Still in Merritt Island, December 9th-18th

Wayne will be telling you later about his ongoing repair challenges but first, the fun things that have happened over the past week-and-a-half:

On December 10th we enjoyed a family gathering to belatedly celebrate Wayne's 65th birthday and his big brother, Howard's, somewhat larger upcoming birthday.  Sister Judy arranged to include brother Harlan and his wife, Patty, sister-in-law Nancy, and Wayne's oldest brother, Howard, with the two of us.  We all gathered for supper out at a local restaurant and then several returned to our "house" for birthday cake on the boat.  It was fun to spend some time with these Thrailkills.  Candles on the cake for the two birthday boys?  Forget it.  We would have burned the place down.  They had to make do with one that sang "Happy Birthday" to them. 


Wayne, Judy, Harlan, Howard

Later that week we got together with Roger and Marcy's family to celebrate their granddaughter Nathalie's fifth birthday.


Happy five-year-old Nathalie

Colleen with Gemini, a very docile great Dane who attended Nathalie's party.

Quilting News

Last Thursday Marcy joined me (Colleen) for a Shop Hop.  This is what quilters call a quilters' shopping trip to multiple quilt shops.  We had great fun visiting three local stores - Sew Central in Merritt Island, Quilting Folks in Cocoa and The Quilt Place in Rockledge. 



The bright, cheery shop at Sew Central

Long arm machines at The Quilt Place work on the
quilting of customers' homemade quilt tops.

We looked at quilting gadgets - you can't imagine the number of specialized tools that are out there just for us, and we browsed through thousands of bolts of beautiful fabric and chatted with enthusiastic shop owners and clerks.






Sample quilts hang from the ceiling of The Quilt Place.  What a paradise!

Then, on Friday morning Marcy and I visited the monthly meeting of Rocket Quilters, the guild in the town of Cocoa, serving this space oriented community around Kennedy Space Center.  This guild is very active - 125 members and a waiting list and lots of quilting activities going on.  We were welcomed with open arms and enjoyed getting to know the guild's members.



Marcy at the guild meeting with Rocket Quilters

 

Another Boating Adventure
Friday afternoon Roger and Marcy joined us on the boat for an overnight trip.  We traveled down the Intracoastal Waterway for about five miles, anchored just off Cocoa Village and fixed a supper of hamburgers, boiled potatoes (made in the rice cooker) and salad.



"Captain" Roger multitasking as he
pilots Cool Change


 

Flat Kate sews with Marcy on the boat.  She is traveling around the country as
part of a geography lesson in our granddaughter Kate's extended day program
in Boston.  Having spent some time in the North Carolina mountains and
with great-aunt Judy in Colorado, she's now wintering with us here in Florida for
a few weeks before heading out to Portland, Oregon. 

The next morning we started up the generator and it quickly overheated and shut itself down.  Once our mechanic had determined that the problem should not be fixed at the anchorage and that we could safely continue our travel, we sat back and enjoyed a beautiful cruise down to the end of Merritt Island on the ICW and then back to the marina by way of the Banana River which runs along the east side of the island.  Merritt Island is a strip of land that starts with the Kennedy Space Center at the north end and runs to Melbourne, FL at the south end.  The Banana River separates M.I. from the beaches and the ICW (the Indian River) separates it from the mainland of Florida.  It's a unique, fragile envirionment and a close-knit community, despite its long, narrow geography.

Merritt Island - our marina is at the top left hand edge of the "A" balloon

Morning on the Indian River



 

Next the Bad News...........

 

We had decided early on to call this year's trip the "people cruise".  But it is beginning to become the "repair cruise".  The problem with the generator turned out to be self-inflicted.  Wayne tested the seacock valve that lets water flow to the generator set when he was replacing the starboard motor impeller.  But....he somehow left it closed.  The result was that the gen set water pump ran dry and disintegrated.  Oh boy, another impeller to replace.  Actually this neglect led us to find that the water hose leading to the pump was ready to fall off because the single hose clamp securing it had corroded in two.  Marine standards recommend two hose clamps on all water and fuel hose so that there is a backup to secure the hoses.  Back at the dock the repair took just a couple of hours as we had a spare impeller onboard and Wayne is highly skilled at impeller replacement by now.

The pump is somewhere here where the belts are.

Carefully capturing all the pieces of the rubber impeller from the generator motor.

Now for the next repair!  During the night whle we were anchored, our water system pump kept coming on every 3 minutes or so.  The deduction - we have sprung a leak in our water system line somewhere.  No big problem when all that will empty into the bilge of the boat is the contents of our 70 gallon water tank.  But it could sink our boat when hooked up to constantly flowing city water at the marina.  Knowing that this would become a real issue shortly, we were attentive for any sound of water inside the boat and planned to tackle this problem on day two back at the marina.  The problem did not wait.  Before we could start the search for the leak, our aft bilge pump came on automatically and pumped on and on.  We turned on the middle and forward bilge pumps and they ran for ten mnutes to empty the bilge.  Lots of Water!!!! 

