Thank goodness we're painting!

Finally, doing the thing we wanted to do many days ago. And it's SO much prettier now!

Before!

After!

Still a number of coats to go. We've decided the timing will be better with 4 barrier coats. We'll do a 2nd and 3rd tomorrow, then the last barrier coat and the first top coast on Wednesday (recall they have to be done with the barrier is still tacky).

She lays this way to convince me she needs a bigger bed.

But that does delay the schedule a bit, which now looks like this: 

• Tuesday, barrier coats #2 and #3
• Wednesday, barrier coat #4, top coat #1
• Thursday, top coats #2 and #3
• Friday, hang the boat.

See all those blocks the boat is sitting on? We can't paint those. They weren't even blasted. So once they hang the boat Friday they'll leave it like that over the weekend. And we'll have to do ALL THESE STEPS all over on those patches, starting with sanding off all the old paint. Should only take a couple of days, since they are small. I'm hoping, anyway.

Thus (as I suspected) we'll splash on Monday.

4 Days of patching

All patched. All sanded. Now it
needs to be cleaned for the first coat.

We have completed the patching part of our bottom job (well, we still have a little sanding to do yet). Tomorrow we will start the painting part. I'm hoping it will be more fun, or at least less work. 

The epoxy we put on comes in 2 compounds that have to be mixed in equal parts to be used. (I have no photos of this because the stuff is crazy goopy and I didn't want to get it on my phone!) As a result you work in batches, and you work quickly since the goop dries out and becomes really hard to put on. Once dried the stuff needs to be sanded, then the area cleaned with denatured alcohol (a fuel, donchano!), then reapply for any bad holes (of which we had many). 

It took us 4 days to do. Yes. Bring one the paint -- I'm ready for a change.

Fun in the hotel room.

The paint plan is as follows: First, we need to apply a "barrier coat" which seals the gelcoat and grips the bottom paint. We will apply 3 (yes, 3) coats of that. The first 2 will be easy -- apply and dry. The third will be a little tricky since we need to apply the first coat of bottom paint while the 3rd coat fo the barrier paint is still tacky (tacky, not wet, apparently key to the process).

We will apply 3 bottom coats as well, the first in a bright color, like red, and the next 2 in black. The theory is that, as the paint wears, we'll know when it's time to repaint once we see the red stuff. 

The weather for the week looks awesome for painting so, with any luck, we'll splash this Friday. But my money's on Monday. Yep, I'm a curmudgeon.

The Pros are done

Sanding selfie

We left the boat for about 5 days or so while the pros stripped all the paint from the bottom of the boat. They did a great job, taking it down the the gelcoat on the fiberglass. Apparently, they used glass beads that are recycled to accomplish this these days.

But there was a small surprise once stripped. The surface is pocky in places. The folks here think the gelcoat wasn't properly done which made for the rough and pitted surface. But to properly deal with it means we need to fill those holes and pocks with an epoxy which will better seal the bottom. 

So we're doing that now, and the process will cost us a couple of days before we can start painting.

First we have to sand the surface, then apply the epoxy.

Slowly turning her into a pinto.

The epoxy starts out blue, then turns pink when ready to sand.

New Bern

Ah! Network!

Took a longer trip today to New Bern. We're not at the fun marina across the way, sadly, near a town with... stuff! We're at the Bridgeton Boatworks on the other side of the Neuse (pronounced "noose") River. Tomorrow they will haul the boat and check the bottom, then give us a quote for blasting off the old paint and putting on some new coats. We had inQuest painted about 9 months ago, but knew from that hauling we'd need to start over the next time.

Flat flat flat!

Gorgeous day on the water which means I have not real story to share. Water was flat to mostly-flat the entire trip. Only as we got to New Bern did the winds pick up a bit to about 5 or 6 mph. So, really nothing of note.

If we go through with the repaint we believe that process will take a couple of weeks to do. We are not allowed to live on the boat when it's on the hard. It's unclear what we'll do during that time, but I predict hotels are in our future.

Campbell Creek, docked at the Lab Partners!

