Waiting

We have the engine running good, the injector pump being rebuilt took care of the RPM's. Now the problem is with the temp gauges. Warren has replaced all the wiring on the temp gauge, new buss bar, new sending units, new gauge and still has to much resistnace in the circuit and reads 200 degrees when it is really only 170 as verified with a older mechanical gauge.  So because its required that the temp gauge read correctly, he ordered a mechanical gauge. It should be here Monday and then we are just waiting on the glue for the dinghy.  While we are waiting, we are installing a deck wash down pump. You use this to keep the mud and sand out of the chain locker.
On a previous post we were getting the inflatable(dink) fixed.  The dealer was re-gluing the patches that hold the oars, and rings on.  So about a week after he returned the dink we went out to drop the dink back into the water to go for a ride and we noticed that several of the patches and rings were coming off again.  So I called the dealer again and let him know and he said that he did some research on why the heat down here is making the glue come off.  And this is the honest to goodness truth that he told me;  our dink was made in Korea and was the last batch made in that factory before they moved to a new maker in China.  Anywise, there were two manufactures of glue, one factory is "Ding Dong" which makes the glue that lets go when it gets hot and the other(I'M NOT MAKING THIS UP!) is "Dong Ding" which makes the permanent one.  So he was telling me that the factory was using glue from Ding Dong and not the one from Dong Ding because the factory was having problems with the Dong Ding and decided to go with Ding Dong instead. So I'm on the phone listening to this story and thinking that this guy is stringing me along with a good yarn.  So he is now trying to convince me that he is telling me the truth with Ding Dong and Dong Ding and in the process we both degenerated into fits of laughter to the point we couldn't talk anymore. And that is the truth and I'm sticking to it.

A walk on the beach

After a frustrating two weeks of trying to work on the boat and Murphy poking his head in everytime something seems to be working out ok, we decided to take an afternoon off and just lounge around.   After a nice rain this morning we figured we would go down to the beach and enjoy walking in the Gulf water.  Here,  Kathy is enjoying a walk along the water line at about half past seven in the evening. The water is warm, the company is great and everything seems just right.   

Here is a great shot of the sun going down close to quarter after eight.  It was wonderful with a slight warm breeze and a spectacular view of the sunset.  Couldn't ask for much more from a lazy evening off.  Tomorrow I will install the injection pump, lines and purge the air from the fuel system and perform an ops ck(operational check for those of you who are not familar with military techno bable) of the engine rpm's.  More to come.

Tarpon Springs

 We had a nice drive today to Tarpon Springs. It's

about 30 miles north of St Petersburg straight up hwy 19. We stopped at this nice sponge shop and I bought some Greek soap and olive oil lotion.

    

We also had lunch at Hellas a nice Greek restaurant, they have a great Bakery. We couldn't pass up the Baklava ....it was delicious!  I also took a picture of the sponge docks....where the few boats that still sponge dive tie up.  It was a really nice day.
Warren is going to change all the fuel filters ......( which I mentioned weeks ago)  and he hopes this might help with  the RPM problem. We'll try the easiest things first.  I am keeping my fingers crossed :) I
I am still waiting for something to go easy. Warren says if it was easy we wouldn't appreciate it. HA HA
                                                   


Hellas



Sea Trial

The sea trial was short......Very low RMP and 20 degrees to hot. Now Warren is researching what is causing this. So we'll be here!  The weather is great 86 degrees and blue skies. We are taking a drive up to Tarpon Springs tomorrow to get a RTS, (remote temperature sensor) for the batteries. This will keep them from over charging. I'll show some pic's of Trapon Springs, here is a brief low down. Tarpon Springs Sponge Industry helped build a Greek Community that is now famous not only for the worlds finest sponges, but for some of the finest Greek Restaurants, Markets, and Bakeries in the Country.
 This will be a good break from the boat. Did I say Warren is getting frustrated.........just a little :)

We found it!!!!

We are almost ready to start sea trials and what should happen??  The beast of "one step forward, and two steps backwards" rears it's ugly head.  After getting the battery box ready for the new batteries, I repositioned a bunch of wires, installed a new fuse for the engine starter and just tidied up the area from the mass confusion of existing wiring from previous owners.  In the process I removed a grounding wire for the fuse box, reinstalled it and didn't get it back tight enough, thus causing the refrigerator to go into ground fault mode.  It has taken me a week to track down the faulty ground and then when I found it, it wasn't the wire I was looking for.  Lucky me for touching all the ground wires on the buss bar and finding it.  So far tonight, the fridge has worked without going into the fault mode and the batteries are keeping up with the load.  A few more nights with it working like this  and we'll call it good.  You should have seen Kathy do the "We found it!" dance.  Hilarious!  I do need to take some kind of electrical course so I can at least tell my butt from applebutter. :)  Just a couple more things that are safety concerns to complete then its on to sea trials.
TTFN

New Batteries

The batteries are in, we have to monitor them to make sure they are charging and everything in working right. Warren feels very weak in the electrical department, he his still having a few issues with the start battery. He says he is retired so he's not going to work around the clock.  He wants to enjoy working on the boat.  He just said he is having a blast. I wish I was:)
Now that it is getting late in the season, we are thinking of just sailing in the Keys this summer.
It will help build our confidence and we will still be near things if anything doesn't work right. I really really hope we can do some sea trials sooooon!!!!!!!

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.