Breeze On

Late last week a neighbor suggested a solution for our dinghy storage issue. He had seen used jet ski floating docks for sale online and thought one would work well for our dinghy. George contacted one of the sellers, we went to look at the dock, made an offer, and bought it. The seller kindly agreed to transport it in his trailer. George recruited three friends who helped carry it to the trailer, unload it, and then launch it into the creek. Once it was launched George stood on the floating dock and propelled it by pushing it from piling to piling until he got to the triangular area beside our slip—otherwise known as “no-man’s land.” His friends helped him to tie it up and now the dock is awaiting our dinghy, which is on the foredeck of Breeze On, which is on the hard while George paints the bottom.  It isn’t easy to get from our dock to the floating dinghy dock and back again. We have a few ideas about how to make that easier. We haven’t quite figured out how we will pull the din...

Last week George received word that Dick Vosbury had finished replacing the saildrive gasket (again!) A few days later our friend, Ray, drove us to Annapolis so that we could bring Breeze On home. My brother, Dave, was due to visit from Florida and was willing to help us with the delivery. I was a bit nervous as Breeze On was lowered into the water but everything went smoothly and there were no leaks. After tying up to the dock at Jabin’s Yacht Yard, George called Annapolis Inflatables to tell them we were ready to receive our new dinghy.  Last winter we decided that we wanted a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) for faster travel from Breeze On to shore while in the Bahamas. With a more substantial transom, a RIB allows for a larger, faster outboard. Since we spend so much time in the Bahamas we thought it would be worth the complications we would encounter in storing the dinghy while at home and transporting it while offshore. We tried calculating just how much room we had on the forede...

It has been a long while, I know. As it turns out—for good reasons and not very good reasons—we have not done a lot of sailing so far this summer. The good reasons involve travel to attend weddings and see family. The bad reasons involve boat maintenance that hasn’t gone as planned. In addition, we have had a few projects around the condo and more than the usual number of doctor visits.  One of the major boat projects involved replacing the saildrive gasket. The manufacturer, Volvo, recommends replacing the gasket after 7 years. George did some research and learned that some boat owners never replace the gasket. Nevertheless, we tend to be cautious so we opted to have it replaced.  Not long after we returned home in the spring George contacted Vosbury Marine, the only Volvo repair company in the area. It was located in Annapolis, a six-hour sail away. We weren’t able to get an appointment with Vosbury until July. Two weeks ago, on a hot day with no wind, we motored over to Ann...