by miami | Jul 19, 2014
Even though my fingers and toes are crossed that all is well, we did start the engine and run it just a little late today. It sounds good, ( no knocking, no mechanical banging and crunching, and so far we have only one small oil weep. Normal for a 30 year old engine although I would love to have zero leaks!
Sure is pretty, don’t you agree? We will see how long that lasts.
Here is what we have done during the last two weeks.
Engine – pulled the transmission, bell housing, damper plate, four motor mounts, heat exchanger, oil cooler, fresh and salt water pumps, valve cover, injectors and lines, fuel filter, oil cooler hoses, oil pan.
All these were degreased and cleaned with wire brush in a drill, then washed, primed and painted. Gaskets, prongs and seals were replaced as needed. Then it was all reassembled with new filters, oil for the transmission and engine and coolant.
Fun.
Then while that was going on, Shelly added coats of varnish to the starboard toe rail, deck trim and removed the entrance hatch and trim to strip, sand and varnish. It looks great!
We have had some small very annoying water leaks, so to find the one aft we pulled the trim, pulled out the port (window for you landlubbers), and removed the wall panelling. It didn’t take long to find the leak when you could see it!
Kinda scary having a big old hole in your boat!
So that got sealed up, and we cut new paneling, varnished that and the trim, reinstalled the port and tested. No leaks!
For fun, she wrapped rope around the legs of the salon table as the chrome long ago began to rust…
The table top is teak veneer and has been refinished too many times so that the veneer has been sanded through and needed something. We tried to cut a piece of the paneling, seal and varnish and just glue and clamp it right over the old table, then pour an epoxy like on a restaurant table. The jury is still out on that project…
Goose thinks it is so funny that we work so hard while he just lays around and sleeps.
So now we are talking about what next. Tomorrow we run the engine at the dock to flush the engine coolant through a couple of times and bring it up to temperature. We need to check for leaks, and work the transmission at the dock before we take off.
Update… Since I didn’t get this post finished yesterday…
We had leaks. Coolant, fuel and oil. The coolant and fuel were relatively easy to stop, but the oil pan leaks are not. Gotta love a challenge!
Tinkered with it all day. Rode the bike 5 miles to walmart for broiler pans to slide under the engine to catch any oil and keep the bilge clean. By 4 pm most everything looked pretty good. Tested the engine at the dock in reverse for a while and I think we are ready to go.
Next .. The old town of Wilmington NC – 20 miles up the river from Southport and 50 miles from here.
Take off time it is. Very soon. Maybe even in the morning. Our friends from Marathon on Luck Of a Fool are already there and waiting to show us where the happy hours are.
Easy peasy. (With a running engine and working transmission!)
by miami | Jul 11, 2014
Did you know that right in front of the bell housing on the back part of the engine, (accessed by removing the propeller shaft coupling and transmission), is a part called a pressure plate or damper.
It is a basically 5 big steel springs set into three connected steel thin plates whose function is to take up the torque when the engine is shifted into gear and allow the transmission to smoothly change from forward to neutral to reverse. You have one on your car .
And did you know when the pressure plate explodes while the engine is running it makes a LOT of noise as pieces and parts get flung around the back of the bell housing like a washing machine.
Then you have no transmission. And if you are out in the waterway, you have no propulsion.
We learned these things last week.
For the last ten days we have been in Myrtle Beach, at a dock, with engine parts all over the place.
The hurricane passed us by with no harm last week, the weather has been very nice, and it is kind of cool to be able to turn on the air conditioning during the day when it gets hot! (Kind of cool – get it?)
The old plate. And the heat exchanger out and ready for repair.
We are almost all fixed. Waiting for the welder across the street to finish up an exhaust elbow that needed looking at while it was off. (As long as the transmission was off, and we were already at the dock, we took the opportunity to take a bunch more off and clean, fix, overhaul…
Ryan was very happy to help degrease and clean the engine. Hehe. He has also been back on his bowsprit working to make the underneath part look as good as he did the top part…
Shelly has been varnishing and painting. With access from the dock, a place to lay things out, and not having to worry about moving the boat, we are in maintenance mode (again).
Engine parts all cleaned up and painted ready for reinstall..
The new pressure plate is in and ready for the bell housing and transmission.
We did have a very nice trip up from Georgetown to Myrtle Beach. And we are really very fortunate to have broken down here. The marina is relatively inexpensive, and very cruiser friendly; there are a multitude of great repair facilities and parts, and the wifi is awesome!
The Intracoastal waterway along this stretch is made up of connected rivers. The Waccamaw was flooded due to all the heavy rains, and flooded with weekend boaters. We saw lots of floating debris, trees, logs etc and actually bumped one floating log with the bow that scared the crap out of all of us.
