Opening Weekend at Crescent Coming Soon

Boats are returning to their slips all clean and shinny, boaters are preparing for sock burning day and the grounds at Crescent are being manicured for the 2013 season.  These are all signs that another Bay boating season has begun and we are truly excited.

Ment Tu Be got plenty of preseason prep with a bottom painting, polishing of her lower hull and repair and refinishing of the swim platform and rub rails.  Of course, thing would not be normal if there were an absence of problems.  MTB had system failures with the battery charger, freshwater pump and an air locked AC system.

The battery charger has been repaired, a new pump taken out of inventory and ready for installation and a plan to rbeak the air lock in place.  These headaches will be treated with aspirin this week.

Bob celebrated his 70th birthday at the Club on Friday the 26th of April.  He along with Joe A and Paulie M were birthday boys and the object of the affair.  A great time was had by all.

Winter Over as Spring Has Sprung

It is getting harder to accept the fact that life is racing on.  We did a whole lot of planning and playing for this winter's stay in sunny Florida only to have it end too quickly.  Riverwood Plantation was as good as advertised and we truly had a wonderful time reuniting with old friends and making new ones.  We look forward to returning for the winter in 2014.

Before arriving home, we stopped on our way north at the boat yard and yacht club on the Chesapeake Bay.  It appeared that the winter wasn't too cruel on our Albin 36 as it survived quite nicely.  Over the winter she had all seacocks and thru hulls changed to provide for safer boating.  Bob and friends Jimmy, Larry and Bruce completed during April's first week the repair of the swim platform brackets, the sanding and painting of the boat bottom and some initial varnishing of teak rub rails.

After we write this blog we are headed back to the Bay and Crescent Yacht Club for "slip selection day".  Her's hoping we get a slip of choice.

Let the boating begin.

Estero and winter sun

Estero is again sporting beautiful weather and we are enjoying every second of it.  We will be here for the winter but expect to visit friends across the state.

Tucked Away for the Winter

MTB is soundly stored on the hard and covered with shrink-wrap to keep her nice and dry.  We want no teak leas developing over the winter.  Winterization was done by Bob and John and hopefully was done correctly.  After a trip to check on her this weekend, we'll be away from her until April 2013.  Fortunately we have our RV for winter enjoyment in FL. Bye for now.

Back Cruising

How great it was to get back to cruising the Bay.  We traveled from our yacht club to Annapolis, MD, for a four-day extravaganza.  We were joined by son Rob, wife Jen and baby Lucy Mae.  They stayed aboard for two nights and truly enjoyed themselves.  Rob, a former Navy Lt. fell in love with our new, old trawler.

We had a ton of visitors as we were docked on the sea wall in Ego Alley.  We had visits from Capt Mike and his family, Tom and Joan C., Aaron and Jen Berglin, and Jim and Cathy from Navy tailgating fame.

The cruise down was extremely pleasant while the cruise back was a little more testing.  High winds and mixed waves, however, proved no match for our 36 Albin.

We'll continue to finish projects we started and begin new ones as time permits.

It all starts tomorrow when I return to the Bay.

Moving Forward with Upgrades

Whew!  We're beat.  Between the hot humid weather in Baltimore and the work we do daily on Ment Tu Be we  are a bit weary...but still very pleased.  All of the survey findings have been corrected.  You wouldn't believe the electrical upgrades, the new battery charger and fuses, the new bilge pump and hoses and the the redesigned galley replete with  and induction cooktop and convection oven.  Long gone is the propane stove system. 

Fran has redone all the window treatments  and even refinished the interior window frames.  They all look great.  With the help of Jimmy and Bruce we tackled the job of installing a new Garmin (3010C) and cleaning up the upper helm.   We finally installed the bimini and it looks and works great. Soon, we will reset most of the electronics at the upper helm.

Today our "electrician in chief" will be back on board to assist in rewiring the water heater and organizing the CD cables.  Bob has been extremely helpful and we are truly appreciative.

Better get back in the rack.  Tomorrow is also a work day at Crescent.

We're Wet

After three long weeks on the hard, Ment Tu Be was launched and is now happily moored at Crescent Yacht Club.  The work done on the props, shaft, and stuffing box were done exceedingly well by Miller Island and Edwards Boat Yard.  We've spent the better part of the week completing some additional tasks.  A new Xantrex battery charger was installed and working.  A new automatic forward bilge pump was installed and the bilge hose replaced.

Our next job is to complete the rewiring of the water heater and the refrigerator.  Secondly we are adding a second 120V distribution panel for the air conditioning circuits.  Out third task is to upgrade the sump and bilge pump configuration.

What will we do when we're all done sprucing her up?