Check valves and signal boosters

2/10/2017 – 2/11/2017

The past two days have been focused on yet more boat work. We took a break each of these two days to attend docktails at 5:00 p.m.; otherwise, we spent time on maintenance and repair. My list is much shorter than Clark’s and nowhere near as interesting.

Somewhat unexpectedly, because we thought to receive it later in the week, the Island Time WiFi booster was delivered to our boat on Friday. Clark had not yet ordered the installation accessories, such as antenna extension, and here we had the booster! As a temporary solution, until we get the installation parts, Clark set up the booster in the pilot house. Since we had designed the layout earlier in the week, Clark quickly placed the order for the installation parts.

I am not convinced the WiFi booster arrangement works any better, and may in fact be worse, than the direct signal from the marina when working in the salon – the part of the boat nearest the dock. However, it seems to be a significant improvement elsewhere on the boat.  Given that the booster has a rather short antenna, and it is currently located inside the center of the boat, I am surprised it works at all.

Both Clark and I are frustrated that we keep looking for things on this boat that we thought we brought with us from New Jersey and cannot find. Either they all perform vanishing acts, or we only thought we brought the items. The “where did it go” item Friday was a tool Clark needs to drill out a broken-off screw on the fresh-water wash-down and replace the lost cap with the new one that came in the mail. That tool set does not appear to be on board! Either that or it is hiding with the boat hooks that we were sure we brought and mysteriously cannot find!

From reading the documentation on equipment on board the boat, Clark knew that a cellular booster should be located somewhere on the boat. He just could not find it. After contacting the broker, he discovered that the floor of the master stateroom closet has a compartment in the bottom that contains the cellular booster. Of course he had to remove everything from the closet to access it.

With a little detective work, he deduced that the cellular booster and the antenna he disassembled earlier in the week go together. The antenna is supposed to feed the cellular booster; however, with the wire disconnected from the antenna, it could not possibly work. When Clark found the unit in the closet, he was shocked to see that the wire was not connected at that end either!

Note the brass-colored connector with no wire attached and
the large white wire laying in front of the unit! Why?!

Having spent two days waiting for a call back from the local plumbing store regarding the parts needed for the guest head, Clark decided to call Middletown Plumbing to ask them about the parts needed to make the repair. They knew immediately that he needed a Corian Overflow Assembly. With that bit of information, he went online and ordered the part. They told him he can use it in conjunction with the part he already bought at Home Depot, so when the overflow assembly arrives, we can put the sink back together. I can’t wait!

Before retiring for the night, Clark made a list of four items to tackle on Saturday. 1) charge the battery for the dinghy, 2) fill and leak-test the propane tanks, 3) lubricate the windshield wiper arms where the springs do not quite allow the blades to meet the window when they run, and 4) look at the check-valve plumbing associated with the bilge pump. The first item on the list went smoothly although charging the battery seemed to take much longer than Clark expected. The propane leak-test showed no leaks (yay), and he got the empty tank filled so we are good to use propane for cooking.

Clark had hoped to remove the three windshield wiper arms and soak them in penetrating oil; however, he discovered that they cannot easily be removed, so he oiled them in place and said he would have to do that daily for a while to see if the mechanism loosens up over time. The one on the port window is in the best condition. The other two need a lot of help to be functional.  I hope we don’t need them any time soon as they don’t even touch the glass as they move back-and-forth.

The last item on the list proved the most interesting. Clark was dismayed to see that the boat had a check-valve system in place associated with the bilge pump. The pump pushes the water up the hose and out of the boat; the check-valve is designed to stop the water from running back down the hose and into the pump when the pump stops pumping.  Clark said that check-valves are notorious for failing, and once they fail, they have the potential to form a siphon and cause a boat to sink in rough seas where outside water is allowed to pour, unchecked, into the bilge through the faulty part.

He climbed down into the compartment containing the bilge pump, took apart the hose connection, and sure enough the part has deteriorated to the point where it is dysfunctional. 

Daylight can be seen looking through the valve!

This "check valve" is not going to stop any water
from flowing into the boat!

After checking and cleaning the part, he put it back as it is needed when the bilge pump runs. Immediately afterwards, however, he placed an on-line order for a vented loop, which is fitted with a one-way valve at the top, permitting water to be pumped through the loop and out of the hull. It prevents the formation of a siphon that would allow water to flow back into the hull and, at least theoretically, sink the boat.

