What a Long, Strange Trip It Has Been (part 1)

 For a long time I've wanted to take the boat to the Bahamas.  To sail in crystal blue waters, explore tropical islands, scuba and snorkel, and find tranquil anchorages.  This past Friday, I finally made it across the gulf stream and am now in Bimini.  I'm still looking for most of that above list, but am now 90% of the way there.

I started this trip back in 2019.  I found some crew and came to the boat to start preparing it for the trip.  After numerous updates and repairs, there was one major bit of work to be done, to replace the standing rigging (the wires that hold the mast up).  It was ordered in early 2020, and then the unplanned delay struck the entire world, the COVID pandemic shut everything down.

Almost four years later and I am back at it.  A new home marina, more boat repairs and upgrades, the rigging that was ordered before the pandemic was finally installed, and the boat was as ready as I thought she could be.  There were a couple minor projects to do, but I figured they could easily wait for a warmer climate. The crew had changed a bit.  My wife and dog are with me now and there are plans to meet up with others from the original crew along the way.

Not quite shorts and t-shirt weather yet.

We departed New Bern, North Carolina at the very end of December.  It was cold.  We made our way slowly south along the Intercoastal Waterway as the weather wasn't suitable for travel in the Atlantic. We stopped at night at marinas so we could plug the boat in and run heaters to stay warm.  It was a slow journey from New Bern back to my old marina in Southport.  It was the last leg into Southport where I discovered I had picked up some bad fuel and clogged the filters. One engine sputtered as we entered the marina basin to provide a little added excitement. A few days in Southport replacing filters, polishing fuel, provisioning, and catching up with friends, and we finally had a small weather window to actually sail further south.

We departed Southport on an overnight passage down the coast to Charleston.  It was still cold and we wore winter coats and foul weather gear...determined to find warmer weather.  The winds varied, so we sailed some and motored some. At one point while motoring, one of the engine room blower fans started squealing, apparently a bearing was going bad.  It made quite a noise so we shut down the engine for a while.  Then one time when I started it to see if the fan would behave for at least a little while, I was met with silence from the fan.  It had died.  It was also on this leg of the trip that we noticed the volume on the VHF radio wasn't as loud as it should be, making it difficult to hear calls when the motors were running.  We made it to Charleston just fine, but with a couple new repair items to take care of.  It is a boat after all.

We stayed in Charleston long enough to order and install a replacement fan and radio.  Then, while waiting on the weather for another chance to move south, the area was hit by a freak high wind thunderstorm line.  This is the first time I've ever seen waves breaking inside a marina, between the boats and the shoreline. During the storm, the docklines on our boat loosened one of the cleats and one of our docklines broke (fortunately I had prepared for the storm and had extra lines securing us). The boat behind us snapped one of the cleats off of the dock.  Elsewhere in the marina, others had broken lines and cleats and during the storm two boats were rocking so bad that their masts hit.  One piece of the marina’s dock broke free and one of their ramps ripped loose and sank.  It was a wild ride, but we made it through unscathed.

Charleston Maritime Center

...and during the storm.

The next weather window was small and only allowed us a day sail from Charleston to Edisto Beach.  The winds weren't quite from the right direction, but we were able to sail a beat (into the wind) that got us to the channel right at sunset.  It was nice to be able to sail for a while without hearing the drone of the motors. 

We made our way up the channel as it grew darker.  The marina said they were easy to find, just look for their sign at the fuel dock.  Well, they failed to mention that the sign was unlit, there was a strong cross current, and they probably didn't know about the fishing vessel that was squatting in our assigned spot on the T head with its bright deck lights shining in our faces.  This combination made finding the marina a bit difficult.  We were able to finally tie up to the dock with only minor issues after getting the squatter to move.  The next morning when staff arrived, one gave us a ride to the local grocery store to pick up a few things as we we hadn't taken into account the length of time it was taking us to make it south when we had provisioned.  Then we waited several days for another weather window to continue.

We wanted to go from Edisto SC to St. Augustine FL on a 2-night passage and, originally the weather looked like it might oblige.  But as the day approached, the forecasts started shifting and we decided we would try for a single night and arrive at Brunswick GA instead.  Again it was a combination of sail and motoring, but we were still heading south at least.  As we approached Brunswick, the weather reports changed. This time it was in our favor as the window that shortened at the beginning was now lengthening at the end.  Given how much we had been delayed by the strange weather this year, it was an easy decision to press on to St. Augustine.  So we continued to sail that evening and into the night.

Before sunrise, we started seeing lightening flashes in the distance.  At first they were east of us and moving east away from us.  Then some started appearing to the southwest, in our path.  We were somewhere near Jacksonville when the weather radio came alive with a warning about a strong thunderstorm around Marineland and heading northeast.  Wanting to avoid that, we reverse course for a bit and allow it to pass by.  Oh, there was also another storm that was around Fernandina Beach to our north, so we waited in between them.  They passed by without much concern and, once the flashes of light were east of us, we turned back on course for St. Augustine.

As the morning light started overtaking the early morning darkness, a fog started to develop.  Listening to the current condition weather reports on the radio, it sounded like all of Florida was covered in fog.  I guess this is a good time to mention, for those not familiar with St. Augustine, that this particular inlet is not detailed on navigation charts because of shifting sands that supposedly change the navigable part of the channel.  It has always seemed rather stable the times I've been in it before, but it has been a while.  As the fog thickened, I grew concerned about having to navigate a potentially changed channel in the fog.  We found our horn and made the required sound signals while we Listened for others. Our radar should be able to locate channel markers...I hope.  Or will we have to wait out the fog or continue on to another inlet...

(More to come next time)

A Plate of Matthew Spaghetti

From my aviation days I've learned not to trust the local weathermen and their presentation of the weather.  As a result, I tend to look at the raw data myself.  Until I moved onto a boat, I never looked at hurricane models, but I can completely understand why they are called spaghetti models.

Plot from the http://tropicalatlantic.com website.

With a plate like that, all you need is a little marinara. I guess some of those are what the NWS uses when they come up with these charts.

National Weather Service current forecast for Matthew.

No wonder those "uncertainty cones" can get so large.  On the bright side (for us), the forecast is looking a little better.  Feeling sorry for the Bahamas, Florida, and Georgia as well as all of those that have already been hit by this storm.

Conundrum

That seems the best term to describe the the last few days.  We continue to sit at Dowry Creek marina and weigh options but I have to admit I don't really like the alternatives...kinda reminds me of the current state of what qualifies as politics in this country.

