Wednesday March 27: A Great Time in CA

The trip to California for a visit to the kids went very well. The flights both out and back went great. No drama at all :-)

After the first day, the weather was great with sunny low 70's days and cool nights. I have to say though after 6 days of wearing jeans all of the time it was nice to be back in the warmer weather of Marathon!

And there was only 1 project for Steve on Wendy's list: figure out some way to reinforce the wood patio doors. These doors were one of the greatest bargains! 

Back in 2001, Steve was recently retired and spent maybe a month (?) helping with the then newly purchased home of Matt and Wendy. The doors were shaky to begin with but over the years have turned out to be quite sturdy. The right door just needed a bit of help though.

Check out the length of the drill bit Steve is using to make the fix!!

There was mostly time for fun - and time for glitter as well. Steve has been jealous of my gecko stenciled in glitter on my kindle ever since I put it on back at Christmas.

It was time for his kindle! Wendy had him all set up and with now better experience, showed him how.

First, place the stencil. Add glue. Wait. Now add the glitter. Wait some more. Remove stencil.

Not a bad job for an amateur :-) Of course he did have some expert advice ....

Encinitas (where Matt and Wendy live) has a beautiful beach basically a couple of miles from their home. Our habit of first going out to breakfast is always followed by a stop at the beach - if only for a few minutes or so. Something about watching and hearing the waves come into the shore is very relaxing. Steve and Becky (who drove down from LA on Saturday) walked a short distance to the overlook.

Becky drove down and brought her two mini golden doodles - Trevi 11 lbs and London 30 lbs.

Both great dogs so there were a couple of visits to the really cool dog park in Encinitas.

They travel very well :-)

Both of them slept most of the way home Sunday as it was a very tiring day and a half - lots of new people and trips to the dog park!!

Becky even managed to catch a picture of Trevi sitting on my lap :-)

Very fun!

There was even an opportunity
to meet Karen and Craig from Rahn de Vous for lunch! (Sadly I didn't take a picture but I have lots of them from the summers past!)

We had met them on the Trent Canal in 2016 and were able to travel with them for several summers on both the Trent and Rideau Canals in Ontario.

Now we get together when we are in California as they live in San Juan Capistrano - which is only an hour north of Wendy and Matt.

It was great to see them again even if it was for only a couple of hours :-)


It's good to be home. The boat is ready to go at a moments notice - now we need to wait only for the weather to settle. Three days to travel to the Fort Lauderdale area and we cross the gulf stream to the Bahamas. Not sure when that's going to happen .....

Tuesday March 19: We Must Need a Vacation!

The work for Steve continues. One of the jobs this week was polishing the stainless stays on the mast.

These wires are made from a dozen or so fairly small stainless wires grouped and twisted into one. The perfect place for saltwater (or air) to sit and rust.

We learned long ago that stainless steel does indeed rust when in Florida or anyplace that has a high salt content in the air.

So we leaned the mast back and Steve cleaned the stays with two kinds of stainless cleaners - one a liquid and one a paste. They look like new!

He then used the same technique with the very rusty swim ladder! Not that this job was on his list - it just came to his notice when he was on the swim platform working on the teak.

One job just sort  of leads to another on this boat ....

By the time he replaced the small bolts holding the steps in, it looked like a brand new ladder!! Another nice job!




In case you are thinking I don't do much on this boat, you would be thinking correctly :-) But since my last visit to Dr. Friedman on March 11, I had the ok to use the right thumb at will.

Just don't go crazy is what he said! So I thought a nice place to start would be to help with the Cetol on the railings.

It was now time for the last 2 coats - this time for clear gloss. Makes more protection but also leaves a nice shiny top finish.

I wasn't sure I was going to like it the glossy finish but in the end it's a keeper.

Steve still ended up doing 80% of it though as he also did the teak on the hatband and the handrailings.

Yet to come is to replace the "Yesterday's Dream" that goes on the sides of the flybridge. We've had the vinyl names for 4 months now and somehow just haven't made the time to get them on!!