What was amazing was watching all the parents chugging their beer and hauling their little kids on their tubes and things behind their pontoon boats at full throttle through all this debris.
Not only was I visualizing one of the kids getting run over by someone looking back at their kids instead of where they were going, but we could easily imagine one of those speeding inner tube things getting drug over a floating log at 30 mph and ripping the poor little kids to shreds. Definately braver parents than we.
Every single waterway marker has an Osprey nest with young ones screaming to be fed. You can just see the chicks heads at the top of this one.
So that's the news fit to report. Future plans are still in the air, although our next scheduled stop is Wilmington, only 50 miles further. We have to be in Northern Va in early September but that seems a long time away.
by miami | Jun 29, 2014
We left HHI the morning after our first guests (other than Sam and his Dad) left and we were glad to be underway. Although it sure was fun having someone here (and having nothing breaking!)
We went fishing for mackerel with live bait, but caught a shark.
We had a very nice time sailing, swimming, beach walking and just generally slowing down for a couple of days!
But we jump ahead. We left you in Daytona Fl without knowing what we were going to do.
After a wonderful motor sail up the Intracoastal, we pulled into St. Augustine to see two replica Spanish 18th century era ships docked at the municipal marina. One was a huge Galleon (they carried the gold from Mexico back to Spain) and one was a Caravel similar to the ships that went with Magellan around the world. It was cool. And we are so sorry but we were looking so hard we forgot to take pictures!
We found an anchorage in a tight little spot on the beach side and stayed for a day to run Goose on the beach a lot, hit the grocery store and decide what to do.
With cooperating weather, we headed out the inlet a week ago Thursday, and set a course for Hilton Head Island. This short overnighter was 146 miles and the farthest offshore was only 28 miles. We could see the glow from the cities like Brunswick and Savanannah easily at sea.
Several fish jumped on the lure we are always dragging. We pulled in a Barracuda, but usually do not eat them although I have heard they are good eating away from the reefs. You can see how absolutely calm it was at first out on the ocean.
Three other fishg got off the line in the next 30 hours, and one completely stripped the line off the reel. Probably better we didn’t get that one in…
Ryan took the opportunity to do some heavy animating, but complained that the motion of the boat was making him queasy.
I am attempting to add a video (just another sunset at sea) – hope it works!
We all took turns keeping watch at night so we could get a little sleep. Shelly and Ryan were on 12-4 am when something showed on the horizon they could not quite make out. It was a blood red coloring that looked like maybe a ship with the port running light relecting off the water but it seemed to be getting very large and close. Ryan mentioned something about Godzilla and fireballs..
It took about ten minutes for the blood red moon to rise through the clouds and show itself, much to their relief…
We saw the Tybee Island Light about 530 am and it took another 6 hours to make it in to HHI. We sailed right past the house on the water where we were married 29 years ago!
That night we were very lucky that our old friend and musician David Wingo was playing at the marina we were anchored next to, so we dingied in to see him. He was very kind and asked me to sing a couple of songs with him.
Wade and Nickie arrived the next day.
From HHI we have mostly motored against a north east breeze up to Charleson where we caught up with Dave and Mary on their boat Luck of a Fool who we spent time with in Boot Key Harbor this winter.
Yesterday morning coming out of Charleston we almost ran over this little boat that pulled right in front of us. He was lucky I was paying attention!
As this is being written we are motoring into a stiff breeze on the Waccamaw River coming out of Georgetown SC where we stopped for breakfast and to let Goose fertilize the local landscaping. What a beautiful town with a ton of history!
We will be in Myrtle Beach tonight if all goes well, and Wilmington the next day for the next chapter in the sailing life aboard Yume!
by miami | Jun 27, 2014
This is a guest post from Nickie Everett who joined us with her hubby Wade for a couple of days in Hilton Head Island.
————————-
“Greatness is not in where we stand,
but in what direction we are moving.
We must sail sometimes with the wind
and sometimes against it –
but sail we must,
and not drift, nor lie at anchor”.
– Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.
Life is a constant flow of change and movement. I love this quote about sailing. In life, don’t we all have to adjust our sails depending on the situation we are faced with?
My grandmother taught me the serenity prayer…you know the one about having Serenity, Courage, and Wisdom. I have always looked at every situation I face with this in mind.
My husband and I were invited to be guests aboard the YUME for a few days with our wonderful friends who call the beautiful YUME their home now. We drove from Atlanta and then hopped aboard the YUME. We sailed around the beautiful waters of Hilton Head, South Carolina.
