Keel Work, Waxing, Getting Underway, Valentine's Day and Vero Beach!

Considering our boat project work and connectivity issues updating the blog has been difficult. This post brings us up To date!

Saturday, January 26, 2013 - Keel Report!

The Keel project is coming along nicely. Tom is doing a masterful job. By the time he's finished, the bottom of the keels will have six layers of biaxial glass. The will be much stronger than originally built. He is also doing a great job fairing the keels and the area where his work meets the hulls. We are very pleased with this project to date.

Besides watching Tom, we drove to Cocoa but the hardware store, which was our objective, was closed. We also visited West Marine, in an effort to secure a couple of canisters of butane for the cook stove. We can't find it anywhere!

We had an outstanding lunch at the Catfish Cabin. The blackened cod was outstanding. We like the cabin much better than the more famous Dixie Crossroads!

Sunday, January 27, 2013 - Work on Keels Continues!

Even though it's Sunday, Tom continued his work on SUNSHINE. he faired the keels, applied three coats of Interprotect 2000, and one coat of bottom paint. He should be finished tomorrow. Tomorrow morning, SUNSHINE will be placed back on the jack stands. She has bee hanging in the slings of the travel lift since Friday evening to give Tom access to the bottom of the keels.

We've been camping about 10 miles south of the boat since we arrived on last Thursday. Tomorrow we move aboard, even though SUNSHINE is still on the hard. Over the next few days, we have to clean inside and out, bend on the sails, put up the canvas, inflate the dinghy and attach it to the davits, and attach the bow nets. There is also the little matter of waxing but since my power buffer was destroyed in the hurricane, we may farm out that little job.

Monday, January 28, 2013 Breaking Camp!

Time to break camp and move onto the boat. We enjoyed our stay at Manatee Hammock County Park. It is a decent facility. Certainly not one of our favorites, but adequate for sure. During the day, there was a strong propane odor in the tent area. We didn't notice the odor anywhere else in the park.

It is a very busy campground and popular with the RV crowd. Many stay for the winter. There is a 180 day limit. It looks like a lot of RVers maximize their stay.

The campground also boasts a pool, rec room, canoe/small boat launch ramp and a fishing pier.

Back in the marina, Tom finished up his work on the keels. He still has to finish bottom painting the rear quarter of the port hull. He ran out of paint. We ordered another gallon. It should be here tomorrow so he can finish.

We started to clean SUNSHINE's interior. All the wood surfaces were wiped down and the refrigerator was cleaned and started. It is running fine as it the inverter/charger. The batteries are fully charged, compliments of the solar panels.

Tuesday, January 29, 2013 - Cleaning!

The cleaning of S/V SUNSHINE begins in earnest today! Tom finished his work yesterday so we can have at it without getting in his way.

We worked all day; the boat has never been this dirty. It'll take several days for Anna Marie to clean the inside. It may take me longer to do the outside! We got a good jump on it though.

In the evening, we watched a movie rented from a nearby Red Box.

Wednesday, January 30, 2013 - Cleaning Again!

Yippee, more cleaning today! Anna continued her fun on the inside. I washed and waxed the cockpit. We knocked off early 1600 hours, to get ready for what we expected to be a fun evening. Boating buddies Dee and Lee picked us up at the marina and whisked us off to the Catfish Cabin where we enjoyed dinner and conversation. The evening flew by! In no time, it was time to go home.

We got back to the marina in time to walk to the adjacent park to watch the launch of an Atlas V rocket with a DRTS satellite aboard. It is the next generation data reception/ transfer satellite. The launch was right on time and spectacular as usual.

Thursday, January 31, 2013 - More Cleaning!

Oh boy, more cleaning today! The deck is scrubbed, but still blotchy. I'll have to do it again. I managed to find time to replace the Racor fuel filters too.

Anna Marie continued her inside work. While I was washing the deck she checked for leaks. She reported that there were none. Given the high coefficient of expansion on the plexiglass windows caused by the intense Florida summer sunshine, I always expect that it will be necessary to rebel some of the portlights. It looks like we're good to go this year.

