NASSAU, NEW PROVIDENCE ISLAND, BAHAMAS,
Bimini Island proved to be a fun night and it was much more happening than the last time I was there. The marina at the Big Game club was just about full as the sun surrendered to the horizon. I got up the next morning and caught up with some fishermen before they left the docks at 0800. I met them the night before and they said they would give us some tips on fishing around here. They set me up with some pretty good rigs and techniques and I was on my way. Skipper was the resort charter guy I'm pretty sure, and Mike was also a local to the area. I'm pretty sure I met the owner of the whole resort as well haha. They were all very nice and helped me out so much.
We pulled back from the dock around 1000....dead low tide....and idled back in to the bright turquoise water. We tried our luck at fishing for an hour or so but only came up with one barracuda. For the next 50 miles the water under the boat would barely reach any higher than 10 ft. and there wasn't a hint of land in sight...The Exuma Bank. It got a bit rough, as I was afraid it would, and after clearing Mackie Shoal we found ourselves in 3-4 footers. It was no big deal just a bit bumpy. The wind was ripping right on the nose. I was very nervous that these waves were going to turn even less friendly when we hit the deep water off the Northwest Channel. Our destination was Chub Cay however and I knew that even if it was really rough we wouldn't have far to go. To my surprise the waves laid down once we hit deeper water and looking back to past experience in the Bahamas this makes sense. They didn't get any taller or shorter they just spread themselves out and became more of a swell. With the weather forecast for the following day promising heavy winds the owner decided to continue on for two more hours and head to Nassau. A slight turn to starboard is all it took and we were on our way.
We got in to Nassau just before dark and I found my post dock duties diminishing as the owner immediately hired two Bahamians to wash the boat who were waiting eagerly for our business. I was exhausted and took a quick power nap. I got talked in to going up to Atlantis for dinner and a little gambling. The place was packed with tourists!! Dinner was great at Nobu, a sushi place, and the gambling was fun, even though I came out with no winnings. It was very nice of the owner and his brother however to give me a little bonus pay to use for gambling. I tried to refuse the small bonus but he insisted and it was so nice of them to consider me and make sure to include me in the nightly activities. I was very grateful for that.
Today (Monday) I cleaned out under the engines, got the weather report, and drifted off to sleep on the couch. I was granted the relaxation and I took it. The sun is absolutely blazing hot, there is not a cloud in the sky, but the wind is holding us at the dock.
Tomorrow we plan to attempt to make it to Staniel Cay but if it is still too rough we will wait for our variable and light forecast for Wednesday.
Sound Waves Out
Monday, February 28, 2011
Saturday, February 26, 2011
Day 147: Bimini Island
ALICE TOWN NORTH BIMINI ISLAND, BAHAMAS!!
Finally we did it. I woke up at 0630 this morning and finished some last minute tasks. Everyone else was up around 0730 and we fired the engines. I checked the weather one last time and it looked perfect. We tossed the lines pulled back from the dock and headed for the ocean. It was only 0800 and the sun was already hot on the face. There wasn't a hint of wind in the air as we idled our way towards an open horizon. I couldn't believe we finally made it to this day. It has been a month in Ft. Lauderdale of nothing but work. We completed so many tasks, as my last blog posts indicate, and the owner said the boat is in the best shape it has been in for awhile now.
We cleared Port Everglades and the water was glass calm. We left a trail of foam on the water as our prop wash said goodbye to the United States. Next stop, Bahamas. The day went perfectly. We tried our hand at fishing but had no luck.
A year and a half ago I pulled in to Bimini Island in a 34' sailboat, just starting the adventure of a lifetime. The water was so clear it put a swimming pool to shame. The greens and the blues reflecting from the shallows hurt your eyes they were so bright. This time around??? Well Besides the awesome part of being on a 74' luxury motor yacht it was just as stunning. The gulf stream came to an end. Land presented itself on the horizon and the depth of water went from 1,500 to 100 feet in less than a football field. Bimini Island is less than a half mile wide and only about four miles long but it is absolute paradise. Sergeant Majors swarmed the boat as we tossed bits of Bimini Bread over board. I put the hammock out and took a little cat nap as the guests took a stroll around the island on the scooters. The rest of the day was spent lounging around up at the Bimini Big Game Marina bar.
I wonder.....holy shit this is awesome....I'm not wondering anything!!!!
I will get pictures up when I can!
Sound Waves Out
Finally we did it. I woke up at 0630 this morning and finished some last minute tasks. Everyone else was up around 0730 and we fired the engines. I checked the weather one last time and it looked perfect. We tossed the lines pulled back from the dock and headed for the ocean. It was only 0800 and the sun was already hot on the face. There wasn't a hint of wind in the air as we idled our way towards an open horizon. I couldn't believe we finally made it to this day. It has been a month in Ft. Lauderdale of nothing but work. We completed so many tasks, as my last blog posts indicate, and the owner said the boat is in the best shape it has been in for awhile now.
We cleared Port Everglades and the water was glass calm. We left a trail of foam on the water as our prop wash said goodbye to the United States. Next stop, Bahamas. The day went perfectly. We tried our hand at fishing but had no luck.
A year and a half ago I pulled in to Bimini Island in a 34' sailboat, just starting the adventure of a lifetime. The water was so clear it put a swimming pool to shame. The greens and the blues reflecting from the shallows hurt your eyes they were so bright. This time around??? Well Besides the awesome part of being on a 74' luxury motor yacht it was just as stunning. The gulf stream came to an end. Land presented itself on the horizon and the depth of water went from 1,500 to 100 feet in less than a football field. Bimini Island is less than a half mile wide and only about four miles long but it is absolute paradise. Sergeant Majors swarmed the boat as we tossed bits of Bimini Bread over board. I put the hammock out and took a little cat nap as the guests took a stroll around the island on the scooters. The rest of the day was spent lounging around up at the Bimini Big Game Marina bar.
I wonder.....holy shit this is awesome....I'm not wondering anything!!!!
I will get pictures up when I can!
Sound Waves Out
Friday, February 25, 2011
Day 143 - 146: This is it
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Holy cow I didn't even have time to blog all week. My work log is topping 70 hours for this week and the boat is finally in tip top shape. The owner is on the boat with his brother as well as his son and we are on schedule to pull away from the dock at 0800 tomorrow morning and finally head for the Bahamas.
Lets take a look back at this weeks projects:
Re-build aftercoolers
Replace check valves and test fuel issue
Sea-trial the boat
Finish installation on pilot house door hardware
Clean air conditioning strainers
Fabricate tv cover as well as runner for fly bridge deck
Get the bottom cleaned and zincs changed
Organize all freezers and fridges in galley, on aft deck and on fly bridge
Fix all camera systems on board
Fix all step lights and replace burnt out bulbs
Organize the hundreds of items that were ordered over the past week
Wet sand paint spots and replace covers from painter
Clean all canvas on the boat, dockside
Fill propane tanks for flybridge grill
Hardwire ships computer to router
Replace all lights in salon to same wattage
Fix cold water knob in the master bedroom
Fix the day head
Rent a carpet cleaner and clean all carpets on board. Pre-soak, wash, rinse, water rinse, apply scotch guard
Clean entire inside of boat and all heads
Clean and/or replace all air filters on board
Clean all shower sumps
Power wash and acid wash bottom of dinghy
Wash and lift dinghy
Wash entire boat
Polish all stainless
RainX all windows
Wax aft deck fiberglass
Provision
Clean oil spill pan for hydraulic davit pump
Wash, polish, wax and lift scooters
Being that I don't feel like giving a detailed description of the above project list, I thought I would just spit it back out on to paper. The owner and his friends just left for dinner, the divers just finished up changing the zincs, and I am absolutely exhausted. I am going to sleep like a baby tonight, but with a 0600 alarm in order to get everything else squared away that the owner wants to get squared away before we leave, my nap won't last long. Exhausted. With promises of fun times and relaxation on the horizon I think everyone forgets that this is my job and I'm not on vacation. Anything that needs to get done on this boat will most likely go through me...I guess I will hope for relaxation though.
We plan to do some fishing in the stream tomorrow and possibly either stop in Bimini or go all the way to Chub Cay, depending on how long we fish for. With no real bait I am not too hopeful on our chances to catch anything but we will see what happens. I would imagine we will be in the Exumas within the next few days.
This little boy is going to bed..
