Bev faulters

We enjoyed the Denver Museum of Nature and History.  We have been thinking of trying to take Submit to Cuba this winter and found the museum was showing a special exhibit for Cuba and also an Imax movie about Cuba.  They made us wonder why the US is so intent on prohibiting relations with Cuba after 50 years.  The people and country are most interesting.

We did indeed have lunch with the nicest man in Denver, Kevin and Katie.  They took us to the oldest restaurant in Denver, The Buckhorn Exchange.  It is about 125 years old and was issued the first liquor license in Colorado.   The restaurant can double as a museum and the lunch was very tasty.  We made an additional visit into the museum and then spent a second night on the side street in front of the museum in Bev.

12/27 saw us traveling southeast on hwy 287.  Our trip as far as Springfield, Co would have been uneventful except high winds again caused Bev to try to fly.  I thought the awning was secure but mother nature proved me wrong.  I found a spot with a little wind break from an old abandoned house and old equipment and outbuildings, and rolled the awing in as well as I could in the cold wind while standing on the ladder recently purchased in Billings.  From there, we crept into Lamar and I did a better job of securing the awing while parked in the middle of town, using it as a windbreak.  On we went, then, to Springfield, Co where we spent the night on a snowy icy side street hiding from the wind and cold. 

The cold morning of the 28^th found us wondering if we would take up semi permanent residence.  Bev was frozen in and didn’t want to leave.  She finally rocked free and on south we went in below freezing weather and snow all around.  We were making good progress, crossing into the Oklahoma panhandle.  All this flatland country is enduring a substantial cold spell.  Storm warnings are out.  Shortly before the Texas border, Bev said she just couldn’t go on.  Her transmission acted like I had shifted into neutral at 55 miles an hour.  I pulled over and stopped to check transmission fluid.  Fortunately that could be done from inside the warm motor home.  Transmission fluid was fine, so we started out again only to find we had just reverse and first gears.  The transmission would not shift to a higher gear.  We traveled a few miles on this major truck route at about 15 miles an hour, driving on the shoulder when cars or trucks approached from the rear.  We stopped just over the Texas line in Kerrick, a town of about six houses, a few other buildings, a school which had been closed for several years and some nice sized trees.  What to do?  For just such situations I had joined God Sam’s roadside assistance plan which covers RVs.  I called them and a helpful young fellow started to work trying to help us.  He was directed to try to find a shop within 50 miles which could repair the transmission.  He called every shop he could find, which was darn few.  Many were closed for the holidays, particularly on the Friday before New Years.  He only found 1 shop which could do the work but they would not be able to even start on it for two weeks.  He then was given permission to check farther afield.  A shop in Amarillo, 100 miles south of us, could do it later that afternoon or first thing in the morning.  He then had to arrange a tow for us.  However, Amarillo was being hit with a storm and no towing company would come get us and then tow us into the storm.  He finally called us to tell us there was nothing they could do and call back in the morning and he hoped we had enough food and heat to survive the night.

As you might guess, the time from when I contacted them to when he told us to call back in the morning took 5 or 6 hours.  Meanwhile, I’m thinking about investing possibly relatively big money into transmission repairs in a 30 year old motor home with other issues.  I start shopping online for a possible replacement.  Being the cheapskate I can sometimes be, and knowing we are not going to be using the motor home too often until we give up Submit, I was looking for something used but worth having yet for not huge cost.  I found several around Amarillo assuming we would be towed there someday.  I broached the subject to Barbara and she spent a few moments looking around her little portable home with a sad eye.  What would we do with her?  Trade her on something else?  Donate her to the Boy Scouts? Sell or give her to a junk yard?  Spend whatever it would take to repair her and keep going?

It turns out there was to be a hero in our future.  One of the possible motor homes was relatively close by.  I began emailing the owner to find out about it.  Turns out it was just 22 miles away in Keyes, Oklahoma.  The owner was out of town but headed home that night.  I explained our predicament and he agreed to pick us up the next morning and take us to look at the motor home he had for sale.  It turned out his father also had a motor home which they had just decided to sell but had not yet advertised.

We had a brief showing of our hero’s motor home and also looked at dad’s.  Each had some appeal but we decided to take a short test drive in Jarrod’s (our hero) motor home.  It seemed it would work for us but we still had to deal with Bev.  Jarrod agreed to take Bev in trade and even gave us a modest amount for her against the sale price once I assured him he did not have to deal with retrieving Bev.  I would bring her to him.  The deal was struck and he returned us to Bev.  I drove Bev the 22 miles back at 15 miles an hour.  We had been hoping to take some time to see the country, and we sure got a good look at miles of flat, snow covered country.

