Vero Beach to Stuart, FL Jan 16 - Feb 5th

 

Sunset view from the back of the boat

 

 Our three weeks at Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach were full of sun, visits with friends and family, good food, trips to Vero Beach Bookstore and The Lemon Tree Restaurant, walks through the beautiful nearby neighborhood, and Saturday's Farmers' market.  A new Publix supermarket has sprung up nearby and, in the same shopping center, a killer muffin/bagel store.  Believe me, we need those walks!  Again, this year, we saw some of Florida's unique flora and fauna and made new friends (human and canine) in the close knit marina community.

 

 

This is our neighborhood for the next three weeks.

 

Hibiscus flowers - always a welcome part of a Florida winter

The monthly pot luck dinner in the marina's Captain's Lounge

The Marina pool on a typical winter day.  It looks inviting but it's pretty chilly.
 Still, though, a welcome place for a foot soaking after a walk in the neighborhood and some
 brave souls took a dip on our warmer days here.

Every Saturday there's a well stocked Farmer's Market near the beach.

 

Re-upholstering the lounge seat on the aft deck

The Cushions on the seat had deteriorated over time and the stains from Florida mildew could not be bleached out.  So I started the complete replacement of the seat covers.  It was decided that the new seating would be stapled to Starboard (synthetic plywood).  The original cushions were zippered covers that were held to the seat base with Velcro.

 

Existing seats

I found a piece of Starboard at the marine surplus store that was just barely larger than I needed.  Great luck - no waste.



Seat bases had to be cut.  Each of the three seats were of a different size.





Seat bottom ready to cover



Glue the foam to the bottom board.

Fit and stitch....Fit and stitch

A whole lot of stretching and stapling



Trimming the excess vinyl material



Two sections completed

 

All three seat bottoms completed.
How in the world do I recover the backrest.
Well...just get started.

 

Backrest removed and existing covering removed

 

Fit, sew, stretch. Fit, sew, stretch.
You get the picture.
Then stretch and staple

 

The finished seat!
Almost....still need to make small fillers to cover the two posts.

 

 Quilting Time



Just a small portion of the 1,823 pieces that will make up this quilt

While Wayne was replacing the back desk upholstery, Colleen was finally piecing a quilt top that has a checkered history.  I began it at a workshop two summers ago.  The instructor told us to use a "scant quarter inch" seam so I carefully sewed pieces together all afternoon per her instructions.  After several hours, I began trying to put blocks together and discovered that the seam I had made was too small, putting all the remaining pieces out of whack.  It was so frustrating that I shelved it and finally decided to take the seam ripper to my hours of work and try to finish it this winter.  So, after many hours of ripping all I had stitched, I finally began the miles of sewing that it would take to put all the pieces together properly.



Pinning, pinning and more pinning

The iron is as essential as the sewing machine.  The rows begin to go together.




I've been here for hours!  Please, can I stop now?

 

Ta daaaa!!!!  I have no plans to quilt it on the boat.  That will have to wait until we return to North Carolina.

 And a Few More Projects -






Potato bags, mug buddies and a snap purse for friends along the way.

 

Fabric rosettes that are hot glued to headbands.  Great gifts for the grandgirls from an idea on JoAnn's Fabrics website.

Looks like a purse but it carries my iron and opens up into an insulated ironing surface.




I love this fabric of "fruity" ladies.  I sewed a little stuffing
into their behinds on this beach bag to give it an interesting 3D look.

Chameleon Fiber Arts

In Vero we met Joyce and Alan.  Their granddaughter has cystic fibrosis and Joyce makes and sells beach bags and purses to raise money for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.  I couldn't resist this one.  Check her website at www.chameleonfiberarts.com to see some of her other creations.



Joyce made this large bag.  Lots of pockets and a zippered pouch.

 Loggerhead Wildlife and Scenery

 

This is our walking path, well stocked with a variety of birds, turtles and, maybe, an alligator or two.



Is this sandhill crane playing golf?  He definitely liked to hang out at this particular hole.

 

 



I loved the way this heron's reflection showed in the water......

 



And the grace he showed when he took flight.

A view across the golf course

Wayne decided that it was time to make a cover for the flag.  Saves taking in the flag each night and it was always in the way of something else. 



Laying out the flag cover

 Thirty minutes later the flag cover was ready.