Bahamas Bound....finally
Sound Waves Out
Holy cow I didn't even have time to blog all week. My work log is topping 70 hours for this week and the boat is finally in tip top shape. The owner is on the boat with his brother as well as his son and we are on schedule to pull away from the dock at 0800 tomorrow morning and finally head for the Bahamas.
Lets take a look back at this weeks projects:
Re-build aftercoolers
Replace check valves and test fuel issue
Sea-trial the boat
Finish installation on pilot house door hardware
Clean air conditioning strainers
Fabricate tv cover as well as runner for fly bridge deck
Get the bottom cleaned and zincs changed
Organize all freezers and fridges in galley, on aft deck and on fly bridge
Fix all camera systems on board
Fix all step lights and replace burnt out bulbs
Organize the hundreds of items that were ordered over the past week
Wet sand paint spots and replace covers from painter
Clean all canvas on the boat, dockside
Fill propane tanks for flybridge grill
Hardwire ships computer to router
Replace all lights in salon to same wattage
Fix cold water knob in the master bedroom
Fix the day head
Rent a carpet cleaner and clean all carpets on board. Pre-soak, wash, rinse, water rinse, apply scotch guard
Clean entire inside of boat and all heads
Clean and/or replace all air filters on board
Clean all shower sumps
Power wash and acid wash bottom of dinghy
Wash and lift dinghy
Wash entire boat
Polish all stainless
RainX all windows
Wax aft deck fiberglass
Provision
Clean oil spill pan for hydraulic davit pump
Wash, polish, wax and lift scooters
Being that I don't feel like giving a detailed description of the above project list, I thought I would just spit it back out on to paper. The owner and his friends just left for dinner, the divers just finished up changing the zincs, and I am absolutely exhausted. I am going to sleep like a baby tonight, but with a 0600 alarm in order to get everything else squared away that the owner wants to get squared away before we leave, my nap won't last long. Exhausted. With promises of fun times and relaxation on the horizon I think everyone forgets that this is my job and I'm not on vacation. Anything that needs to get done on this boat will most likely go through me...I guess I will hope for relaxation though.
We plan to do some fishing in the stream tomorrow and possibly either stop in Bimini or go all the way to Chub Cay, depending on how long we fish for. With no real bait I am not too hopeful on our chances to catch anything but we will see what happens. I would imagine we will be in the Exumas within the next few days.
This little boy is going to bed..
Bahamas Bound....finally
Sound Waves Out
Monday, February 21, 2011
Day 140-142: The Race is on
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Saturday and Sunday went by nice and smooth. I finished some small projects, but nothing serious. There really wasn't much to write about. I feel like the boat is getting closer.
Monday morning I went and picked up the owners son at the airport. Jack, our diesel mechanic, showed up to finish the work on the engines. We wanted to make sure everything was put back together perfectly before starting the engines. Shortly after getting back from the airport Jeremy showed up and got right to work on the pilot house doors. After a few lightning fast hours the starboard engine turned over. We bled the lines, cranked it, bled the lines, and just like that she lit up like a Christmas tree. Everything sounded great and we ran the engine up to 2100 rpm's. We shut her down and got to work on the port engine. Meanwhile Jeremy finally had the door hardware for the pilot house doors latching and locking. We tweaked them a little here and there and other than a few more adjustments that I have to make tomorrow they are on and functional! It has been since Sarasota that we have been trying to get those dang things on so it was such a relief.
Not too long after the port engine fired up and everything seemed to be running great. On another good note we cracked off the fuel check valve on the starboard main engine and noticed that it may be our problem to our fuel draining out of the racors. We switched the check valves from port to starboard and will see if the port side racors begin to drain. In the meantime we will be ordering a new check valve as we are certain that this is our problem.
Jeremy looked at our air conditioning units and we found that one of the compressors is in fact failing. We will be ordering a new one immediately and that has now become our main priority.
Jeremy, the owners son and I flipped the boat around at the dock. We can now lift the tender that has been sitting in the water for a month now. The bottom is filthy and it is on tomorrows agenda first thing. We finally got a good quote to put down a runner on the fly bridge deck. Hopefully we will be moving forward on that tomorrow as well.
The race is on and hopefully by this time next week I will be writing from somewhere in the Bahamas. It was very encouraging to me today to hear the engines fire again, and I even went for a mini boat ride...I pulled the boat out of the slip, spun it, and backed it back into the slip. I still remember how to drive a boat too!!!
Tomorrow we lift the dinghy and wash it. I need to install a fuel lift pump on the port engine still as there is a temporary bypass valve in place right now for todays activities. Once we get the air conditioners squared away, finish a few small projects and give the boat a good scrub inside and out we will be ready!!
Sound Waves Out
Saturday and Sunday went by nice and smooth. I finished some small projects, but nothing serious. There really wasn't much to write about. I feel like the boat is getting closer.
Monday morning I went and picked up the owners son at the airport. Jack, our diesel mechanic, showed up to finish the work on the engines. We wanted to make sure everything was put back together perfectly before starting the engines. Shortly after getting back from the airport Jeremy showed up and got right to work on the pilot house doors. After a few lightning fast hours the starboard engine turned over. We bled the lines, cranked it, bled the lines, and just like that she lit up like a Christmas tree. Everything sounded great and we ran the engine up to 2100 rpm's. We shut her down and got to work on the port engine. Meanwhile Jeremy finally had the door hardware for the pilot house doors latching and locking. We tweaked them a little here and there and other than a few more adjustments that I have to make tomorrow they are on and functional! It has been since Sarasota that we have been trying to get those dang things on so it was such a relief.
Not too long after the port engine fired up and everything seemed to be running great. On another good note we cracked off the fuel check valve on the starboard main engine and noticed that it may be our problem to our fuel draining out of the racors. We switched the check valves from port to starboard and will see if the port side racors begin to drain. In the meantime we will be ordering a new check valve as we are certain that this is our problem.
Jeremy looked at our air conditioning units and we found that one of the compressors is in fact failing. We will be ordering a new one immediately and that has now become our main priority.
Jeremy, the owners son and I flipped the boat around at the dock. We can now lift the tender that has been sitting in the water for a month now. The bottom is filthy and it is on tomorrows agenda first thing. We finally got a good quote to put down a runner on the fly bridge deck. Hopefully we will be moving forward on that tomorrow as well.
The race is on and hopefully by this time next week I will be writing from somewhere in the Bahamas. It was very encouraging to me today to hear the engines fire again, and I even went for a mini boat ride...I pulled the boat out of the slip, spun it, and backed it back into the slip. I still remember how to drive a boat too!!!
Tomorrow we lift the dinghy and wash it. I need to install a fuel lift pump on the port engine still as there is a temporary bypass valve in place right now for todays activities. Once we get the air conditioners squared away, finish a few small projects and give the boat a good scrub inside and out we will be ready!!
Sound Waves Out
Friday, February 18, 2011
Day 139: Dockwalk Party
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Jeremy showed up today with the new hardware for the pilot house doors. We worked on those dang things most of the day and they still aren't right. There is not a lot of space for the new latch as it is much larger than the old latch. The latches hit very hard and we are having trouble making them actually catch and shut. We modified the doors for most of the day, drilling holes, grinding tracks, and cursing a little bit here and there :-). They still aren't right but I hope to tackle them tomorrow and finish this project once and for all.
We also finally got the handle off of the ice maker on the aft deck. All of the set screws that hold it in place were locked up big time. After ruining a few hardened drill bits we finally got a carbide grinder in there and it did the job. Now we just have to re-tap the hole and get a new set screw in there. The reason we took the handle off is because it was very loose.
There was a dockwalk party going on in Miami tonight for the Miami boat show. www.dockwalk.com I got talked in to going down and was excited as it was an event for captains and crew only. It was at Waxy O'Conners in south beach Miami. I was a little disappointed that we didn't go down and look at the boats, but whatever. The party was alright but it wasn't worth the trip all the way to Miami that is for certain. I would have been mad if I didn't go though so it is what it is.
The boat is really close to being ready as most of my big projects are coming to an end. After sea trial on Monday will be a huge step towards getting off the docks in Lauderdale and heading for the Bahamas.
Here are some pictures!
Sound Waves Out
Jeremy showed up today with the new hardware for the pilot house doors. We worked on those dang things most of the day and they still aren't right. There is not a lot of space for the new latch as it is much larger than the old latch. The latches hit very hard and we are having trouble making them actually catch and shut. We modified the doors for most of the day, drilling holes, grinding tracks, and cursing a little bit here and there :-). They still aren't right but I hope to tackle them tomorrow and finish this project once and for all.
