New Bern, NC

We work long hours to get ready for our next leg. (This is hard work. Why did we quit our day jobs again??) During our stay at Northwest Creek Marina, we:

• Engine and Electrical
  • Replace oil, oil filter and both fuel filters.
  • Have the alternator and starter rebuilt, and injectors cleaned. (After these are done, the engine runs like a top.)
  • Have engine oil analyzed. (A preventative maintenance step, and it's good news!)
  • Check engine compression. (Again, for pm, and, again, good news! Lots of life left on the Perkins.)
  • Install Racor vacuum gauge on the fuel line. (Now we have an indicator, other than engine hours, when the primary fuel filter needs replacement.)
  • Draw wiring diagrams of the electrical systems. (This involves Houdini-like movements to see all the wiring. We briefly consider sending Luke crawling through the bilge to trace some of the wires.) :-)
  • Reconfigure the alternator regulator to better sense the battery voltage. (To level out the peaks and valleys of our charging voltage.)
  • Install and wire two 75 watt Siemens SP75 solar panels. (Also requires Harry Houdini flexibility to wire it, but we complete the installation well under budget.)
• Canvas and Brightwork
  • Wash and waterproof the canvas. (The seagulls have been very hard on the canvas.)
  • Wash and waterproof the interior upholstery. (The children have been hard on the upholstery!)
  • Finish installing leecloths for all the seaberths. (So no one rolls out of bed unexpectedly.)
  • Strip varnish from toerail; redo with Cetol. (Stripping 6 coats of varnish was, hopefully, a once-in-a blue-moon chore. Applying Cetol was decidedly easier than applying varnish.)
  • Touch up all other varnish.
  • Make canvas covers for liferaft and the five cockpit winches.
• General
  • Install through-bolted folding pad eyes on the deck for lashing down the dinghy.
  • Rebed leaking Dorade vents and portlights.
  • Rebung deck as needed.
  • Repair a deck leak.
  • Lubricate the jib and staysail roller furler bearings.
  • Replace the stuffing box bolts and nuts with silicon bronze material. (Jamestown Distributors is an excellent source for quality fittings.)
  • Install a cockpit shower. (We hope to wash off the sand and salt before coming below.)
  • Modify an existing anchor roller to accomodate and lock down the 66# Bruce.
  • Replace fresh water accumulator.
  • Clean port fuel tank.
  • Clean four water tanks (all except upper starboard, which we couldn't access without removing brightwork).
  • Rebuild toilet. (Is this a broken record?)
  • Replace broken jib halyard shackle.
  • Fix broken latches on three of the lockers.
  • Finally finish the Monitor Windvane installation. (We had mis-cut one diagonal, and have finally cut, drilled and installed the replacement.) This photo shows the final, installed product. It also shows the solar panel installation and the blue tape we're using to mask off the toerail for our Cetol work.

October 29:

We find that the most legible weatherfax broadcasts from NMF Boston are at 9.110 Mhz; however, at some time early in the morning, a heavy interference cuts in, and we are unable to download all of the weatherfax products. Unfortunately, an attended download is highly inconvenient, since broadcast begins at 0255 EST. (Yawn.) A repeat broadcast starts at about 3 in the afternoon, but it interferes with Herb Hilgenberg's broadcasts, which we've been following.

Herb Hilgenberg, otherwise known as Southbound II, is a Canadian gentleman who voluntarily runs a "cruisers' net" and provides weather and trip routing info. Herb has been doing this for quite some time, and has a widespread and excellent reputation in the sailing community. Every day, Herb tunes his SSB to 12.359 Mhz and begins roll call at 2000Z (1500 EST). He checks in with all the boats in his net, and obtains local weather conditions (wind speed and direction, wave height and period) from each boat. He compares this against his own meteorological charts, and updates them as needed. Then he alerts you to what weather he thinks is on your horizon, and makes suggestions as to how you can best take advantage of the weather (or avoid it!) Herb has earned the thanks of a fleet of very grateful cruisers! We plan to sign on for Herb's personalized weather forecast services as we prepare to leave.

Incidently, we have no trouble reading the weatherfaxes from NMG New Orleans, using 12.750 Mhz as the assigned frequency; alas, this covers only the tropics.

We took a road trip to Florida last month to visit family. We continued with school while "on vacation," which Kristina and Luke thought was very unfair. In any case we were studying the human body, and for an experiment, we mapped the taste buds on the tongue using bitter, salty, sweet, and sour solutions. We then wrote up the experiment, from "Purpose" to "Results." So far, in school, we've covered several units (nutrition, the human body, world geography, continents, early and modern explorers, Australia, the Arctic and the Antarctic) while we've had library access. Also at Grandma's house, Kristina cuddled a puppy (left) and Luke (right) was all ready to go exploring.

Besides school and the usual chores (clean the boat, clear the table, wash dishes, etc), we've also had Krisina and Luke sanding the teak. This was done under close supervision, and the entire time, their conversation revolved around monetary remuneration for the job. Mom said, "You're getting room and board. That's enough." Dad, however, took pity and promised compensation, so for an hour it went back and forth. "How much do you think they'll pay us?" "I dunno, maybe a dollar." "A dollar! Do you think that's a dollar per person, or for the both of us?" "This is a lot of work for a dollar. They should pay us five." "No, ten!" And we need to teach our kids about multiplication, division, and the economics of minimum wage?