Finished flag cover

There are anchor windlass foot switches on the deck to retrieve the anchor.  One for up and one for down.  The rubber covered switches have flip-open covers made of plastic.  Our boat being a 1997 model the covers are showing their age.  The hinge of one broke apart several months ago and mold stain was embedded into the white plastic.  After contacting the factory, I was referred to a distributor website in Connecticut.  Three days later we received new switch covers via US Mail.

To fight the black mold that forms in FL, we replaced the white covers with black ones.

Stuart, FL Boat Show
A very hot day and crowded with people.  So many sales people and show visitors that it was difficult to See the boats.  I stayed only about 1 1/2 hours.


A fisherman never has enough power!

A favorite stopover on land is Marine Connection Liquidators in Ft. Pierce, FL.  Here are a sample of photos taken there.  Contrary to the photos shown most of the store is inside two large warehouses.  They have everything, new surplus and new items.  Almost everything comes from surplus from boat builders.  If you need a part, look them up online.  They are really good at what they do.


Wayne's favorite marine surplus store!



The back lot



More stuff coming in

Walking Vero Beach in January

It was in the teens in Charlotte this day.

We needed another large bag for laundry and other bulky carryings.
A couple hours and scrap Sunbrella canvas and her is the result. 
Thank you Rick's Custom Canvas in Cornelius for the scraps used to make the bag,

 

 

A beautiful day in Vero Beach

Friends from Charlotte, NC, Hal and Young, stopped by for lunch and a visit.



  

SUNBONNET SUE QUILT GUILD

 

 

The ladies of Vero Beach's Sunbonnet Sue Quilt Guild have welcomed me the past two winters.  They get together every week to work on charity quilts, plan their every-other-year quilt show and work on personal sewing projects.  This year I wanted to share photos of their hands at work and they generously allowed me to take their pictures as they knitted, crocheted, appliqued, quilted and embroidered, demonstrating skills many of them

have developed over fifty or more years their lives. 

 

 

 Moving on to Stuart

On Monday, February 3 we left Vero Beach for our trip down the coast and into the St. Lucie River to Stuart.  It looked like it was going to be a perfect cruising day - for about the first hour-and-a-half.  Then we noticed black clouds off to the west that gradually drifted across our travel path and, inexplicably, stayed right with us, our own personal rain cloud.  We slogged along through sprinkles and then more intense rain, navigating with the GPS, our now working radar and referring often to our charts.  Wayne finally decided to try to outrun the weather and sped up to ten miles an hour.  We edged out from under the cloud and away from the rain.  But then we had to make the turn into the St. Lucie River and travel northwest to Stuart - right back into the storm which was now blowing 25 to 35 mph gusts and dumping huge buckets of rain.  In nearly zero visibility we moved out of the channel and dropped the anchor, only about a mile from our destination and waited it out for the next forty minutes.


A welcome rainbow as we finally settle into our marina.  The rain turned a four hour jaunt into a six hour trek.

 

And the sun comes up in Stuart on Tuesday, our jumping-off point as we prepare to cross Lake Okeechobee.

You can see where our travels have taken us so far.  400+ miles by water.

December 24-January 15 - Three Weeks and Lots of Repairs

Christmas on Cool Change, 2013



This year we invited Wayne's sister, Judy, and our brother-in-law, Doyle, to share Christmas dinner with us on the boat.  The meal was excellent, if I do say so myself - homemade turkey breast and stuffing in our boat's little oven, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, Publix rolls, ambrosia, broccoli casserole, deviled eggs, and pumpkin and apple pies.  It was quite a spread that filled our little aft table and a nearby counter top and left almost no room for the feasters.  We all dug in and then, about twenty minutes later, I remembered that I had wanted to take a picture of it all.  Oh, well, here you have the decimated remains.

Wayne and I both enjoy his mother's recipe for ambrosia so much that I made a batch for New Year's too, after Judy brought it at Christmas. It seems that every cook in the South has his or her own way to make this treat.  Here's ours:

The Thrailkill's Ambrosia

A bag of Florida (NOT California!!!) oranges (about 15 oranges)
2 cans of fruit cocktail
1 jar of maraschino cherries
4 or 5 bananas
About 2 cups of orange juice

Peel and sectionize the oranges, squeezing out the juice after you have cut out the plugs.  Yes, it's a messy job but the resulting flavor is worth it.  Drain and add the fruit cocktail and the cherries.  (Save the cherry juice for something else.  It does not improve the ambrosia.)  Peel and slice the bananas into half slices.  Gently stir this all together and then add the orange juice.

