Sailing Encore

We sailed 20 miles up the Wando River to the Charleston City Boatyard and are hauled out. Once again, we watch the boat lift up in the air. We are put on blocks “on the hard” and they give us a tall ladder to climb to get to our ‘home’. The closest hotel is 40 minutes away, so we decide to live on the boat for the yard stay.  I climb up and down the ladder all day, take walks in the evening and shower off in the boatyard shower with sulphury well water. They start working on the rudder removal right away.

And continue working on it for two days. BUT it is stuck- they can not get the bearings out. Vernon makes calls to the boat designer Alan Andrews. Who calls the rudder/bearings creators. Everyone has different opinions. They send me to get dry ice (shrink the metal bearing a bit to help it get out). Their directions to the dry ice place include “it is not a very good part of town”. To which I reply “you’re saying I don’t want a flat tire”. So on my way….. There isn’t a spare, only an air pump which doesn’t keep the tire inflated. So an hour and 1/2 later the tow truck arrives and takes me to get a new car. And while I am having all that fun, Vernon calls to tell me the rudder has come out. We investigate getting new bearings made that are less likely to freeze up and cause steerage problems but it will take a month and lots of $$ to custom make. So they work on cleaning up the old bearings to remount. In the meantime we take a walking history tour of Charleston. Every building has a history and stories to tell.

The city nickname is Holy City because of all the old churches that continue to be active parishes. They have interesting architecture and their graveyards are full of famous fore fathers (and mothers).

There are several beautiful parks with inviting fountains on a hot summer day. But the rules of wading are pretty strict (below to right). And since I wanted to run, blow my nose and be boisterous, Vernon said I had to get out.

Back in the yard on our boat 18 feet in the air, Vernon and I work on other projects while the yard guys struggle with the rudder.

Vernon curses his way through winch disassembly and cleaning while I work on the leaky mast (when it rains it pours).

I spray leak-proof silicone, mold a mound with butyl tape and super tape the shit out of it. If water gets in now it will be the devil himself spraying it.

To pass the time I read War and Peace, watch 5 seasons of “Call the Midwife” and play an addictive game of Cooking Fever on my computer.

I get frustrated and am out of diamonds so I use the “future date your device” trick to get free diamonds. Then one day I stupidly agreed to the ‘upgrade’ and looks like they fixed that cheat. Darn, the game is no fun anymore.

The days are hot with thunderstorms in the afternoon. I wait till dark to cook due to the heat. I also bake treats for the boat yard workers -bribes of chocolate chip cookies, brownies, and warm cinnamon cake. Wait, maybe they aren’t working fast because I am bringing them treats. hmmm.?

They work on replacing a leaky window over our berth – to find that the fiberglass is soaked and needs repair (of course).

They dry it out for two days over the weekend and we get in the car and go for a road trip to North Carolina. And since NC is the birth place of Krispy Kreme…

We drive to Wake Forest and the Raleigh – Durham area (which Vernon has wanted to see in person for over 15 years– ever since he saw a home for sale on the internet). We marvel in the scenery of green hills and beautiful homes on nice land. And the price. All the following were 3000 square feet and right around $300,000.

We spend the night in a hotel with king bed, air conditioning and nice shower. Then Sunday we drive to the coast to Morehead City and Beaufort and look at the marinas.

Back to boat yard life, we continue to hang out, dodge the rain storms and wait while the workers work slowly. I found out we are charged $110 per hour per person working on the boat. I definitely chose the wrong line of work. And this is definitely eating into our travel fund. And there is no diamond cheat on this one.

Once they put the rudder back in we can have the new Auto pilot equipment installed. Yes, that was the original issue we stopped for. And then they can repair the soft spot in the deck. Could this go on all day and night? It could you know, and it just might.