The Auto Pilot is DONE!!!!

Everything has finally come together and Warren is done with the Auto Pilot .  The picture to the right shows the control panel....which almost became another whole story of  its own. 
Now we have just two more things to do ..Wait for Warrens spare glasses to come in and fix the battery problem. We had to break down and buy some new ones. We drove to Miami Friday, it's the only place in Florida to get Rolls batteries. They are the best deep cycle batteries on the market. When we got back to the boat we saw that one appears to have a small leak. So now we need to drive back to Miami and exchange it. 

He also finished the swimming platform!!!  Here a quick picture of Warren attaching the ladder that is used to exit the water. As you can see, it's a beautiful day, 80 degrees and clear skies.  Boy am I glad we are here and not in Fairbanks where it's only 36 degrees.

Other matters

While we where waiting for the AP parts that we didn't need. Warren worked on the batteries, the swim plateform, refrigeration and finished somethings on the mast. I won't go into all the details but needess to say he has been very busy. He even drilled the palm of is hand (ouch),while trying to finish the swim plateform. It still needs the ladder to the water.  I think he is going to get that done tomorrow. Hopefully with no more bleeding. I'm sure glad there are no sharks or alligators here, that hole he made in his hand was dripping so much it reminded me of the movie Romancing the Stone. The bad guy got his hand bit off, thats a big Ouch!
That never happens to the good guys.........which Warren truly is!!!!

The end of March

Well we have been trying to get the auto pilot in for the last three weeks. We thought they ordered the wrong controller for the cockpit but found out today that all we needed to do is just cut the end of a cable off and put a different one on. But Warren is getting frustrated and is taking today off.

We went to a nautical flea market today. We found what we needed a cheek block for only $10 they sell for $53. The flea market was at Echerd College, all the stuff is donated and the proceeds go to help their nautical programs. As you can see lots of people.
We meet Matt and Julies, v/s Coup d'Amout a few months ago. They have been working on their boat in Treasure Island, which is by the beaches. I meant to take their picture today at the flea market but they had a long list of stuff to look for and I forgot. They are heading down to Venice. We wish them all the best! They have a blog also

 http://matthewandjuliesail.blogspot.com/
Here are a few pictures of Venice beaches we took these a couple weeks ago.

We really want to leave here April 4 or 5 but I have stopped making plans. If Warren can get the auto pilot in and a few sea trials, All the rest of the projects we can do anywhere. I am keeping my fingers and toes crossed. If I had anything else to cross I would!

The Auto Pilot

  This is what I like to refer to as the beast, the stainless steel bracket took two weeks to get welded. The arm on the shaft was made by Dad. Everyone thinks its just a little beefy, but if you know Warren bigger is better. Now he needs to finish the other parts and get it wired in. I am really hoping it goes faster, I want to get going!!!!!!

It is a beautiful day sunny with a little wind, only in the 60's because a front just passed through. The weekend looks great, in the 70's. I hope Warren gets a lot done:) This is my view as I bead, not to bad:)

Visitors from the North

  Pete and Barb from Fairbanks decided to take a break from the cold. They lived in Florida many year ago. It was great to see them, we went to dinner at the Crab Shack and showed them around the boat. It was great to see friends from home. Warren and Pete worked together for over 20 years, now they are both retired. Life is good. We thank God everyday!
 We have been in the water now for about three weeks. Our plans to leave in Feb. went kaput because the auto pilot is taking longer then planed, as usual!!!Next blog is the pictures of the auto pilot.

One step closer

This is Jason & Eric they really do a fantastic job. The swim platform looks great. We need to put the starboard across it still and the ladder to the water. I really hope Warren can get things finished up by the end of the month.  We'll paint the bottom this weekend and hopefully be back in the water Tuesday. This picture of the bow is for you Dad so you can see how the fitting fits. You did a great job, thank you so much! I don't know what we would do without you...OH wait, I know what, we would be boat poor! Machinists charge $100 hour here. 

