Category: A New Lifestyle

Today we woke to a new reality, WINTER IS COME! Our floating home has her winter covering of shrink wrap, vinyl. The marine specialist finished up the current state last evening. He worked until 10:30pm to ensure that our major area of wrap was secure and would provide protection.

The above picture shows the Misty Lady with her winter shrink wrap, looking from the bow towards the stern. The white box in the foreground is the Dock Box which provides storage for our items, also has the electrical (50 amp), tv cable, and internet connection to the wifi provider system. Also along side this box is the fresh city water system faucets.

As you can see from this photo, it takes a lot of wrap material to cover our rather large vessel.

In this view you can also see three of the lines that secure our boat to the finger dock. The yellow hose is the pump out hose for our “black water” waste removal. Further along the side is the stairs that we use to board and leave the Misty Lady. You can just barely see the orange ball between the dock and the Lady’s side, these are known as fenders and protect the boat from bumping into the dock and causing damage to both the boat and the dock. Remember the Lady weighs over 50 thousand pounds and it wouldn’t take much for her to create a problem if she were to hit the unprotected dock side.

This open portal, shown in the above photo, is set up for the installation of a sliding door that will add more protection from cold air and wind gusts as winter set in further. The marine specialist will be installing that door on Monday, weather permitting. There will also be a clear vinyl section added to the stern area, picture of the stern below.

The “window” will be installed in the upper center of this rear section. Slightly above and over from the two bumps (hand grips for the ladder from the swim platform), and will enable us to have a nice view of activity on the other docks, any movement of other yachts, and an opening for sun light to come into the salon.

The door has been installed and it’s tracking mechanism corrected to allow our ability to enter and exit with the door sliding smoothly in both directions. The large window was installed as well, so we now have the ability to view the actions outside our boat and the additional docks behind us. This window will also allow sunlight to come through and warm the interior supplanting the electric heaters we have set up and use to ward off the Washington chill that sets in with great regularity (must be something with the hot air coming from the Capitol Building when Congress is in session, or from the White House for the same reasons).

Photo above shows that our rear window is installed and provides a great view of the Capital Yacht Club marina yachts.

Guess a couple of pictures of our two Sea Cats are in order. The first photo is of Penny, our young Tortie, in this shot she is waiting by the starboard hatch looking for her mom (Char) to come home. She senses her while she is still walking down the dock toward our yacht.

The shot below is of The Duchess, our older Grey Tabby, sitting on the bed in the Master Cabin. She is looking back toward the stairwell to the Galley area for her nemesis, Penny.

This photo below, is a view off of our starboard side, looking east toward the early morning sunrise on another beautiful Sunday morning (@6:30am). This makes any hard time aboard, worthwhile. This shot was taken last week, the 17th of November.

So, we have completed 99 percent of our winter setup for our floating condo and are preparing to settle in for the coming winter weather. A couple of nights ago we had a storm come through with winds in the upper 20 miles per hour sustained and gusts of over 45 miles per hour. A real rocking time aboard the Misty Lady, also having a symphony of the dock lines rubbing against the boat’s surfaces and themselves, keeping us awake for hours.

But it is still a Living The Dream situation.

We traveled up to West Virginia to have Thanksgiving holiday with my son Cliff, his wife Becky, our two younger grand daughters, Hattie and Cammie. My daughter Kurby came with her and Cliff’s mom. We also had members from Becky’s family there as well. Good food, good company and a very pleasant day all together. Our trip back home to the DC Waterfront went quite well also, minimal traffic and the 100 plus miles went by smoothly. The country side from Leesburg, Virginia to their home in Kearneysville, WV is filled with rolling farm land, grape arbors (lots of wine country here) and some beautifully laid out horse farms.

One last photograph, Charlotte just took this off our aft deck. It is a photo of one of our members (currently serving as Club’s Commodore), 49 foot sailboat lit up for the season. Tim is a retired Lt. Commander in the US Navy and currently works for a major government contractor company. The waters in the Channel are so still tonight they made a perfect reflection of Tim’s yacht.

Hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday and lots of good times with family, friends or just good associates.

Happy Holiday to you all and we look forward to a terrific Merry Christmas season in a couple of weeks.

Before I get into the stuff about the seaworthiness test, I thought it might be interesting to tell you about an incident that happened the night/early morning, of November 5th. The Misty Lady uses a combination of AC and DC power to operate our onboard items, such as lights ( both AC and DC lighting), water pressure pumps, etc. Our refrigerator operates on standard AC power but also has a DC subsystem that controls the operational sensors. There is a warning component that informs us that the fridge has lost AC power and this is what Charlotte woke from at 3 am on that November morning. Also our stove top, coffee maker and both TV’s operate on standard AC power. So like most motor yachts we use both types of electrical power. Charlotte woke me up and informed me that our power was off. The boat’s DC units would continue to operate off the installed battery banks but the AC was inoperative which caused our heaters to shut down and the fridge to stop working. We put on some shoes and went to the dock pedestal where our shore power connection is located. Turned out one of our 50 amp cables had become disconnected from the movement of the boat’s bow (winds blowing us back and forth) that put a strain on the cable connection.

We flipped off the circuit breaker and Charlotte reconnected the cables twist locks to restore our power. We reset the circuit breaker and then tested several AC items to ensure that full power was restored on both our power segments ( our boat has two AC segments, one each running down the port and starboard sides of the interior of our floating home. As we got back into bed, the phrase that most live aboard boaters use came to mind: “Living the Dream” afloat. Sometimes they are nightmares, but those are dreams as well. Things like the power loss are the stuff of the BOATING LIFE. Would we rather be ashore? Take a look at this scene,

This is the sunrise just breaking over the waterfront as we leave the boat to go to the clubhouse early in the morning. We see this kind of view a lot, far more than we ever saw when we lived on land.

Our new helm control is installed and the next step is another test of the installation to ensure that all works as it is supposed to do. The new helm control unit was installed on the 17th of this month and we had finished the install and system bleed by the late afternoon.

The picture below is the old helm control, a 250 V model which had been replaced by the 1250 V with better technology, simplified system construct and easier bleed out for trapped air. This old unit will either be shipped to the distributor/rebuild company, if they want it and are willing to cough a couple of dollars, or we will toss it out.

Looks like I have a bit of fluid to clean up on the deck, guess there was still some residual fluid in the pump’s tank.

Our original plan was to combine an actual helm sea trial with the Yacht Club requirement for an annual seaworthiness test. The next day was very bad for boating with winds gusting into the 40-50 mile an hour speeds. Taking a boat out in that weather would be an exercise in utter stupidity. The weekend was no better, with meetings for Char in Virginia taking the morning, up to early afternoon, and other chores to get done, the Saturday plan was blown. Sunday was miserable, temps around 50 degrees, constant rain, and some winds. Winds were infrequent and were not strong at all, but coupled with the temperature and the rain, we decided to bag it for that weekend. The Plan was then to make the trip on Friday of the coming week.

Friday, October 25, 6:45 am: We are now making preparations for the coming seaworthiness certification. Estimated Departure would be around 10:00 am, which is the optimum time for assistance from the Club’s dock stewards to cast off our lines and power connections. We will attempt to leave a bit sooner but only if we find others to assist.

The photo below is of Charlotte in the engine room bilge area, checking the fluid levels in the main engines, the transmissions and the generator, prior to start up to ensure that the proper levels of oil are available. Damage to one of these engines is NOT something we ever want to experience again. She had to add some oil to the port engine, but the starboard was okay. We will be changing the fluids out come spring, according to our plan. Depends on the availability of the diesel specialist.

