We finally converted to long term cruisers/live aboards. We moved aboard in October to get ready to leave and after the completion of our
cockpit enclosure we pulled away from the
dock two weeks ago today. We have had a few issues, the cat (feline not boat) discovered you get an unexpected result if you don't know the difference between a
dock and a reflection of a dock. She does swim well even if she's not happy about it. We left
Morehead City on Thanksgiving and went directly to Cumberland Island in GA. It's really a beautiful place and recommend spending a couple of days there if you haven't already done so. We went outside to St. Augustine and then down the
ICW to Melbourne.
We were trying to make a scheduled opening of a bridge in New Symrna Beach and blew the front main seal in our starboard sail drive and also saw some milkyness in the
oil. This is the 4th seal in 3.5 years. The local
mechanic claims the problem is a worn bearing that causes motion in the shaft that exceeds the capability of the seal. Clearly replacing the seal hasn't been cutting it so we'll see if this
repair works. So now after only two weeks here we sit
on the hard hoping that the
repair doesn't take too long.
In the meantime we have also found that the
solar panels are inadequate in the
winter though we have been getting away with only two hours/day on the genset. Of course the
wind has been blowing well for our 14 hours of darkness, making me rethink my decision not to put a
wind generator on board.
Gayle has posted some nice pictures on our blog and is going to put some more up today.
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