Meeting with Kent and we're buying the land

Pam and I met with Kent Boatguy, the head of the Black Duck R&D Center, at the Colony Grill in Stamford on Friday for lunch.  He apologized for his security guy not letting us in the Duck the night before, but he was only following orders. 

Kent's an amazing guy.  He said he needs to put together a budget for our next fiscal year, which he said started July 28th for some reason, and needed to know how much money we had left.  What a considerate guy, making sure he doesn't overspend on Navi-Nut (patent pending) development.

In summer home news, Pam and I agreed to a price on land on Bleecker Mountain in upstate New York.   It's a nice ten acre lot that will have a nice view of the mountains once I cut down  a whole bunch of trees.  I'll start a different blog for that project so I don't clutter up our liveaboard blog with construction stuff.  I'll make sure I put a link on this blog to the new one for those of you interested.

The land is undeveloped and covered in trees.  A road was put in, but that's it.  We hope to get what we need cleared done this fall by a logging company.  When we decide where the house, barn, and workshop will go, we'll put in the septic system and drill a well and build the barn.   The house we'll do in 2014 probably.  Of course, those of you who know me understand that I don't like plans and schedules, only vague ideas.

I'm sitting at the Village Pizzeria in East Galway, New York, surfing Al Gore's internets as I wait for my daughter and soon to be son-in-law for dinner.  Isn't modern technology cool?   If only I could do this on Bleecker Mountain.

The Visit to the Black Duck R&D Center

Finally, the big day had arrived.  I had scheduled our first corporate meeting at the Black Duck R&D Center to meet with Kent Boatguy, our head of research and new product development.  Kent had informed me that to keep our competition from learning our secret technology, he had disguised the Duck as a bar and restaurant.  Brilliant!

We arrived at 6:45 PM for our 7 PM meeting.  Outside was a sign that said "Closed for private party at 7 PM".   Another brilliant move on Kent's part.  Disguise the Duck as a restaurant and then close it.  So up we went.  A security guard stopped us.

"We're closed."

I winked at him.  "I know, but this private party is for me."

"Yeah?  And who are you?"

"I'm Dave Gibson."

"Yeah, and I'm Donald Trump.  Beat it."

"No, you don't understand.  See..."

"No, you don't understand.  We're closed, now go away."

"But..."

"Go away."

So that was it.  While I have to say that I'm really proud of  all Kent's accomplished, and the closed restaurant thing and security guard was brilliant, it worked too good.

So Pam and I, along with friends Gary and Christine, went to the Dry Dock for food and eats.  Of course, Pam and I were both wearing our Black Duck tee shirts, complete with the Duck's slogan "Ruin your liver down by the river".  They let us in anyway.

Sittin' in a Dog Park

Yep.  Sittn' here in the Stamford (CT) dog park.  Pamela is picking seaglass at her favorite beach, and I have Ruby and Chevy at the dog park.  I'm on Al Gore's internets via our Verizon hot spot, which works great.

Yesterday we stayed with friends, and today we visited Dutchman/Sound Sailing Center where I once worked and had a nice reunion there.  Tonight is our corporate meeting at the Black Duck R&D Center in Westport.   I can't wait to see how it's been camouflaged as a bar and restaurant, of all things.

Tomorrow it's back up to New York where we hope to hear if our offer on the land has been accepted, visit for a few more days, and then it's back to Drift Away in Brunswick GA.

As I write this, the dogs are doing their usual routine.   Sargent Chevy is patrolling the yard's perimeter and Ruby is sleeping in a pile of mulch.

Oh, and I had a call from the Brunswick Marina boat yard the other day.  Besided painting Drift Away's bottom, I asked the yard to replace the packing in the propeller and rudder shafts.  It seems that the old packing there is so old that it can't be pulled out.  It just disintegrates.   Work boats don't pull out the old packing as a rule, Wayne said, and merely stuff in the new stuff, so that's what he's going to do.  Works for me.

Visiting Home

When Pam and I bought Drift Away, we made an agreement.  As soon as one of us decides that living on a boat isn't fun anymore, we'll stop.   For the record, that hasn't happened yet, and we've been living aboard for over two years now.  We love it.  But we also miss the mountains of upstate New York, as well as our friends here. 

