New England – Week: 05 (Dealing With Shaft Vibration)

June 28th to July 5th, 2026

Day 27 – Monday, June 29th, 2026 – To: Edgewater, MD
Anchor Yachting Center

Our run up to Edgewater near Annapolis is 46 miles. Anchor has said that we can spend the night on their fuel dock, and we didn’t want to get there too early and block it for boats coming in for fuel. We slept in a bit, then had breakfast. I chased the little black bugs off the boat, which is becoming a regular morning routine. They are about the size of a mosquito, but don’t bite. What they do is lay slimy egg sacks on the boat, which, once they dry, you almost have to scrape off. So, each morning I take the water hose and chase a couple of hundred of them off the boat, and rinse away the bodies of those that have expired overnight. I then blast the egg sacks off before they dry. They seem to congregate on the leeward side (away from the wind) of the boat.

We killed time until about 10:30, then got the boat ready and took off at 10:45. It was a good day with mostly sunny skies and calm winds of 3-10 mph. Aside from the wakes from a few large ships and the “Warship 24”, it was a calm, easy trip. We wish every day were like this!

After leaving Solomon’s, we cruised by the sandstone Calvert Cliffs. These are 15-million-year-old formations that stretch 24 miles along the Chesapeake Bay. They are renowned for their abundant prehistoric fossils. We then went past the large Natural Gas terminal. Back in the late 1990s, this was an import terminal for foreign natural gas entering the US. Now it’s been converted to an export terminal, where we are sending liquified natural gas to other countries. As we exited Solomon’s, a large LNG tanker was waiting to enter the port for loading.

As we progressed up the Chesapeake toward Annapolis, we saw and heard “US Warship 24” calling sailboats, asking them to please move out of the channel. Warship 24 is an amphibious transport dock ship and was cruising at just over 20 knots. Once they called the first sailboat, all the others were calling to ask how they wanted to be passed. They just wanted to talk to a warship! The answer is “Get the heck out of our way!” We stayed a good 2 miles outside the channel.

The closer we got to Annopolis, the more small boat traffic we encountered. Even running at a slower 8 knots, we were still going to arrive at Anchor Yacht Basin around 3:00, so as we got close, we slowed to 6 knots to avoid arriving too early and blocking their fuel dock. We ended up pulling in at 3:15. When we got to the dock, we topped off with 277 gallons of fuel and got a pump-out. By the time we were finished, it was after 4:30, so we didn’t feel so bad.

Most fuel docks close at 5:00; Anchor’s fuel dock closes at 8:00 pm. So we wouldn’t be in the way, we moved the boat up to the far end of the fuel dock. The dock attendant appreciated it, and Brenda baked here fresh docking cookies!

Once we were settled in, we walked across the bridge from the mainland, where the marina is, to Turkey Point Island and the local restaurant, Harper’s Waterfront Restaurant, for dinner.

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Day 28 – Tuesday, June 30th, 2026 – In: Edgewater/Annapolis, MD

Tuesday morning, we had an 8:00 am haul-out. I walked up to the office at 7:30 to check out where we would be housed and to talk to the staff. The temps were slated to reach the mid-90s with a “feels like” of 103, so the staff all showed up early to beat the heat. They said to bring the boat up, and they would haul us right away. The manager asked, “Is that your nice boat on the fuel dock?” “Yes!” I said. He said, “Oh, we were told you were a center console with outboards. We will haul you on the large travel lift.”

By the time we got to the haul-out bay, they were all waiting for us, and within a few minutes, the Frog was coming out of the water. Our first observation was that the hull was very clean! The ultrasonic hull cleaners we had installed seem to work very well!

Once we were fully out of the water, we walked around and checked the bottom of the boat and the props and shafts. Aside from a few strands of rope stuck to the cutters, there was no visible damage from the crab buoy we hit. Everything else looked normal. The crew at Anchor did a full powerwash, getting the few barnacles off of the hull and cleaning the green slime off of the ZipWake interceptors and the stern thrusters (the only parts not covered by the Hull-Shield system). Then they moved us into the yard and blocked the boat on stands.