Beth and Rip Tyler are the crew of Lab Partners. They also have a home just off the Goose River, complete with dock. We'd been here before, when we were the loop last year. But as we came up north a few months ago we hustled by on our way to Baltimore. It was good to see them again.

The trip here was without incident, except for that one guy that blew by us in some fancy, overpowered boat without hailing us or offering a slow pass. It was the first time Russ got on the radio and yelled at someone about their wake. We heard a litany of other boaters ahead of us doing the same as he continued to motate ahead of us. Some people are just butterheads.

The upper deck was COVERED!

Last night was an absolutely glorious night. Before the moon came out the sky was stuffed with stars. Planets and the Milky Way were crystal in view. We had to enjoy it all, however, from within the boat. For whatever reason we were bombarded by some kind of flying bug, about the size of mosquitoes but these didn't bite. Just swarmed. Our boat was covered the next morning. Russ took a towel and waved it to scare them off. Which worked, but then a swarm of birds came by to feast on the swarm of bugs. 

Oh, the joys of boat life.

THIS! This is how I like my water!

I call this "Bird Breakfast"

Alligator River, anchorage

Yesterday the weather was not great. Rainy on and off all day, but very windy. In fact, the NOAA water reports for the Albemarle said "rough waters." HA! These guys tend to be the most understated organization when it comes to water reports, so if they claim the waters are "rough", good gravy, they must be terrible! I'm thinking 10 foot waves, people!

Meanwhile, whether it be from Sunday, or the weather, or Covid, the town of Columbia didn't even unroll their sidewalks. We saw absolutely no one all day.

The little dot in the center is inQuest.
I call this photo "The Loniliest Anchorage."

Given the "rough waters" of yesterday we weren't sure what to expect today. Winds are calm, but water can slosh for a while. We decided to "poke our nose out" and see how things were, fully prepared to turn right around and wait another day. As it turned out the water was peachy, 1 foot or less, and dwindled as we went along.

We are glad we did the Albemarle Loop. It's good to explore new things, dock in new marinas, and see tiny towns. But mostly we're glad we did it because we won't be tempted to do it again. Mostly due to the Albemarle itself. With the exception of the day we crossed it heading north to Coinjock today was the best day on it. And we were on it quite a few days. 

There is a boat ramp at the end of
"Deliverance Creek"

Our Navionics recommended a route the hugged the short, staying on the land side of the large rhombus area that is used as a bombing zone. We thought that was pretty silly given the depths so we went around. But we got board so we risked cutting through it to get to the Alligator River. Judging by the crap pots we had to dodge, we were perfectly safe.

Once anchored we fed the dog and took her on her dinghy ride to shore. Early today Russ contacted Beth and Rip Tyler (they live near here -- we'll see them tomorrow, in fact) and asked about this particular anchorage. They said it was one of their favorites, and they love the little dinghy ride up "Deliverance Creek".

O.o

Okay, that's only what they called it.

You got down this narrow channel about a half mile
to get to the little dinghy dock.

Columbia, town dock

As boaters we do our best to travel when the weather allows us. Looking forward to the next few days, if we didn't leave Plymouth today we might have had to stay there for several days. The forecast told us winds of less than 10 mph would be NNE. Our route would be more easterly, which isn't great for us (the catamaran doesn't ride very comfortably with the waves on our nose), but a NNE wind should be dandy.

We would have left earlier but there was
some kind of fishing event going on.

But, sometimes the forecast is wrong. 

Winds were higher than 10 mph, especially past the bridge into the wider body of the Albemarle. More problematic, though, was they were also mostly from the east.

The Albemarle is longer east to west, and totally exposed from the east. If the winds are coming solidly from the east, the resulting waves could have started somewhere in the Atlantic. These days are not recommended for traveling.

Not great water

The ride to the bridge was fine. After, however, the wave continued to grow. We mostly took these on the quarter beam, so the ride was fine, but the waves were solidly growing to 2 - 3 feet. But once we made the turn to head toward Columbia, the waves were on our beam. We hate that!

