We fixed the autopilot, and look what we found along the way!

A couple of dolphins seemed to really enjoy the auto-calibrate function of the Raymarine tiller pilot.   They were playfully keeping up with all the zigzags and turns for about 45 minutes, and seemed like they were close enough to touch.  Luckily I had my camera, here are a few shots of more than just their fins.  Can't wait to see them in the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean.  Oh, and we installed the tack tick wind indicator and got the autopilot working properly.  Good day all round!

  

Demanding readers!

Hello friends and family again!  I know that it's been a long time, too long, as several people have inquired what's going on over here?!  Did we leave already? Did we give up?  Break up?  Did the boat sink?

Check out our new boat lettering and canvas!

None of the above, thankfully, we've just been working that hard.  Really.  It seems like we each have our hands full all the time.  We use the daylight to our advantage for installing/ troubleshooting equipment, and the evenings for shopping, gathering, organizing, and setting up the next day's events.  But there is a bit of bad news- we are behind schedule.  And while it's a major bummer, but the good part of that is that it isn't by much, and at least we'll be around for the Holidays.  Fingers crossed, we can be out of Cape Coral/ Key West before New Year's Eve.

The boat has really been making a cosmetic turnaround, which is super gratifying.  It seemed like all this time most of the work we've been doing wasn't very noticeable.  Fixing leaks and alarms is all required, but when you step back and look at it, it doesn't look much different.  However, finally, everything is clean, and nothing smells (not even our holding tank!).  Most of our equipment is UP and RUNNING.  The few snags we came across are that the diesel generator is only putting out about 30-40 amps per hour, and we use more than that with our chart software and refrigerator.  We're waiting for our roll up solar panel to get delivered and see if it helps.  Another is that both tiller pilots we have rigged up to the Aries windvane aren't working well enough, course keeping or changing.  The brand new Raymarine is really disappointing, we've tried auto and manual calibrations, but it just doesn't seem to hone in very well on a course, or if it does, it's about 10-15 degrees off (unacceptable!).  And if that wasn't frustrating enough, try doing in the Caloosahatchee River on a Sunday afternoon of the annual Christmas lights boat parade.  We're going to try calibrating it again tomorrow.

I can't truthfully say we've been living on the boat, because we still use the house for showers, meals, and internet, but we have been sleeping on the boat for almost a week now, which takes some getting used to.  We even took the boat to anchor for a night around the corner at Glover's Bight, just to get familiar.  We made up and practiced hand signals for anchoring while Matt is on the bow and I'm at the throttle.  I cooked for the first time on the boat.  We had a glass of wine and read our cruising guides.  It was great.

Matt is still putting the last bits of equipment together, and I've got some of our stuff packed.  I have to admit, I never thought half of what we have would fit, but, if you can get crafty, you can find a spot for almost anything.  You have to seriously consider what you are packing:  How big is it?  Is it necessary on a daily basis?  If it's not necessary on a daily basis, is it really that critical when it is necessary?  For tools the answer is usually yes.  There is no substitute for having the right tool when you really need it.  So, we've packed a lot of tools.  In fact, they were the first thing packed, and after that all the galley dishes/cookware/utensils.  I'm still working on compiling a complete provision of food, toiletries, cleaning and paper supplies, and a medical kit.  When all that it ready, it too will be loaded aboard.

Goodnight folks!

Thanksgiving Fun

The past week has not felt very productive as it involved lots of eating, some drinking, with a lot of part ordering and manual labor in between. Laura has been slaving away repainting the headliners which previously looked awful full of mold and stains. Matt has been doing lots of small odds and ends as well as slowly piecing the interior back together.

