Not a bad way to spend Christmas

We spent the day wandering about Fort Zachary Taylor and enjoying the cool breezes. I had hurt my knee so getting out into the water was heavenly, nice and cool.

Tim got his butt kicked on the beachcombing contest.

The spouse's new hero

Captain Jack.  Captain Jack set himself up a barge boat at the end of a deserted road (it's actually the access road to the Fat Albert facility), he has parking, no neighbors and a beautiful view.

Very nice man that chatted with a starry eyed Tim for awhile.  Did his place up nice.

The boat is anchored down by two large pylon type anchors in each corner.
The boat goes up and down them with the tide.

Lovely view he has.

His nearest neighbor, Fat Albert, is usually several thousand feet in the air.

Boatels

In the year and half since we have last been in our marina, it has turned into boatel central.  Every other boat seems to be for rent on vrbo.com or AirBnB.

The marina ain't to keen on it because if they find out that you are running a boatel, you get slapped with an additional $750/month fee.  And they need to approve how you portray the marina.

Tim and I personal don't like the fact that there is no control on who comes and goes from the marina, security-wise, not very good and one of the reasons we liked this marina was because of it's security, which seems to be a bit amiss at this point.

Interestingly enough, the majority users of the boatels are from Europe and Asia.  Multi-generations. What would be the thought process of dragging grandma halfway across the world and putting her up on a .... boat?  Interesting to think about.

Award point Christmas

After our feeding frenzy at the Annapolis boat show, all of our credit card award points have it our accounts.

And it's shopping time again!  Whoo-hoo.

Tim was able to get me on the Southwest companion pass for another year, we have one free companion flight on Delta in case we want to go directly into Key West.

I've just ordered (for pick up tomorrow at Best Buy) Google Chromecast that is supposed to work with our onboard TV and we'll be able to watch Netflix, HBO GO, etc etc etc from our iPads to the TV.  I'll report on that later.  (No, we don't go out and kill our livers every night, sometimes we just chill!)

Also got a few more ticky tack things that we've been wanting, not necessarily for the boat, but in general.

I think we did good on the bonus round of credit card spending!

"Head" ache

Elysium is equipped with two Lavac heads.  From the immediate get go, I did not like them. I have used them on other boats before, just don't like them.

Researched a lot, and some people swear by them, say they are bullet proof.

But, I've noticed a lot more people DON'T say nice things about them, mainly seals and valves and pumps failing on them.

Of course, since I'm sure it was one of them many things that routine maintenance hasn't been done on, ours are giving us fits.  Back flow into the toilet, not flushing properly, just annoying in general.

And for those of you who are not familiar with Lavacs, here's what we are dealing with (x 2):

From top to bottom:
Tank indicator (not working)
Top valve indicating to tank or to sea
Handle for flushing (yes, it's a bilge pump)
Bottom valve saying from head or from tank
Toilet itself with rubberized seal

So to flush, make sure valves are in the from head to tank mode (or you will be pumping to sea either from the head or from the tank).  Insert handle, pump 8-10 times, wait 5 seconds, pump 5-6 more times. Yeah, absolutely no problem with that.  Because when I'm underway and prone to seasickness I want to be doing this shit. (no pun intended)

This entire process is run by essentially two Henderson pumps (bilge pump), ideally to create a vacuum.  Now, I don't know about you, but I'm not too keen on using the equivalent of a bilge pump to flush my toilet.  Nope.

Add the fact that they haven't been maintained.....lets say we've had to evacuate ship a couple of times and let it air out.  Not cool.

So, our NEW best friend is Perry, the Head Honcho, Perry is going to assess our head needs and get us something that is effective, water efficient (as in, not filling up the holding tank) and won't drive me crazy.

Sunken boats and grounded boats

When I arrived last week, I noticed a sunken fishing boat in the mooring field between our marina and the NAS channel.

A few days later, we had an abnormally high tide.  Evidently the fishing boat still had enough bouyancy that the extra foot of tide sent her adrift and she caught the current.

So, we take off and I noticed the boat is gone, I told Tim, hey they must have salvaged it, that would have been cool to see.

Ummmm.....no.  Since I'm the channel expert, I'm usually helming us out into open water.

