Anchor dragging contest

Yesterday evening the games began.  First a really strange Canadian boat drug down past what looks like a Hans Christian - luckily both boats were manned and crews were able to fend off.  The big test was trying to recover and reset the anchor that drug as the boat was no calmly at anchor about 5 feet behind the other boat.

Next a metal boat drug from up near shore - several boat boys and anchored cruisers climber aboard to try and reset the anchor - this boat was not manned but the crewed showed up during the event and was able to participate in recovery and re anchoring.

Then a Bavaria from Grenada (US Registered) came in and tried to anchor, anchor, re anchor, etc.  A fellow on a boat near the action went over and appeared to help unjam the windlass then assisted in the re anchor effort.

We had dinner marinating (Korean Bulgogi), so well after dark we finally put the finishing touches on a wonderful dinner.  Bulgogi cooked on skewers on the new grill, shredded cabbage, pickled cucumbers and steamed Japanese rice.  We even used our chopsticks.

A bit blustery

A blustery/rainy overnight but a free boat wash is always welcome.  The winds are still up this morning but the rain showers have stopped for now.  Running the water maker now and plan to go to town and pick up a spiral sliced ham for New Years dinner later this morning.

More of my pet peeves yesterday evening - late arrivals at the anchorage and folks who do not run an anchor light - or light of any kind at night.  What can I say - some folks insist on using a red/green/blue/white alternating light others use lanai wiki lights, but at least they are using a light of some sort.  Then I run four strings of Christmas lights to mark the holiday season and my anchor light!

D' Gud, D'Bad, D'Ugly

We took a bus to Hillsborough this morning and did a little shopping.  Picked up a few bottles of Chardonnay, some veggies at the Farmers Coop, and a frozen pork tenderloin and some roast beef at Patty's Deli.  We talked with Peter and Cyndi about New Years eve dinner and have decided that we are going to pick up a spiral sliced ham at Patty's tomorrow and have some home made rolls, scalloped potatoes, steamed mixed veggies etc.   We already have some champagne on board as this is the celebration season!

We are going to try and hike to the top of  Chapeau Carre (945') and get some pictures of Hillsborough and Harvey Vale (Tyrrel Bay area) tomorrow.

After the trip to town Lesley waxed the transom and tried some new wax from Collinite - will update after we see how well it works.  Then with the hot job finished we took the dink ashore and hung out in the water at the edge of the beach for awhile.  This island life is hard work!

The title of today's post was the name on the windshield of the bus we took to town!

Carriacou

We left Grand Mal, Grenada yesterday morning and had a nice trip over to Carriacou.  Winds were generally favorable till we were most of the way over then they shifted to more on the nose and the current and opposing swelss became worse.  We plan to stay here through New Years Day then move on to Bequia.

Will take a bus to town this morning and pick up a few fresh vegetables and perhaps a few other items at Pattys Deli.

Grand Mal

Anchored off Grand Mal with borrowed WiFi from some nice sort ashore.  On to Carriacou in the morning.  Passed through Prickly bay to drop off an item and passed close by Traa Dy Liooar and Seabbatical for a quick chat.

Christmas Dinner!

"Man, this sure tastes better than bacon, once we finish this lets go find some veg"

Christmas Eve - Hi Greg

We had a great Christmas eve, with visitor Greg (IP 350 Ei'Lean), just in from an interesting transatlantic crossing.  We sat around and got reacquainted, had a few beers, then I cooked dinner.  Even though we had canned veggies - they were veggies all the same.  We shared stories from our recent trips and marveled at the situations that you can find yourself in.

Merry Christmas from Grenada

Engines serviced

Got up this morning and installed the new home made mixing elbow on the genset then ran it for awhile to make sure everything is OK.  Changed the oil and raw water loop zinc and everything is fine. I'm hoping that the new elbow, made of 316L stainless, lasts longer than the last two that I've had.  After lunch replaced the fuel lines on the dinghy and changed the Racor gas filter.  Then, being that I was on a roll of sorts, I serviced the Yanmar auxiliary engine.

We've pretty much gotten everything back together and completed provisioning so hope to go sailing, perhaps to Carriacou, early next week.

Tonight Lesley is making chicken etouffee and we are having foccia and a salad.

Shower time!

Monday Morning

We had another long day yesterday but with great success.

The new water maker is installed and working.  Total dissolved solids of 160PPM which is far better than the old unit and much better than I expected.  The pressure vessel is much easier to work with for membrane changes and all of the supporting plumbing is now mounted away from the pressure vessel.

Line diagram

System in operation before amp meter shunt was connected.

We tried out our Magma Chefs Mate grill for the first time last night and I am very happy with it.

We had a small water leak in the aft cabin and could not identify where the water was coming from.  Till yesterday that is - there is a small shelf area in the stbd lazarette that is part of the overhead at the foot of the bed in the cabin.  Water was getting onto the shelf and then running down on the inside wall.  I'm going to seal the joint with 5200 and then start looking for the source of the water.