We're stayiing with Pam's folks on Bleecker Mountain.  There is no cable TV, no cell phone service, and so no internet, which is why my blog has been sparse lately.  Right now, I'm sitting in a Walmart parking lot connected to Al Gore's internets through our Verizon hot spot.  I've contacted my doctor in Annapolis to get prescriptions filled in Amsterdam NY, checked my email, and figure I owe you guys an explanation of where we've been.   I'll post some photos at the end.

Pam and I are very interested in buy ten acres of land in Bleecker and building a small home on it over the next couple of years.  The thought is to live upstate from June through Christmas, and on Drift Away over the winter.  We're thinking small, less than 1,000 feet, which would seem HUGE compared to living on a boat.  We'd like a big ol' deck with part of it screened in for protection from deer flies, horse flies, and black flies.   We'd build a small horse stable, and a good sized workshop.

Something I've learned over the past couple of years is that I can do most anything with the help of google, so we'll probably build most of it ourselves, from clearing and grading the land, to installing septic system, to framing and building the house itself.   I'd have the well drilled and the foundation poured by professionals.

We stopped at the Saw Mill Cafe where the Bleecker Town Clerk works.  No one works at the Bleecker Town Hall.  They all work out of their homes and businesses.  I got the name of the town building inspector as well as the number of the Adirondack Park Agency.   The APA has many rules and regulations concerning building and I want to make sure we don't run afoul of any laws before actually buying the property.

So besides playing golf, going to my class reunion (man, those people are old!), and visiting friends and relatives, that's what's been up.   We'll head to Connecticut during the week to visit friends there and to make a visit to the Black Duck R&D Center.   Maybe next week we'll drive back to Drift Away, where it should be waiting for us with a nice new coat of bottom paint.

Here are a few photos for you, showing some of what we've done while on vacation.

Scratches on my truck where a bear tried to climb inside.

Scratches on my mother-in-law's car where the bear DID climb inside.

The dogs love being outside all day, sitting in the shade...

or playing in the deep grass in the field.

The view of Shaker Mountain.  The lot we're interested in is next to this one.

Pam's mom has a half dozen little dogs, and so Ruby has new toys to play with.



There was golf at Pinebrook in Gloversville...

watching jet ski races on the Sacandaga...

hiking into Wood's Lake in Bensen with the dogs...

to admire the beauty of the Adirondacks.

We also visited many friends, including James and Anita on an Adirondack Lake and Bob and Linda on a lake on the Rennsaeler Plateau.

They say you can never go home again.  They are wrong.

In Bleecker

Bleecker New York, that is.  It was a long drive yesterday, 11 hours from Lexington Virginia to Bleecker in upstate NY. 

Bleecker is really out in the boonies.  No cell service there, no cable TV, no nothing.  So no blog posts for awhile.  We're in town right now so Pam can register her car and I'm sitting in my truck, connected via our hot spot.

The dogs love Bleecker because they can run off leash all day.  The only excitement is the young bear that's been hanging out in the woods on the perimeter of the property.  It tried to get into my truck last night to get at the dog food in there.   Mostly just muddy paw prints, but also a couple of minor scratches from its claws.

It's much cooler on Bleecker Mountain than Brunswick, Georgia.  I actually put on a jacket last night, first time since February.

Our friend Rod called from Brunswick Landing Marina.  The A/C has been fixed, and Drift Away is on the hard and got power washed in preparation for bottom paint.

Today we plan on looking at modular homes.   A place nearby has a nice looking chalet style.  We're kicking around the idea of a summer place up here to get away from the sweltering heat of Georgia.  Just kicking the idea around, nothing planned.

Traveling With Three Dogs and Two Cats for Nine Hours

This will be short.  I'm tired and cranky.

We drove 9 hours to Lexington, Virginia yesterday.  While I was checking into the pet friendly hotel here, the counter person asked if we had any pets. 

Yes, I said, we told you that when we called six hours ago. 

Oh, I see it right here, three dogs. 

Yes, I replied. 

Oh dear, we can't rent a room to you. We only allow two pets. 

Why didn't anyone tell me that when I called?  

Ummmm.....  

What do you think we're going to do now?  Call the manager. 

Bottom line, we're in the room with three dogs. We snuck the two cats in the back door.  We have the TV on Animal Planet to cover up the cat and dog noises.

