Owl Moon Gets Covered

On a relatively warm day after Owl Moon had been hauled, we returned to Regent Point to remove the main sail and put on the cover.  We had ordered a new "boom tent" cover from Fairclough.  This would be Owl Moon's first winter in snow country and we opted for the a reusable cover instead of shrink wrap.  The boom tent won't protect the toe rail this winter, but we can add that later if we want.  It was great to have the help of Neil from the boatyard.  He was familiar with how the main was removed as they had done that this summer and they have also worked with Fairclough boat covers.

Owl Moon covered and ready for winter.

Owl Moon Returns to Regent Point

After considering options, we decided to take Owl Moon back to Regent Point to have the sail drive pulled.  They could also work on getting the centerboard to work better (we have an idea for that).  There is a weather window for several days of warm enough weather to make the sail south look like a good excuse for a late fall cruise on the Bay.  Our friend Tom is coming along to lend a hand.

November 15, 2016

Leaving the dock at 7 AM, there was a rainbow over Annapolis.

We were leaving at sunrise in order to make the most of the day, planning on arriving in Solomons, MD before sunset.  We were the only boat out as we headed into Annapolis harbor.

Annapolis at Sunrise with the mooring field empty.

Heading out into the Bay at sunrise.

Sailing by Thomas Point Light.

The discussion about using the pole to hold out the jib I had with Greg a few weeks earlier at the boat christening came in handy as we had about 10 knots of wind from behind us.  We found that putting the small jib out as well gave us about another half know of boat speed.

Wing and wing heading down the Bay with the small jib out as well.

We made Solomons just before sunset and had plenty of room to anchor outside Zahniser's moorings.  It was a lot less crowded than when we were in Back Creek on our way north to Annapolis the end of September.

November 16, 2016  Up early again to be ready for a sunrise departure, we had another beautiful day forecast.  Today we will head for Mill Creek on the Northern Neck Peninsula.

Heading out into the Patuxent River at sunrise on a chilly morning.

It was chillier than it looks...Diane took her warm hat off for the photo.  We had a nice reach down to the mouth of the Potomac and 3/4 of the way across before the wind died.  We hadn't been motoring long before it came up out of the SW.

Approaching Smith Point Light.

It was great to have Tom aboard for the trip.

We made it into Mill Creek just before sunrise and anchored in the first cove around the bend.  One other sailboat was also anchored in the creek...the next cove up.

November 17, 2016  We have a shorter leg for our last day of the trip.  However, Diane needs to be back in Annapolis for a meeting this evening so again we were up early to be ready for a sunrise departure.

Heading out of Mill Creek.

We made it to Regent Point Marina before noon and took Tom to Merroir for lunch.  After lunch, Tom and Diane caught a ride to Enterprise in Gloucester to get a rental car to head back to Annapolis.  I stayed aboard Owl Moon to do some winterizing jobs.  The most difficult of those was changing the engine oil as I almost destroyed the filter getting it off.

Diane drove back down on Friday to help with winterizing.  We got both of the jibs off and the bimini frame collapsed on Saturday.

The dodger and main sail are still on, but all other topside preparations for winter are complete.

By Sunday afternoon, a cold front was moving through and it had become windy and cold.  We left Owl Moon in the slip for the boatyard to haul later.

Now the dodger is off.

Sarah's First Sail on Owl Moon

November 13, 2016  The weather and Sarah's schedule finally came together and we got out for an nice sail on the Bay.  It was great to finally get out with Sarah on Owl Moon.  Almost mid November, but it has been a relatively warm fall so far.

Later it cooled off and Sarah bundled into a blanket.

A friend out for a sail at the same time took this photo of us under sail.

The Bilge Won't Stay Dry

Over the summer, one of the improvements to Owl Moon was installation of a counter for the bilge pump.  It had been staying at zero, but now the bilge pump is running several times a day.  I spent some time trying to identify the source of the problem and found that the fresh water pump had a slow leak on the intake side.  Okay, that is a relatively easy fix.  I replaced the pump, but I still couldn't keep the bilge dry.  Checking further, I realized water was coming forward into the bilge from the back of the boat.  I found there was a small trickle of water coming out from under the engine.

Video showing leak

All was dry aft of the sail drive.  After more checking on the sides of the engine and throughout the aft section of the boat, it seemed the most likely source of the leak is somehow associated with the sail drive.  It is impossible to actually see where the water is coming in because the engine is mounted on a pan that is installed onto the hull along with the mounting "donut" for the sail drive.  I am not able to see the front part of the sail drive and its mounting structure, only the sides and aft.

