End of an era

End of an era

We often think about doing certain things someday.  Some of those things make it to the do it soon list.  As soon as we begin thinking of doing it soon, it seems to transition to do it now.

Situations conspired to move the sale of Submit from do it someday to do it now.  She is gone.  We are happy to report she is with a new owner who will love her as much as we did.

Anchors aweigh.

update

Good news.  The repair is done and we are back in the water.

Nothing was damaged.  There was an old crack where the rudder tube meets the hull and it opened up.  It has now been repaired and is stronger than the original.  The new Schumacher rudder we installed a while back is still just fine.

We launched last Thursday, Valentines Day.  We were delighted to have a visit from our Newfoundland friends Vic and Marilyn.  We did a little walking and shopping with them and later had dinner with them and their friends John and Joyce.

Friday and Saturday saw uneventful cruising down the AICW to anchor Saturday in Fort Pierce.  Yesterday we assembled the stealth dinghy and headed to Riverside Marina to visit Calgary friends Brian and Dawn Anne.  They are finishing projects on their boat prior to crossing over to the Bahamas.  We’ll stay here a few days and help if we can. On our way to Riverside, we took a little detour into Harbortown Marina. We did not go in the main channel, but rather through some pilings wy off t the side. It was pretty shallow. We were watching closely. It appeared that there was a large rock between two of the pilings, so we headed to pass between the next two. Then suddenly the rock was right under the dinghy. Turned out to be a very large manatee. It seemed almost a big as the dinghy.  It was close enough to the surface I was afraid the prop was going to hit it. That’s as close as I’ve been to one of those gentle beasts.

We’ve owned “Submit” for 10 years.  We’ve maintained, repaired improved and upgraded her.  She is a great boat and in much better condition now than when we bought her.  A couple in a power boat went out of their way to come along side yesterday morning to tell us “Submit’ is the most beautiful boat they have ever seen. I’m not sure I could go that far, but she certainly catches the eye. 

The time has come for “Submit” to find someone else to love her, hopefully at least as much as we have.  Our adventures with her are ending and we will be listing her for sale.  If there is anyone out there looking for a dream boat, let them know how to find us. 

Our boating attention will be spent on our other sailboat, Cal 27 T2 “Knot Ready”.  We will also join others on their boat or do some chartering.  This spring already offers a trip through the Panama Canal and sail up the coast to Costa Rica with friends.

Rudder or not

We anchored east of Jacksonville for the night of Friday, February 1^st.  It was a quiet night and comfortable with just blankets.  Saturday morning saw us making the south into the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway (AICW).  As a reminder for those not familiar with the ICW, It is sort of a two lane water highway just inshore of the ocean.  It is made up of connected rivers, streams, canals, marshes, etc.  The two lane width is marked by red and green markers most of which are only visible in the daylight.  They perform the same duty as the solid white lines on today’s highways.  If you go outside the white lines on a highway, you’re in the ditch or worse.  If you go outside the ICW markers you are aground on mud or sand or rocks or….  Much of the ICW is dredged between the markers to give enough depth for boat traffic.

Around 12:30 pm, as we are motoring along, a faster sailboat contacts us on the VHF to say they will pass us on our port side.  I favor the starboard side of the channel and have sufficient depth.  And then I don’t.  A sand or mud bar has extended into the channel and we are once again aground.  It is a soft grounding but though I tried several times we cannot get off.  Timing is about half way between high and low tide with the tide falling.  We need 5.7 ft to float and the depth gauge shows 5.1 ft and dropping.  We could sit tight and wait for the tide to come back in to lift us but that could be 7 or 8 hours, by which time it would be very dark and not wise to be moving in the ICW.  So, at 1pm, I swallow my pride and call TowBoatUS.  In Florida, membership in their service is worth its weight in gold even if you never use it. 

We are told assistance will arrive in about an hour.  So, we have lunch and sit back to wait.  No rain, little wind and the temperature is almost comfortable.  The boat is sitting upright and solid, until it isn’t.  At about the 45 minute mark of our wait, she tips to the starboard side which is towards shore.  We would be rail down into the water if there was water on that side.  That is how our towing service finds us when he arrives.