With Clark completing his day’s tasks on both days, we attended docktails and met a lot more boaters – many of them loopers currently on their great loop voyage. Two families, each with small children, are currently traveling the loop and home schooling as they go. We met one of the two families; they are from Peterborough, Ontario. James, the father, said that the home schooling is the hardest part of the trip. I can imagine that finding time, and getting the children to focus, would be very difficult. James’ wife, Nancy, is a school teacher, so she certainly has the credentials to make it happen.

We also met an interesting young man on a sailboat named John who is traveling with his cat named “Captain Jack”. John is a captain for a dive boat here in the Marathon and saving to buy his dream sailboat some day in the future. He boasted to Clark that he was “an electrical guru” as he told Clark all about his solar power cells and how he configured them on his sailboat. I left partway through their conversation. When I rejoined the two of them about an hour later, John said, “Well, I thought I was a guru until I met this guy [Clark] and now I learned I don’t know diddly squat!” I started laughing well before he even got to the part where he admitted who was the real guru.

When I walked up to say hello to some looper folks today, one of them pulled me to one side and asked if Clark would mind if she asked him some questions about their boat’s electrical systems. I told her that it was not a problem as Clark generally likes discussing those types of things. She found him later in the day and asked for help; they plan to meet to go over her list of questions. I expect Dr. Clark and his trusty volt meter will soon be making a “boat” call to see what ails them.

Both days we got to see sunsets though neither was super spectacular. When we walked back from docktails Friday night, we could see the bright full moon shining down on us. We expected to see some signs of the eclipse supposedly in progress, but we saw no signs of it with either the naked eye or binoculars. Strange! We did not stay up or set alarms to look for the comet at 3:00 a.m., so we only got to see one of the three big astrological events that occurred this weekend. I read online that each full moon has a name given to it by the American Indians. February’s moon is called the “Hunger Moon” thus named due to the lack of food in the coldest month of the year.

Sunset at Faro Blanco
Friday Night 2/10/2017

Sunset as seen from docktails with loopers
Saturday Night 2/11/2017

Quick Key West Trip

2/8/2017 - Looper Dinner at Local Restaurant

Heat and humidity moved in for the day reaching a high for the day at 89 degrees. Many people complained when we were here in Marathon last year about temperatures in the 60s with a northerly wind. I was not one of them. In fact whenever I had to ride my bike to the food store and back, I thanked my lucky stars I did not have to deal with extreme heat. To circulate the air and get a bit of a breeze, I turned on two small fans we brought with us from NJ and another that came with the boat.

Having soaked the lock mechanisms from each of the two side-entry doors in penetrating oil for two days, Clark tackled trying to get the keys to turn in the locks. Finally, after hours of fiddling with them, he actually got the key to turn in one. Excited to have some level of success, he moved on to the second one, and things rapidly went downhill from there. During his attempt to clean the inner workings of the lock, he pulled the cylinder out too far, and something fell into place such that he could neither push it back in or pull it out.

We spent the next hour or so searching online for a Marathon locksmith and calling around to find one to fix the lock.  Unfortunately, Marathon does not have a locksmith that is not a mobile unit. The only person in the area said he could come the next day, and his minimum fee for the visit was $150. Clark finally called a locksmith in Key West who said he would fix the lock for $15. He immediately decided the hour drive each way was well worth the trip.

Having failed to complete the lock job, Clark moved on to the installation of the stripper component missing from our winch. Through conversations with our boat broker, Clark established that the missing stripper caused the anchor line to wrap around the winch instead of dropping into the rope locker. We had a few interesting comments from other boaters when Clark told them he had to buy a stripper for the boat!

When Clark placed the order for the stripper, he talked to the manufacturer and the supplier of the component. During those conversations, he established that a required screw came as part of the stripper packaging. Well, when the package showed up, no screw! He called the manufacturer, again, who offered to send the screw. Since Clark wanted to get the part installed, he decided he could purchase the screw locally once he found out it takes a standard one-inch #10 size that he could buy in West Marine.

We jumped in the car (last year we would have walked) and drove to the West Marine. The store is just across the street, but as with walking, the difficult part of going there is crossing route one. After finally pulling out onto the highway, we were immediately getting off again! We bought the screw and some epoxy packets so Clark can glue more items on the boat whenever one might appear in need of fixing.

Since we completed our West Marine run in record time, we drove on down to the food store for a few necessities. Even though we did not dawdle at either store, almost two hours had gone by when we pulled into the marina parking lot. Since we planned to attend an early-bird, birthday dinner at a local restaurant, we quickly stowed the perishable food and got ready to go out to eat.

