200 miles under the keel in one day ... or, how a house fire ruined our cruise

Handymans342

Yeahhhhh! 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏

raybo3

Congratulations bro. 

Spyderweb

Great news!  And now you can top it off with a new boating season.

Handymans342

I think Chris secretly wanted to remodel his house and made a fire 😵😵😵

Dream_Inn

Glad to hear you are getting close to the finish line! Just in time to get that boat back out and relax!!

Willhound

Great to hear!

Ian

In a month you’ll be used to it and she’ll be looking for what to change....

Pleased for you as these long drawn out projects create a lot of stress for all. 

LaRea

13 hours on my feet today.  I wish we weren't so picky about everything, but that's how it is.  I'll post some pix in a few days ... 

Lake_Bum

Congrats on a long, LONG, well worth it project.  You will fully enjoy some R & R very soon! 

LaRea

I got hosed by COVID-19 yesterday. 

Fairfax County came for the electrical inspection.  The moment the inspector saw furniture and partially unpacked boxes inside the house, he stopped the inspection.  Apparently, inspectors have been told not to enter a building if they think someone is living there.

Next week, they will start doing virtual inspections via Facetime.  That ought to be interesting.  

Luckily, the failed inspection does not prevent us from moving in.  Last night, we slept in our home for the first time in 262 days!

randy56

Virtual inspection, we are making many changes. The way we do business. Now for all the unpacking, such fun. 

LaRea

After 13 months, our attempt to finish the cruise we started last year got off to a rough start, with me almost catching the boat on fire!

As soon as I hit the throttles, the output hose popped off the port seawater pump.  (Apparently, when I replaced the impeller last weekend, I didn't pull the hose clamp up far enough.)  Well, I was at wide-open throttle trying to get on plane with full fuel, full water and 10 days of provisions.  Talk about an epic overheat ... one of the exhaust risers got so hot that it burned the paint!  

There were alarms blaring and a bit of smoke.  Both of us were wondering if we should abandon ship, and we were sure our voyage was over.  

Happy ending:  we limped back to the slip where I diagnosed and fixed the problem.  All's well, and the engine is running just fine.  We had a nice sunset Friday night at the site of a 2018 Potomac mini-Rinkervous with @Dream_Inn and @Onislandtime. 

aero3113

WoW! Glad you figured it out! Looks like a great ending...

Dream_Inn

Wow!  I was thinking about you guys after you sent out the text.  I was remembering the last time we saw you at spring cove was when you left and ending up going home for the fire.  Did you touch it back up with paint, or just wait until you get back?  You may also want to check if you burned out the rubber flappers in the exhaust when you get back.

Would love to meet up with you all this week, but I don't even think a quick ride over to St Michaels is going to work.  Our daughter is packing up and heading back to school on Thursday. Plan to be on boat Thursday night. I believe you are leaving to head back South Thursday?

LaRea

When I get home, I'll take the riser off and inspect the inside.  The boat has never been kept in salt water, but maybe it's due for replacement after 13 seasons and almost 800 hours.  If not, I'll paint it.  Or maybe leave it ... every scar tells a story!

Ian

Lucky man @LaRea and glad all ended up well. 

Lake_Bum

Glad you were able to limp it back to the dock, and salvaged a great trip out of it.  Beautiful Sunset pic 

LaRea

Here's one of our post-fire construction/art projects:  a bar next to the kitchen.  This was a very satisfying project.  

The cabinets are ready-to-assemble cabinets that I bought online.  I added lighting and a walnut countertop, and installed slide-outs for bottle storage.  I also modified the two center doors by cutting out the panels and installing glass.

The really cool part is the backsplash, which was the Admiral's idea.  It's 99 pieces of walnut that are all cut to different thicknesses and glued to a backing board.  The pattern is from a painting by the abstract artist Piet Mondrian.  Each of the pieces is a "golden rectangle," which appeals to my inner math geek.  

Building it was quite a puzzle.  Each piece had to be individually laid out and then trimmed to a thickness that would be different from the surrounding pieces.  Then each one was numbered, sanded, treated with tung oil and glued in place.  

aero3113

 Very nice @LaRea !!

Dream_Inn

Very nice!!!!  What's the block of wood for?  Looks like shot glasses or candle holders in it?

TonyG13

Looks great! That backsplash is awesome. Where did you get your RTA cabinets from? I'm starting a bathroom remodel and have been looking for a good quality cabinet source.

LaRea

Yeah, the block of wood has candle holders.  

The RTA cabinets are from rtacabinetstore.com.  For another room, I bought cabinets from samedaycabinets.com which is local, but they did not have anything in black.  

The quality is good for both of them.  I'm convinced that these cabinets are all made at one Chinese factory in batches of a hundred million, because they are pretty much identical.  The drawers are well-made and easy to assemble.  They have soft-close hinges and drawer slides.  Definitely nicer than the pre-assembled cabinets I've bought from Lowes in the past. 

Handymans342

Very nice

raybo3

Looks great

reneechris14

That looks some good drinking

LaRea

If we ever go back to having parties again ...

Handymans342

We could be your first 😂

Michael T

Steve.....are you actually old enough to remember Omega Man? Charlton (sp?) was getting pretty old by that time.

Handymans342

Yes MT. Watched that movie several times and Soylent green. 

oscar1

I am So sorry to hear, and glad you have good neighbors. good luck in the recovery