I also serviced the outboard and have the dinghy ready.

Sails on and watermaker installation progressing

Between showers we were able to get all of the sails on today and also nearly completed the installation of the new watermaker.  I plan to post some pictures in the next several days but at this point I have all of the plumbing completed and have a small amount of wiring to do to finish the installation.

Lesley is stowing all of the stuff that we brought with us this year and inventorying and noting stowage locations.

Putting the boat back together

We spent the first full day with the boat back in the water by cleaning, putting provisions and spares away, and desperately searching for four Right Hand thread "T" bolts for our new lifelines!  We had four new lifelines fabricated this summer using the old lifelines as templates.  Since we did not need new turnbuckles  we got just the lifelines - seems that Seco South has changed the way they are making lifelines.  The original lifelines have swaged ends that are Right Handed (RH) threaded to fit the turnbuckle - and the "T" bolt side has left hand threads.  The new lifelines we got had swaged ends with Left Handed (LH) threads so we had a crisis - new lifelines could not be attached to the stanchions!  There is only one rigger on the Island (Turbulence) so we borrowed a car and headed to the rigger.  Turns out the lifeline ends they use here are not the same as used on our boat so we were out of luck, almost.  I checked the scrap pile and found the ends we needed and asked the shop manager if we could scrounge them.  He said yes, we did, and after 2 hours in some Spotless Stainless our new lifelines are in place.

Tomorrow we will put the dinghy back in the water, move our frozen meat to the boat, and continue unpacking and stowing stuff from our barrels.

Have penciled Greg in for a visit on board for 24 Dec after his arrival from Spain.

We are whipped but the boats in the water

New record for us - we flew in Friday, spent Saturday doing some shopping and staging then started working on the boat Sunday - Lesley did a major portion of the hull and I did the bottom paint and a few other projects.  My stomach is still tender so any heavy strain creates a problem - I can rely on Lesley to help and that makes a big difference.  This year simple things broke - but due to the logistics of finding parts simple is not simple here.  We fixed the broken parts and we tried again to confirm our launch time - BIG QUESTION AM or PM on Thursday? 

No answer - regardless of who we talked to - Lesley said that we are ready so why not ask if they could launch us today - SHOCK OF ALL SHOCKS they did - we were in the water by 3:30 and moved to Le Phare Bleu shortly thereafter. 

What a shock - all systems go, freezer was at 16 degrees when we left and we are now looking at a nice calm schedule to get things sorted out on the boat.  All of the additional work we did in the spring to get the boat ready for haul out and summer storage paid off - we are back in the water and ready to start loading the material the we shipped from Florida.

Looking forward to hooking up with Greg when he arrives here later this month - party time for sure!

Boat Prep continues

We continue to make good progress getting the boat ready to launch.  We've had a few small setbacks - yesterday the sink drain in the head decided to come apart.  I tried several times to put it back together but the 1" elbow that threads into the sink drain insert was very flexible and kept popping apart.  We finally bit the bullet hopped in the rental car and make the circuit looking for a better fitting.  Again, Island Water World saved the day and we found what we were looking for.

We stopped and had pizza for lunch then came back to the boat and continued prep work.  We brought a new name/hailing port decal back this year as the old hand painted name was fading very badly.  We used Easy Off to remove the old paint and then cleaned the transom.  The new decal went on very easily and really looks nice.  Lesley is going to take a few pictures on the transom later today.

We are scheduled to launch tomorrow (yard will not confirm if morning or afternoon) then we will move to Le Phare Bleu Marina to finish re commissioning the boat.

Today in the Boat Yard

We had some pretty heavy showers overnight and then early this morning so I was skeptical about getting any outside work done on the boat.  We got to the yard about 8:30 this morning and there were lots of puddles and standing water.  I used a 1 gallon bucket and moved some cinders up near our boat to help give us a bit drier area from which to work.  We set up a small scaffold and Lesley started cleaning and waxing the hull while I started on the bottom paint.  I finished on the starboard side and had just move to port when a Dutchman on the boat next to us lifted his awning and dumped a load of water on me, in the bottom paint, etc.  I dumped the water and bottom paint and wiped up the roller pan then dried the hull cussing the hole time.  The neighbor apologized and I said no problem - that the paint was going to get wet anyway in a few days.  I might haven even spoken a few foul words in German!

Things continued to dry and Lesley finished waxing the starboard side as I finished the bottom paint>  We had a few light sprinkles but no downpours so were able to finish.

Tomorrow we finish waxing the hull and then reinstall the GPS, 12 Volt monitor for the NAV computer and test start the engine.  Looks like we are well on track for our scheduled AM launch on Thursday.

Back in Grenada

We left the house today at about 9:00AM and took a one way rental car to the airport in Miami.  Stopped and had a nice lunch in Pembroke Pines and then drove on to the airport and returned the rental car.  The plane was about and hour late but the flight over was good and after a short trip thru Customs and Immigration we were on our way back to the Yellow House.