Just getting started. Ends of the 3 strands are
wrapped in black electrical tape.

It was an all day rain yesterday (unusual down here) and Steve (with YouTube playing next to him) decided he would tackle the last project related to the anchoring system: attaching the 100 feet of line to the 95 feet of chain on the main anchor.

The attachment has to be able to pass through the windlass as the rope (a three-strand nylon) needs to be attached by a method that basically weaves the rope back into itself.

The beauty of using this method is that the more tension on the joint, the tighter the rope joint on the chain becomes!

Finished weaving the three strands
and ready to wrap the ends.

With the chain suspended from a hand hold on the ceiling, the rope, after passing through the last chain link, is woven back through itself.

The only thing left is to use a small nylon line to wrap the ends of the strands.

Finished product!

What a great job!! Now the rope will pass through the windlass with no issues :-)

It wasn't ALL work the last week though. Randy and Cindy tried out their blow-up paddle board the other day. Cindy went first and did great!

Then Steve and finally Randy.

All agreed that it is very tiring :-)

Steve's first attempt! He was way better after he remembered Matt's advice to look at the horizon instead of at his feet :-)

Time to head out of town for a while! We're headed to California for a visit to Matt,/Wendy's and Becky's. Should be a nice 5 days :-)

Thursday March 14: Preparations for the Bahamas Continue!

Preparations to travel to the Bahamas are starting to take on a more serious and concentrated effort. Lots of reading up on what papers we need and regulations that need to be followed. Just my kind of thing!!

I dug out our EPIRP (Emergency Position Indicating Radio Beacon) which would be used to alert search and rescue services in the event of an emergency. Not that we intend to need it of course :-)

Registration is good through 3/2020 and the battery tests good. I'm not sure who I listed as the contact person but it might have been my brother Warren. Guess I should really check and warn him or whoever it is that I listed!!





Meanwhile, Steve has been working on a number of things that needed to be done before we head out.

Since we intend to be anchoring out as much as the weather permits, it's important that our ground tackle is in top shape.

All of the chain was pulled and checked over link by link. Steve also wanted to re-mark the anchor chain into 20 foot lengths so we can determine how much chain is out. He just uses small cable ties - makes it  easy :-)

While he was at it, the main anchor (a 35 lb CQR) needed repainted so he did that as well.

Irma had seen fit to remove and set free our secondary anchor during her march through the Keys in 2017. We hadn't bothered to replace it but decided we definitely needed a back up anchor - or a second anchor if needed. So that was mounted on the front anchor platform (it's a claw anchor - also 35 lbs).

Up next was the dinghy. Randy had made a really nice floor for his dinghy which basically makes for a flat floor to stand/walk on instead of the "V" shape. It's amazing how much easier it is than trying to keep your footing on something flat as opposed to having both feet at an angle in the V.




Big plus was Randy's dinghy has the same fiberglass bottom as ours! Simple job then to copy Randy's floor and poof - a dinghy floor :-)

Of course it took a lot longer in the hot sun to actually get it done. Good job Steve and Randy!!

Dinghy on the swim platform

The dinghy also had an a pinhole from rubbing on the holder we use to store the dinghy on the swim platform when traveling. Fortunately there was some of the sealer that we used last season so there was lots of help from neighbors to help roll the dinghy around after the sealer went in.



















Next step was to do two things: add D rings (blue 'patch' above) for the situation in which it becomes necessary for us to just tow the dinghy instead of bringing it and the motor aboard.

The other two patches Steve added were to address the issue of the holders rubbing on the tube of the dinghy when on the swim platform.

Steve looked like the proverbial mad scientist as he mixed the two part adhesive for the D-rings and the additional patches.

Safety Matt would definitely approve of the equipment being used :-)

Before

Of course the engine has been receiving a very careful lookover also. In particular the cooling system.

After

The removal of the end cap of the heat exchanger indicated that some flushing was needed. So we had Billie - great young guy that started his own business several years ago - do the job.