Going on Vacation

Pam and I are going on vacation. 

On vacation, you ask?  Dave,  you don't work.  How can you go on vacation?  You're losing it, dude.

Yep, we're packin' up the critters in the back of the pick'em up truck an' we're headin' fer upstate New York fer a spell.  I have a class reunion, and there's a golf outting we're attending.   While we're gone, Drift Away is getting hauled for new bottom paint and to replace the packing in the stuffing boxes.  Both are long overdue, and since we live aboard, this would be a good time to get 'er done.

Yep.  I need a vacation to work on getting rid of this southern drawl that sometimes sneaks into my conversation.

So my blog posts will be infrequent, if at all, until we return.  I'm sure none of you are interested in either my class reunion or my golf game, which is very bad now, by the way.  Too many years of not playing.

I do have some stuff to share with you, though.  We took the dogs swimming again yesterday because it was soooo hot here and our A/C is still out.  Three dogs playing in the water means lots of fun photos, like this one.

I love freezing the action when dogs shake.

We're in for 18 hours of driving over the next two days.   Sometime during the next few days I'll process the 219 photos I took of the dogs swimming and post them to YouTube and do the blog.  So ya'all (DANG IT) check back in on Thursday or Friday.

Olivia's First Romp in the Water

Many cruisers and liveaboards have dogs, and one thing we all look for are places for the dogs to go.  Large lawns to run and play off leash, places to poop, and places to swim.  Brunswich Landing Marina has all three, although the dog swim area requires either a very long walk or a vehicle to get to.  It's only a hundred yards from the marina, but it's on the opposite side of the East River at a boat launch.

Our A/C was still broken on Sunday.  It got up to 104 degrees here.   Although the main saloon was a cool 96 degrees, we decided to take the dogs to the boat launch for a swim.   Ruby swims like an otter, and Chevy loves the water too.  We weren't sure about Olivia.  She'd been in the water a couple of times, always closely supervised.    This time we would let her off leash.  After all, she's four months old now.  That's almost two and a half in human years.   Time to kick her off the end of the dock to see if she'd sink or swim.

Once again, rather than take the time consuming slow way of posting the photos here, I stuck them in Movie Maker, which has the added benefit of allowing for music, credits, etc.  I hope you enjoy Olivia's First Water Romp

What a Miserable Day!

Our A/C is on the blink again.  The brand new seawater pump I had installed a few weeks ago in Isle of Hope burned out.  The A/C tech here said it was undersized and only had enough capacity for the smallest of my three A/C compressors.  A new one is on order and should be here Monday or Tuesday. 

In the meantime, it's in the 90s and humid here, pretty miserable, and it's making everyone miserable while it's at it.  It's noontime, and already:

- Olivia broke the kitten's ceramic food dish trying to get it off the cat tree.

- We lost water pressure and I needed to crawl into a back corner of the engine room to clean the filter.   Think I could find either of my head lights?  Nope.   I had to use the ol' flashlight in the mouth trick.

- Pamela's cell phone rang and I picked it up off the counter, not realizing it was plugged in.  It did a somersault over the railing and fell down the stairway, taking a picture frame with it.  The glass broke, requiring me to get out the shop vac and clean it up. 

- Bringing the shop vac back to the forward stateroom, I found it covered in glass and seashells.   Pamela was cleaning the foredeck and, as she closed the forehatch, didn't realize it was held up with a canister full of her beach collection.

~sigh~

On Saturday, old friends Rod and Patty arrived on Second Chance.   They'll be staying here for a bit, out of the hurricane zone, doing a few boat projects.  They must have had a nice sail up from Key West.

I didn't realize that Pam's hat is gimbaled.

We took a walk over to the famers' market, which is conveniently located right next to the marina.

I love fresh produce.  Non-genetic tomatoes too, lots of green.

Homemade Jam!

Homemade.... stuff!

Blackberries!

Georgia peaches!

After the farmer's market, we all took a ride over to St. Simons Island to check it out.  St. Simons has excellent beaches, and there is public access all along the shore.   It was a hot, sunny Saturday, and as expected, it was crowded.

There was a long sandbar a bit off the beach which many people swam or kayaked to.

And between the shore and the sandbar were Hobies flying along...

That didn't seem to smart, to me.