We had a theory.  The theory was that we could take the boat somewhere to have a little work done. A fairly simple task of stripping old layers of bottom paint off the boat and starting fresh.  There are a couple other minor tasks that could also be done.  Ideally we would love to be able to drop the boat off somewhere and then spend a few weeks going back to visit family while the work is done. And if my boat was my Toyota, this would be what I would do.

But, I spent the last couple days fixing damage caused by supposed marine mechanic experts. Apparently in marine mechanic's school (I say as if there actually is one...which I seriously doubt these days) they fail to teach that aluminum is a softer metal than steel.  Or that torque specifications really should be followed when they are provided.  During my engine checks I found both heat exchangers and a related bracket loose.  Upon further inspection, I found that the threaded holes that held the studs on which this stuff was mounted had been stripped.  The fix was a relatively simple addition of Helicoils to restore the threads (and make them stronger).  I then found that another mechanic, apparently after not having an 8mm bolt for a new alternator install, decided to force a 3/8 bolt into the 8mm threaded hole.  The stainless steel bolt cut the aluminum case of the alternator enough that the bolt would hold for...about a year before the compromised threads finally gave way. The bolt failed on our trip to this marina and we were fortunate that the remaining bolts held it in place. Drilling out the threads and then through-bolting the alternator fixed this issue...again probably better than new.

The problem is that this leaves me wondering if I can even trust any boatyard to do a paint job without constant supervision.  Virtually all of my previous experience tells me I cannot, but the theoretical convenience of having work done while we are doing other necessary tasks is a strong argument for giving it one more try.  Paying someone lots of hard-earned money to screw up my boat makes a pretty strong counter argument.

After the work on the boat the past few days, we took the day off and did some touristy things (more on that in an upcoming post).  When we returned this evening, a new weather disturbance in the Gulf of Mexico was upgraded to Tropical depression Colin.  The second named storm in this now 5 day old season.  The current path prediction cone does not include us, but could possibly pass nearby as it crosses Florida and heads northeast. Given how bad the weather service is at predicting things, we pondered the idea of pushing further north to get a bit further away from the predicted path. Of course, knowing my luck, we would move and then the path would change putting is in the path of the storm instead of outside of it.

Decisions...decisions...and I can't really say I like any of the options.

What's In A Name

Hopefully the last weather-related post for a while.  Tomorrow is the start of the dreaded "H" season (as superstitious sailors, I guess we don't actually utter the "H" word). It is the when and why I needed to be north of Cape Hatteras.

The reason we left Southport rather quickly was a tropical low that was threatening to become a "named storm" for which I would not be covered if I sustained damage while there after June 1. Of course after we left, the storm rose to the level deserving the name"Bonnie," then pretty much fizzled out after it made landfall and caused a little havoc in South Carolina. This wasn't exactly a surprise.

Latest track of "Post Tropical Depression" Bonnie.

While we wanted to play it safe and abide by our insurance, most indications were that the storm wasn't expected to develop into anything too serious where we were in North Carolina.  The weather guessers on the local news generally just regurgitate what the National Weather Service says and their information is only half the picture at best.  To get a better idea, I look at several sources of weather data.

One that I've started using more is the service Windity (https://www.windyty.com/). When this site was first brought to my attention a while ago, I thought it was kind of cute, but didn't really see how useful it could be.  Since that time I've slowly determined that I can get a much better idea of the overall weather picture. Look at the winds, the waves, and weather. With data from their two different models you can get an idea of how things might play out over a several day period.  Naturally, these are models and reality doesn't always follow the script, but I've found that this site can be quite a helpful tool. Recently I downloaded their Android phone application and found it to be equally useful and well set up for mobile use.

The Windity model when the above forecast claims "Bonnie"
will be here. You can see the low (even without a giant L)
and the wind estimate for my current location.

Clicking on the eye-catching graphic shows you the wind, wave, or weather data and an option to bring up a detailed forecast for that point. Running the slider at the bottom moves you around in time (the Android application controls are slightly different, but all the same data is there). For pilots there are even icons for airports that bring up the latest weather data there (regardless of where the time slider appears to be, the airport data seems to be current) I still have no idea how to pronounce the name of the site...but it is helpful.  If you don't use it, you might want to check it out sometime.

So, as a name, Bonnie looks to be a non-event for us.  Windyty, however you pronounce it, is a weather tool worth keeping in your weather prediction arsenal.

Not Going Anywhere

I have to admit, we haven't been all that impressed with Hilton Head.  The goal when we stopped here was that it was easier access to the ocean for our trip north.  Well, apparently Mother Nature has decided that we need to spend a little more time here.

The Weather Channel's forecast map

We tried making our escape yesterday afternoon in what was forecast to be a small weather window opening.  Unfortunately, the 10 to 15 knot winds were actually 25 to 30.  The seas were rough and we hadn't even made it past the Port Royal Sound.  We quickly decided that it wasn't worth getting beat up and made our way back to the marina.

The National Weather Service forecast map.

Not much different a couple days later.

Today the wind has died down, but thunderstorms and rough seas are  forecast for the next few days. So, maybe we will spend a little more time here and see if we can find the appeal of this area. 

Waiting On The Weather

While working on the battery bank replacement the weather was nice.  So nice, I almost forgot it was February. Now that the battery bank is installed and seems to be working fine and we are ready (OK, WE'VE been ready for a while...but the boat is now more ready), the weather has been an issue.  Our hope was to make a run on the outside from Southport down to St. Augustine, reversing the trip we made last summer.

But mother nature has had other ideas.  The past couple of days there have been small craft advisories with waves nearing 10 feet on relatively short periods. This morning talk about the Polar Vortex has returned to the forecasting vernacular and temperatures are expected to dip into the 20's and maybe even the teens by the weekend.  Add in the occasional forecast for rain (or maybe snow) and it is not exactly the type of weather you want to be in when the helm of the boat is outside.

The other choice is to continue the trip down the Intracoastal Waterway (ICW).  It is a much slower trip that way since we are only on the move during the day time.  Add in the fact the next stretch of the ICW includes the infamous Rock Pile (a rather narrow, rock ledge lined section), and I'm just not that enthusiastic about making that trip in my wide-beam boat. Even on the ICW, the cold temperatures and less than good weather would make the trip miserable...we know, we've already done it on this trip.

Right now the current plan is to hang out for a few more days in Southport while the Polar Vortex does it's thing this weekend.  Early next week we will start down the ICW.  The weather is supposed to slowly improve (as of the last few forecasts we saw) so we hope after a couple days in the ditch, we can hop out and make a run for St. Augustine.