At 9:00, the tech from Peake showed up, and we checked out the running gear. The first thing he noticed was that there was about 1/8″ inch of play in the port cutlass bearing, and 1/16″ in the starboard. This could very well be the issue with our vibration. He tried to remove the propellers to take them back for analysis. He thought it would be about a 1/2 hour job. After an hour trying to get the port prop off, he called the office for backup and a hydraulic prop puller. Backup arrived, and after about 2 hours, and heating the prop with a torch, we heard a loud POP! followed by a “CLANG!” as the prop popped off. Success!!! The second prop took the same tools, the hydraulic prop puller and the torch, but it was off about 15 minutes later.

They loaded the props into their van and headed back to their shop to test them. After they left, we called an Uber and went to Annapolis to pick up our rental car at Enterprise. Our car wasn’t going to be ready until 2:00, so we found a restaurant near Enterprise and stopped for a long lunch. At 2:00, we picked up the rental car, then drove back to the marina (about a 15-minute drive) to pick up our luggage. Because the boat is out of the water, we can’t run the air conditioning, so staying on the boat is not an option. We had made reservations at a Springhill Suites, but check-in time is after 4:00. We had placed a couple of orders with Amazon, so we went to the Amazon lockers and the UPS Store to pick up our stuff. Then went to the hotel, where we checked in and settled into our room.

We normally don’t eat lunch, so with our afternoon snack, we weren’t very hungry. The restaurant we went to for lunch, West End Grill, had a good selection of appetizers and was a short drive from the hotel, so we went back and had a light snack for dinner.

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Day 29 – Wednesday, July 1st, 2026 – In: Edgewater/Annapolis, MD

We had arranged to have lunch with Looper friends of ours, Jim and Mary Walker. They keep their boat at Harrington Harbor in Deale, where we had planned to have our boat hauled. Edgewater is a short drive from Deale, so they agreed to meet us for lunch at the restaurant near the boat yard.

On the way from the hotel to the yard, we stopped at IHOP for breakfast. I dislike IHOP. We never seem to have a good experience, but sometimes it’s the only option. This IHOP was better than most, still not great, but tolerable. I’m waiting for AI to be able to serve food! Ha!

After breakfast, we picked up our forwarded mail at a UPS store, then went to the boat so that Brenda could bake a batch of her cookies for our friends. Just as we arrived, the guys from Peake Marine arrived. They came to check the alignment of the propeller shaft at various points under the boat. After testing both shafts, they said that they were right on. Less than 5 thousandths of an inch variation. Well within tolerance.

At noon, we met Mary and Jim and had a great lunch and catch-up. They are selling their boat Legacy, and while we were sad that their cruising days are at an end, we were happy that they had received two full-price offers on their Grand Banks!

After lunch, we went back to the boat to give them a tour. While we were chatting, I got a call from Peake with the propeller analysis. Neither prop matched the factory specs. The port prop, where we had the vibration, had one blade that was just out of tolerance. The mystery deepens. The good news was that it confirmed that the cutlass bearings were the most likely cause of the vibration. The slight imbalance in the port prop would aggravate the bearing’s looseness, causing it to vibrate the shaft. It’s good to have a reasonable explanation!

I had already purchased replacement bearings. They are something I like to have in my spares kit, as when you unexpectedly have to get the boat hauled (like when you ding a propeller), it’s great to have them to swap out if they show wear.

We chatted with the boatyard, and they said they have time to swap them for us tomorrow morning. The prop shop also said they would not be able to return our props until Monday or Tuesday of next week, so we told the yard that we were okay with them putting us back in the water in a slip to free up yard space. They were appreciative of our offer, but said, given the holiday weekend, we would be okay to stay where we were.

By this time, it was about 2:00, and the thermometer read 95° in the shade. Without A/C in the boat, it was 90°. We decided to call it a day and go back to the hotel to cool off. Brenda napped, and I did some accounting.