Rod doesn't look too much like a tourist, does he?  :)

The beach sand is hard and compact enough to ride a bicycle on.

After ten or fifteen minutes, we decided we'd seen enough and took a trip  into the little downtown.  It was packed with tourists. 

Don't these people have anything better to do on a Saturday afternoon?

Anyone lose a velociraptor?

We returned to the boat after a smoothie at Zuzu's and a Mexican Dinner at Nacho's.  We walked the dogs, and I saw this hawk sitting on the roof of a building next to the marina.

Although we don't  have beautiful Isle of Hope sunrises anymore, we enjoyed another beautiful Brunswick sunset.

Back to today.  It's 93 degrees and no wind.  Pretty sweltering.  The dogs are all passed out on the saloon floor.  I think we'll wake them up and take them to the boat ramp to go swimming.  See you tomorrow.

Take a Tour of Brunswick

Despite the fact that Brunswick is an old mill town and there are big box stores just outside of town, downtown Brunswick is doing OK.  The old restored Ritz Theater is the home of the Golden Isles Arts and Humanities Association which hosts a number of events throughout the year.  The Brunswick-Golden Isles Chamber of Commerce and the Brunswick and Glynn County Development Authority support the businesses.   The beauty of downtown is protected by the Old Town National Historic District. 

Downtown Brunswick is just a couple of blocks from Brunswick Landing Marina.  Pam and I took a walking tour of downtown yesterday.    We were delighted by what we found.   Art galleries, a bookstore, a wine shop, antique stores, a drug store, restaurants, and even a cupcake and ice cream shop!

Again, rather than post a whole string of photos here, I put them together in a slideshow and posted it to YouTube.   Enjoy our Walking Tour of Downtown Brunswick.

Savannah to Brunwick, GA in pictures

Daughter Megan and I took over 300 photos on the 90 statute mile trip from Isle of Hope Marina in Savannah to Brunswick Landing Marina in Brunswick.   I decided that rather than posting dozens of photos here, I'd make a slide show using Microsoft's Movie Maker and upload it to YouTube.

Why is that, you ask?

Well, I've heard that many cruisers avoid Georgia like the plague because they've heard that many people go aground because it's shoaled in many places and not marked well.   After making the trip myself, my response is HOOOEY.  Yes, at dead low tide we hit a couple of places that our depth sounder went off at six feet, but if we did go aground, which we did not, the rising tide would quickly lift us off.   There was no problem with the markers, just watch your chart's magenta line and stay in the middle of the channel on the straightaways and on the outside of the turns where the water is deepest.

I thought YouTube would be a good place for this video so that those ten or twelve cruisers in the US who do not read this blog might find it there.

Without further adeiu, Traveling the ICW from Savannah to Brunswick GA

Arrived Brunswick, Georgia

It was only a 34 mile trip.  I should have known it would be problematic when Pamela woke me up.

"Don't expect to take a shower.  We're out of water."

Out of water?  How could that be?  We carry 200 gallons and I filled the tank just a few days before we left Isle of Hope.  Well, we were anchored in the Duplin River off Sapelo Island.  Nothing to do about it.  Pam made coffee using some of  our bottled water.

We planned on leaving at 8 AM.    I groggily (I NEED my morning shower) went into the engine room for our preflight check.   Coolant good.  Engine oil good.  Transmission fluid good.   Fuel polishing Racor.... full of water.  HUH!?   Could our built in water tank have cracked, and leaked into our built in fuel tanks?   I informed Pam of the problem and began draining the water.

Flashback to Sandy Hook, New Jersey last October when we lost both engines in rough seas.    I spent a couple of hours bleeding fuel lines until I got the engines running long enough to get us to Atlantic Highlands Marina.  We spent a month there and I installed two Filter Boss systems.   The Filter Boss is a nifty setup with two filters per unit.   There is a vacuum gauge as part of the package.  If a filter starts to clog, and alarm goes off in the cockpit and I simply flip a toggle to switch to the other filter.  

I used the old Racors as a fuel polishing system.  The Filter Boss pickup tubes are about three or four inches off the bottom of the tank.  I put the fuel polishing pickup tube about a half inch off the bottom.   Diesel fuel is lighter than water, so any water in the tank is on the bottom.  And that water was now filling the Racors.