To free us, he ties on amidship on Submit and then cleats off to his stern, just 10 feet or so from us.  He then fires up his large engine, puts it in gear and uses his prop wash to wash away the mud under our keel.  It takes a while but eventually Submit begins to settle down into the hole he has created.  She straightens up and then heals to about 30 degrees to port.  After more propeller dredging and tugging at the bow we are free.  However, the dredging did not make it back to the rudder and there is a lot of pressure on the rudder.  Once free, everything seems to be working properly so we tip our rescuer, sign the forms and continue on. 

A couple hours later we drop anchor for the night and, after shutting everything sown, hear water running into the bilge.  It is not a lot, but it is a steady stream.  The source turns out to be from the spot where the rudder enters the hull.  The rudder shaft passes through the hull and into a fiberglass tube which is attached to the hull.  On many older boats the rudder tube/hull joint can be problematic.  Ours has not. 

We are able to easily keep up with the leak with our bilge pumps.  The bilge fills about half way over a period of several hours and then we pump it out.  Even so, having a leak in a boat is not good and it could get worse.  We decide to have it repaired, but it is not really an emergency and it is a weekend so we continue south hoping to find sunshine.

We have been very lucky with bridges.  We have arrived just in time to pass through each of the bridges which must be opened to let us through.  As we are congratulating ourselves on our good fortune, there is a notice on the VHF from the Coast Guard.  A bridge in the Daytona area has a fire on it and all vessels are prohibited from approaching it even though it is so high we could easily pass under.  We end up dropping anchor in the channel and having lunch while the problem is cleared, flashing lights everywhere.

Westland Marina in Titusville can put us in a slip Tuesday evening and haul us out Wednesday morning.  

Titusville friends keeping an eye on us.

The rudder and steering assembly seem fine.  Bobby is recommended as a fiberglass magician and comes to the boat Saturday morning.  He will return Wednesday to grind away the old tabbing, etc, and rebuild the joint heavier than ever.  Tentatively we will launch Thursday the 14^th and being back in the water will be our Valentine’s day gift.

A week in the life?

Oh, my, where to begin? I guess I’ll start at the beginning.

We finished up the necessary jobs and launched on Saturday as planned. Then we took the big motor home to town one last time. The plan is to load the rest of the things onto Submit on Sunday and pull out at high tide Monday morning. We need high tide to get out the channel from Gibson’s. It started raining about 3 AM on Sunday and continued to dump buckets until 5 AM on Monday. We moved the motor home next to the boat so we had a fairly short distance to haul stuff and bagged what we could to help keep it dry. Of course, wet was the rule of the day. It was slow going, so we didn’t finish. Monday was cold, but not raining, so we finished loading and put the motor home to bed and pulled away from the dock. We were later than we had hoped, but we were able to get out without touching bottom. The engine died partway out but restarted in time to keep us from hitting pilings.  We are on our way!

I think we mentioned in one previous post that water had gotten into the fuel tank. We made periodical checks of the filter and switched over to the second one.  We are making good time and hope to make it to the low bridge by low tide. But….the engine dies. We drop anchor in the middle of the St Johns River and start tracking down the problem. Sleuth Reggie determines it is the secondary filter. For those of you that know us well, this will be a surprise to you—we had no spare. (we hqve since acquired several) Reggie did something to a filter we did have on board to make it work for the clogged one and, after having lunch, we are under way again.

