Month: September 2016

Thursday, September 29, 2016 Aboard the Misty Lady

It is about 8:15 am and today is the third day of our full residence aboard the MY Misty Lady.  The two Sea Cats are still adjusting to life aboard, not sure if they are enthralled yet.  Heck, just give them time, (oh wait, they may not like the sound of those two diesel engines).

I have just finished my very first breakfast aboard and am watching Mother Nature doing a lot to make the morning GREY!!  It has been raining pretty steadily for the past two and a half days, the water in the marina (just off Gingerville Creek) is up rather high and more rain is expected over the next couple of days as well.  Oh the joy of being on the water.  At least I don’t have to worry about flash floods damaging my furniture or power outages (the lady has two generator sets).  At photo of the Misty Lady tied at the dock in the Gingerville Yacht Center below.

Drove Charlotte to the New Carrolton Metro station this morning in pitch black weather, rain, mist from tires and very bright lights made for a joyous trip to set up her morning commute.

Our original plan was to cast off the lines, disconnect the shore power cables, fire up the two Cat diesels and point the Lady’s bow toward the Bay and down to the Potomac this Saturday.  Well, old Mother Nature gave us second thoughts.  Running a boat, any boat in foul weather intentionally is rather dumb so we are going to sit this weekend out.  I will do some honey do tasks aboard (always something to adjust, fix or clean) while we are biding our time.  Next week, early, I will also take some additional refresher training on ship handling (docking, turning using only the props, pulling up to a fuel dock to take on more diesel, and other close quarters handling), while still getting used to the size and handling quirks of a yacht this size.  Of course, one must also consider the idiosyncrasies of the Mother Nature gang.  The Sea Cats, the First Mate and ye old Captain are frankly tired of seeing overcast skies, rain and oh yeah, MORE RAIN.  This is the highest tide I believe I have ever witnessed though.

We expect the arrival of our marine stove either Friday or Monday.  The tale of the stove?  Here goes, we purchased a marine electric three burner stove with the glass top.  This stove also came with a set of racks that would secure pots and pans atop the range while underway (would anyone in their right mind what to do that?).  A substantial investment naturally, nothing for boating comes inexpensive!

When the yacht specialists loaded the stove on board, they removed the package of accessory items from the top and discovered,,,, you guessed it,,, the TOP WAS CRACKED!!!  From the look of the box and the point of impact, we suspect some yoyo in the manufacturer’s warehouse banged it against something with a small point of impact.

So we off loaded the stove, back into the yacht center warehouse and notified the yacht broker (who was the interface between us and the supplier), that the stove was damaged.  The yacht center owner also noted that there were gimbal fittings on the stove and in further exposure found that this was a fully GIMBALED stove (made for sail boats which can float straight in the water like a great power boat).  Not the right stove for our yacht anyway.  Yesterday, I heard from the supplier again with an update, the right stove was being shipped and would arrive either Friday or Monday.  More information from him later as he learns about the progress of the truck.  So even if Mother Nature hadn’t decided to show us love with lots of wind and rain (oh yeah, a light show in the form of lightning and thunder), we would have probably needed to remain here this weekend anyway.

The winds are playing games with the boat, she is moving in and out of the pier pilings and up and back from her original placement.  Amazing what wind and high water can to with a boat of this size.  Oh well, will most likely spend the majority of the day on board, since one never knows when the sheeting rain will return and overpower the regular rains.

As I look out at some of the other large boats tied up to the same dock, I see that they are moving about just like the Lady, so we just have to sit back and enjoy the day in peace and quiet.

More to come, stay tuned.

 

 

Well, guess WHAT!!!  I am writing this post from the bridge of the Misty Lady.  She is in the water, currently berthed at a temporary dock to facilitate the restoration of the hatches in the galley, BUT we have a floating yacht again!!!  Charlotte and I are looking forward to the possibility of moving out of the hotel and onto the Lady this week!  Are we excited?  Just a teensy bit I think.

The Misty Lady’s sea trial to evaluate the starboard and port engines went off very well.  The engines were both running strong and well within tolerances for temps, RPMs and thrust.  We brought them up to slightly over 2200 RPM which is actually higher than I would run them at cruise, but they climbed up to that level with smooth acceleration, considering they were shoving 50,000 pounds of boat through the water.  There were a couple of small anomalies but nothing that impacted the engines.  We did note that the temperature gauges on the bridge were of two different styles??  But hey as long as they work, who cares what the manufacturer was?

The Sea Trial could have been a bit smoother and things would have been a bit ahead of where we are except we received some hoses from the Cat dealer that were only 50% correct, four were the right once but four were not.  So, the mechanic who worked on the port engine will evaluate the specs sent by the Cat dealer’s rep this morning and I will hopefully get them first thing in the morning.  Then the port hatch can be closed up and the settee/table combination can be reinstalled.

Our plan is, based on the ability of the yacht center crew to complete the restoration of the galley, move our mattress and mattress box onto the boat and in place within the Master Cabin.  Then start the process of moving our personal effects, including coffee maker, of course.  Priorities you know!  Our Goal is to be fully living aboard by Friday.

I will have some  photos to share in my next posting.

Stay Tuned?

 

Tuesday was a banner day, the diesel guys arrived at the Misty Lady’s dry dock l0cation and began to complete the installation of the remaining components, including the oil pan. We were hopeful that the day would end with a solid engine and the Lady would be ready to return to the water.

