JO BETH has left her temporary boatyard home in Solomons, Maryland, at Washburn’s Boat Yard. Lisa and I arrived in Solomons the first week of April to the world’s tiniest Air BnB on a chilly and rainy evening. The drive from Wilmington, NC had been long and we were tired. I had hoped to be able to swing by Washburn’s to take a peek at the boat, but it was getting dark and we had no idea where in the boatyard she had been placed. We ordered a pizza and crashed.
JO BETH at Washburn’s Boatyard, Solomons, Maryland; here Angel is installing a replacement cell booster antennae
Early the next morning, in a misty drizzle, I went to the boatyard. It was almost as if we hadn’t left. Linda, the office manager, greeted me with a smile; Jackson and Luna, the office dogs, barked incessantly. Erik, the yard manager, came out of his office to shake my hand. Everyone asked me how I was doing, even a few people that I didn’t remember talking to in the fall. It was a great reception!
In the Travel Lift slings, lifting from the yard hydraulic trailer…soon to be in her natural element
Linda told me precisely where in the yard JO BETH had been put once the work done in the late fall had been completed. Washburn’s is mostly a sand and gravel yard as most boatyards are. The exceptions are the hauling and launch areas which are usually concrete or asphalt. With the rainy weather, she sat among sandy puddles and tufts of wiry grass, in the storage area of the yard. Boats were packed in tight, with just a foot or two between them. I found a ladder stored beneath a nearby boat, stood it beside the port side boarding gate and climbed up. I didn’t go aboard as my shoes were caked with wet sand, but I was able to scan her cockpit and her port side deck. All boatyards are dirty, dusty places, and Washburn’s was no exception. To my delight however, JO BETH was remarkably clean, or at least she looked it.
I drove back our to Air BnB to report to Lisa, but first made a quick stop at the Starbucks on the way. When we arrived here last fall with my newly afflicted pinched nerve and much uncertainty as to the road forward, I spent a lot of time at Starbucks doing research on my condition, searching for doctors and medical massage therapists, etc. The first time I stopped in, one of the staff noticed I was having trouble with my left hand as I went to pay for my order. By this time, my fingers had curled into a something resembling a claw. I couldn’t close my fingers completely, nor could I open them. I wasn’t able to keep the coins I was holding from falling onto the counter and the floor. She waited patiently and after a few moments asked if she could help. I placed my hand against the counter, palm up, and pushed my fingers flat. She counted out the change for me and the instant I released the pressure on my fingers, they contracted back into the claw shape. I thanked her and went to a table, where I began setting up my laptop. Another employee brought over my coffee and sandwich and asked if I needed help setting up my laptop.
At the time, I had no diagnosis and no idea of what was happening with my arm and hand. It was a surreal experience and I’m lying if say I wasn’t worried I might not recover. Now, well recovered and remembering this experience, I’m warmed by the kindness of strangers. When I stopped at the Starbucks again, I was happy to see the kind girl who had helped me and took the opportunity to thank her once more.
The weather soon cleared and the crews at Washburn’s moved JO BETH from her spot in the yard storage area to a place where we had better access to get aboard and begin the process of waking her up from her winter’s slumber. Now that I was finally able to take a good look around, it became clear she was dirtier than she had initially appeared. Still, it wasn’t too bad. Down below, she was stuffy and musty, but the huge mold blooms Lisa had feared didn’t happen. There were small amounts of mold in spots on the overhead panels but little else. There was no evidence of leaks or vermin infestation. (It’s not unusual for mice to move aboard stored boats!) All in all, she fared well.
The first order of business was to clean the interior. The interior cushions were left on board, but had been stood on their sides. Lockers had been left open and mostly emptied to facilitate air circulation. Lisa was back at the Air BnB on conference calls, so I was at the boat with a diluted solution of vinegar and very cold water, wiping down every exposed surface. It was a sunny day, so I had the hatches and ports open and fans turned on so everything would dry. I also took the opportunity to power up several systems and check them for any issues. We were very fortunate in that everything was working!
