Back in Virginia

 

We are anchored in Indian Creek, off Fleet's Bay (map), not far from the town of Kilmarnock, Virginia.  After three straight days of Small Craft Advisories from the National Weather Service, the weather yesterday was finally pleasant enough to get under way, so we seized the opportunity and left Solomons first thing in the morning.

Our extended stay in Solomons did give us the opportunity to tender over to another restaurant Friday evening, the Back Creek Bistro, located at Calvert's Marina.  When we pulled up to the tender dock for the restaurant we were surprised to see at least a half dozen Krogens at the transient docks, until we remembered that the annual Krogen Rendezvous was held here earlier in the month.  They really are beautiful boats.

I mentioned in my last post, about anchoring, that I ended up working on the davit yet again when we launched the tender in Solomons.  This time I simply replaced the "up" solenoid, on the theory that it was passing enough current to fool my multimeter, but not enough to actually operate the motor.  That did the trick, and I've concluded that it must have been a temperamental solenoid all along.

I'm glad we had a spare aboard (thanks, John), but finding a replacement for that spare proved to be a challenge.  The manufacturer, White-Rodgers, has since been bought out by Emerson Climate Control, and all the part numbers have changed.  As near as I can tell, that particular model is also no longer made.

After a couple hours of research I eventually found a cross-reference,  part that would physically fit the application and had the correct ratings, and could be had from various sources for $50-$60.  However, during the same research I also found a complete winch-control solenoid unit for just $24.  This latter item replaces both of the $50 solenoids which are not outdoor-rated, along with the collection of four aluminum bus-bars and two ground straps necessary to assemble them into the winch control.

The downside to the $24 part is that it does not have the same dimensions as the current assembly, so I will have to make a mounting bracket to attach it to the existing mounting screws.  I think that's a small price to pay to eliminate four exposed high-current connections and two exposed control connections and have the whole mechanism be more protected.  I suspect the appearance of these dedicated winch solenoids on the market a few years ago led to the demise of the style we have now, making them hard to find.

Yesterday's cruise was quite pleasant, and we passed through a giant flotilla of boats all doing more or less the same thing we were -- making a run for it from Solomons.  We had originally figured to stop at the Great Wicomico, where we had stopped on our way north, but conditions were so mild we pressed on to here, to make today's run that much shorter.  Nemo's Vector's lone fin had no trouble with the 1-2' seas and 15-knot winds, though we watched a few other trawlers bobbing around quite a bit.



We passed a pair of boats that had left an hour before us, some Quebecois whom we had met briefly in our same anchorage, waiting out the weather, and we took some photos of their boats abreast of Smith Point Light to send to them.  They were planning to press on to Deltaville, which we could have done as well, but we prefer not to arrive anyplace that close to dusk.

It's only a two to three hour cruise from here to Deltaville, and we will arrive sometime this afternoon.  We've already lined up dinner this evening with friends in town, and with any luck, the yard will be ready to start on our issues tomorrow.  We have a list that should keep them busy for at least a week, between fix-up of items they previously did, and new items such as the stabilizer repair and some kind of bash plate behind the snubber attachment.

We'll rent a car for next weekend so we can make a trip to visit Odyssey.  In addition to just "checking in," we need to winterize her before heading south.  This will be the first time we've done so in the dozen years we've owned it, so it will be a new experience for us.  It's a bit of a drive from Deltaville, so I am hoping we can get it all done in just a single day.

I'll post an update here from the yard in Deltaville when we have a little better sense of the schedule.  We are not in any particular hurry, but I'd like to get the Carolinas behind us before we get too far into November, as we will be taking the outside route.


Gratuitous cat picture