Star Island Anchorage, Miami, FL

We had a long, trying cruise today covering 11 miles that took all of 1.8 engine hours.  The original plan was to anchor off the multi-million dollar homes on Star Island, and have the LNVT crew board Liberty for a cruise up the Miami River.  Unfortunately the weather gods had another say in the matter and the weather gods always win.  We could see that it was raining (actually pouring) in Miami before we left No Name Harbor.  When we anchored off Star Island it was still raining in Miami and the rain was slowly moving south towards us.  Discretion being the better part of valor we decided to stay put and postpone our trip up the Mimi.  Rain it did.  The weather radio was indicating that some areas could get up to eight inches of rain from this rather small, localized system that didn’t seem to be moving very fast.  We should have put out a can to measure how much rain we received as it was significant.  The wind shifted almost 180 degrees and picked up a bit but it wasn’t anything to be concerned about.  The weather radio was warning of 40 to 50 mph winds north of us but evening came on before those storms reached us and they died out as the heat of the day dissipated.

We didn’t know we were anchored in the most popular spot in Miami as the number of sight seeing vessels that cruised around us showing people the homes around here was astounding.  If we knew how popular this place was we would have anchored a little farther away as the sight seeing boats ended up passing quite close to us in their efforts to give their passengers a view of the houses.  Gloria Estefan, Don Johnson and Rosie O’Donne and Shaquille O’Neal either owned or currently own homes here.

The best we could do was to meet aboard Nellie D. for cocktails and then dinner as evening approached.  Is there a pattern developing here?  Dinner consisted of Sally’s home made potato salad (made with out mayonnaise), salad and Bicki’s turkey breast that was cooked (baked) for a few hours; again all excellent.  Thinking about it, maybe it was Allan’s alcoholic concoctions beforehand that influenced our perception of dinner.  We have had the ice machine working overtime on Liberty to keep up with Allan’s need for ice cubes.

Unfortunately, Sally and Allan need to abandon ship tomorrow to go back to Maine.  The new plan is for the crew of Liberty to board Nellie D. for a cruise up the Miami where we will get close the the Miami airport for Sally and Allan to catch an Uber ride to retrieve their car.  After that we will return here, re-board Liberty and head off to another anchorage in the Miami area.

The rain that hung over downtown Miami for most of the day.  There are five cruise ships docked in the distance on the right.

Does anybody need any dredging done?

No container ships being unloaded on Saturday.

You don’t see too many people around these houses.

There are a lot of tour boats that come by here. Some pass us within one boat length (our boat length).

Other boats going by aren’t so big. I want to be the guy who stands in the stern barking orders at the paddlers. By the sounds of things as they went by, these people might have paid for the privilege of paddling.

During the late afternoon and early evening, we watched four of the cruise ships depart.

Dave

 

 

 

No Name Anchorage (really), Key Biscayne

The reason for the 7 AM departure this morning was to be able to secure a spot to anchor in No Name Harbor, located in the Cape Florida State Park on the tip of Key Biscayne.

This is a sun rise picture (this morning) instead of a sun set picture for a change.

Following Nellie D. through the mangroves on our way north.

From the south, the quickest way into No Name Harbor is to go out the cut into the Atlantic and then come back in above the shoals. There are a number of these places perched on stilts in the area.

Cape Florida light with buildings in Key Biscayne in the background.

Once we got into the harbor we picked our anchoring spots and got to work.  In our case it meant having lunch, lowering the dinghy over the side so we could pay our $20 overnight fee, dropping off the garbage and making dinner reservations at the local eatery.  We then proceeded to drop our mast as we don’t want the aggravation of the extra air clearance as we work our way north through the Miami, Fort Lauderdale area.

This place becomes wall to wall boats at times.

Lunch consisted of left overs. Even the wine was left over (from last night).  The bird doesn’t believe in waiting until every body is seated before eating.

Running errands. There is no need for our electric motor in such a small anchorage.

About the nicest thing we could say about the restaurant is that they had this aerial photo of the local area. No Name Harbor being bottom center.  Fortunately, there were pre-dinner cocktails aboard Nellie D. before we went to eat, easing the pain somewhat.

