Camden is a very beautiful town among very beautiful towns and harbors. Certainly a favorite. Mainiacs are especially friendly, honest and welcoming. Camden was our last stop with TONE and we met up with our sister ship and friends from the Vineyard, Jon and Nancy Newman. They talked Cin into hiking Mount Battie while the captain attempted to get the non working generator looked at
We had the pleasure of Ali and Phil joining us in Rockland for a two day sail with some good wind, although brief. Explored secluded Seal Bay where Cin harvested mussels from the shore and she and Ali cleaned the barnacles off and spiced them up to cook on the grill.
After some homemade pea soup the group had to stop gorging half way through the grilled fresh veggies from Ali's garden. It seems there was not a bucket available.
After dropping Ali and Phil back at Rockland HD we had a week to kill before HD got some needed work done so we headed for North East Harbor and Bar Harbor home to Acadia National Park. On the way we managed to snag the line of a lobster pot three different times. It seems when there is an 11 foot tide to deal with the lobstermen add another float to their pick up buoy which creates a hazard just below the surface between the two.
We knew this ahead of time however didn't execute very well and luckily only fouled the rudder and not the much more serious propeller. The captain donned the scuba stuff and cleared the one that wouldn't shake loose. My three millimeter wet suit is very suitable for the tropics but not so warm in Maine's cool waters.
During the next two weeks HD was scheduled to get ALL the nagging miscues by her builder and some needed maintenance finally fixed by the very skilled group employed by Peter Johanson at Johanson's Boat Works.
While the work got done we did our best to help by staying out of the way.
Nagging issues courtesy of Tartan: 1) Program the inverter/charger to work as designed. During this process we discovered that both house batteries needed to be replaced. 2) Reattach the boom to the mast using the proper hardware. 3) Fabricate and replace the fitting that attaches the boom vang to the mast. 4) Reengineer the main sheet system, reattach the flip flop block, repair boom damage, and install new protective covering. (Seems we have learned that all sailboats regardless of size should have control of the main sail) 5) Properly commission the Ray Marine Auto Helm to work as designed. ( Second defect discovered in this system as the hydraulics were also addressed last January after learning of their incorrect installation) 6) Reattach all twelve of the fuel lines to stop the constant leaks. 7) Fabricate and install "scupper" guards for the anchor locker water letter outers in order to prevent another rupture of the anchor locker floor allowing sea water to enter the bilge.
The most expensive maintenance item in time and money her toe/rub rail was stripped to the bare teak and varnished with five coats. This took two men the better part of two weeks to complete while working around the weather. The crew learned a very expensive lesson to not let the varnish get too weathered from the sun and salt and to put a single coat on every 4 months or so. They also refinish the cherry table and trim around galley sink, changed the oil and filters on the engine, fixed the generator's malfunctioning sensor switch which is how we originally got hocked up with these guys when Jonesy came aboard to get our generator going.
The boat was ready to go Friday afternoon and after a weather delay Saturday we finally left Maine on Sunday 9/9/12 and headed south seeing our first whales the next few days. It has gotten cold up here!
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