Friday, February 1, 2013 - Build Me Up Buttercup!

Most of the cleaning has been accomplished. What's left can be done while underway. The last major projects will be to clean the deck lockers and inflate the dinghy. We plan to do the lockers on Saturday and the dinghy on Sunday. Then we'll be ready to splash.

We'll also have to find time to provision.

BUILD ME UP BUTTERCUP -THE MUSICAL

We took Friday evening off to attend the world premiere production of the aforementioned show at the Cocoa Village Playhouse. The show was written by Tony Macaully, who has written 20 hits in the 60's and 70's, including four that topped the charts. Those four songs plus 14 other new ones were in the show which chronicled the trials and tribulations of the music industry furring the period.

The music was great and boy oh boy, could the cast sing. They had outstanding voices. Unfortunately, the choreography was lacking, probably because the cast members couldn't dance! During the few dance numbers, the dancers looked like they had two left feet!

There is a lot of buzz about this show being Broadway bound. It certainly has the pedigree. With some tweaking, it just may make it.

Saturday, February 2, 2013 - Wax On! Wax Off!

Compounding and waxing are on the schedule today. Robert and Jerry, two of the yard workers, are doing it on their day off. We completed most of our pre-launch tasks. What's left (metal polishing, top side waxing, bilge pump repair, shower sump repair) can be done whilst underway.

Earlier in the week, we made arrangements to meet Dee and Joe for dinner, so we had to leave the marina by 1600 hours. A couple of hours prior, we decided that we should drive home for a week to attend to some family matters. We met Joe and Dee and, upon hearing our plan to go home for a week, they invited us to stay for the night. They are so gracious and always invite us to stay over. We enjoy their company and are grateful for their hospitality and friendship.

Sunday, February 3, 2013 - A Super Bowl Sunday Drive!

We left the Fritz's home at 0715 without waking our hosts. It was a picture perfect day for a drive. We discussed driving straight through, but at about 1800 hours, we decided to get a room, rest up, watch the SuperBowl, and finish the final six hours tomorrow.

Monday, February 4, 2013 - Home!

Surprise! After an uneventful drive, we arrived home at 1455 hours. Everyone was surprised to see us. We saw all of the grandkids and planned a week of activities. We expect to begin the return trip to Titusville, FL, one week from today.

Sunday, February 10, 2013 - Back on the Road!

After helping Sandi and Matt with a few house projects and bidding another sad good bye to Shelley, Sandi, Matt and the kids, we got underway at about 1630 hours with the goal to get south of Washington D.C. before stopping for the night. The strategy worked well. We didn't encounter any traffic and made it to Fredricksburg, about 50 miles north of Richmond, BT 2030 hours.

Monday, February 11, 2013 - A Long Travel Day!

Today will be a long travel day. The goal is to get to the boat in Titusville, FL. We expect to drive time to be about 12 hours, but we have to stop at an outlet store to replace two pair of sneakers, so I expect the actual travel time to be closer to 15 hours.

Once again, we disn't encounter any "jam-o's," nor did we hit any rush hour traffic. We were approaching Savannah at the afternoon drive time, but stopped for a bit and fuel. We passed through the outskirts of the city at 1845 hours, late enough to miss the drive time traffic.

We made it to SUNSHINE at 2230 hours. Secured a few items and watched part of a DVD before hitting the sack.

Tuesday, February 12, 2013 - It's Hot in FL!

It's hot in FL! The temp went above 80 and it was humid. And no, I'm not complaining! Tomorrow is supposed to be even hotter!

We did a few boat chores to get everything ready for tomorrow morning's splash. The most time consuming task was inflating and setting up the dinghy. When we were here two weeks ago, we discovered a Red Box at the CVS. We rented a movie or two when we made the discovery. We did again tonight. We finally saw the Hunger Games. It was interesting, nicely filmed and very predictable.

Splash is scheduled for 0900. We're ready to hit the water!

Wednesday, February 13, 2013 - Splash!


Splash! That's right! We're floating... And a quick check of the bilges and thru hulls show that we are bone dry... Just the way I like it!

