Status Update

Well, here we are nearing the end of July!  Today marks the end of the third week that we have been waiting for the engine to be prepared for reinstallation in the Misty Lady’s engine room.  Tuesday next, will mark the fourth week since the engine was removed from the boat, through the port windows.  Remember it was to take about two and a half weeks from removal to reinstallation!

The engine technician had contacted me early last week and said that he was having difficulty finding two exhaust manifold units to complete the engine.  He said that he had contacted a company who could forge a new set but it would be September before they would be ready.  Needless to say, I balked!  Unacceptable I told him.  No way were we going to stay in this hotel until September, simply was not going to happen.

I decided to expand the search for engine components, contact other folks to aid in the search along with my own efforts.  I then contacted Alban (which is a national Cat dealer).  One of the boat owners in the yacht center had mentioned that he allowed NO ONE but Alban to touch his diesels.  So, remembering that conversation, I contacted the local dealer.  Now remember that the diesel technicians working on the engine has quoted me from three weeks to two months to get those parts!  The Alban folks indicated that they could have the entire exhaust manifold kit in house for me to pick up within 5 to 8 days!!!  Guess what I did?  Yep, placed the order and got the dealer moving to help us get the parts in and the engine repaired.

Today the temperatures will stay in the high 90s and feel like the low 100s.  So the diesel technician who is taking care of our port engine will most likely NOT go aboard to work on the fuel system for the port engine.  I have asked him to be very cautious about working on the boat in this heat.   He probably will bag it and come back down during the coming week, if the temps cooperate.  Don’t want anyone suffering heat stroke!!

The bridge canvas and the bridge settee was supposed to be installed yesterday, Friday.  But I received a message from the canvas guy that they were 99.9 percent complete and would have the canvas ready for installation on Monday or Tuesday!  This aspect has also been a long running effort, started with just the rear canvas because of storm damage to those panels.  Then the winds and stormy weather continued to tear at the other canvase panels and ripping two more of the larger side panels with gaping holes.

I decided that it was silly to try to stick with the old canvas and ordered a full replacement around the entire bridge.  This also gave me the opportunity of going with a different color scheme.  The new canvas will be navy blue rather than white.  Bring about some color to the outside look of the Misty Lady.  When he does the installation, I will photograph the new canvas installation and post the photos.

The graphics company has been working on the new name graphic for the Misty Lady.  We expect those to be ready shortly.  We will hopefully coordinate that for when the Lady is returned to the water.  Then we will have the renaming ceremony where we pour champagne over the bow sprit to offer Neptune a glass and beseech him for fair winds and calm seas for our seafaring travels.

We have already charted out first voyage, once we have returned the Lady to her home port.  We will be headed down to the area called Hampton Roads and visiting ports in Hampton, Virginia Beach, and Norfolk.  Then several voyages on the Potomac to various historical spots in the interim.  Next spring (late spring of course) we will point the Layd’s bows toward the north and visit Martha’s Vineyard and Nantucket Island.

Want to come along?

Author: harv1941

Just a summary, I am 84 years of age, retired in July 2013 and settled down to promoting the dangers of bacterial meningitis, which killed my beloved son, Mike in 2009. My wife, Charlotte, and I embarked on an adventure of live aboard cruising, aboard a large Blue Water motor yacht. While our beginning was rather fraught with hurdles, we continued to look forward to the day we moved aboard the Misty Lady and cruise the eastern seaboard and associated waterways. After more than four years of life aboard this Bluewater Motor Yacht, I developed an advanced problem due to interaction with medications and experienced rather frightening balance problems. Therefore, getting on and off the yacht was fraught with danger of falling between the docks and the boat's hull. Walking the docks was also problematic considering that our yacht club docks were all floating docks and my balance problem was a danger during the walk from our yacht's docking slip to the clubhouse or out to the DC Wharf facilities and our car housed in the yacht club's reserved garage. SO, we had to regretfully put the Misty Lady up for sale and move back on shore. We moved on shore, first into a condo apartment in Alexandria, then after two years there, we relocated to the city of Newport News, in the Hampton Roads area of Virginia. Our original desired location was in the city of Hampton, Virginia, which is the oldest English-speaking settlement in the United States having been established originally in 1610. My ancestors came to this country through this settlement in the mid 1600s and lived in that area for around 100 years before beginning a migration of one portion of our family toward the west. I looked forward to moving back to this area and exploring the roots of my family, both maternal and paternal ancestry, but we found a great house in the Newport News area and became ensconced in the terrific neighborhood of Kiln Creek. My wife, being still actively employed, received a substantial offer in a position with a government contractor firm back up in Northern Virginia. So we put the Newport News house up for sale, receiving and accepting an offer withing two days. We then relocated back up to the city of Alexandria and into another high rise condo. My wife reached a point where considerations for retirement were becoming very important. She indicated that she really didn't want to retire in Alexandria, so once again we began a house search in the Tidewater area, this time in the City of Williamsburg and in a community restricted to 55+ age owners. We found the ideal location, initiated the sale and closing for our retirement home. We then put our condo on the market. Alas, the market was not as robust as before so we had to change asking price a couple of time, but finally the Alexandria Condo was sold. Now we are set to enjoy the great locations found here in the Tidewater/Hampton Roads area, considering that we are history buffs and there are literally hundreds of historical sites in this segment of our nation. Of course living in Williamsburg is the epitome of history living life. So, now we are in our retirement home, in a great retirement type community. A great clubhouse with a fine dining restaurant, a grill/pub, an award winning PGA designed golf course and miles of walking trails. Looking forward to my wife's eventual full retirement and the two of us visiting all up and down the east coast historical spots. View all posts by harv1941