2/10/16
Harbour Cay Club, Marathon, Florida Keys
Posted by Bill

A few days ago we finally got a break in the weather and took a day off of boat work. We gathered with several other boats here and took our dinghys over to Boot Key Harbor (close to where we did the mangrove caves). We went all of the way out of Sisters Creek for a peek at the Atlantic Ocean, then back to several bars on the water for an old fashioned dinghy pub crawl. A good time was had by all!

Next project: Macerator pump. If you follow the blog or you are a boater, you know that normally when you use the heads (bathroom), the waste goes into a holding tank. At some point you need to pump it out, and most marinas in the US have pump out stations that suck out the waste and dispose of it legally and safely. When you are at sea, or in most areas of the Bahamas (or the Caribbean), you turn a couple of valves and pump the heads directly overboard. Several areas in the Bahamas have changed the laws and will not allow you to discharge overboard at port, however they don’t have a pump out system. If you are in the Bahamas any longer than 3 weeks or so, you don’t have enough capacity in the holding tank to get back to the states for a pump out. Most boats that travel the oceans have a pump out system on board that will pump the holding tank out and discharge overboard. This is called a macerator pump and it is used in open seas or areas outside of port where pumping overboard is allowed. We did not have one because our boat was a Great Lakes boat, and it is not legal to have a macerator. We learned that we needed one last year when we were in the Bahamas, so we put one in. The project involved taking off old hoses, putting in a new pump (with the electrical work), a bunch of new hoses, and several new valves. Working with hoses, especially old ones, really sucks bad…especially waste hoses. Needless to say, I was dreading this project quite a bit. Here is the holding area where we had to work…a before picture. Here I temporarily added a new valve (on the left) to start the planning process:

The thick black hose running down the middle was one that had to be removed. It was the original overboard discharge hose from the heads, and was over 20 years old. It was fused to the fittings. It took several hours to remove it, finally having to be cut off. It took every bit of strength from my arms and left horrible black and blue marks. That was a full day’s work. Prior to that effort, I spent a couple of days planning the install, then a day to wire the electric components for the pump. Then a couple of days to cut the other existing hose, add all of the hoses and valves, including re-engineering the install when we ran in to some unforeseen problems. But now we are done!!!!! Here is the after pics:



Sanitation hose is very stiff and difficult to work with, so we used a more expensive new hose called Raritan Saniflex that was very flexible. It really saved the day! Hats off to Raritan.

On Superbowl Sunday, Matt and Shirley from Sofia Jeanne drove down here to Marathon. They are staying at a house that Kurt and Sharon from Byrd Ketcher rented on Duck Key. Mark and Jan on Island Bound are here at Harbour Cay Club with us, and we all went to Duck Key for the Superbowl. It was a great reunion of all of us who traveled the Bahamas last year together. Everyone has become extremely great friends, and it was really fun to be back together again.

We got together again on my birthday, and will try to spend more time together before Matt and Shirley leave.

We only have a few more projects to get done before we are ready to cross to the Bahamas. Now we just need to get some favorable weather. People we know that have been in the Bahamas are getting their asses kicked over there, and we have had our share of rough weather here too. The next 10 days do not look good, but we will keep our fingers crossed.

2/1/2016
Harbour Cay Club, Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

Except for a recent trip to see family in Bradenton Florida, we have been either dealing with the weather or working on the boat. Cruising boats are like houses in that there is pretty much constant maintenance work that needs to be done. Some of it is just daily minor things, or just plain cleaning, but there are also larger tasks and projects. The major differences seem to fall into these areas:
1. A house does not move (unless you’ve got serious problems). Many times stuff breaks while you are underway and it needs to be fixed to keep moving, or keep from sinking. Sometimes at anchor or even at a dock, the waves can bounce you around to the point that you can hardly work on something.
2. Most things that need working on in a boat are tucked away in a small locker, or are hidden behind a bulkhead or liner. You have to be nimble and sometimes a contortionist to work on something. Many times you cannot see what you are assembling or dis-assembling, and you are blindly feeling around as you work.
3. Most of the parts you will need can’t be purchased at a hardware store or a Home Depot. More times than not, there will not be a store within an hours drive that has what you need.
4. Replacement parts are three times more expensive than a home repair item.
5. As a cruiser, you usually don’t have a car, so you need to walk or ride a bike to get something from a store.
6. All of the tools and spare parts are stored somewhere in a locker, with everything else that you have stowed away. For most projects, just finding and getting all of the tools and parts out of storage takes at least an hour.
7. Weather makes more of an impact on when you can work on some things in a boat.