I look ahead, and told Tim oh, shit. There's the fishing  boat.  RIGHT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CHANNEL.

Of course, that sent my spouse into a spazout about derelict vessels and hazards to navigation.

Fortunately, we were able to scoot around it, but we both were wondering what will happen if it gets into deeper water.

 

 

Returning, we decided to see if we can nose into our slip, so I went about prepping the boat accordingly.  I give the helm to NotSoMuchTheChannelMaster.  As I am tying off fenders, the spouse says, I think we are dragging something.  I look over the edge and see in startling clarity the bottom of the channel and fishes waving up at me.  Uh, nope, honey, you are grounded.

There were two things, he got to close to the one edge and our keel must have been further down than we thought, so hit the button, raise the keel and off we go.  Very soft grounding thankfully or I might have been launched off the front of the boat, at which I would have walked to shore and met my spouse soaking and pissed.

Our second point of merriment is getting Elysium into our rather narrow marina entrance, turning into the current and trying to make a hard left required some inventive use of the thrusters again.

We arrive back at the slip and had a welcoming crew, of course, Tim did his world famous get two lines on the boat and then off to chitty chat with our visitors. Sure, honey I'll be more than happy to get the rest of the boat tied off by myself.  However, the guys too pity on me (or maybe it was my inventive use of foul language) and we got her situated.

All in all, a good day. 

First shake down sail with the owner crew.

Since it was a light wind/fairly flat sea state, we had a good opportunity to take Elysium out for a systems practice/check.

We already knew we had a coolant leak issue from the delivery captain, so once again, I got to do my favorite job of helming the boat while Tim messes around the engine room. We found the leak, but it'll take somebody with specific wrenches to tend to.  Yes, we have 6 toolboxes on board, but not these specific tools.

It might be because we are so used to and comfortable with Garmin products, but we are not fans of the Raymarine setup.  Currently working on going through every menu, the chart table is a touch screen, but the helm station isn't and it's very annoying.

Other than a few small ticky tack things, everything went pretty smoothly.  A lot heavier boat than HemiD and Patriot, definitely maneuvers like a tank.

My little push button sailor is in seventh heaven.  Bow/stern thrusters,  auto, electric winches, adjustable keel.

Commissioning the boat....finally

After we sold Hemisphere Dancer, we put all our crap in a storage locker in Key West. Knowing that yes, we would be coming back. Using almost heard of restraint, we waited an ENTIRE year before purchasing Elysium. (Who may or may not sometimes be referred to as Lizzy M, or just Liz)

We had a delivery captain bring her on down, and I was struggling with providing them with enough stuff for the galley and bedding, knowing full well I already have it in the locker. We brought things from home and he purchased a few things, some of which will be coming home with me because I have this thing with glass aboard my boat. A Pyrex baking dish might not break if it were to go flying, but it would probably break my foot. That's just my luck.

The boat yard pretty much tried to do everything the last week she was there, even though they had her for six weeks. Tim was there to oversee/project manage/help. Granted, the boat yard did find some things that had the potential of being show stoppers, but they also dinked around too much.

After a fairly uneventful delivery, the lady sits at berth at the Key West Harbor Marina. Whoo hoo.

So, back to the storage locker. Even though the management goes around and periodically WD 40s our locks, ours still managed to freeze up. I had had a long day travelling and wasn't in the mood to fight with it, so left it. This morning I came back with a can of WD40 and went medieval. Turned out that the entire door needed WD40. So, here I am looking like a spray paint artist going to town. With the high wind, I was covered in WD40, the rental car was, it was great. Finally, the lock unlocked and the door opened. Hey, all our crap is still there!

Amazingly, we also did a well thought out job of packing and storing it. The vacuum seal bags, the dryer sheets, the moth balls, the extra wrapping,  all our stuff seems to be very much intact, mildew and odor free. It also helped that no hurricanes hit Key West this year and got the sheds wet.

But....I recall that HemiD was a two cabin sloop. So, how the hell did I wind up with enough bedding to outfit the QE2? HOLY CRAP. Some of this will wind up getting donated.

Open the next container....hey, Tim and I were wondering where all those shoes went. What possessed us to keep them in a storage locker in Key West? Huh.