Last January 6th we cruised through Miami and anchored at Long Arsenicker in the Keys.  Today, February 27 we left the Keys which gave us seven weeks and three days in the Florida Keys.  In that entire time we never wore socks or long pants.  That is really the way to spend a good portion of the winter.

Just for the record, last month data usage was 40 gigabytes.  No nasty gram from Verizon saying we are using too much data.

Tomorrow we only need to go 10 miles to our next anchorage where we have a dinner cruise of the Miami River planned.  The anchor comes aboard at 10 AM.

Dave

 

Tarpon Basin Anchorage (Key Largo)

The original plan for today was to anchor off Mangrove Marina outside of Tavernier.  We didn’t leave until 10 PM as we really didn’t have far to go.  There were three reasons to stop here, the first being that it is a tiny spot surrounded by mangroves, making it an ideal place to be protected from any wave action, the second because we could easily get to shore and to the Winn-Dixie supermarket just a 15 minute walk up the road and third so I could talk the the marina management concerning an invoice I received after they had billed our credit card.  We had stayed at the dock for a week back in January.

Anchoring here turned out to be virtually impossible.  All we did was drag through some soft mud that was filled with reeds in the shallow water, some of which was only four feet deep when we draw three feet nine inches.  After a few tries we gave up and went into the same dock we used the first time we were here in January.  Of course the long time residents recognized us and gave us a hand tying up, thinking we were back for another extended stay.   Nellie D. had apparently anchored successfully, but we found out that it was just an illusion.  They were slowly dragging backwards as the winds were 15 gusting to 20.  To make a long story short, we went into the office to get the billing situation squared away (“just ignore the invoice we sent you”),  Nellie D.’s tender delivered their crew, Allan and Sally to our boat so that they could walk up to Winn-Dixie with Bobbi for provisions.  While they were gone the skipper topped off our water tanks and talked with the local live aboards.

The crazy lady who was living in the dilapidated sail boat that was docked next to us on our previous visit was gone.  They finally were able to evict her but when she left she evidently stole a kayak, and took a bicycle and a lawn chair with her.  She paddled a few miles down the coast and moved into an unoccupied house.  The neighbor, rather than having her arrested, bought her a one way ticket to Naples, FL. so now she is their problem.

The marina was kind enough not to charge us anything for our short stay (I asked).  After the shore party returned, we bought a bag of ice, Nellie D. purchased some gas for their tender and we were off again.  Actually the locals told me that the only boats that stand a chance in this anchorage are boats on permanent moorings.  Three boats dragged on the the beach in the high winds that we had last week.

Next it was on to the Tarpon Bay Anchorage, a rather large area that is our current location.  We motored all of 25 sm today in four engine hours, even though we left at 10 AM and didn’t get the anchor finally set until 4:15 PM.

Dinner was aboard Nellie D. this evening where Allan made up a few batches of his Margaritas, and his wife Sally made home made Caesar Salad from scratch.  This was complimented by salmon from Liberty, cooked to perfection by Dave H. (seasoned to perfection by Dave F.).  Everything was terrific including desert,  Key Lime Pie from Winn-Dixie.  It was a rather large pie but it had to be cut into only six pieces for some reason.  Everything was consumed and we can honestly say that the salad was the best we have ever eaten.  The evening would have been perfect if it wasn’t for the mosquitoes that descended upon us at sunset and drove us below.  This is the first time during this trip that the bugs were this bad.  We won’t be getting any sympathy from the people up north when we say that we are sitting in a rather stuffy stateroom with the temperate at 77 degrees at 9 PM in the evening while they are dealing with below freezing temperatures and snow.

On another topic, the stainless strips that we purchased in St. Augustine and finally installed in Key West got put to the test last evening.  We no longer have the “banging” noise as our anchor snubber drags along the plastic rub rail (elevator hand rail).  The sound of the snubber across the rail now is no louder than the waves slapping against the bow as the boat moves back and forth at anchor.

Our anchor held very well at Lorelei, and you can see why. We brought up a lot of sandy clay with the anchor when raising it this morning.

We might have posted this before, on our way down the Keys. An abandoned sailboat resting on the many shoals.