After about an hour, I had the water pretty much out and we hoisted anchor at 9 AM.  Because of the amount of water in the tank, I did a filter check every 15 minutes.   Every 15 minutes, I had a filter full that I had to drain.  I looked at the thermometer.   It was pegged at 125 degrees, as high as it went.   Eventually, I reduced my filter checks to every half hour.  The heat was getting to me.

We pulled in to Brunswick Landing Marina at 2:30.   We were met at our dock by Sherri, the dockmaster.  It was a perfect landing.  90 degree right turn into the fairway, 90 degree left turn into our slip.  Southern Comfort is on our port side and I didn't want to hit him, nor did I want to hit the dock.  I nailed it. 

Sherri informed us that their 4th of July party was just getting underway.   I needed to adjust our dock lines, and Ruby and Chevy needed to go potty.   They hadn't gone in two days.   Pam and Megan took them up and I did the lines, had a victory beer, and started filling the water tanks.  

I went into the engine room to check things.  Yep, still pegged at 125.   Yep, a Racor full of water.  Heck with it, I'll drain it later.  I poked my light around the room.  I looked at the water pump.  It was pumping and didn't need to be primed.   Then I saw a stream of water shooting down the wall behind the pump.  There was a hose laying there.  I picked it up.  It had a clamp on the end.  It used to go to the pressure tank.  I stuck it back on and tightened it up real good.

Why did it come off?  It's been there for two years?   I finally came up with a theory.   The engine room was hotter than it's ever been before.   When we arrived at Isle of Hope in February it was cool and the engine room never got over 100 degrees.  Now it was well above that.   As you know, when things get hot they expand.  I'm thinking that the metal clamp expanded, and the pressure tank blew the hose right off sending 200 gallons of water into the bilge.

The three gallons of water the fuel polishing system picked up?  Condensation.   Lots of condensation.

The marina's party was fun.   There's a lot of nice people here, and John and Beth from About Time greeted us.   They were transients at Isle of Hope for a few days and joined us for our pot luck dinner.

After the party, we checked out the wifi.   It works great!   I programmed the TVs using the antenna and we get a couple of dozen channels.   That's good enough too, so I don't think we'll sign up for cable.  That saves us $25 a month.   I'll also cut our Verizon hotspot from 10 GB to 5 GB saving us another $40.   Cool beans.

Later that evening, we enjoyed the Brunswick fireworks with new friends Jon and Renne', liveaboards on their Tayana 42 JonNe'.  Jon and Renne' are retired, but Renne' writes.   She's done mysteries and such, but is now writing a children's series of books about sailing called the "Nighty Night" series.  If you have kids or grandkids, I think these would make great gifts.   You can check them out on her blog.

I'll be working on the 300 photos we took from Isle of Hope to Brunswick and hope to have them ready for tomorrow's blog.

Anchored on the Duplin River, Sapelo Island, GA

We got pumped out and got underway around 8:45 yesterday.  All of our liveaboard friends were there to see us off and to see if we'd leave the dogs behind.  I was tempted, but Pamela gave me the look.  You know what I'm talking about, guys.

The trip south was pretty uneventful.  Little wind, no rain.   As usual, the Backwards Family left on a dropping tide instead of a rising tide, but we only ran into a few sections of 6' depth at dead low tide.  We only passed one other cruiser and a few fishing boats.   No commercial traffic at all.

We arrived at the Duplin River, Sapelo Island Georgia about 4:30.  We went about a mile up from the power lines and dropped the anchor.   I fired up the generator and clicked on the A/C in the master stateroom.  When I checked the outflow of the cooling pump there was nothing.   I went into the 135 degree engine room and checked the strainer and it was OK.   It must be a blockage in the intake line.  I tried to clear it for about fifteen minutes before surrendering to the heat.  I was in there enough on our trip draining water out of the fuel polishing system.

Photos later.

I awoke this morning with Pamela telling me that we're out of water.  How could that be?  We had a half a tank, 200 gallons!  

The plan today is to leave early for the remaining 30 mile run to Brunswick Landing Marina.  We should be there around noontime, plenty of time to get settled in for the fireworks.

Happy 4th of July!

