Saturday 11/11/2017 Backtrack to Southport (by car)

Joan arrived today.  She took an earlier flight through Philly and got here around 10 am.  By the time she got a rental car, and drove to the marina, it was 11.  I was sure glad to see her.  We ate the last two donuts in the marina lounge, gulped down a cup of coffee and were on our way north to Southport.  Southport is near the mouth of the Cape Fear River and is a really neat little historic town and fishing village.  We spent the afternoon doing touristy things (Maritime Museum, Visitors Center, River walk, and the self guided historic district walk.  We also went quickly through a couple antique shops.  It was cool and breezy out but was nice and sunny.  We had a nice dinner at the Fishy Fishy Café and then drove over to the Southport Marina where Hank Palmeranz gave a great lecture on what to watch for when heading south on the ICW.  He gives the lecture every night at 6 pm for boats headed south in the fall and again for boats headed north in the spring.  He had a great, detailed, handout and many, many great tips.  Of course, I ignored the first 10 minutes since I had already traveled through that 60 mile area.

Friday 11/10/2017 - Osprey Marina Layover

Of course, I knew today was my 70th birthday but it was nice that my phone reminded me when I first woke up around 5:30 this morning.  I was looking forward to Joan's arrival today but her flight got cancelled so we will have to (hopefully) wait till tomorrow.  It was a cool but beautiful day with lots of sun.  I did a little boat work - some minor sail repair and finished getting my new Mantus anchor all rigged up.

Having been here at Osprey for over a week, I'm beginning to feel like I'm on a merry go round.  People are coming and going all the time.  It's been fun because I've been able to meet a number of really nice cruisers.  Today, one of the cruisers staying here agreed to show several of us their slide show of the circumnavigation they did 40 years ago.  It was fascinating and very interesting.  In fact, it was the highlight of my day!  Of course, they were around 30 at that time.  Then, 18 years later, they made essentially the same trip (but on a newer boat - a Vallient 40 which they now have) with their two boys (age 9 and 11).  Kitty told me all about how the school system sent them books so they could home school for the 4 years between 1987 and 1991.  Below is a short video of Scott, Kitty to my right, and the "audience".   Meeting people like this is what makes a trip like this so meaningful - to me.

Thursday 11/9/2017 Osprey Marina Layover

Now this was an eventful day!  It rained most of the day and is raining right now (7pm). It was also cold (for this area).  I think the high was 53.  Fortunately, I have a small space heater that is able keep things pretty comfortable inside.  I spent  several hours this morning in the Marina Lounge.  I was working on planning my remaining trip south to Florida and also my trip home and back over Christmas.  With the rain, there were a number of cruisers in the lounge and I had some nice conversations with several.  Some of these people have LOTS more experience at this than me and I'm getting all kinds of good tips.  I do expect I'll see some of them again between now and next May.

Wednesday 11/8/2017

It's now Thursday and I can't even remember what I did yesterday.  It was obviously not a very productive or meaningful day.  Of course, I was still at Osprey Marina.  Oh - I DID go with a new friend to Sam's club to use my membership card so he could buy a new Group 31 battery for his boat.  The remainder of the day must have been just squandered away??

Tuesday 11/7/2017 - Osprey Marina Layover

Today was a small job day:

 Descent breakfast on the boat (back to beagle and coffee at the Marina tomorrow)

Laundry

Fill diesel jerry can and attach to the port rail

Empty waste engine oil in marina tank

Clean out and dry the bilge (for the last time??)

Clean the inside of the boat (from yesterday's water pump job)

Upload blogs

Misc other chores

The forecast is for some rain and cooler temperatures over the next couple days.  The weather has been really nice for the week I've been here.  Joan arrives on Friday so I'm really looking forward to seeing her and escaping from a mild case of "cabin fever".

Monday 11/6/2017 - Osprey Marina Layover

The crowd of cruisers left the marina today and things got much more quiet.  

I've been putting off working on the leaking water pump for several days now.  Working on the boat at home is much easier since making the boat dysfunctional usually has a much less severe consequence.  So, at 7am, I began working on the pump.  I was very careful to take measurements and even recorded much of what I did and found with my camcorder (posted below - but WAY too long for the casual reader).  I had several concerns about doing the work myself:

1.  Would I break something or find a part that had to be replaced - that I didn't have as a spare.  The engine will not run more than about 5 minutes without this pump.
2.  Would I need a bearing puller/press to remove the shaft and seal?

As it turned out, the shaft and bearings came out with just a little tapping from a hammer -not a recommended practice but I believe it worked fine.  The old seal was a real mess but it came out without too much trouble.  The bottom line was that the new seal went in with no real problems.  And - I had no extra parts left over AND NO LEAKAGE.

Raw water pump rebuild video

Sunday 11/5/2017 - Osprey Marina Layover

I think it would be accurate to say that I squandered nearly this entire day away.  I did change the engine oil and filter and also the transmission oil.  Also, I toured a new friend's 1988 Pearson 31-2.  It is almost identical to my boat except that he it has a 6' draft fin keel and has more rigging for racing. The owner (Michael) recently moved to Charleston and is bringing the boat down to his new home from New Jersey.  He joined the "Sail to the Sun" rally in Hampton (http://icwally.com/Sail_to_the_Sun_Rally%21.html).

Resiliance video