A great example of a project that requires good weather, wind and waves, is when you have to ascend the mast. Our friends Mark and Jan on Island Bound (great boat name…isn’t it) set out to repair their wind transducer recently. The transducer is at the top of the mast. Most crews that have to hoist someone up will sent the female up the mast (lighter and the guys have more muscle for the winch grinding).

Of course, you can’t have a good project unless you have some bystanders to supervise…lol…freinds Jeff, Bob and Tim:

Marathon is a good place to be when you have to do boat projects. Most marinas or anchorages are within walking distance to the West Marine store and Home Depot. There are also specialty service providers for any boat system (canvas, sail making, engine repair, plumbing, air conditioning, solar, wood working, pipe and metal work, electrical, etc…) within walking distance or a bike ride. We get most of our parts on the internet and have them shipped to our marina, but typical project will involve several trips to West Marine and Home Depot.

This season, the weather has been crazy. It is the dry season here in the Keys, but it rains about every 3 or 4 days this year. Also, the fronts that bring strong north winds have been rolling in about every 5 days, which is much more frequent than normal. They have also been stronger and last longer than normal. It has really impacted our ability to get our projects done in the month of January, and we are way behind schedule. This is normally where we prep the boat for our voyage to the Bahamas, and we have several things that are “must do” to make the trip.

The first project we tackled was putting a stern light on our dinghy davits. The davits hoist the dinghy up and down, and hold it in place when it is not being used. When raised, the dinghy obscures the factory installed stern light, which means boats behind us cannot see us at night…not good! So we ordered a bracket and the wire to put one on the davit cross bar. In the first attempt to install the new light we found that the mounting bracket came with the wrong diameter clamp. We had them send the correct one, waited another week for the weather to cooperate and then tried again.

I ran the wire down the davit arm and through the stern cap rail where the solar panel wire goes through the deck. This was the easy part, and I was glad to not have to make another hole in the deck.

Then I had to wire the light in. This involved emptying the cockpit locker. It holds a lot of stuff and takes 20 to 30 minutes to unload. It can’t be raining when you do this. Then I climb into the cockpit locker, locate the wire to the factory installed stern light, and locate the best spot in the wire to splice in the new light. This took the better part of 90 minutes, along with much contortionist efforts. Then I splice in the new light and re-tie all of the wire ties to make a secure installation….another 90 minutes to 2 hours. Then another 30 minutes to reload the locker.

Next, we tackled replacing one of our air conditioners. The boat has 2, one smaller than the other. The evaporator coil on the larger one started to disintegrate, and based on age and cost considerations, we decided to replace it. The factory that makes our brand is in Fort Myers Florida, so we picked it up on the way to Bradenton. It was virtually identical to the old unit which we hoped made an easy replacement. The old unit was installed behind the port side settee, taking up the better part of 2 storage areas.

The de-install involved draining the hoses, removing the wire ties that hold the wires and hoses down, and removing the electrical box (on the right in the first photo). Then disconnect the AC and thermostat wires from the electrical box. Then remove the screws holding down the air conditioner and pulling it out of the locker. It was heavier than shit and had rusted really bad (not quite sure why). Every stainless steel component in that locker had rusted, including wire tie screws and hose clamps. It made a huge mess:

Here is the new unit:

Tricia did a great job of getting the locker prepped and then we put in the new unit, attached the hoses, attached the electrical wires, and then turned it on. It started up and I realized I didn’t open the through hull valve to let the cooling water in, so we shut it down. After opening the valve and trying again, the unit wouldn’t start. I tried a few things to no avail and since it was happy hour time, and I was exhausted from a full day of working in the lockers, we quit for the day. Yesterday (the next day), I started by tracing the power. I de-installed the electrical box and found a loose AC wire. I got it back on, but the unit would not start. Now I do not like dealing with AC current. I am very comfortable working on DC systems, but not AC. I asked our friend Mark (who is very skilled with electrical stuff) to double check my wire connections and show me how to measure AC current with my meter…we had power to the box. We took the cover off of the box and found that a 30 amp fuse had blown. Mark had a spare (we did not), and after replacing it, the unit fired right up and generated cold air!! Yay! I tied all of the hoses and wires down and checked for water leaks…all good. The second day only took about 2 1/2 hours to get to a completed project.