We also finally got the handle off of the ice maker on the aft deck. All of the set screws that hold it in place were locked up big time. After ruining a few hardened drill bits we finally got a carbide grinder in there and it did the job. Now we just have to re-tap the hole and get a new set screw in there. The reason we took the handle off is because it was very loose.
There was a dockwalk party going on in Miami tonight for the Miami boat show. www.dockwalk.com I got talked in to going down and was excited as it was an event for captains and crew only. It was at Waxy O'Conners in south beach Miami. I was a little disappointed that we didn't go down and look at the boats, but whatever. The party was alright but it wasn't worth the trip all the way to Miami that is for certain. I would have been mad if I didn't go though so it is what it is.
The boat is really close to being ready as most of my big projects are coming to an end. After sea trial on Monday will be a huge step towards getting off the docks in Lauderdale and heading for the Bahamas.
Here are some pictures!
Dockwalk Party: South Beach, Miami
Wednesday Night Poker at Waxy's in Lauderdale
Sunset from the aft deck of Sound Waves in Ft. Lauderdale at Bahia Mar marina. Avante V in the picture.
Sunset looking over what I call "the big boy dock" at Bahia Mar marina. Average sized boat on the dock on any given day I would say roughly 140'
Full moon rising up over the ocean and Bahia Mar
Sound Waves Out
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Day 138: Diesel fuel and pumps oh my!
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
What a day. What a night last night! I have been so lonesome down here haha. I work all day on the boat by myself, then have some dinner, play some guitar, watch a movie or three, then go to bed. It started to take a toll after awhile and I just had to go out and get some fresh air. I hopped in a cab down to Waxy's. I met some people last time I was there and they were there again. It was Wednesday night poker night, which was fun. For $5 you could play and if you finished in the top three you got a $10 gift certificate to Waxy's. I was just enjoying talking to everyone and having a good time and all of the sudden the dealer took everyones chips, the game was over and I won!!! Everyone there was either from Australia, South Africa or somewhere in Europe. The accents were great. I really met a lot of fun people and I felt like I was at "the local watering hole back home". Scully, Megan, Mick, Conner, and Waxy himself are amongst the new friends I hope to see again before I leave Ft. Lauderdale.
I decided today that I was going to take a variable out of the fuel problem equation. I switched the lift pumps from the starboard and port engines. It took almost all day, but I wanted to know. Sure enough the port lift pump that was now the starboard lift pump picked up fuel right away and immediately provided 15 kPA. The only thing left to see is if the racors drain out now. I will be calling Kerr Pump first thing tomorrow morning to have a word with them and get a new pump shipped immediately. Brand new pump = fail = Captain Eric not happy.
I will be getting a first mate on Monday as the owners son will be flying down. He will be joining us for the crossing to the Bahamas, but has also been volunteered by his Dad to help me with the final projects remaining on our list. It will be a big help to have him, especially while washing the boat!
Sound Waves Out
What a day. What a night last night! I have been so lonesome down here haha. I work all day on the boat by myself, then have some dinner, play some guitar, watch a movie or three, then go to bed. It started to take a toll after awhile and I just had to go out and get some fresh air. I hopped in a cab down to Waxy's. I met some people last time I was there and they were there again. It was Wednesday night poker night, which was fun. For $5 you could play and if you finished in the top three you got a $10 gift certificate to Waxy's. I was just enjoying talking to everyone and having a good time and all of the sudden the dealer took everyones chips, the game was over and I won!!! Everyone there was either from Australia, South Africa or somewhere in Europe. The accents were great. I really met a lot of fun people and I felt like I was at "the local watering hole back home". Scully, Megan, Mick, Conner, and Waxy himself are amongst the new friends I hope to see again before I leave Ft. Lauderdale.
I decided today that I was going to take a variable out of the fuel problem equation. I switched the lift pumps from the starboard and port engines. It took almost all day, but I wanted to know. Sure enough the port lift pump that was now the starboard lift pump picked up fuel right away and immediately provided 15 kPA. The only thing left to see is if the racors drain out now. I will be calling Kerr Pump first thing tomorrow morning to have a word with them and get a new pump shipped immediately. Brand new pump = fail = Captain Eric not happy.
I will be getting a first mate on Monday as the owners son will be flying down. He will be joining us for the crossing to the Bahamas, but has also been volunteered by his Dad to help me with the final projects remaining on our list. It will be a big help to have him, especially while washing the boat!
Sound Waves Out
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Day 137: Chill Pill
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
The weather this morning was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, hardly any wind and a fresh temperature of around 75. I made some phone calls and went straight to the engine room to work more on our fuel pickup problem. The racors were not completely full but still only about an inch low, which was O.K. in my mind. I assumed that because of all the work we have been doing on the fuel lines there may have been some settling going on. I installed a hand pump on the housing for the secondary fuel filters in hopes that it would help prime the electric pump. It did, but the electric pump is still only providing about 8 psi of vacuum, as opposed to the 15 that I was looking for. I am still going to wait until we start the engines and run them, but I am beginning to worry that air is being introduced in to the system somewhere and causing the pump to loose its power.
Unfortunately with a back order of parts we won't be ready for sea trial until Monday.
I think it is time to start cleaning this boat up, as my big projects are coming to an end.
Wash the outside, clean the inside, clean the carpets, huge provision, leave for Bahamas! The target date is now February 25.
Sound Waves Out
The weather this morning was beautiful. Not a cloud in the sky, hardly any wind and a fresh temperature of around 75. I made some phone calls and went straight to the engine room to work more on our fuel pickup problem. The racors were not completely full but still only about an inch low, which was O.K. in my mind. I assumed that because of all the work we have been doing on the fuel lines there may have been some settling going on. I installed a hand pump on the housing for the secondary fuel filters in hopes that it would help prime the electric pump. It did, but the electric pump is still only providing about 8 psi of vacuum, as opposed to the 15 that I was looking for. I am still going to wait until we start the engines and run them, but I am beginning to worry that air is being introduced in to the system somewhere and causing the pump to loose its power.
Unfortunately with a back order of parts we won't be ready for sea trial until Monday.
I think it is time to start cleaning this boat up, as my big projects are coming to an end.
Wash the outside, clean the inside, clean the carpets, huge provision, leave for Bahamas! The target date is now February 25.
Sound Waves Out
Monday, February 14, 2011
Day 136: Happy Valentines Day
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
I am trying to time everything up for the return of the owner sometime next week. It is getting to the point where the big tasks left involve cleaning. I don't want to clean to early, otherwise I will have to do it again before the owner gets here. We will hopefully be ready for sea trial by Wednesday which will be a huge relief. I still don't have the fuel issue completely figured out, but hopefully after we start the engines everything will work itself out. The racors got a complete re-build and appear to be holding fuel just fine, but the fuel lift pump for the starboard engine still won't take a prime. We attempted to put a little oil in the pump housing, hoping that the viscosity would help the pump pick up a prime... no luck. We filled the fuel lines on both the input and output side, getting fuel as close to the pump as possible... no luck. If firing the engine doesn't do anything then I plan on changing out the pump yet again. If that doesn't work then we have big problems as there is obviously a leak in the fuel lines somewhere. It is a good sign however that the racors are staying full.
A couple of videos worth watching:
I think I have maybe posted one of them already but I am not sure.
Enjoy:
Fort Lauderdale...Just another day on the water
Another day at the office
Sound Waves Out
I am trying to time everything up for the return of the owner sometime next week. It is getting to the point where the big tasks left involve cleaning. I don't want to clean to early, otherwise I will have to do it again before the owner gets here. We will hopefully be ready for sea trial by Wednesday which will be a huge relief. I still don't have the fuel issue completely figured out, but hopefully after we start the engines everything will work itself out. The racors got a complete re-build and appear to be holding fuel just fine, but the fuel lift pump for the starboard engine still won't take a prime. We attempted to put a little oil in the pump housing, hoping that the viscosity would help the pump pick up a prime... no luck. We filled the fuel lines on both the input and output side, getting fuel as close to the pump as possible... no luck. If firing the engine doesn't do anything then I plan on changing out the pump yet again. If that doesn't work then we have big problems as there is obviously a leak in the fuel lines somewhere. It is a good sign however that the racors are staying full.
