Cambridge Life

Cambridge MD
N 38 34.330 W 076 04.445

We like Cambridge. It is a favorite stop whenever we are in the Chesapeake region. It has two minor attractions. First, is the magic of being central in Michener's story Chesapeake. Second, is the free dock offered by the city. Boats are allowed to tie up on the wall in the harbor for 4 hours.

However the real appeal of Cambridge is that it is such a charming little city. In my mind, Cambridge is very much like New Bern, North Carolina, which is well known to cruisers as a charming place. We like walking the streets to see the majestic Victorian houses. In fact, after posting this blog, Libby and I are going to take a guided walking tour of historic Cambridge.

There are also two court houses near to the waterfront. In the past, I enjoyed observing some real life trials here in Cambridge. That's very intellectually stimulating. This trip however, there were no courts in session. I guess all the judges must be vacationing in France or something.

Finally, there is a public library right next to the water front. On oppressively hot afternoons we can take refuge there. I post blogs and I can read the Wall Street Journal. Yesterday I also found a way to export my entire blog archive to a data base file on my hard drive. That's not only a good back up, but also the first step needed to convert the blog archive to book form.

One thing was not so nice. The free wall that we tie up against is rough finished. There are square beams that stick out yet do not extend above the wall. Yesterday, when both Libby and I were away from the boat, our rub rail caught on the top of one of those beams in a falling tide. Despite the numerous fenders we had out, the beam got under the rail. As Tarwathie fell with the the tide, her whole weight pressed down until the teak rub rail shattered and broke loose from the hull. Now I have a new project -- repair the rail. If I can't repair it, I'll have to find a carpenter to make a new one and that will be expensive.

When we bought Tarwathie, her hull was unblemished, shining with a beautiful Awlgrip finish. Now, I'm ashamed to say that she has numerous dings and scars and dock rash marks. I always suspect that I could be more vigilant and cautious in avoiding such damage, but in reality I don't see how I could do it much better.

We are also having trouble with our refrigerator/freezer. The motor runs almost all the time. I called a repair man in Solomons, but he still has not returned our call. I presume that he's so over booked that he doesn't want new customers. I bought a can of refrigerant and an adapter hose for $16 in a hardware store, but I had to return it because it wouldn't fit the service port. I ordered an adapter hose from Technautics, the manufacturer. That way it was guaranteed to fit. I had it shipped to Cambridge. It came along with an invoice for $179. (WOW what markups these people impose!) I used it to recharge the fridge and get all the bubbles out of the circulation loop. However, the motor is still running all the time even though it's plenty cold in there. It must be some other cause.