During the fall of 2018, Mockingbird made several trips carrying people and supplies to Plum Island in connection with the laying and hook-up of the new cable furnishing electric power to the Island. When the new cable is activated, the old cable will remain in place and available should there be an outage with the new installation.

In addition, laying the new cable across Plum Island provides an electrical power source for Plum. Although there was electric power on Plum Island years ago, that was discontinued when the Coast Guard abandoned the station.

Mockingbird took a reporter from the Observer out to the barge which is repairing the electrical cable so mainland power can be restored to the Island.

Yay! Let the charter season begin and the good times roll.

Mockingbird successfully completed her sea trials after her engine and outdrive were removed, completely rebuilt and reinstalled. It  was felt that her proppeller pitch was placing a greater load on her engine than was proper, so a propeller with a less severe pitch was installed. A top speed of 18 knots (about 20 mph) was achieved. Cruising speed of 12-13 knots seems reasonable.