Attack of the Tree Frog

All our registrations are expiring soon on the vehicles so we undertook to change the title over to a Florida one and get new plates on the Convertible. This soon became an adventure into "we don't do it thatta way around here" land and our first inclination that it was going to be a unique experience was when we began to look for a place to register our car. There are a couple of courthouse offices to go to and about 20 private "Tag Agencies" in the Miami area. We opted for a courthouse office since it seemed more familiar to us and had heard that Tag Agencies charge an additinal fee and sometime do not get you your plates before the temporary one expires.

When we arrived at the office, we took our number and waited about a half-hour to be called. We had title, registration and insurance documents with us and we knew that they didn't take credit cards so we brought the checkbook along. The lady was helpful, but what we didn't expect was that we needed to have one other document with us. We needed to leave the courthouse and have part of this form filled out by either a Police Officer or Notary Public that would actually look at the car and verify that the V.I.N. on the car matched the V.I.N. on the Title. I don't really understand this, but maybe there are scams around where the Title and car don't match? Hmmmm....

So we dutifully took the papers and had a Notary do the verification for us.

When we returned (several days later) to finish up the process we found that the office had been closed and we were directed to a nearby Tag Agency :(

We got to the Tag Agency and got in line. It didn't take more than 15 or 20 minutes to get helped and the lady providing us service was friendly ... and very, very sick (if we catch something it's likely because she transferred it to us on our plates or papers). She reviewed all our documents and nodded approvingly that we were good to go. She asked the customary questions about what kind of plates we wanted, whose name to title the car to, and what address to send the new title to. We paid almost a hundred dollars for title transfer, a hundred dollars for first-time registration fee and some more for Ageny Fee, use tax, and the actual registration fee. It was roughly twice what we'd've paid in Colorado, maybe closer to 3 times.

She then grabbed our plate and affixed the bright yellow expiration sticker on it. It said "01-10".

We asked her why it was only to January instead of a full year from today's date, she said that Florida registers by birth month! Well .. Robin is January, but I'm in July ... but it was already completed and we'd likely have paid a whole new transfer fee to change the title over to me. (sigh).

We did get a bit of a chuckle out of it though. It's just something else we've run across that signals us that we're not in Colorado anymore. I guess I am kind of closed-minded to about doing things any way different from what I know, but this still seems a bit out in left field.

It does, however, give me a page or two of Blog material for a couple of hours worth of experience :)

After that (we'd hustled home from work to get there) we went to the Firestone Dealer so they could put in an air filter that I'd paid for but they forgot to install. To their credit they waved at us when we pulled up and came straight to our car the moment we drove into the parking lot. Their apologies were accepted and the technician popped the hood and swapped the air filter out in an amazing 31 seconds (yes, we were jokingly timing it ... but he wowed us all).

Then we headed out to the boat for a little visit and to clean up after some pesky pigeons. I'll figure a way to keep them off the mast and make million$ some day :) Then we headed off to dinner at a quaint German restaurant we'd been meaning to try for several months. It was pleasant and relatively quiet with some 'unique' live entertainment. The solo artist played keyboards and accordian as he had apparently been doing for many, many years. He was doing the "Pennsylvania Polka" and some other familiar German and European favorites for a while, but it got kind of weird when the Chicken Dance fired up and then it got pretty laughable when we heard "Margaritaville" on an accordian with a Polka beat.

Still, the food was good and the staff great. The facility is old and decorated in things Bavarian from who knows how long ago. We left quite pleased and with the next day's lunch n our take-home bag.

As is often our custom, we did not take a straight-home route and opted to explore a bit on the way back. It was dark, and pleasant so we put the top down on the convertible and meandered around in an inderect way home (a-la Family Circus). This is a good way to get lost for a while and not let it become worrisome because we actually planned on it :). So, as the streets wandered around and finally dead-ended we weren't bothered and started finding our way back.We were tooling aroung in a mobile home park/area actually and found a waterway blocking our direct route through the park (that happens a lot around here).

So we did a couple of left turns and found the perimeter road and were happily headed back to the main street when I heard two things simultaneously; Robin's scream and the sound of an impact on her shoulder.

We both knew she'd been hit by something and at first we figured it must've been a very large bug of some kind. We were making about 25 mph and whatever it was hit her hard enough to hurt a little, startle her a lot and , make noise and also hard enough to prove that it wasn't a moth or mosquito.

Slowing, I turned the overhead light on and we started looking for something large and crawly-or-winged beasty of the night. I thought maybe a dragonfly or Cicada, or maybe even a Mantis but we couldn't seem to find anything on or in around the seats.
Robin spotted him first...an unlikely critter in an unlikely spot. A gray-green Tree Frog maybe 3 inches long was sitting on the dashboard, probably wondering what had just happened to him.

