Portland Riverside Marina is just about full. There were six boats scheduled to come up the river for storage this weekend and we saw at least two or three arrive. We were busy taking the last of our stuff off the boat when this sailboat pulled in.
The Captain of the sailboat said they had run aground just south of the boatyard. "The depth just went to two feet in no time." Right. This must be his first winter here. The river does that to you if you aren't watching the charts carefully.
It must have been cold coming up the river, judging from the way the were dressed.
We took more stuff off than we usually do because we want to make some "critical" repairs such as adding reading lights in the v-berth and fixing the leaky faucet in the galley. Both of these projects require access to space that is usually filled with stuff, so off it goes.
We will also replace the old Danforth anchor. It's marked 18 lbs. and that's way too small for a boat the size of ours, as we found out the last time we tried to anchor at Block Island.
We bought a hinged plow anchor several years ago but it wouldn't fit in the existing anchor roller.
That's because plow anchors require a different roller. This particular anchor is a 35 lb. size and from what we've read, that should give us the holding power we need. Now we'll have to buy the right roller and while we're at it, refurbish the anchor pulpit. That's a good winter project.
The inside of the boat looks nothing like it does in the summer and that's okay for now. We'll unpack everything in the spring.
We just had to shoot a photo of this before we left on Saturday. This houseboat (or whatever you call it) is on a mooring not far from where we are docked. It is truly a cottage on the water. Someone built this thing and even added solar panels to the roof to recharge its batteries. It has a front porch and a cooker and what looks like a couple of kitchen cabinets. It might even have a head, but let's not even think about how that might work. Insurance and registration? Probably not, but we have to admire the effort.
On Sunday morning, we began talking about the anchor roller and how we were going to get it off. Once the boat is up on jack stands, it will require quite a tall ladder to reach the underside of the pulpit. But why not take it off right now when we can stand next to it at the dock?
That's what we did. Luckily, the anchor shackle cooperated and we were able to remove the anchor from the rode. The anchor roller (it appeared to be original equipment) was bolted to the pulpit with 3 four-inch long stainless bolts and nuts. They put up a fight but did come off.
We also removed the six teak trim pieces that were screwed to the pulpit. It looks as though they also had never been taken off. We'll refinish them over the winter and while no one will ever notice how good they look once the are reinstalled, we'll know that things have been done right.
The pulpit now looks pretty bad. Most of that is just dirt and mold and it should clean up nicely.
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