Once again we hopped into our car and drove where last year we would have walked. Had it not already been past the designated meeting time to be at the restaurant, we might have considered walking. Since we were already late, it made no sense to even think about walking. When we got to the Steak and Lobster House, we found a group of twelve loopers already seated.

We thought we would know some of the attendees; however, we only knew one of the couples there. Through conversation, we determined that most, if not all of the people at dinner, had completed the loop last year and were, therefore, gold loopers like us. We just never crossed paths during our respective trips. Interestingly, the early-bird menu has not changed since last year! I guess that is a good thing since the menu seems to be much liked by loopers.

Looper, Birthday Dinner for Chica owner
at Marathon Steak and Lobster House

2/9/2017 - Key West Locksmith

We set out after breakfast to travel to Key West to visit the locksmith. Having spoken with the locksmith the day before, Clark established that we could drop off the lock for repair, go eat lunch, and pick the lock up later in the afternoon. This is the second time I have gotten lunch out due to a “repair-while-you-wait” activity related to boat repair – one of the few bonuses of having all these repairs on our agenda.

Knowing that some of our looper friends are currently in Key West, I reached out to Kenny and Jeanne on Day Break to see if they were available for lunch with us. They said yes, and other than figuring out an exact time to meet, we had a rendezvous planned. Clark reminded me that his high-school friend owns a restaurant called Camille’s in Key West, and better yet, we really liked the food when we ate there last February. I was excited for the company and the food!

We found a parking lot for the car and walked to their marina to hook up with them. Clark never made it as far as Kenny’s boat since he found a Krogen Express called Wishing Star and its owner on the dock before he got there. I chatted with Kenny and Jeanne in their boat while we waited for Clark to appear. I finally said we should leave to head to the restaurant because only then would we be able to drag Clark away. Sure enough, when Clark saw us disembarking from Day Break, he concluded his conversation with the KE owner and came over to join us for the walk to the restaurant.

Lunch at Camille’s was as good or better than I remembered. Their menu says their chicken salad is “world famous”. I ordered that and found it to be delicious! We had a lovely visit over lunch and as we completed our meal, Clark got a phone call to tell him the locks were ready to be picked up. Since the locksmith goes out on calls, we called to verify he would be there when we got there in about 30 minutes time.

Afraid to miss the locksmith, Clark decided not to take time walking back to the marina before heading back to our car, so we said our farewells on a street corner and went our separate ways. We picked up our well-lubricated and cleaned locks on our way out of town. The locksmith said they were “full of gunk”! I guess after nine years of never being used once the locks froze up with dirt and salt. The locksmith said we could put Vaseline on the locks to keep the salt out in future.

After we got back to our Marathon marina, Clark immediately picked up on chores where he left off the day before. He sanded and then reinstalled the anemometer / weather vane that he spent several days repairing with epoxy. Since that installation requires he use a step ladder to climb to the highest point on the boat (a little less than 20 feet off the water), I abandoned my novel I wanted to read to assist with the installation and watch over him to make sure he did not topple over the ladder as he climbed up.

After he had the anemometer in place, Clark walked over to see if anyone attended docktails tonight. He did not find anyone at docktails, but he did find out on his wanderings that a Krogen Express had pulled into dock at Faro Blanco today. Of course he went right over to visit and introduce himself. (He met two KE owners in today - wow!) The owners of Joy, who are from Canada, said they remembered Clark from last year when they attended the KE rendezvous here at Faro Blanco, and Clark went around introducing himself to all the various KE owners.

Before retiring for the night, Clark updated and organized his “to do” / “punch list” for the boat. Given a weekend is coming up shortly, he sorted the tasks by ones to be done on a weekday, i.e. tomorrow, versus those that could wait for the weekend. I am anxiously waiting for the WiFi booster parts to arrive so that comes to the top of the installation list. (Sadly, Clark still has to order some of the parts.) WiFi at Faro Blanco leaves a lot to be desired without a booster!

Fort Lauderdale Road Trip

2/5/2017 – Super Bowl Sunday

Faith from Third Degree walked by our boat on the way to hers while we were outside working on a boat repair that required glue. Since this was a messy enterprise, we were standing on the dock. As we chatted with Faith, we made arrangements to join them at a local sports bar called Marathon Ale House for the big game. Faith had heard that they had beer at reduced prices and free food at half time.