Reggie was on the helm and Barbara was below putting away everything that had been unceremoniously temporarily “stowed” on the V berth. She then decided to let Reggie go below and warm up, so she took the helm. Reggie was standing in the upper salon rearming our life jackets. Barbara checked the depth sounder, 17-20 feet. Then she scans the river for a channel marker. Suddenly Submit comes to an abrupt stop, her bow dips and the shallow water alarm goes off. We are in 5.5 feet of water. Reggie falls backwards like a tree that has been cut down in a stiff wind. Barbara calls out “Reggie! Reggie!” No response and he is not moving. She reduces the engine to idle, shifts the transmission to neutral and goes below. His eyes are slightly open, he is breathing heavily and making a groaning, gurgling noise. He does not respond to Barbara voice or touch. Then blood starts coming out of his mouth. Time to get help. Her hands are shaking too much to push all the buttons on her phone to call 911. She grabs the VHS “Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.”  The coast guard answers immediately, “What is your situation?” She answers all the million questions and Reggie starts to come to. He wants to get up from the floor. Barbara wants him to stay down, but she has to go out to the helm to get their location. The Coast Guard contacted Fire Recue and ordered an ambulance and a boat to come get him off Submit and on shore. They also contacted Boat US to tow us off. Barbara thinks she also talked to the Sheriff. It took 20 to 25 minutes for the boat to arrive and by then Reggie was sitting in the cockpit. He was unstable on his feet and wasn’t real sure what had happened, but he knew we were bouncing on the bottom and needed to do something. He had bitten his tongue, hence the blood. He was able to climb into the rescue boat with assistance. While they took him to shore and to the waiting ambulance a fire rescue member and Barbara prepared the boat to be left. Barbara thought she could get Submit off the sandbar as the tide had come it a little. Then she dropped bow anchor, collected needed items, turned off GPS etc.  When the rescue boat returned to take Barbara to shore, they hauled our stern anchor out and dropped it, too, to help keep Submit in place.  By the time Barbara got to the ambulance Reggie was almost fully alert and all vital signs were good. They still wanted to take him in to make sure there were no broken bones in his shoulder and no bleeding in his skull.

The ER visit was typical. Lots of questions and waiting. CT scan of head and neck and x-ray showed no fracture or bleeds. He has a concussion and sprained shoulder. Prescriptions for pain meds and a muscle relaxer were given as well as a sling. The only unusual thing that happened was two heavily armed uniformed men walked in, “Mr. Good?”  Oh, no, what now? They were from the Florida Wildlife Conservation. It turns out that they must investigate all boating accidents. They were very friendly and we had a nice chat. It turns out that there are only two sand bars on the river and we found one of them.

It was around 6:30 when Reggie was released. We were miles from the boat and it would have been possible to get there, but then what? There was no way to get out to Submit. Boat US had been working on a solution to getting us back on board. However, their boat was two hours away and if we were, in fact, no longer grounded, we would not be covered. We were exhausted and decided to take a taxi to a motel and work on logistics for getting back aboard Submit next day. All we had with us when we checked in was two life vests and some cash and cards Barbara grabbed from Submit before leaving.  Because we checked in with our life jackets we figured we would be safe.  The desk clerk did make a comment about how we pack lightly. They took pity on us and gave us tooth brushes and paste and a comb. Neither of us, but especially Reggie, wanted to move.  Barbara cooked in the room by ordering in pizza so Reggie could have food for taking his first dosage of meds and sleep well. The motel offered breakfast the next morning and then friends came to our rescue.  Larry and Barbara picked us up to take us to Harry and Darla’s because they have a fishing boat and live not far from where Submit went aground.  

We are grateful to the Coast Guard, sheriff’s office, Fire Rescue, Boat US, and of course our friends.

We were not sure what we would find.  Would submit have drifted away?  Would she have been stolen?   Did she sustain damage in the grounding and took on water and sank?  Would she have been vandalized? 

Submit was still in place hard aground and sitting about 8” higher out of the water than usual.  We were able to board from Harry and Darla’s nice fishing boat.  We hoisted the bow anchor and were able to drag the stern anchor aboard.  We tried to back off the sandbar but she would not budge even with their boat trying to help.  There really wasn’t much else Harry and Darla could do for us, so, after carrying our stern anchor out to deep water for us to use as a kedge, we said our goodbyes, thank you and sent them home.  We would set an alarm for high tide in about 5 hours and settle in for the evening. 

Water depth said 5.1ft.  Reggie hauled in as much slack as the stern anchor would allow and we went below to have dinner.  Barbara was all set to cook a nice hot meal when we discovered the propane system would not work so no cook stove?  What to do? No problem!  We had been carrying, for YEARS, a supply of military MREs (meals ready to eat! Yum!)  So, out of the depths of a storage compartment came a chicken fajita dinner with seasoned rice and tortillas, and a pasta primavera dinner.  Just stick the primary portion of the dinner in its self heating pouch, add a little water and in about 5 minutes a hot dinner.  Other parts of the meal just needed small amounts of hot water.  Sorry, no propane means no hot water.  And, after 30 or 40 years, self heating pouches don’t.  We managed to eat some of the dinners cold and didn’t die!