We tried to ride it out for a while, dealing with the rocking from side to side, but we could hear items in cabinets in the galley slamming around. The ride, while not as bad, was reminiscent of our crossing. After a particularly bad roll (our data monitors told us we rocked around 12 degrees) which knocked over computers and other items we changed our course a bit to quarter the waves. That helped. Then we tried to tack back, but our angle was still too straight for the waves. We tacked out again for another few minutes, then turned back. That last ride, with the occasional 4 foot wave, was smooth. As soon as we got land between us and the wind the water simply laid down. 

At the town dock in Columbia, NC.
The river is called the Scuppernong.
I don't know why that makes me laugh.

The rest of the ride was without incident.

The winds will remain for a few days. We will be staying here. It's only another 3 hours of travel to get off the sound, but we're gonna try for a very dull day.

Plymouth, town dock

Right across the sound and up the Roanoke Rivers is the town of Plymouth. No, not that Plymouth. Plymouth, North Carolina. The trip took just a couple of hours. While the winds were a bit high, they were coming from the north and we were heading south. Once across it was almost an hour's trip up the river, which made for a very pretty ride.

As we headed for the dock the winds were still a bit strong on our stern. We passed a brand new dock wall that looked official, like tour boats would have used -- it's was in front of a park with a gazebo and bleachers. The transient docks were still up a ways. But Russ, who stood on the bow, noticed someone waving their arm, then pointing to the wall. I spun inQuest around, docked her against it, and the man who got our attention helped us with lines. We thanked him for offering the spot and chatted, thinking he was the dock master or some other town official. Nope. Just a guy who lives on a boat (which he pointed to down a ways). His name was Scott. 

Sleepy downtown Plymouth

(Frankly, this was way easier given the conditions. The transient docks are perpendicular to the river, so between water and the wind, docking would have been a chore.)

When Russ checked in he made sure they knew our location, and that Scott said the conditions would have been tough to get parked up river. They said, "Scott would know."

Plymouth is that kind of town. Currently doing a massive revitalization, it remains a small "everyone knows everyone else" kind of place. It's claim to fame is that, in 1863 and 1864, a number of battles were fought here for possession of the town between the Confederate and Union forces. And it currently has moored a life-size replica of the CSS Albemarle, an iron-clad boat created to sink other boats.

Idyllic parking spot for inQuest

Our only complaint is that, for whatever reason, this town (and Edenton before it) did not like outdoor seating. Covid aside, we always prefer sitting outdoors. Sadly, we took a walk around the town but ended up eating lunch and dinner on the boat.

CSS Albemarle

While out walking we passed this funeral home.
It's name is Toodle's.
Nope, I probably shouldn't have laughed that hard.

Cute old train station, now a museum.

Sunset last night in Edenton.
The old lighthouse is on the right.
Too pretty a picture not to share.

Edenton, town dock

Ballots collected, we made our way deeper into the Albemarle Sound. Next stop, just 2 1/2 hours away, was Edenton. Some winds were coming on our nose which made the waves do the same, but the seas were only 1 foot or less. The trip was lovely.

Upon arrival at the little town dock we filled out our ballots and googled the local post office. Tummies rumbling a bit, we headed out to do the mail thing and get some food. As we left the dock we were approached by the driver of the tour bus, which was about to leave in 15 minutes. We took the "what would John and Martha do" option, and boarded the bus for a 1 hour drive around town.

Lovely little historic dock. Back in the day
this bustled with trade of cotton and peanuts. 
It was bigger then, though.

Edenton is very historic. It's one of the few towns in North Carolina (or the south in general) that didn't get burned down by either the Revolutionary War or the Civil War. As a result, it has quite a few very old, very quaint, very beautiful homes in and around the historic district. If you get here, the tour is worth the time!

Sad news, however. Just 6 days ago we went through the Deep Creek Lock. I wrote about the lockmaster there, Robert, who's been the lockmaster for 25 years. He passed away yesterday. We're both floored -- when we saw him is was chipper and happy. He even mentioned, after seeing our AGLCA burgee, that his wife wanted to do the Great Loop, and he was trying to figure out how he could take a year off from his job. Our deepest sympathies go to his family. Deep Creek Lock will never be the same.

Lizzie is gonna miss the golf cart life.

inQuest in the Edenton town dock.