Back to boat life

Sometimes, it's tough to even get around

April 15th we moved back onto the boat. Russ had done a bunch of upgrades in the month before, but (as it is a boat) nothing goes smoothly or quickly, so things were still a mess. Mainly he worked on plumbing. It's a time waster, as no two tubes or fittings or threads or sizes match, so Russ would order, wait, then reorder, wait again, then test, then order... But over the first week back we managed to get things sorted and put away. 

AND I got a new toy: a dishwasher! Darling wee thing, too! Holds only a couple bowls or plates, a couple glasses, and silverware, but it cleans them with less water than we do, and does so in just 30 minutes (we can do 15 if there's "just one thing"). Bigger things of course we have to do by hand, like pots or big bowls. But we're down to doing dishes just once a day instead of 4 or 5 times a day. A serious game-changer! Additionally, there are no more dirty dishes constantly in the sink.

The white thing is the new dishwasher.
Running, with 29 minutes left.

Russ also re-did the whole house water, from how we drain our bow tank into the stern tank, to how the water-maker works, to how all incoming water gets filtered. He's been a busy boy. Oh, and he hates plumbing.

We've both taken these weeks to catch up on medical and dental stuff. We each finally got GPs, which I haven't had since we started boating. Baltimore makes a great dental location if you are a boater, since you tend to pass by on your way up and on your way back down, 6 months later. Our dentist is a 5 minutes walk from the marina.

The fire burned the lines so it drifted across

the channel into another slip.

Pic from Kaitlin Newman/The Baltimore Banner

Speaking of marinas, this has been a winter fraught with disaster in Baltimore. Firstly, our marina had a boat catch fire -- on our dock too! Our buddy boat, Highwind, was only 4 or 5 slips from the problem. Thankfully, there were no boats between them, so the fire didn't jump or spread. We were another 3 slips beyond, well out of harms way. We didn't even know it was happening until a friend (Jamie of No Rush in Florida) texted us saying he thought he saw our boat during the hooplah. We were, "Uh, what hooplah?!" The incident was covered in their local news.

The second disaster was seen around the world -- the collapse of the Francis Scott Key Bridge. I'm sure you heard/saw/read all about it, so I won't spend time describing it. It hit this community hard, and will be an issue for years to come. They recently opened a channel for smaller boats, like ours, but there are only a few times a day you can go through. We don't intend on leaving until May, so we're hoping we'll have more options at that time. But getting underway may be a thing.

On a better note, we took a day to go to Fort McHenry. It's a thing we've gotten into, forts. Or as Russ likes to call them, obsolete defensive structures. This one is particularly interesting, since it's bombardment in 1814 resulted in the Star Spangled Banner. As such it's the only fort in the US that is also a shrine.

From McHenry you can see the bridge 
damage, and the vessel that hit it.

Sagamore Whiskey has been around for over 100
years. In fact, Maryland had more whiskey 
producers than Kentucky. Go figure.

After the fort we visited the Sagamore Distillery, and took their tour. Which was amazing! I've been on a number of tours before (mostly breweries) but this one was incredible. Largely due to our guide, who absolutely loved her job.