Our weather has turned and not in a good way. Thursday it rained all day; this area does not need more rain. The land here is low and flat and appears already saturated. I heard a woman at the grocery store say she had white caps in her front yard! She did not mean on the bay. There is standing water everywhere.
Thursday, we took a well-deserved day off and drove to nearby Chesterdown. They have Tractor Supply, Acme Groceries and Peebles Department store! Joe needed work pants and other supplies. We learned a lot about this area and the war of 1812 from a few roadside monuments and “the Google”.
We had dinner again at the best restaurant in town (our opinion) Bay Wolf. It is run by Austrians and has a great mix of local cuisine and Austrian dishes, plus a great bar. We sat in the bar as we decided to have the “burger night special”. Wow, best burger I think I have ever had!!! I ate the whole darn thing.
Friday morning the rain was gone only to be replaced by howling winds. The wind is suppose to hang around a few days. Not good. You marina folk know what wind sounds like around boats–especially boats on the hard! Joe spend the day removing the huge, old steel fuel tank with an angle grinder and Sawzal. Again, thank goodness for the shrinkwrap–he could work out of the wind and everything was still dry. I went to the laundrymat, grocery store and did a bit of online bill paying. I also had a nap but don’t tell Joe.
We are very thankful for our quaint little motel room. Most rentals here are whole houses and $$$; this is A summer destination. We started out in an AirBnB but we just weren’t comfortable there. We have stayed at this motel before; it is right next to the Marina we were in last Spring with RJ. If we were on the boat, the last few days would have been miserable due to weather and construction mess. The motel is within a mile of where Pursuit is located. Coconut likes flying from bed to bed! Our whole space is as large as our bedroom at home.
Confirmation that replacing the tank is the right move: Joe found more rust in places the surveyor couldn’t see. A few weeks here is avoiding a potential disaster down the road. Tom is letting Joe use his garage to work on the new floor, is lending tools and is a wealth of advice. He also lets us use his company discount at West Marine! We are not sure yet how we will repay him. The marina has also lent tools (no charge 😏), has provided opinions and advice and is making sure we have everything we need. So, we are making the best of it. It appears the weather will go back to nice by Sunday.
The only other hook in our plan is actually getting the new tank. After 3 days of frustrating measuring the space and searching for a tank that will fit with the largest capacity, we narrowed it down to one tank. However, the company that makes it does not sell to the general public. We saw this tank for sale at numerous online retailers but, they need a 7-10 day lead time to have it made and then additional time for shipping. Amazon has it but indicates it is out of stock. The mfg. company is in Tennessee. So no, we can’t go get it. It sold for around $500 everywhere.
We got West Marine involved to order it from the manufacturer. After a very long, arduous phone call, with West Marine and the manufacturer, we were on our way to placing an order (the factory said they had 2 in stock) and it could be shipped to the marina. Of course, this was a separate department of West Marine and they could take up to 5 days to negotiate a price and get back to us, then it would be ordered and then shipped. Arghhhh. No matter how we looked at it, it was going to be awhile before we could get a tank.
Friday night we heard back from West Marine earlier than they stated. They came back with a price of $1,000. Double everyone else. Now, we really need this tank and are willing to do just about anything but…..we checked back with Amazon one more time and they now said they have one in stock, and could get it here by Monday! We took a chance and ordered it. Cheaper and faster will be great–we hope! Fingers crossed!!!! We are pretty much counting on a snafu.
Thank goodness we are not on a time schedule and the motel has us on an open end rental… While we wait for the tank to arrive, 🤔 we (meaning Joe), needs to fiberglass the edges of the hole in the floor of the boat and create the new floor. Joe has experience with this after working on Swell, the Grady White (work boat). We also have a list of things that need to be done before we can launch. We are slowly learning the systems on the new boat. Lots of stuff under the floor. Complicated but by chasing the fuel line we are learning the boat.
We would not have been able to leave yet anyway. We should have taken a picture of the grey, frothy bay yesterday!!! We also have a list of things to be done after the boat gets in the water! We are, for the most part, keeping a positive attitude. Thanks for your messages and encouragement! We know this is quite boring!
Still living the dream in Rock Hall!!!
Snug in our Tug 