The gauges at her knee are on the port side big Cat Diesel and the red engine is the generator set that provides us with 20KV of electrical power when the boat is disconnected from shore power.

This photo is of our early morning sunrise, just starting to light up the eastern skies. This picture was taken as we were leaving the Clubhouse after our showers (showering here saves water from our on board tank and having to break out the freshwater hose, to refill the 150 gallon tank), walking down the ramp toward the B and A docks.

Current plan was to contact the dock steward to assist in the castoff betweem 10:30 and 11:00am

Actual departure was 12:30 pm as we had the lines cast off, and slowly backed the big girl out into the fairway between A and B docks. Once I got the clear indication from Charlotte that our bow was clear for turning, I began the process of turning the boat using the transmissions and the props to alter our direction turning us onto a heading out of the fairway and into the Washington Channel. You do not use the rudders inside the marina or in any confined areas, because the prop speed has to be a lot higher than safe for these tight areas, to make the rudders functional. So in these areas, the watchword is always, “go slow like a pro” and use only the props and transmission to move about. As we approached the end of the fairway, entering the Washington Channel (WC), we sounded our boat’s horn to inform any other boaters that the big girl was coming out to play.

Entering the channel and turning on a southern heading toward the confluence of the Anacostia River, the WC, and the Potomac, we used the transmissions/screws to navigate down the waterway. Water taxi, other motor yachts, and the Metro Police Marine Patrol boat were our companions afloat going outbound.

About half way down the Channel, I decided to only complete the Annual Seaworthiness Certification and perhaps do an actual sea trial at a later date. We completed the voyage to the Hains Point area, at the confluence of the Anacostia, the Channel, and the Potomac and returned to the Yacht Club marina to our home berth. This completed the Club’s requirement for annual certification of seaworthiness for the Misty Lady. I provided the club management and the club’s flag officers with proof of our voyage and got our name checked off on the listing of seaworthy vessels.

We decided that we would do another static test of the rudder control while in the slip, with Charlotte observing the rudder system, at the master cabin hatch to the aft bilge area and I on the bridge, we would communicate through our cell phones for the test. This test went very well, and the rudders moved as they should in response to the turns I made on the helm wheel.

About the Water Taxi: The water taxi system, connect the City of Alexandria, the D.C. Wharf, Georgetown, and National Harbor for passenger traffic. The price of these water travel boats is pretty darn reasonable, especially if you want to visit DC and don’t want the aggravation of trying to find minimally existent parking. Park in Alexandria, and board the water taxi for your specific destination. Travel to the DC Wharf connects you conveniently with the National Mall/Smithsonian Museums, multiple Metro lines, and two theater venues. There is a free shuttle at the Wharf that will take you to the L’Enfant Metro Stop, the Smithsonian, and the L’Enfant Plaza marketplace where the new Spy museum recently opened. Also at the Wharf you will find the oldest active fish market in the country. These water taxi routes connect with points of interest in the Washington DC Metro area. Many local residents, along with visitors to the area, use these water taxi routes to avoid the horrendous traffic and parking aggravation of the City of Washington, DC. Parking in Alexandria is far less expensive than in the city of Washington.

The photo above shows two of the Potomac Water Taxi boats, docked at the Recreation Pier of the DC Wharf. From there, these boats travel to Alexandria, VA; National Harbor, MD; and Georgetown, DC.

At this writing, we are having the Misty Lady don her winter garb. Which means that any further voyages down river will have to wait until spring. Temps are forecast to drop into the 40’s and down into the 30’s over the coming week and overnight temps could drop into the upper 20’s and lower 30’s. Enough to make the protection of the boat decks and upper structures as well as provide additional insulation for us aboard, make this shrink wrap action almost mandatory. Some folks do not to this, but we have for the three years we have lived aboard this old girl and will continue to do so each winter until Charlotte retires and we say farewell to this area for warmer boating climes.

The local marine specialist has started the process of doing the shrink wrap of our boat, from bow to stern, from the radar arch to the mid hull surface. The following photos show the infrastructure rigging that the specialists have installed on the Lady’s decks. The white tape looking stuff is some very strong ribbon like item.

Rigging from the bow sprit, over the bridge roof, the radar arch, and then down to the stern bulkhead.

A longer view of the bow decks and the shrink wrap rigging. You can just make out the line of rigging tape along the hull that will be the anchor for the vinyl covering over our engine room intakes and the port hole windows to keep out the vagaries of our DC winters.

The photo below is showing the starboard side and the framework for a sliding door that will allow us to enter and leave the boat during the winter when the shrink wrap vinyl covers the entire upper section of our boat.

We are expecting that the team of marine specialists will have the entire boat covered in the next day or so. We hope that the final installation of the wrap will beat the forecast that we have for snow in the near future. YIKES.

The shrink wrap sheets will be applied over the next few days, currently the winds are in the 17 to 20 MPH and handling the large sheets of vinyl wrap could be very dangerous.

I had wanted to hold off on publishing this blog entry until they actually got the boat shrink wrap completed but it might be a considerable delay. They are currently working on another boat nearly our size a few slips down from us and we will be the next in line. Might be later today, or even Monday, the 11th. I will take some photographs of the process if possible and then do a short blog entry when it is completed.

Stay Tuned., more to come

Let’s take a short step back and let me relate a particular incident aboard the Misty Lady. As you may recall, we obtain our slip assignments through a bidding process using our Member number as an indicator of our seniority, lowest number bidding on a particular slip, wins the day and has the home berth in that slip.

We had been awarded a 60 foot slip on the A dock and were settling into it as our home, when another opportunity to bid on a slip further out on the A dock. The further out one’s slip is, the better the view and the easier to depart and arrive at the marina section of the Capital Yacht Club. In this case, we won the compete for slip A-10, which would place us almost halfway up the dock area.

On the day we chose to make the move from our A4 slip to the A10 slip, we had assistance from one of the Club dock stewards to assist in our departure preparations. The gen set had been started and we switched from on shore power to on board generated power, and directed the steward to remove our power cord connection. We then began the process of untying our dock lines and Charlotte was at the bow deck to receive the lines as the steward removed them from the dock. I was on the bridge, and got the main engines started and warming. Charlotte called back to remind me to ensure that the rudders were in the straight ahead position. As I started to do that, the helm wheel spun like a top, no resistance indicating the hydraulic pressure was not there and the system was not working. WE HAD NO RUDDER CONTROL!

Our original intent was to take the Misty Lady out of the old slip, travel down the Channel to the Potomac and then down to the Wilson Bridge. We were then to return to the Club and move into the new A-10 slip. With the loss of helm control, there was no way I was going to take this big girl out into the river with all the other boats and not able to use the helm to steer out of the way of the boating idiots. You must have seen the type, they think nothing of driving across the bows of our big girl. We weigh 55 thousand pounds and could slice a go faster run about in two pieces with hardly a slow down of our passage.

So, I said to the steward and Charlotte that I had changed my mind and we would simply move from the old slip to the new one today. The fact is that when a yacht our size is moving in or near a marina area, the speed is at idle for the most part. At idle speed, with the screws (propellers) turning slowly, the rudders are useless anyway. So, I backed the Lady out of our old slip, into the fairway between A and B docks, with Charlotte at the bow checking for when we were clear of the finger docks and okay to begin turning. I then, using the port and starboard engines and transmissions, backed clear and turned the bow toward the outlet of the fairway and into the Washington Channel.

