What a crappy night! It rained like crazy and our hatch leak was back. About midnight the water started coming in directly over my pillow. I put down a pan to catch the water and moved to the sofa in the main cabin. It was really uncomfortable because I did not pull it out to make it into a bed and was trying to sleep on the narrow seat. Later the hatch started leaking on Kerry's side too. We screwed around until about 2;00 AM when the rain and leak stopped and I moved back to the bed. I was not sure what we are going to do about the hatch. In the short run, it looks like taping a bag to the ceiling when rain is forecast will be the new standard procedure until we figure it out. My Fitbit gave me a poor sleep score of 64 for the evening. No surprise there.
I woke up at 6:00 AM when a couple of leftover drips hit my pillow. I went for a shower at 7:00. The scene on the river was rather pretty with herons standing on logs that had washed down the river during the evening rains. Later a thick fog rolled in from the lake.
I joined the group for coffee at 9:00 AM. The princess figured she would see everyone later so she decided to sleep in, a surprise to know one I am sure. I brought her a sesame onion bagel back when I returned.
After a quick shower by Kerry we shoved off for Kelley's Island about 11:00 AM. It took us a little over 2 hours to travel the 14.6 miles at a little less than 8 knots. When we arrived someone was in our assigned dock so we took one on the end that was easier to enter and exit. I biked over and registered. It's about a 1/2 mile walk to the office.
Once I returned I decided to tackle the leaky hatch. I took lose the tension bar that stops the hatch from going back so I could see the bottom of the gasket. When I did I saw that the gasket was completely loose from the top plexiglass. I thought that this hopefully is our problem, one I could fix. Then disaster struck although I did not know it at the time. When I pulled the hatch back forward it came off it's hinges. At first I thought it had broken so I was relieved to see it had not broken, but just separated at the hinge.
Well, having it off made it much easier to clean and re-glue the seal, which I did in the nice air conditioning. But, when I went to put it back on, I could not figure out how to do so. I tried for a long time, then finally solicited the help of three fellow skippers to see if they had any ideas. Try as we may, we could not get it back on - even with a big rubber mallet. So, as I write this, the hatch is just sitting on top of it's frame. Thankfully, no rain is forecast for a couple of days - or big seas for that matter.
Tomorrow I will call Bomar to see if they have any ideas on how to reassemble it. They made the hatch. If not, I will sail back to Vermilion on Tuesday, skipping PIB, and hoping to get someone from Parker Marine to come and disassemble whatever is needed so it can be reassembled. It may be that the screws holding the bottom of the hinge need to be drilled out and re-tapped so that the hinge can be reassembled. I am not comfortable doing that. What a mess!
I was ready for happy hour by the time we were done trying to fix the problem. Actually I was 1 1/4 hour late! Dinner was with the group. Greg cooked hamburgers and everyone else brought sides to share. There was a ton of delicious food. Afterwards we sat around and shared stories until almost dark.
I took a shower off the back of the boat before bed. Kerry told Sandy on the boat next to us not to worry that I would not be washing privates. She said she would not be watching anyway. Well, I washed them and she commented on it. I told her she failed the test. For the record, I did wear a bathing suit the whole time.
So, we are going to bed with a hatch not secured, just sitting on it's frame. We are hoping for no rain and no wind to blow it off! Once I speak to Bomar tomorrow I will Gorilla tape it in place. We'll have to leave the air conditioner on since we can't hold open the hatch.
Kerry told two of the ladies she was bringing a pot of rooibos tea to breakfast tomorrow at 9:00. Will she really be up to do that? Tune into tomorrow's blog to find out! There was a nice sunset tonight. Red sky at night, sailor's delight.
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