Great Loop - Preparation for the Trip

Sea Moss on the choppy seas of the Atlantic Ocean

Following our 2012 Triangle Cruise through Canada, we decided we wanted to do the Great Loop trip and have been preparing for this exciting boating adventure ever since.  To learn more about what we might expect from the Great Loop, we attended an America's Great Loop Cruising Association, AGLCA, meeting in May of 2014 as a kickoff to reaching our goal of traveling the loop.  We met many Looper Wannabes as well as experienced Loopers.  The greatest thing about boating is the camaraderie and something we look forward to experiencing more of on our trip as we encounter other Loopers sharing a common goal.

As a result of chatting with other boaters at the AGLCA get together and touring boats of loopers, we left the conference full of great ideas, and last summer we made many small but important improvements  to Sea Moss to make it ready for our future voyage.  Heat sensors were added to the engine room, storage areas were scoped out and shelves added to increase space, the sofa was raised about 6 inches to provide better scenic views from within the cabin, the shower in the stern was upgraded to hot/cold from cold only, ...  All changes were subtle but useful improvements!

I couldn't wait to get the boat out from under the winter cover in April this year, so we could start our trip preparation in earnest.   I spent the first week scrubbing it clean and waxing from bow to stern.  All told it took me about 25 hours of scrubbing to bring it up to snuff - about  4 to 5 hours a day was my limit, but I knew we would be working on the boat and needed to clean off the winter's grime and at least start our trip with a shiny vessel.  We went to the NYC boat show this year and bought much-needed, new electronics to make major improvements to our navigation equipment.  I knew we would be crawling all over the boat to install the new electronics, and I wanted to have a clean boat to crawl around on.

As a result of our efforts, Sea Moss now has an integrated display of radar, GPS, and depth.  We added a new antenna for AIS which identifies our boat to other boat traffic and provides us with a display of AIS-enabled vessels on our chart display.  Swapping out the radar was loads of fun as we had to take off the old unit and remove the wires that were running from the helm to the radar tower.  In fact we had to remove the 5 huge bolts holding the radar tower in place and lower the tower / mast to get to the wires to remove them and feed new ones through. When the original radar was installed, the engineer decided that he would "glue" the wires in place with 4200 sealant - good to keep the water out and terrible to get the wires out.  Without lowering the tower, we would never have moved those old wires or fed new ones. 

The things we get ourselves into ... but we can proudly say we saved at least $5000 doing it ourselves.  The quoted price from a contractor was $1000 / day labor, and the job took several days to complete. So, instead of a "tree hugger", I became a radar hugger as I stood on deck with first the old radar dome in hand (about 20 lbs and >24" wide) while Captain Clark disconnected the unit and later I hugged the new unit (slightly narrower but taller) as he routed wires, made connections, and sealed open areas with 'you guessed it' ... 4200 sealant.  Captain Clark was exceedingly happy with his new integrated display when we tried out the new unit coming home in the dark from meeting up with Looper Boater friends for dinner Saturday night.

Dan & Jacque on "Horizon Chaser", Clark & Evelyn on "Sea Moss", and Angie & Dan on "Sea Horse"

Another addition to the boat is modified scuba gear for the captain. (I am not certified but he and our son Jeff got certified back in '98).  Frequently Captain Clark free dives (i.e. holds his breath) under the boat to have a look around - inspect props for damage, check for lines wrapped around prop shafts, and his "favorite" task - scrape barnacles off props, shafts, etc.  The only dive suit that he owned was a thin-weight "shorty" which is fine for that rare hot day in the middle of summer but not good in cold waters in non-summer months.  We decided to upgrade to a heavy weight full length wet suit to avoid possible hypothermia as we have no idea where and when he might need to dive under.  While we were shopping for a suit, we chatted with the owner of the local dive shop "Divers Two" in Avon-by-the-Sea, NJ who told us he could make a modified / backpack-type arrangement for Clark with a small air tank sufficient to provide him with enough air for diving under the boat.  We were sold on the idea instantly and had one made to order for this trip and future needs.