                                         
                                          The dinner spread

                                          The forward cabin

                                       

                                           The nearly complete aft cabin...just turn your head a little

It feels like the work list has not gotten any shorter. Each time I cross ten things off I add eleven other things. The big stuff we have left is as follows:

- Rebuild the Aries wind vane

- Get propane tanks test the stove/ oven and get a grill

- Install all the main salon head liners and put the rest of the interior back together

- Install new stainless deck hand rails

- Put on new exhaust hose for engine

- Install new alternator for generator and test operate

- Install new electronics (gps, vhf, ssb receiver, some sort of system to send and receive email at sea, a kicking stereo system so we can rock out

Hopefully many of the parts and pieces we ordered in the past 2 weeks will arrive this week which will keep Matt busy installing it all. We are itching to get off the dock and go somewhere soon!                                          

The Can-Can Challenge: Take 2

For our second can-can challenge, I picked something I had high hopes for, something I remember as a kid and I'm pretty sure my Dad still eats on a semi-regular basis.  Corned Beef Hash.

Another one of Hormel's products, the corned beef hash on label doesn't look very appetizing, but I've had it before, and as far as I can remember it wasn't too bad (loaded with hot sauce).  So this taste test was really for Matt.  It was a good thing he didn't do the cooking though, because I'm sure it would have never made it to the plate.  Open the can and you will find, wait, what, is that dog food?!  I guess you could feed it to your dog, but it isn't dog food persay, although it looks and smells like it.  Just hurry up and get it in the fry pan, when it starts crackling away and turning from pink to red, it actually starts smelling good.  You have to keep pushing the hash around so it cooks evenly, scoop it up and flip it, and start the process over again.  I liked to have it pretty crispy.  Served with eggs over easy, toast, fresh squeezed oj and english tea, corned beef hash is a WIN!

Which brings us to the next part of the challenge, now how much should we bring?  Well, even with tabasco, we didn't like it that much, so we'll have to see what kind of units we can buy it in at BJs.  If we had it once every two weeks, figure 4-6 month supply,  I guess maybe we'll be packing up a dozen cans of it?  At least we know there's some hope for the canned foods out there.

Back at the Home Dock!

YAYY!!!!  We are finally done waking up at 0530 every day to get every ounce of daylight out of our yard period.  It worked out well, we did what we needed to do and even a little extra - the last two days were spent cleaning the interior and buffing the hull.  Here's a few 'before and after':

                                These ones are just - wow!

Here's one of the prop and completely rotted off zinc anode.  That's really important, because the zinc anode corrodes before the bronze prop, we put a brand new one on there on purpose, which is why they are known as sacraficial zinc anodes.  And we buffed our prop blades and shaft - no more drag on this baby, going to be SUPER fast!

Ever wonder why people with huge muscles are 'buff'?  That's because they do a lot of this:

called buffing!  That buffer is sooo heavy and hard to control!  I only lasted about 3 hours, Matt did all the rest himself.  No bluff!

Here's another set.  If you look closely, you may be able to tell that there is a slight difference in the red paint about a foot below the waterline- that's because on top of the two coats of Trinidad SP anti-fouling paint we put on, we added a generic coat of ablative paint.  Ablative paint flakes off when we wash barnacles and scum that have grown on it off.  Since the waterline is a real problem area, there was no need to go any further, it will just make sure our anti-fouling paint lasts longer.   

An item of concern came up when we got splashed at low tide, the brand new very expensive all-in-one tacktic wireless depth sounder/speed log/wind indicator didn't seem to be working.  It was reading a lot of mud, and there is no way to adjust the gain :-(  It seemed to be working a lot better after we got underway back toward the house, but we're not too pleased.  It doesn't seem to be as sensitive to depth changes or display speed at very slow speeds.  Is it possible the slings from the travelift messed it up?  I hope not, but the manual isn't very helpful, so we'll try a few phone calls tomorrow.  

Speaking of phone calls, the teak cockpit grating we dropped off to have repaired should be done this week.  We also got an update from Cape Canvas, who finished our spray dodger and a few cushions, which they'll bring back later this week.  Very exciting!  

That's all for right now, time to regroup, get back to organizing our 'punchlist,' and have a celebratory cocktail.

Yard Week Day 2

Hello again.  It's that time of the day, the sun has gone down, we've packed up all our tools, and have finished working for the day.  It was pretty productive:  finished sanding the bottom and self-steering rudder, put in new through hull for depth sounder/speed log, replaced seacock for head discharge (very important!), fiberglassed blisters on rudder, barrier coated area on the hull around the shaft that we had to fill with west system, and rinsed all the dust away.

