YES......we are on the water again.

So we are back in the water headed south with a stronger Kasidah. Here is the latest with the prop shaft.

We were waiting to be pulled from the water again, (they had to turn us around because of our new radar and their hoist style, Plus launch another boat after the owner showed up to move it). There was an engine guy there and I invited him on the boat to look at the alternator. I had always wanted to put a 2nd one on the engine. He started looking at the alternator and said “Hey the bracket on the alternator is broken.” “No it’s not” I said. But it was. Come to find out it had been hitting a cabinet and broke. Well it never did before this. So we are looking around and see a front motor mount loose. The lags had been ripped out of the motor bunks. The front of the engine had lifted up, throwing the alignment out. But why did the front starboard mount rip out? Well on the opposite rear engine adjuster screw, the jacking bolt or bottom adjuster nut had backed down all the way, allowing the engine back to drop. This drove the prop-shaft onto the fiberglass tube where it finally burned up, let loose, started to leak and, the rest is history.

So I’m glad we found out the real cause of the failure. Now the fix was a lot easier than I thought. But the tank had to come out, the aft cabin torn apart. A new fiberglass tube installed, new drip-less fitting. We checked the shaft to make sure it was straight. The engine bunks were a concern to me now. But we were able to bore them out, fill with epoxy and filler, Got a couple of longer ones and they all are good now. The insurance company is being great and might cover a large part of the bill. This would be fantastic.

We left on Thursday for Swansboro NC but as the day went on a front we had been watching looked as it was going to be heading our way so we decided to head once again for a marina(this one is cheap really cheap). The wind has been steady 30 to 40 and lots of cold and rain. This pattern of weather is really started to get the best of me.
We are trying to get to a marina in South Carolina called Osprey Marina near Myrtle Beach where we would leave the boat and head north for a few weeks. We are trying to plan it now and may have found a way to get it there in the next few days.
One thing about living on the boat is that everything is written in sand at low tide............

"On land again"

We are stuck in Moorhead NC. On our way down the ICW we started taking on water, We called on 16 for the nearest boat yard that could haul out Kasidah. Boat US responed ASAP with a place and number which was right where we were. They were great. We did get her out of the water quickly to look for the problem. The shaft was leaking water in and lots of fiberglass material all over the place like a birds nest. The yard thinks something made its way in from the outside of the boat, they said they never saw anything like this before. We had to take the fuel tank out and they will be doing some major repair work to get her floating again.
It is cold here but I guess if I were in New York it would be colder. I don't think Christmas will be under a palm tree but maybe we can find a pine tree instead!

Oriental,NC

We have had an interesting week of traveling. We left Elizabeth City and crossed the Albermarle Sound, the wind was a little on the light side but that was fine, we then entered the Alligator River and went into South lake which is part of the Alligator reserve. One of the anchorage books we use said that there would be places to land the dogs in the grasses, all we could find was landings that looked like something out of “The Jungle book”. I found one spot and got out first to make sure there were no snakes or gators, trashed around a little then when I thought it was clear aloud the pups ashore. Sara wanted nothing to do with this over grown place so it did take a bit to get them to go. Jon was on the lookout and I was the block just incase…..
This place was so quiet and beautiful, and in the morning there was one of the most breathtaking sunrises, but we all know the old saying about that. We started the journey down Alligator river knowing a storm was coming and had to reach Pungo River or Pantego Creek before it showed it’s face. When we reached the mouth of Pantego creek the winds began to increase to around 20-25 and it was just down pouring. We decided to go to our second choice which was past Belhaven and up a small creek but by now it was down right miserable out. I decided that from the start of our trip we had not stayed at any dock which we had to pay so this seemed like a good one to do. It was quite a site. We were behind three other sailboats that did the same thing and a large trawler behind us. The sailboats went in a few minutes ahead of us and then Jon started in their channel with the wind on our beam. As soon as he could see how narrow it was and the problems the boats in front were having he looked at me and said “this is going to get ugly”, The boats in front of us were getting blown into the pilings and other boats and when Jon started to turn to make an exit he noticed the trawler was right on our ass. I said to Jon we can dock this girl ourselves just pick a spot and we will manage, as Jon started to enter a slip the dock master came over and said “no not that slip over here in this slip”, so Jon backed out and went into the slip with out any issues. About five minutes later another sailboat came in and once again the piling smashing and boat smacking began. I had all our fenders blown up and ready to deploy if necessary. That night I saw 54 a few times on our wind indicator and after midnight it was crazy around there. A few of the boat anchored up stream pulled anchor because it was bad in the creek and came in with us.
Belhaven was a nice little town and we got to use the marinas golf cart to go cruising into town. Everyone you met ask if everything was OK and if we needed anything, we were even invited into someone’s home to see their Christmas trees.
We left there and headed down some creeks and canals past the RE Mayo Co.(shrimp and fish) and notice a buck crossing a creek just in front of us so we slowed down to watch it, all of a sudden this small very fast boat pulled up between us and the buck and put two bullets into his head…..man oh man, you want to talk about sudden these guy’s killed the deer and had it in the boat and gone in about 30 seconds. Jon and I just looked at each other and said holy shit.
We made it to Oriental NC and anchored in front of the village in a very small field with a few other boats. We really like this place, everyone is very friendly and they like cruisers.

Schyler called some friends that we had met years ago on our old boat Agapee who live here now. They came by and lent us a car for the day so we could go shopping and stuff. They are such nice people they even let Jim and Erin use their washer and dryer(thanks Art and Lynn that was so nice of you to do for us)). We were telling Art and Lynn about some of the other cruisers we have met and the couple from Australia came up, come to find out the boat they bought is their good friends old boat(very small world out here). We were going to leave in the morning but decided to pull up to the free dock for one more night. Jim needs to repair his roller furl and we have a few things to do so we are taking our time.

