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Summer Projects & More!

As usual, we began our summer with our project list to … get them out of the way! Year 2 of our Manta Twin Sisters was no exception.

First, nourishment to get started! Fortunately, we enjoyed lots of breaks with friends & family throughout the summer – donut runs too!

Our most time-consuming project was the installation of new alternators & alternator regulators with remote displays. The remote displays ended up being the most challenging – not only was running the wires to the helm very difficult, I then had to re-run the wires a 2nd time relocating all to keep away from other wiring & devices, as we discovered electrical interference causing the displays to show erratic messages.

Lots of ceiling panel removal fun – some to re-wire lights & add wall switches. In the cockpit ceiling we had a small rainwater leak which really stumped us – the most obvious was wiring from the solar panels on the roof, but the wire was very well sealed. Finally found the culprit – the wire jacket was well sealed but a tiny gap existed where water could run inside the outer jacket.

Speaking of cleaning-up, our watermaker control panel needed some work too.

Perhaps I got a little frustrated removing the old stern shower, but the new one looks much nicer.

Our nephew Matt to the rescue – helping me replace our 2 “house” batteries @160 lbs. each.

Steam cleaning the “monkey fur” in our cabins – while they looked clean, the residual water was pretty black. “Monkey fur” (not sure why it’s called that) isn’t ideal on a boat, but many boat manufacturers use it as an inexpensive way to finish-off interior walls at lower cost.

Hallelujah – Projects are done!

With the remnants of Tropical Storm Debby passing us by, next week’s weather looks nearly perfect, so we’re off for a week to test all our projects & enjoy ourselves! Hard to believe that in only a month, we’ll be beginning our trip south again to Florida & the Bahamas.

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Deep River, CT for the Summer

This was one of our best trips north – mostly pleasant without being too cold or windy. Not even a single thunderstorm thru North Carolina, as they can be especially nasty. No Coast Guard boardings, no excess waits at any of the bridges we need openings for in Norfolk & no wait in Cape May, NJ for a weather window offshore to NYC – all good!

Now that we’re back in the States, Lori’s Etsy Shop is up & running! Shipping out this time from Oriental, NC.

We’re on TV! …. well – barely …That’s us on the end of the dock in Belhaven, NC

Enjoyed a fabulous dinner at the (new) 1904 Bistro Restaurant in Belhaven. All was perfect & the owner even stopped by to chat for a while detailing his exciting plans for his restaurant & marina. Belhaven is our favorite “trying the hardest” little town & always a fun stop. With a population of only 1,400 (& declining every year) they are working hard on making themselves a restaurant & waterfront destination.

“It’s a boat”, so something is always breaking down. Our alternator regulator quit (putting out a dangerous 15.6! volts instead of 13.4 volts). Fortunately, I had an old regulator which worked fine – for exactly 75 minutes, then would stop working until shutting down the engine & re-starting, working fine for another 75 minutes. Rather than shutting down the engine every 75 minutes, I installed a temporary “reset” switch wired to the regulator, which got us home.

It’s not every day we have a submarine on our tail & gaining quickly! Norfolk frequently has naval ships transiting with lots of VHF announcements & warnings to “maintain a security zone of 200 yards”. This sub pretty much crept up on us without a word.

We could try to outrun it, or let it pass, which was the better move as it kept speeding up & we had other commercial & pleasure boats to get around.

The timing worked out perfectly to see my brother Jack & his wife Kerry while they were visiting family near Annapolis, Maryland in their beautiful home overlooking the water.

A few foggy mornings underway including transiting the C & D Canal. While just entering we heard a Coast Guard announcement over our VHF that the canal was “closed to all vessels due to heavy fog until further notice”. Yikes – now you tell us! This photo was as leaving Cape May. Fortunately, our newer radar works really well, as we needed it several mornings.

An approaching … airplane?!? The tug transporting a fuel barge apparently mis-programmed their AIS signature to a “WIG – Wing-in-Ground” vessel, which our AIS receiver shows as an airplane symbol.

Always something unusual offshore. Off New Jersey we saw 2 tugboats following each other going 2.1 knots on AIS. When we passed them, it made more sense – they were towing 2 barges with almost 1/4 mile of mostly submerged pipeline between them, with no flags or markers at all.

The NYC skyline was just opening up on yet another foggy morning.

The Maine coastline? No, a view of a Branford, Connecticut former farm where we anchored one night. There are hardly any lobster boats left anymore, but one happened to come by for his photo.

Now safe & snug back in Deep River, CT for the summer, we’re enjoying being plugged into power, endless water, not worrying about weather or planning out our generator use. Our projects begin but won’t be as extensive as last year & we hope to spend some time cruising around Long Island Sound, Block Island and Cuttyhunk.