Using only the Lady’s propellers (screws), and engaging the port and starboard transmissions to steer, we moved out into the Channel and turned the boat 180 degrees to reenter with a better angle on our new slip A-10. Slowly we approached the slip, and began using the screws again to turn us bow first into the slip. The dock steward was there to assist in catching our lines to start the process of securing the Lady in her new home berth. At that point, once the Lady was secured, all lines set and the shore power connected, I informed Charlotte that we had no helm control, our movement from the old slip, to the new one, had been totally performed by the use of the props and transmission. Also that we needed to contact our marine technician to determine what the problem was and if there was a ready solution.

In discussions and searching the path of the steering system with the marine technician we determined that the line from the yacht’s auto pilot controls had a leak. When asked if the auto pilot was necessary to me, I indicated that I had no plan to ever allow a electro-mechanical device to drive this boat. So we closed the valve for that line and that stopped the leak. However, we had drained a lot of the fluid through this leak out of the system and air had been introduced. This caused the system to fail and the helm wheel to spin freely.

We then prepared to “bleed” the system removing the air and replacing it with good steering fluid. We worked the process by filling the helm control pump and using the helm wheel, pressing the fluid into the system, forcing the air out. This took several hours until we finally began to feel resistance in the wheel and were able to get it into a hard over to hard over status. Feeling that we had gotten the system back on line, we shut down our efforts for the day, leaving everything in place, just in case. Turns out that was the proper thing to do. But we should have placed absorbent cloths beneath the helm control pump, live and learn.

As you can see in the photo above, this is what greeted me the morning after our first purge. Fluid had flowed from the helm station, down the side of the bridge within the bridge lounge/lockers and out the edges of the boat to appear flowing down the side, onto the gunnel. It took quite a while and lots of scrubbing with cleansing soap to get the fluid stains off the sides and the gunnels. But it did come off. Then up to the bridge, opening the settee/lounge/locker to clean up the fluid that had flowed from the helm into the locker space. This took a considerable amount of cleaning rags and elbow grease. Then when the technician returned we set about trying to correct again. Evidently during the evening, the air bubbled back up pushing the fluid out and onto the floor.

We once again started the adding of fluid into the helm control, testing the helm wheel until restrictions began and we once again got to the point of moving the rudders from hard over to hard over. Again we stopped when this occurred and this time we placed absorbent rags and absorbent pads on the floor beneath the helm control. The photograph below shows what greeted us the next morning.

Another round of bleeding the system to force the air out and we thought we had it again. The photo below greeted me the next morning.

During the next round, (these occurred over a period of several days), we once again found the steering beginning to be responsive, but alas that was not to be the case as seen below.

We finally came to the conclusion, after several attempts over many days, to locate any additional leaks and in concert through discussions with the senior technical representative of the pump’s manufacturer, that the pump itself was bad. The options were; remove and ship the pump to the manufacturer and have it rebuilt; purchase a re-manufactured newer technology pump; or purchase a brand new pump of the newer technology. I opted for the re-manufactured pump, but as it turned out parts to build a pump were simply not available, so I wound up buying a brand new pump for just under 1,000 dollars. (boats ain’t cheap folks).

On October 17, we installed the new 1250 pump and proceeded to make the appropriate changes to the system. Turns out the older pump, a 250, required a return line and a distribution valve at the rudder ram. With the capability of the new pump, we were to remove the port and starboard lines from the distribution valve and directly connect them to the lines on the rudder ram and cap off the return line. This removed another point of possible failure for our future boating. One option the manufacturer rep suggested was to pull the entire return line out and discard it. Yeah, like we were going to pull almost 50 feet of hydraulic tubing from the various guides and trace areas; the option to cap the hose was the smartest so that is what we did. Yea us!

After a series of bleeding actions called for in the multi step installation guide, to remove any remaining air, the new pump began to function and steering was returned to the helm wheel and rudders. We validated this by having one person at the helm turning the wheel and a second person in the master cabin with the aft bilge area cover removed so that we could observe the actual movement of the ram and the rudder control arms. When the movement was smooth from port hard over to starboard hard over we then centered the rudder with the observer (me) calling out the position of the rudder indicator. Cell phones do have their uses, to help us communicate from the bridge to the aft master cabin without yelling at each other.

At last, it appeared that we had finally repaired the rudder/helm loss and the old girl was back in business. However the proof of the pudding will be later, when we take her out of the slip, and pilot her down to the confluence of the Anacostia River, Washington Channel and the Potomac. The big hurdle is the winds, we are in the midst of the huge Nor’Easter and unless the winds drop below 15 MPH, we will stay in our slip. The boat is too large, her superstructure is too high and the higher winds will push us all over the place. Our sea trial of the corrective actions for our helm control will occur in the very near future, based on weather, Char’s work availability, and people to assist us in dropping the connections of the old girl, like the docking lines, the power cable, water hoses, and other connections.

If we feel comfortable, we will probably continue on down to past the Wilson Bridge, as long as the weather (high winds) does not interfere. More later, once we have completed the sea trial later this week, if the wind gods will allow, but for now we will wrap this entry about the trials and tribulations of large boat ownership.

Stay Tuned???

Rather than relate the month to month life aboard the Misty Lady and living at the DC Wharf, I think that doing a summary of some key events might be best. Perhaps a overview of significant events for our time so far at our waterfront home. In a couple of weeks we will have been resident at the Capital Yacht Club aboard the Misty Lady for three years. Seems that the time has flown in certain circumstances, yet dragged like a turtle crossing the road in others.

Over those many months, we have “floated” from dock to dock and slip to slip as circumstances dictated for the “good of the club”. We finally won a slip on the B dock that was actually designed for a catamaran yacht (much wider than a regular sized motor yacht). It was convenient, since it was located one slip away from the ramp up to the clubhouse and access to the Wharf proper. We lived in that slip for a year, then won a standard yacht slip on the A Dock (A 4) that was more suited to our yacht (60 feet long) that gave us some wiggle room at the aft of our floating home. The further out your slip is for the main dock, the better because you are further away from the huge bulkhead and catwalk between the docks.

We then, after a couple of months, played boat hopscotch and bid on and won the compete for a slip further out on the A Dock winning the Slip A 10. This is where we are located now.

The photo below is the early sunset from our A-10 slip dockage. One of the best parts of being afloat is the opportunity of seeing sunsets and sunrises over the waters of the Washington Channel and the Potomac River, as well as the Chesapeake Bay.

During the late summer of 2017 we finally had our new clubhouse finished and available for our relocation from the temporary space. In October of that year, we were also able to both christen the new Club House and celebrate our Founders Day, for 125 years of the Club’s existence. Our Celebratory Cake is shown below.

During the previous Founders Day, we had the Mayor of Washington, D.C. Muriel Bowser as our guest speaker. Charlotte was able to spend a few moments with the Mayor and I snapped a photo of them.

All is not without an adverse incident however, back in April of this year, Charlotte was coming home from her office and took a spill at the L’Enfant Metro Station. The photo below is her in the surgical unit hospital room at Howard University Hospital. She fell face first into the sidewalk alongside the escalator while wearing a full backpack including her computer. Took a ride in the DC Fire EMT Ambulance with me following. She doesn’t remember anything about the fall, about giving my contact information so a kind DC person could tell me of her accident. She doesn’t remember talking to me in the ambulance, and she doesn’t remember the ride in the ambulance to the Howard University Hospital. And after all sorts of tests (MRI, CAT, EchoCardiogram) the doctors still don’t know what caused the fall, was it a heart thing, perhaps blood pressure loss, did she faint? Their concern was the situation where she doesn’t recall anything about the fall or anything else until the emergency room when she started asking where she was and where her husband was. We both think that she may have tripped and fell, and the resulting trauma to her head and brain caused a memory lapse.