A couple of videos worth watching:
I think I have maybe posted one of them already but I am not sure.
Enjoy:
Fort Lauderdale...Just another day on the water
Another day at the office
Sound Waves Out
132 - 135: Lonely
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
I forgot to post there for a couple of days. Nothing to exciting is happening anyways. A cold front passed through this weekend and hopefully it is the last one of the year. We got the after coolers put back on and we are ordering one fuel line then should be ready for sea trial. That was really the only big thing that happened this weekend on board. I've been working on a lot of smaller things but I am waiting on the big things as long as I can up until the owners return. Those things being, washing the boat, cleaning the carpet and the rest of the inside. The longer I wait the cleaner everything will be upon his arrival. It doesn't take long for the outside to start to look dirty again.
The days are really starting to drag out and I catch myself pacing back and forth here and there. I go all day without interacting with a single person, except maybe a phone call or two. I went out a couple of times and while it is cool to meet and talk to people I never would talk to if I was with a group of friends, it really gets old after awhile. I will say that it was fun to run in to the crew of Libra III as well as a captain who is currently doing his coursework for his 3,000 Ton license. It's always interesting to talk to those kinds of people.
Right now the date is set for February 24th to finally leave Ft. lauderdale, which will put us at the docks for just over a month. Who knows if February 24th will even happen.
Time to get the week started, wheres my to-do list?
Sound Waves Out
I forgot to post there for a couple of days. Nothing to exciting is happening anyways. A cold front passed through this weekend and hopefully it is the last one of the year. We got the after coolers put back on and we are ordering one fuel line then should be ready for sea trial. That was really the only big thing that happened this weekend on board. I've been working on a lot of smaller things but I am waiting on the big things as long as I can up until the owners return. Those things being, washing the boat, cleaning the carpet and the rest of the inside. The longer I wait the cleaner everything will be upon his arrival. It doesn't take long for the outside to start to look dirty again.
The days are really starting to drag out and I catch myself pacing back and forth here and there. I go all day without interacting with a single person, except maybe a phone call or two. I went out a couple of times and while it is cool to meet and talk to people I never would talk to if I was with a group of friends, it really gets old after awhile. I will say that it was fun to run in to the crew of Libra III as well as a captain who is currently doing his coursework for his 3,000 Ton license. It's always interesting to talk to those kinds of people.
Right now the date is set for February 24th to finally leave Ft. lauderdale, which will put us at the docks for just over a month. Who knows if February 24th will even happen.
Time to get the week started, wheres my to-do list?
Sound Waves Out
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Day 130 & 131: Slow Progress
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
I am starting to get Sarasota syndrome in that we have now been sitting in Ft. Lauderdale for an extended amount of time. On top of that I am now alone on the boat, which slows down each day even more. Yesterday I did a re-group and got all of my thoughts together to finish each project and get ready to maybe leave here someday. I also re-built all of the racor filters on board, which was a diesel mess. I can now say that I know racor filters inside and out.
Today I wanted to focus on the inside of the boat a little bit. Some clutter has been developing with ongoing projects as well as the continuing spontaneous purchasing of materials and supplies and it was time to take a step back and organize. I also wanted to clean the entire inside of the boat. I started by refolding every shower and beach towel on board. After sitting in cabinets for who knows how long and getting moved around here and there they were all ready to be refolded. I redistributed all of the towels to their proper heads and put the beach towels in a convenient location to grab just before heading to the beach. I cleaned out the entire salon before Jeremy, one of our workers, showed up. The project with installing new hardware on the pilot house doors is still open despite two other machine shops turning us down in other ports. We finally found a machine shop that would do it, but the work is far from over. Jeremy and I determined what still needed to be done and a few more parts still need to be made. It is going to be a close call, and everything has to come out perfect so hopefully this all works out and we can finally close this project for good. What it comes down to is that the hardware is not made for these doors and by forcing it to work we have encountered a lot of road blocks. It has been an awful lot of time and money for a set of new door handles.
Like I said, being that the owner may not be returning until late February, I have had to completely change my schedule. I originally planned to have the boat ready to go this week but now I need to slow everything down. While I am still staying busy during the day everything is much more relaxed, and I have actually been able to get a lot more things accomplished.
Tomorrow is just another day.
Sound Waves Out.
I am starting to get Sarasota syndrome in that we have now been sitting in Ft. Lauderdale for an extended amount of time. On top of that I am now alone on the boat, which slows down each day even more. Yesterday I did a re-group and got all of my thoughts together to finish each project and get ready to maybe leave here someday. I also re-built all of the racor filters on board, which was a diesel mess. I can now say that I know racor filters inside and out.
Today I wanted to focus on the inside of the boat a little bit. Some clutter has been developing with ongoing projects as well as the continuing spontaneous purchasing of materials and supplies and it was time to take a step back and organize. I also wanted to clean the entire inside of the boat. I started by refolding every shower and beach towel on board. After sitting in cabinets for who knows how long and getting moved around here and there they were all ready to be refolded. I redistributed all of the towels to their proper heads and put the beach towels in a convenient location to grab just before heading to the beach. I cleaned out the entire salon before Jeremy, one of our workers, showed up. The project with installing new hardware on the pilot house doors is still open despite two other machine shops turning us down in other ports. We finally found a machine shop that would do it, but the work is far from over. Jeremy and I determined what still needed to be done and a few more parts still need to be made. It is going to be a close call, and everything has to come out perfect so hopefully this all works out and we can finally close this project for good. What it comes down to is that the hardware is not made for these doors and by forcing it to work we have encountered a lot of road blocks. It has been an awful lot of time and money for a set of new door handles.
Like I said, being that the owner may not be returning until late February, I have had to completely change my schedule. I originally planned to have the boat ready to go this week but now I need to slow everything down. While I am still staying busy during the day everything is much more relaxed, and I have actually been able to get a lot more things accomplished.
Tomorrow is just another day.
Sound Waves Out.
Monday, February 7, 2011
Day 129: Still here
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Well I got a call today and due to some circumstances back home, it isn't looking like we will be leaving Ft. Lauderdale until late February. It's looking like we may never get there. One thing is for sure, I won't be doing the east coast next spring. My number one priority is with the Bonita which is in winter storage back in Grand Haven. As soon as the owner wants that boat out of the barn and in Chicago I will be gone. With such a late departure to the Bahamas it is looking like Sound Waves will most likely be staying in the Bahamas through April. Being that Bonita came out of the barn in early May last year....I will not be completing the Great Circle this year in my life.
Anyways I really shouldn't be writing right now...it turned out to be a real crap day and I'm not in the best of moods. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a lot more done and get this boat ready to leave. With two more weeks of sitting in Ft. Lauderdale ahead of me, I have plenty of time!
Pizza is done, beer is cold and some good tunes just came on. Good night to go out?
See Ya!
Sound Waves Out!
Well I got a call today and due to some circumstances back home, it isn't looking like we will be leaving Ft. Lauderdale until late February. It's looking like we may never get there. One thing is for sure, I won't be doing the east coast next spring. My number one priority is with the Bonita which is in winter storage back in Grand Haven. As soon as the owner wants that boat out of the barn and in Chicago I will be gone. With such a late departure to the Bahamas it is looking like Sound Waves will most likely be staying in the Bahamas through April. Being that Bonita came out of the barn in early May last year....I will not be completing the Great Circle this year in my life.
Anyways I really shouldn't be writing right now...it turned out to be a real crap day and I'm not in the best of moods. Hopefully tomorrow I can get a lot more done and get this boat ready to leave. With two more weeks of sitting in Ft. Lauderdale ahead of me, I have plenty of time!
Pizza is done, beer is cold and some good tunes just came on. Good night to go out?
See Ya!
Sound Waves Out!
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Day 128: Super Bowl?
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Today started out cloudy and it was a bit sad as it was Jessie's last day here. We went to the beach anyway. I knew that there was a cold front pushing in to Florida today but it looked as though it may stall and get pushed back to the north. It was cloudy and even tried to rain a little bit. The dark clouds were moving towards the southeast and getting worse. Sure enough though everything kind of stopped right over the top of us and reversed. The clouds moved back to the northwest and soon enough there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. I kind of like this weather stuff!!! It was a very relaxing day and as the tide went out the access to the sand bar just off the beach presented itself again. A large group next to us was very interesting to watch and poor little Eddie got stung by a jelly fish three times!!! He must have been 8 years old at best, but he was a tough little guy.