I'm pretty happy that the sanding is over with, and I really am starting to believe this boat will be looking good soon.  Tomorrow we have to pick up some specially ordered stainless steel bolts for the zinc anode mounted to the hull near the shaft and prop, and start painting (the easy part)!  With any luck we just might be able to get splashed back in the water on Monday, so fingers crossed for that.

Matt's Mom stopped by earlier and snapped a few photos of us in the middle of it, as you can see, we pretty much have our hands full:

Hell week day 1

So its 7pm, the end of day one at the yard. Today went pretty well, knock on wood. We got the boat hauled, pressure washed, bottom surveyed, and Laura sanded 40% of the hull. How she is still moving around I don't know, because it was an exhausting day.

We are fortunate to be surrounded by friendly people so far. Marty Maier came by and offered some good advice, and this Asian looking dude, Joe, working next to us offered lots of advise and some help. I sure hope this good Karma or whatever, and the good weather stick around for us.

Cleaning Roach Poop

Laura has decided her next career will be in roach poop cleaning. Our friend Bevis, AKA Sean snapped this great picture. Laura, where is your respirator, you may inhale roach particles....fear not internet friends, its not really that bad

Boat work

So in the past week we have not just been sitting around eating spam, that was just one awful meal to fill our bellies between all the hard work. Tasks accomplished since last Tuesday, Nov 1:

-Installed new bearings in Turbocharger and re-installed on engine. This was no fun, the parts are tiny and delicate. After this somewhat torturous test of patience the damn thing doesn't work any better and still squeels like a pig. This is probably caused by unfortunate things like that the engine has either excessive blow by, leaking injectors, or a combination of things going wrong in the combustion chamber all of which cost way too much time and money to fix. So for the time being the engine runs on too much fuel, oil, and a lot of hope (it worked for our country, so why not my engine).

-Re-installed heat exchanger on the engine

-Ordered new fridge (concluded the old one was toast)

-Got canvas guys started on new dodger and cushions

-Re-bedded most of the main deck fittings (over 100 holes)
-Began deep cleansing the interior (lots of dead roaches and roach poop)

Tomorrow we begin what I have nicknamed Hell week (something that happens when wannabe frat boys get tortured). We will hopefully get hauled out and begin the underwater work. With some luck this wont take longer than 5 days. The yard charges us $60 per day to be there, so we will be working full blast to get out of there ASAP or our wallets will be empty and the CapitalOne collectors will come knocking. 

Some pictures of our fun:

Turbo in pieces

The bearings I hoped were responsible for the excess turbo noise

Ladders loaded for boat yard fun:

 Capt. Laura taking us to the yard.

The Can-Can Challenge!

I'll admit it, when we first started talking about this trip, we talked about how awesome it would be, and so great, and so wonderful, but deep inside the mind of my belly I had a serious concern - what in the world are we going to eat?

Food, obviously, but how?  We won't always be at marinas or in places that will have restaurants or a good selection of groceries.  What are we going to eat?!?!?  

I'm a big fan of the Tosca Reno "Eat Clean" cookbooks and diet guides, which basically state that you should only shop on the outside perimeter of the supermarket: meat, fish, dairy, vegetables, and avoid any of middle isles which contain food that is packed with preservatives.  Unfortunately, our refrigerator is about the size of the top shelf of my refrigerator at home.  In fact, we are living large considering the refeer compressor we just had delivered came with a tiny little metal box, for FREEZING.  We'll have to see how well it works, but it will be just big enough to have a couple ice cubes trays inside it.  That's kind of a big deal on boats our size.

Which brings us to the Can-Can Challenge.  It's a little tip of the hat to my old neighborhood ShopRite on Knorr Street, which has a big canned food sale a couple of times a year.  I've never really eaten that much canned food, since there is always enough room at home for fresh fruits, veggies, and of course, cheese, or whatever else frozen you want.  Heck, how many people even have an entire extra refrigerator? I know a lot of families do.