Anyway, my lady is tough and heals rapidly. A few days later the abrasions on her face and hands were pretty much healed, the yellow cast to the bruises were almost invisible, and once the stitches were removed from her eyebrow area that healed pretty cleanly too. Scared this old man quite a bit I tell you. This lady is my rock and my life, the thought of losing her like this was terrifying. But we still have no idea what happened, the medical folks don’t know either. She still gets dizzy spells once in a while, but, as we have all our life together, we will take it one day at a time, and address what ever comes our way as life partners.

Talk about excitement, on August 31, this year, we were awakened by our alarm system telling us to evacuate the boat. This was around 2:30am so we were still sort of groggy. I called 911 and the fire department arrived both by land and water, the fire units on the fire boat, brought their gas testing equipment. WE were able, with the help of the firefighters to get the two sea cats into their carriers and bring them off the boat and onto the finger dock. There was no fire that we could ascertain and this was borne out by the firefighters. But there were a lot of gases and a couple could have been very bad with one possible fatal from heavy exposure. Lucky for us, we were not exposed that badly. The firefighters cleared out all of the cabins, opening windows and bringing a large fan device to clear out the air from the various cabins. The young man in the photo below was the person who, with his oxygen tanks and mask, searched through the boat with sensing devices to determine what type, and the concentration levels of gasses that were in our boat. He then found that one of our main batteries (starts the engines), was 185 degrees while the other batteries (we have a lot), were at a normal heat temp of 82 to 85 and determined that was the source of the various gasses. He shut down our battery charger system to remove the source of voltage feeding the bad battery. This battery by the way, weighs over 150 pounds and is approximately 4 feet long by 1.5 feet wide. Once the gas incursions were cleared out and the measurement of the gas concentration was down to normal levels we were allowed back on the boat and the firefighters left to return to their station.

Later that day, Charlotte called into her office and worked from home for the day. We were both pretty draggy all day. The bed was a welcome sight that evening. Our marine technician came over that afternoon, disconnected the battery cables from the bad battery, tested it and found it failed, which is why it kept fooling the charging system into sending power into it long past when it would be needed. Once the battery cables were disconnected and taped off, the marine technician was able to turn our charging system back on to allow us the ability to use our DC voltage equipment. Two days later, and a couple hundred dollars, a new battery was delivered, installed and the Misty Lady was all back in good condition.

If you look closely at this young firefighter, you can see he is rather tired at 3:30 or so in the morning.

I think I will stop the entry here and write more in the next blog. We have a couple of things working and I want to ensure that I have the right level of clarification.

More Later, Stay Tuned?

As I indicated in my previous post, the posts that will be forthcoming will describe the ups and downs of being an owner of a motor yacht and living aboard that yacht 24/7 year round.

No, we don’t shutter her and move on land during the winter, we stay on board all year long, though the heat of summer and the freezing temps of winter, here on the waterfront neighborhood known as the DC Wharf.

We are located on Maine Avenue SW, just past the historical DC Fish/Seafood Market. Our location is the Capital Yacht Club (CYC) and our yacht is home in a 60 foot floating dock slip in the CYC marina. The Wharf is a new multi billion dollar development that replaced the old DC wharf’s rather downtrodden environment with high rise offices, apartments, expensive Condominiums, a 6000 seat theater/entertainment venue, and multiple restaurants, snack bars, and boutique shops. Overlooking the rather higher than normal prices for items, the available selections for lifestyle is very expansive. We have a hardware/bicycle shop, a marine supplies shop, many sit down restaurants, several walk up kiosks, and multiple sandwich, pizza, Falafel stores.

So life at the Wharf is rarely boring, if one partakes of all the amenities and the events that happen each week. WE on the other hand, do not spend a lot of time with the Wharf gatherings, considering that the crowds are rather large each week and the old Captain really does not function well in large gatherings. Once I retired, I love the ability to just be, not interact with others, just be.

SO, now that you have some idea of where and how, let’s talk about the life of a yacht homebody. Thinking about how things have gone over the past three years, since we first brought the Misty Lady from Annapolis/Edgewater, Maryland, to the Capital Yacht Club we have been making repairs to various systems aboard, trying to enhance the livability of the boat, acquiring and installing necessary appliances and simply keeping the old girl in running order. We hire a nice gentleman to wash and polish the Misty Lady’s exterior surfaces and he does a bang up job for a very reasonable price.

Over the past three years, we have had to install, repair, remove and replace, various items and systems aboard this old girl. At the outset we left the Maryland marina at Gingerville with a balky fuel injection system on the port engine. It required a priming action using a starter fluid to get the engine to fire off, and the pump would simply stop the engine as it wound down in the engine speed. Our master diesel mechanic, (Delyn) who has been our life saver for these engines, wanted to remove the fuel pump and rebuild it, because of the cost to do a replacement with a new one.

One thing led to another, once we arrived at the CYC marina, we were relegated to “floating” status. which means that we had no permanently assigned slip to put the Lady into. Instead we were told to move every few days or weeks from one docking to another. Meaning we had to be ready to move the boat whenever the Club General Manager indicated we had to do so. So this is one reason why we fell for the “club scam artist” or as some in the Club referred to him as a damn thief. This individual convinced me that he had a source for a fuel pump which would eliminate our down time. This source was supposed to have rebuilt pumps in their inventory and we would simply remove our pump, trade it for the new rebuilt one. During this time, this person “found” that we had, during our float moves, damaged the turbo charger on the port engine as well. Long story short, this man cut the two primary water exchanger pipes to “remove” the fuel pump, had parts laying all over our engine room and soaked me for 3,500 dollars. He had performed NO appreciable work whatsoever. We simply got taken for the money. Turns out, we weren’t by ourselves and multiple complaints were sworn out to the Metro Police for his arrest. To the best of my knowledge, he has not been seen anywhere in the DMV (District,Maryland,Virgina). And good riddance.

When the reality came about, we were lucky to have had our true diesel expert, Delyn, at the Club docks working on another boat. He came over to our vessel, took a look at the mess, said a number of unprintable expletives, cursing the thief guy up a streak and said that he had done absolutely nothing except damage the water transfer pipes, and stealing money from us. (As for the expletives, I should tell you that he was in the Navy for quite a while so the inventory of those words is quite extensive)

I had to make a trip up to the Alban (Caterpillar Distributor) facility in Elkridge, MD (near Baltimore) and purchase two new water transfer pipes while Delyn worked on getting the fuel pump prepared for removal and transfer to the repair facility where it would be rebuilt. Long story short, after a protracted effort, Delyn was able to lock the engine, remove the fuel pump and take it to the repair facility for rebuild. A few days later, the pump was returned with a diagnostic and rebuild descriptive and Delyn reinstalled it on the port engine. Nothing was wrong with our turbocharger and that 750 dollars was paid for absolutely zero work. So a major warning to any of you contemplating the acquisition of a boat, be very careful who you hire/contract to perform work on your vessel. As for us, major work on the yacht (excluding the engines) will be done by one of two craftsmen affiliated with our yacht club, or the Gingerville Yacht Center/Abel Marine yard in Elkridge, MD. Most of our work these past two years has been done by the technicians recommended by the membership of our yacht club.

Now don’t get me wrong, incidents like the deal with our fuel pump and turbo money theft are not the norm. Usually the skilled tradespeople are very honorable and do good work. Admittedly prices for marine/boat skills are higher on average that for trades folks with ground/land facilities.