We went in the water a little bit and even spotted a huge sting ray about 50 yards further out in the deeper water. The water was crystal clear and so was the sky.
It turned out to be an awesome day. I took Jessie to the airport and returned to get the boat turned around. (Cleaning). The super bowl was on tonight but due to a lot of reasons we can't get it on the boat. I was too lazy to go find a bar to watch the game and instead just watched a few movies.
I am so motivated to get right to work tomorrow and finish all of the projects that are left on board. The Bahamas are on the menu I just need to finish everything up here!
Sound Waves Out.
Today started out cloudy and it was a bit sad as it was Jessie's last day here. We went to the beach anyway. I knew that there was a cold front pushing in to Florida today but it looked as though it may stall and get pushed back to the north. It was cloudy and even tried to rain a little bit. The dark clouds were moving towards the southeast and getting worse. Sure enough though everything kind of stopped right over the top of us and reversed. The clouds moved back to the northwest and soon enough there wasn't a single cloud in the sky. I kind of like this weather stuff!!! It was a very relaxing day and as the tide went out the access to the sand bar just off the beach presented itself again. A large group next to us was very interesting to watch and poor little Eddie got stung by a jelly fish three times!!! He must have been 8 years old at best, but he was a tough little guy.
We went in the water a little bit and even spotted a huge sting ray about 50 yards further out in the deeper water. The water was crystal clear and so was the sky.
It turned out to be an awesome day. I took Jessie to the airport and returned to get the boat turned around. (Cleaning). The super bowl was on tonight but due to a lot of reasons we can't get it on the boat. I was too lazy to go find a bar to watch the game and instead just watched a few movies.
I am so motivated to get right to work tomorrow and finish all of the projects that are left on board. The Bahamas are on the menu I just need to finish everything up here!
Sound Waves Out.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Day 127: Quit Playin' with your Dinghy!
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
It was a sleep in day, and boy did it feel good. I talked to a few workers today, and then planned to have a little fun. Jessie and I hopped in the dinghy and just drove around for awhile. We went up the New River a little bit, then around Pier 66 under a very low bridge, in to Lake Sylvia, up the ICW to Shooters and then back to Coconuts for lunch...which is walking distance from the marina. While we were on the New River we saw a manatee and tons of jelly fish!
The turbo chargers are back on the engines and the painter finished up today. We had him touching up some spots around the boat. The pilot house doors are back on and all I need to do is get the hardware on them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging up on the fly bridge. The wind slapped at the flag on the radar arch as the sun dipped in and out behind clouds. The air had a slight chill to it with the wind but the sun made everything alright as we drifted in and out of an awesome afternoon nap. The boat is making progress and I am seeing a little bit of Lauderdale at the same time, which is great. I am looking forward to a good week of work as we finally prepare to get to the Bahamas...we are almost there!
Off to Quarterdeck for dinner!
Sound Waves Out
It was a sleep in day, and boy did it feel good. I talked to a few workers today, and then planned to have a little fun. Jessie and I hopped in the dinghy and just drove around for awhile. We went up the New River a little bit, then around Pier 66 under a very low bridge, in to Lake Sylvia, up the ICW to Shooters and then back to Coconuts for lunch...which is walking distance from the marina. While we were on the New River we saw a manatee and tons of jelly fish!
The turbo chargers are back on the engines and the painter finished up today. We had him touching up some spots around the boat. The pilot house doors are back on and all I need to do is get the hardware on them.
The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging up on the fly bridge. The wind slapped at the flag on the radar arch as the sun dipped in and out behind clouds. The air had a slight chill to it with the wind but the sun made everything alright as we drifted in and out of an awesome afternoon nap. The boat is making progress and I am seeing a little bit of Lauderdale at the same time, which is great. I am looking forward to a good week of work as we finally prepare to get to the Bahamas...we are almost there!
Off to Quarterdeck for dinner!
Sound Waves Out
Friday, February 4, 2011
Day 126: Jessie!
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Well Jessie made her connecting fight just barely. She got off and ran down the hall, stepped on the plane and left. The plan today was to hang out and go to the beach. Just as we were getting ready to leave the dock hand came by to do a pump out. So we did that. Then I noticed that one of the compressors for the air conditioning was struggling. By chance I checked the strainers and they were caked with mud and barnacles...oops. I cleaned those up and found that the gaskets were shot. No AC until I got new gaskets. I called Sam's Marine and while they had them in stock they were a 15 minute drive...one way. Forget it, I'll leave the doors open and we'll go to the beach for awhile. Just as we were leaving the divers showed up with the refurbished prop. O.K. well hold on let me help them for a second. Then Jeremy calls and says the pilot house doors are ready and he can bring them over. Fine O.K. but on your way pick up those gaskets from Sam's Marine. Pilot house doors on, AC running, starboard prop back on, empty holding tank, clean strainers.....O.K. lets go to the beach....finally. For not planning on doing much today I sure did get a lot done.
All in all it was a great beach day, minus the fact that Jessie got stung by a jelly fish after the first two minutes of being in the water, and by the fact that I had to leave and go get stuff done on the boat. Jessie is fine and I got a little sunburned so I guess it was a pretty good day!
Time to go wander the town, grab some dinner, and RELAX!!!!
Sound Waves Out
Well Jessie made her connecting fight just barely. She got off and ran down the hall, stepped on the plane and left. The plan today was to hang out and go to the beach. Just as we were getting ready to leave the dock hand came by to do a pump out. So we did that. Then I noticed that one of the compressors for the air conditioning was struggling. By chance I checked the strainers and they were caked with mud and barnacles...oops. I cleaned those up and found that the gaskets were shot. No AC until I got new gaskets. I called Sam's Marine and while they had them in stock they were a 15 minute drive...one way. Forget it, I'll leave the doors open and we'll go to the beach for awhile. Just as we were leaving the divers showed up with the refurbished prop. O.K. well hold on let me help them for a second. Then Jeremy calls and says the pilot house doors are ready and he can bring them over. Fine O.K. but on your way pick up those gaskets from Sam's Marine. Pilot house doors on, AC running, starboard prop back on, empty holding tank, clean strainers.....O.K. lets go to the beach....finally. For not planning on doing much today I sure did get a lot done.
All in all it was a great beach day, minus the fact that Jessie got stung by a jelly fish after the first two minutes of being in the water, and by the fact that I had to leave and go get stuff done on the boat. Jessie is fine and I got a little sunburned so I guess it was a pretty good day!
Time to go wander the town, grab some dinner, and RELAX!!!!
Sound Waves Out
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Day 125: Bring on the Heat!!!! FINALLY
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Last night was a fun time. The owner and I went out to a sushi place called "Sushi Rock". As I walked in I didn't know if I was in a club or a restaurant. They were playing some good music though as we sat down right at the bar. We ordered three rolls, one which was very spicy, and went through some wine.
This morning I was staring at the ceiling at 0730 so I got up and got some things around. Next thing I knew the entire boat was torn apart. It happened out of no where. Here I am checking e-mails and doing my daily facebook rounds then bam! going crazy.
We put the aft laz back together and got rid of a lot of crap back there. It looks a lot better now that is for sure. The mats needed to be cleaned and I am glad that I caught that. Jeremy, who has started to become our first mate, showed up and got to work on his list of things to do around the boat. We ripped the aft deck door off again and I hit the track with a dremel. I was sweating like crazy. It must have hit at least 83 today. I was loving it. I'll never complain about the heat.
I did some other small stuff and then went after the engines. We pulled the after coolers off and half of the engine is off to the machine shop for inspection blue printing and cleaning. Hopefully the engine runs like a charm when this is all said and done.
The owner went shopping for groceries and other supplies and upon his return I saw a lot of things that we already had a lot of. He left shortly after for the airport as he is flying home to Chicago for a week or so. I decided that this guessing game of what we have needs to end. I emptied out every cupboard and the pantry and lined everything up alphabetically. I whipped up an excel spreadsheet and inventoried everything. 6 bottles of BBQ sauce is quite enough, and we have pancake mix to feed the entire population of the Bahamas. Hopefully my list will help us make our final provision in an efficient matter.