All four of us routed for the Falcons – not because any of us are Falcons fans in the normal course of events, but because none of us wanted the Patriots to win.  Actually, I suppose, knowing Clark is not an avid sports fan, he was probably ambivalent, so I will just declare him pro Falcons!  Anyone who watched that game, and according to the radio that was millions of people, got a three-for deal. Falcons’ fans got the first half, Patriots fans claimed the second half, and everyone enjoyed Lady Gaga’s excellent performance in the middle.

Clark, Ev, Jim, and Faith at Marathon Ale House

2/6/2017

After enjoying our night off from boat work, we were back at it on Monday chipping away at our long repair list. It seems that for every one thing we fix, three more issues make themselves known. Instead of getting shorter, the list continues to grow. Clark prioritizes tasks each evening for the next day.

The top of our list for today included investigating the intermittent low-voltage reading on the battery display in the lower helm. I find it very interesting to watch Clark dig into problems. I never really tire of “working” with him on these projects. He takes apart and puts together things I would never dream of touching. This morning, after wiggling a variety of wires in search of the random low voltage, he decided to dismantle the On/Off switch for the battery.

Inner Workings of the Switch

As he took the switch apart layer-by-layer, he lined the pieces up along a shelf in the order in which he took them off, taking note as he did, the orientation of each piece in relation to the other components. What did he discover as he dug deeper and deeper? Dust! He used a vacuum cleaner in reverse to blow out the dust and then he cleaned the dull contacts until they shown brightly.

Even with his meticulous care regarding the parts, it still took him several tries to reassemble the switch. The on and off positions were reversed the first time, and he had to pull pieces off until he got it right to have on in the on position and off in the off position. Eventually, he got it together, we reinstalled the switch, and turned the breakers back on. He has now crossed the low-voltage issue off his to-do list. Yay!

Flaky On/Off switch on the electrical panel.
We killed the power to the panel before digging in!

The next project of the day turned into a nightmare. Clark decided to dismantle the plumbing under the leaky guest head sink. What a chore! Over time and the application of a large quantity of plumbing “goop”, the hose would not budge. He pushed, pulled, and pried and got nowhere! Finally, he decided to try heating the hose with a hair dryer and that generated enough flexibility in the hose to allow him to pull it off the pipe.

To get take the pipe apart to get to the area in need of repair invoked another battle. He tried a variety of wrenches to no avail. Finally, he drilled a hole in the brass fitting until it sprung apart, and he could remove it and the pipes it held in place.

Better not run water in this sink - note hole where
drain is supposed to be!

The next step in the repair is to find the replacement parts somewhere. Clark collected the pieces he needed to match ready for shopping for parts.

Needing a break from the back-breaking work under the sink, we got ourselves presentable and went to docktails. We met several new arrivals to the marina – some of them are currently doing the Great Loop. Morning Star, whom we met last year at Faro Blanco, arrived with today’s batch of arrivals. I sat with Ann and caught up on her activities since they completed the loop in September 2016 in Alabama.

We finally said our goodbyes to the docktails’ folks at 7:00 and went back to work. Before dinner, we took a trip to Home Depot to pick up supplies. Clark brought the old plumbing parts for comparison purposes, and we looked for a replacement set of parts. We found a portion of what we needed to complete the repair. The portion we did not find, however, is a critical component as it captures the sink overflow water and directs it to a hose. Somehow I think we need that part too.

2/7/2017

We decided last night before heading to bed that we would drive to Fort Lauderdale to Ward’s Marine Electric today to buy a replacement generator battery and hand-carry it back to the boat. When Clark talked to them on the phone, they offered a reduced price for the battery over that shown on their website. Plus, picking it up would save us $160 in shipping costs. The overall savings made the five-to-six hour drive (round trip) worthwhile.

Before setting off on our cross-state drive, Clark had two jobs to complete. First, he wanted to put another coat of epoxy on the weather vane he sanded last night, and second, he wanted to stop by the nearby plumbing supply store to see if they sold better match for the sink parts we need. I decided to bring my sewing project, i.e. the canvas repair for the starboard side bright-work. I estimated I needed about three hours to complete the sewing, and I anticipated a three-hour drive to Fort Lauderdale.

Clark got the epoxy done and left that to dry. Then the two of us carried the almost one-hundred-pound battery out to the car and placed it in the trunk. Fortunately, the battery comes with handles on each end to facilitate carrying it. Just as we approached the trunk ready to lift it into the car, two of the marina staff stopped by in the golf cart and asked if we needed any help. I laughed and said, “Not right now!” They told us to be sure to call them next time we needed something like that moved.