A friend recently asked that since we had so many things hit us for repair or replacement, were we ready to chuck the idea of living aboard a motor yacht and move back on land. I response was a definite no, I was still in love with the yachting life and have no intention of moving off the boat and back into a fixed structure house or condo.

More later> how we spent the past three years here at the Washington waterfront and continuing to describe life of a liveaboard.

Stay Tuned?

When one who is a confirmed live aboard person, if asked about their lifestyle, they usually give the Living the Dream response. What they don’t tell you is that some time that Dream is a nightmare, but then nightmares are actually dreams as well.

So let’s start this new Blog approach with a nice history of our live aboard life. Back at the start of 2016, we were fascinated by a television show called Tiny Houses. After watching several of these shows, where people downsized from large and costly homes to the inexpensive to buy and to maintain, small tiny houses of less than 500 square feet, we thought how nice it would be to rid ourselves of the large monthly mortgage payment, Condo fees, high property taxes and simplify our lives. I mentioned that a motor yacht (40 feet or larger) would provide a similar living space and would have the added nicety of being able to move across the waters of the Eastern Seaboard.

After checking a couple of online boat broker websites, we decided to look at a couple of options in that area. Long story short, we found a boat in Dundalk, MD that suited our need for size and price.

Once we determined that we wanted to acquire this boat, we arranged for a yacht surveyor to conduct a viability survey of the boat. This was a $1,500 dollar deal, and the boat had to be hauled out of the water using a huge Travel-lift unit, the accumulated residue and little sea creatures power washed off the hull to allow the surveyor access in evaluating the status of the hull (blisters in the fiberglass, weak spots around the keel and prop shaft outlets, and a special device to measure any wet areas in the hull signifying any possible areas of deterioration), he also checked the trim tab, rudder and prop surfaces for viability.

Once the boat was back in the water the survey continued and the yacht was checked from bow to stern. We were then ready for a sea trial to check the running gear. The first trial was a bust because the starboard engine overheated and we had to return to the marina on just the port engine. The owner had a new raw water pump impeller installed and we took a second sea trial the following week. This time it went well.

After the second sea trial was a success the next hurdle was to get our condo sold in a timely manner. Interestingly enough, even though our asking price was well over 500k, our condo sold in less than seven days after listing. We had placed our earnest money on the motor yacht about a month prior to the closing on our condo and when the condo sale funds were deposited into our account, we transferred the balance of our offer price to the broker.

The following Saturday we met the broker and his lady and he drove us up to the marina where we were to be joined by my son, his wife and our youngest grand daughter. They were going to ride with us down to the Annapolis area and to the Ginger Creek Yacht Center just off the South River.

The trip started out wonderfully, the broker took us out of the marina as the slip was very convoluted and directly behind were several yachts in the million dollar class. I certainly didn’t want to start my yachting career hitting an expensive boat. Once we turned toward the Chesapeake Bay, I took the helm and was totally enjoying our new live-aboard yacht. But as fate would have it, two hours into the trip, the starboard engine blew. Most of you, who have followed this blog from the early days, know all about the starboard engine blowing up two hours into our voyage down to Annapolis.

We wound up limping into the Gingerville Yacht Center in Edgewater, MD, just off the South River and spent the next six months with the boat “up on the hard” which is boater slang for having your boat hauled out of the water and settled on blocks. She stayed that way from May through September and we spent almost six full months in the local hotel. The Sea Cats were not thrilled with being restricted to a single hotel room day in and day out. But then neither were Charlotte or myself.

The day they finally finished with the engine and had it back into the boat, was a super happy day. Rick (the TravelLift Operator), put the slings under the Misty Lady and lifted her off the blocks. The engine specialists finished up up a couple of things and we put the big girl back in her element, the Water. We put her into a temporary berth and wrapped up a couple of other items, before scheduling a sea trial for the newly installed engine.

During the sea trial, we took the Misty Lady out of the marina and into the South River. Shortly after we got the engines up onto some speed, the diesel specialist noted that the new engine was starting to get a little warmer than normal. So we headed back to the marina, calling the marina owner and they had the Travel Lift available to pull the boat out of the water. We kept her on the Lift’s slings while the technicians evaluated the water intakes, etc. Turned out the “raw water” impeller was worn and needed to be replaced. The tech installed one from the Center’s parts inventory and we put her back in the water to resume the sea trial. This time, all went well and we brought her back to a maintenance slip to begin the process of putting all the pieces back together. The flooring was replaced, the cabinets and appliances along with the sink/faucets were reinstalled. The settee and dining table were installed and the Center staff replaced and resealed the large galley window that were used to remove and replace the engine. Just to give you an idea how large these marine diesels, a photo is below, this is the engine that we bought and prepped to be installed. They weigh several hundred pounds. This picture is when they brought the finished engine back to the yacht center to do the reinstall.

Within a few days of the final, successful sea trial, I signed off on the engine installation, settled up with the diesel specialist and turned the boat over to the yacht center employees to finalize the restoration of the interior and exterior items to their status prior to the engine work.

Once the interior was restored to functional status, the flooring people finished installing the new flooring in the galley area and the forward entry to the guest cabin in the bow area. Finally we were ready to bring our personal items on board, let the Sea Cats be freed from the hotel and removed from their carriers on board their new sea going home. Needless to say they were a bit nonplussed at the different area, having been moved from a single room to a multiple cabin area with a 1,000 square feet of areas to explore. As usual, Penny found an open hatch on the bridge and got underneath the dashboard cowl. Took us a long time to coax her out and to shut down the hatch.

Our plan was to prepare the boat with food, water, snacks and of course COFFEE, then get a good night’s rest in our new master stateroom. Our plan was to leave in two days (Saturday morning) at first light. However, as Mother Nature would show what a capricious being she was, a storm was forecast for that weekend with high winds (gusting to 50 knots) and heavy rains. Being the intelligent captain, we decided to postpone the voyage home for another weekend. As it turned out, we were smart to delay, the winds and rains were fierce and we experienced that living aboard a motor vessel was like in a storm, even though we were securely tied to the dock.

Finally the following weekend we were able to begin the process of heading home to Washington, D.C. and our marina home at the Capital Yacht Club.

The early blogs describe our voyage home, the things we saw and the trip down the Bay and up the Potomac. Blogs following this will describe the many facets of our life as live aboard yachts people. Some will be mundane, others will be interesting, but all will be informative. Especially if any of you are considering joining into the yacht live aboard life.

More to come, keep watching.

Hello Again:

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It is a quiet, rather nice Sunday afternoon, the last day of September, here at the DC Wharf/Capital Yacht Club.  The sea cats are resting from their labors (early naps and eating), the Admiral is working on her laptop doing the work necessary to keep us in cash flow and me?  Well suffice to say I am beginning this new blog entry for the Misty Lady.   Seriously though I am also doing a couple of loads of laundry using our on board washer and dryer units.  This requires us to fill the water tank prior to starting and also after finishing three to four loads.  Live Aboard, living the dream!!

So, What’s been happening?

Yesterday (Saturday 9/29) was my Daughter In Law, Becky’s birthday and the family celebrated by, at her wish, going to the IFly facility to let those brave enough to participate in free form flying in a wind tunnel.  Several members including the two younger grand daughters, the Birthday Girl Becky and Charlotte (the Admiral) along with four other friends, participated, first attending a flight school, donning flight suits and helmets and lining up for their turn in the wind tunnel to experience the flying time.   The photo below is of Charlotte flying, she was doing a high flight going up into the upper portion of the tunnel.  We now have a problem because she and Becky loved it so much, they want to do it again and again…. So you now know what the primary focus will be in January when it is Charlotte’s birthday?

