Originally posted at www.svsweetescape.com
Following our hasty retreat Monday morning from the anchorage at St. Michael’s we made our way across the Chesapeake and south to Solomons Maryland and the Harbor Island Marina where we spent two nights tied to their fuel dock.
When we arrived, we were disappointed to find out that there were few facilities at the marina - but not to worry - Lenny, who is the owner of the marina, offered to drive us the five miles to the closest laundromat and then pick us up and return us to the marina after our clothes were done. So, we all piled into Lenny’s Ford Escape and off we went with copious amounts of dirty wash. Once the clothes were in the washer we found a restaurant next door where we had dinner. Lenny, as promised showed up promptly to deliver us back to Harbor Island and Sweet Escape.
Following our return we had drinks with Frank and Diane the crew of Utopia aboard their boat, a beautiful 40 Caliber. Despite being pretty tired from a lack of sleep the previous two nights, we both enjoyed the company and the conversation. Frank and Diane are very nice and we look forward to seeing them again as we are heading in generally the same direction.
On Tuesday, Lenny once again chauffeured us - this time to the Food Lion where we stocked up on groceries and then returned to pick us up along with our shopping.
Later on Tuesday we broke out the bikes and pedaled our way to the local West Marine where we were able to procure some needed items for the boat and vinyl numbers for the dinghy.
On the way back to the marina we made a stop at the Calvert Maritime Museum. This is an excellent museum that is focused on the maritime history of the Chesapeake Bay and has exhibits featuring the oystering and crabbing industry that is so much a part of life here. There is an authentic lighthouse that was moved from the Bay and a great exhibit of watermen’s boats.
On Wednesday morning we left Solomons and headed south along the Chesapeake’s western shore to the Potomac River where we turned north on the river a few miles before reaching where the St. Mary’s River branches off the Potomac to the north. Our destination was an anchorage called Horseshoe Cove on the St. Mary’s River near St. Mary’s City. This is a beautiful, quiet and well protected cove opposite St. Mary’s College, a small liberal arts college that has one of the best sailing teams in all of collegiate athletics. The school also has a dock which they make available to cruisers to land their dinghies in order to visit nearby St. Mary’s City, a recreation of one of the first colonial settlements where it’s residents of different religious faiths were able to peacefully coexist.
We anchored in about 18 feet of water near two other boats and once again increased our scope to prepare for predicted 30 knots winds overnight. The winds came but we had no problem.
We had intended to go ashore and visit St. Mary’s City on Thursday but when we woke up that morning with temperatures outside in the high 40’s and inside temperatures not much warmer we made a decision. We have to get south.
We will be back in the Chesapeake next summer and will have plenty of opportunities to sightsee. Right now, it is cold here and doesn’t seem to want to warm up, so we weighed anchor and headed back out to the Potomac and out onto the Chesapeake Bay where we pointed Sweet Escape south.
We sailed and then motor sailed and then motored when the wind completely abandoned us, to the Great Wicomico River where we anchored in Mill Creek, another wooded and very pretty anchorage.
It was there that we had a repeat of our diesel leak from earlier in the week. Loyal readers will remember that the Racor filter on our genset began leaking diesel fuel when the o-ring became unseated between the filter and the plastic sight bowl which attaches to the bottom of the filter. On Thursday evening we decided to run the generator so that we could run our heat on board (did I mention that it’s been cold here?) and warm up the interior of the boat before going to bed. Shortly after starting the generator Brian began smelling diesel and checked in the engine space to see diesel fuel leaking out of the filter once again.
Stop the generator, take the filter apart, reseat the gasket again, bleed the system and then restart the generator and then clean up the spilled diesel - again. This is getting old. At this point it is clear that there is a problem with the Racor itself. On both occasions the orange rubber o-ring between the plastic sight bowl and the spin on filter could be seen to be protruding out and this is where it was leaking. But why? After the first go around we replaced both the filter and the o-ring. This leaves only one suspect - the plastic sight bowl.
A quick internet search revealed others with the same problem and a possible cause. The sight bowl is made of plastic, plastic is sensitive to heat, the Racor is mounted in the engine space which gets very warm when we run the engine. There is a good chance that the sight bowl has warped slightly due to constant exposure to heat and thus allows the o-ring to move and the leak to occur. The fix? Replace the sight bowl, preferably with one made of metal.
On Friday morning we left Mill Creek and continued south along the Chesapeake to the York River where we are at the York River Yacht Haven Marina as this is written. We had ordered a life raft which was to be shipped here but has not yet arrived so we will have to stay in the area until it does. Tomorrow, Saturday we will attempt to locate and somehow procure the needed replacement sight bowl for the filter on our generator. Once that is done, we will anchor up the creek here and await the delivery of our package before continuing our journey south.
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