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| Bringing the Seven Seas to the Party |
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| Cary reads while Tricia opens the bubbly |
After slightly more than 2 years, our boat is finally back in the water. We launched Monday, June 24th at Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard in Annapolis. BJYY is a beautiful, full service yard, with great amenities, and a host of skilled service companies on site. Prior to putting her in the water, we had Accent Graphics put the new name and hailing port on the new paint job. Cary, Ginny, Tricia and I did our best to appease King Neptune by conducting a formal denaming and renaming ceremony. Since the boat wasn't in the water yet, Ginny brought the water to the boat. We then wrote ALL of the former names of the boat on a metal coupon and, with the appropriate exhortation to the God of the Sea and the Gods of the Winds, had the former names stricken from Neptune's roster, and the new monniker, "Music" added, with an appeal for Neptune's beneficence and Aeolus's fair winds. Oh yeah, some libation of a bubbly nature was shared as well.
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| Cheers! |
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| At Last! |
The launch went well. As I had glassed in old holes in the hull, and replaced all the thru-hulls, I was nervous about leaks. No worries- tight as a drum. The engine, which had sat idle for 2 years, started right up. I did have to troubleshoot the raw water pump. Turns out the key that connects the impeller to the shaft had been dislodged and fallen down the intake hose. Easy fix. Also, when I filled the cooling system with antifreeze, there must have been an air bubble. After initial adding 1 1/2 gallons, I was able to add another gallon after I got it running. We also took time to adjust the packing gland, as we have the new shaft installed. Really, very pleased with the results.
The next day, Tricia, Cary and I motored across the Chesapeake and around Kent Island to Lippincott Marina in Grasonville. This will be alot closer to the house as we finish the commissioning and load out prior to departing. We timed the trip to arrive on the rising tide, as our 7 foot draft would need every inch of tide to get in. We arrived a little early, and promptly got stuck in the mud at the entrance to the marina. So we waited to float off. A rising tide lifts all boats.
Atlantic Rigging and Spars had made the new shrouds and would set the rig. They came to the house and picked up the mast, which we had stripped, painted, rewired and reinstalled all the fittings. Tuesday, July 2nd was a wet, rainy day with Greg and Chris from Atlantic Rigging installing the stays and getting her ready to step. With "Music's" tall, powerful rig, we were delayed until Wednesday because we needed to be at low tide for the crane to have enough lift to get the mast over the boat. Despite the delay, putting the mast in went very well. Again, plenty of tense moments for me, as I had replaced the mast step and chainplates during the refit. Plenty of chances to have done something wrong. In fact, as the mast was being lowered through the deck, Greg cried out from below "Stop, we have a problem." My heart sank. Turns out, when I cut the bottom of the mast off to account for the new mast step height, the hole for wires to exit the mast was now in the wrong place. It needed to be moved up 2 inches so the shoe in the mast step didn't cut the wires. Nice catch, Greg! And a quick and easy fix. The last step to complete the mast install is to install the new backstay chainplates. We added a split backstay to make getting aboard from the boarding ladder easier, and included a Sailtec hydraulic tensioner to give us better control of headstay tension. Ginny and I installed the chainplates yesterday. Atlantic will bring out the new flex cable and complete the install after the 4th of July holiday. Tricia and Cary were at home, packing the house. We are getting closer to leaving every day!