Back in Southport Again

Laying in bed we knew it wasn't going to be a warm morning.  Forecast was for below freezing temperatures in Carolina Beach and Southport.  It is hard to get out of bed when it is cold.  Since we only had a short trip, there was little motivation to get an early start.  The only real motivation was to make some hot coffee and let the oven serve a dual purpose to help out the reverse cycle heat to warm the boat up.

We do finally rise, cook breakfast, and slowly make the boat ready for the last jump for this leg of our trip while waiting for it to warm up as much as it will this day.  We depart the Masonboro Yacht club around 11 am and there is still ice on our new hardtop.  This ice would remain pretty much frozen for the whole trip.

It should take just a little over 3 hours to get from Masonboro to Deep Point Marina in Southport. But it will be a cold 3 hours.  Forecast high was just a little above freezing and that isn't a good thing for an open cockpit boat.  This boat was designed to be in the warm Caribbean, not the cold east coast. I'm glad we have the makeshift dodger but wish we had a full enclosure...oh well.

Layers of sweatshirts, coats, foul weather gear, ski gloves and knit caps try to keep us a little warm as we motor away.  The trip itself was uneventful other than a few shallow spots along the ICW.  There is some known shoaling along this stretch and we saw water as shallow as 6 foot, good thing we only draw 3 foot 7 inches.  We make the turn into the narrow channel called Snows Cut that connects Carolina Beach to the Cape Fear river.  Between both engines and the headsail fighting some current, we were able to make between 6 and 7 knots.

We arrive at Deep Point marina just as the ferry from Bald Head island is approaching.  Knowing that he is on a schedule and his dock is near where we will be put, I call him on the radio and let him know we will wait for him.  After the ferry passes, we motor into the protected man-made lagoon and dock the boat.

That night was supposed to again dip into the 20's so we again use the dehumidifer/heater to keep the water storage area warm.  And it was.  This is the report on the temperature this morning:

High of 35 and low of 20...brrr. Like the "much warmer" statement for today.

We are going to spend a few days here as we have discovered a few things that need our attention (imagine that on a boat). The house battery bank doesn't seem to be holding much of a charge after the last 5 months plugged into shore power. There also seems to be a small coolant leak in the starboard side engine that is depositing coolant into the bilge. The intermittent preheat solenoid may also be looked at again if we have the time and desire (although it has behaved for all but one start attempt this trip). This is also where we had left a car so it is time to do the car shuffle and go retrieve the one from Virginia.  I think we could also use a few days to just defrost and recuperate.  This marina has a monthly rate that is pretty decent and anything over about 5 days makes the monthly cheaper so we opted to just pay the monthly rate and will leave when we are ready.

I've Gotta Go Where It's Warm

"Could you beam me somewhere Mr. Scotty"...that and the title are from the Jimmy Buffet song Boat Drinks...and perfectly describes how I feel right now.  The cold seems to be heading south faster than we are.

After the somewhat rough night at Whitaker Point marina in Oriental, we did what we seem to do every day now when we get up.  We have the "does it sound too miserable to continue on to the next stop" conversation.  The weather windows, if you can call them that, seem to be getting smaller and less open.  Do we go if the high temperature isn't supposed to get out of the 30's?  Or if it is in the 40's and forecast to be raining all day? Do we take the outside route to Southport or just take the ICW all the way?

We decide to press on as the only forecast that day was for the winds that rocked us half the night to continue to calm down as the day progressed.  We only had a short stint in the Neuse river before being back in the protection of "the ditch" for most of the rest of the journey to Morehead City. Offshore, there are still gale warnings and small craft advisories. The idea of bouncing around in 8 foot seas with short periods between the waves is completely unappealing. So, we decided to take the ICW all the way down. I think we only managed to unfurl the head sail for about 10 minutes the whole trip that day. It was a motorboat sort of day.

We make it through Morehead City, hang a right around the shipping docks, and continue heading down the ICW.  We make it to the stop for the evening, a marina I found in Active Captain that gave us the most daylight mileage and sounded pretty nice.  And it was.  The entrance into Spooners Creek marina is a bit tight, but once you make it through the cut and the sharp turn into their basin, you find a nice, calm, well protected facility. This marina is probably the second nicest one we have stayed at (Palm Coast being the first). The marina is part of a condo complex and has nice new floating docks, a well appointed clubhouse and bathhouse. They were reasonably priced for the area at $1.50 per foot including electricity.

The next morning we were greeted with forecasts of temperatures in the 40's and rain.  Again the continue-on question is asked, and we puzzle about it for a while.  We finally decide that we really want to get south so we push on.  It was a pretty miserable slog for much of the day.  Rain reduced visibility, and the wind would swirl around just enough to keep us from being dry in the cockpit. We finally make it to the stop for the night at Swan Point marina in Sneads Ferry, NC.

The reviews called this place rustic, and maybe my view is a bit colored by how nice the last stop was, but I'd call this place dilapidated. It all started when we were trying to dock the boat.  The winds were up about 30 knots blowing...naturally...across the dock.  I try to get a line cleated so I could pivot the boat up to the dock, and we end up pulling up the cleat with the dock board attached to it.  While the cleat was bolted down OK, the boards are only nailed into place and the decaying wood let go of the nails.  After some work we get the boat docked and I add lines directly to the pilings in addition to the lines on the cleats (that I had little faith in). This "marina" is really a boatyard with docks.  The facilities are very utilitarian with cinder block walls and concrete floors and pipes strapped to them for the showers.  The laundry machines didn't look like they would work, or if they did, you would likely end up with rust stains on everything. To top it off, it was the same price as the place the night before.  The only positive was it did have electricity, so we could run the heater.

Not the cleat, or dock, you want to use.

That night it was cold.  When we got up, frost was covering the docks and the boat. The "do we go" decision was pretty easy though.  It was going to be colder than yesterday but the sun was out and we definitely wanted to go.  We didn't get an early start since we wanted it to warm up just a bit, but we departed the dock around 9:30AM. After we start down the ICW, we were greeted by a small pod of dolphins as if to tell us we were definitely making the right decision.  Other than the usual wind on the nose, the trip was uneventful.  We even had moderate luck with the bridges.  The first bridge had an early unscheduled opening for a barge that we were able to sneak through to gain a little time.  The currents seemed to be with us and gave us a speed boost that helped us with the timing at the other bridges. We made it to the next destination, the Masonboro Yacht Club, an hour ahead of schedule.

