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…
by miami | May 27, 2014
Our thoughts now turn to leaving. This means changing the way we think about things like stores.
We have been very spoiled to have Home Depot just a couple of blocks away and a Publix grocery not much further. An easy bike ride and walk.
This is not normal in the cruising world.
Sometimes we will have to bike five miles for milk! And Home Depot? Good luck with that.
In addition, we have had the marina to ship things we order – like Amazon.
All that goes away this Saturday. We will not have an address to ship to until probably Wilmington NC – at least a month away.
So we are trying to look ahead and get er done now.
Today we got our new flooring. And we got it installed. How cool to have floors again.
What do you think?
This stuff is perfect for is right now. It is foam puzzle pieces with a wood grain finish. Soft on the feet, has some texture so it is not slippery, and is very inexpensive and easy to put down.
I ordered another thermostat for the refrigerator. The thermostat for the freezer is working well and keeping things down around – 8 degrees Celsius. Not quite freezing ice cream, but definately ice.
Now I need to get the milk cold for the cereal. That is the metric. Cold milk for cereal.
Tomorrow, our friend Dr Tribuno lends us her car to take Sam and Ryan to the airport in Key West for Ryan’s first plane ride. They head back to Atlanta until we pick him up in Ft Lauderdale on June 9.
It will be just Shelly and I until then. I am really looking forward to it. I think Shelly is already having empty nest syndrome.
No one has come to visit and stay, except Sam. Funny how everyone said we had better make room. I guess it is easier to want to get away than do it…
We sure are glad to be away.
But we still miss our friends. Y’all come, hear?
Goose has enjoyed having Sam around!
by miami | May 25, 2014
After three months of sitting on a mooring in Boot Key Harbor in Marathon we finally took off for Memorial Day Weekend.
The Universe responded with the most perfect weather in three months.
Our good friend Kyle brought Ryan's buddy Sam down for a few days and the boys have getting to see what cruising is about.
Speaking of Memorial Day, please, please recognize this day is for those living in the free world to remember we owe that amazing ability to those that died serving in our armed forces to keep us that way. No matter your beliefs about war, and the military, think about this: In my adult lifetime, American forces have helped (or tried to help) in Vietnam (I was there), Haiti, Panama, Kosovo, Somolia, Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and all the places special operation soldiers go that we never hear about. And men and women die doing it. Never forget. And always honor them for their sacrifice.
Ok – back to sailing. 😉
Last we left you, the port fuel tank was still leaking and had been repaired a second time and I was a bit depressed.
Turns out that the tank was not really leaking, only that so much fuel had leaked out previously that it had soaked the foam underneath the tank and was coming out where I had cleaned all the fiberglass away. Whew!
So now the other fuel tank got cut into, and it has been epoxied. I only need to drill and tap the new cover and bolt it up to fill it with fuel for our northbound trip that starts next week!
We are excited.
The really cool part is that it will be just the two of us, since Ryan and Sam are flying to Atlanta and we do not pick Ryan up until June 9 in Ft Lauderdale. This will be the first time Shelly and I have spent 9 days together since Ian was born in 1991. Whatever will we do with ourselves?
Another huge project completed since we last spoke is the refrigeration. This has been a want to get done since we bought the boat. The old unit was top of the line – in 1984! It costs about $6,000 at that time and worked incredibly well if you ran your engine twice a day for two hours.
For the compressor, all the copper tubing, and the two stainless steel cold plates, the recycler gave me $19.55 in cold hard cash.
The new box is just an evaporator plate bent to fit in the box, with a very small compressor mounted in a cabinet close by. It is awesome and frees us for having to run the generator to get things cold. We actually have a freezer now with ice for the rum!
Our next update will show new floors. They are going to be very cool – and much different than most…
So back to today. It is Sunday morning, the sun is coming up and we are about to get underway for Sombrero Reef to do some snorkeling and see if we can spear some fresh fish for dinner.
