by miami | Jan 28, 2014
We have been hearing stories all day from Atlanta about the snow and cold. People stuck for 7 hours trying to get home, sleeping in stranger's homes, and roads looking like parking lots on a bad day.
Well, let me tell you, it has been rough here too!
We had to bicycle 2 miles each way with propane bottles strapped to the backs to get refills. It took four loads before the laundry was done. And that manatee in the dinghy dock just kept getting in the way.
Oh and it was a little on the warm side at 85. Thankfully it cooled down enough as the sun set to allow us to enjoy a couple of hours in the cockpit for contemplation, conversation and bevs on ice.
We do wish everyone in Atlanta, and North Carolina, a much better weather pattern to come. Feb is almost here. We remember that by late February spring was poking her head out on the farm!
Our blogging has been a bit on the lean side as we have been using up bandwidth at an alarming rate. Once they have you paying for bandwidth they have you period.
Between the 10 gb on the AT&T for the ipad and the 2.5 for the tmobile phone, we thought we would be ok, but we ran short with 6 days to go. When they start tacking on a GB at a time it gets expensive for cruisers with limited incomes!
So no images this post.. Sorry!
We have been holed up in Miami beach at Venetian Isles for a week or two getting some more projects completed. We have a video we can post in a few days…
I took a short business trip to Virginia Beach, Va for paws4people to appreciate the 12 degrees, airport crowds and general chaos outside the boating world.
On the flights back to Miami, I met two very nice people who reaffirmed some hope for the country. Jose was a strong family man from Orlando who kept me very interested in our conversations about work ethic, religion, spirituality, self respect, family values and more. Our flight went by very quickly.
The flight to Miami was made very pleasant by Jana. 35, very pretty, and smart, she had immigrated to Chicago from Checkoslovakia at 18 with no English and a college degree. She earned a living as a maid, learned English, and worked her way up into the restaurant business, saving enough money to go back to a four year architectural design school and was graduating in the fall. Her views on America as the land of opportunity (especially compared to Europe) and her values, and other views made me proud to be an American… Her goal is to design cancer hospitals to make the environment where people go to heal a part of the healing. You go girl!
Today we picked up the anchor on a perfect morning. Warm and sunny with just a hint of a breeze from the south made for a very nice motor back south to Dinner Key to get the laundry done and fill up the propane.
We saw our first manatee today in the dinghy dock… Ryan thought it was cool.
Plans are to possibly head back to Ft. Lauderdale, then back here for the Miami Show before heading south to Marathon…
It felt great today to realize we did not really have to be anywhere anytime and it was completely our choice! This is what this life is all about.
by miami | Jan 22, 2014
Actually it probably will not get much better than this.
Although we are working hard, and not truly enjoying as much traveling as we will someday, the sense of adventure, and the change of pace and recent memory of the stables makes this time special.
Enough of the gooey stuff.
We have been anchored in Miami Beach for a week and working on Yume between cold fronts passing through.
We took apart the cockpit steering column so Shelly could strip, sand and get four or five coats of varnish on the teak table and all the trim. This takes a lot of sanding and makes a mess. The sanding dust gets everywhere and of course between the boys and Goose the varnish is really hard to get dry without getting fingerprints or dog hair in it.
We took the Avon dingy aboard to scrape and sand the bottom, patch some gel coat dings, and other misc repairs and maintenance.
All the rubber had to be cleaned and a softener/restorer applied.
Yume has a second spare dinghy which is a soft bottom Zodiac Zoom we had never even unpacked. Ryan dove deep into the lazarette (a deep locker aft where we store all the 'stuff') to pull out the floorboards and oars. That outboard is an original Honda four stroke that is standing upright to show you how deep that goes…
It took a while but we finally got the zodiac ready to inflate…
And Ryan pumps away! Ready to launch…
So we ran around for two days in our pretty blue dinghy, then spent three more hours to clean it up and pack it away again…
Other projects have included rebuilding the capstan (raises the anchor chain), setting up all the rigging that supports the masts and lots of small jobs.