This is where we sit now, waiting for temperatures in the 20's this evening.  We are using one of those round metal dehumidifiers (heating coil with a fan) to help keep the outside locker that holds our water tanks warm enough to prevent freezing of the water lines.  The reverse cycle heat is getting its exercise once again to keep the cabin warm.

One more shorter trip and we will be in Southport, NC, where we intend to stop for a few days to recuperate. Now, for my boat drink...and dinner.

It Was A Dark & Stormy Night

Isn't that how all the bad novels start?  We left the Alligator River Marina on Thursday morning, made our way through the Alligator River bridge and down the river to the canal that joins the Alligator to the Pungo river.  As in the past few days we have been doing a combination of motoring and motor sailing in order to make time.

I don't really like running the motors as I would rather sail, but in "the ditch" there isn't too much of an option to sail.  And when there is, the wind seems to be right on our nose (as noted on our Facebook page) Tacking back and forth against the wind across a river or bay takes a lot of time...more time than we want to spend on this somewhat chilly voyage trying to outrun the cold. So, until the temperatures are higher, we will probably just motor on.

We cross the Alligator and head into another long, straight, stretch of canal that connects the Alligator to the Pungo river.  We slowly make our way to our next stop, the Dowry Creek marina just outside Bellhaven, NC.  Having been at this marina before, I won't go into too much detail about it.  We tried filling our tanks there, but apparently ran them out of Diesel at 27 gallons.  Oh well, more than enough for another couple days of travel.

Last visit to Dowry Creek, same docking space this time.

Continuing our trek in the reverse of my first trip up the ICW, we left Dowry Creek for Oriental. Weather was supposed to be moving in late in the afternoon/evening, so we again made an early departure.When we came up this past summer, some of the roughest water we had was on the Pungo river. Fortunately this time it decided to show my wife that it can be nice and calm.  We motor sailed down and across the Pungo and made our way through the canal to the Neuse river.  The only excitement for this part of the trip were some duck hunters we didn't see on the banks of the canal...until the gunshots started and they popped up from their hiding places. From there it was a short motor sail to the Whittaker Point marina, another one I had stayed at before.

Whittaker Point as viewed from our face dock.

When we arrived, the sunny skies had given way to darkening gray, telling us the predicted weather was indeed going to arrive.  We tied up at the dock just as the rain started.  A little rain isn't so bad. Then it started pouring. Buckets. The dogs were not impressed by having to go out in it. Once the weather seemed to calm down a bit, we took the marina's courtesy car (some marinas have cars that transient boaters can use for local trips) to see the town and stop by the local grocery store to pick up a couple of snack items we thought would be nice to have.

And this is the point in the story where I get to gripe about Walmart.  The first time I was in Oriental, there was a Town & Country (IGA I think it was) grocery store and they just opened up one of those mini-Walmart things. Fast forward to this trip and the Town & Country has recently closed (with grafitti on the boarded window that states "Thanks Walmart").  To rub salt in the wound, just yesterday wally-world announced they will be closing a bunch of their little stores, including this one.  So, the town of Oriental may be without a grocery store.  I hope someone will come in to fill the void, and if they do, I hope they can get some sort of promise from the town that will protect them from any future big-box buffoonery. We absolutely hate shopping at Walmart and will avoid them whenever possible...but anymore, they are often the only store in town.

Image from TownDock.net, 

Anyway, when we got back to the boat we found that the winds had really started picking up.  We were being blown into the face dock hard.  And waves were rolling in the inlet and rocking our boat pretty good.  Over the next few hours we worked to tie and retie the boat, adding a couple additional lines.  With the fixed docks we had placed extra fenders out on the pilings, but with all the motion of the boat, the fenders walked their way around the poles.  With the help of the only other couple at the marina, we were able to get additional fenders in place and ride out the storm. A few frayed nerves, but this morning everything looks to be OK except for some algae smudges on the boat from the pilings.  Not the most restful night.

This morning at the dock...lots of fenders around that center piling.

Winds seem to be calming down this morning and the sun is out, so that is good.

Becoming a Boat Again for the New Year

First, I want to wish everyone a a New Year with all your heart needs or desires!

Sorry for going quiet right after my post on the "completion" of the hardtop project.  It has actually been far from quiet here on the boat.  Lots of things to be done to turn our floating project space back into a seaworthy vessel.

We've repaired the D-ring issue.  After digging out the rotting wood we spent a lot of time forcing warm, dry air into the space to make sure any residual moisture was gone.  I'm sure my neighbors didn't appreciate the constant droning on of the shop vacuum that was sucking warm air through the holes but with the new year we have bid that annoyance farewell. A few very small holes were drilled in the deck and epoxy was injected to fill up the voids.  Filling the area with epoxy was done in several pours to prevent excessive heat buildup (we would wait for a layer to pass its' highest heat potential but before it was fully cured to apply the next layer).  The holes allowed any air bubbles to escape so the void is solid epoxy.  The holes in the deck are tiny, the smallest drill bit I had and the one that just barely allowed the West Systems syringe to inject resin, Once everything cured, new holes were drilled for the D-ring bolts, new 316 stainless hardware was purchased to mount it, and it was all installed with the use of butyl tape as the bedding compound.  The D-ring is now installed in a section of the deck that is probably stronger than the original and should remain leak free for a long time.  And if it does ever leak again, the balsa core will be well protected by the epoxy and should never see any water.  Once we get to warmer climates, the tiny pinholes will get a drop of color-matched gelcoat and the repair should be nearly invisible.

The stack pack and mainsail were reinstalled on the boat yesterday morning.  With that task we are already reaping the benefits of having a hard top.  Having a platform to stand on while installing these items is far superior to trying to work around the old soft top or take it down to access the boom. Even zipping up the stack pack is easier than before.

Sails back up...starting to look like a sailboat again.

We have been cleaning up the boat as well.  When boat projects are ongoing, there are tools and supplies lying around and you don't generally put them all away just to take them all out the next morning (particularly when it takes hours to dig them out of their hiding places in the various storage spaces on a boat). Of course, the result is a LOT of stuff lying about where it doesn't belong and the packing up and storing of all that stuff can take a while.

With any luck we will finally start our journey south in the next week. The idea of sitting out in the cockpit with temperatures in the 40's and 50's isn't a pleasant thought, particularly given that we have no dodger or enclosure that fits our new hardtop.  We are considering taking our old dodger and some of the material from the old soft top to make a temporary dodger that will fit the new top.  It won't look pretty, but will hopefully provide a little protection from the chilly wind in our face. Too bad Scotty isn't around to beam us down to warmer latitudes.

It is good to see our home starting to look like a sailboat again.

