13 August 2026
Before our last trip to the Bahamas, Clark made a spur-of-the-moment decision to buy a small dinghy that we could use there that we could "beach" to go ashore. Unfortunately, that did not work out as well as we hoped as we had no engine to propel the dinghy and no time to buy one before we had to depart to catch a weather window.
That dinghy has sat in our basement waiting for its turn to be useful ever since. This past week Clark decided we should drag it out of the basement and set it up for potential use. We have a 4-HP outboard that he could use to propel it, but before he could do that, he needed to register the boat in NJ to be legal out on the water.
Before we could go to the MVC (Motor Vehicle Commission) to register it, Clark needed to find the documents showing proof of ownership, bill of sale, etc. For over a week we looked high and low - on the boat and all over the house. Usually I am the one to find things but not this time. Luckily, Clark did stumble over it finding it near related boating equipment. Once he found the documents, he ran off to the MVC to get the registration done.
I realized after he left, and too late to warn him, that he would need a reservation to get any work done. Some 30 to 45 minutes later he returned saying he had been unsuccessful as 1) he did need a reservation and 2) our Eatontown location no longer performs this function. He would need a reservation in a town about 30-minutes drive north of us. Some years ago (not so many years) a New Jersey governor did a facelift on the, then called, DMV (Dept. of Motor Vehicles) to make it more efficient and renamed it the MVC to take away the stigma and stink of the inefficient old system. Oh well - nice try!
Clark scheduled his appointment, which unfortunately was several days into the future, made the appointment, and got the boat registered. Now that he had the boat registered, he needed to put the registration numbers on the boat. (No wonder it has sat in our basement for a couple of years!) Recently, the last West Marine near us closed permanently. Clark did not think the one in Brick would sell the letters / numbers to apply anyway, so he ordered them online.
When they finally arrived, he stuck them on boards (made for this application) that he could hang on each side of the dinghy proudly displaying the registration data. Before applying the new letters / numbers, he removed the old ones from the board and cleaned the board with acetone. (Taking the dinghy for a run had turned into a full-blown project!)
Now, finally, to take the dinghy for a test ride! Having no idea when the outboard was last used or how well it would run, I decided to let Clark go out on his own first. I would join him after he approved its condition. If he had to row back, we did not need my weight in the boat, and I did not want to assist in rowing it!
Surprisingly, the engine had gasoline in it, and it had not turned into a gluey substance. Clark ran the boat out to the end of our creek and even made it back again! Now it was time for both of us to go for a spin!
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Clark at "helm" and
Ev up front to enjoy a dinghy ride |
When Clark went out on his own, he ran the engine up on speed and tried to get the dinghy up on plane. Even with just him in the boat, that was a no go. Given that, our excursion was a very slow ride out to Pleasure Bay and back to the house.
The first thing I noticed as we exited our creek was that we were on an eye-to-eye level with a bird sitting on the no wake float and monitoring the waterway.
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| At eye level with a sea gull |
Rather than just going to the end of our creek and back home again, Clark took us down a neighboring lagoon that we don't ever navigate on Sunset Delight due to narrow width concerns. The first thing we both noticed as we entered the lagoon was the smell. Just one creek over from us and ours isn't odiferous. As I scrunched up my nose at the smell, Clark said, "Manure!" Lovely!
Even so, we continued down the creek to the end (very short ride) to check out the view.
Clark's favorite tree is the Weeping Willow and one house on the creek had two of them. One was a real beauty and the other did not look quite so healthy.
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Gorgeous Weeping Willow
on a Rumson lagoon |
As we exited that waterway, I asked Clark if he planned to check out any more shallow lagoons, and he said, "No". He noticed that the "tell tale" on the outboard (per Google also referred to as the "pee hole") was dripping and not streaming. He keeps an eye on it and knew it had been streaming when we left. He was concerned that blades on the impellor had broken up due to age. As soon as we pulled up to the dock, he went into investigation mode.
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| "Why isn't the outboard peeing?" |
Before doing any more aggressive investigation, Clark decided to use a thin piece of metal (like a very thin coat hanger type metal) to see if the hole was plugged. That, in fact, was the issue and, thus, a very quick fix! Yay!
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| Dinghy with NJ registration plates |
So, now we have a usable, registered dinghy. What we don't have is a complete solution for bringing it with us on Sunset Delight for quick and easy way to get to shore (unlike our current dinghy which is tedious to deploy). How do we carry it with us? What engine do we buy for it (not gasoline)? Clark is doing research on electric motors and trying to decipher their power ratings into HP equivalent - not my idea of fun!
16 August 2026
The weather yesterday and today was simply put - amazing! We had temps in the high 70s or low 80s with low humidity. It actually felt cool outside! Yesterday, the 15th, I decided to do some gardening work. Every time I turn around the weeds have reappeared. They come up in between the pavers we earlier this summer had cleaned up as well as in the rock landscaping we have near the creek and everywhere in between.