It took much longer than we thought to move out of Bev into her replacement, and we were surprised by how much “stuff” and Submit materials we had loaded into her.  There was hardly enough room in the bigger replacement motor home.  When finally we were done with the move, we spent time with Jarrod and his oldest son, 8^th grader Jace, going over Bev and her history and condition.  I think the transmission repair may just be a vacuum issue and a modest repair.  Then perhaps Jace can sell her and split the pot with his dad (or keep it for himself).  Wherever she goes, we hope her next owner will also love her.

Goodbyes were said to Jarrod and Jace and Bev, and Barbara and I were away in our new-to-us motor home.  By the time we arrived in Stratford, TX, 42 miles down the road, Barbara was frozen ( I was turning blue and my feet were numb!) and I was very cold.  There was no heat.  In addition, there were several other issues which had cropped up.  I texted Jarrod that we were coming back.  We shivered our way back to Keyes.  Jarrod and Jace showed up and parked us inside grandpa’s heated shop.  We were able to plug into shore power and used space heaters to warm up to spend the night. 

Bright and early the next day, Jarrod and Jace showed up to help  us.  Jarrod would take us to his dad’s motor home to look it over and take it for a test drive.  He would help us iron out any problems with his motor home if we wanted to keep it or we could change to his dad’s.  There were things we liked about each one but decided we would keep Jarrod’s if the problems could be fixed. It took more hours than any of us expected.  The deal breaker was having heat while driving.  We came up with a fix for the problem and a road test confirmed Barbara could be warm.  The final significant issue was 4 dead batteries which supply the “house” with power.  The nearest batteries were in Amarillo, 120 miles to the south.  We were headed that way and could get by with generator power in needed, and Jarrod and family were planning to be in Amarillo New Years eve for a holiday and for Jarrod to pick up his corvette race car.  Jarrod would meet us in Amarillo and replace the house batteries.

We are off again!  We make it to Dumas, pronounced locally as DOOmoss, Texas.  We had been looking forward to visiting that town because GasBuddy told us the price of gas there was $1.69.9 per gallon.  And it is!  But now we drive a diesel! $2.49.  We put $100 fuel in the tank, decide we are tired enough and it is getting late enough that we’ll spend the night of the 30^th there, in another Walmart parking lot so we could do a little shopping.  The house batteries did not charge up so we ran the generator through the night to power the furnace to keep us warm.  The diesel generator is very quiet and parsimonious with fuel.  We slept comfortably.

Today, New Years eve, after a breakfast with farm fresh eggs from Jarrod, we head south to a Sam’s club in Amarillo.  They have the necessary batteries.  By the time we arrive in Amarillo, the sky is blue, the sun is shining, the fields are clear of snow, the wind has died down and it is beginning to be comfortable.  Jarrod arrives and so does the cold front. We get the new batteries and Jarrod installs them.  Then we do a little shopping so we’ll have red wine for our New Year’s eve dinner.  We say goodbye a third time to Jarrod and find a place to park for the night to wait out some of the bad below freezing weather.  An hour later Jarrod comes by to drop off a few items he forgot to give us.  Dinner is tasty and the wine goes down easily.

Barbara thinks a couple comments about the replacement for Bev are in order.  Bev was 30 years old, no slide outs, gasoline powered, 31 feet long.  The replacement is 13 years newer, has a slide out for the bedroom and one for the living/dining area.  It has a much bigger side by side refrigerator freezer, a washer/dryer and two tv’s we do not know how to operate.  It is 37 feet long and has a Caterpillar diesel pusher engine.  It seems a little like a mansion to us.  We hope it will take us down the road for a long time with little trouble.  Since Bev’s license plate was BEV360, perhaps this one should be BEV720 for Bev the second time around.  This one is not yet named.  Suggestions appreciated.

Our special thanks to Jarrod.  He saved our bacon.  As one would hope, he worked hard to address issues with the motor home.  However, he went above and beyond.  He helped us deal with Bev and made every possible option available to us.  He took time away from visiting friends to help us.  He treated us to visit to his man cave.

And he was relentlessly cheerful throughout.  Thank you Jarrod!

Bev is on a Roll

Here we are on Christmas day parked outside the Denver Museum of Nature and Science waiting for it to open at 9am.  We are hoping the local police will leave us undisturbed for the night.

We’ve been on the road for a week and have gone 1000 miles from home.  However, we have actually traveled farther.