We do get out a bit in Miami Beach as we have to go ashore at least twice a day with Goose. We try to combine his needs with required trips like laundry and grocery runs. Doing laundry is a whole new experience when you have to find a close laundrymat, carry it all in the dinghy, and carry it to and from after you are done! We are trying to find a really good old fashioned wringer that can stand up to salt water environment so we can start doing more of it on the boat. If you happen to have one hanging around…
As I write this, Shelly and Ryan are on the boat on their own while I fly to Va Beach for a two day meeting. It is strange to be leaving them on the boat but I know they will be fine. I'll be freezing but they will be fine.
Last night another front came through with a roar, with the wind going from nothing to 30 knots from the NW in an hour, which makes for a noisy night!
At the end of the month we are looking forward to meeting some boating folks we only know by internet (Sir Charles from www.pricedingold.com) in Ft Lauderdale, the Miami Sailboat Show and then our good friend Dr Angel in Marathon Key.
As always Goose is ready to go!
We love your comments and questions and try to be sure to answer each one. Thanks for sharing this if it interests you!
by miami | Jan 17, 2014
We left you in Dinner Key, Miami wondering what we were going to do next.
Since then, we sailed south 22 miles to Angelfish Creek, south again another 18 miles or so to Rodriguez Key and onto a little marina for fuel, water and fresh tuna, then back up to Angelfish Creek for a night, then back to Miami Beach. And here we sit!
As Ryan posted he did go to the top of the mast and fix the wind indicator… All 56.5 feet of it.
We posted his video on Facebook as we can't get the ipad to do it here!
It was nice in angelfish creek except the keys are mangroves so there is no place for Goose to do his business. We ended up running him in twice a day to the resort and pretending we were staying there. I am sure no one thought we were boat bums… Besides who cares! Just because they fly in their Lear jets.
We got some work done. The solar panel is installed and working great. It is super nice to see the batteries being charged whenever the sun is out!
After a couple of days we decided to head on further down Key Largo and look for a store and some water, and maybe run out to a reef for some snorkeling.
We did stop. But Ryan wasn't interested as he is heavily invested in his new “anermation”. It is going to be funny as heck.
So on we sailed (no motor, no fuel costs, no noise!) through the day to arrive at a nice quiet anchoring spot behind Rodriquez Key for the night. With the moon rising, a cold bev, and the stars out, you could not have ordered a nicer evening.
The next morning we moved up this very narrow channel to get some fuel, groceries and water. It turned out to be a commercial fishermans port and there was an awesome fresh fish supply where we got tuna and shrimp.
We sailed out to a reef on Pennekamp Park and the boys jumped in to try the snorkels. The combination of slightly rough water, chilly temps, and underperforming masks and snorkels did not make the first trip the one to remember.
Back to angelfish creek for the night then up and back out early on Monday for the 25 mile sail back to Miami Beach. Since we were not sure where we were going, and we knew the wind was going to come out of the NW and blow kinda hard we made tracks.
Sure enough it did end up blowing 30 mph (25 knots) but we were able to make the sail with just one tack.
What started out with a beautiful sail with main, mizzen and genoa slowly turned into a half rolled up genoa, dropped main and mizzen, and she was still sailing at 7.5 knots!
By 3pm we were in the lee of Miami and the water was much calmer.
We found a spot to anchor and wait out the next day of winds and chilly weather until today when the 80 degree days came back. Now we are back in a routine of getting the boat in shape, taking Goose in twice a day, keeping up with web clients and paws4people commitments and living life in the slow lane.
Today the anchor windlass got torn down to find the leak, and all the wood in the cockpit got scraped and sanded ready for 5 or 6 coats of varnish.
Slowly but surely Yume is looking and running better and better. All it takes is time and money.
We have plenty of time!
by miami | Jan 14, 2014
Hello everyone! It's your favorite blog post writer! Me! Today, you will read about my daring experience climbing to the top of the mast to fix the broken wind indicator. (That I totally didn't break going under a bridge a wee bit to short for us.)
