Litha finally made her maiden voyage with us to her new home port of Annapolis, Maryland on a frosty morning the day after Thanksgiving, 2017. Having been laid up in the Herrington Harbour North yard since 2011, we were a bit anxious about what will hopefully become a routine trip in the future.
Litha had done ok with her pre-purchase sea trial in October, but uncertainties about the state of her diesel fuel and recommended repairs identified during her survey left us feeling a bit apprehensive. A prior attempt to move her the previous weekend had was dogged off after the wind forecast built to 50+ which would really have been a challenge had anything not gone as planned.
We arrived early Friday morning needing to catch the high tide only to find Litha slick with frost and in no hurry to start when we turned her key. Kudos to the previous owner for leaving a well written boat book with instructions on how to find the set of jumper cables and to separate a bank of 12V from the 24V bank and jump it across to the 12V starter bank. We were very pleased to hear the engine come alive just as the balance of the crew arrived with a welcome thermos of hot chocolate.
We cast off and cleared the silted channel and on to the Herrington Harbour South fuel dock for an attempt to top off the smaller fuel tank. Only able to raise the fuel gauge needle to 3/4, we noted overflow into the engine compartment which worried us. Turns out there is a brass fuel sampling pump which needs to have its valve closed during fueling or it will vent fuel as it did for us that day.
The rest of the trip was uneventful and appreciated, even if we needed to motor given a light breeze on the nose all the way. We backed Litha into her new slip and were thankful for a good first outing.
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