Travelling with two women of a certain age can have its issues.  Bev has been the recalcitrant one.  Perhaps Bev requires a slight description.  I purchased her on a whim without consulting Barbara.  1988 Winnebago Superchief 31RQ for $3500.  She started right away and I drove her home and parked her where Barbara was forced to see her every day.  Barbara refused to even look in her for two weeks whereupon she pronounced Bev to be “not as bad as I thought she would be!”.  We’ve done a little work on her since then.  By the way, her license plate issued by the state of Montana is BEV360, so she became named “Bev gets around”.

Starting our trip, the first stop was a short 37 miles down the road to a tire shop to have dynamic wheel balancers put on the front axle in attempt to eliminate a major vibration.  No luck. 

Then we went on to Frenchtown, MT to see cousins and handle some business.  Afterwards we went to Costco in Missoula, Mt to buy new batteries for Bev in hopes the furnace would run all night to keep us warm.  From there we went to dinner with grandchildren and then on to kids and grandkids house where they allowed us to plug Bev in for the night.

Next day we headed south, again with a stop at a tire shop a ways down the road to have dynamic balancers added to the rear axle to cure the vibration.  Again, it didn’t work, and while leaving the tire shop Bev gave us new worries about brakes and engine stuff.

Friends in Hamilton, Mt let us stay in their driveway for the night and I plugged in at their garage.  I did not notice until morning that I had not turned on the breakers in Bev so we used none of their power over night.  On the bright side, the batteries took care of us. We had made it about 180 miles from home.

Next morning, the local Chevy dealership said they would take Bev and try to fit her in and check out the brake and engine problems, oh, and yes, the headlight control switch problem. Meanwhile we hit the local Ace hardware store where we bought a hook for Barbara’s bathrobe and some cleats to keep the window blinds up.  I installed those while waiting for the verdict on Bev.  The light switch was made functional if you hold it just right when using it and no other problems were found.  Another night was spent in our friends driveway with the power hooked up correctly.

We had planned on traveling south on US highway 93 but weather always dictates a cruiser’s route.  A snow storm arrived over night which convinced us to tack back 50 miles towards home, then east.  The bonuses of this included lunch with grandchildren in Missoula, and, after another stop at another tire shop, on to Bozeman, Mt where we surprised children and grandchildren for an early Christmas.  Next morning, Bev went to yet another tire shop in hopes of fixing the dreaded vibration.  No luck.  However, while waiting, I studied the manuals for the refrigerator which had quit working and the wiring diagrams for the motor home and came up with an idea as to why the refer quit.  It proved correct and after a trip to the auto parts store to buy a $6.99 12 volt breaker and opening up part of the dashboard to install it, we have cold.  Given how cold it has been for days, you wouldn’t think that would have been important to us but it was.

We left Bozeman early on Dec 23^rd after deciding to head south by way of Denver.  All was going well until Livingston where we were hit by the notorious high winds.  Bev decided to try to take flight by unrolling a large portion of her 17 ft awning at highway speed.  Why it did not tear is a mystery.  It just flapped and banged against the side and roof until we could stop and get it rolled back in.  It did the same trick several more times before we stopped at a Home Depot in Billings, Mt and bought a ladder so I could go up and secure the awning.

After securing the awning and taping some leaky windows, we headed more southerly to Sheridan, WY.  We had a delightful overnight in a Walmart Supercenter parking lot.  Sam Walton knew RVers would spend money if they stopped and we did.  New non-skid area rugs replaced the dangerous old ones and we now have storage containers/bowls. 

Christmas Eve had us traveling from Sheridan to Wheatland, Wy.  However, I’m not sure how I did it but we missed the I25/I90 junction in Buffalo and ended up in Sundance, Wy before noticing.  This necessitated not only many extra miles but a bunch of back highways, sometimes very rough.  We began using the gps map system to help us get to Wheatland.  At one point, it took us on “the shortest route” around a town by back roads and under railroad tracks where we barely fit.  I guess it doesn’t understand we are a 30 year old motor home 11 ½ feet tall.

We arrived late at the only rv park open around Wheatland and were barely able to find room at the inn.  Our spot was level gravel.  It did have electricity available.  Across the street from us they had a nice laundry,restroom,shower facility.  The showers cost 25 cents for 30 seconds water. 

After showers, we hit the road south again and are now in Denver.  We’ll visit the museum in the morning and then have lunch with the nicest guy in Denver.

