A September to Remember

The month of September has flown by. Perhaps it was the two short trips home to Orlando, the dealing with Hurricane Florence and its aftermath, or maybe just the noticeably shorter days of sunlight. Whatever, this month has come and gone like the wind... and rain.

It was good to be home for a few days to start the month. It was a chance to catch up on the mail, bills and local "retail therapy" as Rachel likes to call it. I even got in a couple rounds of golf which is always a good thing.

No sooner did we get back to Maryland than we were dealing with the potential impact of major hurricane "Florence" (Category 4) working its way across the Atlantic and up the coast to the Carolinas and Mid Atlantic. While we have prepared the boat (and ourselves) for hurricanes multiple times over the years, it never happens without that lingering feeling of impending doom "if" it comes right at us.

Our slip at Bay Bridge Marina on Kent Island is reasonably well protected. Long finger piers down both sides of the boat allow for secure double line ties with snubbers and added fenders. While wind and rain can be an issue the real problem is a significant storm surge. Even with floating docks, it can damage the docks, the boat and surrounding vessels. Fortunately, we have very little exposed canvas or covers, but they were all removed and stored inside for safe (we hope) keeping. Finally, full fuel and water tanks provide added weight and ballast to help keep the ship steady in a blow.

Double line tied, extra fenders, as ready as we can be.

Florence made her way into the shores of North and South Carolina doing significant damage and flooding coming ashore as a Category 2 hurricane, lumbering its way west and then turning north -- toward us! Based on the National Hurricane Center forecasts, it looked like we would be impacted only slightly so we opted to ride it out on board. By the time she made it to Maryland, it was downgraded to a tropical depression and gave us a lot of rain, overcast dreary skies. and some wind but nothing serious. Other than a mild case of "cabin fever" we came through Florence without issue. We got to play a lot of board games, watch Netflix movies, enjoy some music and of course, boat drinks!

Another "near miss" for us.... but one of these times, it will be our turn.

Hurricane Florence coming ashore along the Carolina coast

Cabin fever medicine -- music and cocktails!

Night time storms

Once the hurricane threat had passed we got back to enjoying our time in Maryland with friends and family. September is my birthday month, and while low key this year, I did take the time to celebrate another successful trip around the sun. We had dinner with the Duckman's at a wonderful little French restaurant called Les Foiles. Cocktails on board with our friends Wynn and Nancy and Marty and Barb, followed by dinner at Rustico, one of our new Italian favorites on the Eastern Shore. We also met up with my college roommate, Dave Beard and his wife Sandy in Easton for a great lunch and time to catch up at Doc's Downtown Grill. We made one more trip to Annapolis to have lunch at Chick & Ruth's and dinner at Lewnes Steakhouse. And finally, more steamed crabs at Kentmoor and even more at Jimmy Cantler's a week later. So basically, we ate our way through the month.

A favorite Annapolis "hole in the wall"

Maryland crab cake, fries and pickles!

On the deck at Jimmy Cantler's in Annapolis

Kentmoor in Stevensville -- the summer crowds are gone, but not the crabs!

Keeping Endless Summer in good running order requires a regular schedule of maintenance items including the engines, generator, air conditioning, water supply, waste, bilge pumps, batteries and electronics. While I can do many of those things myself, others require professional assistance. We were having some cooling issues with the AC unit in the master cabin. While it seemed to be cooling, it was taking longer than normal and would occasionally "act up" (in other words, stop working) until I reset the thermostat or banged (I mean gently tapped) on the reversing valve at the compressor, which is located in the engine room. Then, I got the dreaded HPF fault notification (high pressure failure) despite the fact the water flow in and out of the compressor unit appeared to be working. This most likely meant the water line flow to that unit was in fact restricted and needed to be purged.

Time to "CTM" as Rachel likes to say -- in other words, "call the man". After a few hours of flushing the AC cooling water lines with Barnacle Buster (a strong acid designed to clean sea water systems), it was time to put things back together restart the system. Damn -- same problem. Now what? Fortunately, the technician that was helping me knew to (and how to) check the high pressure line switch -- a little sensor that monitors the compressor refrigerant going to and from the condenser unit inside cabins. Sure enough, that was the problem. A little $42 and 15 minute replacement later, we were back in business. Yet, another valuable lesson learned about boat ownership!

Somewhere amongst all those hoses and compressors is a problem

This little thing was the problem -- AND the solution!

After a quick trip home to Florida and back again, we spent the final weekend of the month visiting our daughter and her family in Connecticut.  Just can't get enough of those grand kids!

Project time with Nana....

Play time with Papa!

As the month ended we got a clear sign summer in the northeast had come to a close as the migrating geese filled the sky each morning honking their song "time to head south". And soon we will, as "Endless Summer" stays true to the origin of her name.

Time to point "Endless Summer" south!