2026 June: Boat and House repair

26 - 31 May 2026

Clark and I spent the week after Memorial Day weekend with him working on the boat (big surprise) and me preparing for our trip to Williamsport, Pennsylvania for my college graduation 50-year reunion. I have not been back to Lycoming College in 25 years. The campus has expanded in size and changed considerably. Upon arrival, I recognized nothing! 

Many of the buildings now on campus did not exist when I was there as a student or even when I last visited. Many buildings that did exist when I attended there have been repurposed. It was quite disorienting. Clarke Chapel, the dorms I lived in, the student union center, the original academic center, and the old admissions building were the only buildings that felt familiar, but even those had been remodeled inside and repurposed such that they too were mostly unfamiliar. When I attended we had one quad at the center of the campus. Now there is an upper and a lower quad!

I did not feel sad that things had changed; growth is good. Until we got to the small corner of the grounds where I spent 90% of my time, I just did not feel "at home". Once I stood in front of the Student Union building, things felt comfortable and familiar.

Out of the 330 or so students in our class, about 28 attended the reunion. As attendees, we were somewhat dismayed at the low attendance. However, we were told by the administration that our numbers were on a par with other classes celebrating 50 years. Interestingly, the current graduation class had about 100 or so students - considerably less than when I attended. The school is looking to expand to include new majors as well as introducing a master's program as a way to attract more students.

Clark and I took oodles of pictures, and if anyone is interesting in viewing them, they can be seen at Lycoming 50 Year Reunion. 

On the home front, it seems like every time we turn around something needs to be repaired. Even Clark's guitar had to go to the guitar hospital for major surgery on its frets. That took several weeks to come back home. The house is constantly making demands on our time, and of course the boat is a constant source of items to include in Clark's "to do" list. 

I decided to take a break from chores and spend an afternoon with my acrylic paint. I looked through my hundreds of boating pictures and found two that I "joined together" to produce the one shown below. The original background scene had a seagull instead of a pelican.

Meanwhile, Clark had his own "artwork" he was doing - cutting a hole in the boat! There is a drain hole in the wall / floor of the upper helm to allow rainwater to escape. Unfortunately, that drain developed a crack that allowed water to drip down onto the ceiling below in the salon. Overtime enough water dripped down to cause one of the overhead headliners to droop / drop down. 

A couple of years ago, we had this same issue, and Clark sealed the leak, pushed the ceiling "tile" back up, and put a brace in place to hold it up. Unfortunately, the problem re-presented itself uglier than ever. To fix it this time, he bought a tube of 4200 sealer and a plate for an access panel. Then he cut a hole in the side of the boat.

New hole in boat!
(Tiny hole to bottom left of access hole is drain hole.)

After using almost an entire tube of 4200 and letting it dry, he closed up the panel.

Access panel covered

Meanwhile, he did major repair on the salon. I do not have a "before" picture where the panel was hanging down. We had to clean out old sealant and heavily apply glue to re-stick the panel.

Headliner pushed back up in place

Unfortunately, the repair was still obvious with a slight bow to the panel, so Clark decided to add trim to provide support for the panel and camouflage the work done on it. Clark found a lumber store where we could buy cherry wood trim, brought it home, cut it to size, and screwed it in place. We stained the trim with cherry stain and polyurethane sealant before installation.  

Using screws for easy removal if needed in future

Trim installed - starboard side
(Clark shown in mirror installing port side)

Finished work - port side

One can only hope that the leak will not reappear, but Clark is ready if it does!

5 -6 June 2026

Ever since we got home at the beginning of May, we have been trying to find a day where we could get to see our Connecticut grandchildren. With the kids still in school and soccer / sports every weekend, finding time has been difficult. Finally, an opportunity presented itself for us to at least see our son, Chris, and his son, Jack, for an overnight visit. Chris attended a friend's baby shower near Philadelphia and left Jack for us to enjoy while he was away. 

Jack was ready with a full agenda of things he wanted to do while visiting us. At the top of his list was a dinghy ride with Papa Clark. 

When they left for their outing, Chris was still here, so I stayed home and we chatted for a while before Chris took off for Philly. Besides the dinghy ride, Jack spent time with Clark playing tunes on our piano. He's getting good at playing "Happy Birthday to You". Jack played with Clark coaching!  Next, it was my turn. Jack wanted to paint. When I offered watercolor, he was aghast. "I want acrylic paint!" Like Nana like Jack, I prefer acrylic as well. We did a painting together. 