Old Battery - warped and popped open from overheating

We struck out at the plumbing supply store on available parts, but they said they could order what we need if we send them pictures. Great! Homework for tonight! As planned, I sewed as Clark drove. I completed my canvas repairs just as we pulled into a gas station near Fort Lauderdale to refuel. One more project completed! 

Shortly thereafter, we arrived at Ward’s Electric at just about one o’clock, bought our new battery, and exchanged it for our old battery at the loading dock. When the sales clerk saw the old battery, he just said, "Wow!" 

Brand new 95-pound battery! My aching back!

Since we seem to keep driving on Florida toll roads that use Sun Pass (not EZ Pass as in NJ), we stopped at a Publix near the marine store to buy a Sun Pass before heading back to the Marathon and the boat. As Clark navigated his way back towards the highway from the store, I talked on the phone with an agent to activate the device. No sooner did I get it activated and stuck to the windshield than we arrived at Florida’s Highway which uses Sun Pass. Talk about timing!

The trip back to Marathon took a little less time than the trip to Fort Lauderdale as an accident on Florida’s Highway on our trip east caused us to have to detour and take a slightly longer route. Clark wanted to stop at a hardware store in Marathon before continuing on to the boat. Unfortunately, we arrived at 5:07 and they closed at 5:00. From there we made one quick stop at the farmer’s market down the road to see what they had in stock. The farmer’s market is under new ownership from last year, and I am still deciding what I think of their quality and variety of produce.

From there we drove directly back to the boat. Clark wanted to stop at Home Depot, but I reminded him we had a Face Time appointment with our son, Chris, scheduled for tonight, so Home Depot would have to wait. When we got back to our marina, I had not received a definite time from Chris, so we decided we had time to carry the new battery over to the boat before our call. The marina staff did not magically appear, so I took one end and Clark took the other. We set it in our cockpit until after our call completed.

While waiting for my Face Time session, I reinstalled the canvas I sewed on the trip to Fort Lauderdale. The Velcro closures to grip around the railings had completely rotted with age. I took out the old Velcro and sewed in new. My poor fingers built up some calluses pushing the needle through the canvas and Velcro combined!

Bright-work cover that needed new Velcro closures.

We had a lovely chat with Chris while watching Lily roam around the house. Surprise! She is now walking on her own, and she was not doing that last week when we did our last Face Time session! With Chris's wife, Heather, out of town, Chris had his hand's full being a single parent, so we did not keep him from his duties for long as Lily has an early bedtime.

After our call, we moved our battery the rest of the way through the boat and into the engine room. Once in place, Clark immediately jumped on getting wires connected and the battery on its way to being fully charged. I left him to it to go make dinner! As a result of today's activities, I now have a few tight muscles, but the battery is installed, and Clark is happy! 

  

Boat Projects Galore

2/4/2014

This morning, we searched a number of stores for ISO 46 hydraulic fluid to top up the level for the stabilizers. We finally found it at the NAPA Auto Parts store. The only problem ... the only size they sell is 5 gallons for $80. We need something more like a quart!  After all our searching,  we came back empty-handed and ordered a bottle online for $15.

Since we hit a number of stores on our hunt, that took a big chunk of the day. Shortly after we returned to the boat, Jim from Third Degree came to visit, and Clark gave him the full boat tour including details of all our repairs that are needed. I ate my lunch in the salon while listening to them talk in the pilot house. After a while I began to wonder if Jim was enjoying the conversation, or if he was being held against his will.

After Jim left and Clark had eaten his late lunch, we started on our second big project of the day ... measuring the distance from the top of the mast to the guest state room,  which also serves as our den, via the path we would need to follow to run wires for a WiFi booster.

To do this Clark had to remove a number of access panels in several places, and I assisted by being the "go for" and by emptying a very full closet,  so Clark could remove sections of the walls inside to see where the wire would run. Along the route, Clark discovered a few more projects to add to his work list.

Since he had to climb up on the very top of the boat to reach the very highest point on the boat (the existing WiFi antenna), he decided to take a look at the weather vane up there to see why it stopped displaying wind direction and speed. When he took it down to look, he found the plastic cover broken and the connections inside corroded. Contact cleaner to the rescue!

