by miami | Dec 6, 2013
We dropped anchor as the sun was going down about 5pm today after just 4 hours of running.
On Tuesday we made about 60 miles in ten hours and anchored in St. Simon’s Island for the night. We are trying to train Goose to do his business on a piece of carpet but he is having none of that yet. In fact he is actually a bit leery of the moving around on deck ever since he slipped and fell in the water off the dock in Savannah.
A 60 pound wet dog is not easy to pull out of the drink!
Anyway, we dropped the dingy in St. Simons and motored in to let him fertilize the ground. He was extremely grateful. Tomorrow we will try the carpet again.
Yesterday (Wednesday) when I started the motor at 0630 there was a funny burning smell. I have been a bit worried about the alternator as we are using a LOT of power to run the 30 year old AC refrigeration compressor off the alternator and the inverter. It works but…
As soon as we pulled up the anchor the smell got worse and the tachometer quit. (The tach is driven off the alternator) so I shut it down and dropped an anchor to check.
Three hours later I still had not figured out why the alternator was squealing like a stuck pig and getting very hot. Luckily just a few miles down the waterway was a marina with a mechanic who could look.
We made it to a dock at the marina, and the mechanic and an older electronics guy I had found showed up. They spent 2 hours to tell me my belt was not tight enough. Charge – $380.00
Dumb me. I just did not trust myself, and had over thought the problem and had convinced myself there was a bigger issue. In fact I convinced these two guys too! There is a really good lesson here!
No worries. I enjoyed talking with both of them and they helped me understand some other questions I had about alternators and inverters.
Then as soon as they left, Ryan and I tackled getting the old non functioning generator out of the hole…
This had been nagging at me for four weeks. How to do it, what was wrong with it and can it be fixed with our limited resources.
We got it out in 2.5 hours and used the main halyard to get it up on deck. How many 15 year olds get to remove a generator from an engine and get a lesson on how they work? Ryan is fun to work with. He is smart and willing and asks good questions…
The field windings were measuring open and when we took it apart it was obvious that due to salt water leaking on the main engine and being sucked in by the cooling fan on the generator, the insulation on the wires connecting the field windings had deteriorated, and they had broken. (For all you mechanical minded friends!)
Hopefully we can get it fixed in south Florida…
We got off the dock today at 2 and turned south again after a short detour due to the captains inability to pay attention!
Tomorrow the goal is Jacksonville Fl, and then on to St. Augustine the next day.
299 miles to West Palm Beach and we have to meet Ian there on the 20th.
And the shakedown cruise continues! Hopefully the sunny 70 degree days will continue. Not bad for December!
by miami | Dec 2, 2013
Yume preparing to get under way!
After a morning of installing a couple more last minute storage shelves, we borrowed at rich for one last run to the store for essentials. Then we moved Yume to the fuel dock to see how much the bill would be. It was very nice to find out we only needed to top the tanks off with 32 gallons instead of the 130 holds! Especially at marina prices of 4.99 a gallon!
UPS arrived with our new mizzenmast sail just as we were finishing so we paid the bill, said goodbye and headed down the river on a glorious day…
We made it about 9 miles before the sun starting setting and anchored in a quiet creek for the night. The rum is out and the grill is going for the London broil.
The sunset is awesome. And we are so glad to be here!
by miami | Nov 29, 2013
Putting up a first sail on Yume
We put up a sail today. This is a big deal! Had the boat a month and finally got to go out. Not far, no wind, but nothing bad happened either!
We did discover that the chart plotter would not come on ( found out later some idiot hooked the power wire to the gauge light switch), and that the knot meter did not work ( Ryan learned how to take it out while in the water and clean it), and we learned that the genoa unfurls and furs quite nicely.
She ran a bit slow but methinks the beard and barnacle on the bottom have a lot to do with that. The revs were running very high as well but that could be dirty bottom and/ or wrong size prop. I would not be surprised if the prop were incorrectly sized at all.
A diver is coming this weekend to clean the bottom, check the zincs and the prop…
After a nasty couple of days, Thanksgiving started cold (ice on the dock) but once the sun came up it was a glorious day. We started looking for the leaks (think the screws in the rub rail need rebedding) and cleaned the hull a little.