If you are reading this today the 12/06 look at www.towndock.net and you can seeus at the free town dock

Elizabeth City, NC

Well we made it out of the Deltaville boat yard on Thanksgiving morning bright and early. Those guys were wonderful to us and they rushed our work so we could be out quick. They were going to be off for several days so we would have been stuck if they decided not to bring Kasidah in and stay a little later that first night (thank you Chuck and all of the guys in the yard).
When we left in the morning it was like pea soup out so we were really glad for the radar, it worked awesome. We spotted a few 900ft cargo ships heading for us and lots of fishing boats. When the fog lifted we had to motor most of the way into Norfolk because there was nothing for wind. On our way into the bay we had a sub in front of us which was really cool to see. The battleships and other large vessels were also very impressive as we made our way to the anchorage. That night at about 3 am the wind picked up to about 30 gusting over 50 and the boat that was in front of us ended up in back of us, at that point it was lightning, hailing and down right freezing. We prepared ourselves for the weather just in case we dragged. The wind now was about 40 knots with gust up to 50. Then it started to come from one direction and then another, and then the anchor alarm went off we would drag a little then it would set, drag a little then set. The marina was right behind us and we decided we would pick up and reanchor out and away from the marina. The boat that dragged behind us picked up and left altogether. It was amazing how well we managed to reposition ourselves and how quick we had the anchor back down and twice as much out (that’s why we dragged in the first place, I should have put more out knowing there would be a storm). Jon ended up sleeping in the cockpit for the rest of the night. When we woke in the morning the other boat was gone however two other boats were next to us. Later that day we talked to several other cruisers who had broke bow lines at a dock and others who had also dragged where they were.

Friday we headed for the Dismal Swamp which is 22 miles long and at least 6 foot deep in center. We had many things come up to kiss Kasidahs bottom the whole way down the swamp. When you enter the Dismal swamp there is a lock which opens only a few times a day so you have to time everything as to get there on time and to exit it also. Robert is the Lock Master and he has been doing it for 16 years, he is very knowledgeable about the Dismal and he enjoys entertaining cruisers. Westayed that night on the swamp at the North Carolina visitor’s center. It can only hold a few boats so you raft up to each other. That night there was 7 boats. We rafted up with a couple who comes down the canal from Norfolk for Thanksgiving each year. Later just before dark another 27ft sailboat showed up so we helped them raft to us. Turns out they are from Senica Lake in NY. One of the finger lakes. Small world and it's getting smaller.



We ended up on Pam and Dan’s boat (36ft Albin Trawler) for dinner with Jim and Erin from the 27ft Catalina. Pam is a great hostess and Dan had a lot of info for Jon about cruising. I hope we meet up with them again some time or another.
We left Saturday to get to the lock by 11 which ended up just right. We will be traveling for a few nights with Jim and Erin so this will make things a little nicer having other cruisers around.
We arrived at the Town docks in Elizabeth City, NC around 15:00 and tied up with plenty of time to walk around town. Not much happening here but the people are so friendly and the docks are free of charge. There are two other boats here waiting to cross Albermarle Sound.. We are staying till Monday morning then crossing the sound.

Out on the Chesapeake again

My new boots, nice

Well we are out of Cambridge today and it took only 40 days of wait to re-build Kasidah. It was a real thrill to get out back out and moving today. I (Jon) was a bit worried about the boat being slower because of the added weight, and once out and moving I did notice our boat speed was down a bit, But our s.o.g. was good. Thinking that we were getting a good push from the tide we moved on. The AIS was working great, the radar was easy to read. The solar panels were pumping 6 to 7 amps into the boat. We were using more than that but that's OK. The dinghy was riding nicely after a small adjustment on the tie downs. Then the knot meter stopped working. WTF. (I get that from Bill) Well we made Solomon Islands, and set the hook by 3 PM. The dinghy was dropped into the water in 3 minutes, and Sara and Blue said thanks. Back at the boat I pulled the through hull for the tri-data and just laughed. You know this is the 2ND tri-data in the boat. the 1st one lost it's temp sensor and we had to scream and yell to get a new one before we left Cambridge. They were nice enough to give us (no charge) some RAYMARINE paint designed just for transducers. Well the crap had slid of the bottom of the transducer and wrapped itself around the paddle wheel. I can hardly wait till tomorrow to see what it does to my real boat speed.

Tomorrow we head for Miller Creek just south of the Potomac River. It's night and I can now hear the wind generator singing to my batteries. We'll see how it does over night. A night cap and it out like a light.

Thanks to all for watching and caring. We'll get some pictures on tomorrow.Well we found our boat speed up and all was well.
Monday we were having some problems with dirty filters on the engine and we found our way to Reedville Va. on the Cockrellville Creek. We anchored in front of the Seafood Co. restaurant and walked the dogs there in the morning. The owner came by and was nice enough to bring Jon to a place to get some filters, come to found out he is the town supervisor and the town fire chief and…. The alarms went off while they were out so Jon arrived back at the boat with his wife...Ya right.

We left shortly after and headed south in some heavy fog and not so nice weather but nice wind 20 25 on our stern to the Piankatank River, the radar works great…had a few 800 plus foot cargo ships coming at us and picked them up, plus could find out all about them with the AIS.

We were still having problems with the fuel and decided to call ahead to the Deltaville Marina, so here we are in Jackson creek (a little tricky to get into).