Rain, Cold, and Wind

Looking back, if I had one thing I would change about this project, it would be shelter from the elements.  The weather has dogged me the entire project.  I guess, coming from a state where it is sunny and not terribly hot most of the year, I just didn't think about how much of an impact it would be. I did try to find an indoor work space when I was looking for a place to build this top, but the only two I knew of were well south of my insurance restriction for location during the dreaded "H" season.

Building a makeshift shelter (or as I often joke about it, a refugee camp) has helped.  It kept the sun off of it during the summer and now it can help hold heat in a bit.  Unfortunately, tarps tied to a canopy aren't the best when it comes to rain.  They work for a little while, but stretching them over boat stands takes its toll and they start to leak.  I've replaced or reinforced a couple, but even then the drainage of water off of the tarps can be an issue.  The other problem with the shelter is the wind.  Using a propane forced air (torpedo) heater, I can get the "tent" pretty warm, but if the wind is really blowing, the heater is much less effective in the drafty shelter.

"Enclosed" work space canopy with 10 tarps

I'd consider getting a somewhat more substantial shelter (one of those pop-up car ports or similar), but at this point we are so close to completion that it doesn't make sense to plunk down the money on one.  A tent or carport large enough to fit the top, provide room to walk all the way around it, and room for a work table is a bit pricey.  If I had bought one at the beginning it probably would have been worth it (or, who knows, maybe it would have other problems of its own like heat build-up during the summer).  So, I make do with my canopy and the 10 tarps that are tied to the frame.

Panorama inside my workspace.  

Despite all of this, we have been making some progress on the top.  Discounting the hour or two it takes to setup and close down the tent each day, we have about six to 7 hours of working time.  On good days, I can raise the temperature inside the tent 20 degrees or more over the ambient temperature and that is good enough to get resin and gelcoat to cure. We were able to apply a weave fill coat of polyester resin to the top.  Yesterday we put gelcoat on the window opening and another coat along the top side of the handrails.  That took a bit longer than planned (seems that everything does) and we were running the heater until 7 PM so it would cure.

Today was cold with the high of 51 at 5 AM and falling ever since.  With help of the heater, I was still able to do a little wet sanding of the gelcoat (in this case the top didn't need it but I did). This evening the low is supposed to be around freezing and tomorrow is supposed to be windy, so I don't know that I'll be getting an early start in the morning.  Maybe after a couple hot cups of coffee...maybe.

P.S. The cat seems to like the tent, she often hangs out under the top while we are working...whenever it is cold or raining.  And this morning I found her sneaking out from underneath it when I arrived.

Paint It Yellow

I can't believe I'm still here in Virginia working on this hardtop project. I knew I was being optimistic with the original theory on how long it would take, but we are over 3 times that now.  And it is taking a bit of a mental toll on us.  Hayes, Virginia, has lost its appeal and we really, really want to be moving on.  We know that this will be one of the best additions to the boat in the long run, but we need to get this thing done.

One of the largest issues seems to be the weather.  When we started the project, temperatures were so high that we couldn't lay up fiberglass until late in the evening.  Now the temperatures barely make it up to the recommended 60 to 65 degree (Fahrenheit) minimum needed for polyester resin and gelcoat to cure. Of course being outside, rain has also been an issue.  You can't get uncured or curing resin wet, and laminating resin doesn't like to be wet even after it cures since the surface is still tacky. Shielding our work from the elements has been a challenge.  Right now I'm waiting for some rain to blow over so we can hopefully apply more gelcoat later today.

Weather hasn't been the only issue, though.  As I've admitted before, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. This doesn't really work well when working in 3rd world conditions in a boatyard.  Don't get me wrong, I think the top is coming out very well, but my engineering mind sees the minor issues and wants to fix them.  Some of the imperfections have caused issues and taken a lot of time as well.

Still have a little gelcoat to apply to the underside before we flip it.

The handrails, particularly along the front edge of the top, are not perfectly straight and/or nice uniform curves.  The minor variances mean that when trying to smooth the gelcoat (we want the handrail detail to look good and feel good when you are holding onto it), it is very easy to sand through the coating. Gelcoat requires a thick layer to look good, and if it gets thin (what would be considered a thick layer in terms of regular paint) it becomes translucent. As a result, we've applied gelcoat, sanded it down, and repeated this process until there are only a couple thin spots left.  At this point I think we can touch up the thin spots and be good to go.  But it has taken a lot of time to get to this point. In hindsight, we probably should have just kept the minor orange peel texture that the paint roller created...oh well.

We've been here so long, that even one of the stray cats that hangs out in the boatyard has decided to adopt me.  Or maybe she just likes the shelter from the rain that three roofs (the canopy, the hardtop, and the table) provide.

Boatyard stray cat that seems to like us.

So, what does this have to do with the title of this post...well, I'm getting to that.  As a perfectionist, I've always had a problem with the concept of perfect being the enemy of good. One of the reasons I became somewhat dissatisfied with my career was that I wanted to do good work and most companies just wanted fast (let the customers find the bugs) and didn't care much about good. I became more forgiving with software but still refused to put out a bad product.  With something visual like this hardtop, I'm still battling with the idea of "good enough".

The "Paint it yellow" story came from a coworker a number of years ago.  My memory isn't perfect, so this may not be accurate, but this is how I recall the story going.  My coworker was working for a large software house.  As such large companies like to do from time to time, they do somewhat cheesy things to try to boost morale or motivate employees.  This company had a "caption this poster" contest where they had a number of poster images and asked employees to come up with motivational captions.  Among the posters was a picture of a bunch of yellow chicks with one albino chick in the mix.  I'm sure that the company was looking for something like "stand out in a crowd" or "don't be afraid to be different".  One of the employees, apparently having worked in the industry long enough, had what was a more appropriate caption for the poster.  His entry was "Screw it. Paint it yellow and ship it".  A short time later, the contest was cancelled and the posters were taken down.

But, for a perfectionist, this is an important lesson.  While it is admirable to always want your work to be the best, sometimes you just need to realize there is a point where it is "good enough".  I'm sure the top is better than good enough, now I just need to convince myself of that and get this thing done and on the boat.  But first, I guess I need to convince mother nature to stop spitting water at me.

60 Degrees and Raining

My usual luck with weather returned yesterday.  I think the high may have been 62 degrees at sometime around 3pm and the gelcoat says don't apply below 65 degrees.  And while it doesn't explicitly say not to apply it in the rain, I think that is a safe assumption.

Fortunately version 2.0 of  the camp gave us the ability to apply a little gel coat anyway.  While some of the tarps are getting a little worn, one was still pretty waterproof and we were able to raise it enough to access one side of the top.

