Welcome to our personal journey in boating! We are stepping up from a 19 foot deck boat to a 33 foot Express Cruiser and everything is overwhelming, but in a good way. Come join the generally mechanically challenged Jeff as I figure out how the heck we're going to prep, operate, maintain, and most importantly enjoy Eternity's Shore. Oh, and I have no idea how to run a RU-vid channel.
wow its a move your feet you lose your seat kinda deal..... get bk with my beer.... hey wait a minute i paid for that seat..lol dont move your feet..lol dont lose your seat.......
When single handed docking I just get a line from the stern to a cleat put the boat in gear to hold it to dock before leaving the boat. Then you can tie remaining lines without rushing or tripping over lines. Having to change slips is not a life altering experience your narrative makes you sound a little like a crybaby
Thanks for the tip. I’m not sure how comfortable I’d be with having it in gear but I get your point. In terms of me sounding like a crybaby, indeed this was a first world problem. I should clarify that what bothered me the most was not the extra work but the lack of communication. If I knew that someone’s boat was in fact disabled (though I’m still not sure it was) and they needed to put it in our slip I would be happy to help a fellow boater by the small inconvenience to me. But somebody should have said something. I honestly don’t know who failed to communicate what.
It costs me over $1000 per month for a small boat slip on the ocean. Due to other commitments and bad weather days, pleasure boating is limited to two to four days on the water. For some random sailor to interrupt my pleasure boating by taking my slip or even placing his dinghy there is inexcusable. I have a center console power boat, and like other power boaters have little time or patience for sailing, though I spent decades sailing. Sadly, sail boat people are culturally different...a community of mostly free thinkers and do it yourself types...believing they are more capable, that others should respect them, that their many boating problems should be shared and costs avoided...like hauling, dock fees, mooring fees, and mechanical labor. If you have yard work to be done, get out your wallet like the rest if us, and leave your campy attitudes to yourselves.
That sounds a but harsh to me. I do not have an opinion about whether or not this is true. We got into boating late and I've heard of animosity between power and sail boaters but I haven't experienced enough of this to comment.
Nice move, disabled sailboat or boat happens. I had to dock in an owned space once, about 5pm on a Saturday. I knew that the owner was out, and I hung out till he got back into the marina about 9pm. Tried calling him on the radio, but he had it off. He helped me move my 37-foot sailboat by hand to another space, I could not do it solo. I'm sure he had just wanted to dock and tie off, but by 11pm it was done with my help too. Again, nice move! John
Thanks for the comment. You did the right thing. What is still confusing about the situation is that it is still not clear if his boat was disabled or if in fact he was assigned a different slip (the one we ended up in) and he couldn’t get it in there so he switched to ours. We never got a clear answer. I was more annoyed by the lack of communication than anything else. The marina owners claimed they didn’t know and that when I called they were just finding out from me.
@@eternitysshore I was at marina that I never was at, so I was at the mercy of the marina Gods, engine overheating, so they just said find a spot and we will figure it out. Everything went well, and the next morning, rebuilt the water pump and off I went. The slip owner even came down to the dock to check if I needed a hand, we are a tight group for sure!
Every nasty little boat-adjacent task I once hated I now beg to do with and intent and purpose never before achieved. Boats are a lot of work, especially in the Northeast. But if "work is what one is obliged to do and play is what one wishes to do," then maintenance/upkeep chores become a beloved hobby-adjunct activity, and the emotion just goes right out of it.
Excellent point made. I don't disagree with your principle and that attitude makes for a much more enjoyable hobby. The context of my "complaint" at the time was approaching darkness, the last minute stress of trying to figure out where to put our boat (we could not get a hold of the new marina owners) and the lack of lines on the dock to assist us. Of course we should expect the unexpected in boating, but at the end of a long day, it was a bit frustrating. Thanks for watching and commenting.
@@eternitysshore Oh, I wasn't and didn't mean to sound critical. I was merely working on getting back, in my mind, to a place I once inhabited. Boats have a great deal to do with it. I am nothing but envious of anyone doing anything safely on and about the water. In formulating plans I have found myself on the horns of a surf or turf (if I can't manage both) dilemma. I believe I can conduct life from ~38-44' of trawler. I'm a stinkpotter with the possible exception of a sail trawler setup. The less keel I have under me, the happier I am. Do you have an opinion on dockyard/boat as a sole residence vs retaining lubberly quarters?