All of our checked baggage (2 roll aboards and an ice chest of frozen meat) made it safely.  The meat has been transferred to the apartment freezer and we are relaxing now, 12:10 AM.

Will start getting the boat ready to launch again tomorrow.

Shrimp and Grits

I worked on a friends Island Packet 31 today and then came home and Lesley had made homemade shrimp and grits for dinner and key lime pie for desert.  I'm in heaven!

Getting ready for the Caribbean

We've shipped our two barrels of supplies to Grenada, have our checked bag ready for the plane and test loaded our roll aboard ice chest so we are getting ready to head back to the boat for the winter.  We are both really looking forward to this winters sailing.

After loading the ice chest I weighed it and it came out at 48lbs this year.  Steaks, veal, lamb, German sausages, roasts - even though we will be on the boat one month less this year it looks like we are taking the same amount of frozen meat!

Once we get to Grenada we will supplement the frozen meat with chicken, bacon, and pork chops as well as the normal fresh produce and cheese.

Another day in Florida

I've been working on a friends Island Packet 31 this summer and was out in the garage working on a bilge pump bracket when Alan stopped by and gave me a nice card and present for my birthday.  With every thing I had done to me this summer the card was a jewel and I have to share it.  You can share the present to but you will have to come to the boat for that.

Front:                                                                                                                     Inside:

Happy Birthday to me!

Had a great day today - 11/11/2011 my birthday.  Had a nice day, had a nice dinner, and a great cake.

Lesley was kind to me - just enough candles so that I would not pass out trying to blow them out!













I worked on our website some and sorted out some paperwork.  The shipment of our barrels to Grenada has been processed so we are winding down our stay here on land for this year.  Looking forward to being back aboard.

This has being an unusual summer for me (us) with medical issues as well as others.  Revisited some great friends this year - Hi Cheryl and Buzz, Greg and Kate (plus pooches), Alan & Kathy, others, but ready to move on again.

Will see what the New Year brings

Now Back Home in Florida

I decided to leave the boat and return to Florida via rental car on Monday.  The owner hired a delivery skipper and mate who will deliver the boat to Miami.  In the future I have decided that I am not going to HELP anyone move their boat. Plan to post a detailed trip log on our blog later. 


We are now completing doctors appointments and related lab work as well as final preparations for our return to Grenada in December.

Waiting out weather

No better place to wait out weather than here in Charleston.  Lots of great pubs and restaurants and places to explore.

Alan and I did some more boat maintenance today and did more organizing and putting of stuff (man is there a lot of stuff) away.

With severe offshore gales and no desire to do the ICW we will sit tight here until probably Tuesday then jump offshore and complete the trip to Miami.

With the unexpected delay in the trip Alan had to leave - sorry to see him go.

I am having severe second thoughts about staying on board - with Alan leaving I did not sign on to deliver this boat - but I have been put in the position of having to do a delivery (remember I signed on to help) with little help if any and questionably able crew on board.

Beaufort, NC - Thanks Guys!

Nearly ran aground in the approach channel and had several near misses as the owner took the boat in to a slip.

We had planned to stop and visit Greg and Kate for several days but with the forecast weather rapidly deteriorating we only had a rushed one night stay.  The visit was great - thanks guys - we owe you!

Next time we (I) will try to stay longer and try out the new Pram.  Dinner was great as were the spirits and we really appreciate you hauling us all over for parts and provisions.

We left Greg's place at 4 pm and motor sailed to Charleston.  Trip was uneventful except that the little fishing boat chartplotter on board failed and electronic charts on the owners laptop were not available.  I switched to my laptop and uploaded a route to a Garmin Handheld GPS that we would use for navigation (we found the Frying Pan Shoal markers in the dark) and managed to avoid any run in's with the various warships conducting night operations in our area while underway.

Alan and I got stuck with dinner prep and cleanup again.  Long story - but us folks was kitchen helpers!  The owner and his friend rarely participated in anything except provision consumption.

Entrance into Charleston was aided by GPS with me at the chart table watching our progress on the NAV PC.  Alan did a magnificent job hand steering us into the entrance and up the Ashley River to the City Marina.  We tied up and were relaxing by about 12:50am.

Then there was an Iphone/Ipad convention.

On the way South

Helping an Island Packet owner move a 380 to Miami.  Spent 4 days doing cleanup on the boat (what a mess) and went over as much preventive maintenance as possible.  Replaced a badly chafed staysail outhaul.  Left Baltimore on Thursday about noon at the beginning of our trip.  Had 35 knot winds on the stern as we moved down the bay to Hampton, Va.  The owner nearly hit a yellow research buoy while at the helm because he panicked and could not remember how to turn the Autopilot off! 

Early the next morning we entered Old Point Comfort Marina after a trip of 23 hours with some rain and cold temps but nothing of any concern.  The owner ran out of the channel and I took the helm and got us into a slip.  Once in our slip we had time to tour the Casemate Museum here at the soon to be closed Fort Monroe.

