Mer Sea

Well, our first full day in Baltimore, and no sign yet of the new generator (it’s coming by common carrier from Washington State), but we did get a car to have while we’re in town, and we did get the computer box so we could send the HP computer to be repaired, and we did touch base with friends whom we hope to see while we’re here. So all is well, and we’re trying to get things ready to move off the boat and into a hotel for the time she’s out of the water. (whenever that finally happens…)

 

Our second day in Baltimore, we finally had a mechanic on the boat, disassembling the Onan, but they won’t take it out until they have Mer Sea on the hard, and that won’t happen until the new generator arrives. But it was good to finally have some action, and Roy talked to the head of the polishing team that this marina uses about the rub marks we have on the port side from the pounding we took in Charleston. The combination of grit in the air and the constant thwacking up against the dock, albeit with fenders, made four or five big areas of fine scratch marks on our port side. The polish guy said that he thought they’d be able to get the marks out with compounding, power buffing, and then polishing and power buffing. Hope so.

 

We had dinner that night with friends that I’ve known for many years, and we had a wonderful time catching up and sharing adventures. It’s always such fun for me to have the opportunity to revisit old friends and catch up. There’s just nothing like it.

 

We decided the next day that we’d go ahead and move into the hotel, even though the new genset still hadn’t arrived. Number one, we’d had our bags packed now for several days, and things were in a bit of disarray in the boat. Not easy living conditions. Number two, Roy and Art, the marina owner, were starting to drive each other crazy, and it seemed like a good idea to put some distance between them. Art runs a tight ship, and likes to control everything that goes on in and around the marina. Having Roy “hanging around,” watching the guys working, just being sort of “there” was somehow rubbing him the wrong way, and he got on Roy’s case a couple of times. Time to get out of Dodge!

 

We hauled our stuff over to the Best Western, which was pretty close to the marina, but in a real wasteland otherwise. Oh well, it’s just a place to sleep and be while the boat’s on the hard. There was still no sign of the genset, and we were feeling pretty frustrated at this point. The good news is that we were getting a chance to see more friends in town, and to do whatever shopping we might want or need. But there Mer Sea sat in the water, just waiting for the generator to arrive. I’d have liked them to go ahead and haul her and at least get out the Onan and maybe start the polishing, but it’s clear that I wasn’t in charge! At this point, we were afraid to even ask Art about anything, that’s how much the communication had broken down there. Go figure…

 

The next day, Thursday the 3 rd, I took the hotel shuttle to downtown Baltimore, and had a great time just wandering around and snooping. It was a lovely day, and I was able to take my time and just enjoy it. I had a great lunch by the harbor, and ended my snooping in a bookstore, where I did only a small amount of damage. But how could I resist Barbara Kingsolver’s new book? Animal, Vegetable, Miracle appeals to much of what I hold dear, and I just had to buy it! I can’t wait to read it – but I’m saving it, like putting off dessert!

 

I got back to the hotel, and Roy came back and told me that the generator had finally arrived!! He got in trouble again because he was watching the guys unpack it. Come on, now, he wasn’t even talking, he was just watching. It is our generator, after all! But Art is Art…I’m afraid we won’t be using this marina again in the future. It’s too bad, because they do good work, and they’ve always been fair to us as far as charges (it’s where we had to leave Mer Sea the summer I fractured my heel, and they didn’t charge us a penny for the three months’ dockage!). But this whole thing has been somewhat ridiculous, and we’re both feeling pretty put out. Oh well.

 

The other good news is that our computer is back from HP. Hope it’s really repaired – the enclosure says that they replaced something on the case, which I hadn’t complained about, and something on the touchpad, which also wasn’t a problem. Oh, and something with the memory. They didn’t even have to reformat the hard drive. Not that I’m complaining, since reinstalling all our programs is about the bottom of the list of things I’d like to be doing, but I have my doubts as to whether they could have really fixed it! We’ll see…

 

On Friday we finally had the boat hauled! Roy and I showed up early at the marina, and then waited around for a couple of hours before Art was ready for us. Finally, we motored into the travel lift, and out she came! My part was now done, so Roy and I left the marina and headed back to the hotel. I spent some time playing with the HP computer, and everything seemed to be working OK. Maybe they really did fix it in that short time!

 

The next day, Saturday, Roy went over to the marina to see how things were going (at his peril…but he was determined not to be totally closed out of this process on OUR boat!). When he got back, he seemed pleased with the progress – the Onan was out, and the new Northern Lights was in, and they were in the process of hooking everything up. We were going to be able to use the existing through-hulls, a big concern, as we don’t want to put any more holes in the boat if we can help it! Things were looking up!

 

We had dinner in Little Italy that night, and it was fabulous! I love Baltimore’s neighborhoods, and this one still has great character. Not to mention great food!! We both had leftovers, and took them back to the hotel, where we had a fridge and microwave, for tomorrow’s dinner.

 

On Sunday, we had the fun of going to church where my good friend Jesse is rector. It was great to see him, and wonderful to be a part of the lovely service he has there at St. John’s. Then we went to Federal Hill and had a delicious lunch, and wandered a bit around the harbor. We went to Whole Foods next, for my special bread that I eat at lunch, and I stocked up on that, and we got salads to have with dinner with our leftover Italian food. It was a great afternoon!

 

As far as the work on Mer Sea was concerned, the remaining work to do on the hard was the washing and polishing. Why this hadn’t been done, or at least started, earlier than it was, is a mystery to me, unless Art was “punishing” us, which I must say is how it felt. But this work didn’t begin until Monday, when they polished the hull.

 

On Monday, the polish guys worked pretty much all day on the hull, and the paint guys painted the bottom. Mer Sea was beginning to look pretty spiffed up! The hull came out looking absolutely beautiful – the rubs from Charleston were all but invisible. Whew!

 

We finally splashed the boat on Tuesday, and the mechanic came aboard and did a few last checks, and we cranked the new generator. She ran perfectly. And quietly, too. We had been told that it might be a little noisier than the Onan (well, ANYTHING would be noisier than a generator NOT running!!), but we don’t think it is. And we have a panel of dials so we can monitor temp, oil pressure, etc., not just idiot lights like the Onan.

 

So, the genset was in place and running, and we were now just waiting for the rest of the boat to be polished. And waiting, and waiting. Finally, about 4:00, the polishing crew shows up and starts work. Well, they stayed late, but it was definitely a rush job, and looked like it. We were pissed! We had sat there all day, and they come in the late afternoon and rush through it? I don’t think so! We slept on the boat that night, and the next morning Roy went to talk to Art. He sent the head polish guy over to talk to us and take a look. He agreed to redo it.

 

So, instead of leaving first thing in the morning, we left for Chesapeake City at about 2:00, but Mer Sea looked fabulous! She was clean and shiny and healthy inside and out! It had been a trying time, unnecessarily so, in my opinion, but at least the results are exactly what we wanted. Time to close this chapter and move on!!