Goodbye Isle of Hope, Hello Heat Exhaustion

We arrived at Isle of Hope for a couple of days stay on February 13th, which turned into two weeks when Chevy cut his paw on a sharp oyster shell while swimming.  Two weeks turned into a month, and then five months.  We have many fond memories here and are sad to be leaving friends behind, but such is the life of a cruiser.

Yesterday, Chateau Margaux was moved from in front of us.  I first moved the Whaler to the outside transient face dock, and then Drift Away.  We tied up on the port side so we could put the Whaler back on the roof.  It was a struggle.  First, I needed to move the 80 pound Force 10 stove I need to ship to a friend, and then hoist the Whaler.  The first time we hoisted it up there, the motor wouldn't clear the hoist.  We had to lower it back into the water, spin it so the motor faced Drift Away's bow, raise it again, and spin it around as we brought it aboard.   This is a difficult task because Drift Away heels to starboard with the weight of the Whaler hanging over the side, meaning that we have to pull the Whaler uphill, but it was made more difficult due to the 94 degree heat of the time and the high humidity.  It took several tries and a lot of grunting but we finally got it in it's chocks. 

As I descended the steps from the flybridge, I lost my balance, but caught myself. Weird. I was sweating profusely, slightly nauseous, light headed.   I collapsed on the saloon floor and just laid in front of our fans.

This has never happened to me before. Probably a combination of getting older and being someplace really hot and humid. I did some google doctoring and figured it wasn't heat stroke (very bad!), but probably heat exhaustion.

So a word of caution to everyone out there- with this heat wave all around the US be careful. All that hoo haa about drinking lots of fluids (not beer or coffee) is valid, I found out.

It is now 6:45 and we'll be getting underway in a couple of hours.  With the lack of dog anchorages, our run may be a very short one to a marina about 20 miles away.  I need to get on ActiveCaptain.com and check things out.  See you tomorrow.

Chevy's Tattoo and 70 MPH Winds

Yesterday was another hot one here in Savannah.   Most of us stayed inside our boats during the day, coming out only for happy three hours.    There was a wedding party at the pavilion so we invited folks over to our dock.  Drift Away provides shade and we have a great view of the Skidaway River.

Before everyone came over, we decided to decorate Chevy with a tattoo.

We put it where he was shaved for a cortisone shot for his sore shoulder.  It's only a temporary tattoo.  He seemed to like it, a skull and crossbones.

The folks arrived and we gathered for docktails.

See the sailboat in the right side of the photo above?  That's a Nonsuch being cruised by Ben, who has the world by the tail.   Ben telecommutes from his boat, which can be totally off the grid.  He's a web programmer.  He's 32 years old.  I think it is very cool that Ben has life figured out at such a young age.

We said goodbye to Ben.  He left to anchor out for the next week.

It was about 9 PM and we heard rumbles of thunder off to the north.  It was some light show.  Someone was getting pounded real good.   Then the wind shifted from the north and really started to blow.  Everyone scattered.   I went to the helm station and turned on the weather radio.   Severe thunderstorms were headed our way with winds gusting to 70 MPH.  Holy crap!

We brought in the dock furniture and cushions, and then got out extra dock lines.   With the boat secured, Pam and I sat on the aft deck and witnessed the awesomeness of nature.   The clouds were lit up by the frequent lightning and the thunder was nonstop.  No, no pics.  It was dark and even though we were in the lee of the boat there was spray everywhere.

The hotter it gets, the more severe the thunderstorms are.   I heard there are a couple of million people without power, and several people have been killed.  My thoughts and prayers are with them.

Dog Anchorages

We just delivered our truck to Brunswick Landing Marina Sunday morning.   Friends Dick and Deb from Journey Too... picked us up.   We were pleasantly surprised to hear that they'll be joining us at Brunswick as well.

We're hoping to leave Tuesday morning to head to Sapelo Island and the Duplin River.   I contacted the Sapelo Visitor's Center and asked about a dinghy dock.   They replied "Good morning. In order to be able to visit Sapelo Island by dinghy, you would need to arrange a private day trip through one of the residents of the Hog Hammock community. They would be able to give you permission to use their community dock, and greet you there. A listing of those opportunities will be attached. Hope this helps!" 

Have any of you anchored there?   We'll need to get the dogs off the boat and to shore for potty breaks, not just for the private tour.

Any other anchorages between Isle of Hope and Brunswick with sandy beaches rather than muck?