Wednesday 9 December 2015

December 4-5, 2015 3 nights at anchor doing boat chores


passing thru the bridge at Stuart


we didn't go too far


scrubbing the deck before the next squall comes thru


we sprung a leak in the v-berth, hatch leaking


time to defrost the refrigerator


frozen meats, milk, yogurt, cheese safe in our cooler


when I checked the fresh veggies, some needed to be used .. curry sweet potato soup


making some of the holes in the salt shaker larger


our neighbour for 3 nights .. another squall passing thru


collecting drinking water


3 books read so far




supper in the making


a parade of lights, this is a troller fishing, he has caught a fish


pumping water from the dingy


boat chores .. fixing the oar handle




cleaning the solar fans


on the third day the sun came out, so we did more outdoor chores


well some of us did ..


installed a de odour thing , in the stink pipe .. it actually works


drying out our clothes and life jackets


we also checked all our 200 ft of chain

Friday December 4, 2015

We needed one last trip to shore and the marina, to post the blog, get rid of garbage, charge IPad, computer, phone, camera batteries, get water ….

We met up with "PIPER", (last time was more than a year ago), Tripp and his family, a young couple with two small children, from Beaufort, South Carolina.  They live on their boat and are having similar issues with solar panels and batteries .. Joe passed on some good info for them to try.

We where off the mooring ball by 11am and radioed the bridge for the next opening, it was then that we noticed the RR Bridge down, we had to wait for 1/2 hour for the train to come and pass.  Oh well we charged up the batteries after 2 days of no sun and limited wind.

We anchored about 4 miles away at Hogg Cove, just before the rains started for 2 days.  We anchored in 9 feet with our 35 lbs Rocna and 75 feet of 5/16 inch chain, we stood our ground with 20-25 knots, gusting to 30 knots when the squalls passed thru.

The boat has developed a few leaks, the hatch over the V-Berth, deck wiring into the head and one on the STB side of galley.  The V-Berth one is going to be harder to fix, we will need to remove the complete hatch, caulk it and re-install.

We started boat chores, cleaning the deck was priority when it wasn't raining, and then when it rained the fresh water rinsed it.

Some of the chores that we have now completed in the last 2 days, fix stove slider, fill stove alcohol bottles, tighten STB window nuts with new SS lock washers, clean radar, fix dinghy lock, tighten shrouds, adjust stuffing box again, check fuel leak, chalk input from deck wires, defrost refrigerator, air out all life jackets and wind breakers, fix dinghy oars, fix salt shaker, bail dinghy, clean head and call mom.

Saturday, December 5, 2015

In between the squalls we let out another 25 feet of anchor chain, in the gusts now we don't swing as much.  Boat chores continued….
Collecting rain water was a must, we got 5 gal. of drinking water, 4 gal for cleaning and filling the solar bag for our own cleaning .. ha ha

Sunday, December 6, 2015

In the morning the winds lightened a bit, the rain stopped and the sun is now shining.  We decided to stay put another day/night and do more boat chores, never ending.  Last year we travelled this next section on the ICW on a weekend and it as a zoo, with power boats waking us and jostling for spots at the bridges for openings.  We are not in a hurray at the moment to get to Lake North Worth, the weather window is iffy for a good crossing to Bahamas.

We have been in touch with "Clarity". Terry and Kim Ferenczy, from our yacht club in Owen Sound.  They are at Vero Beach and will head to Lake North Worth by Tuesday PM.  We are looking forward to meeting up again.

Two more trollers have come to our nice little cove for the night, both American…this cove could hold 500 or more boats and there is only 4 of us … nice


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