Store in a one gallon container in the refrigerator for 24 hours before serving.  It keeps well for several days and just gets better and better.



Colleen's close friend, Marla, loaned us dessert cups for Christmas dinner.
 These are part of  set that belonged to Colleen's mother.  We have the rest of the set at home.
A very thoughtful sentimental offering for Christmas

Our boat all decked out for Christmas

Friends Visit

Christmas and the holidays brought us several visits with old friends.
Colleen's friend from grade school, Lani, visited with her husband, Don, and daughter, Tina.  We last saw Tina as a baby and now she's 20!  Too many years between visits.

Colleen and Lani
We first met in 1959.

Family

We also got together for a restaurant meal with Howard and Donna (Wayne's oldest brother and his wife), sister Judy and brother-in-law Doyle, and brother Harlan and his wife Patty.



The siblings - Howard, Judy, Wayne, Harlan



Lunch at Tony Roma's to celebrate Howard's, Judy's, and Harlan's birthdays

 

 

More Friends Visit

Another visit was from long ago boating friends, Jim and Shaula and Pam and Richard.  We had multiple escapades and adventures with these two couples during our Orlando boating years.  We have travelled together on both the Atlantic and Gulf intracoastal waterways, the Kissimme and St Johns rivers, various Florida lakes, the Keys and the Bahamas.

Shaula, Pam, Colleen at Milliken's Reef restaurant at Port Canaveral

The guys: Jim, Wayne, Richard

And Still More Friends

Another day Colleen fixed a ladies' lunch on the boat for Marcy, Marla and yet another grade school friend, Mary.  Mary and Colleen have done some family tree research together.  We both have family roots in Montana and she has been trying to track her father's time in the service during WWII.

Colleen and friend Marcy in Merritt Island, Harbortown Marina docks
Sorry, Marla and Mary haven't arrived yet.

Of course, much quilting is taking place aboard Cool Change

I'm not sure who will be getting this one.  I just saw the pattern and liked it and it was super easy to make.  The quilting will have to wait until we're back in North Carolina with more space to spread out.

Marla's Christmas gift

Can you believe the size of these hibiscus flowers?  That's an adult hand beside it.  We found these at Harvey's Fruit Stand in Rockledge, FL, the same place where we picked up the delicious ambrosia oranges.

 

The new observation tower and museum at Port Canaveral

Heading out from Merritt Island and bound for Vero Beach - 57 miles

Our travel legs to date - about 400 miles by water.
We have also traveled 2100 miles by car since leaving home in mid-November

We left Merritt Island on January 10th and experienced an uneventful one day trip to Vero Beach. The weather warmed some with light fog and light sprinkles along the way.



It was not a pretty day but we were eager to get back on the water again

We are still trying to get a great dolphin photo but they are too quick for our camera.  They are one of the most common and welcome of the sights we see along the water

Arriving at the Loggerhead Marina in Vero Beach

Repairs, repairs and more repairs

Wayne always has a to-do list handy and he decided to whip out some of the jobs during the month we were in Merritt Island.  He finished A LOT, as you'll see as you read on.


1. Install on / off switch for navigation computer
The heart of the Raymarine navigation network aboard Cool Change consists of a nav computer that integrates the radar, GPS, and Autopilot.  The nav computer also integrates the fluxgate compass and the rudder angle indicator to the Autopilot.  All but the GPS is vintage 1997.  I recently found that the computer was hard wired to the 12 volt system and was ALWAYS ON 24/7 since 1997.  It is a miracle that it has not been damaged.  In checking the installation manual it was confirmed that a on-off switch should have been incorporated originally.  Sooo, I drilled into the dash panel and installed a good switch for the Nav computer and autopilot.

