Water Intrusion

Well - first post from me (pamela)! We only had 3 minor places of water intrusion: the forward hatches, a couple of port lights and the small leak coming through where the wires were coming through from mast. Rich is handling the latter, but I researched the Lewmar portlights and have been able to ascertain what model we have. Although this style is no longer made by Lewmar, we can still get seals and I ordered some. Regarding the hatches, ours are Bomar. This is a much simpler task because Bomar sells there hatch seal in 10ft rolls so I got one of those and have enough to do both of the forward hatches. This also makes things easier for the future - knowledge wise- in case any of the others need replacing. Water intrusions solved!!

We learned from the week+ long trip that dirty laundry becomes a real issue on a boat...it's smelly and takes up space laying everywhere making the place a mess. - While at West Marine getting the Bomar seal, I found this awesome marine hanging hamper! It goes in any hanging locker. It has a canvas topper with a cut out and the bottom is a mesh bag with handles which detaches for carrying the laundry to get washed. Dirty Laundry Problems Solved!!

Problem Solving is Fun! - I have not come up with a solution to the garbage problem - Same issue as the laundry...it's smelly and piles up quick! No, we can't throw it overboard! Any ideas?

Projects

Well we figured out the water tank and valving system. There are 2 complete sets of hoses. One for pressure fresh water and one for foot pump water. Each comes from 4 different tanks totalling 160 gallons.

We found out that our electrical system is fine. The marina had a bad shore power plug and I (Rich) thought the problem was on the boat but it was not.

We found out that our refrigeration system can run off the engine via an engine driven alternator. I ordered a new alternator today and we should have it in a few days. Hopefully it will not be too difficult to hook up. There were 9 wires coming out of the old one!

We did lots of cleaning and taking stuff off of the boat that we do not need. We identified the source of a couple minor water leaks. One was at a wire coming through the roof that leaked a little on our table when it rained. Also a couple other hatch gaskets were leaking a bit. The boat was not sinking!

We had a nice sail on Monday with Allen and Jeanie. I forgot the propane and we had to fry the burgers! At least we have an inside stove but we really wanted to grill. Jeannie brought ribs too that we could not cook due to my blunder. They also brought home made salsa and guacamole that was great.

Oh, also got a ticket for no life jacket in the dinghy! We were only a few feet from the boat, swimming and playing in the water. They have nothing better to do. 90 bucks. Funny you need a life jacket in an inflatable toy but you do not need one if you are swimming without a boat.

Sailing conditions

Somebody asked how much we were able to sail and how much we had to motor. We started in Palm Beach and went down the intracoastal to Fort Lauderdale. We had to motor that whole route. We then headed offshore down to Miami and into the Keys. Once we turned the corner after Key Biscayne we were able to sail some. The sailing got better the further down the Keys we went. We did do some motor sailing in this area to make better time when the wind slacked. Once we turned the corner to the North in Marathon the sailing really got good. We were able to sail a good bit of the way to Tampa.

Once offshore of Tampa we encountered a decent storm. The boat handled it nicely. We just motored into the waves. Since it is a new boat to me I was not prepared for storm sailing yet. Once the storm subsided after about 5 hours we motored most of the way to Pensacola with some motor sailing thrown in when conditions allowed.

Unfortunately I only had a week off of work so we had to make the fastest time possible otherwise I would have been more of a purist and sailed more. The next long trip will not be on such a schedule!

This was taken in the Keys

Made it home last night around 1030

ots of flying fish too. And caught a mahi!

6 miles off panama city beach. Had a good and uneventful crossing. Say dolphins playing in the bow wake at night. They were aglow in phosphorescance. L

Almost to panama city.

Off shore tampa heading to apalachicola. All is going well

5 miles off shore of charlotte harbor. I am updating this with text messages if you were wondering about the short messages!

3 miles off captiva island.

Just got a nice voice mail from my bro. Been thinking bout ya barron.

6 miles off cape romano

r sunday.

Left marathon at two pm. Changed oil . New fuel filter. New oil pressure switch. Out of cell phone range for a few days. Hopefully to pan handle by sat o

Sleeping in air conditioning at the dock woo hoo! We love shore power!

Made it to marathon!

Woo hoo another snapper

About an hour from rodriguez key - allen caught a huge snapper and we ate him for dinner!

Coffee making. Generator on for frig. About to head for miami!