A search below the master stateroom bed (moving the queen-sized mattress that covers the water heater tank is quite a job in itself) revealed that the hot water heater was leaking at the PVC elbow coming out of the water heater.  When the elbow was touched it just fell apart. It took longer to find the part at Ace and then Home Depot than it did to complete the repair job.

The leak is in the smaller whte elbow at the end of the smaller white tubing.

The nut to the left is supposed to be part of the elbow.

So, just for fun, let's recap our repairs so far this trip:

Replace the bow thruster gear box
Sand and paint the entire bottom of the boat
Starboard impeller replacement
Generator impeller replacement
Doubling of clamps on the cooling system hoses to the gen set after finding a disintegrated clamp
Water system repair

Are we having fun yet?  Sure we are.  The weather is great and we're enjoying the company of lots of interesting people.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all of you!
Wayne and Colleen



 

Dec 5 - 8, Ponce Inlet to Merritt Island, FL

Ponce Inlet (Daytona) to Merritt Island

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We were launched about 10:30 on the 5^th after paying the big repair bill at Lighthouse Boat Yard and we backed away from the boat hoist about 10:45 into swift incoming current.  After navigating the makeshift channel of PVC markers we throttled up and experienced strong vibrations in the drive train.  The port cutlass bearing on that driveshaft had been replaced so we suspected that the vibrations were coming from there.  We placed the port shifter in neutral to isolate it and the vibrations continued.  Then the starboard engine was put in neutral and the vibrations ceased.  Now what????  Why was the starboard drive system vibrating?  No work was done there.  The most likely assumption was that something must be entangled in the port propeller.  We continued forward and turned into the ICW as we were thinking what our options were.  Suddenly an alarm went off for who knows what reason.  We checked all instruments and realized that the port engine was overheated so we shut it down.  We quickly agreed that there was no way that we could get back to the marina and dock safely against the strong incoming current on one engine.  So..we proceeded toward Merritt Island on one engine while we considered our situation. 

Near the spot where our boat was launched there was a boat being painted.  There was tattered visqueen being blown by the winds all week.  We can only imagine that a large piece of this plastic fell into the water, was pulled into our starboard propeller as we backed away from the lift and was sucked over our water intake causing the pump impeller to run dry and disintegrate.  Where is the pump and how do we repair it?  We would need to wait until we arrived at our marina destination in Merritt Island and the engine cooled so that we could trace the problem.

I think the raw water pump is here.

 No repair manual here.  Followed the intake water hose to this point.  It looked like a pump beneath this black hose and it was the raw water pump.


Here is the result of the water-deprived raw water pump impeller.


 

On the left is the damaged impeller.  Look how badly it was chewed up compared to a new impeller!
 This impeller was not pumping a drop of water to the motor.

We only found debris enough for 7 of the 12 blades.  The rest is lodged in the heat exchanger or the motor somewhere.  Let's hope that passes out the water cooled exhaust and causes no problems later.

 

After cleaning the debris from the pump body

 

 

The bright side of the situation is that we gained vast trust in our ability to manage our boat on just one engine and with limited maneuverability.   We also found that our ideal hull speed on just one engine is 7mph.  That is slower than we thought.  At 7 mph we produced very little wake and the fuel gauge barely moved.  Very good news.

We gauged our travel speed and reviewed our charts as we knew that we could not make it the 50 or so miles to Merritt Island in the daylight we had remaining at this lower speed.  We had several GO / No GO destinations to consider.  Once we passed  one anchorage in Mosquito Lagoon within sight of NASA’s VAB building, we would be committed to another 2 hours of travel to the next protected anchorage.  We proceeded past that spot in calm water but then winds were beginning to increase after we passed through Haulover Canel.  We passed up a possible anchorage in Titusville, talking on the radio to George and Debra who had settled down there.  About 4:15 we made it to an anchorage just south and east of the NASA Causeway Bridge, about 40 miles from our morning departure point at Ponce Inlet.  (Note: this would have only been less than a one hour trip in a car).  Three other boats were thinking the same and joined us there for the night.  This turned out to be a wonderful anchorage as the winds died down overnight.    Being just 10 miles short of our marina destination in Merritt Island, we made a leisurely start on Friday, 12/6, after breakfast of pancakes and bacon aboard the boat.  We arrived at Harbortown Marina around noon, pumped our holding tanks and moved to our assigned slip.  The starboard engine was restarted briefly for these two dockings with no ill effects, hopefully.

NASA's Vehicle Assembly Bldg. viewed from our anchorage at the NASA Causeway the morning of Dec 6th.

Our morning view south on the ICW / Indian River just south of Titusville, FL.

EATING ON BOARD COOL CHANGE

We eat well on the boat, despite the fact that we risk tripping the circuit breaker if certain cooking appliances are turned on at the same time and the electric dishwasher was somehow forgotten at home.  For this trip we've been experimenting with an electric rice cooker.  For $14.99 at CVS you get a little  electric pot gadget that cooks rice to perfection, then turns itself down to a warm setting until you're ready to eat.  No boil overs, something I've always seemed to experience when rice is involved. Thanks, Hal and Young,  for this suggestion. We've also been trying out several soup recipes and will pass them along to you as we continue on our winter journey.  Wayne tells me his favorite so far is Baked Potato Soup.  It comes from The Taste of Home Slow Cooker Cookbook and makes up into a thick, delicious soup.