He jumped across the dash when I tried to catch him and then I had a second thought because I had no clue about tree frogs and whether there are any venomous ones around here. I know there are venomous toads living around here and they will poison and kill dogs & cats sometimes and make people pretty sick with a neurotoxin on the back of their necks. Luckily we had some paper towels handy and I reached for him a couple more times before I finally got him when he landed on the steering wheel. I tossed him back out and we went on our way, very curious about why such a little fellow would attack such a big silver target (i.e. the car) and even more puzzled about exactly how he got that far into the sky to begin with. You see, we weren't exactly under any trees...

Things that make you go 'huh' in Florida :)

Fireworks, Shuttles and Rum, oh my!

I can hear it now ... "Gaaaary, you've got some bloggin' to do!!" Dang that inner voice of guilt (oh, and the other pressures as well (grin)).

It's been a good few weeks all told, full of adventure and some trials as well. Altogether it has been a good introduction to the summer and to the future that we have planned.

Along about the 3rd of July we started looking around for a place to go see fireworks. There are so many cities lined up along the 'Gold Coast', 'Treasure Coast' and 'Space Coast' that we didn't really get a handle on what or who would be putting on a big show. We managed to get a three-day weekend out of it since the 'official' holiday was on Friday and we planned on spending some down time puttering about on small projects and relaxing. Since it had been raining pretty much every day for the past 3 weeks we surmised that there might be some washed out shows but dawned clear and stayed clear most of the day on the 4th.

As it turned out we just put the top down on the convertible and drove around for a couple of hours watching pieces of several different fireworks shows and skirting around traffic jams of people trying to get to or from the beaches. Maybe next year we'll watch a couple of shows from a mile or two offshore. The weekend was a rousing succes as far as the relaxation goal was concerned and we even took in a movie at the IMAX theatre located conveniently close to the slip where S/V Robin is docked. For the record, sequels seldom whip the originals as badly as the "Night in the Museum; The Battle for the Smithsonian" did. In our humble opinion (IMHO) it was a far better movie than the first one and we enjoyed it thoroughly.

The work week ensued complete with training, meetings, and coomutes and we made up some plans for the next weekend which included a certain blog author's birthday. :)

On Friday we made an early day of it and headed up to Jupiter, FL to visit with our friends Sue and Chip. What started out as a civil evening of steaks on the grill and a game of cards quickly 'advanced' into what could be construed to be a full-fledged pary when someone (no names here) slipped a litre of dark rum onto the table along with some shot glasses.

Now ... I've been around long enough to lnow better, you'd think ... we did have fun; so I'm told at least ... and I think we quit the card game before it was supposed to be over. I know there was a swimming pool involved and I know I got to sleep before daylight.

Actually: we did enjoy the evening immensely and it was great fun and fellowship. What a nice way to usher in my first year of senior discounts.

Saturday morning we said our farewells and travelled further north because we wanted to watch the Space Shuttle depart. It ws scheduled for a 7:50 P.M. launch and we'd booked a hotel about 30 miles south of the Cape because everything north of that was booked solid. It's great to realize that a Shuttle launch is still popular and exciting enough to draw a crushing crowd to watch it. The media gives it precious little coverage these days unless there is a mishap.

As soon as we arrived at the hotel and checked in we learned that the mission had been scrubbed due to lightning strikes around the launch complex the night before so we suddenly had no pressure to be anywhere and took the time to tour around Palm Bay, Cocoa Beach and Port Canaveral. We were already booked at the hotel for the evening and decided that since the launch was rescheduled for Sunday evening that we'd stay another night and hope to see it go.

Our hotel was conveniently located next to a Texas Roadhouse and the steaks were as good as we remembered :)

We did some more 'touristy' activities on Sunday morning and gradually worked our way up highway A1A to a spot recommended to us by a co-worker. The place is along the south jetty wall of the Port Canaveral inlet and there are several restaurants along the road with good, unobstructed viewsto the north. Although we were about 11 miles south of the launch pad itself we were only a couple hundred yards away from Cape property and we had an (almost) unobstructed view to the launch site. Cars and people started filling in a couple of hours prior to launch, but we had an hour head start on them and were graced by an air conditioned table with a good view and a great waiter with a pretty good menu. All told, it was a pretty good spot to watch a launch.
While it's been a while since we've spent more than three hours at a restaurant, the staff made it fun and about 15 minutes prior to launch we stepped outside to wait and see. At about T-11 they scrubbed it due to encroaching thunderstorms and while we were disappointed it was still an enjoyable afternoon.

