Monday, July 20, 2015
Gone the way of the DoDo Blog
Tuesday, June 2, 2015
Accepting the Costs
Having made the big move to Florida means that we have now entered the next stage of getting ready for cruising. With the house rented out for the next few years we can now really focus on finishing the last of the big projects on the boat. As any boat owner well knows, especially one preparing for cruising, the costs can be quite great. We love our boat, but when we bought it, it needed a lot of help. I have made it a point to only buy the best I can for the boat which means I am quickly parted with my money (Does that make me a fool??). With the unexpected, but necessary purchase of the new air conditioner for the boat, the expenses are adding up. I jokingly told Ashley that after adding up how much I thought we had left to spend on the boat that I was having a mild panic attack. It may not have been an all out attack, but it was sure eye opening! Goodness..... The last of the big expenses is a new dinghy with outboard and an all new electronics package.
The Dinghy. Any man that has ever owned a dinghy and any woman that has a man who has a dinghy (did you follow that?) knows just how freakin fun dinghies are! Maybe its the speed, maybe its the closeness to the water, maybe its the ability to explore small, tucked away areas or maybe all three, but there is just something about going out for a dinghy ride. I have spent many days with just our dog and a cooler out exploring away in our dinghy. Not only are they fun, but absolutely essential to a cruiser. We currently have an old (But stout) Seaworthy 8 foot dinghy with slat floors and a 3.5 outboard. For the past few years, this set up has served us well. Now that we are on the coast, with real weather, real seas and where reliability is essential, it just won't cut it. Having looked at the cost of new Dinghies, I have greatly considered buying used. After much thought and reading many blogs, I feel used is too risky given the importance of reliability. I knew we wanted Hypalon, RIB hull, big enough for Ash, Me and the dog with groceries but small enough to be stored on deck, Light weight, stable in rough seas, dry and a big enough engine to get around quickly and against current. (I know, it's a lot) After much research, I have settled on a Highfield CL290. It's Aluminum hull, light weight, 9.5 feet long with large tubes and it only weighs 100 pounds. For an engine, a 9.8 Tohatsu or 9.9 Nissan (Same engine). From what I have read and been told, these dinghies blow AB and Caribe out of the water and they are cheaper. They come out of Australia and are somewhat new to the US market. Now knowing this is what we need..... Accepting the 6K dollar price tag....Gulp....... I have discovered a distributor in Cape Canaveral and I plan to pay them a visit in a week when I return home. Anyone need a Used Dingy??
Electronics..... A topic debated by all sailors. The hardcore say they are not needed, the nerdy like to have it all and somewhere there is a middle ground. I feel that as a Professional Mariner I "Know too much". For instance, I know how dangerous ships can be, that Asian Container ships will not alter course for any reason, that sailboats don't show up on ship's radars, Mates on ships are overwhelmed with paperwork and look at a computer more than out a window and that ships are fast and quiet and you won't see them or hear them until its too late. I've also picked the brains of very experienced cruisers, learned the absolute importance of a high quality auto pilot and the dangers of losing it. I've seen the outcome of buying cheap or outdated chart plotters as well as the dangers of relying solely on one. Given all of this, I know we must have a Powerful and reliable autopilot, a modern and update-able chartplotter that can use multiple chart platforms, Radar as well as Radar reflectors, depth sounder and at minimum a Class B AIS receiver but preferably transponder. Now that I have accepted this, I somehow need to find a way to afford it! I hear kidneys sell quite well these days.... At this moment, our boat has a mid '90s chartplotter, early 80's (and non functioning) autopilot and a broken depth sounder. .....I have a long ways to go...... I have done a great amount of research and all systems seem to have the good and the Bad. There is always those few that have had nothing but trouble as well as those that swear by the same system. There is always the Factor of human error in either operation or installation and there are just some stupid people.... Ok, maybe lots of stupid people but I give anyone on a sailboat the benefit of a doubt. Because Sailors are the best there are right?? At this moment I am looking at the Raymarine system with the Type 2 ram and their midline chart plotter. It's an expensive system, but overall gets good marks. I guess there is only one way to really find out.
The good news is that these "Should" be the last of the major purchases. Down the road there will be a water maker, maybe a wind generator or more solar panels and the typical repairs that pop up. We have to upgrade our battery bank but all of these are minimal when compared to the last two. I still have to remove our teak decks, but this is really more labor than costs and we plan to do it ourselves. We plan to Haul out in October to do a lot of bottom work. We are planning our wedding in the Bahamas for July of 2016 so our goal is to have all of these projects (YES ALL) done by around January of 2016. It's a daunting task, but our boat will be ready for cruising at last and we will be able to cast our lines anywhere we please. In the meantime, I plan to take a lot of dinghy rides with the dog....
-Adam
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
If It's Not One Thing, It's Another...