Left the next morning headed for Coinjock in blustery conditions with heavy rain and strong currents.  The bimini and dodger on board leaked like a sieve so I used the Autopilot remote and steered the boat from the leeward caprail.  The outside dodger glass panels were so badly worn that visibility was extremely limited.  Only the center panel was reasonably new with good visibility.  The weather cleared some as we approached the Great Bridge lock but due to high tidal water the lock was not opening on schedule.  Once we locked through we had lost about 3 hours so we stopped short at Atlantic Yacht Basin for the evening.

I was at the helm and managed to kiss the dock pretty hard trying to dock in winds and current.  The owner and a helper were on the bow but did not alert me or try to fend off.  Pulpit is badly bent and bow light is pointed down and to port.

Boat Show

We visited the boat show on Thursday and again today courtesy of Island Packet Yachts.  Thursday was great but more crowded that we expected.

We toured the new Island Packet 360 yacht and had a great time exploring and getting new ideas as we continue to upgrade and recondition our boat.  I had a nice talk with Ed of Gratitude Yachting Center and got a chance to poke around a little more on the boat.

We met other IP owners at the Fleet Reserve Club then walked up the hill to the Rams Head Tavern and had a great lunch and some good Fordham Draft Beer.  After Lunch we walked back to the show and I tested my new bladder control!  The beer made it tough but I survived.

Today's visit was with super weather (even better than Thursday) and with what I thought was a somewhat smaller crowd.  Only saw one other IP owner but did see an IP out in the Mooring field.

Will post some photos once I locate a USB cable for my camera.

Headed North!

We are headed North now and plan to visit friends in Rock Hall and St Michaels as well as attend the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis. It is nice to get out and really enjoyed a wonderful dinner in Savannah (The Old Pink House).  Will post a photo once I locate a camera cable (left mine at home).


Winter has arrived (at least when compared to the weather in SW Florida) but I am still wearing shorts and flip-flops.

I ordered the membrane for our newly reconfigured watermaker yesterday and should now be nearly through the acquisition process for our planned return to the boat in Grenada.

Trading Places

I'm nearly healed, well on the mend, but Lesley has now taken my place on the disabled list.  She was washing dishes Saturday evening and broke a glass.  She suffered a bad cut on her left hand between two fingers and two superficial cuts on the right.  A visit to the local ER and a few stitches later she is doing fine - but my recovery has been abruptly cut short - no more kitchen pass................  So now I am reminded of what it's like!

Packing for Grenada underway

We have already filled one shipping barrel for our planned return to Grenada this winter.  It now looks like we will have to drive to Miami next week to pick up one more.

Most of our shopping is done (except for meat) and it is now just a matter of final packing and delivery of the shipment to the Tropical warehouse.

Today was sewing day

We made templates of our well worn weather curtains before we left Grenada.  I finally got motivated yesterday and cut the Sunbrella from our pattern and today was stitching time.  Completed both and installed the tie down eyelets.  Also made several draw string bags that we use for canned goods on the boat.   Waiting for Lesley to get back from today's dental appointment as she is supposed to bring some small line for the drawstrings.

I'm still taking it easy - man is recuperating hard work or what!

New PC Control Head

I finished the new boat PC control head yesterday and started working on a mount for a USB hub extender.  The boat PC is mounted under the Nav station and it is cumbersome to access the front panel USB ports.  I purchased a small 4 Port USB that I will install in a more accessible location on the boat. I've included a 12vdc to 5vdc switching power supply so that I can use USB powered disc drives when desired.

LEDs soldered in place

New PC Control

Hub

Hub Power Supply

Here we go again, mo' recuperating

I was released from the hospital yesterday and had my first real meal in 5 days.  Man was that good! 

Hospital stay was interesting considering that when I arrived I expected a quick outpatient procedure and then found out that I would be in for 4 - 7 days!  Then there was the recovery room.  Pain in my stomach from the surgery was excruciating - I remember someone asking about my pain level - and I think I said "it's bad".  Seem to recall several injections but the pain was so bad that I was making faces.  Finally I was given something called dilaudid - pain went right away as did my desire to breathe.  So for the next 20 minutes or so I got to listen to an alarm go off and the nurse telling me to breathe. Lots of morphine and after two days I was able to get along without any pain medication.

Since some of my small intestine was removed I was hooked up to several IV's and not able to take anything orally.  It is amazing how thirsty I was the whole time but for some reason I was not hungry.

I have lots of staples and some new wounds in my belly and I am now looking at another month of taking it easy.  I really wonder what being recovered is going to feel like?

More surgery

I had some problems overnight Thursday so went back to see the surgeon Friday morning.  Turns out that some of my internal organs are trying to go on vacation through one of the incisions from my earlier surgery.  So I had a CT scan Friday afternoon which confirmed the location of the problem (christ - I can see where it is!) and I will have outpatient surgery Monday, time TBD.  I think I am now destined to be assigned permanent recuperative duties - Lesley might be getting tired of this by now though.