Monday morning we packed up and made the 190 mile commute to report to work. NASA tried again and scrubbed due to weather and then finally made it on Wednesday.
There are only 7 Shuttle launches left. This number actually includes a launch that was not originally going to go up because the first time it was to launch it was destroyed in the Challenger. The entire project has been rebuilt and will finally get to go into space after all.

We hope to find a way to be present for at least some of these launches as they are spectacular.

The schedule for NASA'a launches are here.
You can also get NASA TV broadcasts piped directly to your computer by going to their NASA TV page and choosing which kind of media player to view. They also have a huge selection of videos and images to browse through.
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Last week we drove north again; this time to Stuart, FL to meet up with and visit with Jerome from the previous entry's "Contour" story. When last we saw him we were concerned about his taking off across the ocean single-handed this time of year and after we managed to make e-mail contact we found that he'd elected to hang around locally for at least a while until a crew could be found. He'd met up with an experienced and willing sailor named Dave and they will likely be on their way in a few days. It looks like Jerome is going to get a crack at his dream real soon and we wish him (them) the very best of times as they cruise around. We haven't had a hint of hurricane threat yet although the thunderstorms have been persistent and often severe (driving home from Stuart that evening we punched through a very heavy storm with hail and nearly constant lightning. It rained very, very hard and we were thankful to get out of it. I would not've liked it in a boat.)
It's been quite a month for celebrity passings as well. Of all, I will probably feel Walter Cronkite's the most. In conjunction with this week's 40th anniversary of the landing on the moon, his pictures and videos have gotten a fair amount of airplay and it causes me to remember how much of a 'staple' he was during my growing up years. His legacy is a good one.

Robin and I have been actively engaged in training to revive our controller skills. Robin has certified on three "D" positions and I have certified on 1 but then moved to a RADAR position right away (different plans for the different areas of training). I will likely certify on my radar position in a few days.
It has been a challenge and some fun, actually, to try to get up to speed on fast moving sectors and I think I'll survive it after all. Once we are done with this level of training we'll start working on the Supervisory aspects of managing the areas, which is why we were hired. The process has been long and not necessarily logical, but we've persevered this far and will see it through to completion.
On the right is a snapshot of the sector I'm leaning. We sequence 4 streams to three airports (PBI, FLL, MIA (and their satellites) and handle departures from PBI (Palm Beach) and crossing over-flights to and from the Bahamas. Yep, it can get busy ->

The rest of the week(s)s have been filled with mostly mundane chores surrounding everyday life. We watched some "Heroes", worked on the little boat, put new tires on the car and bought tennis rackets (although at 94 degrees and 95% humidity we may wait a bit on that activity :) )

This weekend we will likely spend Saturday aboard S/V Robin and on Sunday Robin departs for a training class in Palm Coast, FL (about 4 hours north of here). We've tried this sort of 'trial separation' thing before and I can tell you it doesn't work so we are already looking forward to our reunion :)