We are thinking we will head next through Amarillo and Dallas.  We are hoping the weather will be warm enough by Amarillo so we will be able to at last fill the water tank.  Bev was not set up for winter use so water and water lines would have frozen if we had already filled her.  It will be nice not to have to live with water sparsely provided by jugs.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night!

early to bed...

We finally managed to get three coats of paint on her and she is very shiny!

The white you see now is the reflection of boats nearby.

We plan to add a 4^th coat but decided to wait until next visit and concentrate on items necessary for putting her to bed.

Yes, she is back in storage.  We arrived January 12^th and left her on March 18^th, a little over 9 weeks, and worked on her almost every one of those days.  She is getting whipped back into great shape.  She has been mechanically and structurally sound, but having her look good is a real treat.  We kid ourselves into believing that if someone was passing through the boat yard looking at sailboats, ours would be at the top of the list of the boats they wish they had.

We have a few more projects on our list for next time and then launch and play.  Tentative plans are to head back to the Bahamas to places we have not yet seen and perhaps other islands, also.  We are in hopes a granddaughter may join us for a while.

We made it back home in 4 days thanks to the 4^th day being a little over 900 miles of driving.  Now we will prepare our other sailboat, Cal 27 T/2 “Knot Ready” for the summer sailing season and make sure the guest rooms are ready for whoever may come visit!  Yawl come! (sailing humor)

11 march 2018

Meet Albert, the sneaky alligator. 

He laid here most of the morning. I think he was contemplating his next adventure. As you know, we don't have alligators in Montana, so I don't know what their habits are. I'm learning.

There are often fishing boats in the little inlet at our boat yard. They have been catching bass this year. When we hear splashing, it is a perfect reason to take a break and watch them haul in a fish. Much to my surprise, one of the fishermen hooked Albert. It took a good while for the fisherman  to get him up to the boat, take a picture and cut him loose. My eyes were wide open, the guys in the boat were quite casual.

About a week later, I was working in the cockpit and kept hearing loud scratching and banging noises around the boats tied up behind us. I looked and looked, but didn't see anything. Then it happened again. Still nothing seen. The third time I looked up, Albert was on the stern of one of the boats and just sliding into the water.  That evening at sundowners, I asked if that was unusual. By the wild eyes and dropped jaws, I guess it is. Those people who are living on their boats are now more cautious when they go out to their cockpit in the mornings.

   

We were shown an orchard close to the boatyard where we are able to go pick grapefruit, oranges and tangerines at will.

Such a treat for us. They take it for granite here. I guess we do the same with our apples.

Oh yes. We have also worked on Submit every day. We spent over a week sanding her, first with 40 grit then 120 grit then 220 grit.  At one point, Reggie grazed his leg with the 40 grit, which he said hurt a little, but not as much as smoothing with the 120 and 220!

The goal was to have three coats of paint on the hull by today. However, it has been too dry, too windy or too cold. One morning it was colder and drier here than at home in Montana. We have only managed to get one coat on her. After all the sanding, we considered renaming her Old Paint, as she looked like an appaloosa horse. After the first coat, she looks like she has the measles. We are keeping our fingers crossed that the spots fade without too many extra coats. Time is running out.

We weren't idle when painting wasn't an option. Reggie reinstalled the heat exchanger and transmission. I got a few more items cleaned up and reinstalled, one of which was the table. It had split apart and was water damaged. With Reggie's constant assistance, it is now glued back together, sanded down and re-stained.  We just have to add a screw to the bottom of the leg and it is done. We also put down new flooring in the galley and dinette. 

Barbara was excellent at holding down the floor pattern.  That was finished today. Tomorrow and Tuesday look good for painting. Keep your fingers crossed.

5 March 2018

Look what we've done to our boat ma
Look what we've done to our boat
Well it's the only thing
That we wanted done half right
And it's turning out all wrong ma
Look what we've done to our boat!

Reggie, The Sandman, is bringing the dream to life.  

(still haven't figured out how to keep the pictures from rotating when importing to the blog)

Prepping the hull has been a major job, but we are almost ready to start painting.  The prep and paint will take at least 14 complete passes over the hull.  All of the prep work has fallen to Reggie. Barbara piddles along with little jobs and tries not to interfere with his work. Never happens. He always has to lend a hand.

Thankfully the rub rail removal was relatively painless. We were concerned about removing the machine screws and their nuts thanks to layers of paint on the nuts and tight spots, etc., but had little difficulty.  After prying the old teak off in sections, old sealant/adhesive scraped off fairly easily.  About 70 holes were first countersunk to give a larger clean contact area and then filled with thickened epoxy.  The decision has been made to not replace the rub rail.
 