Tomorrow is an early 7 AM start, destination unknown.  Actually, the destination is known which is why there is an early start, but we don’t remember where it is as we are relying on Nellie D. to lead us to a noteworthy place.  They have made this trip multiple times so they know all the good spots :).

Dave

Well, I’m still alive and well in the Florida Keys. (Dave has been complaining that I haven’t been pulling my blog weight!)  We started our journey north on Monday.  We are following our buddies, Dave and Bicky, on their Tug.  (They have guests, Sally and Allan, and they are just wonderful!!!).  We have been having some great times on Liberty, Nellie D, and on shore.

Tonight, Sally, made a wonderful Caesar salad from scratch.  The best I have ever had!!!!! Allan made the best margaritas you could ask for (You go Allan!!!)  Life is very good!!!!

Bobbi

 

 

Shore Leave

Today the plan was to spend the day (and night) were we are anchored in Islamorada.  This morning we played with our boats, launching the dinghy and the kayak in one person mode.  While the mate paddled around the skipper was kept busy checking out the derelict boats in the vicinity.

Crystal clear water with our anchor chain attached to the snubber. There was no wind which is why the anchor chain appears like a snake on the bottom.

 

Our Manson Supreme on the bottom with just the roll bar and shank above the sea bed.

Dave H. checking the condition of the bottom on Nellie D.

There is a sunken boat off to the south west of us that is used as a perch for birds.

This powerboat had washed up on the edge of the mangroves quite a while ago and simply sits. The problem with fiberglass boats is that they will be here forever.

The mate out paddling the kayak in one-person mode.

She did need (want) a tow back to the boat.

Another derelict sailboat taking up good anchorage room.

A closer view of the same boat. The birds obviously love this boat and it is hard to imagine anybody ever taking any interest in the mess again.

So who would live aboard this mess?

Aptly named I would say.

On a lighter note we took the dingy over to the Bass Pro Shop here and give them some money in exchange for some new jackets and shorts.  There is a restaurant here so naturally he had to stay an eat lunch.  After that it was a short walk to the liquor store for additional ship stores, then back to the boat to rest up for the evening.

Hemingway’s actual boat is rotting away in Cuba, this is a sister ship.

Inside the boat.

Islamorada Fish Company, where we had lunch.

On our way back to the boat we passed this guy, soaking up the sun.

This evening the crew of the Nellie D. came over for cocktails on the boat deck after which we had a very nice salad and spaghetti with shrimp dinner with what else, but wine.

Dave

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Into the fog and we caught our first crab pot

This morning dawned foggy, any ports open on the weather side of the boat where a light breeze was blowing through were saturated with condensation.  The sun was trying to break through the fog, but when it appeared to be clearing, more fog would roll in.  The morning was spent reading and pretty much killing time as we waited for the weather to break.  Lunch time came and went with no clearing in “sight”.  Eventually, the word was passed through the fleet that we were to bring in the anchor as we were to be on our way.  The time was 1:40 PM and the destination was the Lorelei Morada Anchorage off Islamorada.  While visibility was at times limited to 1000 feet, the chart plotter shows where the boat is at all times and the radar overlay indicates other boats in the nearby vicinity.  You have to pay a little more attention than normal, but it isn’t dangerous.

Socked it with fog

The mate was getting restless early in the day so she made herself a Bloody Mary.  Nothing for the skipper, thank you.

If you look close, you can almost make out Nellie D. dead ahead in the fog.

Radar overlay on the chart plotter. The blue blob ahead of us under the red and green velocity/direction vectors is Nellie D. The blue blob the the left is a crab fishing boat and the blue blob to the right is the buoy marking the underwater key.

All was going well until we were transiting Bowlegs Cut and managed to pick up an old crab pot in the cut itself.  There was no float on the end, and our best guess is that since we were following close behind Nellie D. and the water is real shallow that Nellie’s passage might have kicked up the line off the bottom enough that when we went by it got wound into our prop.  Our engine RPM’s dropped by about 100 and our boat speed fell almost a full knot.  Initially I was wondering if we ran into a foul tide as it is not unusual for the water to be funneled though these tight passes but as we passed more markers saw no evidence of any tidal current.  When we got out we stopped the boat and could see a line trailing in the water from under the keel, the water being about seven feet deep.  We radioed Nellie D. that we caught a pot and needed to clear the thing.  Of course the first thing we did when we stopped was drop our anchor.  There were other crab pots around and as we swung around in the breeze we pivoted over the top of another crab pot so it’s line and float also ended up being pulled under the boat and snagged on the prop.

