From FL to MD

Left sunny warm SWFL on a Monday morning, heading - north.
J/105 SV Linda in tow, away we go.
We thought we might make it to Annapolis, MD by end of day Tuesday...
but, the trip to MD was not without hitches ;)
Driving up I-95 in NC, the truck died and we coasted to the side.
Heralding balls of steel and plastic (see item in center of pic on top right... click to enlarge the pic to get a better look... I had heard of these, but this was my first real live experience), truck and boat were towed together to Fayetteville, NC, where we spent the next day and a half... Finally the parts arrive and the great guys at the dealership got 'er done.
Back on our way we thought we would be meeting up with some of our crew in Annapolis that evening... About two hours out of Annapolis we pull into a truck stop to fuel up, and one of the trailer tires completely fell off! Bearing busted.
In the pic on the right, Rob is cooling the tire down with some water turning to instant steam! now that's "hot water" ;)
Overnight in Virginia, a visit to the trailer repair shop the next morning cannot get us fixed in time to get to Annapolis in time for sailboat racing...

So, we head out, back on the road, watching that one tire on the starboard side of the trailer.
We arrive in Annapolis on Thursday at noon, just in time to step the mast, get 'er in the water, and rig 'er up for some racing the next three days...
The guys at Bert Jabin's Yacht Yard were awesome.
http://www.bjyy.com/
Unlike SWFL, in Annapolis, blow boats were a plenty and motorboats were few.

Teak Work

So, left on the dock with a beautifully dry weekend... Started another project, the teak. This is a good time of year in FL to do wood work, it's relatively dry and sunny.
Based on the number of projects left undone and the starting of this new project, I decided the astrologist that did my chart reading is correct in that I'm good at starting projects, but not so much in finishing... ;)
After two days of sanding sanding sanding sanding sanding... I've decided that teak truly is tough stuff. Hours and hours I've been sanding. I'm still working on just one piece of wood in the cockpit, starboard side (pics bottom left, and right). I had started doing both (pic on top left is port side and shows pre sanding and some post sanding), but soon realized both were not going to get done in one weekend. The wood on Athena has, unfortunately, been left to the elements for far too long. The grains of wood are quite worn and it's taking quite a bit of sanding to smooth them all out. After much debate, oil or varnish surfacing, I've decided to go with varnishing... which means, if I want it to look really super sweet smooth like glass, working at getting those grains smooth.
The pic on the bottom left shows the tools I've been using so far for the job, mouse sander, circle sander, and shop vac. Also lots of personal muscle hand sanding, not to mention the wear and tear these machine sanders take on the hands, and the wear and tear on me back! My age is showing every time I try to stand up after.
One of my neighbors gave me some great advice though, when I was feeling like I'll never get it done...

He said, "you can only eat an elephant piece by piece."
What a great "piece" of advice. Keeping that in mind keeps me motivated. I will be able to eat the elephant (finish the teak work) piece by piece, each piece being a goal of its own right.

Waterlock

So, I was ready to go, cooler loaded with food, trip planned for two overnights at Panther Key, engine on, untying lines from the dock... when i decided, since it had been far too long since I'd run Athena, that I would triple check the engine room to make sure all looked okay... I even took out the stairs, which "hide" the waterlock...
And, behold, there were two pinhole leaks of water shooting out from the bottom of the waterlock.
Bummer. Upon further inspection, carefully scraping away some of the corroded area, I lightly placed a finger on the corroded area and felt the thinness of the wall. I then slowly pushed my finger and realized I'd be able to push right through if I kept pushing. So, I stopped, shut off the valve to the water intake, and changed plans :(
Darn old metal waterlock. A new one is on order.
The pic is the current corroded waterlock. Hose on left is cooling water/exhaust going into the waterlock and right hose is out, then heading to the stern of the boat where it is expelled.
The waterlock is used to prevent backflow of water into the engine. It is essentially a muffler of sorts as well. Athena's engine is saltwater cooled, drawing saltwater through a thru-hull, cooling the engine, and then expelled through the exhaust hose, with waterlock interim the trip.