Going Back to Do It Now

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After a summer at home, working, dieting, selling jewelry, goofing off, and not writing a single word to bring my trip report up to date in this blog, I’m on my way back to my boat for a full year of cruising that will include crossing my wake in Chicago about a year from now.

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I’m taking a break right now from packing and prepping my house for a new live-in house sitter. I can’t decide which of those tasks is more work, but that’s not what this post is about anyway so I won’t bore you with my whining.

This post is about my upcoming return to Do It Now, my 2019 Ranger Tug R-29 CB, which has been waiting for me on the hard on Kent Island in Maryland. While I was home taking care of business, Do It Now was resting and getting some work done on it.

Do It Now Improvements

Let me take a moment to talk about the work I had done on the boat while it was in storage over the summer.

Bottom Stuff

When the boat was pulled out of the water, I got a chance to take a look at it’s bottom for the first time since launching it in Chicago in October 2022. It looked remarkably good. When they power washed the bottom for me, I was relieved to see that it didn’t need painting and there were no scratches. (I had grounded briefly in sand in northern Florida; that’s a story I still hope will make it to this blog.) All of its zincs were pretty much gone so they’d all need replacement; fortunately, I had some spares.

The prop was another story. Way back on our first day out of Chicago, I got into some shallow water while waiting for a tow to maneuver. I definitely felt the prop hit something and may have put it into reverse briefly. I was never stuck and I don’t seem to have mentioned it here — possibly because it was a non-event? Or maybe because I was embarrassed to admit it? Who knows what I was thinking? There didn’t seem to be any problem and although I wanted to have it pulled out of the water for a look, I never got around to it.

Until that day in late April, when I got a chance to see the two bends on the prop, one in either direction. The damage was minor but clearly visible. It may have been the cause of the minor vibration I’d been noticing at certain speeds. I told them to pull it and send it out for repairs. They offered to paint it with some sort of special paint that keeps stuff from growing on it and I said no, at first but then said yes. In hindsight, it probably isn’t worth the extra money. After all, my prop (and hull, for that matter) doesn’t stay still long enough for anything to grow on it.

It’s kind of a good thing that they did pull the prop off. When they did, they saw fishing line wrapped around the prop shaft. So they pulled that off, too.

While I had it out of the water, one of the guys that worked there used some sort of cleaner that got the rust stains off my swim platform. They’d come from my bicycle trailer. While I was at that marina, I scraped the rust and repainted it. Hopefully, it won’t rust anymore.

The Galley Wall Leak

Since Day One of owning the boat, I’d had issues with a leak high on the port side wall at my galley when it rains. The inspector had seen the water drip stains on the teak just under the porthole and had said it was condensation. It wasn’t. It was a good, old fashioned leak.

I’d tried several times on my own to find the source of the leak and patch it up. I had little success. So while it was on the hard, I asked the Pocket Yacht folks to find the leak and patch it. Which they apparently did — but not for months. So now I have to wonder how stained the teak in the galley is when I return to the boat. Let’s hope it isn’t bad or that they cleaned it up.

Garmin Black Box 800 and NeboLink

I also had Pocket Yacht install and configure my Garmin Black Box 800 unit. This unit will make it possible for my boat to transmit an AIS signal to other boats that receive them. (I already receive signals from other boats.) Along the way, they programed my MMSI number into my VHF radio so when I press the sos button on one of my chart plotters, it will send important information about me and the boat to the Coast Guard or other rescue service.

(You can learn all about how AIS benefits me on my boat in this blog post on my personal website: Applying for a Vessel MMSI Number.)

And I had Pocket Yacht install my NeboLink unit, which is a hard-wired satellite-based transmitter that works with the Nebo boat tracking app. You should be able to open the Nebo app and search for Do It Now to see where I am once I start cruising again.

The Cockpit Canvas Enclosure and Dinghy Davit

I don’t want to talk too much about these here. I’d rather wait until I get back to the boat and can share photos. But I will describe them and why I’m paying a small fortune for them.

The cockpit is the official term for the aft deck of the boat. (No, it’s got nothing to do with driving the boat. What can I say? It’s not an airplane.) I have a decent sized cockpit that includes a table and three bench seats, two of which fold flat and are rarely used. In my travels, especially in Georgia, I encountered a lot of bugs in what was otherwise very pleasant weather for sitting outdoors. The bugs basically confined me to the inside of the boat. The inside of my boat is nice enough, but sometimes you just want to stay outside and enjoy the fresh air and breeze.

In addition, although my cockpit has a partial hard top (with a solar panel on top), it does not provide shade for the entire cockpit. That became bothersome on very warm days in Florida. My boat does not have air conditioning and I’d like to be able to sit outside in the shade.

The answer was a cockpit enclosure built out from the existing hard top and onto a frame. I had several options, but I went with tan canvas and screen. It’s all custom made and he should be finishing it up this coming week.

As for the dinghy davit, well, I wanted a way to haul my dinghy out of the water without having to take its 48 pound outboard motor off every single time. I thought it would enable me to use the dinghy more often. That meant I would/could anchor out more often. That meant I could save money and enjoy more overnight stops that didn’t involve crowded marinas or noisy neighbors.

After exploring several solutions, I went with from Olssen Manufacturing in the Seattle area. It should have arrived at the marina last week and will be installed this week to be ready before I arrive.

Getting Back

I’m flying back to Dulles Airport on Friday, arriving around midnight local time. If the stars align, I should be able to pick up my rental car before the airport rental office closes at 1 AM. (Please cross your fingers for me.) Then I’ll drive back to Kent Island where my boat should be waiting for me in the water, tied up at a dock.

The marina — which is really more of a boatyard with docks — is closed on weekends so I won’t be able to pick up the roughly 20 packages I had shipped there for my arrival. That’s okay. I’ll have the rental car for the whole weekend and will keep busy provisioning for my first week of travel and getting the boat ready to go. I had taken all the fenders and lines off, so that’ll be the first order of business.

On Monday, I’ll unpack those boxes and stow my stuff. I’ve also scheduled some time with a Pocket Yacht delivery guy to help me understand how to best use my trim tabs and answer a few systems related questions. I’m hoping we can use that opportunity to fuel up at a cheap fuel stop about 20 minutes away.

If all goes well and the weather cooperates, I’ll pull out out Kent Island heading southbound on Tuesday morning.

South? you say. But I thought you were doing the Great Loop?

I am but I can’t get through the Erie Canal and Great Lakes this late in the season. It’ll have to wait until next summer. So I’ll go south for the winter, hopefully as far as the Florida Keys, and turn around January 1 to head north again. My goal is to be at Troy, NY for the opening of the canal system in mid May 2024.

What’s Coming Here

When I get back on board, I’ll also get back to blogging about my travels. And yes, I might even get around to writing about the travel days and stops between Clearwater Beach, FL and Chester, MD.

I’ll also be writing new reviews for marinas and anchorages on Waterway Guide. I’m hoping to write some other pieces for them as well.

And I’ve got some videos and a podcast in the works. I hope you check them out when I begin releasing them. (In the meantime, you can encourage me to actually work on them by gently nagging here.)

My goal is to not only document my travels along the Great Loop’s waterways but to help others who also want to cruise here. I’ll be sharing as much information, photos, and videos as I can. I hope you enjoy what I create.

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Quiz: What’s shown in the featured image for this post? Answers in the comments, please. (I’ll have to come up with a suitable prize for the first correct guess.)