I have to say that I learn so much working with Captain Clark, and though it can be tedious at times, I truly enjoy most of our projects.  We are both of the mind to fix and reuse instead of buy new even though sometimes it makes a lot of work for us.  Our circa 1990 4 HP outboard for the dinghy (the one I think of as the "new" one) has been temperamental in recent years but finally gave Clark enough complaints that he decided to dig in to see what needed to be fixed.  It quickly became a two-person job - "hold this", "get me the xyz tool", "shine the flashlight over here", ... As a result I now know a lot more than I used to about outboard motor construction, operation, and how to replace worn out parts - not that I'd want to do any repair on my own.  After all who would be my "go-fer" person.  Happy news is that the outboard now has a nice "tail" of water when running showing that everything is flowing as it should.  A new motor on sale was $1200.  The parts cost us less than $50.

Now, as departure day gets ever closer and bigger items are crossed off, we are in the mode of basic provisioning for the boat with cooking equipment, clothes, laundry supplies e.g. quarters for the machines we'll be using along the way in the U.S and Loonies and Toonies for machines in Canada, and hundreds of other items that all have to somehow be absorbed into the limited storage on board.  "To take or not to take" that is the oft asked question around here these days.  Besides all the items we already own and deem essential for the trip, it seems that every time I turn around I am on Amazon ordering yet another item for the boat including essentials like charts (paper and electronic) to "nice to haves" like my new ice maker, and everything it would seem in between from pencils to spare boat parts.  The UPS delivery person must be sick of seeing our address on packages by now.  I know the guys that collect the recycle cardboard must groan when they pull up to our house every two weeks or so.  I know I groan dragging it all out there and piling it up only to turn around and have more delivered the next day.

Miraculously, as we bring things down to the boat they somehow seem to disappear into the storage areas, so much so that I have added a list to my Google Keep records of "where's it hiding" so I can find things we have put in obscure places - the ones we're hoping not to need but deem essential should the need arise, for example, a heavy, bulky prop-puller tool used to remove props.  We certainly hope not to need to do that but you never know in unfamiliar waters, and props are impossible to remove without the prop-puller tool.

So here we are already in June, it's getting down to the wire, and we feel there is still a lot to do.  We're both wishing we were already underway instead of crossing to-do items off our lists.  "Chomping at the bit" I believe is the correct expression!  I have a long list of items to bring onto the boat before we leave that I have not stowed due to the fact that I am still using them.  Soon though I will do the final trips to the boat including all the clothes that need to come along with us.  Trying to decide which clothes to bring has turned out to be the most difficult decision I have been facing.  I have the selected clothes lined up ready for boarding as soon as the rain stops.  Once I get it all on board, if it won't fit, I'll have to reconsider my choices.  We are expecting all temperatures from hot to freezing as we make our way around the loop.  In Canada in summer 2012 we had heat in the 90s.  Friends currently doing the loop hit temperatures in the 20s in Tennessee back in October / November time frame, so we have to be prepared for both extremes.  The solution of course is layering which of course is my plan.

I check my Google Keep lists almost daily to see what needs to be done, what still needs to be stowed on board, and what I might be able to carry down from the house.   If time allows, after we have everything we think we need, we want to do a "shake-down" / overnight stay on the boat before leaving on our voyage.  We did that for the triangle cruise and found it useful.  Our exact departure date is still TBD.  To make the best time and be efficient in fuel usage, we need to check the tides for the Hudson River to determine when we should leave so that we are pushed upstream by the tide instead of fighting current the whole way. 

Below is the AGLCA Great Loop map color-coded by season - red for summer travel, navy for fall / winter, and green for spring.   We will, as do most Loopers, travel counterclockwise to take advantage of downstream currents in the rivers.  New for my blog, I have included a link to a U.S. / Canada map roughly showing the outline of our planned route.  The points on my map indicate our basic plan, so follow our travels and share the experience of our Great Loop adventure with us.   You can subscribe on the blog site to have updates sent to you automatically by email whenever I publish a posting.

Seasonal Route Map Courtesy of AGLCA www.greatloop.org