Provincetown, MA – Cape Cod

There was nothing in particular about Onset Bay that was keeping us there.  Instead, we did have some scheduled maintenance to do, as well as some surprise repairs/maintenance.  We thank God that the surprises happen in such secure spots.  Here is a picture of Hold Fast at anchor:

An Onset Bay sunset viewed from Hold Fast.  Not a bad place to do a little maintenance...

The brushes arrived at Onset Bay Marina.  The folks at OBM were kind enough to let us ship to them, since we did try to order the brushes through their parts department.  It was a short repair job for Myron to install the brushes.  Check that box.  The scheduled maintenance included changing oil on the engine and fuel injector pump, adjusting the valves, checking the raw water impeller and flushing the fresh water fluids.  Myron did not like the look of the fresh water and decided to inspect the engine’s fresh water heat exchange.  He discovered that it was partially plugged with a mystery substance.  Further disassembling of the fresh water system revealed that the hose to the heat expansion tank was oversized and someone, prior to our ownership, adjusted the size of the tank’s pipe with marine-tex.  Mystery substance solved.  Myron installed our spare heat exchange, replaced some hoses and hose clamps and reassembled the fresh water system.  Then we ran up the engine to flush the system.  After about 3 to 4 minutes, the engine would sputter and quit.  Myron would bleed air out of the fuel system and I would start it again.  Same schmo after 3 or 4 minutes.  After a few different analyses, Myron figured out it was the fuel filters.   OK, so we cannot quite get 1,400 hours on our fuel filters.  We thank God for the discovery at anchor rather than in a current waiting on a bridge.  

We did have to wait at the RR bridge this morning, just after entering the Cape Cod Canal.  All the time we were anchored at Onset, I would watch that bridge.  I knew it closed just after 7 am and 4 pm, but I had not seen it close at 9:30 am.  That is the time we left because it was near slack tide, which makes it much easier to accomplish the turn from the Onset Channel to the Cape Cod Canal.  When we came in to Onset, there was a four knot current running.  Do-able, but exciting.

After departing the canal, our sail to Provincetown (AKA PTown) never developed.  The winds were behind us at maybe five knots.  Four of us (sailboats) had the same destination.  Three of us are here.  Some hard core Brits have not arrived yet.  I speculate that they changed destinations to accommodate the wind.  I am disappointed.  We had hoped to meet up with them about sailing to Nova Scotia. 

PTown is packed with tourists and a large population of eccentric folks.  Not really our style.  However, we did find a Portuguese bakery and deli and I hope to return to that shop tomorrow.  I will say this about the area:  they are not welcoming to boats at anchor.  The mooring fields have expanded to the point that only about three boats can anchor on the west side.  Hey, we are in, and we will make the best of it.

We are waiting on a weather window for two days, two nights on the Atlantic Ocean up to Nova Scotia.  Given the trend for forecasting experienced up here thus far, it feels like rolling dice.

Love to all,

Dena

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