Check Out This Rack

Our new dock neighbor, Joe, went to a nautical bone yard the other day and came back with various odds and ends scavenged from wrecked and abandoned boats.   Among the treasures were a couple of racks.  Boaters love racks.  It makes us look organized.  One was too big for the space he wanted to put it, and I bought it from him for $10.

It looks to me to be homemade, but whomever made it did a very nice job.  I put a coat of Murphy's Oil Soap on it and it looked pretty good.

Now, where to mount it?  There's a place in the helm station where I removed the WWII radar.  Well, it wasn't really from WWII, but it was the old fashioned kind with the black rubber goggles you peered into.  Here's a pic from when we first looked at the boat in January, 2010.

I tossed it when we bought the boat, and the helm had big holes where the thick cables ran to the unit.    I was going to wait for Pam to get home from work to ask if that's where she wanted it (note to all you young guys.  You'll save yourself all kinds of grief if you ask first.  Trust me.) but then decided that since there were so many holes there anyway, two more small ones to mount the rack wouldn't matter if she wanted it moved.

So I moved the fire extinguisher that was mounted there over to the stairway and mounted the rack.

You can see two of the big holes down at the bottom right corner of the rack.  Once I put a roll of paper towels in there, you won't see it.

I put my Simrad manuals in the place on the left, an air horn, and for lack of anything else, a bottle of shampoo.  Don't I look organized?  And the shampoo is right there should I need it in an emergency.  Like if I suddenly grow hair.

I just noticed that this blog passed 180,000 hits.  Very cool.  I wonder if it will hit 200,000 by the time we head north in May and switch to the new blog, Bleecker Mountain Life?

Day in the Life Part Two

I've been having fun with my camera again.  I really can't get much else done while waiting for people to arrive to look at Drift Away, showing them the boat, and then taking the dogs to the dog park.  Sometimes there's only time for a few photos.   So this is what I came up with.

Olivia insisted on sitting next to Grandma Pam.  Chevy was already there.  What to do?

Listening to classic vinyl.   High Tides and Green Grass by the Rolling Stones.  Appropriate, as I'm sitting at the dinette table watching pelicans dive between us and the marsh.

A Great Blue Heron.  All that in the background isn't rocks.  They're oysters.

This is cool, a symbiotic relationship.  Diving ducks hunt just off shore, driving small fish to waiting egrets, who in turn drive small fish to the ducks.  They wade up and down the shore all day feeding each other.

A pelican taxis for take off...

lift off!

More egrets and ducks.  Umm... that splash is a diving duck.

See?  Here he is.

And finally, our handsome Chevy the Pitbull.

Plan B

We've had lots of interest in Drift Away, but what if it doesn't sell by the time we head back to upstate New York in May?  I've been pondering that problem.   Of course, we hope that Drift Away sells, but what if it doesn't?

I need time to process data.  I'm also pretty good at making snap decisions for minor things, like buying a new car, but sometimes I just need to mull things over.   What are our options?

Well, we could keep the boat here on the docks at Brunswick Landing Marina, but I think that's a bad idea for several reasons.  First, I don't think it's a good thing to leave a boat unattended and in the water for months at a time.  Bilge pumps can fail, batteries can die, and all sorts of unfortunate things can happen.  Besides, it would cost us $700 a month plus.

We could take it back north.  Maybe to New Bern, or maybe all the way back to upstate New York.  Heck, there's enough fuel in the tanks to get us there.  But then what?  There aren't too many places that can handle a boat this size.  Scarano's in Albany can, but that's an expensive place to be.  And where would we keep it when not in storage?   At a marina on the Hudson?

I decided to investigate on-the-hard storage options, and I think I found the answer.   Just south of here is Green Cove Springs Marina, about a 30 mile trip south of Jacksonville, which is about 70 miles south of Brunswick.  About 100 miles total, or a two or three day trip if we lallygag, which we would probably do.  We can store on land there for $184 a month.  In the marine biz, that's practically free.   So yesterday, Pam and I took a drive down to St. Augustine to sightsee, and then to Green Cove Springs to check it out.

It's definitely a boat yard and not a yacht yard.  The boats and folks there are certainly not the upper crust.  There were boats everywhere, of all sizes and makes, but one common theme seemed to be do-it-yourself. Green Cove Springs Marina found itself a niche and has a nice little business going.  What they lack in high prices they make up in high volume.  The place is packed.

So I think this may be it.  If Drift Away isn't sold by May, we'll take a few days and cruise down to Green Cove Springs.  We'll have the boat hauled and then drive to New York to start on our Bleecker Mountain homestead.   After Christmas of 2013, we'll return to Green Cove Springs and then take Drift Away south for the  winter, maybe as far as the keys.

Or maybe not.  You know us.  We cruise in slow motion.  If we find a place we like, we'll just stay.