They had made good progress by lunch time, but were still looking at about two or more hours.  When they broke for lunch (a rather long one) the TravelLift operator moved that large machine over the Lady, connected the loading straps under her hull, and lifted her off the blocks, suspending her in the air.  Woody (the painting specialist) then got under the hull and did the first coat of touch up (painted the areas where the blocks and stands were positioned and were not accessible during the regular painting process.

When the diesel guys returned, they saw the yacht suspended from the huge TravelLift and said that they should get things done!!  They actually worked on the engine until around 6 that evening and said they would return in the morning.

That evening as we were getting off the boat, we found the graphics man applying the Misty Lady’s name to her stern.  It looked terrific during the process and even better when he finished.  Do you agree?

This morning, Wednesday September 9, I arrived at the yacht center to see the Misty Lady partially in the water, loaded on the TravelLift and being launched back into her native environment, the water!

And NOW the Lady is in the water, alongside a dock where the diesel guys were performing final adjustments, adding oil (16 quarts) to the engine, and antifreeze to the cooling system, and the majority of the cooling comes from the “raw water” system which is a pump that brings water from the river, etc., through a pump and exhausts that water through the exhaust system and the muffler.  I tested the air conditioners in the master cabin and the forward stateroom.  The units in the galley and the salon were not able to power up so that will be on our final pick list to inspect the cooling water pumps for the se units.

We were hoping to perform the sea trial today and check out both the starboard as well as the port engines and ensure that all repair was completed and the engines were ready for our cruising pleasure in the coming years.

This photo, just above, is a shot of the Misty Lady’s cabin Name Boards.  There is one of these name board on each side of the boat, just below the bridge.

Well, I think I will turn in, it was a long day, a very hot and humid day and this old man is worn out from the efforts of the day.

Tomorrow, we finalize the set up of the engines and the test plan.  Then we cast off the lines and the Misty Lady will enter the South River in Annapolis and showing us how well her renewed engines will perform.

Fingers crossed for us and good thoughts for a successful in our test voyage.  Look for another entry tomorrow relating the events of the day.

Goodnight all

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

9

Well, as you can conclude we are still landlubbers and the Misty Lady is still on her dry dock blocks.  Turned out when the mechanics were lowering the starboard engine onto the motor mounts, the oil pan was 1/4 inch too deep.  It was evidently for a 425 horse engine rather than my 375 horse engine.  Or so it seemed.

The mechanic told me that he was going to Baltimore where there were two engines that he was going to buy for parts and he thought the oil pans were compatible.  But as USUAL there was a “delay”.  We lost an entire week, because he didn’t go to Baltimore until Wednesday and ran into traffic coming home……  AND he refuses to cross the Chesapeake Bay Bridge on Fridays????

So here we are on Monday September 5 (Labor Day Holiday) with the engine hanging from two chain hooks down inside the engine compartment but not laying on the motor mounts.  The mechanics are supposed to be here tomorrow MORNING to finish up the work, they will bring the engine up and replace the oil pan with the replacement pan from the Baltimore trip.  Then they will lower the engine, align it with the drive shaft (this must be perfect because of damage that could result if it was off by even a centimeter).  Once that has been accomplished, they will begin connecting the rest of the components, the turbo, the after cooler, and the other things that make the engine a working device.

It is expected that the work to complete the engine install will be accomplished during the day on Tuesday.  That is my goal and my goal will be impressed upon the mechanics.

Once the engine has been installed, the yacht center folks will bring the 75 ton TravelLift over and lay the slings under the Lady’s hull.  They will lift her off the blocks and the paint specialist will go under the hull and paint those areas that were blocked and the painting could not reach.  These area will receive the first coat, then will be left to dry overnight and a second coat will be laid on the next morning.  That afternoon, we will move the Lady over to the launch area and the TravelLift operator will slowly lower her into the waters.

WE will all pull her out of the launch slip and down the dock a few feet.  Once she is secured to the dock, we will lay out the plan for the Sea Trial testing.  This should take about 1 to 2 hours.  Then we will bring her back to the yacht center and to a temporary berth, where the guys will board and begin the process of putting her floor panels back, laying the kitchen cabinets back into their place and installing the stove, refrigerator and dishwasher (the washer and dryer are already installed).  They will then replace the settee in its previous location.  Our dining table cannot be installed until the flooring guys come back and complete the installation of our flooring for the galley and the ladders (stairs to you land based folks).  Once we have the engine covers back in place and the components for the galley installed, Charlotte and I will then get a refresher course in ship handling.  Mainly how to operate in the marina, getting to the fuel docs and into a slip.  With a boat this big, nothing I ever knew about ship handling can be assumed to still work.  She is at least 10 feet longer than the largest boat I ever handled so I want to know how to use the engines to maneuver this big girl in close quarters.

So, everyone keep their fingers crossed for tomorrow’s work!  I will take photos of the boat, but will not be able to go aboard because I took a bad fall a couple of days ago and bruised my ribs making it impossible to climb up the stern ladders (really are ladders), to the after deck.

Also, if things go well, I will take photos of the TravelLift picking up the Lady and holding her in the slings.  Then when we move her to the water I will be there with the camera  Hopefully can learn how to use the movie function to get live action of the actual transfer from the ground to the water.

Stay tuned.