As I type I am tracking Jessie's flight in to Charlotte from O'hare. They left 42 minutes late and she only has an hour layover in Charlotte. I would say that there is no chance for her to catch the connection in to Lauderdale at this point but the two gates are right next to each other, arriving at C9 and departing from C10. Hopefully those gate assignments stand and she can get off one plane and onto another and be gone just like that. (The ideal flight connection in my mind!). It is kind of creepy though that I can track this flight live. I know its bearing, its speed, its lat and long, and its distance from each airport. If I was good with missiles couldn't I do some math and take that sucker out? Kind of scary in my mind...
Here are some pictures of the days activities:
Sound Waves Out
Last night was a fun time. The owner and I went out to a sushi place called "Sushi Rock". As I walked in I didn't know if I was in a club or a restaurant. They were playing some good music though as we sat down right at the bar. We ordered three rolls, one which was very spicy, and went through some wine.
This morning I was staring at the ceiling at 0730 so I got up and got some things around. Next thing I knew the entire boat was torn apart. It happened out of no where. Here I am checking e-mails and doing my daily facebook rounds then bam! going crazy.
We put the aft laz back together and got rid of a lot of crap back there. It looks a lot better now that is for sure. The mats needed to be cleaned and I am glad that I caught that. Jeremy, who has started to become our first mate, showed up and got to work on his list of things to do around the boat. We ripped the aft deck door off again and I hit the track with a dremel. I was sweating like crazy. It must have hit at least 83 today. I was loving it. I'll never complain about the heat.
I did some other small stuff and then went after the engines. We pulled the after coolers off and half of the engine is off to the machine shop for inspection blue printing and cleaning. Hopefully the engine runs like a charm when this is all said and done.
The owner went shopping for groceries and other supplies and upon his return I saw a lot of things that we already had a lot of. He left shortly after for the airport as he is flying home to Chicago for a week or so. I decided that this guessing game of what we have needs to end. I emptied out every cupboard and the pantry and lined everything up alphabetically. I whipped up an excel spreadsheet and inventoried everything. 6 bottles of BBQ sauce is quite enough, and we have pancake mix to feed the entire population of the Bahamas. Hopefully my list will help us make our final provision in an efficient matter.
As I type I am tracking Jessie's flight in to Charlotte from O'hare. They left 42 minutes late and she only has an hour layover in Charlotte. I would say that there is no chance for her to catch the connection in to Lauderdale at this point but the two gates are right next to each other, arriving at C9 and departing from C10. Hopefully those gate assignments stand and she can get off one plane and onto another and be gone just like that. (The ideal flight connection in my mind!). It is kind of creepy though that I can track this flight live. I know its bearing, its speed, its lat and long, and its distance from each airport. If I was good with missiles couldn't I do some math and take that sucker out? Kind of scary in my mind...
Here are some pictures of the days activities:
The Compression Housing of the turbo charger on the airsep side.
The compression housing on the left and the hot housing/compression housing on the right
The after cooler on the port engine coming out. All fuel lines to injectors are removed.
No more after cooler
Pipes and buckets full of coolant (hopfully/probaby will be going back in the engines)
My provision inventory rage. Everything lined up and getting recorded. Think we have enough crackers? Check out the four boxes of pancake mix on the bottom right.
Now considered the breakfast cabinet. Not the cereal, some crackers, a random box of tea bags and maybe a stray bag of popcorn cabinet.
Sound Waves Out
Day 124: My Toe!
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Today was the day. The day to get as much done as we could. Wait...isn't that the same as every other day?
Its been fun to keep up on this "blizzard 2011" going on north of us. There were some pretty crazy pictures posted on facebook. Whats wild is that in Dallas Texas, which isn't really too far north of us, it was only 12 degrees yet we are here in Lauderdale with a bone chilling wind chill of around 82. :-) The forecast is stellar for the rest of the week and it won't have any problems hitting 80 every day!
The owner and I did some small tasks in the morning then hopped on the scooters and went to town. Our first stop was Lester's diner for some grub. It was the same place that I went to last year when we were prepping the sailboat for the big Caribbean trip. We went there with Ethan and Ryan's grandma. Just like last year...it was packed. After, we ran to the boaters warehouse and picked up some general stuff, the battery store for a spare for the dinghy as well as the scooters, to Brownies for a scuba tank, two spears, and an extra brownie bag, and to West Marine for a mic for the hand held VHF so it is easier for a deckhand to talk to whoever is on the helm while docking.
The owner has decided to head back to Chicago for awhile and has faith that I can get the boat finished up and ready to go from here. And he also asked if my girlfriend, Jessie, would like to come visit. Of course she took the offer and is flying down later tonight (Thursday) and will be here until Sunday night. I'm pretty excited and the weather is looking perfect!
The turbos came off, and what a cool project! First, all of the coolant was drained. Then the airseps. Then we cracked off the housing for the compression housing side of the turbo. Then off came the hot housing side (heavy as hell!) The engine is looking naked but its going to get worse as the aftercoolers are coming off later today. The tolerances on the turbos can definitely be reduced and while some of the compression housing units were clean others were filled with gum. Because of this we are also going to remove the after coolers and get those cleaned. All in all we are going to blue print the turbos, acid wash the after coolers, replace the rubber hosing for the airseps, clean the airseps, replace a few pipes, check the fuel lines that run to the injectors and replace if needed, as well as check some general oil leaks that we have found. While the coolant looks O.K. we are going to check it and if it is good simply put it back in the engine when we are done. On top of that we are also rebuilding the racors in hopes that it will fix our fuel problem.
Around sunset we got in to cleaning the aft laz. After taking everything out I pulled up the mat and about threw up it smelled so bad. Everything needed to come out, mat included. Its a thick rubber-like mat and while I was pulling it out the edge caught my big toe. It wasn't so much a cut as it was a huge chunk of skin getting skimmed right off. It didn't bleed bad at first nor did it really hurt. I washed it out with water, threw a band-aid on it and kept working. I ignored it most of the night but when I removed the band-aid this morning (blog post Thursday morning) I found a huge hole and my entire big toe is stiff and numb. Just what I need. It's starting to loosen up a little bit, but I know that this is going to be one of those slices that is annoying and bugs me with everything I do. Oh well.
Back to the grind...
Sound Waves Out
Today was the day. The day to get as much done as we could. Wait...isn't that the same as every other day?
Its been fun to keep up on this "blizzard 2011" going on north of us. There were some pretty crazy pictures posted on facebook. Whats wild is that in Dallas Texas, which isn't really too far north of us, it was only 12 degrees yet we are here in Lauderdale with a bone chilling wind chill of around 82. :-) The forecast is stellar for the rest of the week and it won't have any problems hitting 80 every day!
The owner and I did some small tasks in the morning then hopped on the scooters and went to town. Our first stop was Lester's diner for some grub. It was the same place that I went to last year when we were prepping the sailboat for the big Caribbean trip. We went there with Ethan and Ryan's grandma. Just like last year...it was packed. After, we ran to the boaters warehouse and picked up some general stuff, the battery store for a spare for the dinghy as well as the scooters, to Brownies for a scuba tank, two spears, and an extra brownie bag, and to West Marine for a mic for the hand held VHF so it is easier for a deckhand to talk to whoever is on the helm while docking.
The owner has decided to head back to Chicago for awhile and has faith that I can get the boat finished up and ready to go from here. And he also asked if my girlfriend, Jessie, would like to come visit. Of course she took the offer and is flying down later tonight (Thursday) and will be here until Sunday night. I'm pretty excited and the weather is looking perfect!
The turbos came off, and what a cool project! First, all of the coolant was drained. Then the airseps. Then we cracked off the housing for the compression housing side of the turbo. Then off came the hot housing side (heavy as hell!) The engine is looking naked but its going to get worse as the aftercoolers are coming off later today. The tolerances on the turbos can definitely be reduced and while some of the compression housing units were clean others were filled with gum. Because of this we are also going to remove the after coolers and get those cleaned. All in all we are going to blue print the turbos, acid wash the after coolers, replace the rubber hosing for the airseps, clean the airseps, replace a few pipes, check the fuel lines that run to the injectors and replace if needed, as well as check some general oil leaks that we have found. While the coolant looks O.K. we are going to check it and if it is good simply put it back in the engine when we are done. On top of that we are also rebuilding the racors in hopes that it will fix our fuel problem.