At 5:30, we went to a local restaurant, Augie’s Mussel House & Sports Bar, for dinner. It was another day where we had both breakfast and lunch, so we were not very hungry, but more bored! Augie’s was very good; we just had appetizers and watched the soccer match (Senegal vs. Belgium). We saw several bowls of mussels come out, and they looked tasty. We’ll go back when we are looking for a good dinner.

After dinner, we went back to the hotel for the night.

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Day 30 – Thursday, July 2nd, 2026 – In: Edgewater/Annapolis, MD

We had an 8:00 appointment at the boatyard to have the cutlass bearings replaced. I put them in our freezer yesterday to make them contract in the cold. This makes them easier to slide into the tubes in the struts.

Yesterday, Michael, the service manager from Anchor Yacht Center, had been poking good-humored fun at the guys from Peake, the prop company, when they were having trouble getting the props off the boat. Today, it came back to bite him. They had estimated about an hour to replace both cutlass bearings. He started around 8:30, and a little over 3 hours later, they finally got them replaced!

The design of our struts (which extend from the bottom of the boat to support the propeller shaft) meant he had trouble getting curved metal shims used to press out the old bearing to fit between the shaft and the strut. At one point, we had 4 people under the boat. He went back and forth to their shop to modify the shims and finally got them to a shape that would press in. This was great news as the alternative is to remove the propeller shafts, which is a very involved process. We are having the same heatwave as the rest of the country, and at 10:30, temperatures were already in the mid-90s. Fortunately, the underside of the boat was in the shade, and they had a big industrial fan to keep them coolish.

Once they got the bearing pressed out, the new bearing pressed right in. On our old frog, Michael (our primary mechanic from A&M) had suggested that we use KryptoQuiet bearings. These are made from a special nylon-like material that is super hard and super slippery. They call them “KryptoQuiet” because they are bright green like Kryptonite! They worked great on our old boat. We were getting about 500 hours on standard bearings and over 1,000 hours on the KryptoQuiets.

Just as they were finishing up, there was a bit of commotion at the travel lift where they were putting a big Hatteras yacht back into the water. One of the yard workers had collapsed from the heat and almost fallen into the water! They brought him inside and cooled him down. We saw him a bit later, and he looks fine. The service manager told everyone to just pick up their tools and do inside work for the rest of the day. We were fortunate that they started on our boat early.

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Once they were done with the bearings, we picked up our stuff and headed back to the hotel, where it was cool. Without being able to run the a/c on the boat, it gets over 100 inside. After we cooled down, we ran a few errands. We went to the bank, Home Depot, and then to the Pennsylvania Dutch Farmers Market. This is a large market run by Amish and Mennonite families. It has separate counters for products, baked goods, cheese, produce, and meats. They have a pretzel counter where they make fresh-baked pretzels and serve pretzel roll sandwiches, and a large counter of cooked foods with many types of prepared chicken.

Because we are staying in a hotel, we don’t have anywhere to keep fresh food, so we just bought a little cheese, some shaved sweet bologna, and veggie crackers to snack on in the room. We’ll definitely go back before we leave!

For dinner, we went to a local chain, Julep Southern Kitchen. We’ve been having standard “bar” food for the last few days and wanted something different. In the end, we decided on deep-dish pizzas- not really Southern, except that they use cornbread for the crust, but a house specialty and very tasty.

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Day 31 – Friday, July 3rd, 2026 – In: Edgewater/Annapolis, MD

Friday was another hot day. The boat yard and prop shop were both closed, so no progress on the boat. In the morning, we went to breakfast, then drove to the boat to open up some windows. The temperature in the boat was 103°! Steamy! There is no rain in the forecast until tomorrow night, so we popped in our screens, put a fan in the back window, and decided to leave the boat open overnight. While we were there, I installed a couple of line holders that had come in with our Amazon order. That was enough work for the day.

We drove back to town and went to the local mega-mall and walked around in the a/c for a couple of hours. It was interesting that probably 1/4 of the storefronts were “activity centers”, Dave & Buster’s, a branch of the local Library, lots of kids’ play centers, arcades, and a large theater complex. There were still lots of traditional mall stores, Macy’s, Container Store, Crate & Barrel, Old Navy, and a host of others. They are also just building an expansion, which will be a large Dick’s Sporting Goods and a Tesla sales center.