Water depth was checked over the next couple hours and dropped to 5.0 ft and then 4.9 ft.  When it came back up to 5.0 ft, Reggie again took up what slack he could on the rear anchor line and we settled down to read and sleep until the alarm went off.  In about ten minutes, Barbara looks out the window and asks if those are airplanes or moving lights?  They begin to reverse their motion so it seems they must be lights.  Reggie heads to the cockpit to check depth and the anchor line only to discover that we are in 30 feet of water.  We did not even feel moving off the sandbar.  Quickly the aft anchor is hauled in, the engine started and we head directly away from the sandbar to mid river and drop anchor in 17 feet of water for the night.

Not our most pleasant night. It is bitterly cold and the wind is howling, the river is rough. Reggie gets up to tie the boom down so it quits squeaking and banging. Then Barbara get up to remove a gender that had been forgotten and kept knocking on the hull to be retrieved. Then it was Reggie’s turn again to reset the anchor chain lock because the anchor was banging every time we rode up a wave.

Wednesday morning dawns cold, overcast and a north wind blowing 15 with higher gusts and wind chills in the low 30’s.  And, we must head north into the wind and waves.  Neither of us was very hungry so we had a little snack and headed out.  Reggie donned long pants, long sleeve shirt and fleece top to wear under his foul weather jacked.  Barbara found his black watch cap with a bill and his supposed-to-be warm gloves and he zipped to his nose, put up his hood and started north.  Our hope was to make at least 13 miles to a bridge which we could only get under at low tide.

The north wind caused 3-4 ft waves on the river.  Bashing into them threw spray over the bow and occasionally into Reggie’s face.   The waves also caused the fuel in the tanks to slosh a little.  This dredged up some of the water which had leaked into the tanks.  It slowly began showing up in the Racor dual fuel filter.  After about two hours, there was so much water in the first filter that Barbara had to go down into the port lazarette and switch to the other filter.  In another hour and a half or so, the second filter showed almost at the maximum we could allow for water.  On top of that, Reggie had gotten chilled to the bone.  We pulled out of the main channel and dropped anchor.  We had a bite of lunch and then curled up below with every blanket we had to see if Reggie could warm up. This led to some napping. 

After the nap, Reggie warmed up enough play Whack-a-Mole and crawl down into the lazarette to drain water from the filters.  Decision time.  No way to heat anything to eat or drink, let alone a way to keep us warm, and there are freeze warnings out for tonight.  Thanks to the headwinds and waves and sometimes only making 3 knots speed, we still have about 4 miles to go to the too low bridge and it is nearing low tide.  Do we grit our teeth and just stay put for the night and shiver ahead in the morning or buck up and leave now?  The wind and waves have eased some.  Reggie remembers a marina not far past the bridge which has one slip which might work for us if we can get there before 5pm and it is after 3pm now.  Pile on clothes and blankets, haul anchor and away we go.  The possibility of electricity to run a little heater is too appealing.   We are able to make better speed now and are able to squeak under the bridge.  We arrive at the marina at around 4:30 and are able to fit into their tie up spot.  We decide to stay two nights since tomorrow is still supposed to be so cold.

The shore power cord just barely reaches the power outlet and the tiny electric heater starts to try to thaw the interior of the boat.  We gather up dinner fixin’s and are able to cook a hot meal in the community room.  A lady tied up near us sees us arrive and gives us four packets of hot chocolate mix to help us warm up.  After two, Reggie can feel his hands.  After three, he feels his feet.  We have a nice hot meal, head back to the boat to bed down with all the blankets plus the little heater.  The heater manages to warm the boat and us and we sleep well.  Next morning, we take breakfast supplies and coffee to the community room and have hot showers and a hot breakfast.  An Enterprise rental car helps provide a temporary solution to the propane issue and allow for a take-out lunch.  A later run covers lots of miles but is unable to solve any issues, but does allow for a dinner out which keeps Barbara from having to cook and wash dishes.  Perhaps on the way for an early drop off of the rental car tomorrow, we’ll get breakfast before returning to Submit to cast off lines and heading farther north to Jacksonville.