The scene of the crime. We picked up the crab pot in the narrow cut and stopped where the boat is shown to untangle the mess.

The mate is always looking for an excuse to go swimming so over the side she went and quickly cleared the second pot as it was just snagged.  By this time the crew of the Nellie D. had arrived in their inflatable so we pulled in the offending crab pot line which we cut and the Nellie D. crew took the end still attached to the pot over to another float and tied it to that one.  When the owner comes out to pull his pot he is going to get a real surprise as the offending pot weighs a ton, being covered in grass and growth.   Once the old pot was cut off, the mate was able to easily detach the line from the offending pot from the prop shaft.  This fixed the problem, so off we went once more.

The skipper was busy fussing with things during this process so he didn’t have time to take any pictures, but Dave H. did.  Once he gets them to us we will include them, so photo’s at 11 as they say.

We were able to reach the anchorage just after the sun went down. It was a pretty nice sunset that we didn’t have time to just watch and enjoy.

Fortunately we were able to sort things out quickly as our late start and thirty five mile motor didn’t leave much time to get anchored before the sun went down.  Actually the sun was down as we crept into the anchorage and set the hook at 6:50 PM.  After that we all piled into Nellie D’s inflatable and went into to Lorelei’s Restaurant.  Eating dinner under the palm trees with great people was the perfect way to end the evening.

Dave

Marathon

We left Stock Harbor Marina Village at 8:10 AM, more or less on schedule to head east towards Marathon.  While winds were light the waves were from slightly ahead of the beam causing us to roll around a bit, sometimes more than a bit.  Boat traffic was rather heavy as it appeared that there was more than a few boats that had been delayed by weather.  We came up the coast line with the LNVT Nellie D., who was able to duck inside just west of Biha Honda Key.  The clearance under the bridge there is 20 feet, we need at least 28 feet so we had to got another seven miles further east to cross under US 1 at the Seven Mile Bridge at Pigeon Key.  The difference was they got to eat lunch in smooth water where as we ate lunch while the boat was rolling around.  Those last seven miles were littered with crab pot floats making requiring us to pretty much hand steer rather than using the autopilot.P

Of course we had the usual first day cruise issues.  Yesterday we couldn’t get the Coastal Explorer to work properly on the tablet computer.  We still had issues when we left the dock but after rebooting the entire system once we cleared the channel, things started to work properly.  Weird.  Part way up the pike today, the Raymarine GPS stopped working.  We rebooted the chart plotter and that didn’t help.  After getting out the manual and seeing there is a LED on the actual antenna that will flash a code indicating the real issues we were waiting for the waves to settle down a bit before going up on the fly bridge to check things out.  As another guess we decided not only to re-boot the system but to power cycle every thing associated with all the 12v power to the bridge.  That seemed to be the hot ticket as the GPS came back up.  Another problem solved.  As far as redundant systems go, we have the Raymarine chart plotter with it’s own GPS, radar and AIS, the tablet PC with an internal GPS running Coastal Explorer nav software, an Android tablet running MX Mariner with it’s own GPS and our phones with MX Mariner on them having GPS units.  I believe we have enough redundant systems so that if we lose one or two we won’t be left out in the cold.  Of course we have a complete set of charts with binoculars that have compasses for bearings if we ever need to go old school.

A few hours out our Chelsea clock decided to go bonkers.  It started it’s incessant chiming again as if it was trying to make up for lost time (or chimes) since we silenced it a few months ago.  Since we learned there is a switch inside that allows it to chime or remain silent we played with that to no avail.  Changing the battery was no help, the chiming would not stop and the second hand would not move.  Finally we gave up and removed the battery, setting the time to 10:10 which is pretty much the time on the clock when this whole thing began.