With most projects, when you get one done, you find two more. When we were in Bradenton, a front with very high winds blew in, slipped one of the fenders on the boat, and slammed the side of the boat into the dock piling, resulting in this mess:

This one is beyond my skill level and we will have to get someone to repair it.

1/22/16
Harbour Cay Club, Florida Keys, Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

We meet so many different kinds of people in this lifestyle, and it is one of the really cool things about cruising. You meet people from all walks of life and varying degrees of investment in the cruising lifestyle. One of the things that I like best is that most people don’t talk about their life before cruising unless you ask, and there is not a lot of how much do you have or not have, how big your house is, or how expensive of a car do you drive. Most people just kind of meld together as a community in a level playing field, helping each other out with what ever they can offer when someone is in need. I wish society and the world in general was more like this. I think a part of it is that living as close to nature and the sea as we do tends to humble you, and help you see beyond the societal facade that has been created in the more economically advanced countries. It is very liberating and puts life in true perspective.

A great example of the diversity of people that we meet came most recently. We met a young couple, Tom and Vanessa, that was staying in our marina on their 27 foot sailboat. It didn’t have a lot of the amenities of most of the other boats you see, like running water, refrigerator, stove, but it allowed them to travel through the keys and conduct business (he is a professional photographer…and a very good one…let me know if you need someone and I’ll hook you up). We got to be good friends with them and really enjoyed their company. They were finishing up some work here and heading north to the next job, so they put the boat up for sale. They must have good Karma because it sold just before they had to leave. They sold it to a group of 3 street performers from Key West who have never owned a boat or sailed one. They were taking it to Key West and planned to live on it with their 2 dogs. Tom took them out for some lessons and they had a friend of theirs who knows how to sail, help them take the boat to Key West. They were very young and fit the image of a typical Key West street performer, and lived a very different life than most people, so they stood out in our marina. We talked to them a few times and they were very nice, respectful people.

They left the other day with seven people, three dogs, three kayaks and a bunch of personal affects, all in a 27 foot sailboat. Our friends Hayden and Radeen helped them get out of the marina using their dinghy to tow their bow, and a bunch of us wished them luck, and saw them off. Many were worried about them making it to Key West, us included, and they agreed to let us know that they made it. At first you might think …. these guys are crazy! I know that it is not something that I would be comfortable doing, but hey, that is the beauty of it all…to each his own. They are out there experiencing life, leveraging the resources at their disposal, and I respect them for it! The coolest thing about the whole event was that, despite the fact that they are at opposite ends of a spectrum, people were not judgmental and were genuinely concerned for their well being. I point this out not because I was surprised by it…the people here, like most cruisers are wonderful; but because this is very different than what happens in society at large. I just wish we could make this mentality as contagious as the flu and spread it around the world.

We later heard that they made it without incident and are looking forward to checking out their performance the next time we go to Key West.

Pics:

1/18/16
Harbour Cay Club, Marathon FL, Florida Keys
Posted by Bill

The weather in the Keys has been very abnormal this year. First off…this is the dry season, but we have been having several days of rain every week, sometimes every day. It has also been much cooler. The average high is in the low 70’s normally and we have had many days in the 60’s. The worst of it has been the northerly fronts. In a normal year, a front will move in with strong north winds every 10-14 days, and within a day or two the wind will move to the northeast and then east. Winds are usually only blowing into the mid 20’s (knots) or high teens and then within a few days will go back to the normal 10-15 knots. This year we have had fronts move in every 5 days or so with winds into the 30’s, and they have been sticking around with a northerly component for 4 or more days. We are well protected here in the marina unless the winds are from the north or northwest, in which case we get waves rolling in to the marina that will rock you senseless. In the last month we have had a couple of the fronts with extreme weather, winds over 40 knots. The last couple of days we had one come through with a max of 47 knots (54 MPH), and then 2 days of 30+ knot winds out of the northwest and north. Needless to say, we got our asses kicked. It is just now starting to move a little to the east and calm to under 20 knots. When these conditions exist, the front and back of the boat pitch up and down rather wildly and a distance of up to 4 feet. Very hard to sleep, or even stay on the boat, or even get on and off the boat. This does not do it justice, but here is a still shot of the scene:


