October 8, 2019

When I’m not snacking on fightin’ fresh seafood, or visiting with friends and family, I’ve been working on a rather large and unwieldy sewing project. Now today, I can give you the final stats:

• No pattern other than the old covers
• 14 yards of fabric
• <30 yards of reused cording (eviscerated from the old cushion covers)
• 2 needles
• 3 spools of thread
• 41 hours of labor

= 9 boat cushions

I did it!

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And, thank the Lord, I managed to not put a sewing machine needle through my finger! No bodily injuries occurred beyond the causal jabs of a seam ripper, so amazing! There were a few moments I didn’t think I would make it through this project unscathed 😉

October 11, 2019

Back at the boat, we were working to install the shelving in preparation for the water maker.  After completing the carpentry tasks for the day (around 8pm) we got a case of the “while-your-in-there” and Eric tried tightening a spot where we had noticed a very small fuel leak. This led to what we’ve now dubbed “the Tiny Drip Turned Great Fuel Leak of 2019”. Here’s hoping that only happens once.

Rescue tape, which we had handy for such an event, did not work, and trying to tension that self-adhesive tape only spurred the leak to increase its flow out of the fuel tank. After a quick panic, we frantically emptied the fuel tank into some jerry cans. The auto-siphon we also had for such an occasion was too big to fit inside the fuel tank, so Eric tried creating a siphon the old fashioned way before we figured out how to MacGyver a better solution with tools on-board. After two hours of wrestling with hoses, oil-absorbent rags, jerry cans, and a very limited amount of cursing – we were up to our elbows in diesel fuel, however we managed to keep it all contained and out of our bilge… which I’m calling a success. It’s after 10pm goodnight.

October 13, 2019

After driving all over the Necks of Virginia looking for boat parts yesterday, we managed to find and now replace the cracked brass part that caused the leak. Huzzah, no more diesel fuel inside the boat! But we’ve hit another snag – I got a bad stomach bug, and puked my guts out in the middle of the night. Here’s hoping for a quick recovery.

October 15, 2019

We left the marina that’s been home for SV Wild this past month and sailed to a boatyard that’s able to haul us out of the water. Here we’ll be able to do some final maintenance before we head south for the winter.

It was a relaxing afternoon cruising on the Chesapeake, however I started to get anxious as the sun sank low in sky. I don’t like the idea of navigating unfamiliar narrow inlets and channels without light. We barely managed to get to the dock and tie up our boat before darkness descended.

Time to switch gears and hopefully have a better experience at the boatyard – round 2.