We had not been in Solomons when Washburn’s hauled JO BETH. Once she was moved from the storage area into the working area of the yard, I noticed some minor damage to the forward edge of the keel. This was very likely from a grounding we experienced leaving the harbor at St. Michaels, MD. St. Michaels is a town grown from the Chesapeake Bay oyster industry and the bottom of the harbor is covered in a thick layer of discarded oyster shell. As we were leaving the harbor, we hadn’t taken the low tide into account and became stuck for about 20 minutes until the incoming tide floated us off. Hitting the oyster shell covered bottom was like hitting tightly packed gravel, and it ground off most of the fairing material and bottom pain from the forward edge of the keel. Another task added to the list, but after discussing the matter with Lisa, we elected to have Washburn’s do the repair. They also touched up the bottom paint along the waterline where it had dried and cracked.
While JO BETH was in storage, we took the opportunity to have her surveyed. We contacted my friend Curt Sarratt in Annapolis to do the job. Another friend, also a marine surveyor, Steve Mason, came along as well. In my career as a marine surveyor, I worked closely with both Curt and Steve on the now disbanded Boat/US Catastrophe Response Team following more than 20 hurricanes and tropical storms. It was good to see them again, and Curt did a great job on the survey. (If you need a marine surveyor in the Annapolis/Baltimore/ Solomons area, please contact me and I’ll pass along Curt’s information.)
By the end of the week, during a very rainy and windy Friday morning, JO BETH was returned to her natural element. The engine winterizing was decommissioned (this is done by running the engine; the winterizing antifreeze, a non-toxic, glycol free and biodegradable solution, is pumped overboard as the engine intakes water from outside the boat for cooling), and we powered her from the Washburn’s haul out slip to a floating dock at Calvert Marina, just a few hundred yards away. We began the process of moving back aboard in full, as our time in the Air BnB was up. The first order of business was to reconnect the shore power cord and power up the AC electrical system. Next was to flush the winterizing fluid from the fresh water tanks and lines, and begin the process of sanitizing the system. Next was to get the brand new mattress aboard, which we had purchased last year at The Annapolis Sailboat Show. It was custom made for JO BETH and it’s magnificent!
While investigating water heater issues, we found the inlet coupling had failed and was leaking
Unfortunately, we encountered an issue with the fresh water system. When Washburn’s winterized the system, the water heater was bypassed. The antifreeze solution, though environmentally safe and non-toxic, can be reactive with the metals used in the heating element inside the water heater. Instead, the water heater is disconnected from the fresh water system and the water drained or pumped out of the tank.
This is all fine; however, neither Lisa nor I knew how the water heater had been bypassed so we asked the yard to undo the bypass and remake the connections to the water heater. We were told later that afternoon, the same day we launched, that the bypass had been restored and the water heater was ready to be restarted and tested. Lisa and I had been away from the boat at the grocery store, buying stores to get us through the weekend. We filled the water tanks, including the water heater, but left testing the system for the next morning. Accordingly, we turned the water heater on and looked forward to having hot water!
Saturday morning came and I opened the hot water tap in the galley and let the water run. The water stayed cold…and stayed cold...and stayed cold. I dug into the cockpit locker where the water heater is located and saw how the yard did the bypass connection, as it was not undone! The water heater had now been turned on for over 12 hours with no water in the tank. No doubt, the element was burned out and would have to be replaced. Still, I undid the bypass – the yard had simply used a coupler to clamp the fill line and discharge lines together to form a loop in the system. Just for giggles, I remade the connections to the water heater and topped up the water tanks. I powered it up once again – no hot water.
Lisa and I continued moving back aboard through the sunny but cool weekend and on Monday morning, I went to Washburn’s office to report the issue. Linda was genuinely surprised as she had understood the bypass had been reconnected. Within ten minutes, the man who had done the majority of work on the boat, Angel, was on board. He checked a few things and I told him what I had found. After a moment, he looked at me and said, “I’m sorry, this is on me. I should have taken a look to check the work and I didn’t. We’ll take care of it.” It took a little over a week to get the replacement element from the manufacturer, but once it arrived, Angel was at the boat and had it installed. The new element is working perfectly and we now have scalding hot water! While we were waiting for the water heater element, we ticked other tasks off of our list, such as the replacement of the bow navigation light with a new and better one, swapping out our old and worn docklines for new ones, and a thorough cleaning of JO BETH’s decks and deck house.