We had 2 and 3 foot waves rolling in! The people who live here full time in the marina are saying that this was the worst they have seen it here. Our friends in the Bahamas had an encounter with winds of 70-100+ knots, causing boats to break loose from anchor, running into other boats and crashing on rocks and reefs. This is why we don’t go to the Bahamas early in the season. It has been crazy. The experts are blaming it on the strong El Nino in the Pacific.

The weather has put a severe damper on our ability to get our boat projects done in preparation for traveling to the Bahamas. Our goal was to go early in February as soon as a weather window opened, but we need to get the work done before we can make it.

We took a day off Saturday and went to Key West to visit Kurt and Sharon on Byrd Ketcher, and Mark and Jan on Island Bound (the other Island Bound). Kurt’s sister and her husband were staying with them, so we all went out bar hopping and had a great time. Random street scene on Duval:

Since we don’t have a car we had to take the bus. There was a seafood festival in Key West so the bus was crammed full of people, to the point that it seemed dangerous. Tricia got a seat and I stood by the rear door. A short, fat guy crammed in in front of me with his large ass pressed into my crotch. It was like getting a lap dance for the 2 hour trip to Key West…not a fun time for me! We both got a seat for the ride back but had to stare at this guy the whole way:

The joys of public transportation!

This week we are renting a car and driving to see Tricia’s sister Diane and her husband Mark. They rented a house in Bradenton FL and we will visit for a few days. On the way there and back we will pick up a new air conditioning unit that I need to install, and make runs to Costco and Walmart to provision for the Bahamas.

1/9/16
Marathon, FL
Posted by Bill

Today we took a break from boat projects and took our dinghy over to Boot Key to explore the mangrove tunnels. Our Harbour Cay friends Jim and Lanny led a flotilla of dinghys under the 7 mile bridge, through Boot Key harbor and into the mangroves. The tunnels are very narrow paths through the mangroves and are marked by private buoys and orange painted branches. You really have to know where they are. Most of them are accessible only by kayak, and we encountered areas that were just wide and tall enough to let us get through. It was great fun!

Path we took to where the tunnels were:

Lanny pouring mimosas to toast our departure:

Dinghys getting ready to depart:

And we are off:

Motoring through the canals and creeks of Boot Key:

Entering the tunnels:

Working our way through the mangroves. Most of the areas where very narrow and low, and we had to frequently duck down and pull ourselves through:

After several hours…making it out:

And then we motored to a local bar on the water, Dockside:

On the way back, we stopped at Sunset Grill for a few happy hour cocktails:

And then we had happy hour and watched the sun set at the tiki hut at Harbour Cay Club:

A great day! Thanks to Lanny and Jim for leading us there and through the tunnels. We would never have found them on our own.

1/4/16
Harbour Cay Club – Marathon, Florida Keys
Posted by Bill

First…happy new year everyone! I haven’t posted since Christmas so I thought I would write an update. Generally, we have been enjoying a period of fantastic weather for the last 3 weeks! Today another front is moving through and the temps have fallen to the high 60s…brrrrrrr, and as usual, we are rocking and rolling in the waves of the north winds. Most of the last week we have been working on the boat. Seems like we are finding one project after another, but most of the time has been spent trying to get the air conditioner condensation draining properly. We finally broke down and figured a way to run a drain tube to our shower sump, so we could bypass using the venturi condensator that has been problematic. After some adjustments to the tube, we were able to get a solution and have been enjoying cooler temps in the cabin. Tricia built some shade curtains out of a shade material we bought at Home Depot. It works great to shade the cockpit and it was much more cost effective than buying the usual material (Phifertex) that is used in the marine industry. Next we tackled installing a new stern light on the dinghy davit cross bar. When the dinghy is hanging in the davits, the standard stern light is obscured, which is not good! We bought a mounting bracket, a new stern light, and the wire to add a light higher on the davits. Problem was…the clamp they sent me is too large for the cross bar….oh well…we will finish that one later. I’ll try to get a few pics of the last 2 projects mentioned for other cruisers looking for similar solutions, and will post in a future post.

