The one with the Fender Failure
In our last post, we were having some engine overheating troubles which we were able to determine were caused by heat exchanger issues (blocked tubes and a worn cap seal divider). After a few weeks of problem solving and rushed shipments from Beta Marine, we were fairly confident that we had fixed the issues after taking Nymeria out for a sea trial prior to our scheduled departure from Southport, NC. The 4th of July weekend was fast approaching and our slip at Deep Point Marina had been rented for the holidays. We felt that we were lucky to find a spot available at the Oriental Harbor Village Marina in Oriental, NC. We were told when we made the reservation that the main marina was full but we were going to be on the outside wall dock which is only exposed to a south wind. Looking ahead at the weather predictions, we felt ok with this placement as winds were expected from the south but they were supposed to be light to nonexistent during our stay.
With reservations set up for the holiday weekend, we set out from Southport to Oriental. This trip would include 21nm in the ICW north to the Masonboro Inlet by Wrightsville Beach, ~65nm offshore to the Beaufort Inlet, and ~23nm north up the ICW to Oriental. We ended up traveling for almost 23 hours and were lucky to be able to sail the majority of our offshore leg. Overall, it was an uneventful sail once we quit paying so much to the engine temperature gauge and just enjoyed our time on the water.
Once we arrived in Oriental, we were instructed to take a specific path to get to our place on the outside wall of the marina. About 30 feet from the dock, we ran aground. I had read reviews online that grounding was possible but the dockhand was insistent that the depth would not be a problem… It took us a bit of time to get off and back into deeper water to parked along the wall. Having tied up to piers with just a wooden pilings throughout the Bahamas, we were confident in our ability to keep Nymeria safely away from the dock. However, there were multiple factors that would come into play that would lead us to damage our teak rub and toe railings:
- Winds were higher than predicted with sustained 18-20 knots with higher gusts
- Winds, and subsequently the waves, were coming from the South/Southwest
- Wakes from power boats on the water for the holiday weekend
- Boat slip was not behind the breakwater to keep out waves from the Neuse River
- Water was low placing Nymeria well below the height of the pier (threatening our life raft)
But mostly:
- We borrowed a fender board from a boat neighbor and it failed
Once the wind and waves picked up, we were pretty much pinned against the dock and rocking pretty good with the gusts and waves from passing boats. With the rocking and bouncing, we were having a difficult time keeping our horizontal fenders centered on the pilings to adequately protect our boat. We were having to stay onboard to keep an eye on things and make adjustments every hour or so. A fellow cruiser stopped by while we were outside making an adjustment and offered additional fenders and suggested that we use his fender board to try and keep the fenders more centered and the boat further away from the dock. We were reluctant to use it as we had never used one before but were up to give it a try since what we had wasn’t working well either. (We don’t have a picture of the actual setup that we used.) After taking a couple of hours to monitor the fender board situation, it seemed that everything was working well and we didn’t have to make any adjustments during that time. We felt confident enough in our setup to go to dinner and then to go check out what was happening at the town’s Croaker Festival.
After dinner at the marina restaurant, we should have followed our gut and gone to check on the boat, but we walked a couple of blocks toward the festival. Just as we entered the park, we got a call from the Dockmaster to return back to our boat. He reported that the fender board had failed, our boat was rubbing on the pilings and our life raft was floating in the water. We arrived to find about 5 fellow boaters either on the boat, on the dock, or in a dinghy to help secure Nymeria and our floating life raft. For some reason the fender board decided to, instead of being between the vertical fenders and the piling, go behind the fenders allowing the boat to bang directly on the dock/piling. With Nymeria directly against the dock, sacrificial teak on the toe and rub railings were damaged and the life raft on the back railing was left to bang on the dock causing its mount to bend, allowing it to fall into the water.
The marina offered to move us to an inside slip for the night since another boat didn’t show. We considered it but it was only for one night and then we’d be back in the same situation the following day. But most importantly, there was no way that we could have gotten off the dock with the 20 knots of wind and waves crashing into the boat. We would have had to have another boat pull us off the wall and probably cause more damage than we already had. We just had to continue to monitor our fenders and wait for the weather to die down so that we could move.
We did end up being in a great spot to watch the fireworks that were shot off the bridge beside the marina. There were times that we saw some flaming firework pieces floating towards us as the wind was still blowing our direction. But luckily, the wind died down and we were able to just enjoy the show, give a boat tour to some new friends, and get a good night’s sleep.
Once the weather cleared, we were able to head further north up the Neuse River to New Bern, NC. It has been on our list to visit since we started cruising and it is the biggest town nearby so that we could have access to the materials needed to assess the extent of our damage and start the repair process. We were also looking forward to being in a slip with floating docks, especially with wind and thunderstorms in the forecast. Unfortunately, even with access to big box stores, we still had to order a 4’ piece of teak which was cut to a custom size and quickly shipped to the marina through Buck Woodcraft. We picked this company randomly from a google search and were super impressed with the speed with which they shipped out our teak and they even refunded us some shipping money after it turned out to be cheaper than stated on their website. We were able to take advantage of the time in between storms to prep the boat by filling in the holes and upper rub rail with epoxy and shaping the new piece of teak to eventually be installed on the boat. We also used our halyard for our main sail to lift our 300lb life raft back into place.
We did get to do a little sightseeing with Justin’s Uncle Jay who came to visit for a few days. He even brought his dog Bode with him to remind us of the ups and downs of having a dog on board.
With more weather in the forecast, we wanted to get to a more secure marina. While in New Bern, we stayed at The Galley Stores and Marina. We loved the location to explore the town but they had suffered some damage due to a winter storm causing loose cleats and unstable docks. Plus, we had little to protect us from the prevailing South/SouthEast winds. Knowing that more storms were on the horizon, we took off on the 62nm journey to the Belhaven Marina. We’ve stayed at this marina a couple of times and have always felt very safe and secure here. Even though this marina is made up of no slips, only bulkheads or wall docks with pilings, they provide giant fenders to keep you away from the dock. The marina is also behind a breakwater to keep waves from the Pungo River out of the creek and marina basin.
Once settled, we again took advantage of the time between storms to shape the new teak rub rail for mounting. We determined that we are not woodworkers and don’t really want to be. However, we were able to get everything to a satisfactory level for both of us. We won’t be able to completely finalize the project quite yet as it still needs to get about 10 layers of Cetol Varnish applied to it and we can’t do that while it’s raining everyday. So, the Cetol and our next travel location will have to wait until the weather clears.
The cure for anything is saltwater – sweat, tears, or the sea.
Isak Dinesen