Occasional sundowners and visits from friends keep us from becoming jaded.  Anyone is welcome to come distract us for a while!

26 Februart, 2018

26 February 2018

We’ve been given pink and yellow grapefruit, oranges and tangerines from local trees.  It is a nice treat.  Higher than average temperatures bring pretty flowers on trees and shrubs.  Today’s high is predicted to be 85.

Major accomplishment this week! The deck, cockpit and cabin tops are painted.  We are going to need extra strong sun glasses. It is so bright and shiny.  Pictures do not do it justice.  Nonskid areas made nonskid again.  Hardware is being re-bedded.  We take our shoes off at the bottom of the ladder to try to keep things clean.  When I removed the tape yesterday, we discovered that we have a little more touch up work to do than we thought. Oh well, add a little paint here and remove a little there.

The first day of painting went without a hitch, but Tuesday was a little windy. As we were almost done, the wind picked up the paint tray and dumped down the new window and onto the deck and new toe rail. The interesting thing to me was that neither of us made a sound.  None. We just started mopping up paint. After the long silence, one of us might have said, "Can you get that glob right there?" At dinner that night, Reggie tipped his wine glass over. Now there are expletives! Guess we know what's important. We also spilled paint on Wednesday. Negotiating around shrouds, etc with open containers of paint isn't easy, even for someone who is nimble and at our ages we are not nimble.

The weekend was all about food.  On Friday afternoon, we needed to let paint dry so we could walk around to do the rest of the deck. We headed off with our shopping list. First we stopped at Monkey Fist in Green Cove Springs to pick up a few items and then on to Jacksonville to get new cockpit speakers at West Marine. We are not big users of cockpit speakers, but the old ones had died and were letting water into the boat.  The West Marine speakers were an exact fit replacement.

By then it was close to dinner time. We hadn't been to Maggiano's for years. Delicious food and tons of it. Saturday's dinner is in the bag.  Saturday morning the resort managers hosted another breakfast for everyone.

Reggie asserted that we were going to finish painting the deck today, which I doubted, so after a big, late breakfast, we hit the decks. The only break we took was to give the section we just finished a little time to set up. I was hot and thirsty and wanted something fizzy to drink. We went to a nearby convenience store. A lunch break for champions.

how do I rotate this picture here?

This week’s target project is painting the sides of the boat.  The old rub rails will be removed today and the prep work will begin.   Getting it done in a week will be challenging.  We are really looking forward to seeing her pretty again.  She looks pretty ratty now with peeling clearcoat and scratches and off color touchup paint.  In fact, nobody can see much but the hull at present.  The deck is 10 feet in the air so deck and interior work is hidden.

the work goes on 20 Feb 2018

Major accomplishment last week. 166, plus or minus, holes drilled, a bruised cheek, scraped knuckles, bolts installed and the toe rail is finally in place. After we sent Vic and Marilynn off for fun and relaxation on Whisper, Reggie and I had the pleasure of finishing the project on our own. I sat up on the deck soaking up the rays while Reggie was inside. I occasionally had to stuff a bolt into one of the holes so that Reggie could put on the washers and nuts. No easy chore as it required him to squeeze into cupboards, cubbies, lockers and other tiny places. Sometimes his arm was asked to bend in directions that arms aren't built to bend. Putting washers and nuts on bolts that he couldn't see was the easy part. Do we love the toe rail because we did it or because it is really awesome? We'll let you decide

.

Next major project is painting the deck and coachroof. After days of filling, sanding and washing, we have started painting. First coat on the non non-skid (slick?) is applied. Second coat was to be applied last night, but it was too dry! Who would have thunk? Directions say that it has to be 55% humidity or higher and it was around 45%. Lower humidity causes it to 'kick' to fast. We will be putting on coat number two this morning. The decision then is what will we do in the afternoon? Work inside and remember to watch our step when outside, or ???

We have about a month before we will be heading north. The list is a little shorter, but still way too long. I do like to work on projects and Submit is going to be one of the most beautiful yachts on the pond. Well maybe I'm a little prejudiced. 

Barbara

11 Feb 2018

11 Feb, 2018

A good sailing friend reminded me about the image most folks have of cruising. It involves a fancy yacht, white sails on blue seas, palm trees, white sandy beaches, crystal clear waters and beautiful young people diving off the yacht wearing little to hide their charms.  Nothing ever goes wrong and when it does, just write a check and all will be well again.  For the modest number of wealthy, this is true.