A couple of days after Christmas we went to the Marathon Craft Beer and Bubbly festival at the city park. We rode our bikes with friends Hayden and Radeen on Island Spirit, and Maris and Linda on Amekaya. They had craft beer, wine, champagne, good food trucks, and live music. It was great fun! Here is the gang:

A couple of days before new years, friends here at the marina, Lanny and Jim, fired up their smoker and we smoked a pork tenderloin. Tricia marinated ours with the rib rub she makes, and the result was outstanding!!! Here is half of the tenderloin:

Tricia cut it up into portions and used our Food Saver to vacuum pack it, then put most of it in the freezer. We have been enjoying, and will be enjoying delicious pork for a while.

New Years Eve, we joined several other couples here at the marina and had hor d’oeuvres and drinks to usher in the new year. Lanny made a southern traditional “good luck” meal that was really good, so we should be real lucky! All of the food was good. We were in the club house, which has a nice wide screen TV with a surround sound system. We watched football and then the ball drop in Times Square. Hayden, Radeen, Maris and Linda, coaxed me in to getting my guitar and everyone joined in singing while I played. The party finally broke up around 2:40 AM. It was really fun, and I think that is the latest we have stayed up for new years eve in decades.

We pretty much stayed here at Harbour Cay Club over the holidays, as there were hordes of tourists here for the holidays. We are glad to have things get back to normal…as normal as it gets in the keys! Tomorrow some friends are coming in from St. Pete, Florida, and I am sure the happy hours at all of the local haunts will become a larger part of our activity once again.

12/25/15
Harbour Cay Club, Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

Merry Christmas everyone!! I hope you all had a good one. We have been enjoying a week of wonderful weather and the last couple of days have been no exception. We have been enjoying time with friends, both old and new. The other day, our friends that have a house on Big Pine Key, Jim and Jackie, came up and took us to the grocery store and Home Depot. Then we went and had lunch together and caught up. They dock in our old marina on Lake Erie and have been friends for several years. Nice to have a car to load up heavy stuff at the grocery. Even better to see good friends! Then the next day, our friends from Lake Erie, Jen and John, picked us up and we went out for happy hour at Sunset Grill. They are the friends we had a dual wedding with and their parents have a house here in Marathon where they are staying for Christmas. We have been close friends since the early 1990s. Great seeing them too.

Last night we had a really nice dinner here at Harbour Cay Club. Everybody pitched in and we had a great Italian seafood dinner. Here are some pictures:

Then today we connected with friends and family outside of Marathon, mostly via Face Time (which is awesome), did some fishing (caught nothing), and had a great surf and turf dinner. It was very different from our traditional Christmas celebration before we started cruising, but was enjoyable. And how can you complain about this view:

Tomorrow…back to boat projects, and then plan a trip to Key West!!

12/22/15
Harbour Cay Club, Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

The rock and roll stopped and the last 2 days have been delightful as the weather goes. Unfortunately, we have not been able to enjoy it with all of the boat work. It took the better part of a day, but I successfully flushed the air conditioning raw water system and got the condensators working again, sucking out the condensation as designed. As earlier in the year, the hoses get lined with silt and dead sea stuff, reducing the flow of water which in turn stalls the venturi effect that the condensators need to do their thing. A quick flush of diluted muratic acid did the trick again. As boat projects always go, it takes several hours to just get all of the tools out of storage and several more putting it all away. This one also involves removing hoses, which always takes herculean efforts, too much time, and much cursing.