The Contour

6/12/2009
I'd mentioned in a previous post about Jerome and Clayton, the two friends from Quebec who were here in Lauderdale preparing to set sail for th Bahamas and beyond. Jerome is a free spirit and bought his bought (a 38' Bruce Roberts offshore sloop) about 10 months ago. Since then he has been repairing, retrofiting, and reclaiming her from the elements of time and neglect. The boat is awesome and has sail round the world before. Clayton came down for a week or two to help make preparations and do some sailing as Jerome is new at it. So; as luck would have it (and sailing luck is nothing to trifle with) there were delays in getting the mechanical stuff up and running and before you knew it two weeks had stretched into five. This is not news for experienced sailors, but for me it was an eye-opener of sorts. I guess when you ask a repair shop, or mechanic, or supplier for soemthing for a sailboat they figure you must have all the time in the world on your hands so, like the boat, it goes very slowly.
At any rate, it came time for Clayton to return home to Canada and Jerome still had no experience with sailing...so...
We decided we'd make it to Key Largo over the weekend and along the way we would practice hoisting sails, getting points-of-sail figured out and learn about navigation. I called and invited my close froind Erle from Pensacola to come down and crew with us and possibly crew with Jerome for as long as he could extend his visit. It all came together and worked out great schedule-wise ... except for the mechanic part.
The whole show stopper was a small outboard engine used on the dinghy which had seized up and was being repaired by a local shop. First it was misdiagnosed, then there were no parts so they'd have to be ordered in, then some other parts were damaged during disassembly, then those parts were being shipped in, then they didn't order the right gaskets ... whew ... all in all it was a full 5 weeks getting a 2 cylinder outboard engine repaired and the delays put us deeper into the weather season.
Most people don't sail south from Florida in the summer and the delays put Jerome and Contour into the beginning of summer thunderstorms.
We decided we'd go ahead and move the boat to Key Largo, dinghy motor or not, and make further plans from there. So we started to plan the trip.
I spent a few hours plotting routes and studying maps and loading my handheld GPS with some alternative tracks to follow. Jerome began to provision us out and make the boat ready for an overnight stay at anchor on our way down. The whole trip was to be about 85 nautical miles and we aimed to split it in half and stay at anchor in a place called "No Name Harbor". Surprisingly, we worried that it might be very crowded there as it is a popular weekend hangout so we planned an alternative spot a couple of miles further out as well. As it turned out, we didn't see either place.
Erle arrived a couple of days ahead of departure and we spent some time getting caught up and acquainting ourselves witht he boat and Jerome. I was going to be the 'skipper' meaning that I was the one with the most sailing experience. We planned an early morning departure on Saturday and an evening arrival on Sunday where Robin would meet us and drive me back to Fort Lauderdale to get to work on Monday. The motor was still not ready so we planned to drive it back down to Key Largo and drop Erle's car off to keep down there while they made preparations for the next leg to Nassau.
You know what they say about best laid plans...
Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, winds out of the south at 10 knots and light seas. The Gulf Stream was forecast to be six miles offshore and would work against us if we got in it so we planned sailing two to three miles offshore to keep us away from the shallow water that is the coastline of Florida. We'd planned to get off early, but as it goes there were inevitable delays such as the dinghy being full of water from all the rain. Erle and I hoisted it out as best we could and got most of the water emptied out. Getting GPS's to work was another challenge and finally we pushed off mid-morning while a few clouds were already building up.
We motored out the New River and into the Port Everglades inlet. Now I'm going to digress ...
There is something that happens when you round a corner of a river and look down the channel and see open ocean ahead of you. I've seen this corner and this inlet a few times now and it is the same each time. It seems as though the opening of water represents some kind of newfound freedom from the confines of streets, houses, yards or any other sort of confinements; kind of like a kid who steps onto a vast expanse of a mowed grass field and t's all theirs. It beckons "go where you will, there are no boundaries here". It's a very strong escapist feeling and it's probably what's called people to the sea for ages. I, for one, like it.
OK, we cleared the last marker to the inlet and hoisted sails to let Jerome and Erle practice at the helm. The winds were not in our favor at all and by the time we'd made a few figure '8's fooling around we were actually north of the inlet due to our drifting around. So we doused the sails and fired up the motor and pointed due south toward our first destination some 40 miles away. We still had time to make it before dark if we could manage about 4.5 knots, an average motoring speed for the boat.
It didn't take too long to figure out that we weren't going 4.5 knots ... it did take a while to figure out why. We were pushing dead into the wind and we were pushing dead into a surprisingly strong Gulf Stream current. Our speed through the water was surely 4+knots, but out progress was working out to somewhere between 2 and 2.5 knots which means we had a 2 knot current working against us and we were only a couple of miles offshore. We had to snuggle into the shoreline to make better progress and would have to keep a close eye on charts and GPS to make sure we stayed out of the shallow water.
Of the 3 GPS receivers aboard only one would receive satellite signals. We fooled with the antenna but it seemed to be a sealed unit so we had no success. I did have my handheld with extra batteries so we would not get lost and we kept plugging along slowly southward (and when I say slowly I mean it.) It became apparent that we would not make our destnation before dark so we considered stopping short and started researching the next couple of inlets and suitable anchorages. The thing that made it tough to consider is that there were thunderstorms all over the place with heavy rain and lightning. We'd gotten wet a time or two already, and lightning had come close, but it was much more concentrated over land and I wasn't too sure I wanted to head toward the storms and try to negotiate a channel in heavy rain or winds.
So ... we agreed that we'd sail straight through the night and end up in Key Largo much ahead of schedule and seriously sleep deprived. That actaully took some pressure off us as we knew we'd might not make to Key Largo by the following evening if we stopped for the night.
We set up to press on ... and the engine quit.