Recuperating?

Lesley snuck a picture while I was recuperating!

Plants and drainage

Before I had surgery we had been working on the yard to improve drainage and to get rid of overgrown plants and try to improve the look in the backyard.  We removed a bunch of narly looking Hibiscus plants along the back of the house and replanted using Texas Sage.

We also had to remove a substantial amount of soil between us and the neighbors house so that storm water would drain away.  We were able to replant some new sod but ran out of time.  As I start to feel better we will begin to work on completing the drainage and re sod as we go. 

 

Working on projects again

I've started working on boat projects again so I am well on the road to recovery.  I had ordered a new plastic holding tank for a friends IP31 and an external level monitor.  I installed and calibrated the monitor and now waiting a few more weeks before tackling the re installation effort.  I'd been working on a web site using Google sites but found I did not like some of the restrictions on format so I registered a new domain (www.svGrainne.com) and have started developing a new web site.  That effort continues as I expand on some of the projects/upgrades that we've completed.

This weeks project has been the redesign of the boat PC control panel - parts are on order and will post a few pictures of the new panel once complete.

 

Getting better

Feeling better everyday with appetite nearly back to normal and most of my early complaints have abated.  I'm sleeping better and bladder control is surprisingly good.  I took a few photos of Lesley's landscaping project and will post those in the next day or so.

Back at Home

Post operative recovery is progressing - best news though is that the prostate pathology after surgery showed that the cancer was contained within the prostate with clear margins.  Reuben says I cured!  I'll be happy when I feel that way.

Going in for surgery

The results of the biopsy came back as we expected - prostate cancer.  Lesley had done a whole lot of research and we talked with our Doctor friend Reuben (this is getting to be a habit) so proceeded to consult with a urological surgeon.  Preop is complete and I go in Monday morning (25 July) to have my prostate removed.  I've downloaded a new book to the Kindle and have my fleece ready so I don't freeze to death in the hospital.

Opted to have robotic surgery as it appears that this method results in less nerve damage and a faster recovery.  Will see what the after surgery pathology results are and hope that the nerves/neurons are all speaking to each other afterwards.

 

Visit to Largo

Had a nice visit to Largo on Tuesday.  I stopped by Seco South to have some lifelines remade (first attempt was wrong) and then stopped by the Island Packet factory and had a nice visit with Bill Bolin.  Was nice to hear that the new boat (360) is in production and that they have orders for 2 or 3 other boats.  Waiting on the results from my Prostate Biopsy and just taking life easy the past few days.

Signed the papers on our home refinance (Quicken Loans) yesterday.  The whole process of  application and submission of supporting documentation was processed on line and then the closer came to our house and we signed the final papers.  Sure was a nice process.

P I E pie!

Lesley makes great baked goods - not just bread.

Tonight I am having homemade apple pie (3 different types of apples) and vanilla ice cream!

Bread and Baking

We eat very well on the boat and at the house.  Lesley is a Gourmet Cook and an excellent baker and we have been starting to make breads and buns while on the boat so that we are less dependent on shore based resources.  Yesterday, before going to Seco South to pickup up some rigging, Lesley started (or continued prep) on some French Bread that she wanted to try.  The bread came out great and tastes wonderful.  The next time we have Veal Picatta with Risotto and sauteed zucchini and onions or other delicacies - we have the French Bread solution.

New helm seat

While we are on the boat in the Caribbean we spend a lot of time in the water and come back onto the boat over the helm seat. The original helm seat, teak, gets wet and is very slippery so I decided to replace it with some no skid starboard.  Will see how this works out when we return to the boat in November.

a bit itchy?

Since we've been back here in Florida we've had a bad infestation of mealy bugs on the Hibiscus plant in the yard.  The Landscape maintenance Company has aggravated the infestation by performing a serious trim on all the shrubs in the yards in the neighborhood.  In the meantime Lesley as developed a sensitivity to one of the plants in the yard!

Ouch!

Shots, steroids, pills, creams - finally getting better though, believe it or not!

Lift Bridle

Finished sewing the new bridle and wanted to post some photos.  I used the old Davis bridle as a guide but replaced the old plastic hardware and added a few extra parts.

The old Bridle was at best a sloppy fit or even worse, once it was snugged up it was difficult to get a hold of or time consuming to remove if I needed access to the inside of the engine.  I added two stitched loops on the side of the front strap so that I could slip this loop into place on the front of the engine and then secure using an elongated captive pin shackle.

We've always used this shackle on the handle to make attaching the dinghy davit lift tackle easier.  I also wanted to have an easier way to make a handhold on the engine when I move it on/off my rail mount.  Added this webbing strap handle.

