Shakedown Cruise

We left Cobb Island headed out for a week to test all systems on the boat. Destination was to the Rhode River about 8 miles south of Annapolis where the Seven Seas Cruisers Association GAM was held.  This is a gathering of cruisers from all over and I do mean all over.

Winds where blowing about 15kts headed down the Potomac from the southwest which is a sailors dream.  We spent the night in Smith Creek which is at the mouth of St Mary’s River on the Potomac.  We left Smith Creek next morning with great winds which died when abeam Patuxent River and had to motor the rest of the way. Bummer.. We anchored down in the Rhode River and didn’t move for a week.  Party was on for the GAM.

I had just installed a new refrigeration system the week before and was having trouble getting the setting and temperature correct.   Called the people I purchased it from and discuss several options which turned out to be the spill over into the refrigerator side which was pumping to much warm air into the freezer side. Got that sorted out and it works great now.

While motoring I noticed we couldn’t get up to RPM on the motor for the speed we where doing.  So once we anchored I dove under the boat and found the prop and shaft were coated in heavy marine growth.  Scrub pad time which helped  some, but would require being pulled out of the water to wash down the bottom and clean and paint the prop.  I painted the prop and shaft with a different paint than what was on the boat bottom.

On the way back I notice our jib was coming apart on the leach. After closer inspection some stitching had come out and would require removing the sail and do some sewing.  Since we got back to our dock it seems as though I’ve been there every day working on something to prepare for the journey.... More to come.

Preparation is underway

Sailboat is ready for our second adventure to the Bahamas. Only thing left to do is provision for the trip. One thing is we will not do what we did last time. Minimum provisioning until we get to Florida. Once there we will stock the boat..

Shake down cruise will be over a week starting September 26th. We are going to the Seven Seas Sailing Gam up in the Rhode River south of Annapolis. This should prove all systems are ready...

Getting Ready

For the last few months, I've been working on Java to prepare for a eight month sail to the Bahamas.  Boat has been hauled, sanded, new bottom paint. Found a bent strut that had to be changed. That turned into a major ordeal.  New canvas, old canvas was 10 years old and leaking.  Refrigeration, compressor died and have a new frigoboat and evaporator to install in the coming week. Installed a Dutchman boom break, no more fighting with a preventer... Upped the house battery bank to 640Ahrs, new starter batteries. Installed wind generator and solar panels. Only time will tell if all this was worth the effort...