2.  Moved GPS antenna
For the 3-and-a-half years that we have owned Cool Change we have gone without radar because after 15 to 20 minutes of use the GPS would lose satellite acquisition.  Being as the GPS was far more useful than radar, we shut down the radar.  Over the past 3 years, I made a number of attempts at a cure.  In October we finally decided that we really wanted  to have radar so we had a technician aboard to solve our problems.  After 7 hours at $75 dollars per, the problem was pronounced solved.  The unfortunate situation was that we did not make time to do an on-the-water check-out before our departure.  Of course, the problem was still there when we got underway in mid-November.  A call to the GPS manufacturer received the standard reply: "we have never heard of this problem before".  Well, just go to the internet and  you'll find that it is a common problem for many boaters, Mr. Manufacturer.
 I have finally decided to move the GPS antenna and so pulled out the GPS wiring leading to the radar arch and re-installed the GPS antenna on the front cowl over the front windshield.  This  solution moved the GPS so the radar beam could not hit the GPS antenna with its RF (radio frequency) signal.  The internet conversation on this problem finally led me to try this - and, surprise!  The GPS and radar have operated together for almost 20 hours without any further problem.



Changing GPS mounts




Finishing up the move



GPS antenna at its new home



Ahh.  Radar AND GPS

 3.  Replaced burner connectors for stove top

Our stove burners would sometimes not warm up.  The solution was to jiggle the burner element in the socket.  Suddenly that no longer was working and all three burners refused to heat until they were repaired correctly.

Colleen says GET IT FIXED!

Connector was disintegrating inside

After removing all 3 burners it was found upon inspection that each of the 3 connectors for the burner elements were missing about half of the metal contact area inside. Corrosion?  Burned away? who knows.  Ten minutes on the Internet on New Years Day and new connectors were ordered from Seattle.  USPS got it here in 3 days for less than $5.  Hooray for the Internet!

4.  Installed more lights in hardtop

We had two recessed LED lights in our aft hardtop.  They were not quite adequate for our needs so we added two more with the help from Doyle, our brother-in-law.



Brother-in-law Doyle is an electrical and aerospace engineer as well as an accomplished do-it-yourselfer.  Goody.  Goody.

Oh I hate to put a hole in good fiberglass!



Always great when a clean cut happens.



I think I did this right!  Red to red, correct?



I will caulk if you will install.

Why does it always take so many tools to do a simple task??????

Reward for a job done well!  Bring me a beer please.

5.  Removed old Ray Marine GPS

The original Raymarine GPS was no longer being used.  It was disconnected from the Nav computer wiring harness several months ago when the newer Horizon brand GPS was connected.  The old GPS had occupied a position mounted into the dash.  The auto pilot was mounted on a bracket on top of the dash.  I removed the old GPS and installed the autopilot into the dash mount frame and removed and discarded the old top mount bracket and the old GPS.  Cleans up the instrument panel area nicely

New mounting spot for the autopilot

6.  Pulled new 12 volt wiring for GPS

Doyle and I determined that the GPS should be on a power circuit of its own.  The distance from the flybridge console to the main switch panel is about 8 feet vertically.  But we had to run 35 feet of wire from the steering console along the side of the flybridge, then down to the engine compartment and along the wiring traces forward and over to the main switch panel.  A piece of cake and 4 hours of work.

Pulling wire from flybridge

Fishing wires inside wiring traces

Doing the checkout

7.  Cleaned up wiring mess behind console

I removed about 25 feet of excess wiring, removed multiple splices in many wires and bundled every wire that I could. I also replaced about half of the terminal ends at the positive and negative buss bars.  It is hard to see much difference in the before and after photos but there is a lot of improvement there.

Before

After

8.  Sealed the bimini top

With time acrylic fabric loses some of its ability to repel water.  A good coating of $50 per gallon waterproofing stops water that drips at the bows and the stitching.  It also stops the splash through in pouring rains.  Rolling from the underside is completely effective.  The sealer dries in 10 minutes and does not smell once it dries.

9.  Replaced horn mounts

The rubber mounts  for our horn were deteriorating and leaving black rubber streaks on the deck.  Doyle and I removed the horn, replaced the mounts with thick rubber gasket material and re-installed the horn.

10.  Replaced the cabin door latches

We have been concerned for some time as to the security of the cabin door locks.  We have now replaced the aluminum slide locks with heavy duty stainless steel versions top and bottom of the doors.

Removing the old locks

 

 

 

New slide locks

 

So, here we are two months into our four month winter and the boat is in perfect shape, right?  Guess it's time for Colleen to find something else to break so Wayne can stay happy fixing things.