Running errands
Just like in Camden, Maine Yacht Center has a courtesy car that the transient boaters can use. It’s dangerous to get used to such niceties! What if one is not available at the next civilised place? Not that we’re not civilised at anchor…
I woke up at 6:30 and let Peter to continue to sleep while I was having coffee in the cockpit enjoying a partly cloudy windless morning. The solar panels were starting to catch the sun and seemed to be outputting current into the batteries. Great! That’s exactly what I need!
When Peter woke up, it was time to start thinking about projects. The car will not be available till 9, so we could start cleaning the boat. Peter hooked up the hose while I was moving cushions and pillows out of the potential water spray. There was some “explosion” of water when he turned the water on again. Turned out, that explosion forced the spray hose attachment to fly off, and the only thing it could be useful for was to water lawns or spray overheated kids. Ok, we need a hose attachment.
Ok, Peter, we’re ready to go. Wait! Why are the batteries not being charged? There’s plenty of sun! Clean up contacts, check voltage on each solar panel, all ok. Check voltage together, all ok. Check voltage at the input to the controller. Zero. Repeat. Ok, we have current going into the batteries. And then no. Great. The batteries are not happy already. What am I supposed to do?
First things first, we decided we’ll eat at a nearby diner. Peter got a stack of pancakes, enough to feed 3 Peters. I ordered an omelette which was half the size of omelettes that Frank made to feed the 5 of us. Coffee was as American as it gets. Well, it wasn’t tasteless, but we make better coffee aboard. In fact, we have a manual grinder, so almost always the coffee is ground fresh. Details are important sometimes. Plus, it’s an excellent opportunity to wake up: first grind the coffee, so you’re sufficiently awake to actually drink it!
Hardware store, where we intended to buy a stainless steel spacer/bushing, i.e. a long cylinder, had almost exactly what we need: the cylinder had the right outer diameter, but had a larger inner diameter. Ironically, that’s the first time I appreciated having imperial and metric bolts in the same place: 1/4 inch bolt was just a bit wider than M6 and fit the new bushings perfectly. We bought 4 of those, just in case they go overboard again. Besides the bolts and bushings we got a new pair of scissors (I drowned a pair while cleaning fish), a new hose attachment and some fishing stuff.
When I came to the cashier, there was only one line, but a woman quickly showed up and said that she’ll take the next person there. The woman in front of me seemed to have only a couple of items, so I followed her. Turned out that she also had a plant, and the cashier decided to help the customer to bring the plan to the car. I was standing there watching the other line move forward, thinking “man, my items would be getting scanned by now”. Then this grey-haired woman comes back and starts scanning my stuff. When she was practically done, she notices that the computer was in a wrong regime and didn’t scan anything. “I’m so sorry. You are are so patient!” What is it with Mainers and patience? Once she was done scanning the things, she asked me if I had a rewards account with them, which I of course didn’t. “Oh, you have been so patient. Let me give you a 10% discount. Good luck with sailing and fishing!” I understand that $10 discount is probably not a big thing to this store. Nor is it to me. But it’s weirdly nice.
Next (accidental) stop: marine store which is a 100 meters down the road. But of course one has to drive. Otherwise someone might think that the car broke down. I picked up heavy duty needles (the only item I haven’t been able to find aboard), a back up water pump (hope to never need it). Then close to the register I see a solar panel. About the same size as mine, rated to 110 Watts. I want it. There is a charge controller. Maybe it’ll work better, so get that too. The guy at the register asked me to get the panel in the box. Ok, I get the box and hang the display panel back on the wall per his request.
We run to get groceries, all is well. We get to the boat, put things into the fridge and I am thinking that since we have the panel, might as well see if it’ll work better than my old panels. THE BOX IS EMPTY! I call the place, talk to the manager, she says to come back, her name is Rene. I run to the office, luckily the courtesy car is still there. Arrive to Hamilton Marine to find out that my display panel has been sold! The only thing that they have is a 50W panel, and I’m not sure I want to have it at the risk of not needing it later and essentially creating more electronic waste. At least I got my money back.
Portland walk
By this time, Peter and I were getting hungry for lunch, so it was clear we should go to the city. Otherwise we would not get back before Alice, Mark and Leo arrive. As luck would have it, a Lyft car arrived pretty much at the same time as we reached the parking lot. The guy dropped us off in the Old Port, and we went looking for food.
Sushi! (Not that we didn’t have sashimi 3 days in a row last week, but sure.) There is a Japanese restaurant right there. Oh, they have Japanese food, but no sushi. The waiter pointed us to a nearby restaurant that has sushi. Fed and happy we walked in search of a bookstore and then ice cream. We found both. Peter now has 4 more books in the Wings of Fire series that Pasha introduced him to.
Then we walk into a souvenir clothing store where Peter sees stuffed animals. He sees a huge black dog on the top shelf. “Peter, that’ll sink the boat.”
He retorts with “Papa, the boat can hold 8 people, so surely the dog won’t sink her.” After a bunch of back and forth and a consultation with Irina, despite the protest “He is lonely and needs an owner”, we walked out with a seal and a polar bear. Peter in the saddest mood I’ve seen him since I did not allow him to get a stuffed animal in Camden.
The sad mood wore off after a while and we lay on the grass near the East End beach while waiting for our car to get back. It was kind of ironic, because we could practically see our boat, and yet crossing the water to the other side requires an 8 minute drive.
Next crew arrives
Mark let us know that we had 45 minutes before they arrive, so we set to work. A few more items stowed away, deck washed, floors and bathrooms washed. Just in time!
It’s nice to see friends in new places!
Leo and Peter were running around, playing truth or dare while the adults were settling in and reheating the remainders of Frank’s chilli for dinner. Thank you, Frank!
All of a sudden we see a sailboat towed past us. “Could one of you help us with the lines,” yells the captain of Sea Tow. He got 4 helpers while Alice stayed behind. Turned out that the sailboat’s propeller wrapped around one of the lines of a lobster trap and they couldn’t run the engine to get into the marina.
Shore power
I ran the diesel to recharge the batteries a bit, but that helped only a little bit. The voltage sank very quickly to 12.0 (I want 12.3) and the wind died, so there is no alternative energy available to us till the sun comes up.
Sasha left me an emergency charger. Thank you! We hooked up to the shore power and after making a small indent in the wood leading to the battery compartment we hooked up the batteries to be charged from the provided 120V AC. The setup of sustainable onboard energy still remains rather elusive unless we’re underway. A bit more thinking will be needed for that…
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