Friday morning we took a dock cart to the
nearby West Marine to buy one of those new Lehr propane-powered 2.5 HP outboard
motors for our dingy and rid ourselves of the continuous problems of our
gas-powered outboard motor. We had no good place to carry the old motor on
board once we put the new motor on the mount, so we posted a sign at the marina
that anyone who wanted to take the old outboard could have it. Then we set out
to take a long walk along the river boardwalk from Baltimore’s Canton area to
its famous Inner Harbor area. The boardwalk goes out around various old
waterfront docks and made the walk even longer than we expected, but it was a
pleasant temperature for walking.
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| "Dragon" peddle boats in Inner Harbor |
We arrived at the Inner Harbor and had a
nice lunch at the Cheesecake Factory there. Our daughter Dawn got her nursing
degree in Baltimore at Johns Hopkins a few years ago, so we had visited the
city a few times in the past (by land) and had already gone to some of the
sites like the impressive aquarium there. So this day we just wandered around
the Inner Harbor enjoying the sunshine for awhile and then decided to take the
water taxi back to our marina to give our tired feet a rest. We had been hoping
to get together with Annie Sennet, a long-time friend from Peter’s years working
at SAFT. Annie now manages the SAFT location on the outskirts of Baltimore, and
between that and the activities her two daughters are involved in, we couldn’t
get it arranged. Fortunately we do get
to see her from time to time at SAFT-related events in Florida.
Today, Saturday, was a day spent at the
marina doing a few boat chores while waiting an extra day for better weather
before leaving Baltimore and heading to our next destination.
We got a call in the morning from someone
who wanted our old motor, and when he came to get it, he gave us some money for
it even though it was offered for free. Then we tried out the new motor using
one of those small camp-grill propane bottles for fuel. It started up nicely and Peter took the
dinghy for a spin up and down the fairway. No more dinghy motor problems (we
hope)!
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| One day's accumulated litter |
No doubt about it, being in the big city
has its conveniences, but dealing with litter in the water is definitely not
one of them. The amount of litter that
gradually collects each day along the harbor edges is appalling, but they do
have a way to handle it that I have never seen before. I call it a water sweeper,
like a street sweeper. It didn’t come
today so I didn’t get a picture. It is a
boat with a device mounted on the front that sucks in water taking the floating
trash along with it and conducts it up a conveyor belt into a bin as it drains
the water off. It’s a clever invention
that should not even be necessary, but it is.
After enjoying this day of warmer
temperatures and intermittent sunshine, we hoisted our cocktail flag and sat in
the cockpit drinking rum cokes. Then one of those “scattered showers”, which
turned into a thunderstorm, chased us inside the cabin where cocktails continued
while we listened to music and made dinner.
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| Rainbow through the thunderstorms |
The propane outboard sounds like a real upgrade. I have a 3 1/2hp 4 stroke mercury outboard, and the internet is full of people saying the carburetor stops working and no one seems able to fix it. Wish I'd known to use avgas on it from the start. I never trust it to work, it only works because it's new. Hate relying on it.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you know but it's worth repeating that propane is heavier than air and boats are containers. Cockpit storage only and any sniffer down low, fumes would start collecting in the bilge. Years ago there was a house near where I was working that literally vaporized from a propane explosion, so I'm respectful.
I've seen on the net that they make fiberglass propane tanks. Translucent enough to see the fuel level, no rust stains on the boat, less weight and twice the cost - perfect for boating! :-D
I also wish I'd known about avgas sooner. I did worse, I thought I needed to buy a new one ton dually truck when the main thing wrong with the old one turned out to be an accumulation of separated out ethanol/water filling the bottom of the two tanks. I store it with the tanks full to prevent condensation, but then the crapgas is sitting getting old. Catch 22.
I had to Google "cocktail flag", looks fun. There are a number of "cocktail coves" in Casco Bay, ME.
The rainbow and the trash, seems symbolic of life, works of God and of man. Interestingly in Genesis it says that it didn't rain (until Noah), so there actually was never a rainbow until the promise not to destroy the earth by flood. Gen 2:5 "God had not sent rain on the earth... but streams came up from the earth and watered the whole surface of the ground."
BRRRRRR!! On satellite/radar I see snow flurries this morning in W.Virginia, W. Maryland, NW Penn., upstate NY, Vermont, NH., and Maine. Pretty chilly. We are supposed to get down into the twenties next few nights, which are winter temperatures. Had to start the woodstove back up. It would be great sailing in this wind under reefed sails today, but gusty. Can you say global warming through chattering teeth?
ReplyDeleteHi Lon,
ReplyDeleteWe have seen comments from you and responded to them, did you get the responses? Some people have told us that blogspot seems to have trouble with comments. Some say they have to refresh the page several times before they see the comment section. You do have to have a Google account and be logged in before you can comment.
Anyway, thanks for the good wishes. We reached our highest point north at Baltimore, and now we will start meandering southward, hopefully getting into new ports along the way.