The basic definition of a yacht is any pleasure boat.  This includes the palatial sailboats and power yachts conjured above as well as little 7 foot sailing dinghies or even canoes.  So, we do indeed have not one but two “yachts”,  one 27 foot and one 36 foot, both 50ish years old.

My friend pointed out how our blog isn’t all mai tais and palm trees.  It is a reality check and a reminder  the majority cruise on a budget or with limited means.  Even if you have much smaller sacks of gold it is possible to enjoy spurts of the cruising life.  There are other ways to pay your way cruising besides writing a check.  They can include investing time and elbow grease and risking sun burns and temperatures in the 70’s and 80’s or higher. 

Some cruisers do their own work because they cannot afford to hire someone else to do it.  Some cruisers love to do the work because they just love working on and love their boat and want to keep it as much their own as possible. Some do it because they have learned the hard or expensive way that they can do it as well as or often better than anyone they can hire.   Some do it because they can’t conceive of investing so much money in a boat which may be pretty and durable and operational but which has very low market value if/when their cruising is over.  I guess we are little bit of any and all of the above.

Most of our focus this past week was installing the aluminum toe rails which replace the antique teak.  It could not have been done without the help of friends.  Vic, Tony, Barbara and Marilyn all helped.  Vic and Toney went way above and beyond.  Vic can get into and out of places in a second which I avoid squeezing into if at all possible.  Tony provided mechanical expertise, muscle, guidance and special tools (big C-clamp) and they all provided encouragement.  The rails are bedded and installed with 1/3 of the total bolts.  Barbara counted 166 total if I recall.  I’ll now go back and add the rest of the bolts and cinch everything down.  Then I can work on the replacement bow plate and its backing plate. That will entail living in the anchor locker at the bow of the boat, an area which is not as large as I am.  I must say I think the new-to-us toe rails really look good and make “Submit” look like a modern classic.  Yes, I’ll try to remember to include pictures, but we are usually concentrating so hard on our tasks that we forget to document and take pictures.

Barbara has received the new material for covering the exposed hull on the inside of the cabin.  She will be divining ways to exactly cut it to fit and then adhere it to the hull.  The entire interior will be really spiffy when she is all done.

We hope to begin painting the deck soon.  Deck in this instance covers where you would walk and the cockpit where you would stand and sit and the sides of the cabin, etc., in other words everything between the new toe rails. 

We’ve come to the decision to continue working on our list of high priority projects.  This includes painting the sides of the boat (called topsides in the boating world) and replacing the old teak rub rails.  As a result, we may not get to launch her and do any traveling this year.  However, she should be virtually turn key for next visit, knock on fiberglass.

We did take a small vacation.  Thursday night we attended a local theater group production of “The Nerd”, well done and very funny.  Friday we drove to St. Petersburg for two nights escape to a motel.  Saturday we attended a gathering of Seven Seas Cruising Association members at the St Petersburg Yacht Club (wow!).  The SSCA arranged 10 different seminars covering things like weather knowledge and beginning forecasting, provisioning your boat for cruising, wind and solar power aboard, diesel engine basics, must have items aboard and less costly alternatives for many others, etc.  The closing presentation was from a lady with Asbergers Syndrome who circumnavigated the globe alone at age 38 in a 28 foot sailboat which she resurrected (refit) herself,  and then decided to do it again at age 55 in the same boat which she again had to rebuild and repair along the way.  Her book may be done soon and should be interesting reading. 

Tonight we are back in the old rented travel trailer and seeing fewer fire ants after placing ant bait and ascorbic acid powder.  The toilet is a little too aromatic and the ceiling light over the sofa still is half full from the last rain storm.   There are palm trees, the view of the St John’s river is great, it is partly sunny and in the mid 80’s, the air conditioner works as do the washer and dryer, the beer is cold and projects don’t start until tomorrow, maybe, given a forecast of an 80% chance of showers and thunder storms.

Gee, ain’t the cruising life grand?

Sauna saga continues 2-5-2018

After the first week of cleaning, we started sealing and painting. I worked on the walls and ceiling inside the boat (she applied two coats of KILZ primer before painting. The varnish had failed in many areas so she has re-done a lot of the interior wood.  It looks really nice!  The friends who first opened our boat and discovered its interior sauna were just about in tears over the mess and our loss.  They were fairly certain the interior was too far gone to salvage and that we might just trash the boat. Barbara's elbow grease saved the day and the boat!) 

