Georgetown, Great Exuma

Georgetown, Great Exuma
There is a Paradise!!!!

Monday, April 19, 2010

The boats work continues

Captain Kooks version

This retirement thing is exhausting. I don’t know how I got things done when I was working. We have been back in Olympia for a week and have 2 more weeks to get the house packed up and ready to rent.

While we were in Florida the first 2 weeks of April we got lots of things done. Patti spent a lot of time cI eaning every surface In the boat. Sitting in the marina in Georgia for 2 plus years it accumulated a pretty good coating of dust and grime. I got to clean out the freezer and the fridge cause she can’t reach the bottom. I posted a video of my adventures into the depths of the freezer.

I Started with the surveyor’s safety recommendations. We have most of those done and even got a good start on several other items. We, pulled the shaft so we could check out the cutless bearing. It will be replaced and will add a dripless packing gland too. The shaft was sent out to a shop to be checked out, just found out that it is ok. That was a relief, a new propeller shaft, well OUCH!!!

After we took the shaft out, then it was on to the transmission and the rear bell housing on the engine. Got help from a local mechanic who has rebuilt a couple of Lehman diesels lately. The dry plate went in just before we came home. Removing the bell housing is not an easy task but we got it done. We tried to get the transmission back on but ran out of gas since we had been at it all day, well that and the fact that it was beer thirty had some influence too.

Everyday at 1630 (that’s mariner, sailor, military type and most of the rest of the world speak for 4:30pm) the live-a-boards at the marina gather on the porch of the marina office, cold beer in hand, to discuss the days projects. It tends to get a little rowdy and somewhat distracting, especially when you’re only two boats away, it’s 80 degrees and in need of some liquid replenishment.

The collection of people here is as eclectic as the cars around the marina. There is an early 80’s VW convertible. The good ole white rag top. For a week the owner had the car parked in the shade working on the brakes. In the nafternoon he would show up at happy hour to share his success for the day. Well we all knew long before he got out of the car since he would slowly coast up to the office beer oin hand looking pretty distraught. Yep guys still no brakes he would say. Ack at it tomorrow.

The first big project of the trip was a bust all for the want of a dremel tool. We wanted to get the micro-wave installed first and spent a lot of time making the rounds to all of the stores in the area, Lowes, Home Depot, Penneys, Kohls, Walmart, Sears, Freds, etc. Taking measurements and trying to visualize what would fit and what wouldn’t. We bought one that we thought would fit and then proceeded to remove the shelf in the galley behind the stove. Easy Peasey, right? Wrong. The shelf appeared to be resting on two blocks at the end of the shelf. Take out 4 screws and the shelf comes right out, right!!!! Well the blocks came out as expected but the shelf wouldn’t budge. OK, it wiggled a little but was not about to relinquish the space it had occupied without a fight. It turns that there is a layer of glass cloth epoxyed over the top of the shelf, securing it to the hull. Tried lots of things but the space is very limited and a dremel tool will do the trick. That’s the first thing I will do when we get back in a couple of weeks.

Other boat projects. Engine stuff, replace the raw water pump, oil and transmission oil heat exchangers/coolers, replace a couple of sections of exhaust hose. I also replaced the ship side plug for the shore power cord and replaced a couple of outlets with GFIC outlets. The propane system was really corroded, so out it came and was replaced and upgraded with a dual regulator and all new hose. I also added a disconnect switch and breaker to the inverter circuit.

Buying a car ended up taking a lot more time than I thought. We ended up buying a 1998 Nissan Sentra from the used car guy in Green Cove Springs, just 3 miles from where the boat is parked. We were looking for a cheap car and so where else would you look then a business called, yep you got it, “Cheap Cars”.

Now that we are home for 3 weeks the focus is completely different. First priority was to pack the stuff to take to the boat in May. Next is packing up the rest of the house and take it to our storage unit. Get the drapes and rugs cleaned and a whole bunch on other stuff.

From the Admiral:

It seems as though we are living in two different worlds right now. Our new one in Florida, and our old one in Olympia. It was really strange coming back home and not having to go back to work. I guess I really am retired!

Our life in Olympia is getting packed up and put into storage, waiting for us to come back and start anew. When we get back to Florida, we’ll unpack and move our things into our new home, our new life. Just need to meld some of the old with the new. We definitely want to keep in touch with all of our friends and family, and keep them informed of all of our exploits, so we will try to do that here, and through email, skype, facebook, phone, etc. All kinds of communication available to us. Not only will you be in our hearts, but you will be at the tip of our finger, only a moment away.