Now and engine only needs three things in order to run; fuel, air, and an ignition source. In a diesel it is even simpler as there is no spark-plug system to worry about. They are totally reliable and pretty bullet proof and that's why they're used in long-haul scenarios (trucks, trains, boats). When one just up and quits however, you do have to start out with 'what in the world could've happened' and troubleshoot the your way back to 'ah, there we go'.
Now, as far as 'luck' would go, we did happen to stop within a few hundred yards of a Coast Guard cutter anchored toward shore from us. In case it got desparate, help was not far away. And, it was getting closer ... our drift was actually moving right toward the other boat and we considered dropping the anchor ourselves if we got too close. I wonder what they would've thought about that.
In this instance it took about 30 minutes to get going again. The primary fuel filter had clogged and the boat was equipped with a switchover to go to a secondary one, but of course it was hidden around a corner where you had to crouch and squeeze and lay on top of the hot engine to get to it. After switching it over and re-priming the engine we were underway again heading into the darkening evening sky and big clouds ahead.
We motored past the Miami inlet (Government Cut) well after dark and watching an absolutely awesome lightning show. The engine died again and we knew what to do this time. It seems there are two separate fuel tanks aboard Contour, and only one had been filled with fresh fuel. The other tank still had old fuel and it was going to cause problems until we could run through it and get some new, clean diesel in there.
By now we had gradually started to turn southeasward along the keys, and when the engine stopped I hoisted the jib (forward) sail and found wind that would move us along our intended path. The engine started and I rolled in the sail just in time, as a gust from a thunderstorm came rolling in along with heavy rains only a few minutes after we resumed motoring.
We crossed past "Fowee rocks" and enter the Hawk Channel, an area of slightly deeper water between the shallows of the Keys and the outlying reef. By deeper, I mean 12 feet. The boat only draws 5 feet, so we were ok, but to get out of the channel would mean being on the coral in short order. Now, the channel markes were not lit so search as we might we couldn't get a sighting and depended totally on the handheld GPS to keep us on our course.
The engine shut down once more while in the channel, but after the sail went up we were able to maintain our course and Jerome got us running again in 15 or 20 minutes having to drain the filters and re-prime again.
Just before sunrise, as we were heading East-south-easterly we hoisted both sails and made better than 5 knots with a favorable breeze and no oppsing current. The plan had worked and we arrived in Key Largo about 26 hours afterr we left Ft. Lauderdale. Robin drove down to meet us and we finished out the day with a well deserved nap.

Let's see 85 miles, 26 hours ... that averages out to a smidge over 3 knots. Please refer to the title of this blog :)

The List.

The projects continue on the S/V Robin. We are still trying to get rid of a fuel odor. It clears out relatively quickly when we open the hatches and get the fans going, but after the boat has been closed up overnight it seems to be right back where we started.
I've joined a Sabre Sailboat owners group on Yahoo! (yahoo! :)) and am learning quite a bit from the experienced owners. I have also had the benefit of a lot of advice from boat owners around the work place so I am not falling short of knowledge around here. One important lesson I am learning is that there are places on a small boat where it is extremely challenging to fit into, reach into, reach around into and reach over and around while fitting into. Moreover, once you've successfully reached over and around whilst fitting into a place, it is fully expected that the 'just the right tool' is just out of reach of your other hand, which was likely holding you into this small place anyway. I will begin my search for a mechanically inclined tree monkey shortly but for now I'll have to make do with short-duration cramp-inducing contortions to reach into dark places without actually seeing around the corner to what lies beyond. Kind of like Geocaching in a way (grin).

So far we've repaired or at least worked on:
The bilge and its pump and floorboards and wiring. Completed
The Air Conditioner and the shore power cords. Completed
The Steering wheel (a plastic retaining nut, really?) Completed ... a replacement nut with the "Edson" logo was (gulp) $52.00 ... I bought a generic stainless steel nut and washer for $1.14 .. somehow that made sense.
The fresh water tank, it's lines and foot operated pump (yes, we were then very thankful for an operating bilge pump). The tank was empty for a long time so we filled it up with a strong bleach-and-water solution only to find it leaking vigourously back out due to a broken diaphragm on the foreward (sink) foot pump. One stroke of the foot pump sent a lot of water onto the floor and (as we mentioned before) the bilge pump did its thing. A new pump is in my hands, but of course the mounting bolt don't line up (same make and model .. just a 30 year newer version). Project is 80% completed.
Three running lights (green, blue, and white ... all different size bulbs and not all having both wires). Project 66% completed
The Ice Chest (yes, there's no mention of a refrigerator here) ... you could fill it up with ice, but there was no working way to drain the water. A new manual pump is installed and the lines unplugged and it all works fine now. Completed
Rerouted the air conditioner's condensation drip line so that it does not run water past wood at any point. This will help prevent any wood from getting saturated anywhere on the floor.
Replaced a lot of dock lines with new (and I must add attractive blue-on-white) ones. :)
Got some inside lights fixed, but still need a couple of bulbs and maybe one new fixture over the sink.
Got the VHF radio running. It was working OK except there is a frayed cord on the microphone causing sporadic 'tones' when you keyed up to talk. This might still need to be replaced.
In spite of advice not to, we did start working on polishing some of the rust spots of the steel outside .. it's been raining ever since....
Rigged up a tarp to cover the sail boom and the bimini cover. Both were in rough shape and leaking so this will keep more water out of the sail folds and off the important people sitting out on the back enjoying their pain killers.
Oh, the toilet (ermmm ... umm .. I mean 'head') wasn't pumping water...at all. After a series of investigative efforst involving the aformentioned reaching into dark places, I figured out that the water inlet on the outside of the boat was nearly completely clogged. I did some dismantling and after a little bit of grunting and pounding with a rather large screwdriver I broke through the little barnacle-buddies and restored a good flow of outside water into the cabin. Yes, the bilge pump again ...