After consulting with several people, it seems that the action we need to take is to pull the sail drive and investigate further.  We had planned on keeping Owl Moon in the water over the winter, but now it looks like we will be having her hauled.

Weekend on the Eastern Shore

October 28, 2016  Breezy day on the Bay today.  We had a late start out of Annapolis, but made good time down around Bloody Pt. and up Eastern Bay...just over 4 hours from leaving the dock to anchor down in Dividing Creek off the Wye River.

October 29, 2016  Oops!  We tested the new keel/hull joint on Owl Moon. While under motor down the Wye River, John put Owl Moon under control of the autopilot to go and do something while Diane was busy on the phone.  As soon as John got back to the helm, the forward progress of Owl Moon was suddenly halted as we grounded on a shoal in the Wye River.  Fortunately, the bottom was soft and we backed off without much difficulty.  The most challenging part was for John to realize the boat was still under control of the auto pilot and had it's own mind regarding heading.  Going below we found no sign of water entering the bilge.  Owl Moon's new keel/hull joint withstood its first test!

We continued on to St. Michaels where we joined some other Corinthian boats at anchor in the harbor.  It was good we had come over early as the harbor was filling up for the Festival at the Maritime Museum.

October 30, 2016  John got up early and took in the beautiful sunrise.

Our Corinthian friends Vicki and Greg were anchored nearby on Erin Brie.

We weighed anchor after an early breakfast to head back to Annapolis.

Passing by our friends Carol and Leigh with a Little Ship Club guest aboard All That Jazz on our way out of the harbor.

Such a warm day for the end of October!

We sailed down Eastern Bay and part way up the Chesapeake toward Annapolis before the wind gave out leaving us motoring the last bit.

Some great fall sailing on Owl Moon

October 16 & 18, 2016  John had Tom Zolper join him for the first day sail on Owl Moon out of her home berth on a beautiful Sunday afternoon.  John had been anxious to test the centerboard that had been freed up recently when Bob Putnam pried it loose by working on the centerboard at the bottom of the keel.  He was diving his boat around the corner and offered to give loosening the board a try.

Owl Moon sailing up wind for the first time with the centerboard down.  It went down without any problem.

Two days later, the weather was again perfect for a fall sail.  This time we had friends Joe and Eve-Marie aboard and Diane skipped an Environmental Matters Committee she had meant to attend...it was just too nice a day to miss out on sailing.

Owl Moon gets Christened

October 10,, 2016  We had a small gathering with friends to christen Owl Moon. There are varied traditions for christening a boat.  We got the basis of our christening here:
http://www.yachtsee.com/helps/christening.php

John poured some Scotch that traveled aboard Owl Moon from Brunswick, GA

And Diane offered champaign for the christening.

Greg Shea was one of the friends who joined us.  He had risked his life by sailing on the open ocean aboard Owl Moon before a proper christening, joining John on the trip from Brunswick to Charleston.

Owl Moon makes it to Annapolis, finally!

September 30 - October 4, 2016 We departed Friday morning on a much calmer day than the previous day.  Jim, owner/manager of Regent Point Marina, helped us off the dock.

The water was over the finger pier as we prepared to depart RP.

 With light wind and adverse current, we motored out the Rappahannock River.

Happy to be under way again on Owl Moon!

Once around Windmill Point, the wind was sufficient to put up the sails.  With the northeast wind and our goal being the Coan River on the south shore of the Potomac, we motor sailed in order to point higher and make Smith Point without tacking.  By the time we reached Smith Point, the winds had built to the upper teens with gusts to 20 knots.

Owl Moon did very well bashing through the waves as we motor sailed upwind.

After rounding Smith Point, we rolled in the little sail, rolled out the reacher, and cut off the engine.  We went on a reach at 8 knots in those conditions. Part way up the Potomac towards our destination, the wind had built to the point we were overpowered.  We decided to reef the main and found that the lines had not been run correctly (no line run at the luff for our single line reefing).  John was able to jury rig a tie down at the mast and we put one reef in the main.  It was really blowing once we reached the Coan R. and we had quite a large following sea as we made our way into the entrance of the river.

Paul and Mindy were already anchored up the Coan R.on Jylland, Paul's Sare 34, when we arrived as they had a shorter distance to go from where they spent Thursday night. They joined us for happy hour and Paul and I looked at the reefing lines to determine how they should be run...nice to have our boatyard manager along when going for a shakedown cruise after having so much work done!

Paul and Mindy had a head start Saturday morning.  Again, the wind was brisk as we came out of the Coan R., and coming right from Point Lookout.  We motorsailed NE across the Potomac and caught up with Paul and Mindy as they had tacked over to port on the north shore of the Potomac.  After crossing their transom, we cut our engine and the race was on.  We rounded Point Lookout just a bit ahead of Jylland, but then we fell off to a reach, rolled out the big sail, shook out the reef in the main and took off...conditions much more suited to Owl Moon than Jylland.