We had that happen to us at our old marina. We were out all day and came back and a boat was in our slip. They were using our dock lines and power cord. It turned out to be the then marina owner's sister. I complained to dock master and he had her come back to move the boat and was not happy. We went out to dinner and when we got back the slip was vacated and she took all our dock lines and power cord!
I believe you can get a NMEA2000 interface which connects to your engines which will send the fuel burn rate (amongst a lot of other things) to your chart plotter. The plotter will then display the remaining fuel based on how many liters/gallons you have entered to initially be in the tank. Every fillup you enter how many gallons you’ve added. I find this way more dependable than the analog fuel gauge. Also, do you use any additives when refueling? I use Quickleen and Quickare at every fillup for peace of mind. My engine is a VP 5.7GXi-HF
Would love the connection to Garmin but don’t know about the expense. I don’t use additives in between because we use the boat weekly. What’s the advantage in your mind? What am I missing?
I got Gobius C N2K sender which uses radar to determine the remaining fuel in the tank and sends it to your chartplotter. not sure if they send those to US though.
@@eternitysshoreNot really sure you’re missing anything. My boat can stay at the dock for a week or two without being used so I get a bit paranoid about ethanol gas. With fuel prices being what they are, the added cost of additives is minimal.
@@eternitysshoreThe NMEA interface is expensive for sure, but I’m a bit of a tech junkie 😅 I do like having all the engine data on the plotter though, as well as the trip logging which logs your route and fuel consumption through the season.
Hi I just did a similar job with the same stuff (I think) I sealed the exposed foam with a tape that matched the shiny reflective material. This will improve the life span not to mention it looks very neat. Good job!!
I never trust the fuel gauges on a boat. Fortunately, we have a readout on our Garmin that estimates how much fuel we've burned and it's pretty accurate. I just got fuel last weekend at Bowley's before heading over to Tolchester. Usually I will get fuel and a pump outs there or at Norman Creek. Interesting info regarding Stansbury.
Thanks for the question. We bought the boat in 2022 and it was advertised as having a genny. It was a Westerbeke but the owners couldn’t get it fixed so they bought us a new one. We had the option for gas or diesel and chose diesel based on the advice of our surveyor.
@@eternitysshore You're welcome. One of your viewers emailed us after recognizing us from your "Happy 4th from Georgetown MD! Episode 157". Give us a hail the next time you visit the Sass, we typically anchor at Turner's Creek or by Sass entrance by Betterton.
I see you anchored at Pat's Point. Not sure if you saw the sign. Little further to shore it's all sand bottom for about 200-300 yards along the shore heading east. Where you turned around on the Sassafras before the bridge is my home marina where the Nordhaven was tied up. Bummer about the genset running out of fuel! You were so close you could have got desiel at Georgetown Yacht Haven or Skipjack. LMK when you're heading back up.
Thanks Mark. By the time I figured out we were going to run out of diesel everything was closed. It was about 6:30pm. We debated leaving ASAP to get back to our marina but we took a risk and paid for it. We ended up returning by moonlight because it was absolutely brutal. Mosquitoes. Zero wind. And I mean zero. Humidity was crazy high. We got back to our marina by 6:30 am or so. That’s the next video.
@@eternitysshore definitely sounds like an adventure bugs can be absolutely brutal. Hopefully you had some down time to recover the next day from that trip. I think I would radio'ed one a marina to get a transient slip just for the shore power.
@@eternitysshore Both marina's have pools and Restaurants. I've never been into the town though. There is also a seafood restaurant just on the other side of the bridge closet to Sassafras Harbor that has good food.
You did good, you created some headaches for yourself with, how do I say this,.... technique? You need good tools and some tricks, those silver allen keys are soft metal...you need a proper set, so they don't strip. Also, you need to spray some PFBlaster on those cruddy bolts, I 've had similar problems I use a hollow tube as a breaker bar over allen keys, socket handles etc.....but don't be so hard on yourself, the screws, pulleys were all bad already....so they were on the way out. If a bolt or screw is not giving...stop, anything smaller than 1/4 inch dia could break in half, you need to spray it down with penetrant and wait an hour and try again. The problem with boats is salt water and corrosion....when you put stuff back put some quality anti-seize on it. Good Luck on the next project.....boats, they are headaches.