Around sunset we got in to cleaning the aft laz. After taking everything out I pulled up the mat and about threw up it smelled so bad. Everything needed to come out, mat included. Its a thick rubber-like mat and while I was pulling it out the edge caught my big toe. It wasn't so much a cut as it was a huge chunk of skin getting skimmed right off. It didn't bleed bad at first nor did it really hurt. I washed it out with water, threw a band-aid on it and kept working. I ignored it most of the night but when I removed the band-aid this morning (blog post Thursday morning) I found a huge hole and my entire big toe is stiff and numb. Just what I need. It's starting to loosen up a little bit, but I know that this is going to be one of those slices that is annoying and bugs me with everything I do. Oh well.
Back to the grind...
Sound Waves Out
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Day 118 - 123: Time Off
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Wow I forgot to write the last couple of days. Some of that is due to the fact that I visited my grandparents up in Stuart for a few days and did not take my computer with me.
Lets start from the beginning and get some pictures up.
Last Thursday.... Holy cow can I even remember this far back? Lets just sum up the last few days before I went on vacation. Boat projects were moving forward and the boat was starting to make progress towards finally leaving for the Bahamas (original departure date: December 15th). We finally got the props looked at and sure enough we sheared the strut for the spurs and bent the starboard wheel. I will make the statement that I wasn't at the helm when the boat hit, but it was unavoidable as we were in the fairway in the marina...you can't miss what you can't see. We pulled the starboard prop and as of this blog post on Feb. 1, still no prop.
I ripped apart the entire audio rack in the salon and replaced the center speaker as well as the receiver. It was dropping out at higher volumes and these were the best two options. While replacing these two things I got frustrated with previous work done on the system and could not stand how sloppy everything was put together. Old wires were left in place just dangling there. I ripped the whole rack out and cut every wire tie. I re-built the entire rack, removed about 300 feet of wire and put everything back in place. It took about 3 days and a total of 35 hours of labor to complete the project but it looks great now, and we can really rock!
Our new hatch came for the access to the fly bridge and I think we may need to put a warning sign up. Even when I know the hatch is closed I can't see the glass...it is crystal clear, and its even got a tint to it. So if you are on Soundwaves in the future mind the hatch.
I finally found time to go visit my grandparents and it was great to get off of the boat. It was about an hour and a half drive north. I got in late on Friday night and we played 18 holes of golf on saturday. I didn't play well at all, but who cares. It was great to just get out there and spend some time with my Grandpa. And I will say this, for 86 years old he still can really play!
The weekend consisted of golf and laying low. It is always good to visit the grandparents and I am really glad that it worked out that I could go see them.
I got back to the boat around noon today (Tuesday) and went right back in to million mile an hour mode. The boat is really starting to come together though and we are hoping to pull back from Lauderdale with the Bahamas in our sights within the next week. Tomorrow my number one task...take the turbo chargers off of the engines so that I can get them to a machine shop. This will be my biggest task on an engine thus far, but I'm really not nervous about it. I have come a long way since I started working on boats and diving in to a project like pulling turbo's doesn't really scare me anymore. Two years ago I couldn't tell you what turbo's did or what they even looked like. Now, the engine hiccups and I have a pretty good idea what is wrong. Am I a diesel mechanic? Hell no. Would I suggest you letting me work on your engines? Probably not, but I know that if I do my research and back myself with a knowledgeable person that can give me a good walk through before hand...its no problem. While there will be no mechanic on hand tomorrow I still am not worried. Actually a little excited.
As I look on the weather channel I see that Chicago has declared a state of emergency due to the storm of the century. Two feet of snow is expected. I walk out on to the aft deck and the air is still full of moisture. The humidity today? 94% with a high of 77. There is nothing better than going outside after the sun has said its goodbyes for the day and feeling a warm, humid air on the skin. While the heat makes your shirt sticky throughout the day it offers relief and comfort come happy hour. I may spend the rest of the night up on the fly bridge as I try and hang on to a little bit of this short vacation I had.
Enjoy the pictures:
Sound Waves Out
Wow I forgot to write the last couple of days. Some of that is due to the fact that I visited my grandparents up in Stuart for a few days and did not take my computer with me.
Lets start from the beginning and get some pictures up.
Last Thursday.... Holy cow can I even remember this far back? Lets just sum up the last few days before I went on vacation. Boat projects were moving forward and the boat was starting to make progress towards finally leaving for the Bahamas (original departure date: December 15th). We finally got the props looked at and sure enough we sheared the strut for the spurs and bent the starboard wheel. I will make the statement that I wasn't at the helm when the boat hit, but it was unavoidable as we were in the fairway in the marina...you can't miss what you can't see. We pulled the starboard prop and as of this blog post on Feb. 1, still no prop.
I ripped apart the entire audio rack in the salon and replaced the center speaker as well as the receiver. It was dropping out at higher volumes and these were the best two options. While replacing these two things I got frustrated with previous work done on the system and could not stand how sloppy everything was put together. Old wires were left in place just dangling there. I ripped the whole rack out and cut every wire tie. I re-built the entire rack, removed about 300 feet of wire and put everything back in place. It took about 3 days and a total of 35 hours of labor to complete the project but it looks great now, and we can really rock!
Our new hatch came for the access to the fly bridge and I think we may need to put a warning sign up. Even when I know the hatch is closed I can't see the glass...it is crystal clear, and its even got a tint to it. So if you are on Soundwaves in the future mind the hatch.
I finally found time to go visit my grandparents and it was great to get off of the boat. It was about an hour and a half drive north. I got in late on Friday night and we played 18 holes of golf on saturday. I didn't play well at all, but who cares. It was great to just get out there and spend some time with my Grandpa. And I will say this, for 86 years old he still can really play!
The weekend consisted of golf and laying low. It is always good to visit the grandparents and I am really glad that it worked out that I could go see them.
I got back to the boat around noon today (Tuesday) and went right back in to million mile an hour mode. The boat is really starting to come together though and we are hoping to pull back from Lauderdale with the Bahamas in our sights within the next week. Tomorrow my number one task...take the turbo chargers off of the engines so that I can get them to a machine shop. This will be my biggest task on an engine thus far, but I'm really not nervous about it. I have come a long way since I started working on boats and diving in to a project like pulling turbo's doesn't really scare me anymore. Two years ago I couldn't tell you what turbo's did or what they even looked like. Now, the engine hiccups and I have a pretty good idea what is wrong. Am I a diesel mechanic? Hell no. Would I suggest you letting me work on your engines? Probably not, but I know that if I do my research and back myself with a knowledgeable person that can give me a good walk through before hand...its no problem. While there will be no mechanic on hand tomorrow I still am not worried. Actually a little excited.
As I look on the weather channel I see that Chicago has declared a state of emergency due to the storm of the century. Two feet of snow is expected. I walk out on to the aft deck and the air is still full of moisture. The humidity today? 94% with a high of 77. There is nothing better than going outside after the sun has said its goodbyes for the day and feeling a warm, humid air on the skin. While the heat makes your shirt sticky throughout the day it offers relief and comfort come happy hour. I may spend the rest of the night up on the fly bridge as I try and hang on to a little bit of this short vacation I had.
Enjoy the pictures:
Hangin' out at Shooters for the Bears vs. Packers game...too bad they lost
86 Years Old....Still got it
One of my for fun shots. Eagle Marsh
Island Dunes. Hole #8 Par 3 Over the marsh. Nice tee shot Eric :-)
Hole #9 Island Dunes
The view from my Grandparents balcony....nothing better. Ocean on the right. ICW on the left
Sunset from my Grandparents balcony. One of the best
Audio project in the salon after I lost my cool and ripped everything out.
60 wires down to one, neat wire bundle to the rack. We are getting a sleeve to clean it up even more!
The rack re-built!
Starboard wheel hanging from the davit
Sound Waves Out
Wednesday, January 26, 2011
Day 116 & 117: Stressed & Progress
FORT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
I got up Tuesday and just like any other day in Ft. Lauderdale (or anywhere else for that matter) and was ready for another hectic day. I feel like my journal entries are starting to get a bit repetitive. "Today I got up and got to work." "Another busy day." Well I guess I am working a full time, and then some, job. The owner and I both got up on the wrong side of the bed and there was a bit of tension all day. I had one worker after another coming on board and all I wanted to do was to keep everyone organized and on task. The day went by so slow and by the end of it, I needed time off of the boat. I had to get away for awhile. All of you Monday through Friday workers get the weekend to get away from your boss...I don't. Not at five o'clock, not at seven o'clock, not for breakfast, not even for lunch or dinner, not on Saturday and not on Sunday. Seven days a week 24 hours a day I am assumed to be ready to work. My "on-call" schedule for all you doctors out there...24/7 regardless. Am I complaining? No. Maybe a little but not really. I have seen so much and get to do so many cool things it is worth it at the end of the day. Even more so when people text me and say it is one degree in Chicago and its 70 here...and thats cold for us!