Reggie worked on sealing the inside of the fuel tanks.  The fuel tanks have been reinstalled along with the upper salon floor, water tanks, upper salon cabinetry and the lower salon single and double pullman berths.  He also worked on repairs, ie new windows for the upper salon, fixing broken steps and cleaning the new-to-us toe rails. There is still more to do inside, but it is finally coming back together.  Of course, he never gets to do any job without coming to my rescue to help with problems I'm having on my current project.. 

This past week, painting, varnishing and reassembly continued. It goes something like this: stop by the storage units and load up parts and pieces that could be returned to their proper place. Scrub them down and do repairs and refinish if needed. We don't remember where the little pieces go, so it is sort of like doing a life size puzzle. Some of the pieces put on a little weight, so Reggie has had to do some trimming. We've ordered new foam backed vinyl which should be here today or tomorrow. After removing the 50 year old stuff which covered the interior hull in the v-berth and lower salon. it took many hours of scraping of foam and glue to prepare for the new (Barbara's poor hands may never recover).  Hopefully the new glass for the windows will be done in the next day or two as well. With those two items installed, the inside will be ready for a rest and we will start prepping the deck for painting.

We probably won't get that far this week, as we are headed to St Petersburg on Friday for a few days of fun. Speaking of fun, lest you are feeling sorry for us, we should let you know that we do find time for something other than projects. There is usually a Sundowner at the boat yard every evening. It is a great time to share stories, advise and snacks. Our friends from New Foundland arrived a couple weeks ago. We have shared dinners and gone shopping, etc. She introduced me to Bingo. Boy has that game changed since I last played. Here we are in our new matching shirts. 

Notice the computers (something like 50 cards per person), plus the paper games. It was quite intense and she had to help me out, as I couldn't keep up. I even had a Bingo once that I didn't see and by the time she saw it, it was too late. My ineptitude probably cost us $100. What a Hoot.

Other non boating musings. There are a couple of alligators in the pond here in the RV park. There is also one at the boat yard, but we haven't seen him this year. One of the turkeys at the boat yard seems to think it is a dog. He chases the truck and 'barks' at the tires. He's pretty fast on those two little legs. 

 Barbara

breaking the mold 21 jan 2018

Breaking  the mold

We arrived back at “Submit” to find a real train wreck.  It would have been bad enough just to find the demolished portions we left behind.  However, adding insult to injury,

mold.  everywhere.

So, phase one was to remove everything from the boat.  We rented a storage unit (or two) and hauled truck loads away.  This is one way to learn how much you have accumulated over several years. 

Some stuff only made it as far as the trash.  We didn’t bother to do a lot of sorting, so some of it will be eliminated as we move back aboard.

Phase two is

Clean.  Barbara is the most dedicated hard worker.  She scrubbed the entire interior with bleach water.  She has been sealing holes and sanding and masking.  She’ll begin priming the entire interior with Kilz primer this afternoon and then paint it all.  Soon all will be clean and shiny.

Meanwhile, I am attempting belt and suspenders on the fuel tanks.  As a review, both tanks developed pin hole leaks. I believe the process was accelerated by the construction methods used when the tanks were built 10 or 11 years ago.

To get the tanks out, lower salon berths had to be disassembled and both water tanks removed.  Then, a significant chunk of built in glued screwed and plugged cabinetry had to be removed.  Then, the upper saloon sole had to be removed. 

The tanks were delivered to a local welding shop which guaranteed they could repair the tank and there would be no leaks. 

 After repairing the first tank, we discovered a leak in the second tank.  After it was repaired, both tanks were reinstalled and most of the boat put back together, with new upper salon sole,

 only to discover that the first tank still had a leak.  We removed everything again and took that tank back to the welder.  He apologized profusely and repaired again and tested with light pressure.  Having no leak show up, we took the tank back to the boat.  However, before installing, I put it on saw horses and partially filled with fuel and let it set overnight.  No leak showed, so it was reinstalled and much of the boat put back together plus dumping about 7 gallons of fuel into it.  Next morning, a tiny leak manifested itself to Barbara's discerning eye.  Disassemble the boat again, pull the tank and drop off at the welding shop which had closed early on a Friday afternoon.  I made sure they could tell it was leaking and left “encouraging notes”.  Saturday and Sunday were spent throwing everything into the boat and preparing to close her up for 9 months.  Monday morning I met with the welder who promised the tank would be fixed and pressure tested and delivered to the boat.  We left for home an hour later.

As for the belt and suspenders, I’ve pressure tested both tanks personally.  KBS makes a fuel tank internal coating system which I will install in both tanks.  It’s time consuming but I believe worth it to do everything I can to prevent future problems.  It will be good to have them reinstalled and the new upper saloon sole in place and water tanks reinstalled and lower saloon berths rebuilt. 

