We have splashdown!  We launched the Willie Dawes and Sybil (tender to the Willie Dawes) first thing today, after several busy days of sanding, painting, cleaning, and more sanding and painting.  The bottom painting was finished by nine pm last night. At 0645 this morning Dan got a call from Journeys End asking if we were ready.  Yes was the answer, the response, we're on the way!

     The actual launching went very smoothly.  Leaving the dock adjacent to the travel lift?  Not so smooth.

     The engine started but didn’t want to stay running.  Fuel line problem... fairly easily solved and fixed, bled out.  Water cooling system had hoarse cough that spit sporadic drops of sea water out the stern.  This prompted a quick trip to Hamilton Marine Supply for a new impeller.  Now the engine worked and sea water gushed as it should, but there was a persistent alarm going off despite all the gauges giving normal readings.  No matter, we (meaning Dan, the ultimate troubleshooter) would figure it out once we moved to the borrowed slip, out of the way of the travel lift, which was in steady use this morning.

     That was when we realized the gears were reversed - forward was actually reverse and vice versa.  Dan had completely overhauled everything over the winter, taking everything apart, replacing and rebuilding in anticipation of our retirement cruise.  This surprise too was easily fixed, but it did make moving from the dock to the slip a bit more of an adventure.   Dan says he had a fifty fifty chance of getting it right the first time, oh well...

     Figuring out what was setting off the alarm led to the replacement of the leaking raw water strainer, (another trip to Hamilton Marine),  and filling the heat exchanger with antifreeze, which had been emptied during that winter overhaul.  The temperature sensor alarm and the temperature gauge alarm are two separate alarms!  Now we know.

     Everything back in sound working order, and seeing as we still had a couple of hours before supper, we decided to go ahead and bring the boat to Camden, as we have the use of a dock there while we spend our last few days ashore getting ready to move aboard.  Halfway out of Rockland harbor, Dan decided to take a peek at the new stuffing box.  The next thing I know, he has shut down the engine to give the box a tweak while I watch the outgoing ferry pass to starboard and keep an eye on the incoming ferry who seems headed right for us.  Fortunately Dan’s tweaking doesn’t take very long and soon we are on our way again.  

     Seeing as we’d been doing so well so far, Dan thought the easy passage to Camden was also a good time to test the new autopilot.  After watching the helm twist away first toward the shore and then toward open sea instead of placidly head us up the bay to Camden, Dan muttered “I guess I'm forced read the directions” and turned the autopilot off.  

     We arrived in Camden by six, in time for a quick supper at the Camden Deli, and now have a good start on our maintenance log!  All in all, not a bad shake down cruise. 

Check our day's trip at https://share.delorme.com/danandkathy