 

How’s the Lady?

Maintenance, and more maintenance, such is the life of a boater.  Recently we replaced the old and probably original ship-wide battery charger.  This device gets power either from the shore/dock based AC power or if underway, from the on-board generator system.  It then sends AC converted to DC voltage to all of our on-board battery packs.  This functions like a trickle charger.  However, the original system was not “smart” so it kept sending voltage to batteries even though they might already have been at peak.  Eventually this system wore out (there were actually two chargers) and were not really keeping these DC systems up to par.  So, break out the check book, hire a marine electronic dude and get a new, modern and SMART charger.  Bear in mind with our boat, like most of our size and type boats, there are two types of battery systems, one for the engines and the other for “house power” systems.  Those are for our lights and other life style things including the water pump that provides water to our sinks, showers, and the washing machine, from the large water tank, as well as to the toilet waste system.  With the old charger system we were constantly watching the available DC voltage indicator on the main power panel, dropping to less than 10 volts DC when loads were applied.  This meant that our batteries were getting kicked in the gut constantly.  The new system has never had a single drop of available DC voltage readings.  So our batteries, our lights, our water pump system and our toilet waste system are humming right along.

Another enhancement/maintenance task completed was the replacement of our overhead lights changing from the old technology fluorescent lights to the new LED lights.  Better lighting and significantly lower operating costs.  We replaced two non working lights on the bridge (overhead) that had the old lighting technology with two LED fixtures that can be switched from white light to red light for night piloting.  The red lights protect your eyesight (keeping your night vision intact).  The marine technician installing these lights worked his fanny off, in a rather hot humid day.  But the job got done and we now have a bright home and ship’s bridge.

Latest on the Sea Cats:

Our older sea cat, The Duchess, has been diagnosed as diabetic and the old captain is attempting to gain the courage to stick her with an insulin pen.  Not a fun thing, cause first of all, I am very tenderhearted when it comes to my fur babies and second, The Duchess has a tendency to retaliate by trying to bite.  Well, I have to stick myself with an insulin pen daily so why is she so resistant?  oh right, i forgot, that crap hurts.

We have also been trying different solutions for calming the sea cats when the engines are running.  They go into a huge anxiety state from the moment the three engines fire up until several minutes after they are shut down.  One Face Book friend bought a Thunder Shirt for her big dog so we though we would try that.  Bought two,,, only to discover that these two girls HATE anything around their bodies…. Go figure.  Then we learned about some calming medicine (sort of a Valium for kitties) and will now try that, we got one type that required several drops into their mouths prior to the anxiety creation stuff, and the second one is a spray that you spray into their mouths.  Not looking forward to that, because of the aforementioned retaliation process.  But, we gotta do something, we bought this boat to take it out on the water and go places, not to have a floating condominium!  One neighbor in the marina said we should just let them get used to the noise and vibration…. hmm, but the Admiral says she doesn’t want them to have a heart attack from the stress.  Consider a voyage from the DC area of the Potomac, down to the Chesapeake and south to Hampton Roads (Norfolk, Virginia Beach, Newport News and Hampton) would be at least a two day voyage down and two days back.  Lots of stresses, so when we do get prepped and ready for that long voyage, we are gonna hit them with the tranqs and hope for the best?

The Florence Hurricane

Thank Goodness we dodged a bullet from Hurricane Florence.  We did get some wind blows, and tons of rain but nothing even approaching the hit taken by the folks in the Carolina’s.  The rain was not unexpected, because it had been raining for at least two weeks previously.  The winds were relatively mild, reaching sufficient wind speeds (30 to 50 knots) to give the Misty Lady a bit of shaking, rocking and rolling.  I feel terrible for the folks south of us in the Carolina’s and the horrible damages they experienced, and continue to experience as a continual water destructive flooding, high river crests, etc.  Our family members, all living in a shore based existence were very concerned for us, but the rising waters on the Potomac and related waterways bothered us not a bit.  Our berthing marina of the CYC is composed of “floating docks” which means that our boats are snugged up to the slip piers and as the waters rise, both our boats and their dock links rise right along.  So other than having to hold on to something when crossing the floor of our salon (living room), and extra care going down the ladders (stairways), we simply rode out the residual from Florence which frankly was about the type of conditions we encounter often here on the DC waterfront. (Remember we are close to the Congressional chambers and the White House and we all know how all that hot air affects wind and rain currents.)  Speaking of the White House, I think the current occupant just flew over probably after a multi million dollar visit to one of his resorts.  The CYC club house and marina are on the flyway for all the helicopters of the White House, any VIP, and of course the Pentagon.  Oh Joy!  What a thrill huh?  Important Dialogue on TV, then some General flies from Andrews AFB to the Pentagon or the other way and the noise totally drowns out your tv and that important dialogue… oh well, another day in Paradise.

The Happenings Around the Wharf

In a few days we will “close the season” and host another Founder’s Day celebration which will acknowledge the 126th year of the Club’s existence.  Lots of happenings with that, formal procession, cocktail hour (don’t drink so ho hum), and then dinner.  Now we are not sure that we will attend but will see as the day draws near.

The DC Wharf itself is soon celebrating its first year of operation and I strongly suspect another fireworks show which will require us testing out the kitty Valium on the Fur Babies.  Fireworks scare the bejeebus out of them.  There is a 6000 seat theater here on the Waterfront and it host top name entertainers, (none that I recognize usually and not worth paying real money to sit with 5998 other people.  But it is supposed to be really cool.  The DC Wharf is not exactly an inexpensive place to visit either.  A fellow asked me the other day where he might find an inexpensive place to grab a lunch.  I suggested the BBQ stand in the next block.  Nothing on the Wharf’s locale’s menus could be considered cheap.  Once made the mistake of having breakfast (the Admiral was out of town) in a place called Kith/Kin across the street from our club.  Plain breakfast folks, cost me 56 bucks.  Yeppers, half a hundred dollars for bacon (too well done), a couple eggs, some hashbrowns and some toast.  Yikes.  We usually drive across the Potomac River to Virginia to have breakfast out, otherwise breakfast on the boat.

What’s on Tap:

Next weekend, my son Cliff and his family (at least two of our grand daughters) will come down to the Club and we will cast off the Misty Lady’s lines, shut down the shore power, power up the on-board generator, fire up the two turbo diesels and slowly back this big girl out of our slip, into the fairway and then head down river.  (yes will blow the boat’s horn as we exit the fairway) We will probably take a four hour run downriver to Belmont Bay, take on a couple hundred gallons of diesel fuel, then on down river to see the sights from the water.  We will then head back up river.  During this time, I will turn the helm over to any and all who wish the opportunity of piloting this big girl on the river, observing and staying within the navigational equipment’s directives, observing water depth (we do require a good amount of water beneath us), and then take lots of photos hopefully.  We will then pass by the National Harbor Resort, then under the Woodrow Wilson Bridge and the City of Alexandria.  The passage under the bridge and the upper Potomac will require that the Lady be held to a 6 knot speed and no wake (wave water behind the stern from the movement of the boat).  We will arrive at the juncture of the Potomac, the Washington Channel and the Anacostia River, this is our path home.  Up Whiskey Charley (marine call sign for Washington Channel), to the fairway between our yacht club’s A and B docks and home to slip B3.  She is currently berthed “bow in” to the slip, but when we return we will place her “stern in” with the swim platform abutting the docks.  I will write the detail of this process next week when we take the voyage and return.

We hope to get in at least one more voyage for putting up the Shrink Wrap and bundling the Lady up for the winter chills.

