After many months without touching land, Harmonie is in a dock in Back Creek in Annapolis. I don’t need to tell anyone on the East Coast these days that the weather is hot and humid as the offshore hurricanes keep a steady flow of warm and humid air flowing in. It gives us a chance to exercise our cabin air conditioning.  Karen has been draining the hot water tank that feeds the marina’s shower’s everyday, a luxury she can’t afford while we are at anchor.

For us this is a great place to stop because we have access to so many services and suppliers that are otherwise hard to come by.  The only place we have been that is better for yacht maintenance and repair logistics is Fort Lauderdale.

We have been busy working on both repair and maintenance projects.  Boat things being what they are, some projects  that we thought we simple maintenance tasks turned into complex repairs projects.  So here is our status update:

• 24v alternator on drive engine not charging batteries.
  • Fixed.  Actually, this turned out to not be a real problem, but just our solar panels and alternator interacting in ways we did not expect.  I’ll take the easy check off on this one.
• Autopilot linear drive making unusual noise.
  • We have identified a local shop who can hopefully help with this… stay tuned. It is not as critical issue as it might sound.  We have a second autopilot rudder drive of a different type installed, and a back up of the one that is making strange noises ready to drop in to place.
• Broken shackle on mizzen outhaul car.
  • Waiting to find the part.
• Jib turning block bungee worn.
  • An easy fix, we just have not gotten to yet.
• Move lifesling forward to avoid interference with staysail sheet.
  • Done
• Replace broken shackle on mizzen topping lift.
  • Pending
• Work out best way to sheet mizzen staysail to mizzen boom.
  • Pending
• Batteries need replacement.
  • New batteries ordered.  There will be some upgrades needed to the charging system as well.  I am working on a write up of this project as a separate page.
• Repair mainmast deck light.
  • Part ordered.  Pending delivery from Europe.
• Conductivity sensor on watermaker failed.
  • Part ordered.  Pending delivery from Europe. (Isn’t owning a French boat fun?)
• Lost prop from bow thruster.
  • Repair completed! Bow thruster fully functional again.
• Replace masthead wind sensor.
  • Pending.  Repair part in hand.  Waiting for a good day to go to the mast head, calm winds and not too hot!
• Retrieve skied ballooned halyard.
  • Pending, as above.
• Freezer “buzzes”, a new noise that needs checking into.
  • Fixed.  Karen noticed the fan had fallen out of place.
• Broken cleat on mainmast.
  • Pending. This might take a bit to find the right part.
• Ripped seam on Yankee jib.
  • All sails delivered to the local sail loft for inspection and repair.
• Ripped seam on mainsail.
  • See above.
• Broken zipper on dodger side panel.
  • Parts ordered.
• Connection to anchor windlass remote control need to be replaced
  • Done!

And the additions to the list:

• Replace seals and o-rings in main sail furling and outhaul gearboxes.  Paint external surface of gearboxes. Extract broken bolts.
  • Seals and o-rings ordered. After looking at the complexity of proper surface prep needed to paint aluminum, we will contact local powder-coat vendors to see if that might be the better way to go. Hopefully the local machine shop can help with the broken bolts.  Amel owners who might be interested in this, I’ll have a write up and pictures posted when I have everything done.
• Repair water damaged wood in port and starboard bow lockers.
  • We had a preliminary estimate for the repair from the local expert, about 3X what I expected.  We might do this in house!
• Replace leaking water maker pre-filter housing.
  • Parts ordered.  Water maker membranes chemically cleaned, and pickled for storage while we are in the bay where the water is a bit too turbid to feed to the RO membranes.

I think we have gotten more done than we have added to the list.  Overall, we are happy with progress.