Postscript: Charleston

This blog will chronicle our (Pat and Patty Anderson's) 

cruising adventures on the Great Loop!

DAY 24 - April 24, 2017

We were supposed to leave Charleston this morning, but last night the weather forecast was for thunderstorms overnight and today - and boy, did they materialize. There was thunder, lightening and hard rain most of the night, and a torrential downpour most of the morning today. Baxter was terrified, he just wanted to cuddle and was shaking pretty badly.  We did our best to comfort him! We had buttoned up the cockpit canvas last night, but foolishly left the side windows in the cabin open (they were behind our curtains, and we didn't notice that they were open), and when we got up this morning, we had a bit of mopping up to do!

Today was clearly not a day for cruising! I called the marina office first thing to see if we could extend for a day, and luckily, we were able to stay one more day. This is our first real day of our Great Loop that we have had to sit it out for weather. We stayed an extra day at Honest John's Fish Camp, rationalizing that it was too windy to leave, but the real reason was we liked it there so well, we just wanted to stay another day! Today was a REAL weather day! Since the weather continued to be gnarly until the afternoon, we had our first laid back port day!

We did not waste it! The kayak had filled up with water, so I dealt with that first.  An inflatable kayak full of water is very heavy and difficult to move, but I managed to empty it. I would have put it upside down, but the way it fits best with one end under the radar arch is right side up! 

Then I dealt with the "liquid tank" (aka pee tank) that is a separate part of the Airhead system. It is a pretty hefty tank, but I camouflaged it in a Raymarine cloth bag from the Seattle Boat Show, took it up to the marina restroom, and emptied it. I was quite relieved that the restroom was empty, but I was prepared to explain what I was doing, and how it was so much better than just dumping it overboard!

Next I dealt with the composting toilet itself. We inaugurated it March 23rd, so it had been in use approximately a month. We had originally half filled it with cocoa coir as the composting medium and added an enzyme starter prior to first use. This may be TMI, but I was blown away by how thoroughly the Airhead had composted and reduced the contents. I used a garden trowel to put about half of the composted contents in a garbage bag. There was basically no odor at all. I added an equal amount of new cocoa coir to the amount of compost removed and some more enzyme. I think we are good for another month or so. I was VERY pleased with how the Airhead performed and how easy it was to deal with! MUCH easier than the usual marine head with a holding tank requiring pump outs!

Then I read all the good advice I had received on the C-Brat website responding to our concern over outboard maintenance along the way, and studied up in the Honda manual on oil and oil filter changes. Then I checked our oil in the Honda BF150. It looked clean and felt great, not gritty or anything, and was full up to the top mark on the dipstick, so we are feeling good about exceeding Honda's 100 hour recommendation for oil changes. I will order a fluid evacuation device, but we now have a plan to meet up with another C-Brat in Swansboro, North Carolina, about 240 miles north of here, to pull the boat out with a trailer and do the oil, oil filter and lower unit lube on land. This will be at a little less than 150 hours, and we are now confident we can probably go up to 200 hours between oil changes. With the fluid evacuation device (a pump), I will be able to change the oil and change the oil filter without pulling the boat out of the water. Lower unit lubes will still require pulling the boat, and we will need to deal with that as we go around the Loop!

After lunch we walked over to the ABC Liquor Store here at the marina, and made sure we would be adequately provided for our sundowner G&Ts for a few more weeks!

We finished up the evening with a steak and baked potato dinner. We agreed that the baked potato with butter, sour cream and bacon bits was awesome, it is not something we get very often! I enjoyed my steak and part of Patty's. She says if she never sees another steak, it will be too soon. So we may be having separate dinners once in awhile!

We will head out tomorrow as soon as we have our coffee and toast and refill our water tank.  We have truly enjoyed our stay in Charleston, and will remember it for a long time!