Also, as boat projects go, another unforeseen project emerged. The project that we knew about was changing the filter cover for the refrigerator drain pump. When you defrost the refrigerator, some water ends up in the bottom and we have a handy, built in electric pump to purge it out. The filter for this system is in the back of the engine compartment just under an access hatch. We learned the hard way that if you are not careful removing the hatch, you can cause a stress crack in the filter cover, hindering the pump process. It takes about 40 minutes to remove all of the stuff that is stored above the hatch, and about 5 minutes to replace the filter cover. When I lifted the hatch, I noticed that it was wet…it shouldn’t be. So, I thought we had a leaking hose in the engine compartment. I run the engine at various speeds and watched for leaks…none found. After further inspection of the engine compartment, I could see small traces of water droplets in the area above the end of the hatch that was wet, and it leads to the vented tube for engine exhaust water. As usual, it doesn’t leak when I run the engine. I take to the internet and do some research, some saying that a little bit of leaking is normal, but this doesn’t sound right to me. I consult the “cone of knowledge”, a.k.a. happy hour at the Harbour Cay tiki hut, and learn that it should not leak, and that a friend of Eric’s has the same model boat that we have and has had to replace the same part. This whole process fills another day. The next day, Eric’s friend sends me an email with the part number and a place to get it…yay!! A fine example of the way boat projects go, and proof that drinking and happy hour solves problems!

It seems like boat projects have been consuming us this last week or so, but in my last post I forgot to mention our first manatee visit this season. We love it when they come up to our boat and this one was really friendly.

All of the unexpected projects have put a damper on getting Christmas finalized. We didn’t have much to do in that respect, but we are not going to make it. We decided to stay at the marina over Christmas and will try and see all of our friends that live nearby over the next week. I hope you all are ready for the holiday and that you have a good one!

12/19/15
Harbour Cay Club Marina, Marathon FL
Posted by Bill

One of the only bad things about staying at Harbour Cay Club is the northern exposure. When winds have a northern component, especially northwest or due north, and the winter fronts move in, we get hammered by the wind and waves in the marina. Today we are getting winds to 36 knots (so far) from the north-northeast and we have been rocking and rolling like a bucking bronco. Not much sleep last night and we will have to endure this weather for another day. Thankfully, it looks like the winds will move further east, which should calm it down a bit. We decided to hang out in the club house for a bit to keep from getting sea sick! To put in my usual terms…we are getting our asses kicked…at the dock!

Up until today, this week has been absolutely gorgeous!! Here are a couple pics from one of our walks that typifies the weather we have been having:

The other day we took our dinghy around the west end of the key, under the Seven Mile Bridge and into Boot Key Harbor. Hundreds of boats in there. On the way back we stopped and enjoyed a couple of happy hours. It was a fun day getting out on the water.

We started one day this week with breakfast and mimosas:

And then we put up our Christmas decorations:

Our friends Hayden and Radeen finally made it here and we have been making more friends at the infamous “Cone of Knowledge”, the tiki hut where everyone socializes for sun down and happy hour drinks. One night I even pulled out my guitar and played with one of the other boaters here that has an acoustic, and can sing very well. It has been great fun.

The temps have started to get into the mid 80’s during the day and only going down into the mid to high 70’s at night, with a decent amount of humidity; so we decided to switch on the air conditioning. We only run it when we have to, to save money on electricity, but it was getting to be 87/88 inside the boat in the afternoons, and lately the winds have been very light, so we broke down. Much to my dislike…the condensators, the small plumbing fixtures that suck the condensation water out, were not working. So…I manually pumped the water out (every 40 minutes for several hours), launched the dinghy, used the dinghy and a water hose at the dock to spray into the water exhaust ports, and viola…it started working! Yay! Not so fast though…it only worked for about 3 hours and then started failing again. Those of you who follow the blog may remember this happening in Southport this summer. I will need to run acid through the raw water system of the air conditioners to get the flow back to the point that the condensators will work. I set about doing that today. Step one…prep a bucket to feed the raw water pump…done. Next, dig a section of spare hose out of the cockpit locker (big enough for a small family to live in, and completely full of stuff…aka not fun to have to dig out spare hose) to run from the bucket to the pump…failed. Rain was threatening and we are getting blown away. It is cool enough to not need the air conditioning for a few days and I am going to delay this project, hoping for better weather tomorrow! You may also remember that I absolutely hate dealing with hoses, so that may have been a factor as well…lol!

It just doesn’t feel like Christmas here…mostly sunny, warm and green…and I can’t believe the big day is next week. We have several options for how we are going to spend Christmas Eve and Day, and we need to figure out what we are going to do……..decisions, decisions.

We will post before and/or around Christmas to wish everyone well. I hope your shopping is almost done and your cookies are baked. Not so much of that here on a boat…