Given that hard work yesterday, it sounded good when Clark said we should take Sunset Delight out for a maintenance run. We generally try to move the boat every 7 to 10 days to help keep the bottom clean. Plus, Clark had done some engine work recently and needed to check for any further leaks, etc.
We headed out at noon. We are generally gone for about 90 minutes if it is a simple maintenance run. With rain threatened for later in the day and high tide mid-day, we pulled in our lines and went out for our ride just as the clock showed 12:00 noon.
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| Neighbor's Flags flapping in the breeze |
As we crossed Pleasure Bay heading towards Sea Bright, we could feel a pretty strong breeze blowing. Looking over the beach at Sea Bright, I noticed an airplane pulling a banner quite low to the shoreline. I don't normally see them that low to the ground and wondered how he managed the wind with a banner trailing behind him. I also wondered what size audience he might have today as it felt cool for a day at the beach.
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| Plane and banner just over the rooftops |
As we went past a marina in Sea Bright, I noticed a crane on a barge at dock. The tow boat name was funny.
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"Tug O' War"
at dock in Sea Bright |
When we arrived home in the spring, we noticed that almost all of the day markers were gone from Pleasure Bay due to the weather over the winter. They were nicely put back in place a few weeks after that. It did not take long for boat to knock one over. The green marker (shown below) that marks the start of the channel we take to cross the bay to our creek now stands at a 45 degree angle to the water and is almost totally submerged at high tide.
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| Double Green at 45 degree angle on the bay |
Clark also noted while we were on our ride that the Red #28 that marks the exit from the Shrewsbury River into Pleasure Bay was gone - not out of station but gone! Since shoaling occurs at that point, it is a pretty important marker to have disappear.
We arrived back at our creek in less than one hour from when we left. When I mentioned it to Clark, he said that was because we pushed the boat up to wide open on the return trip to check out the max RPMS. Clark runs it up on speed occasionally to check out the boat's performance. It passed!
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Re-entering our creek
Note the day markers are still in place! |
After docking, we had some work to be done. Taking the boat up to max RPM in the wind meant we had salt spray on our port-side windows. Although rain was predicted for the evening, it seemed unlikely that the windows would wash themselves. The stripes of salt water residue had to be taken off if we wanted a pretty view.
Clark washed the windows, and then because he had a bucket of water, he decided to rinse other places that are used for handholds. Unfortunately, some of those were over the freshly cleaned windows meaning the windows had to be done a second time. While he fussed over that, I took a wet rag and wiped the salt off all the railing around the boat - also to get the salt off.
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| Window cleaning time |
Knowing Clark had done the engine maintenance earlier in the month, I asked if he had checked for spills and leaks. He had not, so he went to do that and found a puddle of oil by the starboard engine. I thought it was the port engine he worked on!!
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Substance the color of mud on
the engine and the floor |
Clark immediately went into investigation mode. "Where did that come from?"
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Clark looking for the source of
the problem - starboard side |
I noticed that the dipstick for the oil did not appear to be fully seated. We think that may have been the issue. When we got ready to leave earlier, Clark went to start the engines and remembered he had not done the pre-trip engine checks (he never forgets!). Apparently, he did the checks in a hurry and may have left the dipstick not fully seated. Hopefully that was the, now rectified, problem.
Looking to the port side, he found some reddish color fluid. He cleaned it up and found a not-tight-enough hose clamp that he tightened.
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| Red-colored fluid - port side |
Finally, with windows and railings clean and fluids on both engines checked, we closed up the boat for today.
Earlier in the month ...
Besides getting the spare dinghy set up, Clark has been busy working on another side project for the boat. We have window shades in the boat salon that are showing their age having been in place since the boat was built many years ago now. Figuring out what to replace them with has been another problem to be solved. Where to go, what to buy, how much to spend, what color, what fabric, what style, ...
After visiting the Blinds To Go store in Eatontown and the Hunter Douglas store in Red Bank, Clark checked out blinds.com, per a recommendation from a representative from the company that manufactures / sells the type of boat we own. The difference in price was truly amazing - a difference of hundreds versus thousands of dollars depending on where the shades are purchased.
We got samples in the mail from blinds.com, measured, measured and re-measured the window and existing shades and finally have an order ready to go. Hopefully we will find we did a good job when they arrive, but really Clark will have earned all the accolades when the job is completed! Mostly I held one end of the tape measure for him!
When not working on the boat in some way shape or form or pulling weeds, I have kept busy with my Kindle and nautical, historical novels or with a jigsaw puzzle my granddaughters gave me when they were in New Jersey. Containing 1000 pieces, it kept me busy for a few days. Towards the end, I was convinced there were pieces missing but, thankfully, that proved to be untrue!