Great Service From Electrosense

One of my fellow bloggers, Bob on Istaboa, has a section where he rates marine service.  For my landlubber friends, customer service in the marine trades is notoriously bad.  Shoddy workmanship, faulty repairs, and outrageously overpriced is the norm.   That's why, when we boaters encounter good service, we're both dumbfounded and amazed, and we pass on the good word.

I've bought all kinds of gear and equipment for Drift Away, a boat built way back in 1980.  Back then, knowing the level of the fuel, water, and waste tanks wasn't considered important, apparently, because it was really rare to have a gauge.  All of my tanks were gaugeless and each came with a dipstick that you would insert through a fitting.   Well, that's OK for my diesel tank because that holds 800 gallons, and I can go a long way with 800 gallons.   When traveling, I'd religiously check the level though, and enter it into a log book.  No, I don't know why.  You just do it.  It's a nautical tradition.

Water and, especially, waste is another matter.  You don't want to run out of water, of course, but you certainly don't want to find your waste tank full, particularly while underway.   You wouldn't be able to use your toilets.  That's not an insurmountable problem for me, since the whole world is your bathroom if you're a guy, but Pam might be a bit peeved.   So I decided we needed to find an answer.

While at the Annapolis Boat Show in the fall of 2011, we visited the booths of various vendors looking for solutions to our various needs and wants, and we found the Electrosense booth.   Their tank monitors use no moving parts, but use stainless steel sensing rods that measure the approximate level of a tank and transmit the information to a display.  We're talking tank levels here, and exact levels aren't important.  I want to know when my water tank has 10% of capacity left, or my waste tank is 80% full.  That's enough warning to take corrective action.

The ordering process is straightforward.  You send Electrosense measurements of your tank and they custom make the sending unit to fit.  We ordered sending units for both our water and waste tank, and they were delivered to us in short order.  If you'd like to see how they're  installed, you can read about it in this December 2011 blog entry called Installing Tank Gauges.

The gauges worked perfectly right up until February when the waste unit started acting up.  Even though the waste tank was empty, some of the lights were stuck on.  I think the ethernet connection may have gotten wet from when a vandal snuck on our boat and opened the foredeck hatch in a rainstorm.  The bastard.  The hatch is right over our waste tank.

I tried cleaning both the cable and the connector to no avail, so I sent Electrosense an email on a Sunday afternoon.  Much to my surprise, I received an answer from Chris within a couple of hours.  We ran through a few tests and Chris decided that the sending unit was bad, and he would send a new one.  I asked if he needed me to remeasure the tank, and he said no, they keep the measurements on file.  I then told him that I didn't think the problem was an Electrosense one, but that the sending unit got criminally wet due to vandalism, and he said not to worry about it.  he wanted to make sure that we had a working system.

I stopped by the marina office to check for mail yesterday, and there was a package from Electrosense.  It was the new sensor.  It was even sent USPS Priority Mail!

I skipped down to the boat, pulled out the old one.

This was relatively easy to do.  When I installed it, I didn't have a pipe thread tap that big, but I did have a hole saw, so I just drilled the hole and gooped it up real good with silicone before sticking in the sending unit.  All it took to remove it was a screw driver as a pry bar.  And yes, for you observant readers, you're right.  I rarely use a tool for its intended purpose.  Screw drivers are for prying, and big wrenches are for hammering.

I gooped up the new one even better than the old one.  When you're dealing with holding tanks, you can't use too much silicone.  And no, neatness doesn't matter, at all.

I checked the lights on the display and it works perfectly.  We're at 50% of the tank's capacity, by the way, for all you folks wondering.

Now seriously, folks.  This is excellent customer service from Electrosense.  I love dealing with small businesses who actually care about their customers.  It reminds me of my own small computer business, and my days working for Dutchman (sail flaking systems, boom brakes, and track systems), especially in the wintertime when I was the entire company.  Good job Chris, and thank you!

A Heartwarming Story

Drift Away is for sale, as you regular followers know. Pam and I love our boat, a Cheoy Lee LRC (Long Range Cruiser) 46 trawler, but we bought some land in the Adirondack Mountains last summer and want to return there to build our little homestead.  I mentioned in a previous blog about having two dreams.   Well, cruising was one, and a small place in the mountains was another.  We've done one, now on to the next.  We put Drift Away up for sale about a month ago, and the response has been both overwhelming, and typical.

Oh sure, we had the scammer who sent us a cashier's check for $41,000 more than our asking price, with the balance to be given to the "delivery captain". We had our "we have a dream to cruise but have no money to buy a boat" folks. We've had two "I'd like to steal your boat" offers. But today, we had someone really special.

Bob drove down to Brunswick, GA from Savannah to look at Drift Away. He looked to be in his mid to late 70s.  He was accompanied by his daughter Gail. He boarded the boat and as he looked around, he had a wistful look. He seemed to know his way around. He was soaking up his surroundings.

I chatted with Bob a bit, small talk.  As it turned out, Bob owned a Cheoy Lee 46 LRC many years ago, and lived aboard with his wife and three daughters. He did much research before buying his boat and decided that this model Cheoy Lee was the perfect boat for him and his family. They cruised on their boat for three years before his wife decided it was time to buy a place with a bathtub. Bob reluctantly sold his boat and spent a number of years working at his business as a developer.