We are not posting any pictures this time.  Between Barbara’s frightened shakes at seeing Reggie in the bottom of the boat unconscious and Reggie’s shakes from freezing half to death, all the pictures are too blurry to post.  (actually, we never took any!)

update 24 January 2019

We’ll start our workday a little later today thanks to a storm.  Heavy rains in the late night hours leave things wet and messy and morning squalls with high winds are still passing through.

It has been a busy week here in Make Boat be Gone.  Jobs are getting crossed off Barbara’s to-do list.  We appear to be on schedule for a launch on Saturday the 26^th of January in this new year 2019.  Some jobs have been pushed to a future date.  We could have done the hull repaint to change from the wrong color they sent us last year to the correct color we ordered originally, claret.  Or, we could keep the existing color and arrive in time to pick up Madeline, our granddaughter.  Fire engine red for this year it is!

Cruising friends Larry and Barbara from SV “Hoodless” came from St Augustine for a visit.  That created a nice afternoon work break and an excuse to go out for shrimp dinner specials.  If we head south on the Intracoastal Waterway from Jacksonville we would pass through St Augustine and may get to see them again.

A couple nights ago, Tommy, our host and boatyard manager, invited us and several others to his home for a low country boil dinner on the veranda of his home. 

It was our first and I hope not our last.  The food was delicious, the folks enjoyable and the after dinner music played on beautiful custom Kight guitars most entertaining.

One day the mail delivery person saw Barbara working on the bow and stopped to take this pre-bottom paint picture and send it to us.  

At the time I was in the anchor locker putting nuts on the screws Barbara is holding. I’m not divulging my secret for getting into that tiny space. Alice in Wonderland, perhaps?

While I worked on other projects, Barbara took on the task of painting the boat bottom with bottom paint to protect the boat from barnacles, etc.  She has applied two coats all by her lone-self and will finish up some final spots later today if the sun comes out.  She’s a great worker.

We are down to little tasks such as bottom paint touch up and applying the boat name, hailing port and registration numbers, and then getting the motor home ready for several months sleep.  One big task left to complete is moving everything aboard and stowing it.  Tools, spare parts, cushions, clothing, bedding, and boat supplies.  Going through everything and deciding which to take aboard, which to store for now and which to throw away takes lots of time and trips up and down the ladder.  

We fired up the behemoth motor home for a day trip through town to complete last minute tasks; laundry, mail a couple items, pick up 1 needed machine screw, pick up the boat name, etc., and grocery shopping.

Oh yes, provisioning and stowage of those provisions is a huge task.  Many items are unavailable in tiny towns near anchorages in the Bahamas and are often more than triple in cost if you do find them.  Wine is hard to find and expensive and how would we survive without a glass in the evening to toast the most recent beautiful desert island anchorage?  Therefore many boxes of wine, with boxes removed, find their way into various hiding spots.

Between jobs yesterday we hauled armloads of the $600 worth of groceries purchased on the day trip.  It is one story up the ladder into the boat.  All is not yet loaded and each armload must be carried about a block from the motor home to the boat.  Then, late in the afternoon, the UPS truck arrives to drop off the two day delivery order from online shopping at Costco.  Everything had to be hauled up and sequestered in the boat before the rain. 

A reward presented itself in the evening.  We sat down by the shore of the St Johns River to enjoy a rest and an evening libation and were joined by boatyard friends. We shared treats and stories and a cloudy sunset before the storm.

Progress

Progress

No mold!  Barbara was first into “Submit” and found no mold.  This was the first time ever there has been none.  She’s a happy lady.  Those of you who read about our visit to the boat last year will recall that we found the interior of the boat to be covered in black mold when we arrived.  A friend who had seen the inside thought we would take one look and junk the boat.  He didn’t know Barbara well enough yet.

Work on the boat progresses.  All lifeline stanchions and lifelines have been reinstalled.  A new replacement wind generator has been installed.  Toe rail bolts and other through deck bolts have been tightened and a couple re-bedded to eliminate tiny leaks.  The engine heat exchanger has been cleaned and reinstalled.  And the list goes on as other odds and ends are addressed. 

