Time To Be Moving!

Time To Be Moving!

We start the countdown to Yume’s Marathon departure, and the beginning of our second trip back to DC up the east coast of America the Beautiful! We are ready!
In the flurry of last minute things, Shelly’s Mom and Aunt Joan came for a couple of days. The girls all went to Key West on the bus for a day and we heard a great time was had by all. No drinking anyone under the tables though…
We took them over to the bay side to The Fisheries for some fresh shrimp the first night. Yesterday we actually moved the boat off the mooring over to Burdines on the water so they could more easily get on and see the boat. The dock master was kind enough to let us sit on the dock while we ate fresh fish, fresh made tuna fish, and other delicacies, then they came down for a short visit. Nice.
On Friday we pick up a rental car, drive to Miami airport and pick up Ian who comes in at 1030am then we will grab a bite and let the brothers chat while we drive Ryan to the Ft Lauderdale airport for his 330pm flight to his buddy Sam’s house in Atlanta for 10 days.
Then we drive back the long (minimum 3 hours) trip with all the weekend ‘lets go to the Keys’ traffic back to Marathon.
We will probably hang around for the Saturday music playing at the Tikki hut so Ian can play some songs with me, then leave Sunday morning.
Two weeks ago, with the help of some friends we arranged an “Evening with Capt Jack” which was a lot of fun. A bunch of cruisers brought in pot luck for supper, then we gave Jack a microphone and I walked him through 94 years of life. It was fascinating!
We don’t see much of Ryan unless it is time for softball (we all play softball three times a week) or it is time to eat… It is easy to understand why with a pretty girl, and unlimited internet all day.
This all changes Friday as he flies out, then even more when we pick him up on the 12th and head north again. Back to school and animating on his new computer!
Goose found some baby chicks (doves we were told) that we mothered for a few days before they gave up the ghost. We either over fed or underfed them but they surely got lots of loving!
Yume has been testing me as usual. The generator turned out to be quite the project to stop the oil leaks and get the salt water pump working. I am tickled to report no oil leaks and I simply routed the air conditioning salt water pump to cool the motor until I can get a replacement pump. It is working even though this timing cover and I got very well acquainted.
This is what that hole looked like last year when I started – before the hot water heater was moved under the sink. No wonder no one ever fixed the generator!
The engine is still not exactly right, but close. I still have two small leaks from the oil pan, and now the transmission wants to leak at the rear seal. Drives me nuts, but all I have to do is remember what I would be fixing at the farm right about now and I just smile.
Last week, I was desperate for some generator parts that I could not find, when “coincidentally” an ad pooped up on Facebook for someone to come pull agenerator out of a boat about 40 miles away that looked very close to mine. Which meant I might get parts from it!
End result – a friend (David) drove us up last Friday and we removed a 500 pound generator from a trawler in about 5 hours and somehow got it in the back of his truck and back to Marathon. But the parts weren’t right so I put it up for sale.
Another cruiser moored two boats away from us traded me a great sewing machine we have wanted for a long time and 500 for it, then the boat right next to us bought our old Reads sewing machine the following day! Pretty cool.
We are really looking forward to Ian getting here this coming week, and getting underway again. Time has flown by so fast, and we have not been able to do all we wanted and visit as much as we would have liked.
Goose is ready too!

 

Demotivated in Paradise!

Demotivated in Paradise!

Although it seems like we have just been vegetating now that the temps are up in the 80’s every day, that is probably not the case.

After a month, we have actually made some progress on projects.

The Genoa sail was removed and taken in to Keith (who lives Moonlight Sue) for repairs and refit. He did a great job repairing the torn panel, shortening the sail by removing 18″ from just under the head, then replacing the sacrificial sunbrella on the leach with our last canvas upgrade! Hopefully next time I will see the stupid marker before I hit it. (See last post for more on that sorry subject)

We chose a sunflower yellow color for the sail to make it stand out from the blue and we think it looks great! Especially when seen from the stern with the yellow wind scoop, and the yellow spot on the stern with the Japanese characters painted by Shelly…

The generator salt water pump had been needing attention as it had been leaking progressively more water. I finally bit the bullet and paid an exorbinant amount of cash for a complete rebuild kit, and started in to get er done early one morning.

That job turned into a major production when it was discovered the aluminum timing gear cover had really bad corrosion that could not be seen until the whole thing was pulled off to see where the oil was leaking.

Westerbeke is super proud of their 30 year old engine parts as they have not made that engine for years – a new cover costed out at over $550. We were very (very) happy to find a used one on eBay for $60!

That should be here this week and we can put our main source of power back together…

In the last 30 days or so Shelly has been able to add 7-8 coats of varnish to the starboard and aft rails and is gleefully looking to start on the port side… She also sanded and varnished the inside of the main hatch and hatch doors and all looks nice!

The most fun things are the ones with instant gratification for not a lot of effort. We replaced all the foam floors and they look great! We really love these floors, but Goose does a number on them, so we will just replace them every year. Easy! We went with a little darker color this year to hide more dirt. Hehe

Of course there is softball three times a week, playing some music at the Tikki Hut Sat evenings, and walking Goose twice a day (at least).

Ryan has been spending most days in the marina with friends, (and his special new friend Shannon), and generally acting like it is summer vacation. This will change when we start north again in April.

He actually flies up to Atlanta and his second home with the Williams Family April 3rd. Ryan got his new computer two weeks ago and his ability to create his animations has soared. A very special thank you to all who helped!

BTW if anyone needs a mid to high level Thinkpad Lenovo laptop (two years new) please let us know!

Shelly and I are so worried about how we will ever manage without him! We are dreaming about actually going on a trip to the Dry Tortugas while he is gone. By ourselves – unless the Everetts hop on board. Check out a map of Key West to the Tortugas. It looks like a great trip!

This month is already filling up. The popular Marathon Seafood Festival is 3/14 and 3/15. This weekend is the Boot Key Harbor cleanup and party. Sunday is the softball party at one of the players homes. There is also a sailing regatta coming up.

This life is much more difficult to manage than you would think. I hope you are starting to feel sorry for us? Imagine having to sit outside with a cold beverage and watch this full moon come up over the harbor. We did have to put on a tshirt against the evening chill though.

And, although you probably don’t want details, we do actually work in between all this for paws4people foundation and a few other clients we have. (Thank you all!)

It’s hard to believe but we are already thinking about heading north again. Although we will not know for sure whether we return to DC until late April, we still are going to do some traveling towards the Chesapeake. We know we will be staying around Parris Island in Beaufort SC for a week or two setting up a charity golf tournament for spring of 2016. We need help if you have an interest or know someone who lives near there..

That should about do it until next time… Stay cool!