Be safe and watch for More Later.

 

 

Ruminations:

As mentioned in the previous post, we are celebrating our second year of actually living aboard the MV (Motor Vessel) Misty Lady.  October of this year will actually begin our third year.  Exciting, sometime, not so exciting, sometime.

Life aboard calls for considerable adjustments in attitude, expectation and adaptation.

The first expectation is to realize that life aboard a boat is NOT like living in a shore based home.  For one thing, you are floating on water, ergo the rooms rock back and forth.  Forgetting that can create a situation of picking yourself off the deck (floor) or against the bulkhead (wall).  Also, expect all sorts of strange things to be found floating around your boat while in the berth/slip.  Logs, limbs, pieces of construction material (such as several instances where we found a board 12″x 4″ x 4 feet floating along between our boat’s hull and the dock.)  The most dangerous and AGGRAVATING, it the plastic items (bags, wrappers, potato chip sacks and smaller sheets), because these things can jam up a “raw water” intake and cause hundreds of dollars to tens of thousands of dollars in damage from the intake for the HVAC units to the diesel generator and god forbid, the main diesel engines.  Having had to replace one of these huge diesel main drive engines, it is both time consuming as well as extremely EXPENSIVE.

Second expectation is that boats are NOT insulated in the majority of cases, therefore, expect to see a variation of heat and cold seeping in.  Investment in maintenance of your onboard HVAC systems (air condition in summer and heat in winter) to ensure that you do not swelter in the summer months and freeze in the winter months.  We also keep a number of electric space heaters on board for the drop in water temps (when the water temp gets down to 40 degrees or below the HVAC heating unit can no longer be used to warm the boat because severe damage to the units can and will occur.

Always remember that winter in the District of Columbia will always be ranging from uncomfortable to downright ice cubes while the summer will bring lots of heat and humidity.  One must remember always that the city of Washington was built on a SWAMP.  Of course the hot air coming from Congress and the White House contributes significantly to the weather anomalies.  This year, thanks to Climate Change, we have been subjected to a lot of weather variances, from heavy storms, excessive and violent rains, to high winds, very cold days in winter and extremely warm days in summer.

The major aspect for living on board a motor yacht is adaptation.  The ability to adapt to the differences in living on a boat and not is key to being happy, content and accepting of the strange happenings.  As an example, we gave away or donated to various charities, all of our furniture, televisions, computer printers, dishes and other kitchen ware.  We also gave away or donated significant amounts of clothing and other similar items.  One focus we maintained in our thoughts was that space was critical on a boat and there were NO WALK IN CLOSETS!!!  Over the two years so far, both Charlotte and I have learned to adapt to our new surroundings, and if we get aggravated about something restrictive about boat life, we remind ourselves that We CHOSE this lifestyle and it was a dream for us.  Then our attitude adapts, we chuckle at the silly aggravation and get on with “Living The Dream”.  So we keep that one word in our minds, ADAPTATION and then get on with our new lives.

Any Travels?

So far this year, the Lady has not been cruising up and down the waterways.  Two major reasons for this are the Sea Cats, Penny and the Duchess.  Seems when we start the diesel engine, they both go into extreme anxiety states.  Both the Bride (the Admiral) and myself were very concerned for their situation and worried that they might have severe health issues (heart attack, etc) as a result.  Penny and Duchess have just this year grown to accept the irritating noise from the helicopters flying over our boat/marina traveling to and from the Pentagon and the White House.  They now just raise their heads from their slumbers and then go back to dream land.  However, when I start the engines, whether the drive engines or the generator even to test them, both kitties would scramble to hidey holes and drool like crazy.  Now, a couple of folks including our boat visiting Vet Doctor recommends a couple of options, one being something called a thunder shirt (wraps around them and comforts), and certain calming liquids in both a spray and drops (sort of a valium for kitties).  We have acquired both the thunder shirt and the “anti-anxiety” medications but have not tried them as yet.   These two feline members of our family are very laid back most of the time and we would really like to help them stay that way.

In the upper left photo a rare situation, both of them are lying together on the sofa.  Normally Penny is being mean to Duchess, but for some reason they decided to nap together on the sofa. In the upper right photo, is Penny watching it rain and wishing for a dry day to let the windows be opened.  Bottom left is a picture of Duchess after the visiting Vet had given her a “lion’s” cut, trimming her thick fur.  And finally, in the lower right is Penny laying out in her silly style, paws up in the air.  She can sleep like this for hours as long as no one moves at all.

Our plan now is to test the anti-anxiety treatments for the two cats and then take the Misty Lady down the Potomac for a day cruise.  IF all goes well, then we will plan on Charlotte taking vacation time and perhaps cruising down to the Hampton Roads (Hampton, Newport News, Norfolk and Virginia Beach area).  The Roads are where the Atlantic, Chesapeake Bay, York River and the James River all come together.  Norfolk Naval Station is the largest US Navy base in the country.

Since this voyage would take us at least two plus days each way, it would require that Charlotte take at least a 10 day vacation time off.  Hopefully the test run (day trip) will enable us to judge the effectiveness of the anti-anxiety medications for the cats and prepare for a longer voyage.  Fingers crossed.

Location, Location, Location

One nice advantage we enjoy with the Misty Lady home-berthed at the Capital Yacht Club on the DC Wharf waterfront is that on the Fourth of July, we do not have to fight traffic or crowds to see the 4th Fireworks Show from the Washington Mall.  The pictures below are from the July 4 celebration.  The photo of Charlotte sitting on our fore deck was taken about a half hour before the sun went down and the show started.  The other pictures are shots of the fireworks display.  This has been our ring side seat for both the 2017 show and this year 2018 display show.  Grabbing a nice adult beverage, going to the fore deck and taking seats to await the start of the fireworks.  Sadly the sea cats do not find this fireworks show amusing.

Other entertainment opportunities abound at the Capital Yacht Club all year, this includes a significant number of great international cuisine restaurants, live music clubs and the Anthem which is a six thousand seat theater hosting top name musical acts.  There are also nautical entertainment such as the cruise ships that provide dinner cruises on the Potomac, the Yellow Water Taxis that provide great transport between the Wharf area to Georgetown, Alexandria and the National Harbor.

We also have “Whiskey Charlies”, a cocktail lounge on the roof of one of our three hotels, that overlooks the Washington Channel and the Hains Point Park.  Whisky Charley is the call sign that yacht skippers and large cruise ships use to indicate the Washington Channel (“WC”.  There is also an Italian Gelato and Coffee Shop, a Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream, a Shake Shack hamburger store, and the Washington Waterfront Fish Market, an icon of the DC area for over 60 years.  We have a Politics and Prose Book Store, a hardware store, a marine supply store, and a pharmacy.  We have a free shuttle bus that travels in a loop from our Wharf location, to the Lafayette Plaza, the Smithsonian and then the Lafayette Plaza Shops, finally returning in the loop back to the Wharf.

So with all of this, PLUS the waters of the Potomac River and the Chesapeake Bay within a nice boat run, what’s not to like?  Truly living the dream!!!

Taking the Misty Lady out of the Slip

At the end of June we replaced the boat’s system wide battery charger.  This required that I start the engines, cast off the docking lines and the power cables and move the Lady to another location outside the Yacht Club area, that was appropriate for the electrical engineer to board the boat and do his work.  This battery charger device takes power from our dock/shore connection, converts it to DC voltage and keeps our several batteries charged up.  We replaced the old (30 years) battery charger system with a new SMART charger system which senses the level of charge on each of our batteries (we have several, some weighing over 100 pounds).  These sensors detect when the battery is fully charged and then it will shut off further power feed to that battery.  It monitors the battery level and as needed will restart the charging routine until the battery is topped off.

