On Aug 26th we departed the yacht yard to the York River in Virginia. As mentioned in the last post we had some follow up work on a leaking shaft seal. Dripless shaft seals have a housing that holds a ring seal. You can cut off a seal being used and slide back a spare while in the water. In our case the manufacturer had sent new style seals for the previous model housing. To make up for it they sent the newest model housing and rings at no charge. The bad news is we had to pay for another haul and labor hours to install. We were able to get an overnight hang which is when the yard leaves the boat in the slings overnight and launches the following morning. The next day we dropped back in and all checked out so we took off. Upon entering the bay we discovered our next gremlin. The B&G software update failed to recognize our compass so the autopilot would not function. Amy steered as I worked the phone and Multifunction display menus with our electronics tech until we calibrated and reconnected the compass. The wind was light and on the nose the whole trip so we motored. We had planned a stop at sundown, but the northern part of the bay had bad thunderstorms so we kept on motoring overnight. Going up the York River we saw the swing bridge open for the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner. Warships in the Atlantic fleet apparently stop at the Naval Weapons Station Yorktown to replenish their ammo. Afterwards we tied up at a slip at York River Yacht Haven and watched the Gloucester Guineamen pass by in their distinctive oyster boats.
