Nov 2025 - May 2026 Maintenance Projects, Winter Storage, Delayed Start
We crossed over the 4000 engine hour mark during our Down East cruise so made plans with Marine Propulsion to have some service work done over the holidays. They've been good caretakers of our Yanmar engines doing the required service at the 2000 and 3000 hour intervals. It had been several years since our last bottom paint job so that made the list along with pulling the props and getting them reconditioned. Inspection of the cutlass bearings showed a bit of wear so time to replace them too. All this was pretty much expected.
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| Shiny reconditioned props reinstalled |
Our big surprise came with the exhaust system. I had noticed a very slight weeping leak at a seam on the stainless steel exhaust mixing tube - just an occasional drip of water. Didn't make much of it when we were primarily in fresh water back in 2024, but with salt water travels in 2025 I was getting a crusty salt crystal buildup at this pinhole plus additional salt crusting on the actual fiberglass exhaust tube. Asked them to look it over and it turned into a significant project. The fiberglass exhaust tube had some hairline cracks which needed ground out and repaired. The bigger issue wound up being the exhaust risers and stainless mixers. They were removed, sent to a specialty shop in Florida with hopes it could simply be repaired. No such luck. Needed to custom fabricate new units for both engines!! Added an extra month and a half to our stay which put us well behind schedule for a hopeful trip to the Keys and Bahama over the winter. Guess that trip will wait yet another year. Boat was up on the hard most of this time, so it gave us a chance to clean the moustache off the bow and get a couple coats of wax on the hull. With the engine room in total disarray, it was nice to at least see the outside looking proper.
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| New exhaust riser and mixer assembly installed |
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| ICW moustache being removed and hull waxed |
After 5 months in the yard and an eye watering service bill we finally got the boat back at the beginning of March. Boat ran awesome on our trip down the ICW bringing it to Brunswick Landing Marina. No problems reaching WOT and top end speed.
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| Cap'n Martha taking us past Isle of Hope on the way to Brunswick Landing Marina |
With the trip to the keys postponed, we had planned to store the boat at Brunswick Landing for 2 months and then begin heading north for the summer. In celebration of the nation's 250th there is an international Tall Ship celebration touring 5 east coast cities. One of the stops is Baltimore and we made reservations for a month-long stay at Anchorage Marina mid-June through mid-July to be there for the show. Started going over all our ships systems in April in anticipation of our departure and realized the stabilizers were not functioning properly. Instead of staying in the centered position when activated the actuators were getting a signal to push the cylinder outward thereby moving the fins away from center. A little research determined Craig Calkin at Stabilized Marine was the man to call for technical support for a Naiad system. He was able to walk me through numerous adjustments in the ECU control box that helped resolve the centering issue but, in that process, we determined there were wear issues with the actuator and rod end.
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| Actuator (yellow circle) located on outboard side of hull required lying flat across space in front of engine to access |
Well, not so fast. During the installation of the starboard side actuator, I bumped my right thumb. Just a little sore and a miniscule cut on the top of my thumb at the knuckle. Washed it, put on a band aid and proceeded with my work. Nothing over the weekend except a little sore. But by Monday afternoon my thumb and hand were swelling. That small cut had gotten infected and was getting out of control. Trip to urgent care on Tuesday for antibiotics, x-rays and an appointment with an Orthopedic hand specialist the following Monday. Unfortunately, things continued getting worse so back to urgent care on Thursday for a different antibiotic and an attempt at lancing it. Still no progress so decided to head to the ER on Saturday. More x-rays. Another unsuccessful attempt at lancing and reaffirmation to get to the hand specialist Monday. Appointment on Monday 10 AM. Doctor looks it over, we discuss what happened, what's been done so far and review all the x-rays. Good news - nothing bad showing on x-rays but finger is in bad shape. Having unsuccessful attempts at lancing twice it is now time for "nuclear option".
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| Infected thumb prior to surgery. I'll spare you the after surgery pictures. |
Cut the finger open, clean it all out, explore down to the knuckle to make sure no infection got to it. Sew it all back up (9 stitches) and get put on yet another different antibiotic. Thankfully they were able to fit me into the surgery schedule that day. Bad news - "Don't even think about going near salt or brackish water for several weeks until wound heals up and we're sure there's no more infection." First call when back home is to Brunswick Landing to extend our slip reservation for another month. Things are healing and we're hopeful to still get on our way by the end of May. If the weather gods look favorably on us and we do some long travel days we should still get to Baltimore in time for the Tall Ships celebration.
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| Amazing sunsets over the marshes as seen from the yard at Marine Propulsion |
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