I want to say Lisa and I are quite happy with the quality of work and professionalism we experienced at Washburn’s. Any requests and concerns were addressed promptly, as were any questions we had regarding our invoices. Angel sent us photos and text message updates on work done in our absence. And when a miscommunication with the yard crew and yard office caused us to inadvertently damage the water heater, they stepped up and took care of the problem. We would return to Washburn’s in the future.
One of three receipts from our initial provisioning runs
Calvert Marina was also very accommodating and strangers we met there quickly became friends; they even monitored JO BETH in our absence, sending us pictures and weather updates. (Thank you Don and Kim!) This one of the aspects of the cruising life we treasure.
A few days after the water heater repairs were completed, we did a couple of major provisioning runs to get ready to leave Solomons and head to Deltaville, Virginia, where our sails were being stored by our sailmaker’s loft, Latell sails. On a very calm Saturday morning, we slipped our docklines at Calvert Marina and motored away, heading up the Patuxent River a few miles to an anchorage in St. Leonard Creek. This was a short ‘shakedown cruise,’ to put a couple of hours on the motor to be sure we had no issues – we didn’t – before tackling the nearly 70 miles down Chesapeake Bay to Deltaville. For the next few days, JO BETH was strictly a motorboat.
Our anchorage in St. Leonard Creek, following a short ‘shakedown’ cruise from Solomons
We spent a decent night at anchor and early the next morning, under a leaden and menacing sky, powered down St. Leonard Creek back into the Patuxent. As we passed under the bridge which separates the peninsula where Solomons is from mainland Maryland, we were struck by an oddly ferocious squall. I say ‘oddly ferocious’ as we were hit with blinding heavy rain and hailstones! And although our wind instruments recorded a wind gust of 187 knots – nearly 215 mph – we only experienced actual winds of 12 knots. We think the crazy reading from the wind instruments was due to hailstones, which were quite small, about pea sized. Soon the squall cleared and we were back in the Chesapeake Bay under mostly sunny skies.
We were making good time until we were halfway across the mouth of the Potomac River. The lower Potomac is tidal, and we had timed our passage to cross with an outgoing tide. It was a washing machine! JO BETH rolled and corkscrewed in the confused waves, even dipping her side rails into the water a few times. I was keenly aware we were a motorboat, and had no sails. We had a moderate northwesterly breeze behind us. Had we had our sails, we would have had a fast and boisterous romp along the bay. Instead, I could only think, ‘if we lose the motor, we are SCREWED!’ Lisa later confessed to the same worries. One things is certain – we’ll never do that again!
Brownies made at anchor on a rainy day using our new Omnia stove top oven - sort of a modified Dutch Oven, but more versatile
Soon enough we entered the slightly less boisterous Great Wicomico River and made for our anchorage in Mill Creek. We had a wonderfully quite night at anchor and were up at dawn to make more miles south to Deltaville before forecasted strong southerlies began that afternoon. After a quiet and uneventful run, we were anchored in Jackson Creek. The next morning Jerry Latell came to the boat and together, we got JO BETH’s sails bent on once again. The main thing that remains is to get modifications made to our mainsail cover to make it safer to use at sea.
We plan to be in Deltaville until the last week of May. We have friends here we’ve met along the way that we’ll be visiting. From here, we’ll sail to the Norfolk/Hampton area to top up provisions and wait for a good weather window to sail for New England. We’re planning a return trip to Maine, and are making another run for Nova Scotia at the end of July. We’ll keep you posted.
A Chesapeake Bay ‘Buy’ Boat, the F.D. CROCKETT, at The Deltaville Maritime Museum; buy boats were used to buy harvested oysters from the skipjacks which harvested them under sail; the CROCKETT was built in 1924
JO BETH, is fully rigged once again
UPDATES…
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