He cleaned the contacts, and since it was difficult for him to climb down, he gave me the directions to perform the system test. The test passed successfully as I could see the displays on both the lower and upper helms.  After the test he disassembled it again so he can glue the broken pieces together that are allowing moisture to get to the contacts.

Then, to begin our original measurement project, he took down the existing WiFi antenna to have a look. Inside he found a connector, but when he pulled it out to examine the wires attached, no wires appeared! He doubts the existing WiFi antenna ever worked! How could it with the wires detached!?

Leaning over the radar dome, Clark  blindly groped around inside the antenna mount with needle-nosed pliers. He could feel the wire and latch on, but he could not pull any length out to examine it. He decided to leave the antenna off and put electrical tape over the resultant opening in the antenna mount for now.

That exercise took a chunk of time with little-to-no rewards except an answer to the WiFi mystery. Numerous tools had been fetched by me and had to be handed back down. By the time we were done, I wondered if Clark would remember to take his measurements before climbing down. Sure enough, he almost forgot but remembered just before he started to climb down!

After measuring the mast, we made our way through the upper helm, down to and then across the ceiling of the pilot house, through the lower helm into the guest stateroom closet, around the walls of the stateroom into the bilge access, and up to the desk. Phew! When we finally had all our measurements from around the boat, I had 19 numbers to add up to get the total length of wire needed. 76 feet.

During this exercise , when Clark climbed down into the bilge access area in the second stateroom, he found another issue to look into. He found water had sprayed up to the underside of the stateroom floor as everything was wet up there. The question then became ... do we have a leaky hot water heater like we thought or do we just have a rust stain from the hot water heater sitting in water from a leaky hose?

While I was writing my blog update, Clark diagnosed the root cause of the water in the bilge. The answer is in. The hot water heater is still an issue plus we found a new problem.

The clamp on a hose connected to the air conditioning unit was loose allowing the salt water flowing through a hose to spray out into the compartment. Clark suspects that the salt water from the hose rusted out the bottom of the hot water heater causing it to fail prematurely. Bottom line, we still need a new hot water heater.

After Clark tightened the clamp, we did a leak test on the hose repair. He left me watching  to see if water sprayed out when he turned on the air conditioner. I told him I'd start screaming if I saw water coming in. No spray! Another successful test!

Because salt water had obviously sprayed on everything in that hold, Clark took a hose and washed it all down with fresh water and then wiped out with a sponge what the bilge pump left behind. Temporarily, it looks good, but since the hot water heater still needs to be replaced, Clark says that the improvement in looks won't last.

As I conclude my blog entry for the day, Clark is gluing the broken cover on the weather vane. By the time he's done with it, I'm sure it won't break again! Now I am for bed. It's been a hard day's work for both of us!

At Faro Blanco Marina in Marathon, FL

2/2/2017

Hearing that the groundhog predicted 6 more weeks of winter made me even happier to be in Florida again this year.

Today was a day of chores - laundry, food shopping, and a raid on K-mart and Home Depot for storage containers to help get organized.

We returned back to the boat almost too late for docktails. Clark left the boat to head over to see who was about but got waylaid just beyond our boat and ended up talking to a fellow boater who had gone by either sailboat or trawler to all sorts of places including a lot of Caribbean Islands. He single-handed his boat when visiting all these places which is truly impressive.

Chores continued after dinner, so all-in-all, it was a non-blogworthy day.

2/3/2017

More chores as I put those containers to use that I bought yesterday to get more organized. Clark had several documents that he needed to have printed. Before I could do that I had to rearrange the position of the printer to allow access to the paper, etc. That by itself turned into a full-fledged project of rearranging the second state room where the printer resides.

Clark installed a router in the boat that just allows an internal network, i.e. my laptop can now talk to the printer. This came in very handy today as Clark had numerous documents he needed to have printed. Unfortunately, when I finally sat down to start printing, I discovered the black ink showed empty, so I had to make a run to the Office Depot for a cartridge. Between organizing and printing, the afternoon flew by.

At 5:40, we walked over to docktails late and found the area by the lighthouse deserted, i.e. no docktails tonight or else we were too late to the party. We decided to stroll out on the west side (Sunset Delight is docked on the east side of the marina) to gawk at the boats over there. The width / overall size of the catamarans out there make even our new boat look small. One of the sailboats we saw had an installer on board installing 3 solar panels totaling 850 watts. The owner said he also had a water maker on board (to turn sea water into potable water). Basically, he will be able to be fully independent of outside sources for water and electric. He and his wife must be headed for remote islands!