I pulled up pictures of Pokémon on my iPad for him to look through. Of course he picked out the most difficult one of all. To expedite the process, I printed out the picture onto paper and then, using carbon paper, I traced the picture onto the canvas. So the carbon would not leave trace evidence in the paint, I sprayed the canvas with hairspray (a trick I learned in an art class), let it dry, and voila we were ready to paint. He painted the characters. I filled in afterwards with the background as he did not like them "floating" in the air with no land to stand on!

Jack had one more item on his "to do" list - play games. Very quickly, we agreed on playing Skip-Bo, and we even got Papa Clark, who never plays games, to join us! 

Of course the day flew by. We agreed with Chris beforehand that we would drive north to meet him on his way back to Connecticut to grab dinner together and hand over Jack. We picked a pizza restaurant that had highly-rated reviews online. After a quick look at their menu, that did not match the one online, we decided to relocate to "Olive Garden" nearby where we enjoyed a very filling dinner before we parted ways. 

7 June 2026

Clark and I celebrated 46 years of marriage today. We kept it simple - church in the morning, followed by lunch at a favorite restaurant, "The Turning Point" in Little Silver, a rest to let the food digest, and finished off with a bike ride to Carvel for ice cream. Perfect day!

8 June 2026 - Boat Maintenance Run

Clark finally received a part he needed to repair a leak in the exhaust hose on the port engine. He said it was hard to get the old one off and the new one on, but he got the job done. Of course with a repair like that, he wanted to take the boat out afterwards to make sure the repair was successful. Given that, we put on our jackets (chilly wind today) and went for a maintenance run over to Sea Bright and past Monmouth Beach and back home again. 

Day markers for Pleasure Bay and the entrance to our creek are still missing after this winter's bad weather, so it is a bit tricky navigating around the shoals in the area. We have been aiming for near high tide for our travels to give us more depth when we go out.

Clark checked the engine a couple of times while we were out and again when we got to dock and said everything looked good, i.e. no leaks.

Meanwhile, the paving-stone stairway in our backyard going down to the dock has eroded to the point of being extremely dangerous. The wooden "railroad ties" have rotted through and, in some cases, collapsed. I have been timid about using the steps for fear of a tie collapsing under me and twisting / breaking an ankle!

Repair for this was discussed two summers ago. Major boat repair / costs got in the way.  Then, ridiculous estimates for repair work were collected last summer. $38,000 to repair the steps and redo the bulkhead that did not need replacing! Finally, this summer we got a recommendation from a neighbor, a much more reasonable estimate, and repair work has begun! First step, tear out the old, rotted timbers.

9 June 2026

Clark's lab partner from college is having some health issues, so we took a field trip today to go visit her in the Philadelphia area. Google Maps guided through some pretty sketchy sections of Philly suburbs to get to her place. We spent a few hours visiting and then left to make our way back home. My navigation skills were severely challenged as we tried to override Google's default directions. After going in circles for a while, we finally made our way to route 76 and our way out of town. Phew! 

A fill up of around 11 gallons of gas cost us about $44 when we got near home. That's better than whoever was at the pump before us as their tab showed over $110! 

2026 May: Memorial Day Maintenance Run

 

The weather in New Jersey has been like a yo-yo with temperatures approaching the 90s for a couple of days and then sadly dropping back into the 60s. The picture above shows the view from our back deck and typifies the weather we have most often seen and experienced over the Memorial Day weekend. 

Now that we are back in New Jersey, we have a lot of catching up with friends and neighbors to do. Given that, we have been eating out and sampling some of the restaurants in the area. Our neighbors suggested we try a new restaurant in Red Bank that none of us had tried previously. Ellie's Backyard is located on Broad Street, which is closed off for outside dining during the summer season. 

We would definitely return!

After our very enjoyable meal, we decided to walk down the street and around the corner for an ice cream treat at "Scoops & Scootery". This place is also new to Red Bank. When we got close (on the opposite side of the road) we could see a long line of people waiting at the entrance. That stopped us "dead in our tracks". We didn't need to try the place that badly. 

Doing some research, I found that there are two locations of "Scoops and Scootery". One is in Boston, MA and one is in Red Bank, NJ.  From reviews, and our own observations, they appear to be extremely popular and long lines are commonplace. Maybe we will return to try them some time. 