Friday, April 9, 2010

The Adventure resumes

Well after a long absence from the blog it is time to get back to it. We have been really busy the last couple of years as Patti and I undertook a serious educational endeavor.

We decide a couple of years ago, actually more like 3 that we would really like to buy a bigger boat and go cruising. We started reading Lin and Larry Pardeys books, and found that the most interesting parts of the books were learning about the people they befriended and the cultures they encountered in their many travels. Additionally It soon became apparent that there is a tremendous kinship within the cruising community. It is almost as if it is a huge traveling commune where the members are constantly changing, forever replenishing with new faces of similar motivation. Lots of expertise from nearly every walk of life, all with the same dream, sail the oceans in quest of adventure. To see life at a different pace and a different perspective. And for me, to be a little more self sufficient /reliant. Yes we will need diesel for the auxillary, and gasoline for the outboard on the inflatable, propane for the stove/oven. But with the help of a wind generator, a couple of solar panels and the ever blowing trade winds, our main energy demand, 12v DC electricity will be replenished by the elements, sun and wind.

Our education continued as we took many class at the boat show in Seattle, and attended offshore cruising seminars and a very intense first aid class. Patti now knows how to give me a shot of lidacane before she sutures up the cut I am sure to get. Our library grew to fill the book case with books on everything from anchoring to first aid to advanced weather forecasting. Patti took classes put on for women, by women. These were all day sessions where she learned about diesel engine maintenance, sail repair and sail trim, anchoring, docking etc.

On the practical front, we raced our Ranger 33 in the Wednesday night bouy races in 2007, 2008 and 2009. This was a great time for us to work on our communications and boat maneuvering in tight quarters. Patti drove and I would trim, teach and strategize. We did really well in 2009, but not so well the other years. Patti’s confidence really soared as she was solely responsible for driving the boat. She did everything, from leaving the dock to coming back to the dock, and everything in-between . She did great. She even raced without me a couple of times when I was in Florida on business. She called friends and off they went.

We started looking at boats in 06. Yachtworld is a really cool web site. (www.yachtworld.com) We spent hours upon hours researching boats, equipment, places to go, places not to go and how to get there. We went to an offshore cruising seminar, one of those all day and dinner kind of deals that makes you brain hurt. It was actually a lot of fun, but ended up being really an outline of where to go to get the real good info. One of the best tips that we got was the name of a very respected broker, Michael Locatell, Discovery Yachts in Seattle, who we sat next to both during the class and at dinner. This friendship became invaluable as we were constantly asking him for advice on different boats and cruising areas. One of the resources that we got at the seminar was a cruising handbook, which along with discussion of what gear to take and which brand works best, was a description of the criteria for a blue water cruising boat. This couple, John and Amanda Neal, have spent over 20 years sailing the seven seas. They hold classes in 1, 2, and 3 week sessions along theroute that they take between New Zealand and the Swedish Artic circle region. Their boat recommendations come after years of cruising the most popular areas in the world, and interviewing sailors about their experiences with their boats. This really helped us refine our own criteria. In the end we really only had a few criteria that “The Boat” had to meet.

Center Cockpit; these designs usually have a nice aft cabin living quarters and good access to the engine..

Double head sail or cutter rig; Best configuration for shortening sail when the wind picks up.

Skeg Hung Rudder; good safety feature at sea.

¾ cruising keel; better mobility and speed than a full keel boat.

5 foot draft; This was not much of a criteria for west coast boats but it was really important for east cost boats.

We bought a Whitby 42 in Florida named “Dream Ketcher”. I have started a new album, labeled S/V Dream Ketcher.

When our boat search started were were not concerned about where the boat was. We figured that we would just deal with it. East coast or west coast we didn’t really care, initially.

One of the many blogs that we followed was of a young couple with little or no money who bought a Ranger 33 (Just like our old boat). Their boat was in Massachusets and needed a lot of work. They eventually finished up and started down the Atlantic Intercoastal Waterway. I had no idea that such a thing existed. It stretches from Main to Brownsville Texas. Suddenly I wanted to cruise the AICW. So now you know why we bought a boat in Florida.