Now, standing from the nice, safe, stable boat, one could have some pretty bold words. For example. “Climbing to the top of that mast will be a sinch.” I'll come back to this statement explaining how I was wrong.
So I strap myself in to the bosun's chair. (If you are unfamiliar with one it's what Donald Duck sat in when he was painting his boat.) Now I started to be hoisted. As I reach around 40ft up I was begining to have second thoughts about my boastful words. None the less, I reached the top.
The wind indicator (that tells us the direction of the wind.) was about 3inchs out of my reach. Since I was lifted up as far as I could be lifted I had to tie a line around the two shrouds to create a makeshift step. Never in my life did I need as much courage to stand up. For when I stood up I came out of my chair. Not only was the wind indicator to high for me. It was also to far out. I had to tie a line around my chest then the mast, so I could lean out far enough to reach this thing. I was REALLY regretting those words now. After some fighting with it I was able to get it off and send it down for reparis.
After 5 or so minutes it was hauled back up to me. Kinda good as new! So I bolted it back to its rightful place. I was then dropped like a useless stone all the way to the bottom of the boat. So ends the great mast story. The moral of the story is. Buy a shorter boat.
Here is the view I had at the top of the mast! I did my best to edit out the fear of heights for you guys!
by miami | Jan 10, 2014
We are back to cruising! But better prepared than before.
The last bridge we made it through can be seen between the lights…
Last post we had made it out of the yard and just far enough down the New River to get caught between bridges in Ft Lauderdale 5 pm traffic where they shut down the bridges until 6. Instead of trying to find somewhere to anchor in the dark, we just stayed put, went out for a nice celebratory dinner, walked back to the boat and crashed…
Yesterday we were up early, and took advantage of water at the dock to thoroughly wash the boat. The boys took outside, the girl inside. We shut her up in there with closed hatches and scrubbed for two hours and two bottles of comet…
After the first hour, we checked on Shelly to find her singing away to her work music turned way up loud. She was really hot in the shut boat, so we turned on the air conditioning that works great with the newly repaired generator. Woohoo! A happy first mate makes for a happy boat for sure…
We 'bent' on (the old nautical term for installing) the newly repaired genoa on the just adjusted roller furling and it worked very nicely. After paying $20 more than the $30 we were quoted for the dock the night before ( sorry he was wrong when he quoted you that…) we got underway in threatening rain showers and overcast sky.
It felt great to be getting underway again, with the generator and engine seemingly running great.
It was a short 24 mile run to Miami but there are tons of bridges we had to go through. Then it started raining.
So the crew abandoned the capt and ran for cover. The capt actually had a good time in the rain, motor sailing in between all the bridges. We were actually sailing along at a steady 7 knots with the wind abeam for a very nice ride.
Nearing Miami the sun began to peek out and the crew was called to help steer. The first bridge we went under with Ryan steering we hit the top of the mast. The dumb navigator/capt did not read the fine print to see the bridge was a very unusually short one, and thank the heavens it was not a foot shorter or we would have crashed into the mast instead of just bending a wind indicator. Now we know exactly how tall our mast is!
There will be images soon from the top of the mast as repair crews are hoisted up 54.5 feet…
Goose seems to like the sailing except when we roll and there is lots of noise. Yea well me too Goose.
We anchored just inside of Key Biscayne about 2. The joy of being able to start the generator was short lived as the generator would not start.
Sometimes I think the universe wants to see just how much patience I really have.
It took replacing a fuel shutoff solenoid, finding and repairing a broken wire in the hi temp exhaust cutoff switch and the some sheer will to get it running again. (Knocking on wood) the generator has run great both times today.
It was Ryan's night to cook. He spent most of the afternoon making an awesome broccoli cheddar soup and Shelly helped him make bread bowls from scratch to serve it in the cockpit under a beautiful evening sky. Yum! This is what it is all about.
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Then this morning after a conference call for paws4people on gotomeeting we put up the mizzen and the main and sailed off the anchor. Then out came the genoa and we were sailing along at 7 knots in about 15 knots of wind. Very nice! We sailed the four miles across Biscayne Bay to a Dinner Key/Coconut Grove to do laundry and wait out this next cold front.