I only had some minor difficulty firing up the engines. The starboard choke Cale was frozen. Some WD 40 and a couple of raps with an appropriate tool loosened things up. The port engine wasn't getting fuel. The simple fix was to disconnect the fuel line and reconnect it again. That did the trick.

The Nissan 2.0 HP dinghy engine wouldn't fire at all. I'm concerned about it because the engine may have been compromised by salt water during Hurricane Sandy. The is debris under the helmet that was obviously brought in by water. I replaced the spark plug. It didn't help. Tomorrow I'll check the carburetor.

As luck would have it, we're supposed to leave tomorrow, but a cold front in moving in and we're having a thunderstorm. The weather may not be good for a departure.

Thursday, February 14, 2013 - Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day!

Our scheduled 0800 departure Didn't happen on time. Several manatees were hanging out around and under the boat. We waited for 15 minutes when the folks on a neighboring vessel suggested that we might be waiting all day. Not wanting to hurt the beasts with our props, I decided to trick them with the hose. I fired up the hose and shot a blast of water about 20 feet on the other side of the dock. Five of the manatees hurried over to the water stream looking for a drink. That left two between the hulls. As we pushed off the dock, the manatees swam away. We put the motors in gear and headed out of the marina. SUNSHINE hadn't cleared the entrance channel when the starboard engine stopped. Of course it wouldn't start up again so we motored under the Titusville Bridge with the poet engine. Once on the other side of the bridge, I put on my mechanic clothes and started to troubleshoot the problem. It only took two minutes to find two potential causes. First I resealed the Racor fuel filter. The gasket wasn't seated properly. A quick check showed that gas wasn't being delivered to the motor. While performing that check, I found an air leak around where the gas line fits onto the priming bulb barb. A few turns of the hose clamp screw and viola, no more air leak. The starboard engine ran without missing a beat for the rest of the day.

At 1415, the anchor was down at Dragon Point. The odometer showed 37.8 miles. Not too bad for the first day back in the saddle! It was surprising to see a boat anchored in the Indian River near the entrance to the anchorage just around Dragon Point in the Banana River. It was even more surprising to see a dozen or so boats anchored in the anchorage. It crossed our minds that we'd be alone for the evening. The southerly migration is just about over and the northerly migration may start in earnest in two to three weeks. By 1700 hours, we were joined by two more boats!

With major assistance from Anna Marie, I whipped a very special Valentine's Eve dinner. Traditionally I make Key Lime Scallops with, that's right, Scallops! Unfortunately the market was fresh out, so we went with Shrimp. The Key Lime Shrimp, with angel hair pasts and Italian bread was scrumptious. Later in the evening, we enjoyed a slice of Key Lime Pie. This Valentine's Day was a very nice time together.

Of course, Valentine's Day wasn't perfect. Besides the problems articulated earlier, there were significant rain showers all day. They seemed to settle into a stray rain in the evening and through the night. This soaking reveled that 5 of SUNSHINE's windows leak. Two of them were resealed last spring before we left the boat. I'm wondering it hanging in the travel lift and perhaps the stress of launch have caused the seals to break. Either way, we have more work to do when we get to Vero Beach.

Friday, February 15, 2013 - To Vero Beach!

Showers greeted us this morning as we awoke from our slumber. They are expected to be with us until about 1300 hours. We'll enjoy a leisurely breakfast before raising the mud hook. Usually we leave an anchorage at first light, but given the showers, we'll leave between 0800 and 0900 in an effort to limit the numbers of hours we'll be traveling in them.

Well the showers were with us pretty much the entire run to Vero Beach. As it happens, the Vero Beach City Marina has a slip available that will accommodate SUNSHINE. That sure is a surprise. The dockhand thought we had won the lottery. We decided to stay for a month. Looks like we won't be heading to Marathon this year!

After dinner, we took a stroll to the beach to check out some of our usual haunts. We expect to do a lot of walking and biking during our stay. We'll also attend some shows at the Riverside Theater. We picked up tickets for Les Mis, and we plan to get tickets for Woody Sez, a show about Woody Gutherie.