New outboard lifting bridle

Received my order from Sailrite today so have been busy making a new outboard lifting bridle.  Needed a "Guinea Pig" outboard to do the final fit and Alan (Island Packet 420 "Flatlander" here in the Marina) has offered to let me do the final fit on his Yamaha.  Will go over to the boat in the morning and make final adjustments and post a few photos of the outcome.

Lesley made a great Cherry Pie today and will have that and vanilla ice cream for desert......

 

Burrowing Owls

Lesley bought me a new telephoto lens so we went out
to try it out this afternoon. Even though the wind was blowing more than 20 knots I was able to get some decent shots of the local Burrowing Owls.











Family of four........................

Sweaty work!

I've been working on the teak on a friends boat. It's hot, sweaty work so when I get home and after showering I like to cool off with a Sweaty Betty (Boulder Beer).

This is a nice Wheat Beer that I've been enjoying, when I can find it here in Florida, for several years.












Here's to Betty!

Water Maker Control Panel

I'm starting to put the water maker back together now. I decided to build a new control panel and include a high pressure pump motor amp meter, flow meters for both brine and product water, hour meter and power switch. I plan to install the panel in the existing system location on the boat just under the new pressure vessel.

I used Front Panel Express for the panel and am very happy with the way it turned out.

New Water Maker - High Pressure Fittings

We've been back in Florida for several weeks now and I have begun putting the new water maker together.

This sequence of photos shows the EchoTec field installable high pressure fittings that I will be using in several place in the new system.

The shell (middle) screws on to the hose in a CCW direction. Then the fitting is threaded into the shell and HP hose.


High pressure hose with shell installed













Inner part of fitting is threaded (this time CW) into the hose and shell. While holding the shell
the inner fitting is tightened until it is snug against the shell.













The hose end is complete. This end of the hose will connect to the pressure regulator assembly.















I ordered a new panel that will hold Brine and Product flow meters, a motor current amp meter, hour meter, and power switch. Once completed will post the photos.

Back in Florida and working on projects

We've reestablished ourselves in the house and have restocked the fridge. Most of the same things that we have on the boat during the winter season in the Caribbean (great to have a full freezer on the boat) plus fresh veggies that we can't get in the Islands. Properly celebrated Cinco de Mayo with fresh pico de gallo, taco's, refries, and homemade margaritas! COSTCO stock probably went up this week thanks in part to our initial purchases!

Have started working on the new water maker, ordering fittings and incidentals needed to complete the retrofit. Will post some photos of the project as I get further along. Have the new pressure vessel and fabricated the new mounts for it today. New DC panel and water flow monitoring panel in the works.

Fabricating a new heavier duty mixing elbow for the genset - parts on order for that as well. Once everything in hand will head to the local welding shop to have everything put together again.

Was unable to get the Conbraco valve kits from West Marine but found a local source and they are on order.

Have also been ordering other items that we need for the home or the boat so we have been busy on the internet.

We had some minor issues again this year with credit cards while we were in the Caribbean but these turned out to be pretty minor this time as we have properly covered the bases. Several cards of several types turned out to be a big help. Cards for use outside the US should be "No Foreign Transaction Fee" and debit card and alternative cards are also suitable.

Replaced out 28 year old Sony TV in the living room with a new LED/LCD Vizio TV. Nice change and the HD channels that we get sure look good.

Lesley has put together a large order for new spices from our favorite spice store "Penzey's" so will have fresh spices while here and have a new batch to take to the Caribbean with us in November.

Finally, some good news with the death of UBL - Nice to have some closure on this after suffering through two attacks that he inspired! Thanks folks.................

Trip back to Florida

We got to the Point Salines Airport early and checked our two bags. One was overweight as I was bringing some parts to my Village Marine water maker home, so moved some stuff out of the bag and into my carry on.

Got thru immigration and customs and while waiting for the flight to board I was paged by American Airlines. Turned out I had been selected for a random inspection of checked bags so had to travel into the airport and open my bags for additional screening. Wouldn't you know it - they wanted to xray two boxes - one with the high pressure pump and one with the motor.

Trip home was uneventful and on time and we were back home in Punta Gorda by 6pm.

We now will be sorting out 6 months of mail, restocking the house, and starting work on a myriad of boat and home projects.

Thru hulls - more

After contacting Conbraco I go a nice emailed response with part number for all of the maintenance kits that they make for the entire marine line of valves. Have several vendors in Florida where I can go to get parts so should be in good shape and intend to stock spare parts for each seacock and valve on the boat from now on.

Now, back to emptying the bottles!

On the beach

We finished in the boat yard and are now hanging out at La Sagesse - with the nicest beach in Grenada.

We had a few beers left over so my final boat task is
to make sure that they are left empty!

More yard work - surprises with thru hulls

We continued prepping the boat for summer storage today and as part of the checklist we inspected and lubed all the thru hull valves on the boat. We started with the head sink drain valve and it broke - temporarily plugged till we can try to locate a replacement valve tomorrow (Easter Holiday here from Friday thru today).