One issue is some water in the fuel tank.  The tanks were virtually empty after having been reinstalled subsequent to repairs.  However, the fuel fill cap on deck was not tight and water found its way to the tanks.  I pumped out as much as possible but I fear some remains and will rear its head at the most inopportune times as the boat moves about after launching. 

The new-to-us motor home has been great as our boatyard residence.  We’ve been allowed to park it near the boat and have been quite comfortable.  It seems huge to us after Bev.  We are spending a little time addressing minor issues as we find them.

My current goal is to have the boat ready to launch by 26 January.  I want to be able to check her out before heading south.  We need to be in Palm Beach, Florida, by 6 February to retrieve our granddaughter from the airport.  Depending on weather and route the trip could take as much as 7 or 8 days.  Having a grandchild join us on “Submit” is a treat for us.  We hope she enjoys her stay.

it only took 3 weeks

It only took 3 weeks, but we have arrived at Submit.  

Today we will climb on board and see how she faired, but first let us tell you about our last week on the road. We were anxious to get out of the freezing weather, even though we now had heat on board. 2019 greeted us with a temperature of 9 degrees and frozen water as well as blowing snow. The next two days were freezing rain and flooding. It rained hard enough that visibility was poor and that made it hard to miss the bumps in the rough road. Not the most fun driving conditions.  

Day four finally smiled on us with sunshine. We smiled back until we discovered our own flooding. The carpet was wet under two different windows, but worse than that, one of the basement compartments had flooded. Many of our books were water logged and trashed. One is still drying us on the dash.

We have had some fun, of course. We spent a couple days in Pensacola visiting friends. Some let us borrow their van to pick up parts for Bev’s replacement (still looking for a name), others let us park in their covered RV spot.  Good conversations and yummy food.  

In Texas we had to stop at a Buckees again. Buckees truck stops are way more than a truck stop and are notorious for extra clean and fancy bathrooms. And dozens of fuel pumps.  And all the treats in the world, such as fresh made on site fudge and barbecue sandwiches and honey glazed nuts and …..   We didn’t need anything, but a visit is always fun.

We enjoyed the Lafayette Science Museum. This is a well designed, hands on museum. Some of the displays were above Barbara’s head, but she enjoyed most of it and even learned some things. Reggie was amazed as he ‘swam’ in the virtual reality ocean 

Unfortunately, Barbara had a Jonas experience and was stuck in the whale’s skeleton.  

The other educational stop was the Infinity Science Center 

near Stennis Space Center. We watched a 3D movie about our solar system and well as a movie projected on a globe. We were buckled in for a virtual rocket launch. We walked through a model of a space station experiment module. The last experience was a virtual trip in a submarine. We were suppose to use joy sticks to navigate and fix a leak in an oil well. We had no idea what we were doing and left a little disappointed with that event, but overall it was fun.

The other two fun stops were at Harvest Hosts. It is an organization of wineries, farms, golf courses, etc which provide spaces for RVs at no charge. Our first experience was Brushy Creek Winery. Once we were settled in we went for a wine tasting. This is a very casual winery where we just sat and chatted with the owner and some of the locals. All the wines are made from Texas grapes. We tasted some new varieties and left with yet another box of wine, except this box had six bottles it.  

Hurricane damage was in evidence along I-10.  Even though we were not on the coast, there were downed trees and signs everywhere.  Residences destroyed by falling trees, roofs and outbuildings torn apart.  Several sections of forest had nothing left but snapped off stumps of all heights.  They  resembled fields of stalagmites.

Our last stop was at another Harvest Host, the Tallahassee Antique Auto Museum

 The gates close at 5 and we were not going to make it until 5:30, so we called to cancel. However, as luck would have it, they were staying open until 7, so we were able to get in to the grounds for our free overnight stay. In the morning we spent a couple hours touring the museum, looking at an amazing collection of dolls, Steinway pianos, knives, guns, jukeboxes, canoes, motorcycles, outboard motors and, of course cars.  An no stop in the south is complete without Elvis

First night at the boat yard, view out our front window 

we enjoyed our first sundowner with a beautiful sunset 

and catching up with some of our boat yard friends.

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.