We mixed up some gelcoat, catalyzed it at the high end of the range (the bottle says to use between 1 and 3% MEKP) and brushed it on the starboard edge and the first couple inches of both sides of the top.  Then we fired up the heater to bring the temperature inside the tent to about 75 degrees.  Once the coat started curing, we turned off the heater, mixed up some more gelcoat, and applied it over the first, brushing it on at a 90 degree angle to the first coat.  Started the heater and let that cure for a little bit and then did one more coat. After all three coats had cured a bit, I brushed on some PVA (this is laminating gelcoat) and let the heat complete the cure.

Gelcoat curing under the heated tent.

Today the rain continued and I spent most of the day sanding and shaping the gelcoat after washing off the PVA.  I think it was due to the temperature, but for whatever reason, the gelcoat didn't flow as well when applied the day before and so a lot of sanding was needed to make everything smooth.  Since I don't have a real longboard sander, I'm using a drywall sanding block and it worked really well. As it turns out, even with 3 coats, there were still thin spots once everything was sanded smooth.  So, at this point, the edge shape looks really good but I will need to apply another coat and try not to sand through it.

The rainy weather is supposed to break tomorrow, so hopefully I'll have a bit better luck getting the gelcoat to flow and can get a nice even 30+ mil coat applied to the rest of the edges (so when I sand there will still be 20 mils or so left on the top).  With any luck, maybe I can get the rest of the edge done without sanding all the way through the gelcoat and having to reapply more.

Refugee Camp 2.0

For a while now I've been joking that my work area in the boatyard is reminiscent of a refugee camp.  A canopy with tarps tied to it as a make-shift shelter just doesn't inspire engineering confidence.  Well, yesterday we ended up re-configuring our shelter.  Unfortunately, we have been here so long that the summer temperatures have turned into late fall temperatures (in the course of about a week).  So, instead of fighting high temperatures that would cause the polyester resin to cure too quickly, we are now fighting low temperatures that prevent the resin from curing at all.

Improved? camp.

To combat this issue, I reconfigured the tarps attached to the tent so it could be, at least partially, closed in to trap heat.  The result is far from an insulated work space, but using a propane forced air heater, it can manage to trap enough of the heat to bring the work space temperature up about 15 to 20 degrees above the ambient temperature (depending on how windy it is in the yard).

A little heat to help things cure.

With the new and improved work space, we were able to apply a weave fill coat of resin even though the official high temperature here today was only 56 degrees Fahrenheit and was measured at a max of 65 in the yard. After applying the resin, I was able to bring the temperature of the tent up to a high of 80. Even with the temperatures outside dropping as the sun set, the resin was able to cure.

A litle more resin to try and smooth things out a bit.

So, tomorrow we will be again sanding fiberglass...oh, yay.  But being able to make progress today was good....as it sounds like more colder weather will be heading our way.

No Joaquin, But Lots of Wind and Rain

Well, we dodged a bullet with Joaquin as it heads toward Bermuda instead of the Chesapeake.  But the weather has been pretty unsettled here anyway.  Glad we took the sails down and added extra dock lines.  The wind has been a pretty steady 25 to 30 knots according to the poor little bit of plastic spinning at the top of my mast.  The tides here have also been really high as the winds push water into the bay.

Screen capture of Joaquin and the east coast from Windyty.com

What is normally high tide here seems to be low tide these past couple of days.  The high tides have been washing over the lower fixed docks and causing the floating docks to push the ramps from the higher fixed docks into the air. It also floods the two roads in and out of the marina enough that there are times they are impassible.

Hmm...the ramp seems a bit ineffective at this tide level

Yesterday we decided we should get off the boat and go do something to take our minds off the bad weather.  We invited our friends from The Retirement Project to come along and we ended up going to see a movie.  Having a home theater when we lived on land, it has been an extremely long time since I've been to a theater.  They were playing The Martian in 3D.  Theaters seem a bit more comfortable than I recall, but overall I think I still prefer watching movies in the comfort of my own home.  But we had a nice time and the movie was pretty good (neither of us knew much about it, so we didn't really know what to expect).

Today, when the internet cooperates (internet always seems to be an issue at marinas), I think I'll be doing some research on solar.  Needing a new mattress in our berth, I'll be looking into that as well.  So keeping busy while the wind and rain blow.

Rain Delay

The last few days we have been working on some of the details on the underside of the top.  I mentioned in the last post that we added the support beams and wire chases and started glassing them into the top.  That work was completed yesterday.  We used the 1708 fabric to create a good structural fiberglass skin and tabs to secure the new structure to the top and distribute weight. Where there are tight corners and other places where the 1708 wouldn't conform to the surfaces, multiple layers of chopped strand mat were used.  As a result, except for the edges, the structural glass is complete.

Next on the agenda was to work on the detail around the side and front edges of the top.  For this, the plan was to take 1 inch thin wall (schedule 20) PVC pipe, split it down the middle lengthwise, and glue it on the top and bottom of the edge to create an oval shape around the edge.  The PVC would then be glassed over to create a convenient hand-hold. A slit would be cut along the bottom to accept the bolt rope for panels of a dodger (enclosure) set.  Unfortunately, I found that the split PVC would not bend around the front curve as I had hoped it would.

Guided by the suggestion of a few blog readers, I tried using heat to bend the pipe and that allowed me to reshape the PVC.  I tried to create a template or jig to help make a uniform curve by hammering a bunch of nails into a board along a curve.  Unfortunately I found another issue with this approach.  While the curve appears fine to the eye, it is not a constant curve in two-dimensional space (remember it was drawn along the curve of the arch using my string-compass technique).  This means a jig that replicates a curve segment won't work for the entire curve.  Best guess now is that I may have to slowly curve it by hand until it is "close enough" and then use clamps to hold it in place while the glue dries.

And that brings us to today.  A storm that was predicted for this weekend seems to have arrived.  It includes high winds and rain and makes work in a tent made of tarps assembled in a boatyard almost impossible.  So, instead of working directly on the top, today was spent doing some shopping.  We went looking for a paint sprayer I can use to apply PVA once the gel coat non-skid texture is applied to the finish.  We also went looking for a new baking sheet for our propane oven after figuring out that a pizza we had wouldn't fit directly on the rack in the tiny oven (the oven box is only 11.75 inches deep by 17 inches wide). I also needed a new pair of sandals as my current ones were starting to fall apart.  So, getting some things done...but just not a lot of progress on the top right now.