Long line at Scoops & Scootery for ice cream

For this outing we decided to drop back to our usual go-to place for ice cream treats - Crazees!

Crazees - Rumson, NJ

Our next restaurant outing was to the Beach Tavern in Monmouth Beach, NJ with our long-time friends - Mike and Darlene. 

This choice was made based on a recommendation from Darlene's daughter. When I told Clark the address, he said, "I know where that is!" and seemed happy to be going there. As we turned into the parking lot, I realized why Clark was excited as this restaurant is situated near the Channel Club where Clark spent his youth and his father kept his boat. 

Clark would bicycle the seven miles to the marina from his home (he was too young to drive) and go swimming in the pool with marina friends. Naturally, he was anxious to see if the pool was still there, and it was!

Channel Club pool

He had a small Styrofoam boat that he would throw in the water and paddle or sail. He even had a small outboard that he could attach (as seen in my prior blog posts when looking at antique outboards).

outboard like Clark's

 As we strolled around the area, I grabbed some pictures of the area imagining a youthful Clark enjoying his boating time. He noted that the docks when he played here were fixed docks that have been replaced with floating docks either due to damage from Superstorm Sandy or due to Suntex taking over the area.

As we walked around, he appeared to be hunting for something. Finally, he got that ah-ha moment and pointed out to me where railroad tracks used to run from a building down into the water. The tracks were used to launch boats back in the day. Without knowing the history, no one would no as there were no visible signs that tracks used to lay here.

Our next food-related outing was instigated by Clark's high school graduating class of 1973. He learned through a Facebook post that there would be a gathering of classmates at Beacon 70 in Brick Township for Happy Hour. 

Beacon 70 Restaurant & Bar

Originally, I was going to let Clark go on his own to this event, and then I remembered that his classmates are pretty cool folks, so I decided to join him. As it turned out, he needed a navigator for the trip there. When we left the house, Google Maps said it would take 45 minutes to get there - sounded about right. 45 minutes later into the ride, Google Maps showed it would take 45 minutes to get there. 

No matter which way we looked, we found red lines on Maps indicating traffic. We looked at the Parkway, State Highway 35, local roads, and everything was blocked with traffic. This was a Tuesday for heaven's sake! What the heck! 

Happy hour was from 4:00 to 7:00. We got there at 6:15! The place was packed - a proverbial "mad house". I had difficulty wrapping my "boat-at-anchor" mind around all the traffic and all the people. The restaurant was wall-to-wall people as many stood at the bar, and the noise level was unbelievably loud. A DJ played loud music and had folks playing a game of "Music Bingo", which I assumed meant folks had to listen to his music choices to win. 

We put our names in when we entered the restaurant for a table later on. They buzzed Clark's cellphone when the table was ready, and we almost missed our table because he didn't hear the phone. Luckily the table we were assigned sat right next to where all his classmates were standing / sitting near the bar, so our conversations could continue. Everyone recognized Clark because, except for the mustache, he basically still looks the same, but he had to ask everyone their names.

Our most recent food outing took us to a nearby restaurant, Nauvoo Grill, that has become the go-to place to meet with our friends Diane and Joe. 

Nauvoo Grill, Fair Haven, NJ

We are always eager to meet up with these folks, whom we have known for a number of years. Clark met Joe through guitar lessons many years ago, which led to me meeting his wife Diane. The class was taught by Clark's high school friend - Andy McDonough. A chance meeting with Andy in a restaurant led to Clark picking up the guitar and learning to play well enough to play in the St. Columba band in Marathon.

On May 17th we attended a very special family event as a ceremony was held for my nephew's son, Daniel, on achieving the rank of Eagle Scout. Very few scouts achieve the Eagle level which is the highest ranking level. 

A table was set up with a display showing the path to Eagle that Daniel had taken.

Levels of achievement

My nephew, Robert McAteer, led the proceedings for his son as a troop leader.

Daniel receiving the markings of an Eagle Scout
including a new neckerchief 

Daniel with his proud parents
Bob and Maria McAteer

As part of an Eagle Scout Court of Honor, other Eagle Scouts are asked to come forward.

Clark is an Eagle Scout, Class of '71. We attended church last Sunday where he earned his Eagle Scout level, and we saw his name engraved there as a member of Troop 70. With several plaques on display, it took a while to find his name.

Clark - 4th up from bottom on 
leftmost column

After the ceremony we had a beautiful and delicious cake!

