Annapolis

Monday, August 20, 2012
Motored to Annapolis from Pleasure Cove Marina in Pasadena, Maryland. 43.5 hours on the engine hour meter on arrival, about 2.5 hours en route. Tachometer/hour meter stopped working but started working again after shutting off the engine. The engine hours appeared to be accumulating OK. Logged onto Annapolis Wireless at $12/mth, a bargain.

Pusser's restaurant on the Annapolis waterfront.

Friday, August 24, 2012

Nice seeing Bill and Linda yesterday, friends from the past. Except for all of us looking a bit older, it was like time had never passed. We just picked up the conversation were we left it in 1992. Ate at Pussers. Had a rum punch. Not sure if it was the drink, or just being around old friends again, but I felt depressed after they left. Felt like getting off the boat. This morning I’m happy and content.

Dinghied ashore, had breakfast at Chick and Ruth's Delly on Main Street, about the only spot in Annapolis with reasonable prices (two scrambled eggs, toast, hash browns $4.50, coffee $2.25--$9 with tip). It's a cozy place and always crowded.

Annapolis is quite boat-friendly. For $1 they let you use a nice, clean shower with toilet and laundry (extra charge for the laundry.) The city-run pump out boat is $5, and they allow anchoring for 30 days. If you are anchoring more than three days, they ask that you register. They make a note of all the boats at anchor and on the moorings, so they know you are there. They also note the size of your holding tank just to check and see that you are using it and not pumping overboard (they can tell by the number of pump outs you do!)

I ran the motor for 15 minutes to charge the batteries. It brought the house battery up from 50% to 75%. That range gives the fastest charge. Beyond that, the charge rate tapers off.

Sam, from the Harbor Master’s office came by on his dinghy and reminded me to register (which I did last night). He's retired from Rubber Maid and living on a sailboat. His sister lives in Indiana just like me. He doesn’t care for it—too many Evangelical Christians with "my way or the highway" attitudes. I thought that it was a sad commentary that Christians are often rightly assumed to be right-wing Republicans. I was a bit offended, but kept my peace. His right arm was in a sling, broken by a sailboat coming in to dock too fast.

Nice project for next spring—install a 20-watt solar panel and charge controller. About $150. Would produce about 18 watts x 6 hours on a sunny day which equals 108 watt-hours/day. One panel would keep up with my electrical needs on sunny days -- running the bilge pump, and anchor light, and charging the computer and iPhone. Rainy days I'd just use the bilge pump, iPhone and anchor light for a total of 46 watts or 4 amps. Group 27 battery drain from 90% down to 50% is about 44 amps (44 amps divided by 4 amps per day allows for 11 rainy days with no sun). (Note: I've since gone ahead and put in a work order to connect the air-conditioner battery bank to the house battery. Should triple the available amps to 142 amp-hours. Will be able to go a month with minimal battery charging.)

It's so peaceful bobbing up and down at anchor. Breeze funnels through the forward hatch right where I can lay out, surfing the Internet. The boat stays quite cool especially if there is a breeze. The opening hatches on the roof of the pilothouse make all the difference.

Lil' Green Tug's galley

Had a bowl of noodles with sauce for lunch. It was packaged for a microwave and cost $1, but it made a great stove-top noodle soup dish. I do all my cooking and water boiling in a Teflon 8" fry pan. The butane stove boils water for instant coffee in about 4 minutes. I store all my cooking/eating utensils, bowls, and coffee supplies in the refrigerator. I don't have enough electricity to run the refrigerator anyway. The 48-quart Igloo Marine cooler is stored on the swim platform with spare bottles of butane inside. The drain spout on the cooler is open so the butane canisters can safely drain overboard if they leak. Besides that there is some ultra-pasteurized milk, a box of pancake mix, cans of tuna, a box of pasta, peanut butter and jam and that's about it. I eat most meals out.

I rowed ashore with trash, and bought a milk and slice of carrot cake for $2.18 at CVS.

It’s Friday afternoon, and the weekend small boat rush hour has started.

Saturday, August 25, 2012

The house battery is down to 25%. Will need to charge today for about an hour.

Heavy rain on Spa Creek, Annapolis

Sunday, August 26, 2012

Heavy rain and wind. Bilge pump ran for 10 seconds, stopped for 20 seconds, and then ran again like that all day long. If I ran out of electricity or had a defective bilge pump, I'd be sunk as all the rainwater drains to the bilge. Will install that 20-watt solar panel next spring (and buy a hand pump!) Headed back to Pleasure Cove tomorrow. Running out of electricity.

Tuesday, August 28, 2012
Motored back to Pleasure Cove Marina, pumped out holding tank, filled fuel, about 5 gallons, did the laundry, got a haircut. Engine hour display intermittent, but the hours are accumulating. Planning on doing Baltimore in the next day or two. 48.5 hours on engine clock.