Monday, May 18, 2015
The smell of salt in in the air
As Ashley has mentioned, we did it, we finally freakin' did it!! The ol' girl is back in the Salt Water and life is good. It seemed not all that long ago when we said to ourselves, in two-three years, maybe, just maybe we will be able to move the boat to the coast, and now here it is. I just hope the next few years go by just as fast to when we can finally cast off the lines and head South for good. Go explore all the islands, anchorages and sights that we read about so often in other blogs. I suppose, that this is all just part of the Journey and as any sailor knows, it isn't about the destination, but the adventure getting to the destination. The next few years will be exciting and we will be able to explore the coast of Florida and eventually the Bahamas. I have slowly grown to really appreciate the fact that we have been able to do this so far at such a relatively young age. At our new home, we are by far the youngest of the 120 some liveaboards and not just by a few years, but at least 20. Most all are retired and finally living out their dreams so for us to do so in our early thirties is truly a gift I appreciate. It hasn't been easy, but we set our minds to it and never looked back
Getting prepared for our move took vast amounts of planning and the help of a lot of good friends. I traded a car hauler trailer I had for an enclosed trailer. The plan was to use the trailer to haul all of our goodies we stripped off the boat for shipping and then it could be used as a portable storage unit in Florida. It is packed full of tools and boat parts as well as our bicycles. So far it was worked out great and when needed, we will just sell it.
On Lake Murray, our sail club is the only place that has a Gin pole for raising / lowering masts. This Gin pole consists of a telephone pole approximately 50 feet high with blocks on top to winch up or down a mast. This works great as long as you have an army of very willing people to help lower the mast then carry it to a good resting spot. It's a very precarious operation and usually several cold beverages are needed to calm the boat owner's nerves and to bribe the people helping. As many like to brag, hundreds of masts have been raised and lowered (Typically while drinking) and no limbs or boats have been lost yet. The great People of Windward Point Yacht Club were very helpful in lowering our huge mast and I cannot thank them enough. The kindness of fellow sailors never ceases to amaze me.
I took the time while the mast was down to do some work to it. I ran new wires for the lights, installed new spreader lights. Replaced the blocks and ran new halyards and did a few other small projects. Our cockpit enclosure was finally finished the day before we left and we packed up the whole show into the trailer. We spent the last week in town saying goodbye to many dear friends many of whom I've known for most of my life. All were glad to see us off on this adventure, but they will certainly be missed.
On Monday morning, Ashley and I cast off the lines for the last time at WPYC. It was a beautiful crisp morning as we motored our way an hour up the lake to the marina where the truck was meeting us. A few of our friends and my father drove up to see the operation. It took about 3 hours to finally load the boat onto the trailer, but it went smooth and Paul from Tritan Yachts was fantastic as usual. From there we had lunch with my father and we left to head south for 7 hours to our hotel in Cocoa Beach. A flat tire at the very start slowed the show, but we quickly got it changed and got on the road. It was a hurried time and busy, but we were finally off, it was really happening.
Saturday, May 9, 2015
Sailors Exchange- 'cause we all need more stuff
Monday, May 4, 2015
Florida!
The new place is pretty nice, relaxed enough that we can do
work on the boat while we are here. It seems that all of our new neighbors are retired. For the time being I guess I fit into that as
well. I left my job so we could move down here, so until I find a new one I am
off! Adam can still work his current job from here, just a slightly longer
drive to the airport. Thursday, February 5, 2015
Renting out Houses and trying not to Panic
Reading Moitessier's Blog has led to a great amount of panic concerning Chain Plates in our beloved HC. On the HC33 the chain plates are encapsulated so there is no way to actually inspect them without cutting a hole in the boat. A process which makes all boat owners queasy. Lucky for us, there is a sailor at our Marina that owns a portable X-ray business who said he would x-ray our boat for us!! We haven't discussed price, but I think good bottle of scotch will do it for him. I just have to get a hold of him and set up a time which is proving to be more than difficult with the limited amount of time we have left before moving South.
Speaking of moving South, it's quickly approaching! April 27th the truck arrives. Holy Moly. I know that sounds Months away, but a whole month and a half of that I will be at work and two weeks of that is our grand tour of the US visiting Ashley's Family. ( CT, VT, MA, CO and SD) This whole past month at home, We both busted our butts getting our house ready to rent. Why on earth is the nicest your house will ever be is when you are fixing it up for other people?? At the end of four weeks we still weren't done and Ashley has been spending every afternoon after work and her weekends finishing up! We hope to have it ready to go on the Market to rent next week. FINALLY!!! Once that's done, it crazy time stripping the deck and getting ready for the truck. But it's almost here!! We are heading back to the Salt!! I cannot express how happy this makes me!! It's a major step towards being anchored in the Islands!!
As for the boat. Our new Bimini and dodger are almost done!! It's been a long project since we had none to begin with and it's all custom made. The guy doing it is amazing but I keep having to remind him that we are moving 7 hours South soon. When he is done, we will have a fully enclosed cockpit! SWEET!! Also, the boat knowing I was out of town decided to blow an element in the Hot water heater blowing the dock breaker (Reverse Polarity) Not a huge deal since Ash can heat the water with the engine, but still something to work on when I return home.
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| Cool Picture Ash Took with Morgan |
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| Kitty in the Cockpit!! |
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| Morgan Hanging out Outside |
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| Sorry for all the Dog Pictures!! Morgan with her Light on. |
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| Surprised Ashley with A Christmas tree!! I Love Christmas. |
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| Morgan's New Stylish Raincoat. She Actually Likes it!! She hates the rain. |





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