A thirty year old boat....is bound to have its problems

This post has been a long time in the making. I'll start by saying that a few days before leaving Albuquerque on March 12 for our trip to Florida and the moving of the boat to Tavernier, I called the marina and asked the manager if the boat was back in the water yet. The answer was yes and that she "took on a little water" when she was put back in the water with new bottom paint and a new thru-hull fitting.

I got hold of the mechanic (Mike) who has been doing a great job for us and he explained that the marina put the boat back in the water after he had left for the day and that no one had gone below to check to see if the boat was taking on water. When he got to the marina the next morning he found 3 1/2 feet of water inside the boat and the boat headed to the bottom...right there at the dock. Mike got a bilge pump running (God knows why ours wasn't working) and pumped out the inside and ran to a store to get a dehumidifier to dry out the inside. By the time we got to Florida the boat was pretty dry inside, but it took a new starter and alternator to get the engine started. Lara was pissed about the condition of the teak and holly cabin sole and expressed her displeasure to all who would listen and the response was to put someone from the marina to work oiling the sole to make it look better. No doubt it is going to take some sanding and some new varnish to make it look like it did before the near catastrophe.

It took some wrangling with the marina to square things financially, but we finally got that done and we prepared, with our friend Brad, to get the boat out of Tampa Bay and on our way south. The day of our journey south got off to a rocky start. We motored out of the marina and the narrow channel that leads to Tampa Bay and before we got to open water, the fog moved in and we headed back to the dock at the marina to wait out the sunshine. After our wait, we headed out again and when we were about 3/4 of the way to open water, I managed to put us aground in a shallow area and despite the help of a good Samaritan we ended up having to hail Mike to help move us off the sand bar and send us on our way. We fueled up and headed into Tampa Bay, under motor, not sail. The wind was blowing from the exact direction we wished to head, so we motored for several hours, passing under the Sunshine Skyway bridge and around the bend at Anna Maria Island. It was already so late in the day that we decided to enter the ICW and motor to the Bradenton Beach Marina for the night.

We chatted with marina staff via cellphone before our arrival and they told us where to park the boat for the night (as they were leaving for the day). As we pulled the boat into the slip, the transmission cable snapped and we slid into the berth. What next??? We knew that both the throttle cable and the transmission cable were stiff from age, but believed that if we were careful we could get to the Keys before getting them fixed. What a mistake! We pulled into the marina on Monday evening and didn't leave until all was fixed...on Friday morning. We were fast running out of time, as we had a flight to take back to Albuquerque and our friend Brad was running out of his time off from his job.

New cables were ordered on Tuesday and delivered early on Wednesday morning, following a full day of work by our friendly, Jerry Garcia look-alike mechanic from the marina disassembling the pedestal steering and cable mechanisms. Somewhere between the marina shop and the boat, one of the cables disappeared, along with an essential part (which was not available from the local nautical supply house). Sooo, another cable was ordered, along with the part, which had to be shipped overnight from Edson, the steering manufacturer. Both arrived Thursday morning and were installed, but not in time for us to head back out into the Gulf for our journey south. Bradenton Beach was a lovely place to spend a few days and the marina staff was as kind and generous as could be, but we were running out of time. Dinners at the restaurants along Bradenton's beautiful beach were special, as was all of the time we were getting to spend with Brad. We passed St. Patrick's day cooking corned beef and cabbage aboard the boat and sharing it with our mechanic, who went way above and beyond the call of duty in his assistance.

Friday morning we motored out of the ICW and under a raised bridge into the Gulf and headed south in a rather light breeze. We had a brief discussion about whether we should sail through the night and decided that if we were to get to Tavernier in time we needed to do that. We didn't make very good time, spending most of the delightfully sunny, warm day doing 2 - 3 knots. Brad was going to get some sleep first and he went below at about 5pm and Lara and I sailed along south, accompanied by dolphins for part of our journey. Lara and I had been taking Dramamine and Brad had decided not to. We didn't see Brad on deck again till the next morning and then not because he wanted to. The sail through the night was a first for both Lara and me, but our gps and the dolphins kept us headed in the right direction, about 10 miles off shore. The following morning, just as the sun rose, we were at a sort of point of no return, about 10-15 miles southwest of Marco Island.

I decided that without Brad feeling well, we were not going to be able to progress any further. Both Lara and I were falling asleep and it was time to get the sails down and head back toward Marco. The sail south during the night had been at good speeds and despite a couple of accidental jibes, things seemed to have held together pretty well. It was while taking down the sails to head into Marco Island, that the bolt that held the forward end of the main boom to the gooseneck had let go and we weren't going to be able to go any further without getting it fixed. Not sure where to find a marina to get some work done, I called Tow Boat US and related our problems and they promptly motored out, hooked us up and towed us to the Marco River Marina.

We have had remarkable good fortune with the marina employees we have come into contact with. The folks at the Marco River Marina were no exception. They could not have been more gracious. We spent a couple of days getting the boat ship shape and making arrangements to have the service staff at the marina assess what needed to be done to the boom before we left to rent a car and get Brad back to Tavernier. A night spent at a delightful inn in Key Largo was followed by a drive to Ft. Lauderdale to visit our friends Kathleen and Kris, who had made their annual trip to the Cardinals' spring training site from their home in St. Louis. We had a great time with them and drove them to the airport the next morning for their return to STL and we headed back to Marco Island to spend the night on the boat. A night there was followed by our drive back to Tampa airport and our return to Albuquerque. God, when would we see our boat again.