We had great fun with "blood" and the circulatory system, when we measured our resting and elevated pulse rates. Blood is infinitely fascinating to a six-year-old, so long as it belongs to someone else. Luke got first hand experience with his own blood when, one night in the dark, while in bed and supposedly going to sleep, he pulled out his pocketknife. He tried to cut a rope, heaven knows why, but sliced his thumb instead. There was such a commotion that our dockmates popped up and asked if we needed assistance! After washing the blood from clothes, sheets, and carpet, and bandaging the wound, the evening mercifully ended.

Kristina also sustained injury - skinned knees, hand, and shoulder - the day of Luke's bloodletting, so, for a few days, we had two bandaged children walking around. We hope our neighbors don't call OSHA. :-)

The seagulls have been especially numerous at Northwest Creek these last few weeks; we figure that they are following the menhaden, which are very numerous in the water. At night, the menhaden flop around at the surface and, when it's dark, you can't see them but you can hear the splashing. Kristina and Luke, for entertainment, take a flashlight and use the beam to watch the fish and make them scatter. (We honestly don't miss TV at all. Even if we want to watch Disney at the clubhouse, the kids almost always decline. Go figure, they'd rather scare fish with a flashlight.) We won't let the kids touch any fish, because, sadly, the fish do not look healthy. About the only thing we've used the fishing net for lately is plucking things (hats, sandpaper, clothespins) back out of the water.

Krisina has made several clothes for her stuffed animals and for a homemade doll. Legos continue to be the most popular toys around, and very versatile ones, too. So far, we have made sailing ships, icebreakers, space shuttles, part of the Great Wall of China, and even an igloo! Going to the playground with neighboring boat friends is also popular. We very much enjoyed the company of a family of six on a 32' Island Packet, Little Wing. (Yes, that's six people; the children were 16, 13, 10 and 5.) We potlucked, played, and went to the New Bern Mum Fest and Tryon Palace (see photo, right) together.

We've had several visits from friends and really enjoy their company! Chris, Suzanne, Barry and Jo came one weekend, and we went to a final dinner at Clementine's (before the restaurant moves from the marina to town), did several crossword puzzles while lounging around eating Halloween treats, toured a New Bern bed-and-breakfast, where we sneaked a sample of scrumptious caramel apple pie. (Those cruisers, you just can't take them anywhere!) We also discussed politics, traded book reviews, looked at boats, and, in general, had a wonderful weekend.

This past weekend, we had a visit from Chuck and Pat, and Eva and Bob. We met them, as well as Peter and Mavis, Jimmy, and Jim and Mary, at Blackbeard's for a potluck dinner.

The "free table" at our marina has provided us with numerous needed items. By far the best find during this stay was a pair of 7/8" stainless steel bimini supports. This "find" happened on the last day that we had given our welder to show up. (He had failed to show up all week, and we were getting quite frustrated, as we just needed someone to bend and cut tubing to our desired design. When he finally did show up, to return our anchor bracket, he never did mention the solar panel supports. Incidentally, he did a very poor job on the anchor bracket - it didn't even fit the anchor! - and we turned again to Fred Lindow ((the same fellow who did our chainplates in the spring)), who salvaged the project and turned out a fine piece of work.) We had just decided to go at the solar panels ourselves, when Adrian passed the newly discarded tubing on the table. He snatched them up and gleefully brought them to the boat. Bud, the dockmaster, watches us and jokes that he should move the whole table right out to our dock. "It would save you the trip to check it!" We discover that a dockmate, Brian on Flash II, has the right tools for working stainless tubing, and we're in business! Three days later, the solar panels are mounted.

Uh-oh. A look at the mounted ammeter shows zero output from the solar panels, but, how can that be, it's bright outside! Argh! The portable ammeter reveals that the ship's ammeter is in error, which is a relief. The solar panels and controller are working as designed. The solar panels are still producing 5 amps during the noon hours (we expect more in the lower latitudes). Our ship's ammeter must have burned out on a recent windy day, when we were passing 10+ amps through the meter. The meter should be rated for twice that much, but it's not working now. Another trip to West Marine, but at least replacing a broken meter is easy.

We still have to finish the toerail brightwork; we've decided to go with 3 coats of Cetol Marine, and 2 coats of Cetol Gloss. The stuff is extremely easy to apply, very much like a stain; we've been putting it on in very cool temperatures (about 40F) with high wind and in full sunlight. These are trying conditions for the people doing the applying (shiver), and it would be the death of varnish, but the Cetol doesn't seem to mind, and it looks fabulous.

We hope to cast off this week, but will not go offshore until we see the weather window we want - basically, we'd like for less tropical storm activity to be present, we'd like a southerly wind (for a smooth Gulf Stream crossing), and it would be very nice to have some warmer weather before we head out into the Atlantic. Meanwhile, we will use the time constructively, touching up the varnish and Cetol, provisioning and (now) replacing the ammeter.