The weather is supposed to be a bit touch and go for the upcoming week, so it will be interesting to see how much we can accomplish.  I have to say I'm more than just a bit anxious to get moving again, so I find all of these weather delays a bit annoying.  On the bright side, some friends are supposed to be coming for a visit soon and we have been forced to take a few breaks and be more social...which have been good things.

In an unrelated note, I saw this while shopping today.  Is it just me or is Kohl's jumping the gun a bit on the Christmas shopping season?

While The Weather Cooperates

Hurricane...or is it tropical storm now...Danny doesn't look like it will be headed our direction. (I do hope all my friends and fellow cruisers in its path are OK).  Meanwhile, the weather has been at least somewhat cooperative here so we've been putting in a lot of time on the hardtop project. So, sorry that posts have been a bit sporadic, but if there is one thing that this project has taught me, it is that we need to work when the weather allows.  By the end of the day today we are ready to lay more glass, but there isn't enough time so I'll finally see if I can catch up on the blog.

Work space or refugee camp? Attempting to keep things dry.

When we left off there were a couple days of unsettled weather that arrived.  After the storm that hit at the end of the last post, we mopped up the mess and tried to get everything dried out. They called for 70% chance of rain most of the following day and that usually means we will get soaked (water and laying fiberglass just don't mix).  So we did some shopping and other preparation while we waited on the weather...that never came.  The ominous looking clouds finally just fizzled out about 3 PM. We cut the two smaller pieces of foam that need to be glued to the ends of the 8 foot panels so we end up with 9.5 foot panels and punched holes in them, but that was it.

The next day the forecast was similar, but we decided we wouldn't be fooled again.  This project was already taking a lot longer than I had hoped, so we didn't want to sit around waiting for weather that may not arrive. We pulled out the two remaining foam panels and spent the day punching holes in them.  The 9 nails in the tool make this a much longer process than I would like, but it does work.  Well, until a nail breaks off. You see, you tend to bend the nails after pushing them into the foam so you have to constantly straighten them.  Eventually the bending weakens the nails and...well...you end up digging one of them out of the foam panel with pliers.  Good thing I had the remaining piece of the original longer board full of nails so I could just cut another 9 out of it and finish up. Again, thankfully the rain never came.

Gluing the extensions on the large panels.

Then it was time to start gluing the remaining panels together.  Since I don't have a full mold and only stringers, I had to attach the two side panels to the mold so the end would lay over one of the stringers and then glue the small pieces to them.  This would keep them properly aligned and holding the curve. Using polyester resin that I reinforced with some chopped glass fiber and fumed silica, I created what I could only describe as "hairy polyester mud" to glue them together.  I smeared the concoction into the joint, then pushed the smaller piece into position and held them in place with sandbags covered in plastic.  I used a plastic spreader to remove the excess that squeezed out in order to minimize later sanding.  It is much easier to scrape off wet goo than sand down hardened polyester.

After the two side panels cured, it was time to adhere them to the center panel.  Now one might think that the edges of a 4 foot by 8 foot foam panel would be straight, but they did not line up with the center panel very well.  I discovered that the center panel had pulled up from the mold a bit, I assume from the shrinkage of the polyester.  It seems that the 30 lb. test fishing line I was using stretched or the knots slipped a bit.  I was able to pull it back down with some wedges between the frame and the line. This shrinkage may have given the center panel a slight curve along the edge as well. so I then had to sand the panels a bit to get a better fit.

Panels tied to the frame and glued together.

Once the fit was better, I used a similar concoction to glue the side panels to the middle panel.  We tied the edges that are closer to the seam to the mold so we could slide the panel back a couple of inches.  I also threaded ties for the other side through the panel but left them untied so we could move it.  By sliding the panels apart a couple inches, I was able to apply the hairy mud from underneath the mold.  We slid the panel into position, checked the alignment, and tied the free end down to the frame.  Since there was one spot on each panel that didn't line up flush, I used boards wedged underneath the mold to hold them even.

All the panels are attached. This thing is getting big.

When all of that cured, we had a foam panel roughly the size of the final top with a fiberglass strip down the center. All that was left was to finish shaping the foam construct so it would be the final shape of the top and ready for glass.  Using a razor knife, I roughly carved the back edge of the two new panels and then sanded them so they matched the needed curve for the mounting flange. In order to protect the back edge of the mold, I slipped a sacrificial piece of heavy plastic between the foam and the mold and adjusted its position when sanding would start cutting through it.  This worked well and allowed me to get the curve to match up very well with the mold.

Rough cutting and then shaping the back edge.

The final step was to cut the curve at the front.  I used the trick I originally figured out for creating the curves on the stringers.  Taking a boat stand, some line, and a pencil, I created a crude compass to draw the arc.  In this case I didn't have a radius (for some reason, SketchUp wouldn't tell me the radius) but I had the intersection points on the edges and the length at the center, so I figured it out where to place the boat stand (a.k.a. the compass pivot) using trial and error.  I then cut the curve using my jig saw fitted with a fine tooth (32 teeth per inch) metal cutting blade. Where the foam intersected one of the mold stringers, I switched from the saw to the razor knife to keep from damaging the form.

Scribing the arc with a boat stand and string again.

A little sanding and it is now ready for applying the remaining fiberglass on the top side.  If the weather continues to cooperate, that will likely be what we will start tomorrow.

Everybody Talks About the Weather...

...but no one ever does anything about it.  That quote from Charles Dudley Warner seems quite appropriate for a sailor.  I am certainly not the first sailor to have to wait on better weather to travel, it seems that is a very regular occurrence.  Funny, since I had the same issues when flying.  Now if were someone that could do something about it.

My original plan was to depart Brunswick on Saturday afternoon, do an overnight sail to the St. Augustine inlet, and then travel down the ICW to Palm Coast.  But the forecasts for Saturday night through Sunday morning are calling for some pretty rough seas.

The Sunday Windfinder forecast for St. Augustine buoy

Wave height at 6 foot on a 5 second period is not what I'd call a fun thing to do during the night, so I've decided to postpone the trip for a day.  Things are supposed to calm down on Sunday afternoon in time for our sail, so that is the current plan.  Of course, the idea that "plans for cruisers are written in the sand at low tide" also seems appropriate, so we will see what happens when the forecasts are updated in the morning.

I regularly consult Windfinder, as well as NOAA and Weather Underground (and sometimes the ADDS Aviation Weather site) for weather forecasts and information.  What weather sources do you use?

