PLAYING IN THE INLAND 1st September

Some lovely old architecture around New Bern and Oriental.

It's been 5 days since we splashed in the Core Creek at Bock Marine and its official! The knock is gone! Whew! How many times have we tried to find that noise. After a night on the dock and  a test run of the shaft we were confident we had nailed it so we sneaked under the Core Creek bridge a low tide we pushed north into the Pimlico Sound and the Neuse River. 

 

One of the many Shrimp boats operating on this coast

This is part of the Intra-coastal waterway. It's a feature of the U.S. Which never ceases to amaze me. This waterway, much of which is man made and maintained by dredging, runs from Delaware to South Florida along the coast but there are also inland waterways which enable boats to traverse the country from the Great Lakes to Florida and then north from New Orleans to The Great Lakes. This is called the Great Loop. 
 

One of the many Bears in New Bern. Town emblem.

We are slightly challenged in the waterway by the height of our mast. The fixed bridges are 65 feet. Our mast is officially 65 feet but we are a little precious about the stuff on top of it... Lights and instruments etc so rather than challenge the bridges we go at low tide and only under bridges which do have tide. Some areas, such as further up the Pimlico Sound and Dismal Swamp, don't have any tide so we are not game to give those bridges a shot.

There are beautiful anchorages everywhere.

That's why, tonight we are motoring in flat calm water, with our new quiet shaft, up the coast . We rounded Hatteras at midnight tonight and we are headed to Chesapeake Bay, home of the cities of Annapolis and Baltimore. Just round the corner from Washington DC.

The blue dot is Galesville

There are allegedly over 11,000 miles of contiguous coastline in the Chesapeake, including rivers and marshes. But there must be at least 4000nm which we can get close to. No wonder many yachties from this area never leave.... although the snow gets deep and the yachts ice up in their pens if left in the water. Many yachts are pulled out and winterized on the hard. Those who leave make the great migration south with the geese towards the end of October. The waterway is stem to stern with boats of every shape and size. The larger ones head to sea. Many go to Bermuda then turn south towards the Western Caribbean or Bahamas. The run south down the coast is against the current and can apparently be a bit of a slog.... we will see!

Galesville anchorage.

For now we are happy at anchor fixing things... usual stuff. Water-maker Inverter  Radar... so on and so on ... its a boat. not major stuff. Just maintenance type stuff.

Some boats dont get used as much as they should

Apparently the Ospreys were becoming so rare it became illegal to remove an osprey nest from your property once it has been established, until the young are hatched and have left the nest. This means you have to be very vigilant and remove the early attempts by these birds to establish residence. The owners of this boat were obviously outfoxed by the ospreys! 

 Its a very lovely relaxing anchorage surrounded by very pretty waterfront homes with the odd white swan casually swimming by. The locals are friendly and there are at least 2 good restaurants a short dingy ride away.

More Photos from the Beaufort new Bern and Oriental visit.

ON THE HARD AT BOCK MARINE. BEAUFORT NORTH CAROLINA. 25th August 2015

Why, you may well ask, are we out of the water again. Taipan is wondering if shes a sail boat or a rock. Well we sailed north from Fernandina with the expectation that a niggling knock we have lived with somewhere in the stern tube had been fixed. (You cant know this for sure till you are back in the water.) 

Ever since we have owned Taipan she's had a knock in the stern tube or somewhere which we have never managed to locate. It became somewhat worse after we put in a new shaft in South Africa, which instead of being 38mm went to 40mm. Long story but basically a lack of available shaft material there and we were already well down the path.

It was certainly a lot less aggravating after modification in Fernandina and we  could do 2000 RPM comfortably but above that it would start knocking again. We had resolved that one way or another we are going to fix this once and for all. Its annoying! All the alignment has been adjusted and is perfect.

Well we decided to haul out at Bock Marine. They have very good expertise here having been in the industry over 30 years. They once built steel boats here. Their price is very competitive, which becomes pretty important when you keep hauling out!! The are also the only marina we've ever been to which has a complimentary car for the use of patrons. Its available for 2 hrs at at time and you just replace fuel used. (Not quite true... there was one in north Queensland years ago.)

So out we came out.....and out came the shaft..... again and this time a good look up the stern tube with a torch revealed a 5mm collar in the bronze casting which was apparently there for the old packing gland system. I don't believe Taipan ever had a packing gland but it was a standard stern tube casting. Expert opinion was sought and it was decided it should be removed to allow more clearance. So armed with the trusty Milwaukee 18v drill and a hole saw of the correct size on an extension......An hour later it was out. We can see where the tube has been rubbed by the shaft in the removed ring of bronze. so now there is a full 5mm clearance around the shaft. Fingers crossed!

Offending bronze casting.

Now just fit a new cutlass bearing to be sure to be sure.... old one seems fine but......

Then we splash again and try it out!