Three members of the Keystone Base Submarine Veterans attended the ceremony. This was a new one on me. I asked it I could get pictures of their vests, and they all agreed! Each one is different with the patches they have earned through their years of service / participation. They explained that there is a woman who attaches the patches for them at no charge until the work is done and the customer is satisfied with the work. They are super satisfied and proud!

Two of my grand-nieces and their father (my nephew - Tom) were able to come from Philadelphia to attend this ceremony which was held in Lebanon, PA. Their sister was busy playing in an important baseball / softball game back home. 

Ev, Ellie - 8, and Grace - 11

Besides visiting friends and relatives, we have been visiting our doctors. We have had our annual physicals, dermatology skin checks for too much time in the sun, and eye doctor. Visiting the dentist comes next!

When we are not out and about with friends, relatives, and doctors, we are working on projects either in the house (mostly me) or on the boat (Clark and me). Clark received and installed the replacement part for the upper helm engine display screen that had discolored. He also received and installed the part needed to repair an antifreeze leak on the port engine. Once that was completed he wanted to do a maintenance run to check AF levels, but the weather was too foul to consider going out.

Before several days of rain came, Clark worked in our front yard to put down some top soil and grass seed on spots that stay defiantly bare of grass! 

When it wasn't raining, we continued work on the boat. I made new covers for the windshield wipers as the old ones I made had rotted out. At least this time I could use the originals as a template.

Old, worn out wiper covers

Designing new ones

Done and installed!

Clark said we needed to clean the full enclosure (true). We worked together with me on the inside and him outside to polish our Cool2Sea glass. 

Better him than me out there!

We had to buy new supplies for the job.

Amazingly, the cloudy panes came out crystal clear!

While considering how to address a leak we have from the upper helm to the salon ceiling,  Clark noticed that the radio speaker for the upper helm had rotted out. I ordered a new set of speakers for him to install. (There is always some new issue to address on a boat, i.e. the list never gets shorter, it just changes content.)

Clark with his hand in the speaker hole!

Another job Clark tackled was cleaning the power cord - an ugly job I have done far too many times. 

Before cord

We tried a new product that seemed to do the job.

Recommended by boaters

All better (mostly). After cleaning, Clark, with my help, applied a sealant to help protect it.

After cord

Mid-week before Memorial Day we had temperatures approaching 90. Then the weather turned cold and rainy and stayed that way through most of the weekend. Finally, at 5:00 p.m. on Memorial Day, we had high tide and fair weather and could take the boat out for a test run.

Today's weather forecast

25 May 2026
Depart: home dock, Rumson, NJ 5:10
Arrive: home dock 6:15

I took pictures while we were out enjoying some time on the water.

View traveling outbound on our creek

When we returned from being down south, we found that markers on our local waterways were either missing or out of position! Clark chose to go out at high tide to avoid feeling our way in low water as we did when we came in!

Nope. No markers here!

No markers properly placed
only a "slow speed" barrel to mark the channel

I spied a swan as we exited our creek. Normally, we see two together.

Swan, but where's the mate!?

A few people were out on the water including our neighbor who was also taking his boat out for a quick maintenance run. We left our docks at approximately the same time. 

Neighbors boating

We saw a lone fisherman as we approached Sea Bright, NJ.

Going with the wind, it felt comfortable to be in short sleeves. Going into the wind, I had to put on a jacket and zip it up tight! The air was still raw with the wind in the face.

We did not go far today - not even up to the Sea Bright Bridge before Clark turned around to return home. 

Monmouth Beach, Channel Towers
off in the distance

Carriage House Marina view on right
(where we kept our previous boat)
The condo dock is missing its boards!

Sea Bright Bridge

Folks who follow this blog must realize that I enjoy looking at colorful, cloudy skies. Today's were quite pretty.

Returning home, entering Pleasure Bay, we spied something in the water that we had trouble identifying. When we go up next to it, we discovered it was yet another mylar balloon! Grrr!

Dead balloon in Pleasure Bay

Trying to stay on course through the channel, we  noted a green marker that appeared too far to our starboard side to be correctly positioned. It and the friend it's towing are both in the wrong place!

Out-of-position marker with 
friend in tow!
Monmouth Beach in background

As we entered our creek, we saw two jet skis coming out. They stood off to one side to let us pass.

Looking back at jet skis as we traverse our creek

Another view of Rumson Creek