We are still waiting on the titanium bolts. They should've been delivered by now, I hope they come soon and not hold us up any longer.

On the Hard Again

Here we go again.....but this time we are a lot closer to the end.

We had to make sure the straps for the sling where juuuuust right other wise the prop line protector that we added last time would get broken off.  What helped out was the pictures we took last year just before we putting her back in the water. This time we will add perminate marks where the straps go so we don't have to go through this again.  Friday Jason from On The Spot Welding came by to get measurements for the swim platform so I hope Monday or Tuesday he'll be back with it.  They also have a few things to finish on the arch. After putting 60+ pounds up there on top it acted differently and now needs to be stiffened up some more.  I think it is going to be very interesting to watch them reach that high!  Everything that needs to be done is on the uppermost outside edge which is about seventeen feet up. I know there is a tall latter around here somewhere........ Living on the boat now is very challenging to say the least. On the bright side I do get my exercise going up and down the latter. Oh Kathy, I need a screw driver ..... oh and some rags.....oh and some mineral spirits, oh and, oh and, and on and on and on. I wish I could lose a pound for every trip :)

What is he smiling about?

This was going to be the first day working on the auto pilot.....but
last night the head decide to keep filling up. SO... the day was spend rebuilding the head!  What fun!! Now Warren has really touch every part of the boat.:) You know you love your spouse when you work on the potty together and can smile about it. And it even worked when we where done!

We're getting closer.....

 B-flat is finally ready! We named it that because when we first used it, every air valve leaked. Warren just worked on the dinghy for 2 days redoing the transom. We took it for a quick spin .....weeeeeee what fun,  I felt like the little pig in the Geico commercial. Next week, the swim platform. Now if everything works out right, we'll start the auto-pilot tomorrow after we install two  stantions for the life lines.  We just might get to leave the boat yard soon!!!!!!

Let The Sun Shine

The welder came back and finished up the arch and the stand for the electronics last week. Here is a view of the chartplotter and stand.  It is up and runnng. Now Warren is working on the solar panels, he should be finished Tuesday if everything works out right.  The panels are three Samsung 241 watt, 24 volt panels fed into a MTTP controler charging a 12 volt battery bank. We also designed the stand for the chart plotter but forgot that we needed to make it so the wires for the auto pilot could feed into it. Oh well, we'll just have to do what we can. The auto pilot is the next big project.. We will always have a bunch of little project to do along the way. I don't think this boat will every be done!!! But it was 75 degrees today and that is awesome. Its so nice not to be freezing!!!
New Year eve was quiet here and we didn't do to much. There were a lot of fire works and things going on down town in St Pete's, but there are way to many people and traffic is terrible. So we just sat in the cockpit and watched the fire works from afar.
Hope everyone has a great year with many blessings!!!

We're Back in Florida

This is one of three picture that was taken on our trip to Washington and Alaska. It was taken by Grace, which was a nice surprise. She is a good friend from Fairbanks who just happen to be in Wasilla for her sons basketball game.  We took the camera but forgot to take pictures. These are our grandniece's Lily and Natalie. It was a wonderful quick visit. The weather was cold and snowy, the next time we return it will be in summer:) Now it's time to get the boat ready to sail.  I decided to look for a used out broad motor, and found one first try. I looked on Craig's list and found one in Weeki Wachee that's a town about 60 miles from St. Pete's. It had just been listed a few hours before I started looking, a good price also..(a Johnson 15 hp--1995 low hours)  Now that's a blessing!

Just to let you know it's COLD here too:( 

Warren is reworking the battery box, the hot water heater needs to be readjusted. Not to interesting and I didn't think he is having a good time. Well my waters hot for my cocoa, time to warm up!!!!