Great question. Complicated answer. It is difficult for us to compare with other cruisers since this is our first. I'd be happy to connect personally - if you want to reach out, email me at eternitysshore33@gmail.com.
Best seat in the house 😊!! You know one thing we regret never doing when we had our cruiser, was being on the hook overnight, ah well…. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks for saying so. I was grateful that someone else pointed this out to me. I know how difficult it is to get maintenance information for a 20 year old boat. Hope everything works out for you on it!
Nice video. Glad see you anchored at the inside of Turner's Creek. It's very nice back there. Anchored in the exact spot countless times. Very nice back there in early season and fall. Nice to see you getting further up the Sassafras. You're just scratching the surface. What happened the next night? LMK
I’m dealing with this now, is there any concern about left over paint getting into injectors after replacing screen with the clip. I just replaced fuel pump and new pump is starting to do the same thing so hope this clip solves the problem I ordered brand new FP regulator to hopefully make sure my problem is solved. So frustrating
Agreed it’s frustrating. Yes there is a concern. I would frequently try and clear out the black paint debris where it builds up. Then buy a pump from mancave mechanic since he removes the paint from aftermarket models and resells them clean. Then always have a spare on board. I’d also avoid doing what I’m doing today. Running the boat with less than half fuel because this is what often put too much pressure on the pumps to work. Those are my thoughts. Thanks for commenting.
@brianh9537 did you have any paint chips clogging any injectors? My screen was clogged on the fuel pressure regulator and I replaced it and new fuel pump along with a new anti siphon valve and full tune up but I’m still having issues. My next thought would be the paint chips messing with the injectors
@@matthewgrizzell1031 your new fuel pump might have been painted on the inside like most of them. Even the Volvos. I bought mine from someone who buys aftermarket ones and removes the paint and resells them. Mancave mechanic
Crazy the difference in your voice between 430a and 630a! LOL...nice work Jeff! ...and "makeshift MacGyver"...that''s hilariously redundant, but I love it! Man, what a great show that was.😎
Thanks Mark. Good to know. I think I might buy a cheap corded drill per that other comment because the weight of the power buffer causes me problems given my nerve damage.
Thanks I love it too! I know you’ve commented on the music before. RU-vid audio is unfortunately somewhat limited without paying for music which at this point I would not like to do. But it’s stuff to find the cool vibes I like. Sometimes it needs to be repeated.
Just getting around now to watching this video. If we every make to your neck of the woods that is one place we will stop in at we recognize it from your first video. Thanks very nice video…
Yup! Thanks Mark for your advice last week. We used your local knowledge of the Sassafras. I’ll reach out separately on it. Hope you guys had a great 4th!
I have many ’botched’ docking attempts. It took me 6 attempts with 20 mph winds on the bow and current on the beam as I tried to back in. Just pull around and try again (slowly).
Yup! I humble enough to admit that I'm still learning and it's better to take my time and be sure. 20 mph is no fun! For this video there was actually almost no wind and current, I just missed it. Thanks for watching and commenting!
Good question - we were in Hawk Cove just northeast of the Baltimore County Sailing Center, hence the little sailboats in the video. Thanks for your support of the channel!
My water heater element was impossible to access. I spent a weekend re-plumbing and re-wiring because I'll probably be the guy who replaces it next time. Easy access now!
Thanks for the video, Jeff! I have always been told to be careful starting the boat with the battery charger on! I was told you can damage the battery charger and or the alternator as once the boat starts you have two systems providing power to the battery. If you have to do it, like in the video, I would make sure you secure the battery charge immediately after the engine starts. Something I do to help with solo docking is I put a line on my center cleat and run it down the side of the boat to the stern. Once I am along the dock enough to get off to boat, I grab the line and get off the boat and take that line to the middle cleat on the dock. From here I remove slack and slowly pull the boat in until it is tight. Then I go to the stern and hook up that line, followed by getting the bow line on. This line is just a temporary, as to Hold the boat to the dock while I get all the other lines secured. I started doing it this way because most of the time the wind is coming from the side, blowing my boat away from the dock and there are no piles between me and the boat next to me. Hope this helps!
I've not heard that about the battery charger and it makes sense. Thankfully I haven't had a problem with the starter battery since then for some reason. As to your solo docking tip, I will probably give that a try. The one thing I'll need to do though is really secure that line to the stern cleat in a way that I can grab it quickly. That stern cleat also has a fender and another line on it usually. Good stuff though! Thanks for your comment!