Baked Potato Soup

2 large onions, chopped
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 cups water, divided
4  cups chicken broth
2 medium potatoes, peeled and diced
1 1/2 cups mashed potato flakes
1/2 cup sliced bacon, cooked and crumbled
3/4 teaspoon pepper.
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/8 teaspoon dried thyme
1 cup half and half
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 green onions, diced

In a large skillet, saute' onions in butter until tender.  Stir in flour.  Gradually stir in 1 cup water.  Bring to a boil; cook and stir for two minutes or until thickened.  Transfer to five quart slow cooker.
Add the broth, potatoes, potato flakes,  bacon, pepper, salt, basil, thyme and remaining water.  Cover and cook on low for six to eight hours or until potatoes are tender.  Stir in half and half, heat through.  Garnish servings with cheese and green onions.

Yield:  10 servings

Should you choose to stop by for a visit, here's our address from now until Jan. 5:

Harbortown Marina, Slip D14
2700 Harbortown Drive
Merritt Island, FL  32952

Yes, we do have a Christmas tree!  And lights!  On the boat!

 

Waylaid in Ponce Inlet (Daytona Beach) Nov. 28-Dec.4

We have  traveled only 45 miles on the ICW in two weeks!  We have been on the hard (that means out of the water for the landlubbers among our readers) for the past week at Lighthouse Boat Yard in Ponce Inlet, FL.  There were a number of maintenance issues to resolve before we could truly get underway this fall.  Two weeks before we started our journey we had a diver scrub the bottom of the boat.  This regular monthly cleaning is to remove algae and barnacle accumulation.  However our first diver had missed our boat for over two months.  The new diver reported that stray electric current in the marina had eaten small holes in our trim tabs and that our bow thruster had lost one shaft and the connected propeller.  With this bad news and the fact that we were overdue for new bottom paint - bottom paint erodes as it sloughs off algae and barnacles - we decided to haul the boat from the water for these repairs.  Our past week has been occupied with periods of intensive labor and then periods where we waited for marina people to take action.



Coming out!










Rolling along






Do you see where the boat yard got its name?  This beautiful red brick
lighthouse overlooks the boatyard.  At 175 feet and more than 200 steps to the top
 it's the tallest of Florida's lighthouses.




Boat sitting on wood blocks and jack stands

Once the boat was blocked, the marina started pressure washing the entire hull to remove algae and barnacles.  Luckily there were very few barnacles on the boat. 


The boat was allowed to dry overnight. The next day Wayne began the arduous task of sanding the hull to remove any barnacles and to feather any breaks in the existing bottom paint to hull bond.



View from our boat





Home for barnacles

Attempting to keep off the icky blue green stuff produced by the sanding

Sanding the hull 

The six foot ladder has been our access to the boat all week as we continued to live onboard during the maintenance and repair work.  We also had to limit our water usage so we wouldn't mess up the paint work.  Picture a sink full of three days of dirty dishes.


The blue green stuff is hazardous to your health so we covered up as much as we could!

 This is so much Fun!

Primer applied to sanded areas 

and more primer

 Both of us were under the boat applying the primer where needed.

and even more primer

Rolling on the bottom paint under 32,000 pounds of boat.

It took two days and two coats of paint on top of the primer and we finally finished painting the bottom

 

This side of bow thruster missing one shaft and one of the two propellers

Bow thruster gear box showing the missing shaft due to electrolysis

 

 

New gear box in place

Old vs. the  new upgraded prop for bow thruster

Take out the air conditioner and crawl in.  Our mechanic, Jack,
was able to crawl into a space no six-foot man could fit.



The round white thing is the bow thruster motor - 4 feet below the forward bunk.  Jack would not give up
and eventually succeeded in installing the gear box.

 

Final result - New bow thruster with propellers installed

The view from our back door

All finished with the paint job!  Looks great!



We have no shots of Colleen painting but she did.  Imagine her in a very grungy pair of shorts and an old shirt, plastic gloves on her hands and a shower cap streaked with blue paint on her head.  It's probably just as well we don't have a photo of that sight.

Old vs. new zinc anode - the new one will eventually look like the old one after
 the zinc erodes, rather than the rest of the boat's metal parts

Marina employee replacing the left cutlass bearing



 George and Debra and their boat going back into the water

Our new friends Debra and George.
We met them the first day we arrived here when their boat was pulled out also.  These former New Jersey residents live in Homosassa, FL now and have cruised their boat  down here from their old home.  We hope to meet up with them again on the waterway.

Colleen entertaining herself in between sewing projects and coats of bottom painting.

Beautiful sunset as seen from our rear deck

 

Marina employee cleaning the running gear

Running gear after 3-part coating

 

Stern finished!

Colleen made a friend on the jetty.  He does have two
legs but one is tucked up as he gives me the evil eye.

Ponce Inlet jetty

Seas have been rough for two weeks.  It's very exciting to watch them
 crashing against the rocks at the inlet.