After we’d made a lap of the mall, we went to West End Grill up the street from the hotel, and spent the afternoon watching soccer, then stayed for dinner.

Day 32 – Saturday, July 4th, 2026 – In: Edgewater/Annapolis, MD

Happy Birthday, America! We had no plans for the 4th. Most of the festivities here in the Annapolis/Baltimore area have been canceled due to the heat. We had breakfast at a local diner, Double T Diner, then checked on the boat. There are thunderstorms predicted for the afternoon, so we closed up all but the back window, which is very protected under the rear deck roof, and kept the fan on.

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We then decided to drive south toward our last port, Solomons Island. Our hotel is on Solomons Island Road, so we assumed that’s where it went. Solomons is 58 miles south, and it’s a nice winding country road. We got to Chesapeake Beach, about 40 miles south, and saw some signs for “Museums,” so we followed them.

We visited the Bayside History Museum, which has displays on the local history of Chesapeake Beach and North Beach. This area was a big vacation town with steamboats from Baltimore and Trains from Washington, DC, bringing vacationers in the 1940s and 50s. They had several piers with huge dance halls and a large amusement park with a wooden roller coaster. Unfortunately, a series of hurricanes in the 60s and 70s pretty much ruined most of the town, and now it’s a rebuilt area with lots of newer high-end vacation condos and strip malls. We enjoyed the museum and had a nice chat with one of the docents.

We wanted to get back to Annapolis before the thunderstorms arrived, so we headed back north, taking a more inland route to see a bit more of the countryside. We got back to the hotel around 2:00 and just relaxed and watched soccer until dinnertime.

Because it’s the 4th of July, we decided that it would be appropriate to go for BBQ. One of the recommendations was the Annapolis Smokehouse and Tavern, which was only about a 15-minute drive from the hotel, so we went there. The BBQ was very good! Brenda had a 1/2 rack of ribs, and I had the BLT sandwich. BLT in this case was “pork Belly, Lettuce, and Tomato! It was also excellent!

Day 33 – Sunday, July 5th, 2026 – In: Edgewater/Annapolis, MD

Saturday night’s thunderstorms dropped the temperature. When I woke up at 3:00 am, I checked the temp at the boat, and it was down to a frigid 73°! We slept in a bit in the morning, then took a ride to the historic district of downtown Annapolis to walk around.

When we arrived, we found an arts-and-crafts show underway. The Annapolis First Sunday Arts Festival. We parked in the parking garage (free parking on Sunday) and walked through the show. Brenda found a basket for Bethanny and a buoy that looked like the one we hit for the pinboard on the boat.

After wandering through the show, we walked down Main Street, checking out the shops. At the bottom of the hill is the Annapolis Harbor and “Ego Alley”, a basin in the harbor where people cruise their boats down a narrow channel, spin around, and go back out to show off. There were a couple of smaller boats in the basin, and one medium-sized yacht coming down the channel, but nothing spectacular.

We headed back up the hill, stopping at a few more shops and to get a refreshing beverage, before walking back through the Art show to the car.

From downtown, we went back toward the hotel and stopped at the West End Grill to watch the Norway vs. Brazil soccer match. The match was great, and the crowd at the restaurant was pretty evenly divided, so there was a lot of energy. We stayed for dinner, and when the match was over, we went back to the hotel for the evening.

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Weekly Recap

This week, the boat was hauled out to see if we could figure out the wiggle in the port propeller shaft. It turns out that there were multiple issues: a bad cutlass bearing and a slight misalignment in the propeller. Between the heat, every day was over 100°, and the July 4th holiday, what should have been a three-day job stretched through the week. We spent most of the time just trying to keep cool!

Next week, we hope to be back in the water by Wednesday. Assuming all is good with the propellers, we will head toward New York City. Our first stop is planned for Rock Hall, MD, then through the C&D canal to Delaware City, and on to Cape May, NJ. There are thunderstorms predicted for every afternoon next week, so the weather may play a factor in our travels. Check out the blog to see how we made out!