These three words, my grandmother’s words, speak to my heart again after spending a few days with our dear friends…
Courage.
Having the Courage to make your dreams a reality. That’s exactly what it takes to make the YUME a reality. Congratulations to our friends for having the steadfast Courage to get where they are, as well as the kind of Courage that it takes to get up everyday and sail away to whenever your heart commands to take you.
Serenity.
The Serenity that comes with being on a vessel with the wind in your sails headed into the sunset is just about the definition of perfection. Your heart finds Serenity, as well as your mind. The perfect balance.
Wisdom.
When you are in the belly of the ocean, with your sails in the wind, and nothing else around you, you gain Wisdom. You gain the Wisdom of what really matters and what doesn’t matter. Wisdom that only comes from being still and alone with your thoughts looking out into the beautiful, calm waters.
Thank you to our friends for taking us in…sharing your home and your laughter. We made memories that I will always cherish. We are so incredibly blessed to be by your side, and stand in constant admiration of what you are doing…making your dreams happen with Courage, maintaining the peace and Serenity you have longed for, and gaining and giving so much Wisdom to yourself and those around you.
Happy sails!
Nickie and Wade Everett
by miami | Jun 16, 2014
This is famous Ponce Inlet Lighthouse as seen from the deck of the sailing vessel Yume…
It’s getting harder to blog. The newness of the boat and the adventure are probably not as strong a motivator as before. Forgive us?
We left you last in South Miami Beach, after taking two non working motors up to Ft Lauderdale for repairs.
First the motors. The windlass motor (used to pull up the heavy anchor and chain from the bottom) is dead. Shorted to the frame they tell me and cannot be rewound due to flat windings vs round. Who knew? New motors are only $900… The autopilot motor was not repaired either when we finally sailed to Ft Lauderdale and I called them. He was behind – a lot.
So I took the motor back to the boat, tore it apart and epoxied the magnets in the housing myself. Well, I did it twice actually as the first time didn’t work.
During the tests, the motor worked great and I was pleased with myself.
Then I tested it underway. When activated “Otto” as our very valuable automatic steerer is called, immediately turned the boat all the way around – hard.
Oops.
It took two days of playing, pondering and tinkering to figure it out. I asked the supervisor at the motor shop if it made any difference how the magnets go in and he said no. Well he was wrong. I ended up switching the positive and and negative leads to the motor and it works perfectly. The magnets were installed backwards! I am losing faith in “experts.”
We sailed from Miami to Ft Lauderdale on a glorious day, anchored in a nice little cove right off the beach and waited two days for Ryan to get back from Atlanta. This is the Miami skyline as we head out the shipping channel.
Of course since we had nothing to do, the refrigeration quit. I was trying to tweak the box with more insulation when I heard a hissing sound and all the freon came out from a crack in the evaporator line. I will not repeat the words used but you can imagine. Sometimes I think it is all a test to see how badly I really want this.
We could turn around and sail 125 miles back to the guy who helped put it in and broke it, then sail 125 miles back – or deal with it.
I fiberglassed it.
That is the the freezer box, and the fiberglass repair is where the line goes into the box. It seems to be holding. We are still tweaking trying to get a balance between freezer temps, refrigeration temps, and run time to conserve power. It is a long on the job learning process. If you are curious, you can see the computer fan I installed in the divider on the right. What you see is a piece of 2 inch insulation sandwiched between two pieces of starboard to act as a divider between the fridge and freezer. The fan is hooked to a thermostat with a relay to keep the temps where we want them. Remember – cold milk!
Did I mention we pulled off the genoa and resewed it? Our 30 year old sewing machine gave us fits, but we got her done…
While the machine was out, Shelly finally finished her cool dinghy cover made from leftover materials. This canvas will protect the dinghy from Goose’s nails, sun, and wear and tear. It looks very nice. She is so talented!
We went out one night for a pitcher and dolphin fingers, asked the waitress to take apic and this is what we got.
One night was spent up the New River in Ft Lauderdale so I could get close enough to bicycle over to pick up the motors. It is kinda cool staying in downtown like that. Goose really wanted to get off and chase all the foo foo dogs…
Headed out of town the next day we were held up by a little private yacht turning around in the channel. Where do these people get the money for those things?
Summer in South Florida means thunderstorms. Really big, strong, scary, fast moving, high wind, torrential downpour type thunderstorms. We have watched, run through, and dodged them for the last three days. This one in Vero Beach caught us but we were already on a mooring so no harm done.
As we head up the coast, the norm is to get an early start (sunrise) and then stop mid morning and let Goose run. Here we found a cool sand bank and played for a bit before continuing on.
