John EarwoodWell, the first three days of our trip went pretty well. We were the windshield. We hit a pretty significant thunderstorm while coming into Belhaven, and I guess that was the turning of the tide. We woke up today as the bug. We determined we have a leaky holding tank – thing #1. That was not the best thing to discover – particularly as it is under our bunk (fortunately, Claire’s side). So, this morning we spent a good amount of time upside down scrubbing. 35 years of poo is well, disgusting. They say if you own a boat and plan to take it cruising you are basically doing boat projects in exotic places…I had hoped for a little more tropical place than Belhaven to start my projects but…..
Poo projects 1, early start 0. In walking thru the checklist, I note that some fluids need to be topped up and discover that the pads under the engine to catch oil, etc are sopping wet. Yikes, thing #2 , and it is not even 10 am. And this is serious, because the giant orange Diesel engine that lives in the middle of the boat intimidates me. So we top up the anti-freeze, determine that the oil looks low. Perfect. But I top it up and fire her up to see if we can identify the problem. Not too hard to diagnose – we have a gusher. Hmm…. 
What the hell is that black hose in the injector and why is it spraying oil – ok, later determined to be diesel which makes much more sense. And what do we have on board to fix it? Turns out not much. So, we decided to catch the Independence Day parade in Belhaven. It started at 11. I think it ended at 12:30. CRAZY. There were floats. There were cars. There were beauty pageant winners, old and young. There were churches (even Jesus showed up). There were motorcycles, but mostly the 3 wheel kind. There were ATVS and monster trucks. And there were even 18 rig trucks. While the fire department made an appearance, they were not the main attraction.
In all of this pagentry and Americana, my thoughts were “we need to find some engine oil and a mechanic.” Neither would we find. But we did find about 8 gallons of fresh water in a locker. Thing # 3 appears, and it isn’t even 3 pm! Still trying to find the leak for that one, but we are getting closer. Ok, we all know these things run in threes. I have to be safe for the day. So, I figure we can try our diesel gushing fix – a little tape and a sleeve. Cranked up the engine we had only a drip and we (well, I) seriously contemplated leaving. By then it was about 4 o’clock and that would mean anchoring somewhere along the way – which was not planned (and that isn’t on the check list). So, we decided to be flexible and stay tied to the t-head and try it again in the morning. Besides, #3 is done and we “patched” up everything, right? What else could happen today?
Well, # 4 took the guise of another late day thunderstorm. The wind piped up first, and I rearranged some fenders after we had some uncomfortable lurches against the dock. Then, the fun started. If the instruments worked I could be accurate, but I would guess 35/40 knots and blowing rain. Worse than yesterday. We are sitting tin cockpit watching the lightning (the very close lightening) and rain and CRACK. I was afraid of that, yep the teak cap cracked. Well, cracked in one place and splintered in another. So there we are, swells, rain, lightening and us playing “place the fender” next to the moving dock. And while it sucked, and while I am pissed that I now get to add teak repairs to the growing list, I’m a little pleased. We were both there, trying to keep the boat from harm’s way – and we didn’t get struck by lightening, bonus.
There was a time when I would have been furious at today. I would have wanted to turn around and take the boat back and call it a day. A time when I would have paid someone to do all of the work. Now, I am doing an ok job of taking each day as it comes, ups and downs. I now believe you have to expect struggles along the way. It makes the journey that much more interesting. The glass of wine at the end of the day that much better -although, this one from The Raleigh Wine Shop is pretty exceptional. We bought a great, old boat, and it’s not a light switch to get her ship shape. But as Claire and I discussed, sitting in the rain as the wind died down, I have no second thoughts about the purchase. And neither does Claire. And we will rebuild the plumbing and the holding tanks and get the POO smell gone (I hope!). We will find the source of the fresh water leak from hell and patch it. And we will scrape and fix the cracked and splinted teak cap rails. And along the way, we will get to know the boat and she us. And when it counts most, we will rely on each other because we have built something together along the way.
And just imagine the laughs we will have along the way……