A product called Barnacle Buster is circulated through the fresh water cooling system (in our case it's salt water!) to remove the build-up of debris in the system. What a difference! This cleans not only the heat exchanger but also the oil cooler and transmission cooler as well.

To top off the good things for today was Sharon on Stevedore stopping by to drop off two tomatoes - home grown on the boat :-) So cute!

Simply another nice day in paradise :-)

Tuesday March 5: Visitors and Boat Dogs

Cindy, Liam, Randy, Nick, Nikki, Mea

Randy and Cindy had overnight (several overnights actually) visitors for the first time this season last weekend.

Daughter Nikki, son-in-law Nick and grandkids Liam and Mea flew down from the frozen tundra region called Ontario to spend some time in the warm Florida Keys sunshine!

It was a great 2 1/2 days of Banana Bay days before everyone took off to a more fun place: Disney World!!




Steve, Liam and Mea scoured the marina area and luckily scored with several coconuts that contained milk (easy enough to determine by shaking the coconut!).

After some well placed hits by a major rock, Nick was able to extract the small coconut seed. Randy produced a drill to drain the nut of the milk and then more smashing to crack the nut open.

Talk about fresh coconut!! It was quite good .....


In the meantime, Steve was not letting any grass grow as he continues to prepare the boat to head to the Bahamas in April.

The two repair spots on the front deck were now ready for the final coat of Raptor - a truck bed liner that we've found works quite well. Hold up well and cleans up fairly easily.







The two spots he repaired on the front deck look very nice - and are both now solid and should no longer leak.

The end result really doesn't begin to reveal how much work it took on his part to make the repairs - definitely looks good though :-)



And it's not only the boats in the marina that need repair sometimes! The pedestal on the dock in front of us which provides the power and water for our boat) has been leaking water for years. Not a lot of water - just dripping that seemed silly that it couldn't be fixed.

So one day an "attempted" repair was made. It involved Scott the dockmaster, Flint the ass't dockmaster, Tom the maintenance guy here at Banana Bay and Steve.

It looked like a regular meeting of a repair crew seen working along construction sites! Regardless, it  was a semi-success with a much reduced drip of water and a note to 'do it fully' at a time when there isn't such a need for the marina to have water (since the water had to be turned off to fix the problem :-) )

Another project on the Bahamas list was to make sure the dinghy was ready. Out of the water it came.

First was to repaint the bottom paint and extend it along the gray inflated tubes that also sat in the water when the dinghy was in the water with the engine still on it. Much easier for dinghy fishing but just a small thing that needed dealt with.

Steve also wants to attach some towing rings in a case where it becomes rough enough that we are unable to lift the engine and dinghy aboard, we can at least just tow it slowly until we are able to reach a protected spot to lift everything aboard.

Sometime in the next week or so ....







There was an opportunity to fish under the bridge the other day so off Steve went with Lois from Mystified.  They had fun - caught lots of fish but not too many keepers.

The exception was the yellow jack that Steve managed to get into the boat. It's great when fresh!!

So ever since Monday when Randy and Cindy left for Disneyworld, we've been keeping Gigit and Cricket.

They are great dogs and very easy to watch. Boat dogs for a week - it's nice as we enjoy both of the dogs. And the added benefit that we get to send them home when Randy and Cindy return!







Cricket (all 5 lbs of her) can usually be found on the flybridge with her blanket. She loves looking out of the window and checking out who is walking by.

Gigit (15 lbs) is typically on the floor by Steve's feet or else she is in my chair!

As soon as I get up, she hops up and pretends to be sleeping. How could I possibly make her move, right?






So it's been a good week. Lots of physical preparing of the boat by Steve while I spend time searching out and doing what needs to be done to keep the coast guard happy for when we return to the US.

Cricket does occasionally like to hide by pretending to be one of the stuffed animals on the bridge.

It's weird to be looking for her only to realize she is right there!

This is probably the last night with them as Randy and Cindy are due in tomorrow .....