So tonight we sit in Daytona beach after another long day. The fun thing here is that Shelly got Goose’s quick when trimming his nails and he is bleeding all over everything. He is not a happy camper. Neither are we.
But what’s a little blood between family right?
Tomorrow we should be in St Augustine. Maybe Hilton Head Island by the weekend? Don’t know. We will see what life (and Yume) bring us…
by miami | Jun 5, 2014
We are back in the old haunts of south Miami Beach. It's different as all the cruising boats have gone north. Too bad. This is the canal where we go for groceries, hardware, and to walk Goose at the park.
We left Marathon and Boot Key Harbor last Friday morning. As we motored down the harbor, we talked about the old 'never sail on a Friday ' baloney, and were just so pleased to moving after our 3 month stay in one place.
Cutting through Sister's Creek as a shortcut to get outside to the ocean, I wondered if we had enough water but the tide was coming in and I knew I could always float off a grounding.
Goose had yet to go ashore so we planned to stop at the park right at the ocean cut, and dinghy him in for his morning tasks.
That is where Friday started.
The anchor windlass wouldn't work. By the time this was discovered we needed to pick it up as the current had swung Yume too close to some rocks for comfort. A 45 pound anchor and 25 feet of chain is heavy to pull in by hand! After resetting the anchor, and taking Shelly and Goose in, I hung around and waited for them as there was an ominous looking squall line coming in off the ocean and we had not put out that much anchor line.
Just when I got uncomfortable enough to head out to the boat in the dinghy, Shelly showed up and I ran back in to pick them up. Looking back at Yume, I realized she was dragging, and headed right for the mangroves.
Shelly saw it too and hurried into the dink so we could roar back to the boat. I got the engine started and steered back out into the channel while Shelly secured the dinghy and got Goose up.
The is started to rain. Friday huh?
We had to laugh. No harm done.
Then as we start out the cut, the heavy glass lens for the spreader light falls out and shatters on the deck scaring the crap out of us! Sheesh!
We motored on out the inlet in the rain, and then stopped to pick up the dinghy and wash off as many glass fragments as possible. I do not like dragging the dinghy, (or leaving it down at night for that matter). We then set a course to get out 8 miles or so to seaward so we could sail our course up the coast.
By midday, the wind and waves were not large, but choppy and uncomfortable so we altered course and went back inside Florida Bay at Channel Five and picked up a mooring at Lignumvitae Key State Park. We had enough time to dinghy in and take a private tour of the old homestead and other cool stuff with a very bored ranger. We then followed him in his boat 2 miles over to Indian Key on the ocean side and walked around that 11 acre site of the first seat of Dade County.
Look it up when you have nothing to do. It has a really cool story to it. Indian attacks, ship wreckers, fortunes made and lost…
For the next two days we hung out in Islamorada, working on the boat. Several fun things popped up.
Noises heard from underneath the bunk turned out to be the autopilot drive motor magnets coming loose from the housing. Of course this means hand steering all the time. I was hoping there would be someone who could fix it Monday. The windlass issue also turned out to be the motor. No idea what is wrong, just know it is the motor and need help.
Monday we would find out that there is no one in the keys that works on electrical motors. Tuesday we would discover that if there is someone in Miami that works on them we can't find them!
On Monday the generator started overheating (isn't cruising fun?) I had ordered a rebuild kit for the salt water pump, so I tore into it. The next discovery was that the main core of the generator was badly corroded and in fact had been previously epoxied. Oh boy. I added as much epoxy as I has available trying to help it last a bit longer. The plan is to replace the genset with solar and wind someday.
After four hours everything was back together and ready for testing. The test was not so good.
It took a while of depressing beating myself up to figure out that a bunch of seaweed had gotten solidly packed in the intake hose restricting cooling water flow.
Same with the main engine when we finally started up and got underway. More fun and games.
I am getting good this stuff though!
Monday we had a really great sail all the way to Gilbert's in Key Largo where we spent a nice quiet night.
Tuesday we sailed most of the day all the way back here to Venetian Isles in South Beach where we have been working on projects and getting caught up on clients websites.
Yesterday we rented a compact car for $12 (they gave us a new f150!) so we could drive up to ft Lauderdale to the same repair place we took the generator back in December. Hopefully he can fix the motors so we can pick them up Monday when we get Ryan from the airport.
Life goes on. Goose loves it here as there a huge iguanas everywhere and he would so love to get one!
We wanted to say thanks and cya to our friends in Marathon. Maybe we will see you next year!
And we are really looking forward to our next guests who say they are going to meet us wherever we are June 23. That should be interesting…
