Looking Forward to Some Boat Work!

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Hooray!!!! My plants maintenance outage is finally behind me. I have spent the last three weeks completing a $3 million dollar rebuild of our largest steam boiler. This is done working 24 hours a day on a very tight schedule.

Now it's time to recoup and get my head into a more normal pace. And... start to think about a trip to visit the boat and do some work in preparation for out trip down the ICW in May.

I have five days to stay on the boat and complete some projects. So far on my list is a general check of the boats systems electrical system to make sure the batteries and charger are working and ready to go. I will also troubleshoot the depth sounder to see if it can be repaired, or needs to be replaced. I will also be applying new bottom paint. I am thinking of Trinidad SR. This will be rolled on over an existing copper epoxy bottom paint that is still in good shape.

I have debated whether to put a traditional copper bottom paint over the epoxy bottom. I have decided to repaint due to the age of the epoxy (8 years) and comments from locals as to what works down here in the warm murky waters of NE Florida.

I will also be hooking up the radar that was installed, but never wired.

Woody

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While the board was down I spent 5 days on the boat in Maryland. I checked out all of the systems and prepared it for the trip south to Florida. I finished wiring the radar but unfortunately am getting a "bearing pulse error". I think a trip up the mast will be required to check out the wire terminations. I installed the bearing sensor for the electronic compass and I also had to swap out a fresh water pump and applied a new coat of bottom paint. It was a very busy five days.The only systems left unchecked is the engine, since the boat is on the hard. The plan is to arrive on a Saturday morning and get settled on the boat through Sunday. The boat should be in the water on monday, and we will head south starting Tuesday if all goes well.

I was able to load most of the storage locker contents onto the boat. There are boxes of extras, including several large spools of wire and stainless nuts and boats. Once I have things sorted into what I will and won't be taking cruising, I'll have a heck of a sale.

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We fly out this Saturday to Maryland. We'll spend Sat-Mon getting the boat ready to go in the water. This will incldue getting the inflatable and outboard on the boat, bending on the sails, provisioning and a million other things. We hope to put the boat in on Monday, change the oil and start south on Tuesday, weather permitting. We'll have two weeks of travel time and have been looking forward to it for months. Then we'll finally have the boat in Florida for some sailing and project time.

As long as I am in Sprint range I'll have email and web access. I'll try to post a few updates along the way. This will be a great trial with the kids, 8 and 10. We'll see how they get along. I hope to involve them in as many aspects of the boat as they will allow.

My next dellema is figuring out how to get back to Herrington Harbour after returning the car to the Baltimore Airport. It seems the biggest challenges have nothing to do with the boat.

Woody

[irwinsailor]

Good Luck! I wish I could go. I think we will hit the water about June 15. I think of all the things that should be done and the time I have to do them and wonder how it will get done in time. I think June 15 2006 my be a better date.

[Jeff H]

Depending on the time of day, I might be able to help out. I live in Annapolis so the round trip is no big deal.

Jeff

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Wow. Thanks Jeff. That's a nice offer. I will need to return the car to BWI on Monday evening or there abouts. I would be looking for a ride from BWI back to Herrington Harbour North. That's actually quite a drive from my experience. I would be more than happy to compensate from some gas and time with cash, a beverage, or whatever!

If this can work for for you drop me a private message or an email at mw(at)dancinglight.us.

Woody

[tenknots]

Woody, I live near Herrington Harbor - if you need to run to the grocery store (West Marine is right there) or something, let me know. I can send you my phone # via email.

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tenknots,

Thanks for the offer. We plan to arrive on Saturday and do all of our provisioning, etc while we have a rental car. Hopefully we won't need one after we return it on Monday. But if you drop me a note with your number, I'll thankfully keep it on hand for the unexpected. Also, feel free to drop by HHN and say hello. We'll be the Prout 37 that is somewhere between the "hard" and the lift.

Thanks, Woody

[Pblais]

Best of luck in your launching. I've had two friends bring boats down the bay this year. Folks down at the deep end seem to like to buy boats from folks up at the skinny end of the bay<g>. Each did well but getting there was not always as expected.

Be flexible, resourceful and maintain a sense of humor getting into the water and out of port. take nothing for granted but expect nothing. It's more a state of mind than anything else. I hope you'll have a fun filled journey.

Should you find yourself wanting near the York River I can be found if you send a private message before you leave.