Lake Sylvia

We made it to lake sylvia in fort lauderdale today. On our way in to the anchorage we encountered a tricky bit of shallow water which left us aground for awhile. Luckily it was low tide when we hit so we were able to get off quickly with the help of a friendly boater. There were quite a few things that the broker/ owner said would be taken care of which were not so that set us back a day. We had to take a taxi to west marine to get some supplies. We took that opportunity to go to the grocery store and get some more gas for the generator for running the frig. The grunert refirg is supposed to run off of the inverter but we cant make that work yet.

We had a nice swim before dinner at the anchorage. That swim ladder sure is heavy.

Alllen says: Uh, hi.

Pam says: Oh, uh let me think a minute jeez... I had a hot shower, washed my hair and life is good.

We anchored at lake boca raton last night. Got started at 745

Road Trip!

Well the road trip starts this afternoon. We hope to get to Palm Beach around midnight or 1am then get to the boat early for an early as possible start. I still have to go over systems with the previous owner and get everything loaded. We had to rent a van to haul all of our provisions and gear. The wind forecast is very light so we may be motoring more than hoped.

I managed to throw my back out so I am sure glad Allen was able to come with! I will have to take it easy for the first couple days but then it should be fine. I have done this before. I did get some good drugs to help with the pain.

All for now...


Rest Of Today
East winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 feet or less. Intracoastal waters a light chop.
Tonight
Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots becoming 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop.
Saturday
Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 feet or less. Intracoastal waters a light chop.
Saturday Night
Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 to 3 feet. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop. Slight chance of showers.
Sunday
Southeast winds 5 to 10 knots. Seas 2 feet or less. Intracoastal waters a light chop. Slight chance of showers.
Sunday Night
Southeast winds 10 to 15 knots. Seas 2 feet or less. Intracoastal waters a moderate chop. Slight chance of showers.

Looks like a full moon for a good part of the trip!

Progress

We made lots of progress over the weekend. We were able to cross most items off the list that we can do here. We got a rental van reserved. It is a mini van so lookout soccer moms!

Click on proposed route shown in green

The Plan

We will leave North Palm beach on Saturday the 9th on our way to Orange Beach, AL. Here is a rough itinerary which is of course subject to change as we are at the mercy of the weather. Two routes shown depend on weather. The weather should be good this time of year and we will probably go the offshore route. It is a new to us boat however so we will have to play it by ear and be flexible.

Day 1 Palm to Ft. Laud. 56 miles
Day 1 Ft. Laud to Miami 30 miles
Day 2-3 Miami to Marathon 115 miles

Intracoastal route:
Day 4-5 Marathon to Cape Coral 150 miles
Day 6-7 Cape coral (Sanibel) to tarpon spr 140 miles via intracoastal route
Day 8-9 Tarpon spr to apalach 165 miles
Day 10 Apalach to panama city 71 miles
Day 11 Panama city to pcola 106 miles

Offshore route:
Day 4-9 Marathon to pcola via coast 573 miles

To Bring / Do

THRU HULL DIAGRAM

Light for dinghy
calculator
Spare depth setup
First aid kit
Alcohol
H2o2
Sea sick med
Insect repellant
Delo 400 oil
Tranny oil

Diesel can with diesel
Boat hook
Boat brush
Rope bag
Tools
Truck tools
Boat tools
Gpsmap 76
Gps 12
Garmin chart plotter
Lowrance gps
Charts
AA bats
9v bat
D bats
Snorkel bag
Pam life jacket
Waterway guide
Flash lights
Garden hose
Laptops
hawking
Magma
Propane cans
Sea sick motion ease
Aqua tainers
Camera
Charger
Shades
Hat
Sun screen
Garmin Nuvi
Boat paperwork
Insurance papers
Cell phones & chargers
Wind indicator
12v battery charger
Filet knife
Jock
Hack saw
Fishing gear
Percolator
Medium ice chest
Eye meds
Whistles for everyone
Fire extinguisher
Flare kit
Horn
Strobes
Buckets
Pens pencils erasers
Wd 40
Foil
Matches
Lighters
Paper towels
Towels
Clothes pins
Can opener
Scissors
Bolt cutters
Toilet paper
Cleaning sponges and liquid
Garbage bags
Paperwork
Duct tape
Legal pads
Music
Cd player with fuse
Fill gas and diesel cans
Hand held vhf – charged
Xponder for toll roads
Call bear point marina 251-981-2327
Hose nozzle
Binocs
Long screw driver for changing alt belts
Cig lighter extension
Pam’s multimeter
Usb storage thing from truck, tayana files from work.