On our way back to our boat, we came upon A.C. and her husband, Jim, from Sweet T docked next to us. They too had come out to gawk, so we walked the docks some more, this time with them, and chatted as we strolled along. As the sun set, we arrived back at our boats. We noticed that all of the clouds had either light pink or bright pink underbellies. A.C. said that if we saw that in a painting, we would not believe it to be real. Unfortunately, the camera did not do the scene justice.

Before dinner Clark and I made a quick trip to Office Depot and then Publix food store - something we definitely could / would not do if we did not have a car here. I am still weighing the pros and cons of having a car. It is a luxurious convenience with a high price specifically the time required to move it to the next spot we plan to visit. I will say it has been very helpful to have a car handy.

Somehow today has passed in a blur and already it is after 10:00 p.m. and time to call it a night!

Little Shark River Anchorage to Marathon, FL

2/1/2017

Once again I woke to the sound of water running under the hull (I recognized the sound this time) and the AGLCA burgee madly flapping in the wind. I realized as I came awake that I had built the sound of the burgee into my dreams envisioned as a man riding a rocking horse as fast as he could make it go. I have to laugh at my dreams sometimes as they can be quite outrageous.

At 0930 hours we started to pull up anchor only to be stymied by the winch and anchor rode yet again. Clark had to use tools to open up the feed mechanism to untangle the mess twice. Grrr! We lost thirty minutes fighting with it. Here are some views, taken yesterday evening, of our anchorage at Little Shark River in the Everglades. Note it is much more popular than Russell Pass (also in the Everglades) where we anchored alone the night before. By the time we were ready to depart only one sailboat remained in the anchorage area.

Neighbors upstream from us

Couple out sightseeing from their sailboat

Neighbors across the water from us

View from our stern

As we headed out into the Gulf, we dealt with shallow water depths and unexpected crab traps. We thought the traps could not be set up within Everglades Park boundaries, so they took us by surprise. While Clark dealt with depths and traps, I had fun watching three dolphins that decided to follow our boat for some distance.  Since they visited us for a decent amount of time, I got a few good pictures.

Dolphins playing by our boat

As we followed the course out into the Gulf, we had the wind with us. That being the case, we had some gnats that tagged along for the ride. If we had had wind, it would have blown them away. I could not wait until we changed direction to get some relief.

The view today was much the same as the two previous days; however, the crab traps seemed to have multiplied ten-fold. I tried to escape and let Clark do the bulk of the steering / navigating today, but he had other ideas on that. First he wanted to check an issue in the engine room, so he left me at the helm. Then, later, he wanted to configure the chart plotter to show screen data that we find useful, so I had to take the helm again.

While Clark read the manual and set up the chart plotter, I steered through crab trap hell. Using AutoPilot was just about a lost cause. As soon as I turned on the AutoPilot, I would come upon another mine field that had to be steered through manually. With Clark manipulating the chart plotter directly in front of me, I had to reach over him to turn on/off the AutoPilot, look over and around him to maneuver through my mine fields, and maintain a close approximation of our course heading. With nothing better to aim for, I selected various cloud formations as my targets for my course. The clouds were nice and fluffy, so I found a pair of lips, a hairy eyebrow, a set of boobs, an open end wrench, and a pair of lobster claws to act as my targets.

By 1330 hours Clark had the display set up the way we find useful, so I handed over controls to him and went down below to make lunch. I gladly escaped the helm in exchange for galley duty. The crab traps just kept coming one after another the entire trip, but at least I got a reprieve from crab pot duty, and now it was Clark's headache to deal with.

We arrived at Faro Blanco marina in Marathon, Florida about 1445 hours, so almost a five-hour voyage. I was anxious to get docked and relax. Three members of the marina staff came out to help us dock. They are very efficient and had us secure in no time.

Faro Blanco Marina Lighthouse

I stayed onboard while Clark took care of checking in at the main office. I was glad I had, when Faith from Third Degree stopped by to welcome me to the marina and tell me about the free beer, food and games setup by the pool area. I quickly locked the boat and followed Faith to the free beer!

I thought I would see Clark on the way there, but he must have still been in the office. As I sat talking to Faith by the pool, I wondered where Clark was. I texted him that I was sitting by the pool with Faith. He texted back that he was "at boat slaving in the heat". When I looked over that way, I could see him on the boat washing off the three-days of salt we had accumulated. I decided he did not need my help.

