Back on track

We are underway northbound across the Albemarle Sound as I begin typing, headed back to the ICW after a week in the boatyard in Wanchese, North Carolina. We'll likely end our day somewhere in the North River.

Hauling out at Safe Harbor OBX in Wanchese.

We were quite comfortable in our anchorage between the islands last week, even though shortly after I posted, we were hit with quite the storm. We had 30 mph winds most of the evening and overnight, and on the flood we sat at right angles to our own chain. The lightning and much of the rain mostly missed us, but actually hit Wanchese with a vengeance, even sending a small tornado through town. We were very glad we stopped early. We had a nice view of Oregon Inlet and Bodie Island Light.

This enormous and violent storm cell skirted just north of us and is hitting Wanchese in this photo.

Friday we had an easy morning, weighing anchor before lunch to make the last several miles to Wanchese Harbor. We had accurate surveys the whole way, although two tugboats going the other way took their half out of the middle and ran us right to the edge of the channel. At some point in the morning the light was just right for Louise to notice we've developed a crack in our granite countertop, so I have another project on my list now.

Hairline crack in the granite extends from the mid-sink seam at left all the way to several inches past the sink off-frame to the right.

We were tied up at the waiting dock for the Safe Harbor OBX boatyard (map) before lunch. The dock had only a 100a pedestal, but the yard found a 100' extension cord to get us power from an outlet on the quay. I spent the afternoon working on how to repair the granite, and, with Louise still feeling a bit under the weather, we just walked over to the on-site Tiki Hut at dinner time for a draft beer and dinner from the adjacent Johanna's food truck.

This little sign is the only indication there's a bar on premise. I think the Safe Harbor logo, which is an S and H superimposed in what is supposed to look like a helm, always looks to me like a 45rpm adapter. I'm old.

Saturday the yard was quiet, and we offloaded the scooters. Louise did several loads of laundry, and I set off for Manteo to get the lay of the land. I arrived at the waterfront just as the Saturday crafts market was wrapping up in the park. I did a quick walking tour of our dining options, the docks, dinghy landing, and town in general. On my way out I did a quick circuit of Festival Island Park before heading to the Ace Hardware for clamps and glue for the granite repair as well as the Piggly Wiggly for some much needed provisions. It was quite windy on my ride and walk.

Manteo Downtown Market in George Washington Creef Park.

After returning home I walked the marina complex, finding the little marina store to be well-stocked with snacks, sandwiches, and cold beer, among other things. At dinner time we returned together to Manteo, about a 15-minute scooter ride, for dinner at Poor Richard's Sandwich Shop. It was decent, but aptly named, as sandwiches are pretty much what they have. After dinner we strolled the waterfront a bit in this quaint tourist town.

Replica of the Roanoke Marshes lighthouse on the Manteo waterfront. Closed for renovation.

Louise had already turned in for the night when I heard the news about the allision of ARM Cuauhtémoc with the Brooklyn Bridge. Of course all I could do the rest of the evening was to follow the coverage and glean information about the incident. That and watch social media boil over with rampant misinformation and racism.

We had a view of this rack of buoys at the CG Aid to Navigation station from both the dock and the hardstand, and they blinked all night. You can see the reflection of one of the red lights on the building. That's the CG buoy tender at right.

With nothing on the books Sunday, in the morning we rode out to the North Carolina Aquarium, next to the airport and about as far away from Wanchese as one can get and still be on the island. It was a very nice aquarium, well-kept and with a turtle rescue to visit as well. We spent a good hour before coming home, stopping for brunch en route at TL's Family Restaurant, which was good.

Louise admires a turtle.

By evening Louise was again feeling crummy, and it was all she could do to finish up the laundry before the haul-out, when we can't use the washer. I spent the afternoon making ready for the haul-out and doing more research on granite repair, where opinions and speculation are much easier to find than hard facts and data. Louise was not up to another Manteo trip, and with the Tiki Hut and food truck dark, I picked up sandwiches at the marina store for dinner. Store manager Holly was kind enough to make me another sandwich after I took the last one from the case.

It was froggy that day.

Although we were ready first thing, they did not end up putting us in the lift until 10:30 on Monday. That had us out of the water and hanging in the slings over lunch time after pressure washing, and unable to get back on board, we ended up with another sandwich from the marina store for lunch. Shortly after lunch time they had us blocked, but we were pretty nose high and a bit over to starboard -- they haul mostly sport fishers here and I don't think the lift guys really knew how to level a trawler.

Vector in the wash rack. Most of our outermost layer of black paint is gone, exposing the layer of red.

Leo and Ryan got started right away on the stabilizers. I had to lend them the removal tool and explain the process, but the fins came off with no issues and the fins and shafts looked good. This yard has never serviced Naiads before, so I sat with them and explained the seal removal process and how the new parts were to go in. Only a tablespoon or so of water came out on each side, and while some of the grease showed the tell-tale black color of water intrusion, most of what came out was still white, and we determined there was no water in the bearing cavity.

The seals that were installed at Derekctor 19 months ago. They look fine, but we had to check when the port fin started squealing. The squeal is most likely from the actuator. These two are the starboard seals.

Next ensued something of a fire drill, as the yard did not have the specified grease on hand, even though I had sent them the spec ahead of time. There was none to be found within a day or two, so we checked with Naiad about substitutions. I had something close on hand, and since we were not packing bearings but just lubricating the seals, that's what we used. When the seals were done and the fins ready to go back on, we had a repeat scenario with the anti-seize for the fin bolts, which Naiad insists be marine-grade. I rode all over the island on my scooter looking for the stuff, and ultimately the yard hard to order it from McMaster-Carr.