In the meantime I've been continuing to clean and organize the boat.  Or at least I'm trying to organize it.  I have to admit my organizing skills aren't the best and, as a result, a lot more stuff is laying around the boat than safely tucked away in an appropriate storage place.  But I'm working on it.  I've acquired a few more plastic storage containers to try and get some things under control.  Meanwhile, the rear berth in the boat still looks as bad as the garage in my land-based home was.

I did try starting the starboard engine this morning to see if my cleanup of the glow plug connections made any difference.  Unfortunately, it did not.  I've tested the glow plug circuit to verify battery voltage was available when the preheat button was pushed and that the plugs indicated proper resistance, so the search will continue after I get the boat moved.  The engine starts and runs fine if the engine is at least slightly warm, so it shouldn't pose any problems for the trip.

I also made some chili this evening that I thought might sound good for a meal while on a cool evening passage. I start with the basic recipe from The Boat Galley, and then added some additional vegetables to create a reasonably well rounded, one bowl meal.  If seas are reasonably calm, I may decide to make something more elaborate, but it is nice to have an easy to make meal when the boat is bouncing around.

Sorry about slowing down on the posts lately, but I figured I would spare you some of the details of cleaning up from "project mode".  If you need more detail, you can go clean your garage and then your bathroom and that ought to demonstrate the skills I've been using the most the past couple days. And to really get the right effect, you need to store everything in one cabinet in your kitchen or under your sofa.

Brrrr

Baby, it's c-c-c-c-cold outside. Last night Brunswick, GA. was under both a hard freeze and high wind warning. Depending on which weather site you believe it was either 24 or 25 degrees farenheit as the low. And I'm pretty sure the winds were in the 15 gusting to 30 knot range. Not a good combination as that puts the wind chill somewhere in the teens for the evening. When I got up this morning, the temperature was reported as 26 with the Weather Underground "feels like" temperature of 18.  It sounds like the next couple days are going to be a bit chilly before things improve.

Weather Underground graph showing
the dip into the 20's this morning.

I know I shouldn't be complaining given that back in Colorado they had sub zero temperatures from this same cold front a few days ago, but homes there are built to handle it. Boats, at least catamarans designed for cruising in the Caribbean, are not. And my wardrobe, that consists of more swim trunks than long sleeve shirts, isn't helping either. Fortunately I am at a dock and plugged into shore power, so I left the reverse cycle AC running in heat mode overnight. Originally I didn't think I wanted air conditioning on a boat, but right now I'm glad they can provide some heat.

Maybe it was a bit overkill, but I also put a small 130 watt radiant heater in the unheated locker on the bridge deck where my water tanks and related plumbing are located. I also ran the engines for a bit to help add a bit of heat to the engine room (where some additional plumbing is located). I figure a little extra precaution is better than climbing into the recesses of the boat to replace plastic fittings that could break if they froze. Not sure I want to see this month's electric bill though.

This puts a hold on some of my boat fixing projects as well.  Neither fiberglass nor sealants like to cure in temperatures this cold (and I can't blame them).  Continuing the work waxing the boat is definitely not in the cards for today.  And in the case of the salon window re-bed, I don't think I really want a big hole in the side of the boat when it is this cold.

So, while I wait for better weather, guess I'll write a blog post, clean up the boat since stuff is scattered everywhere from the projects I have been working on, do a little more project related research, some reading, and some cooking.  Making a big pot of chili sounds good on a cold day and the cooking will add heat to the boat...a a nice bonus.

Now, where'd I put that fireplace....

The Last of the ICW

For a change, we don't get an overly early start.  The weather broadcasts indicate there may be some more unsettled weather and since we could probably use a little re-provisioning, I decided we would splurge for a marina this upcoming evening.  We pull up the anchor and head out just before 8am.

I still don't have 100% confidence in the various gauges on the boat and even though the fuel gauge claims we are mostly full, we stop at the Pungo Creek marina for fuel.  The Skipper Bob's Marinas book claims they have better than average prices for the area, but I this was the most expensive diesel we purchased on the trip.  Fortunately, the fuel gauge seems reasonably accurate and we only needed about 15 gallons (the boat holds 75).  The Marina book also claimed they had a store, but they do not. The marina is pretty run down and with the fuel prices, I don't think I'll return there unless it is an emergency.

After departing the marina we make our way down the Pungo river and into the Pamlico.  The winds were a little under 10 knots from behind us as we made the turn so I decided it was time to break out the spinnaker and we make like a sailboat for a short time.  The spinnaker doesn't last too long as we again quickly enter a narrow section of the river...and, of course, the wind is blocked by the trees.

We make it to Whittaker Pointe marina, just outside Oriental, well before dark.We get tied up and sign up for the courtesy car and make a run into town.  We come back, have dinner, check the weather, and call it a night.

The weather the next day is proving to be difficult.  The original plan was to head down to Beaufort/Moorhead City and out the inlet to open ocean.  But, the winds were predicted to be rather high and the seas even higher, so we decided we would find an anchorage near Beaufort to wait out the weather.

Entering and leaving Whittaker point there is a rather narrow channel with some shoaling.  They say there are boaters who have run aground and those that will.  With the winds as we were coming out, I did end up pushing into the mud as we tried to leave.  Fortunately I was going slowly and was able to simply back out and work my way around the pile of mud that narrowed the channel.

We set sail with winds again on our nose.  Just as we make it out of the Neuse river and into Adams creek a thunderstorm alert comes across the radio for the Neuse river.  We are relatively protected in Adams creek and we watch the thunderstorm roll by behind us.  We hear tornado watches for adjacent areas and the weather is a bit unsettled for the whole trip to Moorhead City.

I had originally thought we would use an anchorage behind Shackleford island.  Getting to this anchorage requires going part of the way out of the inlet and then turning behind the barrier island.  As we made our approach to the inlet, I realized that was not a good option.  The rough seas were pushing their way into the inlet and we would have had a very rough ride over to a relatively shallow cut into the anchorage.

Fortunately, boats travel slower than airplanes and we had plenty of time to figure out another plan. I knew of an anchorage just behind Fort Macon and we decided it was a decent location with protection from the easterly winds with a long fetch to the lee shore so we found a location and dropped the hook.  Just as all our previous anchoring, the Mantus set immediately and stayed put in the 30 knot winds.  This is where we would stay the night in hopes that the forecasts were correct and the weather would improve tomorrow.

On an unrelated note.  I think I understand why everyone has a romantic idea of of cruising.  When everything is nice, we have time to take pictures...and they are usually nice with beaches and sunsets and dolphins playing and all of that.  When it isn't nice weather, we are usually too busy with the boat to take pictures...like this part of the trip.