Next was the engine raw water intake - valve moved easily but noticed that the stem nut was turning as the valve handle was turned. Removed the valve handle, unscrewed the stem nut and after removal discovered that the stem was fused to the stem nut. More on this later.

I had an old Y valve onboard that looks like it has the same stem and nut. Thought I would take this apart and use the parts to fix the engine valve - wrong. The stem packing was fused into the body of the valve - into the trash.

Next went after the head discharge thru hull/valve. In luck this time as everything came out easily and all was in good order. Since this thru hull was abandoned when we installed the LectraSan (waste treatment system) we were partially in luck. Cleaned everything well and lubed the parts with silicone grease and the engine raw water valve is now better than new.

Took the fused parts (stem nut and stem), a hammer, WD40 and a few other tools down off the boat and was able to drive the stem free from the nut and packing. The threads on the stem were shot so cleaned everything up, lubed everything, and reinstalled in the abandoned head discharge valve. This worked fine except that the handle cannot be secured to the valve - not an issue as we do not use this anyway.

Email post to Ip Mail list and request to Apollo (Conbraco) looking for a source of spare parts.

Issue - the thru hull fitting and valve is a large brass (bronze?) part that is secured to the hull by a screw in pipe that tightens against the hull and also with three large bolts, nuts, and washers. The ball valve itself is fine, just need some internal replacement parts, almost like new faucet washers on the home kitchen sink. If these parts are not readily available then all of this hardware has to be replaced ($$$ plus lots of time to remove the old fitting and reinstall the new one.

Kind of like replacing the car if you have a flat tire!

In the boat yard!

We hauled out on Thursday about 1:15pm and have spent the past four days prepping the boat for summer storage. Everything has gone well up to this point but yesterday the gate valve on the head sink broke. So took that all apart and have the parts and tools standing by for replacement. Since the thru hull is above waterline it was not bedded with 5200 but rather what looked like plumbers putty. Will re bed with 5200 tomorrow and replace the valve with a stainless steel version - a bit more but not more chrome plated ball valves to break.

Waxing the boat

I was sitting in the cockpit this afternoon having a beer while Lesley was waxing the coach roof. Had quite a few folks stop by and there was lots of discussion with Lesley over the proper wax technique, products, etc. Most of the guys were quite interested in how Lesley came upon her technique and were interested in hiring her to teach their wives how to do the waxing.

Our coach roof really shines!

Working in the marina

We had water this morning so the first job we tackled was washing the boat. While the boat was drying Lesley made a pot roast in the pressure cooker that will be saved for dinned after we haul out. The boat dried and we took the sails down and folded them, removed the running rigging, hauled the newly cleaned dinghy back on the davits, put the outboard with the new water pump back on the rail and Lesley started waxing the topsides.

More work tomorrow, we're both beat, so that's all for now!

Removed the watermaker

We de-installed the Village Marine water maker yesterday and took all of the fittings off of the pressure vessels getting ready to take the parts back home with us. When we return here in November will have completed the swap out of the Village Marine system with a hybrid EchoTec system.

We will move into Le Phare Bleu Marina later this morning and begin final prep for summer haul out and storage. Once the generator cools off will dig into it and remove the mixing elbow that is leaking and do a final oil change and get it ready for storage as well.

Then the washing and cleaning start in ernest.

Port Louis Marina

For the first time since we have been cruising the Caribbean we spent 3 nights in Port Louis (St Georges Grenada). Not an overly pleasant experience with a total lack of information on check in on everything from WiFi access, water and power, combinations for the showers etc. Was convenient to shopping but otherwise a place to miss in the future. Very different from anything we have experienced thus far out here.

We had a great experience with FedEx (Jeffrey) with some parts from Trinidad, with the customs rep in the FedEx office and also with the Customs folks at the Grenada Yacht Club site.

We left the Marina at about 10:00am this morning and are now anchored off Calvigny Island, South coast of Grenada. Nice to be here and enjoying the anchorage. Had some local sailing vessels come by at near sundown on their way back in and may have some interesting photos.

There is a big Oyster Yachts regatta going on now and think the final dinner is tonight - lots of Oysters in Le Phar Bleu Marina and lots of traffic over to the resort on Calvigny Island.

No weather windows?

Lesley had a most unusual discussion with a lady in the shower room last night.

The lady said that they had been in Grenada since January and that they had hoped to make it to at least the Grenadines this year but that they had not had a weather window! Knowing trawlers require better conditions Lesley asked what size trawler she was on. The lady told Lesley that she was on a 42 foot sailboat.

Lesley then told the lady where we had been this year on our 35 foot sailboat and the discussion ended.

I am sure glad that we didn't experience the same weather as these folks did this season.

St Georges, Grenada

We moved from Grand Mal to St Georges late yesterday morning and took a slip for the first time in the Port Louis Marina. We are on the J dock, stern to a large concrete wall. On the way in we watched as a large Amel ran onto a well marked reef! They tried to take a short cut on the wrong side of three very visible red Nun buoys.