We came across quite a few Portuguese man o’ war on our way up.  Most were small, about three inches across but some were good sized in the neighborhood of eight inches.  The people at marina mentioned they started seeing them over the weekend and said they are showing up about a month ahead of when they usually appear.  More information is here: http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/portuguese-man-of-war.html

After covering 41 miles today we anchored off the north side of Marathon at Fanny Keys.  The only waves we are getting tonight are from the crab boats and sports fisherman as they come home.  Dave H. came over with their dingy to take us the Nellie D. for some pre-dinner snacks and drinks.  We had a “rousing” game of Pass the Pigs won by Dave (well, it is our game) after which a dinner of tacos and salad was served  Being true cruising folk, we were back on Liberty by 7:30 PM and in bed shortly there after.

Following Nellie D. up the coast.

Profile view of a Lord Nelson Victory Tug (37′) We like the hull color.

We will miss the aqua colored water down here.

Crossing under US 1 with the abandoned rail later turned highway bridge in the background.

Back with Nellie D. again in the dead flat water on the north side of Boot Key (Marathon).  Perfect trawler conditions.

Taxi.  We forgot to give him a tip (or pay him for that matter).

Somebody is having too much fun (again).

Dave, Bicki and Sally being entertained with Pass the Pigs. Not shown are Allan, Dave and Bobbi. Cell phones don’t have wide angle lenses.

Tomorrow it appears that we will be off to Islamorada, where we spent New Years Eve but this time staying aboard our boat and not in a $418/night dive of a hotel room.

Dave

Last Day in Key West

In preparation for our trek back up the coast we scrubbed the decks, secured the middle section of the new kayak that doesn’t fit in the dock box, scrubbed the dinghy’s inside and bottom (amazing how fast things start to grow on non-bottom painted boats around here) and secured it on the boat deck.  We also filled the water tanks, the fuel tanks are still full and the holding tank will be pumped out tomorrow on our way out after we pay our bill.  We also fought with Coastal Explorer on our Toshiba Tablet.  After updating the software to the latest release the program didn’t seem to be registering boat speed and acted like it was in Dead Reckoning mode rather than working off the internal GPS.  We will see how it behaves once we start actually moving.  The mate cleaned the inside of the boat, did the laundry and took one last trip to PubliX for provisions.

Early this evening we went back to our favorite Chinese restaurant in Key West and the gang of eight (six LNVT’s and two Pilgrim people) had one more dinner together.

At eight AM tomorrow we start back the way we came, more or less.

Dave

Party Time (sort of) in Key West

The weather kind of broke today, we are back to somewhat normal temperatures which means in the mid 70’s range.  The wind is still rather brisk but that is OK as it will slowly go down over the next few days.  Today started early with a trip into a trip into The Fish Camp at Geiger Key Marina at the far east end of Boca Chica Key.  There we had breakfast with Dave and Bicki, Allan and Sally (Lord Nelson Victory Tug owners, who escaped Maine for a week or so to cruise with Dave and Bicki) and Jay and Marty (also owners of another Lord Nelson Victory Tug docked at the Boca Chica Air Base).  We are surprised that they allow us to hang around with them; they must feel sorry for us ;).  Actually, people at breakfast at the next table over thought we were having too much fun but it must have been all the caffeine.

From there it was off to the flea market on Big Pine Key, mile marker 30. There was a major marine flea market today (and tomorrow) on Islamorada, mile marker 80, (where we spent New Years Eve) but the radio stations were announcing the fact there would be major traffic tie ups in that area due to that event and allow extra travel time.  We had no intention of sitting in traffic for a flea market, to buy stuff we probably didn’t need.  Actually, it turns out that our next door neighbor had an anchor delivered from Miami today and instead of a three hour drive to get here, it took the delivery person six hours due to traffic in that area.  There is only one way in or out of here by land, and that us US 1,  which is pretty much a two lane road for a good portion of the way.

The Fish Camp; we were the first people to arrive for breakfast.

Breakfast at The Fish Camp

Wandering around the flea market, the Skipper spent all of $1 on some washers for one of the hoses for the boat.  We lost a washer recently and while we have a bunch in Erie, that didn’t do us any good so we had to buy some more.  Just before we left we came across a place selling, among other things, hats.  Since our current Panama hat makes us look like a pimp it was decided that maybe something a little more classy was required so we purchased a new hat in spite of the fact that the lady selling them was having a bad day.