Stan to check
Spare Alternator belts
Spare impeller
Spare racor fuel filter
Spare engine fuel filter
Fuel tank filled up
water tanks filled up
holding tank pumped out
propane valve replaced and propane tank filled up
uscg items, flares, lift jacket, horn,
is there a fuel gauge?



Day 1 Palm to Ft. Laud. 56 miles
Day 2 Lake at Ft. Laud to Caesar Creek 55 miles
Caesear Creek to Rodriguez key 33 miles
Day 3 Rodriguez key to Marathon 53 miles

Intracoastal route:
Day 4-5 Marathon to Cape Coral 150 miles
Day 6-7 Cape coral (Sanibel) to tarpon spr 140 miles via intracoastal route
Day 8-9 Tarpon spr to apalach 165 miles
Day 10 Apalach to panama city 71 miles
Day 11 Panama city to pcola 106 miles

Offshore route:
Day 4-9 Marathon to pcola via coast 573 miles
Marathon to pcola direct 540 miles
Sands Harbor Resort & Marina (Pompano) 50 per nite
125 North Riverside DrivePompano Beach, FL 33062954-942-9100 x6000
From the Atlantic Ocean, take the Hillsboro Inlet to the Intracoastal waterway. Turn left (south) on the Intracoastal. Go through the 14th Street bridge underpass and continue heading south until you see the 8 story hotel tower on the east side of the water. Either dock at the Patio Bar's north dock, or go to the dock office by the gas pumps for specific docking instructions. Latitude: 26° 14' 49" N. Longitude: 80° 06' 39" W.
To do at boat:

Verify fuel tanks full
Fill water tanks
Fill aquatainers
Check if ss wire is on anchor shackles
Verify full propane tank
Verify empty holding tank

Engine
Check oil
Check coolant
Check alternator belt
Inspect fuel filter
Inspect water filter
Inspect tranny fluid
Inspect impeller, locate spare

Navigation
Check weather
File float plan

Safety
Put life raft below
Rig jacklines
Test epirb
Put strobes on life jackets

Check bilge pump
Check manual bilge pump
Lash anchors
Tie and secure spare fuel and water containers
Test lights
Check all and close unnecessary seacocks
Perform radio check
Check water pressure in galley & heads

Dan Questions:

How to start engine
How to start refrigeration
Heads
One work better?
Use
How to pump overboard
Y valve location
For both?
Windlass switch location
Use
Fuel tank
Switch valves for tanks
Dinghy
Motor
Inflator
Oars? Need to bring mine?
Refrigerator pump switch?


Anchoring in Ft. Lauderdale: First and foremost, there is a 24 hour anchoring limit, which means that you can only anchor for 24 hours within city limits. There are two known anchorages in Ft. Lauderdale. The "free" anchorage is at Lake Sylvia, which can be accessed from the ICW (consult for exact location and approach). Lake Sylvia is a large circular basin surrounded by large waterfront homes. No dinghy facilities or places to come ashore are nearby. The nearest places to bring a dinghy or tender to are a few waterfront restaurants near the mouth of the entrance to Lake Sylvia, but they are not free and will expect you to eat or drink there and you can't leave your dinghy there. Lake Sylvia is well protected though, so if the weather is nasty you can drop an anchor there and rest for a while. There is a sandbar in the middle of the entrance to the lake, so you must hug the eastern side of the channel to stay in deep water. Once inside the lake there is more depth.The city mooring field is on the south end of the Las Olas Bridge and features 10 mooring balls at $20 a night. You can hail the Las Olas Marina on the VHF Channel 16, or call them at 954-828-7200. The moorings are available on a first come, first served basis. If you take a mooring you must dinghy over to the marina to fill out the paperwork. There is a dinghy dock there, as well as comfort facilities. If there is no mooring available when you arrive, you may anchor on the outside of the mooring field overnight but you must pull anchor by noon the next day. The dinghy dock is only available during the business hours of the Las Olas Marina, which are 8 am to 4:45 pm. If you arrive during bad weather and have to choose between the city mooring field and Lake Sylvia, the latter is much more protected from the elements and traffic from other boats.