18 Sep 14
It was much warmer last night and we slept comfortably. We woke to a beautiful, clear, relatively warm (by Maine September standards) morning. After a quick breakfast, we got underway, headed toward Harpswell. We had a good cruise, although there was a long period (~8 - 12 sec, 3-4 ft high) swell running from the SE, which made conditions a bit sloppy and threw up some very interesting breakers on all the shoals through which we passed. About 2/3 of the way to Harpswell, I started looking at the distance to Portland and realized we would arrive at Portland only about 10 minutes later than our ETA at Harpswell, if we cut the corner, vs a 2.5 hour cruise tomorrow. So, we turned 40 degrees south and headed for Portland, arriving at Southport Marina just after 14:00. Southport has a diesel mechanic, so we thought it would be a good idea to get him to listen to the new rattle we have heard from the engine area the last few days. Good thing we did, as it appears to be an issue with either the transmission or the damper plate (between the engine and the transmission). So, tomorrow, we are going to pull the transmission and have a look. This issue is probably related to one or the other of our “close encounters” with lobster pots Down East. Think about us whenever you eat lobster. We walked into town for a Tandoori, but they were closed, so we settled for the Grill Room; nice salmon and the biggest pork chop I have ever seen, but I don’t think we will be back. 43-38.569’N, 070-15.094’W.
19 Sep 14
The diesel mechanic showed up at 07:45, so we had to get up early, but man was it cold. We got the transmission pulled and the good news is that the transmission is fine, but the damper plate assembly is destroyed. A replacement has been ordered from Virginia, but even with expedited delivery, it will not arrive until Monday, so we will be here through the weekend and a bit. Not to be slowed down, we hired a car for the weekend and went shopping for duvets; we picked up a couple at Bed, Bath & Beyond and I stopped in the craft store, where I picked up a few pieces of birch wood blocks for carving. We also made the obligatory pilgrimage to LL Bean’s main store in Freeport. Then, topped off the evening with a movie “The Hundred Foot Journey”, with Helen Mirren - very nice. Light dinner back on board.
20 Sep 14
With no particular agenda for the day, plus it being seriously cold, we did not rush to get out of bed. When we did, we got in the car and ran to Target for a few essentials. After lunch, we popped over to see the Portland Head Lighthouse from the land side. It was blowing 20 knots with a big swell from the south, so I’m glad we were not out in it. For fun, and because we could, we took in another movie: “The Trip to Italy”, with Steve Coogan - it was funny-ish, but lacked much of a plot or any depth. Dinner at Zapoteca - Maine Mexican food; not bad.
21 Sep 14
It was raining, but warmer, at getting up time. We finally dragged out about 08:30. I carved a bit more on my whale and Terri busied herself in the galley until noon. After lunch, we ran back to Target, then to Whole Foods and Hannafords for groceries. In the middle, I made a quick detour to Hamilton Marine and picked up all I need to add in a “winterization T” to the main engine raw water system. We got back to the boat about 16:00 and while Terri was putting away all the groceries, I filled up the water tanks and gave the deck a good scrubbing. About happy hour time, the fog rolled in off the sea; visibility is down to about 100 yards and the fog-horns are going in the distance. We worked some more on the pork chop from Thursday night, but have not finished it yet. Terri did a load of laundry, while I cleaned the dinner dishes and finally got the blog update done. Pretty domestic day.
22 Sep 14
First day of fall, so naturally, it is warmer than it has been in days; which means that it is foggy. The replacement damper plate assembly arrived about 10:00 and the mechanic (a different guy from the one who took it out) came down to install it and reinstall the transmission. It is harder to install than remove the transmission, so it took the two of them nearly 4 hours to get it back together. When we started the engine, it made a terrible clattering noise at idle speed, but the noise disappeared when we revved up the engine. I did not like the sound of it at all and it was completely new or different from before the damper plate was damaged, so I shut down the engine. The mechanic and I agreed we would have to pull the transmission, but he had to knock off for the day, so that was it. After he left, I took the opportunity to install the engine raw water cooling system winterization “T” that I had designed and purchased the parts for; it all took about 45 minutes and works like a charm. Winterization will now only take a few of minutes, instead of an hour of hard slog and we can also use this “T” as an emergency bilge pump, using the engine to pump water out of the bilge (providing the engine will run). After happy hour, we drove into town and had dinner at the Tandoor, a nice, family run Indian food restaurant.
23 Sep 14
The boys were back at 08:30 to work on the transmission, so we were up early (for us). Pulled the transmission and the damper, took the damper up to compare it to the old one and the problem was immediately obvious: the bosses for bolting the front part of the damper to the engine are thicker on the replacement and the original bolt-heads clashed with the back part of the damper. Simply removing the 1/4” thick washers fixed the problem. We started up the engine and it all ran smooth as silk. The guys had also adjusted the alignment by tweaking the engine mounting bolts. After the transmission was resolved, we then drilled out the broken machine screw holding the fuel filter and replaced it with a new one. The engine is now good to go and as good as new (nearly) - I hope, knock on wood, etc., etc. I negotiated a weekly rate on the slip, so tonight is “free” and we kept the car, so we made a run to fill up the propane tank. That turned into a bit of a quest, but we finally managed it: used up about 3 gallons of gasoline (plus a $1.00 toll on the Maine Turnpike) to buy 1.3 gallons of propane for $3.11. We also found a couple of new water filter cartridges for our filtration system; hope that makes the water taste better (not that it was bad before). Back to the boat in time for a shower and happy hour and leftovers on board. My whale carving is looking “not too bad”, if I do say so; bit of sanding and fine-tuning yet. Tomorrow, we are back to sea again.
24 Sep 14
Laying in bed this morning, after trying to figure out how to get the boat into Kennebunkport (actually, getting into Kennebunkport is easy; finding a place to park the boat for a night without robbing a bank first, is the hard part), and it occurred to me that we had another night “free” at Southport and the car rental was only $26/day, so we could just drive to Kennebunkport. So, that is what we did. We drove through Biddeford, Biddeford Pool, and on into Kennebunkport, where we had an excellent lunch of clam chowdah (best on the coast, so far) and chicken salad sandwich at Dave’s KPT. Then, on to Walker Point, where we tried to pay our respects to George H.W. and Barbara, who were in residence, but the stupid Secret Service would not let us in, no matter how much we tried to explain that we were neighbors from Texas, for God’s sake. I’m sure George and Barbara will be annoyed they missed us, once they finally hear of it. Must have been Yankee SS guys. After lunch, we drove aimlessly through the gorgeous Maine countryside - we are just a week or two too early for the peak color, but it is still tres bien - up past Sebago Lake and finally back to Portland, where we turned in the rental car and got back to the boat in time for happy hour. Dinner aboard - leftover Indian food - followed by an evening of itinerary planning for the run to Boston over the next two weeks and the tour of southern New England for the following two weeks. Got in bed about 11:00, cold, and it took an hour to warm up enough to get to sleep.