Trouble and Excitement

Trouble:  As we motor along Jay often opens the engine hatch to see that all looks well with the engine.  Coming north from Norfolk during one check he noticed extra vibrating motions of the water lift muffler.  We throttled back to lessen the vibration and headed in to anchor in Jackson Creek next to Deltaville, VA.  After we let the engine cool down a bit, he found this broken bracket that supports the water lift muffler. An extra bracket is not a spare part we carry so Jay did what he is very good at doing.  He improvised to create a substitute bracket using the available parts aboard. 

He used the bottom piece of the original bracket and two boards we had on board with some hardware from his parts box.  It fits right in the old space and supports the muffler.  Hopefully it will get us home.  Jay will make a new & improved bracket once we get home.  We'll just add that "little project" to the two page boat project list we have accumulated during our trip. 

Excitement: Friday we felt like a real sailboat again as we had strong south winds to help us travel north 74 miles from the Great Wicomico River to the Rhode River below Annapolis.   Jay made a video to capture a minute of our roaring sail. 

We anchored securely near High Island as bands of thunderstorms passed through in the night.