About 10 days after our return to New Mexico, we talked to the marina's service staff, who informed us that the fix to the boom was relatively simple, cost us far less than we expected, and that it was all back together again. We will return to Marco Island at the end of May to resume our trip to Tavernier. You know what they say about sailboats....they are merely holes in the water, surrounded by wood/fiberglass, into which you pour money. Damn!

There are lots of things that have been learned about the boat and ourselves on this journey, but the most satisfying is that Lara is an incredible trouper and is going to be a hell of a sailor. She is a delight to be around every minute aboard the boat. She says that she talks to the boat and gets good vibes from those conversations. I believe her!

Another step closer

The boat may be back in the water today. I talked to Mike at QMS and he has replaced the prop shaft, prop, and cutless bearing and balanced the engine. Hopefully, today he is replacing the exhaust riser, which fell apart in his hands as he was checking it for structural integrity. Tim called yesterday from the marina and wondered what color to paint the bottom. It was red before, so I told him to make it red again.

If the paint gets on there today and Mike has replaced the one thru-hull fitting that he says needs replacing, the boat might be back in the water by sunset today...or maybe not. In any case, it will be in the water and ready to sail by the time we get back to FL on 3/12. Bradley is going to get a ride to the marina from the Keys on 3/16 and if all is ready, we may be ready to sail away for Tavernier on 3/17, celebrating St. Patrick's Day in the Intracoastal Waterway somewhere.

We are anxious for this journey to be over.

One Step Closer

Well, the boat has been hauled out of the water and the bottom pressure washed and is sitting on a stand in the marina yard. She now has a new prop, prop shaft, cutless bearing and is one step closer to being back in the water.

The boat had set in the water for so long that one blade of the old three-blade prop had fallen off thanks to electrolysis and electrolysis had destroyed the cutless bearing and the prop shaft was useless. Mike from QMS Marine in Tampa used 9 sawzall blades to cut off the old stainless steel prop shaft and had a new one milled and got everything put back together again. He still has a couple of thru hull fittings to work on and then, when we get back down to Florida in March, the boat goes back in the water and we see if everything works. I have great faith in them!

Hopefully, in March, Eye Quit will carry us to her new home in the Community Harbor in Tavernier.

Hmmm

Talked yesterday with both the marina manager and the guy who is doing the work on the prop and prop shaft, as well as the thru hull fittings. The boat came out of the water on Friday. It turns out that the bottom of the boat is suffering from more neglect than we anticipated. Will find out tomorrow whether or not they can get the work done on the boat by the time we expected to be in FL and whether the problems with the bottom of the boat are going to drive the expense beyond our immediate means. Will know more tomorrow when I talk with them again to get their best estimates (which I hope that they are working on this weekend).

Needless to say we are disappointed that we might not be down there by the end of next week and that we might have to put the trip off for a while. Lara has moved heaven and earth in her practice to accomodate this schedule, which included shoving two big juvenile trials into the middle of February -- in back to back weeks. :(

Anticipation!!!

Talked with the manager of the marina yesterday to confirm that they are going to haul the boat out of the water next Tuesday, January 13 and pressure wash the bottom, followed by two coats of anti-fouling paint. The fellow who towed the boat from Apollo Beach to Shell Point Marina is going to remove the old, broken prop and replace it with a new one, replace the cutless bearing and go through the thru-hull fittings to make sure they are all in proper working order.

Lara had a day off from court yesterday, so she spent the day getting clothes washed and packed for next week's trip to FL and gathering up the miscellaneous crap we have to take down there with us. She is the world's best at this, since she refuses to allow the boat to be overgrown with unneeded clothes and other "stuff".

We leave here on Thursday for the drive to Tampa Bay and the final push to get the boat to Tavernier. Yeaaaaaa!

New Years Eve

We spent NYE in Denver, watching Yonder Mountain String Band and Widespread Panic. The show was at the Pepsi Center, which was a terrific venue for the show. We left home at 4AM on NYE and drove to Denver, arriving about 11:30AM. The weather was great and the temperatures stayed nice the whole time we were in Denver. Last year the temps were close to zero at night; this year in the 40's. We woke up on New Year's Day and grabbed breakfast at a great diner and then drove back to Albuquerque, arriving about 6:30PM. I think we were both sound asleep by 7:30 and never moved a muscle until the next morning.

This quick trip to Denver came the day after we drove down to Las Cruces, NM to visit with Lara's mom and step-dad, who were traveling cross country for their annual hiatus in Palm Springs, CA. It was great to visit with them and to share a meal, before we got up at 2AM to drive back to Albuquerque, to be in court by 8:30AM. All in all, this was a busy end of the year for us.

With the Inauguration only two weeks away, lets hope that change is truly in the air! We so look forward to seeing our friends this year and to spending as much time as possible on the boat.

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