Still at Poughkeepsie Yacht Club!

The beautiful view north with the Catskills in the distance

We had intended leaving Saturday, 9/15, for points south but the weather would not cooperate. There's a storm out in the Atlantic and another one coming off land that stirs up the water until Thursday when the seas calm down. So our plans are now to leave on Tuesday, 9/18, stop over at Haverstraw that night, spend 9/19 at Atlantic Highlands at anchor and then head down the Jersey coast to Atlantic City and the Golden Nugget on Thursday, 9/20. Of course plans are still subject to weather changes but it looks pretty good so far. Unfortunately, by starting out on Tuesday, we'll run into some rain before everything clears out for our Thursday trip down the coast.

PlasTEAK on the swim platform, real teak in the cockpit

Meanwhile, we've been very busy getting the boat ready for our fall cruise south. Our teak was in need of work so I sanded it down and applied a new coast of Semco Honeytone sealant but gave up on the teak on the swim platform and ladder which sees a lot of saltwater. I replaced that teak with PlasTEAK and I'm thrilled with the results. The color was a perfect match to the teak on the boat and, best of all, it requires no maintenance! The three steps of teak on the swim ladder were also replaced. The dealer in Ohio machined exact replacements complete with the grove in the back to fit the stainless steel support straps on the ladder. I just chiseled out the three pieces of old teak and sent it all in and they replaced it with drop-in PlasTEAK sections. It could not have been easier. They also supplied the adhesive, a specially formulated, black silicon based chalking.

Hand made by the Captain - functional

Next on the list was a new screen door to the companionway entrance. It's constructed of two pieces of clear plastic from Home Depot. The concept is to cut out two pieces the size of the companionway and then fastened them together with screening material in the middle. It lets in light and provides protection from the insects. We use no-seeum screening to keep everything out!

Finally, Brain McDonnell of McDonnel Marine (the primary Volvo repair and parts supplier for the Northeast) came out to adjust the valve clearance and in the process found a wear hole on the exhaust hose which I had not noticed. It was ready to leak but with his catch, I replaced the hose, whew!

On top of everything else, the dinghy painter parted and the dinghy found a way to put a hole in the aft port tube! So I spent a week ordering a repair kit and repairing the dinghy and it appears to be holding air pretty well now but it's not been tested with use yet. I am gaining experience in areas of repair that I really didn't want to learn - but you have to in order to keep the boat cruising.

We'll have two crew with us, Rudy and Joe, from the Poughkeepsie Yacht Club for the trip down to Annapolis. It ought to be fun and we're looking forward to a good time.