I replaced the propane solenoid first thing only to find some idiot (me) had ordered the wrong voltage so it had to be taken back out and the old one cleaned up and replaced so the bird could join us for dinner!
And what a first dinner it was!
The best part of the day was definitely going out though. We only have a few more days here as we have to be in west palm beach DEC 20 which is 525 miles away. Since we only do 6-7 miles an hour, and can run about 10 hours at most a day we have to get moving!
Ryan got a 6′ cast net and was out as soon as the weather cleared learning how to throw it, and I got up on the bow to test the anchoring systems.
We are all excited to get moving on. Settling down to routines on the boat and learning how to manage three people and one dog in 41 feet is actually easier than we thought. In fact it feels like we have always been here.
Getting more work done online too!
Plus you just can’t beat those views off the back deck!
by miami | Nov 26, 2013
Ryan and I are getting ready for Thanksgiving aboard Yume
We started out making hand-print Turkeys and then went on to aluminum boats for our center piece. The Turkeys are in place but the boats are floating somewhere down the Ogeechee river. 🙂
Miami finished up the bathroom (head) and it is just awesome! Especially the lighting above the sink, these old eyes can finally see what they are doing.
The sun came out a few minutes and we brought out the new cast net. It has been a long time since either Miami or I have thrown one and Ryan never has! But he caught on quickly! Now, we can go shrimping for ourselves.
Miami decided it was a good time to test out the anchor! It worked!! It seems like one of the few things on the boat that has so probably a good thing we tested it while we were still at the dock.
Happy Thanksgiving Day to all! Be blessed and safe!
by miami | Nov 24, 2013
Freshly finished woodwork aboard Yume
It has been a busy last several days as parts are delivered daily, more things torn apart to be fixed, pieces of wet varnished wood everywhere drying and a deadline to leave looming.
The new counter top in the aft head has four coats of varnish and was put in yesterday for the last coat before the ugly weather due today. All the teak trim looks beautiful and this will be assembled by end of day today!
Of course we found another small leak yesterday behind that boxy looking fiberglass above the top which holds the two propane tanks in the deck topside that had to be found and fixed.
My mechanic friends will appreciate how pleased I am with being organized. Tools in easy to reach places, shelves where they are needed, hardware sorted and organized, and everything neat and properly stowed for sea and work.
Another issue that popped up was when we started the air conditioning system the first time on Monday and heard a loud grinding noise that said you have problems! The sea water pump that cools the system had to be removed, taken out to the dock and disassembled. The pump was having none of that and after about an hours of using every trick I knew I took it to Savannah and paid someone $90 to get it apart only to find out it is only useful as an anchor.
It only took one day and $235 to get this new replacement that is half the size, very quiet and fits in perfectly. The old pump took up the whole bottom of the shelf and was a huge bronze monster. The heat is appreciated this morning as old man winter is howling outside! That shiny thing to the right of the red pump is a sea water strainer. Of course it had to be taken out and serviced too!
Late yesterday we got the faulty oil pressure gauge at the helm replaced so I know the engine has oil pressure , and a backup mechanical gauge in the engine room. I am tickled pink, and as soon as I get a diode in the alternator ignition wire to work correctly we will be ready for sea trials.
We plan on dropping and raising the anchors a few times here at the dock to test the systems and teach Ryan how to do this very important job. We’ll run the engine a lot today at the dock.
We also built a nice long shelf for Shelly in the galley over the freezer/fridge that goes in today. That’s the shelf drying under her new food storage netting.
And last but not least, we sold our last vehicle yesterday, our favorite ever vehicle the red f250 which has been with us almost the whole High Country Stables journey. Our boys grew up traveling in this truck, and many young Shelly proteges rode to horse shows in this truck. We are super happy to sell as it replenishes our cruising kitty, but we are now vehicle-less. No insurance, no stopping for gas, no auto repairs, and if we want something from the store we must ride our foldable bikes, walk, or beg, borrow, steal or rent a vehicle!
Fine with me!
Our congratulations and best wishes to our niece Kim who woke up this morning a married woman! So sorry we could not make it, and offer you and Tim a berth when you are ready to come visit. Pre kids that is 😉
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