As 5:00 rolled around, Faith told me that docktails are held out at the lighthouse every night about this time. It felt like old times as we did the same thing last year when here. I met several AGLCA loopers there and heard that more are expected to arrive in the next few days. From the animated conversation we had this evening, I can tell that we will be in good company for the month of February. We collected several new boat cards!

When sunset rolled around, the cannon fired "kaboom" just like last year, and just like last year, I jumped out of my skin not expecting the sudden bang.

Sunset at Faro Blanco Marina in Marathon, FL

The setting sun indicated that we needed to go our separate ways to find our dinners. Back onboard, I scraped together some leftovers to have a quick meal. After dinner Clark went off to work on boat projects, and I dove into blog writing. Since we do have a car here, he suggested a trip to the food store, but I could not get motivated to deal with that tonight. Tomorrow will be soon enough to restock.

Everglades to Little Shark River Anchorage

1/31/2017

We had a great sunset last night. It progressed through several degrees of awesome as the sun faded behind the horizon.

Start of Sunset at the Everglades Anchorage

Sun going down at the Everglades Anchorage

One final view of the Everglades sunset

Just before I got ready for bed last night, Clark came and said, "You need to come look at the stars!" Wow! As soon as I stepped into the cockpit, the big dipper jumped out at me on the starboard side. Then, on the port side, I found Orion's Belt. It seems that no matter where or when I check out the stars, I find Orion's belt.

As we studied the night sky together in awe, Clark said, "There's the Milky Way!" Sure enough, we could see it clearly. I don't know when I last saw the Milky Way that well - perhaps not since my childhood growing up in rural Pennsylvania. Magnificent!

Looking around our anchorage and seeing nothing but nature made me feel like we were the only two people in the world. I found that to be both awe inspiring and scary - no one to disturb our peace and no one to come to our aid should we need it.

Temperatures in the 40s eventually motivated us to call it a night.  After climbing into bed I could hear what sounded like the pitter patter of rain. I concluded, and Clark concurred, that the sound was originating from a species of shrimp known to generate a clicking sound. It annoyed  me for a short while, but then I feel asleep.

I awoke when it was still dark outside, probably around 5:00 or so, to noise of the AGLCA burgee flapping madly and the sound of running water. The flag I am used to but not the sound of running water. Poor Clark! I didn't hesitate to wake him and ask, "What's that noise?"

Right away he said, "The water flowing under the boat due to the fast current." I knew he was right, but my head would not let go of the idea that the boat was filling up with water and we were sinking! Finally, since I needed to use the head anyway, I got up and put my feet on the floor. The fact that they remained dry reassured me and allowed me to go back to sleep until morning.

At 8:00, it was definitely time to get ready for the day, but neither of us wanted to come out from under the covers! It was quite cold as we did not open the engine room door last night as it emits an engine room smell that gives me a headache. As I finally ventured out into the cold room, I thought, "at least it's too cold for bugs"!

After breakfast, we got the nautical weather report... winds NE @ 10-15 knots, Seas 2 to 4 feet with occasional 5 feet, and a 7 second period. It sounded like a repeat of the day before. I decided I better make sandwiches for lunch while the waters were calm enough to do so.

Because the anchor line tends to snag in the winch, I work the helm controls while Clark brings in the anchor. We took our positions just before 1030. Not 5 minutes into the exercise, the anchor line jammed. In fact Clark had to disassemble part of the winch to release the line! Twenty minutes later, we finally had the anchor in and were underway. What a pain!

Chart Plotter View of our boat in the anchorage

Russell Pass Anchorage in the Everglades

As we left the protected waters of our anchorage, I saw the same tourist boat I saw yesterday at the same time I saw three dolphins. I grabbed my camera to catch them in action, but they never reappeared.

Tour boat searching for dolphins

Since the wind came from the northeast, we did not have the wave heights we had yesterday. In fact, we had pretty smooth sailing. Like yesterday, however, the scenery became pretty boring really quickly.

My typical view - water, sky, and some clouds

When outside the Everglades boundary, we once again had to be diligent in our crab trap duty. We found oodles of them!

My other view -  crab trap markers - usually a dozen at a time!

No coconuts floated by like yesterday, but unlike yesterday, we got to see a large sea turtle! He, like the dolphins, turned out to be camera shy, so I got no picture.

We finally arrived at our Little Shark River anchorage at 1530 hours. After searching the boat for things we could not find, Clark went and found more manuals to read, and I did some cleaning and reading. With no WiFi, no TV, no Radio, and no Cell service, it was early to bed for us.