Ides of March Update - Still in Tampa

Apologies for not updating the blog in a long time, but we’ve been spinning our wheels a bit.  We are still in Tampa at Westshore Yacht Club & Marina.  The good news is that the marina and neighborhood is beautiful with a friendly dog park, manicured landscaping with palm trees and our dock neighbors are very friendly.  


Luckily we are on the dock with several live aboard sailors as well as locals that visit their boats regularly, so we have drinks with Scott, Christy, Gale, Mike, Randy, Vince and chats with Perry, Evan, Michael, Looz, Lanny, Matz, Rod, Keith and many more pretty regularly.  

Patrick from Lake Lanier has visited us twice and Neil & Janet also visited.  AJ & George meet us for dinner, lunch and drinks nearly every week and we spent 4 weeks attending AJ & Christy’s bowling league.  So socially we are busy and mostly comfortable.

Nearly everyday we see dolphin or manatees and/or mullet, snook, bass, red tail fish, plus lots of bird life of pelicans, loons, heron, osprey, hawks, blackbirds, egret, etc.  For some reason lots of fish flock to the south sea wall drawing fishermen and birds, and since we walk Shiloh three times a day he gets lots of chances to chase all the above.  He’s learned to spot dolphin but isn’t sure what manatees are since they move so slowly just under the top of the water like their nickname sea cows.

Unfortunately we are still live aboards in a marina instead of cruisers gunk-holing down the “Suncoast.”  Everyone asks when we are leaving but when the departure date moves from December to March, even that question gets a little old.  I once read a book about a couple that cruised the Pacific and was mystified at why it took them 2 years to prepare their boat.  Why so long?  I wondered.  Now I know.  It was very naive to believe we could have the boat ready in 3 months.  Even after the survey inspection by a professional with a list of 116 recommendations, and indexing that list by priority and price into 2 spreadsheets and a workplan, a person can only tackle so many jobs at one time.  (Turns out the surveyor missed the fuel tank and holding tank, two of the biggest reasons I wanted to buy a bigger boat)

For example, Installing the Windlass took over 12 weeks from initially ordering one to the first measurements to replacing a faulty foot switch.  We returned the first one since it was vertical and the motor above deck with a horizontal one with the motor below deck, so two weeks to get the new one from Maxwell through our marine chandlery Island Nautical.  We’ve been working with a boat contractor handy man John from Weathermark Marine. He’s very knowledgeable with experience from bow to stern, so instead of hiring 5 different specialists, he comes over about once a week to help me do projects that are above my pay grade or skillset.

He probably came over 5 times to measure the anchor locker and create/fit the folding fiberglass base for the windlass and then another 3 times to install and run the wiring.  Just the windlass labor has been about >$1,500 which was similar to two quotes I got from a couple other guys.  Since John takes care of 3 other boats and makes other service calls as well as teaches sailing, it’s not like we can do the work 5 days in a row.  In the meantime we either bought or replaced the new holding tank, installed a windex, radar reflectors, new VHF/AIS, ePIRB & Nav Charts(thank Neil & Janet), whisker pole topping lift, sheet jammer, dinghy motor bracket, 3rd battery and battery box, run electrical conduit, new anchor chain/rode/shackles, bow roller, single sideband radio, a new Tablet with Navionics, dry bags/ditch kit, Garmin Bluechip, auto-inflatable life jackets with tethers, chain snubber, cockpit pedestal folding table, flares, inverter, LED light bulbs, cockpit cushions, zincs plus a hundred other items....

Nearly every big job has caused frustration as about 1/3 of the things we buy either have to be returned or don’t fit or are delayed in shipping.... (A $5 bow roller from Wal-Mart was too big so I ordered a $70 custom built one that arrived after two weeks from Hunter Owner's, turn out it was too big too so we had to shave off 1/8 of an inch on each side, now it fits)

The solar panels were identified in November, but a recall was announced so we waited until January to buy a newer version.  They were delivered two weeks late bc the vendor had to create a Paypal account for the first time bc his credit with the manufacturer was denied.  Then the canvas maker was a week late in creating the pockets (so total 2 weeks), then we didn’t wire them in until two weeks after we installed them in the dodger and bimini because we were missing two Y connectors but eventually just used a block connector bc the original vendor was in Mexico on vacation and we waited another week for John to come back once we realized we couldn’t get the part.

The good news is that the 4x50 watt solar panels look and work great, giving us a peak of 9 amps/hr at noon and nearly 30-40 amps a day of charging power to our 3 AGM batteries.  The battery monitor and solar charging controller/remote and displays are humming along at the nav station, and I’m learning how to monitor them.

The Sunday before last we tried to go sailing, but just a mile down the channel, the engine died again with air in the fuel lines.  Luckily AJ and Patrick were on board and we sailed back into the marina having to douse the double reefed mainsail in order to jibe and then coast up to the transient dock.  After bleeding the fuel lines of air and replacing the fuel/water separator filter, I accidentally left the engine raw water sea cock closed (the opposite of the mistake I made when this same problem occurred and hydrolocked the engine and ended up having to replace the fuel injectors) and so we turned around again mid-channel due to high temperature alarm.  We went back to the dock a 2nd time and I changed out the impeller in under 30 minutes.  Then we went sailing.  This is the 2nd time we’ve had trouble with air in the fuel lines and all symptoms point to the fuel tank.  This past week we drained the fuel tank, inspected the pickup lines and dropped the tank off the angle it was on with straps and blocks.  However, it’s impossible to remove the tank without cutting the fiberglass which is too much of a big job since we’ve blown past our budget by double.  I’m hoping to clean the tank and re-install it flat or with a minimal angle and add a 14 gallon fuel bladder that I also purchased as an auxiliary tank that will help keep the original 20 gallon hard plastic tank as topped off as possible.  

On one hand, we are learning and getting used to living on the boat, so the experience is rich.  But living in 250 square feet with a big dog is trying, and we especially miss our friends back in Atlanta.  Raquel went to visit her family in Austin back in mid-January, and ended up staying a month because her mom broke her leg.  It was fortunate that Raquel was able to help her mom and dad, since she was in the hospital and rehabilitation center for a couple weeks.  Looking back Raquel would have preferred to have stayed longer, but I just didn’t have a good estimate for how long these final repairs/upgrades were going to take....The good news is that her mom is home and walking again but still doing physical therapy.

Once the fuel tank issue is resolved, we plan to do a sea trial up to Clearwater.  If all works well then we hope to leave for Naples in a week or so....and then eventually the Keys and Bahamas....always in a week or so...

We may be able to extend the trip into June.  Some good news is that all these delays have given us time to get Serendipity USCG documented as well as get our Customs Decal and SVRS paperwork completed...

The wifi in the Marina is terrible so ironically Raquel almost prefers to go the laundry once a week to just get a reliable internet connection.  She had to return the iPad we bought bc the GPS didn't work, and that was after my tablet died bc it won't take a charge.  Oh well...

Wish us luck!  Please just don’t ask when we are leaving...

P.S. Here's a photo of our neighbor Gale sailing his 36' Beneteau, it's such a beautiful boat and a similar size to ours...one day we'll get a picture of us under full sail but in the meantime, this is close...