So have you recently felt the need to explore the inner isles of the supermarket?  And I don't just mean the chip isle.  There is quite a bit of canned food out there.  Things you may have never even tried.  Why not give them a shot?  Before stocking the boat up with a bunch of canned foods we don't like, I'm giving them a taste test.  

First up, SPAM.  SPAM Lite, actually, but don't worry, they don't even try claiming any extra nutritional value, just less fat and salt.  You can even visit their website for recipes like casseroles and pizzas, which might sound okay, but not even the pictures look appetizing, or when you open the can and it wiggles out like jello gone bad.  My Grandmother recommended I slice it very thin, and pan fry.  I even tried it diced up really small in some scrambled eggs.  There's no getting around it: any way you slice it, SPAM is AWFUL.  It's no wonder someone named all that crap that comes to your inbox, SPAM - it really should just be thrown away!

The Can-Can Challenge SPAM: FAIL

  

Where Have We Been?

Hello friends and family!

Its seems like time just flies anymore!  I recently got off the M/v Delaware Trader on the evening of Oct 20, Matt picked me up in Tampa and we drove straight to Philadelphia to make it to my cousin's wedding.  Glad we made it because the wedding was beautiful, the party was awesome, and we're so so so happy for Patrick and Christina.

The Bridal Party!

The beautiful Kimmy!

Check out the dance floor, Timmy and Tommy were tearing it up- even Matt is busting a move, and Aunt Marguerite came to the hotel after party in her PJs and slippers!  So much fun!

After the wedding we hopped back in the car and headed to Toronto, Canada to visit Matt's family.  Here are some highlights...

Matt and I with the Toronto City Landscape, note the CN Tower where we had a great lunch!

Matt and I with the owner of Dangerous Dan's Diner, James McKinnon, who serves up a menu of pea-meal (Canadian's don't exactly call it 'Canadaian Bacon') burgers, peanut butter and banana burgers, poutine (a Canadian drunk dish, french fries with gravy and cheese curds), and DEEP FRIED MARS BARS, like I said, Dangerous.

Matt's Cousin Taylor showing us some skills at his indoor soccer match.

From Toronto we went on to London, Ontario, which is a college town where is father grew up and his grandparents still live.  Can you BELIEVE Matt's grandfather lived in London for almost 60 years and had never been to the Labatt's Brewery 10 minutes downtown?!  Neither could we, so we took him!

I hope I can still drink beer when I'm 96 (seriously 96)...

Here's a shot of Matt and his grandparents, Harold and Madeline, who are 96 and 94, respectively, and still live on their own! Oh yeah, and he drives.  Talk about good genes!

After London we went back to Philadelphia to visit with my family, on the way back we stopped at the Niagara Falls

That plume of water vapor is pretty massive!

So massive, in fact, our heads are nearly blocking it!

In Philadelphia we visited at home with my family for my favorite holiday, Halloween.

Here I am dressed up with my best friend Jess.  (I was Chinese and she was hooter's girl).  Missing from this picture is our other best friend, Kate, who very unfortunately came to the bar later, and I was already doneski.  Sorry, Kate!    

And here's a pic of the baby cousins in all their costumes, unfortunately, I drank too much the night before and so this pic is stolen from my cousin Amy.  Special thanks to Jay for trying to take care of my hangover (see above).  On Monday we tried to catch some striped bass with my Dad on his boat out of Little Egg Harbor, NJ, but unfortunately, they just weren't there yet.  Although, there was snow and ice.

   

Well that's it folks, a whirlwind of 2 weeks and 2,500 miles.  We left my car in Philadelphia and flew back to Cape Coral, FL work on the boat, which is a pretty huge project.  Apologies that I've neglected the blog a bit because we're taking advantage of the weather (no rain!) to re-bed (or caulk) every single fitting, stantion, cleat, whatever it might be that puts a hole in the boat.  On our boat there are probably about 120 of these "holes" in the top deck, and tomorrow we are due for a wash down and a leak test.  Update to Follow.  Fingers crossed.

Laura