Low Low Low Tide

How Low, you ask? Well, today Warren needed to check a fitting on the bow. First he needed to get in the water, for this he needed a ladder just to reach it. He could've jumped but then he wouldn't have been able to get back up. The water has been so low that the only thing holding up the boat are the dock lines.  We sure are having fun....HAHA

Still Working

Today it's raining so we are working on the front bathroom (the forward head). Replacing the old counter top, faucets and fixing doors. I'll take a picture when it's done:) We put the new sails up yesterday. Boy are they nice and crisp. We also learned everything you don't want to do when putting up the main sail. IE...... make sure all the other halyards are out of the way, put the line on furler so it rolls the right direction and don't hit your head on the boom. We hope to try them out soon, but we have to take the truck to Washington and store it at my Aunt Sandy's.(which we are very thankful for)

We are going back home for Thanksgiving so we have a lot to do, we want to head on down to the Keys by the end of Dec.

The Arch

The arch is on, but we still have a few more things to get welded on to it, outboard engine mount, gps mount, gate eyes and the solar panels. Most will happen next week, Warren is still deciding on what size for the panels. We also have to finish the wood work on the toe rails and the lazerette hatch covers. The hatch cover  will be our first go at spraying on gel coat(that's the paint that's on the deck):) We also have about 1000 other projects but we still hope to get out of here in Dec. Oh, we also had to order new sails. I bet your thinking we are crazy! But when we are cruising in that clear blue water in Bahamas with dolphins swimming along side us and I post that picture you might think differently:)

Baby Manatee

Today while working on the back end of the boat we had some visitors. This is the first baby manatee that we have seen. Soooo cute!

We are taking off all the old hand rails and the dingy davits, our new arch should be done next week. Now we have to buy some solar panels.

Today we also decide to take off the wood trim that is just for decoration alone the blue sides of the boat. It's to hard to keep them looking nice. Now we have to fix the screw holes and repaint......one more project:(

A VEIW FROM ABOVE

We had to do some more work at the top of the mast so we took some pictures. We also found two more things to fix, one step forward two back:)

Also here is a picture of me to prove that I am working too. Warren decided to finally take a picture.

THE RADAR IS FINALLY UP!!!!

This radar was quite the challange, if the weather wasn't making it hard then the wires with the big connectors on the ends were.  We tried everything to get that wire down without cutting off the connector

but alas, the connector had to be cut. We just had to buy a special tool to reconnect it. Warren is getting good at climbing up there. The wind instrutment is up and so is the new LED tri color/anchor light at the top. Now we just need to get them all connected to the Nav station. In between the trips up the mast we are doing wood work. It sure is looking good. :) We will be getting the arch built for the back of the boat this coming week. It will hold the solar panels and dingy. We should be able to take the boat out for a test drive soon.

We are having a good

time here. The sun and the 90 degrees are worth getting use to.

Its so much better then a few weeks of summer and then hello winter. 

JUST WORKING

It's July and several things happened this month.  Warren finished the front head, he got the new water pump back in and worked the sewage device through twice and everything works. But, in between  finishing the front head and testing the sewage device the front air conditioner quit blowing cold air and the refrigerator quit pumping water through the compressor.  They were getting to hot and he thought that it was freezing up from running all the time but the people who install them said that it was calcium build up in the condenser.  So he had to get some dissolver to run through the systems.  It took a whole day for each one.  But they now run like they are suppose to.  He's also been working on the plumbing for the showers.  He got the plumbing done(what a hassle) and had to plumb 2 lines into one through a plastic "Y".  Needless to say, it leaked like a waterfall so now we are hunting for one we don't have to jury rig.  Next comes
the starboard water tank.  It has a crack and leaks water. The tank is so long he had to make 2 more access ports.  The tank is built into the boat and we where going to try and take it out and replace it with a plastic one. But because it has such a complicated compound shape Warren decided it would be easier and cheaper to fix the crack and re coat the inside. When they made the tank they used to much gel coat and it was so thick it cracked in dozens of places and made hundreds of blisters so he had to sand them all. He sanded for 3 1/2 days on it. The cracks and blister were not so bad but algae and mold were growing in them.  We found a food grade coating for water tanks.(which is the only full time food contact coating there is right here in St. Petes) He will tackle the other tank later. Hopefully he will get back up the mast and get the radar going in the next week or so.