Crossing Jylland's transom.

We saw a pair of Bald Eagles as we entered Back Creek, Solomons, MD.  Jylland rafted with Owl Moon at the head of the creek.  We met up with our friends, Joe and Eve-Marie on Back Creek in Solomons.  The were out sailing with another couple for a week charter on the Bay. We enjoyed happy hour aboard their boat after Joe picked us up in their dingy.  In the morning, we took advantage of the light wind and Paul and I fixed the reefing lines on Owl Moon.

After two days of good breeze for sailing, we found ourselves motoring for the Little Choptank on Sunday.

Cove Point Light just north of Solomons.

Once we got to the mouth of the Little Choptank, we raised our main to check the reef lines and mark the main halyard and reef lines.  All seemed good.  We headed for an anchorage up Hudson Creek and Paul and Mindy headed for the marina up Slaughter Creek.

Beautiful Sunset in our peaceful Hudson Creek anchorage.

The day was again a motoring day.  We decided to head to Slaughter Creek Marina to get some fuel for the long motor to West River.  Thankfully, Paul and Mindy were still at the marina and assisted us at getting into the self service fuel dock.  On exiting Slaughter Creek, there was enough breeze to put up sail.  We even started with the small jib, but soon changed over to the big jib as the winds got light.

Owl Moon paasses Thomas Point Light for the first time.

Finally, we had to turn on the engine and ended up motoring all the way to Whitehall Creek in order to be able to arrive at our slip early on Tuesday.

Docking was a bit of a challenge since we did not have any dock lines or piling/dock protection in the slip...arriving for the first time.  Fortunately, the wind was relatively light.

Owl Moon docked in her new home!

Back aboard!

We arrived Regent Point yesterday afternoon with our one way rental car full of things to put back aboard and provisions for our trip north to Annapolis. Owl Moon was rocking and rolling at the dock with water just below the finger pier. A strong NE wind was blowing waves into Locklies Cr. which were reflecting off the opposite shore and across to the marina. With the water so high and the wind pushing the boat off the finger pier,  getting on the boat was quite a challenge.  Later, when we returned from dinner at Eckhard's (courtesy of Regent Point...thank you James), the water was just over the finger pier.

Happy to be back aboard! 

Back in the Water

We weren't able to get down yesterday to see Owl Moon launched.  They "waxed" the hull with awlcare before launching and had to find breaks in the wet weather they've been having to get that done.  Paul sent these photos.  Good to see her back in the water!

Going down the ramp on the hydraulic trailer

Sitting in her slip waiting for us

Good to see things being put back together!

September 13-14  Another trip to RP to put on two gloss coats of Cetol.  While I was there on Tuesday, Paul, with assistance from James, painted the transom.  After some digging, I finally learned that our hull is Awlgrip majestic blue.  Only hulls 1-3 were painted with Awlgrip.  Then Tartan changed to PPG DCC Concept, an acrylic urethane.  Awlgrip is a polyurethane.

Paul and James in a blue cloud as they spray the transom.

The cockpit was well protected from the spray.

The finished job looks good as new!

Paul referred me to Sandra of Creative DeSIGNS of Virginia to redo the hailing port for the transom.

Sandra sent me this photo...we haven't seen the finished product yet.

I managed to get my two coats of gloss cetol on Tuesday and Wednesday.  It was not a great job with some blistering in places of the second coat.  I also managed to step on one of the handrails a few hours after the last coat and scrape off the soft finish.  I should be able to do a better job the next time I do this when I'm not commuting 3 hours.

Although not a great job, the finished teak looks much better than what it was before.

The day after I left, they stepped the mast. Launch is scheduled for next week.

Looks like a sailboat again!

New bilge

The bilge has raised by 3/4" by filling it to the top of the backing plates with epoxy with a filler and pigment.

It looks wet, but that is just the shine from the epoxy with pigment.

The hull keel seam was covered with 3M 4000 and then the centerboard, centerboard trunk, and keel were painted with Pettit Ultima 60 SR 1036RE (the same paint that is on the hull).

New zincs on the keel cooler heat exchangers.

Over the last few days, I cleaned the teak handrails and dorade box tops.  Then Diane and I taped and sanded them and I applied 3 coats of Cetol Natural Teak finish...not varnish, but much easier process than varnish.  Still to come is 2 coats of Cetol gloss.

Schedule is to have Owl Moon work completed at Regent Point next Friday, 9/16.