Slowly plugging along

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Marty's Grandmother told us that November is crappy in Florida. She was correct! For most of the month the winds blew, the sky was dark, the temperatures dropped and the rain came often. Cold front after cold front. Most of the projects I mentioned last time are still not done... for example was too windy and wet to take off the Wind Generator to fix it, it was too windy and wet to take the dinghy to the island where we could turn it upside down and scrape it clean. Instead we had to empty out the dinghy every few days, it became a swimming pool for the pelicans! December has seemed to change the weather like magic though- they are still very wrong in their forecasts but we have seen some sun and the winds have calmed.

The old fridge compressor is out, we have cleaned up the area and made a new base on which the new compressor will sit. We discovered that the water pipes and junctions behind the compressor were not in good shape so while we have access we will change them. Not on our list, but a smart thing to do while they are exposed- if those rusty connections fail later on when the compressor is back in it will be impossible to reach them. We will change the pipes today. Tomorrow we hope to be able to go to the island to clean and paint the dinghy. This means we will put the outboard on today and test it- two things off the list at once! The wind generator will come soon I guess. We did manage some small projects outside such as hooking up a light and some speakers to the hard top, and installing a fan in the salon. Our music system is all blue tooth capable now as well. I finally got the courage to test the oven- it works and I did not blow up the boat.

Our patch job on the front water tank did not work, as we expected. It would be a major job to get that tank out to be repaired, and in fact I don't even think it can come out of the boat in one piece- it was placed there and glassed in before the boat was put together. We would have to cut it in pieces, and forget about getting another one that size back in! So we have decided to put a soft tank inside the old one. We will lose a lot of water capacity, but we will make this our drinking water only, on its own tap, and that will be fine. We still have the 100 gallons in the back tank to use for everything else. We received the soft tank a few days ago, so that will probably be our next big project. Our two vberth cushions are the last ones I have not tackled with the bissell too, and I think while all is open I will varnish some of those areas I didn't do the first time around the tank. Thankfully we can sleep in the back room that we cleaned out!

The best news is that the calmer weather finally allowed us to get away from the dock to calibrate the autopilot and test the radar. We went out again the next day to check the sails and test waypoints on with the autopilot. The hard top is wider than the canvas was and makes it even harder for Marty to see his sails, but the swivelling nav pod allows him to see on the screen where the wind is and everything else. Unlike Mako with no canvas, on Caribee it will have to be the crew who trim the sails instead of the helmsman. The hardtop does however provide excellent shade and more shelter from rain. We also saw dolphins- it can only be a happy day when you see dolphins!

The next few weeks should be busy ones, then we hope to travel down to Biscayne Bay for further testing. If all goes well we will cross from them. So, time to get to work!

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Comments

[Yvette & Claude]

Pleasure of boating
This is what they called the pleasure of boating. You probably understand us after two loops, that extensive trips are a thing of the past. Nevertheless, good luck in your repairs and if you have a spare thru-hull, you may want to install a faucet and a pump just to pick up sea water, that you can use for dishes and many other things and therefore saving a lot of fresh water. Do not forget to once in while put some vinegar in your toilets to remove the calcium buildup. Also, using cheap salad oil or corn oil lubricates your the seals and all the rubber and it runs much smoother. All little things, I have learned through the years. Happy sailing.

[Caribee Sailing]

I have a mix of both the oil and vinegar than I run through the heads, and luckily we already have a seawater tap set up. I am just a tad hesitant to use it here in the marina where the water might not flush itself enough for my liking even with the tides... And where I can fill up with water for free. But I did use it up till now a lot more often! Thank you so much for your suggestions- please keep them coming.. we are grateful for any advice! :)