Now, just so you know, here's a bit of the list we lovingly call "todo" .. you know, like Dorothy's little dog???
The engine needs an oil change. I learned that you can't drain the oil out you have to get a pump and suck it out. That's cool :)
The engine needs to have a thing fixed where when you pull the fuel shut-off to turn it off, you can un-pull that shut-off from the same place instead of having to climb downstairs and do it manually. This should be an easy fix, but will require scrounging up just the right kind of part, maybe at a bicycle shop.
There's some woodwork downstairs that needs an innovative repair. It'll likely involve clamps and glue and cutting some new pieces to reinforce things and all kinds of fun. Likely to be a one-day-turns-in-to-four-days affair. I'm gonna need a day off :)
Someday, someone's going to have to go to the top of the mast and see what's up with that wind-direction pointer (windex). Thankfully, the lights work up there.
We are likely going to have to rebuild the pump in the head. While it now works, it's been a while I guess and it gets confused about pumping water into and out of the toilet bowl. Maybe after some practice it'llbe happy again, and it's usable for now so we will wait on this one.
Then there's the painting, polishing, and cleaning that will come when the other projects either get done or become frustrating enough to want to take a break from.
Robin is considering learning to sew on sailcloth and canvas. There's a future in that if we have a portable sewing machine that can do the work and we are out there somewhere that has a need for that kind of work.

The work will keep on as time permits. Our job schedules are now officially 'interfering' with what we want to be about :) Isn't that great?

Hatches, Light Bulbs and Bilge; Oh My!

We thought we'd done a pretty good survey of all the items we would need to look at on the boat. There is even a relatively ordered list of things we'd like top get done; separated into three categories: "necessary for safety", "necessary for comfort", and 'oh, that'll be nice when it's done". We thought we had some priorities in place and we're trying hard to learn where to go for parts and expertise. Soon we will have to have the boat 'hauled out' and set up 'on the hard' for a while while we learn about cleaning and repainting the bottom of the hull. This is a tough one as the paint that goes on the bottom of a boat has to be made from material that will not only resist the attack of salt water, but also actively inhibit things that like to attach to boats, grow and create offspring that like to also attach to boats and grow... and.. well, you get it. Boats with barnacles sail slower than clean ones, and we're all about speed, you know.
The special paints usually involve things called 'biocides' which kill things like algaes and small, predatory single-celled sea monsters and the like. A common 'biocide' is copper which is blended into the paint and causes a normal can of paint to a) be pretty heavy and b) cost 5 to 15 times as much as regular house paint. Now, what we don't know is if we can cover the whole bottom with one gallon, but we're sure hoping so :) but I digress, hauling out will happen later in the summer or early fall, maybe even at the end of the hurricane season as the boat is pretty safe where she is docked right now.