The ladies posing at the place that sold swim fins. You had to have been there to understand why that was so funny.

Out with the old….. (why so serious?)

In with the new….

Back at the marina we took a tour of the Peacemaker.  They were letting people come aboard for a look around, maybe hoping that one of the well heeled visitors might be interested in purchasing the vessel for a three and one half million dollars.   Actually, 3.5 million might be a steal.  There was enough bronze fittings on that boat to sink a battleship and the bottom was clean due to the fact the bottom was sheathed in copper.  The decks and spars were in perfect condition and the interior was nicely done.  We didn’t get a picture of the “bar” but it could easily seat a dozen people although I don’t know if they served alcoholic drinks at the current time.

Aft cabin on the Peacemaker

Forward House

Bow

Pilot House

Main Saloon

So, are they paying $3.25/ft/night?

Specs if you have and extra $3.5 m.  How long does it take to pump out a 4300 gallon holding tank?  It takes a few minutes to pump out our 40 gallon tank.

The Nellie B. Lord Nelson Victory Tug crew (Dave, Bicki, Allan and Sally) stopped by Liberty in the early evening on their way back from Mallory Square for some wine, cheese and crackers.  We were joined by Mike and Polly who have the Kadey-Krogen 44 that is berthed next to us.  Mike and Polly sent over some fancy raspberry & brie on toasted bread hor d’ouvrs that Mike made prior to them joining us for a few hours.  Eventually we had to call it quits for the evening as it turns out the LNVT people hadn’t eaten dinner yet.

After analyzing the weather forecasts it was pretty much determined that nobody was going anywhere tomorrow as the winds and waves would be producing a beam sea or chop that would make the 40 mile ride up to Marathon too uncomfortable, and trawler people don’t like to be uncomfortable as opposed to sailors who have to be miserable to believe they are having a good time, or something like that.

Starting on Monday, the wind forecast is for more seasonable winds, around 10 knots and shifting more northerly.  The Pilgrim Liberty and the LNVT Nellie B. are happier with those conditions and plan on starting back up the Keys following essentially the same route at that time.

In preparation for our departure,  another scrubbing of the water line will be done, all the water tanks topped off, the dinghy will come back aboard, another trip for provisions will be made to Publix, some laundry done and I understand a sojourn to another Chinese restaurant will be made at dinner.

Dave (Bobbi says hi but she just rolled over and went to sleep, evidently the mornings caffeine has finally worn off).

Still Cool and Windy

The morning dawned cool and breezy.  The low last night was 48 degrees, down right chilly by Key West standards.  The temperature did climb into the low 60’s by afternoon made more tolerable by virtue of the sun shining brightly.  The “tall” ship Peacemaker motored in the channel late this morning, tying up on the fuel dock.  The vessel is sporting a For Sale sign and of course offers free tours of the vessel.  Evidently the religious group Twelve Tribes has fallen on hard times, now trying to sell the ship.  Their web site for the vessel hasn’t been updated in over a year.

I don’t, and never have thought this ship as being terribly attractive.

The day’s activities centered on changing the gearbox oil.  It is a really a simple job; Suck the ATF out, measure how much was removed and pour the same amount back in.  We also were able to install the port side courtesy light at the step in the deck, a job that took a lot less time than when we did the starboard side.  Experience counts although we will never need to do the job again unless some other Pilgrim 40 owner requests our services for the same.

Happy hour started at 5 PM and the mascot invited herself to the festivities.  It is the last time she will attend as she managed to get crumbs all over the floor.  Until she learns to eat crackers with out making a mess she is banned from future gatherings.  Cheese is also one of her favorites.

It is low fat cheese so it is OK for birds that are watching their cholesterol

The bird was a bit late for dinner so all she got was a few left over scraps of spaghetti. This was left over from last nights dinner and was of course excellent.

Tomorrow the weather is going to become more seasonal, as in 75 degrees although still breezy.