Sadly, his wife passed away last October. Bob decided he wanted to live aboard again, and wanted another Cheoy Lee 46 LRC trawler. His broker put him in contact with our broker who called us.

Neither my broker nor his broker accompanied him to Drift Away. Maybe they didn't take him seriously because of his advanced age?  I did.  I showed Bob all around our boat. I pointed out the good points and the bad. I made sure he knew what was done, and what was left to be done to finish its restoration.  He said he has a fellow who works for him who lives aboard and knows boats, and also does painting and carpentry.  He was a bit unsteady around the boat, but I could see him thinking "I can do this!".   

Bob asked if he could be alone to look around the boat, and of course I said sure.  After ten or fifteen minutes, he called me over.   He asked about the electronics in the engine  room.   Electronics?   Oh, the Filter Bosses.  So I explained again how they worked.

Before he left, Bob told me that he contacted Patti at Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah to talk about being a liveaboard there.  You don't do that unless you're a serious buyer.   He seemed satisfied, and he left.

I got thinking about Bob later that day. His wife, the love of his life, had passed away.  No doubt he was very sad and was very alone.  He felt a need to recapture happier times in his life, to relive perhaps his happiest days. 

I looked on YachtWorld for Cheoy Lee 46 foot trawlers. Drift Away is the only one for sale in the world.  There weren't many built, but usually there's a few on there.  Not now, just Drift Away.

I've had a lot of people come to look at Drift Away. Another looker is coming today.  But, if I'm lucky enough to have several offers to come in to buy my boat... if Bob's is in there, and if it meets my minimum price, I'm taking it.  I don't care if his is the lowest offer.   A boat isn't just a boat.  It's not just an assemblage of fiberglass and wood.  A boat is a dream machine, a magic carpet to take you to mystical places.  If I can help a guy approaching the end of his days recover some of his happiest times, I'll leap at the chance.

Just call me a sap.

In case you're wondering what we'll do if Drift Away doesn't sell by May, our thought is to take it to Florida and have it hauled for the summer.   We'll return after the Christmas holidays and continue our cruise south.   Maybe I'll actually get around to painting the boat even, and the paneling.   Or not.  

Brunswick Sunsets

I just had two more photos rejected by one of my photography companies.  Why?  Because the lighting doesn't look natural.   Seriously.

The other night was a typical, brilliant Brunswick sunset.  I decided to take a series of photos to document how dramatic they can be.  There has been absolutely no photo shopping or color adjustments made to any of these photos.

I know many of you, my non-boating and non-liveaboard friends, might wonder why there is such an attraction to living aboard a boat.   

This is one reason why.  This is the view out of our main saloon windows.  This is what I see while sitting at my laptop at our dinette table.  I watch beautiful sunsets, diving pelicans, an occasional dolphin or manatee, loons, ducks, seagulls, Great Blue Herons, egrets, storks, and many more, all without moving from the dinette.

We must be nuts selling Drift Away.

A Day In The Life

So I know many of you wonder, "Dave, exactly what do you do all day?  Your boat hasn't moved (except for pumpouts) since the Fourth of July."

Good question.  Not much.  When one is retired, one has the rest of his life to do chores.

Yesterday, Pam worked from 1 to 9, so after the morning dog park run, I was on my own.  Here's the photojournal.

The first bit of excitement was the dogs barking outside.  I usually don't pay it much mind unless I think it might be annoying to the neighbors.  Who knows why they bark.  People, squirrels, other dogs...  AND DOLPHINS RIGHT OFF THE STERN!   Chevy loves dolphins, and he was barking like crazy.  No doubt this is what quickly drove them away, which puzzled Chevy.  He had a "Hey, where did you go?" look.

Then I spent some time eating lunch, and watched all manner of waterfowl doing the same out Drift Away's big saloon windows.  These photos were taken by me at the dinette table shooting through the glass.

Time to go!  Thanks for lunch!

A little brown diving duck of some sort.

But then it was time for my little OBPOTD (occasional boat project of the day).   I decided it was time to add water to the battery for the windlass.  This doesn't sound like a big deal, but this battery lives in the junk store room at the pointy end of the vee,  under all sorts of stuff.  I moved it all and uncovered the lid to the battery compartment.  You can see it where the light is pointed down.

The water was low, so it was a good thing that I thought to add it.  That's a battery that's out of sight, out of mind.

 I then neatened things up a bit, as much as a junk store room can be neatened, putting some spare parts in a lower locker and putting light stuff, like empty boxes for moving, in the bow.   It almost looks organized, eh?  We have people coming to look at Drift Away on Friday and Saturday, so it's good to look almost neat.

And that was pretty much it, beside arguing politics on Facebook.  I really shouldn't do that.  If I spent my time on boat projects instead of the internet, Drift Away would be pristine by now and we'd be selling it for $150,000.