August 29 - September 7 — Until Getting Off The Mooring For This Summer’s Second Cruise

 Two work days, one at the beginning and the other at the end of this period: 9.5 hours, devoted largely to solving the two fresh water problems I have previously mentioned.

One is finally resolved. Figuring that with no accumulation in the bilge while both tanks, one on each side, had water, leaky tanks was not the problem. It was downstream. The bilge accumulated water when the electric fresh water pump was on, so the problem was further downstream from it. Finally I tried to see whether the water flowed into the bilge from forward or aft, by drying the bilge, turning on the pump and watching. It was from forward. If I was smarter I would have done this first!

Taking off our mattress from the forward Pullman cabin to look at the water maker installed in a space below it revealed the problem: the O ring in the charcoal filter designed to eliminate chlorine from the fresh water used to purge the water maker (once per five days when the water maker is commissioned which ILENE’s is not) showed a spray from around the top of that filter. The O ring was installed improperly. Easily fixed and tested. From now on when the electric fresh water pump is on there will be no spraying (wasting) of our fresh water.

Less happy results regarding the rain coming through the mast boot. I keep smearing more and more silicone rubber into the gap between mast and deck. I’m smearing both from above and from below, hoping to find no water on the salon table the next day — and being repeatedly disappointed.

I also cleaned the mess that the birds made on our solar panels at both ends of their alimentary canals. I’ve concluded that it may be because my neighbors are using more aggressive devices to shoo them away from their boats that the critters are finding ILENE a relatively more desirable spot. All that mess really reduces the output of the solar panels, and it smells bad too.

I made the bed with clean sheets, put much of the boat’s interior together and applied stain and varnish to the wooden pieces that will hold up the ceiling liner panels when the mast boot  leak problem is finally resolved. 

My one sail was on Dave’s “Lady Kat”, a 28 foot Oday. Filling out the group was Beau, a social members who keeps his boat in Little Neck Bay. We are all Old Salts so you have seen their pictures. Where I messed up was not getting a picture of the boat. We discussed various ways to possibly improve the Old Salts program into a more efficient device to attract new members to the Harlem. After a late lunch, we had a very pleasant three hour clockwise loop around Hart Island, beating up the channel and achieving wing on wing on the way home, when the wind finally came up.

Lene and I had planned to depart on the cruise on Tuesday but got rained out. I’m always eager with anticipation to break the bond that our home mooring represents — to begin cruising.