So far we have learned what we already knew. That a 30 year old boat will take some work to get it into shape. We are currently working to try to rid the cabin of the smell of diesel, which we did not notice when we toured her but is apparently a product of a fuel spill as the mechanic was replacing the fuel pump. Sadly the clean smell of the boat was one of thing we really liked about her in the first place and the smell of fuel will be a sore spot until we get it cleaned out. We are trying various cleaners and deodorizers until we stumble upon just the right thing. We will get it, it just will be a while coming since fuel has apparently saturated wood somewhere. ugh.
On the advice of a neighboring sailor, we set out to work on some projects in the order: "inside then outside and from the the bottom up". So, starting from the lowest point on the inside we tackled cleaning the bilge and replacing the pump with a new one.
Now; here's the way things work when one begins to do a boat-project ... you start out to put in a new bilge pump, but you decide that "gee, it's awfully hot in here. I wonder what it would take to get the air-conditioner fired up?" so you start puzzling out the air conditioner which you were told worked but apparently doesn't want to at this particular moment. Then you remember that the previous owner said that you have to plug the shore power electrical connection into a different receptacle on the outside of the boat as the air conditioner is on its own circuit but when you unhook the power cord from receptacle 'a' and connect it receptacle 'b' the air conditioner still won't run and as a matter of fact you get a "Reverse Polarity" warning on the circuit breaker panel. So next you have to pull out your meter, disassemble the shore-powe receptacles and verify that the wiring is OK, only to find out that is is indeed wired the same and there's no way that the polarity should be reversed so you puzle over it for the better part of an afternoon before deciding that maybe if you plugged in BOTH shore powers at the same time it's either start a fire or get the air conditioner to work and you find out that it does work but you just didn't know the rules yet. OK, now ... there was this bilge pump thing... So, back to that. Now you have to mop out and lcean the bilge area and yank the old pump out but before you do you need to determine where the wayter seems to be coming from that seemingly just started to leak into the cabin area from nowhere... It's a small trickle, but nonetheless it would be a big problem to find out you suddenly developed leak into the boat right after you remove the pump that can keep you from sinking if the leak gets bigger. So.. climbing around all through the engine compartment, Robin spies the source of the influx of water. It's coming from a small, clear hose whigh is connceted to (you'll never guess...) the air conditioner. We reason that this is by design, al airconditioners give off condensation and punching a hole through the hull of the boat really doesn't make sense so it is logically routed to the bilge to get pumped overboard every so often while the thing is running. Makes sense now, well, sort of...
So we disconnect the old pump (you remember, the reason we started this?) and I clipped off the old wires and connected the new pump for a trial run. Well, then we decidied that the old pump wasn;t exactly in the lowest part of the bilge and went to relocate it, only to have to cut the wires and re-rout them underneath a diffent area of the floor and re-connect them. It ran fine and the only real issue we ran into was that it didn't fit. The hose connection was a different diameter and was way too small for the boat's exisitng hose. So .. off we went to get a new pump with a different sized fitting. We bought the next-size-up pump with the next-size-up discharge nozzle (thanks, West Marine, for taking the pump back without the original box which I had confidently tossed out while fixing the air conditioner) and I wired the new pump into place. It didn't fit either ... this time the discharge nozzle was a bit too BIG to fit into the tube. So I sat down and enjoyed the air conmditioner for a few minutes trying to cope with all the good thoughts running through my head at the moment.
The hose is very strong, about 1 1/8 inch in diameter and has a stainless steel coil running through the inside. You could likely stand on it and not inhibit the water flow.
I eventually got the hose freed up a bit, took some of the coiling out and used a heat gun to soften it enough to make a good fit at the pump.
All the while Robin and I were also cleaning out the grungy stiff which the bottom of a boat can somehow manage to collect over the years, but at the end of it all the bilge was clean, the pump is running and the air conditoner works. A 1 hour project that only took two days :)
Now, how many sailors does it take to change a light bulb? Now that's another story.

We've met some new neighbors at the docks and are learning a lot from them as we sit and chat and pass each other coming and going to the boats. To one side of us is a venerable 38 foot sailboat on its way from Canada to South America. She is the "Contour" of some note as having circumnavigated the globe a few times. The owner is new to this boat and his plans ran into a snag when the outboard motor on his dinghy seized up. Not having a dinghy is bad news when sailing off shore. On the other side is "Wild Mathilda", a 44 footer also preparing for a late spring run from Florida to Nova Scotia. He is finishing up preparatory projects and will be leaving this week if the weather allows.
Both of these crews are amazing to visit with and learn from. I can't begin to tell you how I am looking forward to meeting more sailors like them and becoming one myself. I hope that they are indicative of most of the sailing community as they have been sociable, friendly and extremely helpful. Robin and I have learned a lot already and it is just the tip of the iceberg. So thanks to you Jerome and Clayton and Bruce and Carol. It has been an honor and pleasure to meet you and spend time with you. I am glad we got to share a meal and a drink and play some cards and chat about the boats and the world.
Safe journeys, fair winds and God's speed to you in your travels.

Webcam is up.

Our new RV park has limited Wi-Fi connectivity (it kicks you off after a while) but it looks like I can get the Webcam going for a while each day. I'll point it out different windows from time to time.

www.sunshineduo.us

Movin' on up ...

5-11-2009

After much ado, setting up the funds transfer and filling out paperwork, we said goodbye to the previous owners and the S/V Robin came into our hands. Thus began the first adventure in our sailing 'careers' that was not on a boat owned by someone else. From here on out we will be 100% responsible for every light bulb and oil change that S/V Robin will need as well as investing a considerable amount of "TLC" to bring her back to a fit and fine shape. We knew (well, pretty much) what we were getting in to, but that does not in any way preclude the possibilities for learning a million new things beginning with this sail-away trip. Owning a home or car in no way prepares you for a boat save the basic mechanical, electrical, plumbing and other skills you acquire living with stuff that breaks or wears out. Boats are ... weird ...

We cast off from the previous owners' dock space after some struggle figuring out how they had tied it up to begin with. It seemed as though it had been secured for some time and the pilings and lines that held her in place were not too fond of the idea that we were leaving. We wrestled with a few lines that were seemingly glued in place and were finally clear of the dock and the pilings and on our way; our first concern being a visible sand bar that would make for an even more interesting story had we run solidly aground less than 2 minutes after taking possession of our first boat. The motor and transmission worked like clockwork (you know; the kind of clockwork in Indiana Jones and National Treasure??) and we pensively headed out looking for deeper waters. This was a Monday afternoon and there were very few other boaters around which was fine with us.

