m/v Kinvara II: Our Hurricane Hole

Monday, October 3, 2016
Atlantic Yacht Basin Chesapeake, VA

We were planning to have some work done on the boat so peter called the marina Monday morning to check. We were thinking ahead to Hurricane matthew and wanted a place to stay through the weekend if need be. We were told they would find a place for us to stay since we were having work done....otherwise they were fully booked for hurricane storage. So we scurried to get off the dock and make it 2.5 miles to the Great Bridge Lock for 8:30am and Great Bridge bridge opening for 9:00am.

This was an easy lock to go through since we were only dropping a foot. This area had 15" of rain a few weeks ago and water levels remained very high. As soon as you pass through the lock you wait for the lift bridge on the other side. We called Atlantic Yacht Basin and were escorted around the back into a shed. The first one was about 1' too short to accomodate our 26' high mast. The second shed we went into for 2 days was the machine shop area. Then we were moved again further in to shed #1. This shed houses lots of boats in storage so it is very quite but also a little lonely! On our second night here we met with about 5 other couples for "docktails". They are also staying for the storm.

Tucked in tight

Safe and sound

Docktails!

So we have had to have more work done to keep our boat in good working order. The failure of the starboard engine starting was a dead battery. The was an easy fix with a new battery installed. The trip tabs which keep our bow down in the water when travelling at about 10K had not worked since we left Maine. They found the hydraulic fluid tank was empty so we thought there was a leak. After filling it and manipulating the trim tabs (which now work) there was no leak so we figure the fluid was never filled upon commissioning. Our windshield washers were not working either. The helm wiper motor stopped working the second day we owned the boat and the other two wipers were not making contact with the window to clean them. We have been navigating from the fly bridge because of this so it was time to have this fixed also. The port and starboard wiper motors were replaced as well as 3 new arms. The blades the marina supplied did not clean the window well so we had them returned and we bought 3 new ones at auto zone. They are not stainless steel but inexpensive enough we can change them out often.

Hopefully there are no more repairs that have to be done because of something failing again!