See ya next spring.
P.S. - A quick update, as is usual when you get ready for a lengthy trip, there are myriads of things to get done before casting off lines etc; get wine and spirits, fill water tanks, fill fuel tanks, buy food, buy more wine and spirits, get spare jerry cans of diesel and gasoline, do laundry, stow all the goods we have bought, buy more wine and spirits, and a little rum as well, and being able to dry the boat out wouldn’t hurt either. So much to do we may not leave until next year! But no, we are hoping, weather permitting to leave on Tuesday morning.
Limey
Rob & Holly
S/V Hampshire Rose
Pearson 365 Ketch
[Editor's Note: Rob & Holley finally weighed anchor and headed south on Tuesday, November 17, 2009]