The bottom of the boat has been scraped of three months of marine growth, and the engine and generator are all running well. We hope for a breeze today so we can put up some sail.
Oops. I almost forget to show the renovated bow pulpit that was Ryan's project. It looks awesome!
Until we meet again!
by miami | May 13, 2014
On Mother's Day, it is critically important to remember what is truly important.
It has been a tough week or two.
But, I think it is easy to forget where we actually are and focus on what is not going right instead of keeping things in perspective. We start with realizing we are in a pretty cool place, certainly a thousand times better than where we could be going through the same stuff.
And we have Moms. Without Moms to bring us, love us and raise us, (and for them to be there to be loved) all this would not be here anyway. Thanks to my Mom Marjorie gone for too long already, and Shelly's Mom Sally (our last remaining parent) for all your efforts!
And – we (I) have to remember that we bought a boat we knew needed a lot of work to make it a true cruising live aboard vessel, and that the initial price was simply a deposit on the full price of such a boat, and that we were choosing to make “payments” through sweat equity and parts when cash flow allowed.
It still can be depressing.
We have leaks in one of the two fuel tanks under the floors. This is not good as fuel in the bilges tends to get pumped overboard and the authorities and our neighbors do not like that at all.
Before I could get to the tanks I had to get under the hot water heater (that I hate) again. I decided to go ahead and move it and found a great place under the galley sink. Of course the sink had to come out, and all the plumbing and wiring redone. One full day and a half later, the tank is in a new place (yay!) and I have a nice open place to access the bilge and the generator.
Start pulling the floors.
Pull the hot water heater.
It is out!
Take out the sink, and the stove, build a shelf behind those wood drawers to the right of the sink, but inside the cabinet.
Heater is in. Now plumb and wire it. Easy! Then back to the problem. Day 2.
Next day – clean the area, and get all the fuel out of the bilge, and figure a way to find this damn leak.
First, I cleaned up all the wiring and plumbing lines, then built a sump in the bilge to run the shower drains so I could get the bilge dry. Plus I cut a few extra access hatches in the floor so I can run lines and plumbing.
Then, lay a nice white oil absorbent cloth in the clean, dry bilge and see where the fuel drips from… Voila, the port tank is leaking.
We pulled up all the wood floors in the salon, and cut an access into the top of the fuel tank. I could see pitting in the aluminum tank, and after much deliberation decided to use epoxy and fiberglass tape to try and seal the tank.
It was a pain in the butt! And two weekends of work…
Finally, yesterday, we started the fuel priming pump to force fuel from the starboard tank through the filters to the newly repaired port tank. About 5 pm the last three 5 gallon jugs of fuel were poured in to make sure the tank was full, and the new cover was screwed in place. Success!
The circle in the floor is where the table legs go so I had to not cut there!
The plan this morning was to mark the access for the starboard tank, cut it, clean out that tank and epoxy it just to be safe.
However, when I checked the bilge this morning I almost cried when I saw fuel. Apparently there is still a leak somewhere.
Today we moved 50 gallons of fuel back out of port to starboard, opened up the tank again, and cut out the outside fiberglass trying to ppinpoint the leak. The tank does not look good on the outside but to take it out means some serious work. In the boatyard cutting a lot of fiberglass work. Yuk.
I ended up laying much more glass and epoxy in the tank, and praying that I have covered where it was leaking.
Tomorrow will tell.
Then for Mother's Day Shelly rode up and rented the second Hobbitt movie and we watched that. She also fixed a very nice supper to enjoy with the rum to help with the depression. We just try to move on and try to figure out what the good is in this situation…
Time is again flying by. It looks like Ryan's friend Sam is coming to visit, then they are flying back to Atlanta for a vist before we pick Ryan up in ft Lauderdale first week of June. I have promised to work for the shop here until June 1, and we still have refrigeration to install. And of course now the generator needs looking at since I have access with no hot water heater in front of it.
3 weeks. Plenty of time.
We sure are looking forward to moving again!
We hope all the Moms had a great day! Until next time…