So here we sit, having to decide what to do next, where to go and when to go. We are talking about heading over to Pennekamp National Park and doing some snorkeling on the reefs.
Here is where we are moored for the night with Miami in the background…
And where started today.
Stay tuned!
by miami | Jan 6, 2014
Wow! 6 degrees in Atlanta tonight? Holy icycle Batman! We feel for all of you dealing with this obvious result of global warming.
It is forecast to drop all the way down to 48 here in Ft Lauderdale. We got out the silk underwear and the spare space heater just in case.
In the meantime, work goes on. The bottom paint is done, Shelly's new navy blue boot stripe is very nice and makes us even more multicolored; the rebuilt generator is in (but not wired yet); the stuffing box packing has been replaced, engine room wiring cleaned up, and the bilges cleaned (for the umpteenth time).
The generator was a bit of a job. Especially while fighting a cold. The motor mounts had rusted completely through and the bolts had to be cut and chiseled to get them off. Challenging when you are hanging upside down in the small excuse for an engine compartment.
And of course the stupid hot water heater had to come out to get to the mounts on the front of the motor. I very much dislike the hot water heater in its current location but have few options at this point..
This is a motor mount that was cut out. It was once part of a four foot long by 6 inch wide by 3 inch high steel rail that was a sled for the generator. 30 years of neglect and this is what you get. The surveyor report said ” generator seems to be in working order…” Sheesh.
I used the main sheet slung from the boom through the hatch to pick up the 300 pound motor to get underneath it to clean the rust and debris, then install new motor mounts. That was one day. The only thing that kept me going was thinking that the yard would have charged me two skilled mechanics at $95 an hour each and they would have taken longer than I.
Not much room in the hole…
The two new front mounts can just be see under the red plate. All those hoses and wiring drive me nuts but will have to addressed another time!
This morning the plan was to get the generator in. Shelly sanded the boot stripe and painted her second coat, then she and Ryan packed up the dirty clothes and rode off on the fold up bikes to the laundrymat.
Before they left, Ryan helped get the generator housing and rotor into the boat, again using the main sheet which went a lot better than expected. We got it lined up and bolted on without too much swearing and scraped knuckles!
Goose is definately over this living in the yard thing!
Here is the hole it is going in. The old rear mount and rest of the sled can be seen in the bottom of the pic. The red motor is the Westerbek diesel that drives it. With the generator we have lots of power to run the refrigerator, freezer, and even heat and air if we want.
There they sit waiting to go in.
Down comes the housing. The rotor will be handed down and slid into the housing once it is in place. You can see the companionway ladder and the engine housing top have been removed for access. This means we climb in and out of the “house” all day long!
The rotor ready to go in. This thing spins really fast inside the housing and creates 30 amps of electricity like magic. It is sitting on the access panels to the engine compartment which have a sound insulation on them. It is lead sheets in foam with a heat reflecting foil. ( Hey some people are interested in this stuff…) It acts as a noise reducer and heat insulator all in one… You can never have too much of this stuff. If you happen to have any extra hanging around we would be glad to take it!
Here they both sit ready to be bolted. I quit taking pics about 2 today and got a lot more done after that.
We go back in the water in the morning. The genset still needs to be wired up, and the belt on the motor changed out before the hot water heater is reinstalled but all that can be done in the water.
So tomorrow we head back to the store for provisions, test the generator (please say a little prayer), and maybe get to head a little further south.
We just got our next deadline where I have to fly out of Miami on the 21st for two days of work, so we need to be in that area and Shelly and Ryan need to be more comfortable staying by themselves on the boat at anchor.
Let's go practice!
Stay warm and safe. (Maybe you might think about letting the water run in outside wall bathrooms?)
By the way, we were trying to get Ryan to Atlanta on Wednesday to the VFW post 5408 so he could deliver his 1st place Voice of Democracy speech, but it just can't happen. Nice job dude!
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