This was our first time in the marina so we were not sure how we would approach the dock or where we would end up. A chase boat met us at the end of one of the large docks and told us how to prep the boat - two bow lines and a stern line - and then pointed out where our dock was. We came well into the marina and made a tight turn to port where the chase boat secured our bow lines to a large mooring line. We then continued slowly with the port turn until we were able to back up near the wall. The chase boat gave the stern a push and then we were close enough to throw a stern line. We continued to back down on the bow mooring lines until we were close enough to the wall. Ended up with two stern lines going ashore and about a 3 foot step to the wall.

If it will stop raining we plan to go to the Spicelands Mall, Carib Sushi for lunch and then Budget Marine.

Headed for Grenada

We left Carriacou early this morning headed for Grand Mal, Grenada. Had full main and Yankee up with winds 17 -23 kts, gusting to 26. Seas were nice and both wind and seas from nearly off the beam so we scooted right on over. Took a few photos off Goave on the way down (fish fry fame) more on that later. Also got some scenery pictures with lots of red blooms on the hillsides.

Running the generator/water maker for a few more minutes and then will make lunch and go for a swim.

Limited bandwidth here so will hold off on photo upload for now.

Anchoring in the Islands

Folks out here have come to expect that if there is only one boat in a large anchorage and another boat, lets say that is flying a French flag, comes in that that French flagged boat is going to anchor right on top of you. Today we saw a medium size cruise ship (Silver Whisper) come in and anchor in the outer harbor. A short time later a 5 masted Cruise Ship came in and anchored nearly on top of them. We are not sure but will check and update the blog but we think the 5 master is French flagged. After some sort of intervention by radio and visits from local officials the 5 master picked up anchor and moved well back and behind the Silver Whisper.

We need to find out what they did to get them to move - maybe we can use the same tactics next time!

Bequia Sailboats

Have noticed each time we visit Bequia that there
are people out sailing small model boats. Had one crash into our dinghy this morning so thought I would post a few pictures. Especially interesting in one shot as the cruise ship Sea Cloud II just anchored and then one of the models sailed by. Today's Regatta included 3 models and 3 tenders, two of the tenders were on paddle boards and the other in a row boat.




Two of the models and one of the race "Officials"!










Race "Official" getting a closeup view of the action.

Plants of Bequia

On our way to the Turtle Sanctuary we took lots of pictures of flowering plants. There are lots of Plumerias here and all sorts of color combinations.












Was surprised to see prickly pear Cactus and thought that this bloom looked interesting.

Back to the Old Hegg

We took off on another walk over to The Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary, this time with the camera.

Weather was warm with very little breeze so it was
a hot walk. Took lots of pictures of flowers and plants along the way including some unusual things that we don't normally see.

When we got to the Sanctuary we made a donation and then Orton King, the founder, came out and we had a great talk about conservation and the way ahead in his view on how to save the turtles.

Motor Yacht Eclipse

When we woke up this morning we had the largest private yacht in the world anchored behind us - 557 feet. Wonder what they do for fun and adventure! The owner is ranked as 57 wealthiest person in the world - probably could move up on the list some if he was the owner of an Island Packet instead. But then where would you land the chopper, berth the submarine and 3 tenders, and watch the many 6 foot TV systems!

With a built in missile defense system and other high tech anti snooping devices I would have to think that the owner is into some very serious stuff! We are going to look into some of this technology for incorporation onto our Yacht, but we don't have room for the private Army that the owner is reported to have.

Owner & girlfriend reported in downtown Bequia!

Daffodil Marine Services

We had laundry done yesterday by Daffodil Marine Services and they returned it to us just before dark and as a heavy downpour hit the anchorage. Lesley unpacked the laundry and noticed that one of our microfiber bath towels was missing so she hailed Daffodil on 67. Daffodil said that they would track down the missing towel and to call them in the morning.

This morning at 0800 Daffodil (think it was Ms. Harris) came by and dropped the towel off. She knew that she had done two of our turquoise colored towels and remembered that there was one other batch of laundry on the folding table. Ms. Harris She got in touch with the owners of the other laundry "Native Dancer" and they had the towel. Before 0815 we had our towel back and had thanked Ms. Harris and the folks on Native Dancer.

Then, just after lunch Allan (also from Daffodil), came by to apologize for the mix up and gave us a complementary loaf of fresh baked artisan bread. The folks at Daffodil are one class operation.

Laundry, Fresh Bread, Fuel and water to the boat, and great friendly people who take what they do seriously.

Admiralty Bay

We've spent several days anchored here and have had wind and rain but nice out now. Picked up some boat supplies at Piper Marine and a few groceries at the corner store. Talked to some folks on an IP380 yesterday and have another IP, a 44 "Loafers Glory II", anchored next to us and another up near the Marina (380) "Keesje" on a mooring.