My fin removal tool. The coupler in the middle was so that it could be shipped to me, and I stow it in two pieces.

Louise was feeling a little better, and at dinner time we rode into Manteo and ate the the Lost Colony Tavern, which is the tourist-trap restaurant to go with the quaint tourist town. It is also the taproom for the eponymous microbrewery, and while the food was OK, I found the beer disappointing. I also bought some of their other brews in the grocery store, also disappointing.

Out at the street this "day beacon" marks the USCG Wanchese Aid to Navigation station.

The nose-up aspect of our blocking was bad enough that Louise made the bed backwards and we slept with our heads at the foot of the bed. We also minimized our water use to avoid putting too much wash water on the ground, as this is not really a live-aboard facility. We otherwise had a peaceful night, and were up early for the 7:30am yard opening.

In addition to nose-high, this is how far out of level we were blocked side-to-side.

When I first called the yard about doing the seals, I also asked them to get paint to do a coat on the bottom. We use ship antifouling instead of a yacht product, and the yard had trouble finding it, but by the end of the day Monday they had located some that they could fetch on Tuesday, so Tuesday morning the paint crew started sanding and priming all the bad spots where we had spots of bare metal starting to show through. They found quite a few, and by the end of the day the hull was a patchwork of primer spots.

Quite a few areas had to be sanded down to bare steel and prepped.

I, meanwhile, did a couple of small projects on board, and worked on routes for whenever we wrapped up in the yard. Louise was again feeling better, and at dinner time we rode into Manteo for dinner at Olive's, a Mediterranean place near the waterfront, which was pretty good. We again strolled after dinner through a quiet town.

Commercial Use Only. Shhh... don't tell AkzoNobel.

Wednesday morning the yard had a 5-gallon pail of the correct paint in hand, and I gave them a rattle can of the Rustoleum Cold Galvanizing Compund that I had picked up at Ace for the propeller. I had them open up the sea chest to clean it up and paint inside as well. They wrapped up painting mid-afternoon, but the paint needs a full eight hours before going in the water. The anti-seize for the fin bolts also arrived too late in the day to finish that. I did have them replace the anode on the line cutter with my spare, as it was pretty far gone. We just walked over to the Tiki Hut for dinner.

The unobtainium marine-grade anti-seize. We now own this jar.

Thursday was splash day, and first thing I had them move the jack stands to paint under them. I helped Leo and Ryan get the fins lined up and bolted back on, although there was a mad scramble as their big torque wrench was not working and final torque had to wait until they could borrow one from another shop. The bolts are torqued to 300 foot-pounds. I safety-wired the sea chest bolts.

This line-up of boats near the dry stack is the quintessence of what this marina is about.

I had asked the yard to keep us out of the water until the paint where the stands were had at least four hours, and so the lift picked us up at 3pm, just an hour before closing. We were looking forward to sleeping the right way in the bed and being able to use all the water we wanted, but, alas, it was not to be. Several of the jack stands took the fresh paint right off, and in two places, enough of the old paint came with it to expose more metal.

Bottom painted and fins on, ready for launch.

They were able to sand it and get some primer on it before quitting time, and I told the paint supervisor I would put bottom paint on all the spots after dinner. The yard manager had a mad scramble, as the lift was booked all day Friday for the holiday rush, but we agreed we'd spend the night in the slings and splash first thing in the morning.

Not much of a view from the flybridge overnight. I had to loosen the string of lights to fit in the lift.

We rode back into Manteo for dinner at Ortega'z Southwestern Grill and Wine Bar downtown. When we got home I painted all the damaged spots, and I was even able to use some of the leftover primer, still workable, to touch up a couple of rust spots topside. We had to sleep backwards again, since they rested us back on the blocks in the slings.

When your tiki bar is in a boatyard, you borrow the forklift to fix the chandelier.

Yesterday morning they lifted us right at 8, slapped some paint where the blocks had been, and put us in the water, just ahead of splashing a new-build sportfish that arrived on a trailer from one of the several builders on the island. We had missed our tide window to leave, so we just headed right back to the waiting dock for one final night, and many thanks to yard manager Rob for accommodating us. It was nice to have a day of downtime at the dock without waiting for anything to happen.

Heading back to the water.

Last night we went back to Manteo for one final meal, at Firetender Restaurant on the main road. This is also the taproom for the Weeping Radish microbrewery, North Carolina's oldest, and their beers were quite good. It was half-price flight night and we each had a flight to sample the whole range; I particularly liked the Black Radish schwarzbier. On the way home we made a quick stop at the Food-a-Rama for last-minute provisions, and we decked the scooters when we got home. We could hear the first live music of the season wafting over from the Tiki Hut.

With a free day yesterday I rode out to the Fort Raleigh National Historic Site. These are the excavated remains of the fort.

This morning after a final walk we dropped lines right at 8am for high tide. The tide here is just six inches, but we needed every one of them, plus a favorable wind. The stretch of the Roanoke Sound Channel between Shallowbag Bay, in Manteo, and the open water of Roanoke Sound is surveyed at just 6.5', and even at high tide we saw a least depth of 6.3', or just four inches of water under our skeg. I had consulted with one of the charter captains earlier in the week and gotten an update and advice that gave us some confidence to take the route.

We had a couple of nice sunsets in the harbor. That's the charter sportfishing fleet at right.

Update: We are anchored in a familiar spot in the North River (map). This is really the last decent anchorage before the Coinjock Cut and Currituck sound, so we had to make it a relatively short day and dropped the hook right around 1:30. Tomorrow we will be in Great Bridge, where we have packages waiting at the Amazon locker.