Well we turned off our last heater so now we are in a whole new world of cold! Its been about 35 on the boat all day so we are trying out our layering strategies. Sleeping is still warm because we have the heated blanket still. When we leave and have to turn off the heated blanket we will probably sleep in sleeping bags with blankets on top.
We got snow and had a pretty white Christmas. We are keeping an eye on the weather to avoid any upcoming blizzards. Ideally we will leave next Sunday at the crack of dawn with dreams of warmer weather.
If these ducks can swim in that cold water for some donuts, then we should survive.
We ran our safety lines across the boat on both sides. We will stay tethered to these safety lines at all times so we dont get bucked overboard!
The last project was completed. We now have a cockpit fuel guage. Our old fuel gauge was under the couch and a pain to check.
The new gauge is right with our other instruments and will be easy to monitor. It wasnt too hard of an install, just running wire and drilling a new 2 inch hole in the cockpit. I really felt like it was the final test that we are ready. I was able to install it all with tools we already had and when it didn't come on at first I was able to troubleshoot it and find and fix the problem without anyones help. We are ready!
It even glows in the dark.
We hope everyone had a Happy Holiday and enjoyed the snow. We got a much needed spotlight and even more needed "marriage savers" hands free walkie talkies. We will post about them after we use them. Thank you to all our family for your support, both gifts and well wishes!
-Joey
15 comments:
Isn't there about a half mile of ice between your dock and the exit to Chesapeake bay? In a picture you posted before the bizzard, I saw ice on the other side of your dock. The side not protected by a bubbler.
Jay
No thankfully there isn't a lot of ice. In that picture and around some of the boats there is ice but we can stand on the end of our dock and see the Herring Bay and then the Chesapeake Bay and there is not ice out there, and we have a clear path to out there without ice.
Also remember we just got a dusting.
Joey is home today, maybe he will take a picture of the Bay and post it, if not we can put one up tomorrow to show you our entrance/ bay.
-christine
I'll take your word for it. Keep in mind though that if you need to get off the bay some of the bailout rivers and such maybe iced in and may have gotten more snow. A call to a marina inside a river may save you alot of hassle.
Your safety tether looks good. It does not look like it would completely prevent you from going in the water though you would not be separated from your boat and I'm sure I don't need to tell you that sneakers, ice, snow and fiberglass don't grip at all. A little spray from the bow could easily glaze all surfaces. You may not even need a spray as humididty could even freeze to the deck.
I would think your engine (while underway) would prevent all those nice canned good from freezing but as you talk about 35 in the cabin (at the dock), you should keep and eye on those and your water tank.
North Carolina is predicting 60 degrees for friday. I saw the free dock in Oriental yesterday on webcam and it was empty. Let me know if you need the link.
Jay
Jay I just saw Saturday is predicting 52 degrees here!!! A lot can change in a few days especially over at the weather channel but I am really excited about this. If we could get a warm front that first week, it would make all the different in the world to us. We could get pretty far south in a week... ideally, and theoretically of course.
-christine
The house in Fishing Creek is open if you want to get a few warm nights sleep. Just let us know. Eric
Hey Jay, I will take any helpful links you have!
Eric: Thanks for the offer, but I think we're going to suffer through it with our cats on board. What is this about you buying another house? Where at?
http://www.towndock.net/harborcam/
You can see the free dock in the center of the cam. No one there this morning. Water looks strange. Can't be frozen must be it's just real calm.
Saturday looks like a gift as long as those unusual warm temps don't come with too much wind. As long as you can get out of the bay, I'd say you were set. You won't get warm till your out of georgia but you won't have to worry about things freezing much after Virginia.
Jay
I'd suggest getting a Mr. Heater somewhere. I have one on my boat, and although I don't use it all the time, and certainly not while sleeping, it can take the chill out of the air quickly, which will be nice getting up in the morning or going down below after traveling all day. I'm seeing the cruisers way south are quite cold too.
They use the small bottles of propane, or you can modify it to use the big bottles.
Thanks Jay for the link! And yes Saturday does feel like a gift, one I'm afraid will fall through but I'm still really excited about the idea of it.
Good luck on your upcoming departure, I just found your blog and am looking forward to following along on your adventures.
The bad news is that here in South Florida we just experienced the coldest December in over a hundred years.
The good news is that "cold" here is still in the upper 50s :)
I just moved to Key Largo.
Hey Bill! I just checked out your blog. Very cool, we hope to check the Keys out at some point...
Stay warm!
-christine
That mr heater, buddy heater is a good idea, Northern Tool is the distributer. But they are currently out of stock. However the local store in Va. has some. I also recommend it, if you are still going out on this frigit days..
Hey Dan thanks for letting us know about that! When we get to Va we can re-analyze whether or not to get one. Thanks so much for looking into that!
-christine
Hey Guys, been following closely and look forward to your journey down. As others have said, the cold weather has moved out and much warmer conditions are forcasted from NC to Jacksonville, Fl for a while. I have my fingers crossed that Neptune gives you the window you are looking for. Stay safe and fair winds.
Jim
s/v Skylark
Good luck guys! See you down here.
Mike and Rebecca
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