Next container...Holy crap! The illuminated palm tree lives!

Next container...BINGO! Hair dryer. It's 65deg in Key West, I need a freaking hair dryer or get pneumonia.

So, I still have several containers to go, Tim gets to figure out his tool situation when he arrives. And maybe, just maybe...the weather will warm up.

Changing things up

Doing some rearranging at the moment. Stay tuned!

To read from the previous blog, click the page tab above.

The latest gadget

Since we have a delivery captain taking the boat down, Tim wanted an opportunity to track her (with our captain's blessing, of course).

He's been eyeballing this gadget at West Marine for some time now, so he finally bit the bullet and bought it.

DeLorme inReach.  The unit itself is about $300, and you can get a monthly plan starting at $15 for starter plans to the next one up $35 for unlimited checkpoints, etc.  We can cancel after one month until we use it again for a passage.

It has the ability to send messages, and you can track it online.  Very nice.

So, we've started it today as the boat heads south. Our delivery captain has been sending us text updates all day (I think he's having fun).

This will also be handy for my parents and whomever we designate our point of contact for our float plan.

How much is a 9 ft draft?

A lot, especially when she's out of the water.  Getting ready to have the final paint job done on the keel.

So, the final list of things that were done?
1.  Bottom and keel soda blasted, keel cleaned up and treated, barrier and bottom paint applied.
2. Dings in side of boat fixed and painted (paint doesn't match, oh well) waxed
3. Topsides waxed
4. Generator serviced, engine serviced
5. Fuel filter set up replaced with Filter Boss
6. Power monitor installed
7. Raymarine chart plotters updated and returned for replacement
8. Stereo replaced so chart plotter can act as remote (safety issue)
9. Outside speakers installed
10. Propane valve inside the boat relocated as required
11. Dorades replaced
12. Vents replaced with solar vents with two-way (in/out) control--essential in the tropics
13. Prop serviced
14. Bow thruster serviced
15. Stern thruster installed (talk to the spouse, roll your eyes at him)
16. Pennant for retractable keel replaced and keel fixed to go completely up
17. Had forward hatch repaired for leaks.

..I'm sure there's a lot more things, but I can't remember.

Still to do, overhaul heads and replace nozzles in bathroom sinks so they can act like a proper shower as they should.

Clean, clean, clean, clean.

Replace all of the lights with LEDs.

Eventually we'll get to enjoy this thing!!!!!

The care and feeding of your boat--not the crew, the boat

If you buy a boat, and the previous owner says:  Oh, I didn't do a lot of required maintenance because for the first 10 years of her life she sat mostly on the hard.

If you hear that, you have some options:
1--Run like hell.
2--Decide if you really, really, want the boat.  If not, run like hell.
3--Know you want the boat, it ticked off a lot of what you wanted, and break out the wallet.

Elysium wasn't used much her first 10 years, maybe twice a year for a couple weeks and then on the hard for the rest.  The second owner thought that routine maintenance shouldn't be an issue...since the boat wasn't used much.

Horseshit.

Whether it be boat, car or bike.  Neglect is neglect.  A boat that isn't used (or a car for that matter), shit will dry out, shit will seize up.

Some things were flagged on the survey and fixed at close.  However, and since we are anal and like to start fresh when we buy a boat used--we found a lot of other things that needed help.

The engine and genset have got some long overdue love, the hull is getting fixed up and beautified. We found a leak in one of our hatches, so we sent it off to be refurbished.  Evidently, the prop was serviced by somebody who didn't know what the hell they were doing, so we had to get that sent off, I think we just wound up getting a new prop.

The sailing part of the boat is in good shape, lines and sails, some UV needs to be repaired, but that is a spring project, for now sail tape will do.

Our ambitious and aggressive list for the boat yard is slowly getting ticked off, but we are running out of time, mainly I want to make sure the gas valve for the stove is moved outside per US standards, nothing would piss me off more to start up the stove and boom.  It would really ruin my day.

Mainly, we just need to get the boat in the water so the spouse and our delivery captain can do a shake down cruise before it makes a 1000+ mile journey to the Keys.  Not much to ask for correct?

BTW--I have left out names of the surveyor and broker/owner to protect the guilty.