December 4, 2016-Aboard the Misty Lady
Well, it has been a few weeks since our last update, so now is a good time I guess that we could bring about the latest from the old Captain and the First Mate along with the Sea Cats. And speaking of Christmas, every see Santa Claus riding down the Washington Channel on a paddle board? Well, here is one, shot from the dock at the stern of the Misty Lady this afternoon.
Last Evening the Mate and I were treated to viewing the Parade of Lights and a fireworks display. This is an annual event where the various captains in marinas up and down the upper Potomac decorate their boats with lights usually in themes and they gather at the City Of Alexandria waterfront. They are then launched in a Parade along the Potomac, then turning into the Washington Channel. The boats are judged in two categories, sail powers and motor powered.
The photo in the two top and the lower left images are of our slip neighbor, his boat depicted an old locomotive and even had the sounds piped through speakers. Larry and Linda, the owner and creator of this display took Best In Show! The photo in the lower right is also a boat from our A Dock, and has a large menorah along with four Star of David renderings along the hull. There 60 entrants but we don’t know how many actually came through, the judging stand was up here on the DC waterfront, next to our Yacht Club house.
Following the Parade the promoters had a fireworks display and we have included four of the images we took from the deck of our yacht.
Of course these are only four of the shots, the show ran for a constant fifteen minutes with no pauses in the works. The Sea Cats by the way were NOT amused. But we enjoyed it.
Today we were invited to take a tour of the Wharf development including our new CYC clubhouse. The presentation was excellent and the facilities and services that will come online as the development winds to an end (around October of next year). We will have Irish Pubs, a “jazz alley” with live music, restaurants of all possible tastes, including some of the top names in restauranteur venues. Our club house (which is supposed to be completed in early fall or late summer will be over the water and will have sensational views. I will include some pictures of the display table for the development models. This thing was fantastic in detail and our pictures do not do them justice.
The bottom picture is a view of our yacht club marina, the docks already exist and we occupy them, the club house, shown as a two story building overhanging the water between two of the docks is scheduled for occupancy late summer or early fall next year. The other pictures, including one that shows Charlotte are all various views of the display table which covers probably the length of two large conference tables. Buildings are inclusive of three hotels, a concert hall seating 6,000 people and various retail businesses including a ton of restaurants, pubs and live music venues. Going to be a ton of fun as a neighborhood and we look forward to the opening of the various buildings.
The two photos above are artist’s conceptions of the Wharf as it will be when complete. The Bride/Mate and I are excited that this will be our home neighborhood.
Over the past couple of weeks we have been addressing some situations with the Misty Lady. Not that the Lady is unique with these situations, basically almost all yachts are supplied with situations when it comes to the winter weather. Boats are usually atrociously lacking in insulation. Great fun in the warm weather, but can be miserable in the winter months. First off, we are installing a set of new technology heating for our upcoming cold weather comforting. These heaters are very economical and use very little electricity to provide warm air. They have no fans, so the heating is providing through a “radiant” process where the air is brought into the unit from the bottom, processes through a series of heating elements and comes out the top as warm/warmer air flows.
The Lady comes with four HVAC units but they use a process whereby raw water is brought into the system from the outside and processed either as air conditioner or as a heater. When the water temps drop to 40 degrees or below, these units cannot be used due to potential freezing and they simply become ineffective. Ergo, a “cruising” family must resort to space heaters to warm the various cabins.
We currently depend on what are knows as Amish Heaters (smaller, portable, heating units) that use electricity to heat elements and the heat generated is then blown out into the room by fans. While these do provide sufficient heat, they are very inefficient regarding power usage.
Ergo the new technology ENVI units using a “stack convection” process to generate heat. These heaters are wall mounted and therein lies the difficulty of finding sufficient open wall space to hang them from. They are 19 inches wide by 22 inches long and measure about 2 inches thick. Should have three of these units working by the mid week time frame. Having these efficient heating units should keep us warm, warm the boat overall (keep ice from forming in the bilges), and ensure that we don’t keep popping circuit breakers will make our “cruising” lifestyle a lot more comfortable and pleasant.
Next weekend, if all goes well, we will be moving the Misty Lady off of the “T” of A Dock and temporarily berthing in a slip on the C dock. The boat that is usually in that slip belongs to the CEO of the company that is the builder/developer of the Wharf. He pulls his boat from the water each winter, places her on dry storage in a environmentally controlled boat storage house. (must be nice being a multi millionaire huh?). Anyway we will be in that slip until April or until we are awarded a slip of our own. At the time we get tied up and situated in C11 slip, we will have the Misty Lady shrink wrapped. The entire super structure will be wrapped in heavy duty plastic-like sheeting from bow to stern and from the bridge to mid way down the hull. This process will also provide us with more insulation from the December/January/February freezing winds and protect the boat from snowfalls. The snow will slide right off the smooth surfaces of this shrink wrap and the old Captain and the First Mate will not have to get out on slippery decks to clear off show accumulation. As soon as this process is done, I will take some photos of the boat to show you all what a shrink wrap boat looks like.
Misty Lady Thought and Comment 