4th of July

It rained (lighting and thunder) for four days, so this weekend we didn't get much done.  Warren has the front holding tank and the waste treatment box in. We are having the local dealer do the wiring, just to make sure its done right so there is no problems with the warrenty. We saw another CSY that caught fire,and we sure don't want that to happen to us!!!

This was a FULL double rainbow really vivid. Gods Promise:)

Up He Goes

He made it half way! Now he will try everyday to make it up to the top. It takes time to get accustom to all the gear. It's a good thing he lost 20lbs, I think he wants to lose more really soon:) 

Climbing the Mast

Warren decided to get some instruction before climbing the mast.  We looked on the web and found Vertical Ventures. He took a 2 hour lesson from the co-owner Chris which covered safety, equipment usage, repelling and ascending. Chris is a really good climber and made instructions simple to understand  and look easy!  Warren could get hooked on climbing, but he has to much boat repair to do to even think about it.

A Day in Pompano

Saturday we decided to take a break and go to a bead show in Pompano. Pompano is up the coast from Fort Lauderdale, which is on the East coast 266 miles away. The bead show was not that great but of course I did have to buy a few beads.:)
They do have nice beaches.  We arrived right after the Hands Across the Beaches idiots had demonstrated for no more drilling for oil, I guess they want to walk and give up their cars.
 We think the beaches on the Gulf Coast are better, the sand is finer and the water warmer.

The only thing that they have in Pompano that we could see besides condos and beaches is this Light House, it's on the property of a private yacht club. We took this picture from across the inlet. There is a small park and we could see all the boat traffic going though the draw bridge. Which makes me not want to go to Ft Lauderdale, to many bridges!   

Finding all the leaks

This isn't Warrens idea of hide-in-seek, this is Warren finding a small leak that you can't even see.

He decided to grind and sand the area and re-fibeglass it. When they put the lazerette in, it was a separate part of the deck. All these years it had a tiny hole that leaked. The wood on the inside will have to be replaced some day, but its not that bad.

That's a job for later after we have sailed for a while.We have been working on the windless, which lead to the chain locker which needs to be revamped. Which, lead to the  holding tank which was cracked.  So this now leads to a new project.  One step forward, three back!!!  To the right is the old tank  the new one is below. We found this tank that was made for a power boat 8 years ago and figured to give it a try.  So we bought this tank for 30 bucks which is a really good price, as a matter of fact it's a steal.  It fits the inside bow of the boat like it was made for it. But it needed a bigger hole for the exit. Which is why we took a trip to Lake Wales, a small town in central Florida. Warren was so happy to find the manufacturer for this tank right here. They cut the hole and added the new fitting for free. News on Lake Wales at eleven. :)  Now for the rest of the story........one of my friends wrote me a email telling me about a sewer treatment system that is Coast Guard, class 1 approved for the treatment and release of treated sewage within the 3 mile limit.  And it just so happened that the manager of the yard we are in had one sitting in his parts shed for a couple of years, brand new never used.  He gave it to us for another steal.  Now you know what this means don't you?  That's right!  No holding tank needed!!!!  CRAP!  So we'll keep the tank just in case the electroscan goes out and we need a back up. Now we are putting a new sewer treatment in,
what fun:) 

Now, the news at eleven: 

Lake Wales is a small town that made turpentine and grow citrus trees in the 1920s. It has a historic district in downtown with a few shops but the economy has hit here too.  They are also known for Spook Hill,  stop at the sign which tells you to pull up to the white line. Turn off your engine at the bottom of the steep hill, put the gear into neutral and your car will appear to roll back uphill! We didn't have time to do this but we think it's interesting.

They built a hotel Originally named the "Dixie Walesbilt," the building now known as the Grand Hotel, a ten-story "skyscraper," stands as enduring testimony to the spirited optimism of the Great Florida Boom Period.
  Here is a now and then-

It was a nice drive.