The purpose of the charger system is to ensure that our batteries are kept up to their required level as we use power from them over the shore time.  While we are actually underway the boat’s diesel powered generator set supplies power both to the AC devices and through the battery charger to the “house batteries” as needed.

I will try mightily to keep this blog up in the coming weeks.  Some will be short, some will be dull, but all will be representative of life aboard.  I will always speak the true state of things involving our lives aboard the Misty Lady and whether good, bad or indifferent, will call it as it comes.

Fair Winds and Following Seas.

 

Look whose back:  I will try to bring everyone up to date with our adventures or lack thereof involving our life as live aboard mariners.  When one stays in port for quite a long period of time, things kind of get away from us and we miss out on the connection of sharing with our friends and relatives.  Within this blog set I will try to begin the effort of catch up for the times of myself, Charlotte, and the two fur babies, The Duchess and Penny.  To keep it from being a long drawn out entry, I will break it into segments of timeline points.

Activities in the harbor:  In October of 2017 we formally opened and dedicated the new CYC clubhouse, and at the same time we celebrated the Founder’s Day with 125th year of our Capital Yacht Club’s existence and had a terrific time, good food and a fabulous cake.  The new Club House dedication was performed in a special ceremony by the Oldest Member and the Youngest Member (in age).  A bottle of fine Champagne was dashed against the corner of the building in the old mariner tradition of dedication.

Local Area:  As most of you may be aware, our berth is at the Capital Yacht Club located in the newly developed DC waterfront, known as the DC Wharf.  The developers invested almost 4 Billion dollars to build this exciting area.  I will try to provide some photographs in this issue.

The photo in the upper left shows a street view of the Wharf Street which runs along side the actual water itself.  The blue building shown here is the Kirwan’s Irish Pub and it a true authentic Irish restaurant and bar.  All of the interior, walls, bar, tables, flooring etc were all built in Ireland and shipped to DC for this restaurant.  Quite a place and has libe music most nights.  The upper right photo is a picture of the yacht club’s flag mast and the building behind it is the Intercontinental Hotel one of three here.  The photo just below shows the Water Taxi pier.  These yellow taxi boats come into the Wharf, the City of Alexandria, Georgetown, and the National Harbor.  Cost is very reasonable.  The final photo in this group, at the bottom is a picture of the Wharf Street in the evening.  Note the shaded light posts.  They keep the entire Wharf waterfront well lighted into the night hours and until daybreak.

 

 

Anyway, the District Wharf is now a fully operational area with three hotels, multiple eateries of various venue levels, a marine supply, hardware store, a CVS pharmacy, and a Ben and Jerry’s.  There are also three residence buildings, two rental apartments and one of condominiums.  The condos run from 500 thousand for an efficiency to over 2 million for one of the penthouse three bed units.  What’s not to like?  If any of you are up in this area, be sure to put the Wharf on one of your lists of Things To Do while in the area.  It will certainly be worth while.  Take one of the water taxi boats for a nice ride on the Potomac River, leaving from Alexandria, or National Harbor, or Georgetown to the Wharf, enjoy great food, live music and all sorts of other things to see and do.  Most weekends and also special holiday days, there are multiple live performances on the various locations within the Wharf area, from the Sutton Square, to the DC Pier, and the Entertainment Pier (two of the three new piers built for this development). Plus, you get a chance to view the yachts in the Yacht Club’s dock area, especially the Misty Lady and we will be happy to wave hello.

A taste of New Orleans:  This year at Mardi Gras, (Fat Tuesday, Etc), the Wharf developer decided to host a Mardi Gras event with a float parade.  Since the parade street wasn’t very long, the float vehicles were golf carts, however the imagination and artistic talent of the entities submitting their float for the parade was truly amazing.  The CYC float was the brainchild of the Club’s Entertainment Committee folks and was titled “20,000 Leagues Under DC”.  Which I thought was pretty neat and evidently so did the folks casting ballots, because the CYC float was the first place winner.    The Bride was disappointed because she had to work and would not get off work in time to make it home to the Wharf to observe and participate in the festivities.  The Wharf also hosted a terrific fireworks display.  It was a bit chilly however so the old Captain felt like an ancient ice cream bar by the end of the parade and I was very happy to see the break and to hustle down the ramp to the warmth of the Misty Lady’s salon.

The Winter Weather Trials:  We weathered a pretty harsh winter in the Nation’s Capitol this past winter, with one 8 day period of temperatures in the high teens and low twenties.  Water systems froze and we were unable to add water to the Misty Lady’s water tank, nor were we able to get our waste holding tanks pumped out.  At one point, the showers in the clubhouse baths froze and even those were unusable.  Finally one of our members (who was an expert in water systems, especially very cold situations) was able to prepare a work around and we were able to fill our water tanks, a group of members along with the dock master participated in filling the tanks on the yachts in our marina dock area.   It was a pretty miserable several days, but it was a shared misery by all the live aboard members so we were in good company.

Even in the month of March, we had roller coaster temperatures, one day 50 and the next in the lower 30’s.    One had to hope that old Mother Nature would finally take pity and allow the days and nights to warm up enabling us the pleasures of taking the Misty Lady out and head down the Potomac for a day cruise, an overnight run or even a vacation cruise to the southern areas like Hampton Roads, North Carolina Outer Banks, etc.

Misty Lady Prep Work:  The Last Day of Winter (according to the calendar, not the actual weather), had come and gone so we are now on the road to Spring, Summer, etc.  Of course Mother Nature has to have a last gasp and we were treated to snow, colder temps, and other fine weather problems, before it all finally faded and Spring actually appeared for real.  We have the season prep for the Misty Lady underway and only one or two tasks remain before we are prepped and ready for taking the big girl out of the berth and down the river to visit locales in the Maryland/Virginia area.  Especially the more historical areas in the lower Chesapeake.

The Misty Lady has had her main ship’s electrical generator repaired, (new starter and fuel pump), and is ready to supply power while we are underway.  The main port and starboard engines have been checked by our diesel guy and pronounced ready for a season of cruising.   We also have a second generator system but it is not currently functional and we are possibly going to look at evaluating whether to get it fired up in the next year or so.  It is a 10KV gen set and our big one is a 20KV gen set.  Either would supply power sufficient to run our air conditioners, the refrigerators, the dishwasher, the washer/dryer setup, the AC lights and our cooking appliances.  So the big one is running fine now and we will look at the smaller one later down the line.

As I mentioned in an earlier post we had a power problem with the starboard engine alternator, and finally found a specialist who was willing to crawl into the cramped space between the engine and the bulkhead of the Lady’s hull.  While back there removing the alternator (to either rebuild or replace), he discovered our fresh water line was leaking.  Seems the previous owner patched the leak with some electrician’s tape and when we upgraded the fresh water system pump from a 2.5 GPM unit to a 5.0 GPM, the additional pressure caused the patch to fail and water was spewing/leaking into the engine room bilges.  Tony bought the necessary repair supplies, such as connection piping and sealant to close off the leak.  I wound up buying a rebuilt unit, putting the old device in the spare parts locker to eventually have it rebuilt, and Tony got it installed in quick time.

Still need to have a new LED light fixture installed in the forward companionway.  (we are replacing all of the old light fixtures with the more economical LED units, especially the DC powered ones.)  So, is some nice warm weather and calm kitties and the Misty Lady can once again cast off lines and tour the mid Atlantic waterways.

More in the Next Post.