Dave

 

 

 

Coolest Day yet in Key West

Last evening the winds at the Naval Air Station were recorded at 34 knots at 4:30 AM, winds offshore were in the upper 40’s.  Halyards banging on sailboat masts in the general vicinity were keeping us awake during the higher gusts and the temperatures were in the mid 50’s.  Today the temperatures were lucky to climb into the low 60’s and tonight the low is supposed to be around 50.  We ran our second power cord today just in case we need to turn on the reverse cycle AC unit to make heat.  We haven’t used air conditioning since we arrived here and hopefully we won’t need to resort to turning on the heat.

We spent more than a few hours working on the starboard courtesy light, having to cut a hole in the inner liner to allow us to fish wires for the LED light strip.  It turns out that the original lights did work at one time.  Unfortunately they used simple butt connectors that were not water proof, so the salt air essentially did them in over time.  We found the connectors with crimp marks on them.  Over time the copper wire simply corroded away making it appear as if the wires were never attached.

After cutting a hole with our Dremel using the circle cutting attachment that allows control of depth (important in this case as we didn’t want to cut into the outer hull lamination’s),  we drove some wedges in to give us room to fish the wires.  Our wire connections are heat shrunk (as shown) then the ends have caulk applied as well as tape.  If this doesn’t keep the corrosion at bay, there will be no problem in cutting them off and replacing them as there is ample wire to do that.  The next owner will thank me I am sure.  We only did the starboard side as it is windy today and the fiberglass dust was blowing all over the place.   The port side can wait until the wind drops and we can contain the mess.

New wiring connections for the courtesy lights

Completed job, the light strip is under the rail. The 3M duct tape will have to suffice until this summer when we can make a proper cover for where the power cord exits the liner.

The step in the side deck can now be nicely lit up at night if necessary

The Howells gave us a hat from the Naval Air base seeing as how we have spent the last month watching and listening to the fighters take off and land.  We have always been fascinated by planes and boats (mostly fighters and submarines) so it really hasn’t been an inconvenience when the aircraft came roaring in overhead.  Now we have a hat that says Key West that I will enjoy wearing.

New Hat

Dave Howell drove us downtown to pick up our windlass today.  When I called the shop to see if it was done the guy that answered told me that they got our rusty piece of crap working.  At least he was honest.  According to him the issue is that the brushes are made of a hardened material that doesn’t wear readily, meaning that the the brushes will eventually stick since they have no reason to move.  They cleaned things up and said we shouldn’t have any issues if we used the windlass continually.  They didn’t do anymore than necessary as they were afraid they might break things as so much of it is so badly corroded.   I asked him if it was his would he think about replacing it considering it’s condition?  His answer was that everything need replaced eventually.  Anyhow, after re-installing it on the the boat it pulled in the 210 feet of chain that was lying on the basin bottom with no problems.  I guess this explains why it sort of worked better after we took it apart in Annapolis.  I played with the brushes a bit there, making sure they weren’t stuck.  Sitting totally unused for the last month was evidently enough to cause the brushes to act up again.  The “fix” should get us back to Erie where we can make a final determination on what to do with the thing.  What bothers us about the windlass is that the shaft is mildly bent.  I expect that somebody didn’t use a snubber of a chain stopper at some point in the past and allowed the entire load on the chain to be transferred to the chain gypsy, bending it in the process.

Back to where we started, only costing us $65 to get things corrected (temporarily)

We then had Dave and Bicki over for a nice spaghetti dinner (champagne and wine this time), before which Dave trounced Dave in a set of backgammon.  We won’t say which Dave came out on the short end of the stick, but the Mate from Liberty seemed pleased that Dave got put in his place.

This Dragon 40 showed up last evening, putting in at the marina due to weather conditions.  The boat was sailed in a double-handed race from Fort Lauderdale to Montego Bay (Jamaca) early this month.  They had a delivery crew taking it back to  Charleston, and evidently had enough by yesterday afternoon prompting the stop over.  The Dragon 40 is a water ballasted boat that has an interior, that is well, pretty much stripped out.  The head is a bucket.   The crew spent this morning washing the salt off the outside of the boat, the equipment and mentioned that they had to wash the salt from the inside of the boat although it will just get salted up anyhow as they continue north.

Water ballasted Dragon 40 class monohull. Twin rudders.

Dave