Additional projects this trip include painting the topsides and deck and replacing the 50 year old teak toe rail with aluminum toe rail.  I still need to come up with a good idea and material for replacing the rub rails.  I also need to reinstall the cleaned engine heat exchanger and the new primary alternator,  and put new bearings in the wind generator, and check out the front seals of the transmission and reinstall it and check out the bilge pumps and install a garboard plug assembly and bottom paint and …..

Don’tcha just love owning a classic?

13 January, 2018

13 January, 2018

Good morning. We are sitting with our coffee and thinking of all of you. It is 33 degrees outside and consequently a perfect time to tell you the story of our trip to Submit.

As with any 'passage', one must wait for a 'weather window'.  The “conditions” for which we were waiting were, for example, appointments, truck repairs, new tires for motorhome, etc.

New tires for the motorhome? Yup. At one point we thought we were going to be headed here in Bev, our antique motorhome. We weren't able to find a place to rent for a month that fit our budget, so we had to dig Bev out of a foot of snow.  Of course we needed a place to park her while here and while searching for that…voila! We found a camper trailer to rent just a couple miles from Submit's winter home.  With her new tires, Bev plowed back up the driveway and nestled down in the snow. Back to plan A-the truck.

You might expect us to have been ready to leave at the drop of a hat since we had been aiming at departing as early as 12/26.  Well, we weren’t.  However, someone dropped a hat on 1/5 just after lunch.  Make a few phone calls, drive 50 miles round trip to pick up the pickup, grab some stuff and by 6:00 that night we were on the road. As it is bad luck to start of passage on a Friday, we just went to Missoula to eat ice cream and say good bye to family. Our voyage started on Saturday.  The Friday luck did get us though, as we began to remember all the things we had forgotten to grab in our rush to escape roughly two feet of snow at home.

In Missoula, we woke up to find Snow White, the truck, covered in a layer of ice. It was definitely time to leave the frozen North. Actually, we didn't head south. We were headed to North Dakota to see family. For the first few hours, the driver’s white knuckles matched the icy road conditions. As we moved east the temperature climbed and we were on our way.

On Sunday Reggie did a repair on Snow White's bed cover. We had a good visit and feasted on delicious dinners provided by grandson's elk.

Many of you encouraged us to take our time and enjoy the trip. Heeding your advice, after a day layover we drove to see the giant heads of SD, which we had never seen, but was on my bucket list. Quite impressive. I was particularly interested in learning how in the world that project was conceived and then carried out.

Tuesday was a travel day as we were excited to get to St. Louis for another visit. We were provided with another evening of good food, good conversation and some laughing.  We would like to have stayed longer but the news was full of warnings about a severe winter storm headed towards us

Snow White wanted an oil change, so we ended up sitting for a few hours in the lobby of a local Ford dealer waiting for that which caused another rather short day of travel. Wednesday we put some miles under the wheels. It looked like we would be in Nashville that night. Should we stop before Nashville and avoid rush hour? Should we stay in Nashville? Or maybe push through and stay of the other side? We chose option 3.  Nashville at rush hour is not for old folks from Montana. The helpful navigation voice from our phone said to exit, so we did. Hmmm? This hardly seems right. We are now driving through a rather old part of the city, then through two lane residential streets. "Go three blocks and turn right. Proceed to the stop sign and turn left. Go 100 feet turn right."  Our dear friends had encouraged us to spend some time in Nashville. "Go to the Grand Ol' Opry. Have some fun."  It is our theory that they somehow hacked our phone and sent us on a highly questionable tour of Nashville. Not sure why they took us through that particular area, however. Weird sense of humor?

Once back on the freeway and out of Nashville, we stopped in Murfreesboro for the night. Glad to be out of Nashville. In the morning the news was all about the winter storm. "Do not drive. Stay home. Schools and businesses closed." Nashville had freezing rain and soon snow would be covering the ice.  It was raining in Murfreesboro, but not freezing yet; however the temperature dropped about 20 degrees while we were breakfasting and preparing to get on the road.  Time to get a move on.

We outran the storm and arrived safely at our new temporary home in Satsuma, FL. (anyone know how to rotate this photo in the blog?)

As we prepared to retire, we closed the drapes and were welcomed by the current owner of the trailer:

He was almost 3" long.  We encouraged him to vacate.

The coffee is gone. The temperature is slowly climbing. I'll leave the next chapter until another day.

Barbara