The Caterpillar engines were due for their first 250 preventive maintenance service and the question arose as to where the service would be performed. Location became an issue due to the scope of the service, which includes a valve adjustment and torquing the injector bolts. Hansen Marine, Caterpillar's AMV (Authorized Marine Vendor), estimated two days for the extensive requirements. Since they charge time and mileage from their location in Marblehead to the boat at Hingham Shipyard and would have to go through Boston traffic four times at rush hour (easily 2 hours each way), the travel expense would easily exceed $600 and could run higher. Further, travel expense would be incurred if they if they had to return to the shop for parts.
This known travel expense and the possibility of unexpected travel expense made the decision to bring the boat to them easy. The next challenge was finding a dockage. Marblehead was booked solid so we opted for Salem, a fast 15 minutes from Hansen's base with dockage at Pickering Wharf for one night at $209. Fuel burn at 40 gallons round trip ($160) would bring the total cost to $369. A savings of $231 at the low end travel estimate and potentially a big saving with Boston traffic.
We scheduled the service for Tuesday August 5, which turned out to coincide with the arrival of Hurricane Bertha.
Next challenge: Getting the boat to Salem. Here too there was a question as to how to do it. Options: Diana and I cruise to Salem or I cruise solo and Diana arrives by car. We chose the latter as the 63 is extremely well set-up for single handed operation and having the car would permit a side trips.
Explanatory Note - Single Handed Operation. The combination of the hydraulic bow and stern thrusters along with the Glendenning remote control making docking easy. The wide walk-around decks with high bulwarks facilitate deploying fenders and setting up lines in complete safty while underway. As long as we have help on the dock we are golden. In today's case, Diana disconnected the lines at our slip and both Diana and Pickering's dockmaster were available when I arrived in Salem.
I departed Hingham at 5:35 AM and headed northwest for Hull Gut and caught a beautiful sunrise. Then continued west crossing Nantasket Roads with a right turn at Georges's Island to link up with President Roads, the main channel heading northeast.
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| Sunrise between Bumpkin and Grape Islands |
Hurricane Bertha, now a tropical storm, was not an issue. She very conveniently turned northeast off Cape Hatteras and began heading out to sea. She was expected to pass 300 miles east of Nantucket (notice the track in the photo below) posing no threat to marine interests. Beyond that, the forecast for the Boston area said it would be sunny with a 20% chance of a thundershower later in the day.
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| Tropical Storm Bertha off of Cape Hatteras on Tuesday morning |
Winds were light, seas were flat and visibility was 3 to 5 miles despite the haze. I passed Marblehead Light at 7:37 AM, entered Salem Harbor at 8:00 and was secured to the dock at Pickering Wharf by 8:20. What a perfect morning.
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| Marblehead Light - a bit hazy |
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| Channel to downtown Salem and Pickering Wharf |
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| Historic sailing vessel |
The technicians from Hansen arrived at 9:05 AM and went to work. I spent the morning learning how to change engine oil and filters (oil filter, engine fuel filter and Racor 30 micron filters).
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| Guided Discovery at Pickering Wharf |
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| Pickering Wharf with restaurant and condos in downtown Salem |
Note: We visited Salem in September of 2011 while on the Great Loop. See that article for additional photos details on the historic sights.
Written by Les.
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