Thankfully, with Robin at the helm, we motored safely clear of the shallow water and headed out toward the first maker depicting the deeper water of the Intra-Coastal Waterway (ICW) channel. But the journey was to begin with intrigue anyway... within 5 minutes we encountered our first future project when all the gagues failed at once. Suddenly we had no indication of fuel, oil pressure, engine temparature or RPM and battery charge. It happened all at once and I sent a quick text to find out if this was something we should panic over or if the gagues were just playing finicky. I was informed that they had supposedly been fixed by the mechanic and that they were just behaving badly due to some mysterious electrical problem. OK .. item number 1 for the to-do list. I will leave the mechanic alone for now as I am not too terribly sure he did such a great job. There's a story of a high-pressure diesel fuel pump in here too, but we'll save that for later. The motor was running great and the batteries were charging and the exhaust was spitting water properly so we decided to continue toward the new 'home' location at Cooley's Landing Marina in Fort Lauderdale. This was 'back-to-basics' boating and it was OK as long as we didn't see any signs of overheating. I climbed below and kept a close eye on the motor for any trouble for a while but my confidence that it was simply a ground-wire or some such problem brought me back up after a short while to enjoy the ride and help navigate.

The planned route was to go right up the ICW past the Fort Lauderdale cruise ship terminal (Port Everglades) and into the New River which basically runs right through downtown Fort Lauderdale. The distance was 20.4 Nautical Miles and at an average speed of 5 Knots it should take 4 hours but I planned an extra hour in there for fighting currents and winds and to get drawbridges to open up for us. The one thing we did not plan on was rush hour on the freeways ... I think I knew about it; but didn't plan on it very well ... you see, drawbridges will pretty much open up for tall vessels on request as you make your way along the waterways. Sometimes you have to wait for traffic or pedestrians to clear the bridges, and perhaps you'll wait while more than one boat gather at the bridge to go through simultaneously. That is .. except during rush-hour traffic when they either open on a set schedule (twice an hour) or not at all. We knew that the bridges in downtown Fort Lauderdale did not open at all between 7:30 and 9:00 A.M. or 4:30 and 6:00 P.M. to provide for heavy commuter traffic on the bridges. We planned on arriving a those bridges after 6:00 P.M. so we wouldn't be delayed. What did delay us were the other bridges along the way that switched into their afternoon 'twice-an-hour' mode.

Now, let's say one bridge opens on the hour and on the half-hour so we arrive about 10 minutes early and have to just wait around. OK, I'm good with that one. The issue is that the next bridge up the ICW opens at 15 and 45 minnutes past the hour, and try as we night we can't quite make it there in time from the previous bridge so we get stuck waiting 25 minutes at each of 3 or 4 bridges along the way, just not quite quick enough to get to the next bridge in time.

Actually that only happened twice, but it still slowed our overall progress by quite a few minutes although we did get to practice figure '8's and visit with bridgemasters by radio.

Since we had started off about an hour and a half later than we'd planned it looked like the additional delays might cause us to end up finding our new docki n the dark, and that was not an appetizing proposition for our first sail. All in all we did fine though, and the longer days of late spring alloowed us daylight all the way.

Along our trip we saw multi-million dollar homes and yachts, high-rise apartment complexes, all kinds of birds and boats and people sitting at waterside restaurants that were more than happy to send us a wave. We saw the drawbridges open for us, followed another sailboat for a while and went through a drawbridge at the same time as a huge tugboat pulling hundreds of feet of floating lipeline along behind him came through the other way. We saw a few clouds and lots of sun, a few breezes but lots of calm, warm air. We saw monstrous cargo vessels and the huge cranes that load them working away as we passed by. It was hot out and we appreciated the breezes when we could get them. We both slathered on the sunscreen and kept our wide-brimmed hats on to prevent a burn and we tried to keep hydrated in afternoon sun on what was turning out to be the hottest day of the year so far.

We followed our markers, kept a keen eye on the charts and handheld GPS and along the way added the additional fuel we'd brought with us. Then, 5 hours and 20 minutes later we pulled in to our slip (dock #6) at our new marina. The engine cooled down beneath us as Robin and I toasted or first trip aboard our first sailboat.

Gagues or not, diesel smell or not, this is our boat now; our project and our practice platform to learn how to pilot and maintain a salt-water sailing vessel and we will try to keep that in mind as me move forward from here. There is alot to think about and there will be a lot to do. We bought her 'as-is' and we're happy with that decision. I'll start a project list in the morning :)


and so it begins ...