All in all we got a ton of stuff done on the boat Tuesday, everyone needed to go take a breather and relax.
Wednesday I got up ready for a sea trial for our auto pilot. The owner and I were the first ones up and both knew that the day before couldn't happen again. We both sat down and had a great conversation. Its not that there was any bickering at all the day before, we both just knew that there was tension in the air. The conversation lasted five minutes and that was it...everyone was happy again. In the end nothing was wrong. There was a little bit of miscommunication on motives from the day before and it felt so good to sit down, spit everything out on the table to each other, hold nothing back, shake hands and get right back to work. The rest of the day ran so smoothly...well almost.
Our sea trial was as good as a sea trial can get. The auto pilot is so spot on now that I think it may even be able to dock the boat on its own. (I'm only kidding). We came back to the dock and as we were spinning the boat in the fairway to line up the slip WHACK!!!! Something hit, and it hit hard. We got the boat in the slip and talked about it. The water was plenty deep and being that there are much bigger yachts in the slips all around us we ruled out a grounding. I grabbed my mask and fins and jumped in to the nasty brown water. Everything looked kind of O.K. but not perfect. A bracket that holds our spurs in place around the shaft busted and sheared a decent sized bolt right off. We still don't know what we hit.
Go figure...fix one thing and bam another thing breaks. Welcome to yachting.
The rest of the day went great. We are on schedule to receive our new fly bridge hatch from the machine shop, one of the pilot house wing doors is in the machine shop for the new hardware and the other right behind it. I used a dremel and some sandpaper to make our sliding tracks perfect. We replaced all of the rollers for the doors and put in new felt weather tracks. I even got around to giving the bow a freshwater rinse down.
I'm hoping to go visit my grandparents here for a few days, and I think it is going to be possible. It will be the time away from the boat that I needed on Tuesday, but after that talk I don't need the time off so much as it will simply be nice to see my grandparents.
Sound Waves Out
I got up Tuesday and just like any other day in Ft. Lauderdale (or anywhere else for that matter) and was ready for another hectic day. I feel like my journal entries are starting to get a bit repetitive. "Today I got up and got to work." "Another busy day." Well I guess I am working a full time, and then some, job. The owner and I both got up on the wrong side of the bed and there was a bit of tension all day. I had one worker after another coming on board and all I wanted to do was to keep everyone organized and on task. The day went by so slow and by the end of it, I needed time off of the boat. I had to get away for awhile. All of you Monday through Friday workers get the weekend to get away from your boss...I don't. Not at five o'clock, not at seven o'clock, not for breakfast, not even for lunch or dinner, not on Saturday and not on Sunday. Seven days a week 24 hours a day I am assumed to be ready to work. My "on-call" schedule for all you doctors out there...24/7 regardless. Am I complaining? No. Maybe a little but not really. I have seen so much and get to do so many cool things it is worth it at the end of the day. Even more so when people text me and say it is one degree in Chicago and its 70 here...and thats cold for us!
All in all we got a ton of stuff done on the boat Tuesday, everyone needed to go take a breather and relax.
Wednesday I got up ready for a sea trial for our auto pilot. The owner and I were the first ones up and both knew that the day before couldn't happen again. We both sat down and had a great conversation. Its not that there was any bickering at all the day before, we both just knew that there was tension in the air. The conversation lasted five minutes and that was it...everyone was happy again. In the end nothing was wrong. There was a little bit of miscommunication on motives from the day before and it felt so good to sit down, spit everything out on the table to each other, hold nothing back, shake hands and get right back to work. The rest of the day ran so smoothly...well almost.
Our sea trial was as good as a sea trial can get. The auto pilot is so spot on now that I think it may even be able to dock the boat on its own. (I'm only kidding). We came back to the dock and as we were spinning the boat in the fairway to line up the slip WHACK!!!! Something hit, and it hit hard. We got the boat in the slip and talked about it. The water was plenty deep and being that there are much bigger yachts in the slips all around us we ruled out a grounding. I grabbed my mask and fins and jumped in to the nasty brown water. Everything looked kind of O.K. but not perfect. A bracket that holds our spurs in place around the shaft busted and sheared a decent sized bolt right off. We still don't know what we hit.
Go figure...fix one thing and bam another thing breaks. Welcome to yachting.
The rest of the day went great. We are on schedule to receive our new fly bridge hatch from the machine shop, one of the pilot house wing doors is in the machine shop for the new hardware and the other right behind it. I used a dremel and some sandpaper to make our sliding tracks perfect. We replaced all of the rollers for the doors and put in new felt weather tracks. I even got around to giving the bow a freshwater rinse down.
I'm hoping to go visit my grandparents here for a few days, and I think it is going to be possible. It will be the time away from the boat that I needed on Tuesday, but after that talk I don't need the time off so much as it will simply be nice to see my grandparents.
Sound Waves Out
Monday, January 24, 2011
Day 115: Bring on the Day Work
FT. LAUDERDALE, FL USA
I got up at 0730. It was tough to get up but after a few cups of coffee I was ready to go. I talked to a lot of people late last week with the motivation to get a lot of work done. The owner doesn't want to leave Lauderdale until this boat is perfect. Well, being that it is a boat there is not a chance in hell that "perfect" is ever going to happen, but we are hoping to get some projects done anyway. I had about five or six people lined up to be on board sometime this week. I decided to draft up individual project management folders for each individual day worker as well as a general Lauderdale project management folder for the big picture. I've always kept time logs for day workers but I upped the ante and made a huge excel file for each worker. I was ready for the storm.
About 0830 our diesel guy showed up. He just wanted to stop by and talk about our projects before going out on sea trial with another vessel. We have always had a lot of smoke with this boat, at all speeds, and we are currently having problems with our starboard fuel pick up. After discussion in the engine room we decided that it would be best to re build the turbo chargers and decrease the tolerances. We are going to remove them and bore them out and then insert a sleeve. This will hopefully clean up our soot problem as well as increase our fuel efficiency. We are also going to rebuild the starboard racor housing. We suspect that the flow check valve in the separation stage may be stuck in the up position which is allowing the fuel to drain when not underway. Our new fuel lift pump that I installed is also struggling to keep a prime. I don't think that the old one was bad, and I don't think that the old one before that was bad but I was told to switch them out so I did. Now we are clearly having problems with it. If it ain't broke don't fix it ...right?
We also had audio visual guys on board as well as some "do it all" guys. We are replacing the amplifier in the salon and replacing all of the speakers with bose speakers. All of the doors are off their track right now as we are replacing the roller bearings and installing new hardware on the pilot house wing doors. We still need approval from the machine shop to install the new hardware, but if we are going to get it done anywhere we will be getting it done here.
...P.S. I need a vacation....
Sound Waves Out
I got up at 0730. It was tough to get up but after a few cups of coffee I was ready to go. I talked to a lot of people late last week with the motivation to get a lot of work done. The owner doesn't want to leave Lauderdale until this boat is perfect. Well, being that it is a boat there is not a chance in hell that "perfect" is ever going to happen, but we are hoping to get some projects done anyway. I had about five or six people lined up to be on board sometime this week. I decided to draft up individual project management folders for each individual day worker as well as a general Lauderdale project management folder for the big picture. I've always kept time logs for day workers but I upped the ante and made a huge excel file for each worker. I was ready for the storm.
About 0830 our diesel guy showed up. He just wanted to stop by and talk about our projects before going out on sea trial with another vessel. We have always had a lot of smoke with this boat, at all speeds, and we are currently having problems with our starboard fuel pick up. After discussion in the engine room we decided that it would be best to re build the turbo chargers and decrease the tolerances. We are going to remove them and bore them out and then insert a sleeve. This will hopefully clean up our soot problem as well as increase our fuel efficiency. We are also going to rebuild the starboard racor housing. We suspect that the flow check valve in the separation stage may be stuck in the up position which is allowing the fuel to drain when not underway. Our new fuel lift pump that I installed is also struggling to keep a prime. I don't think that the old one was bad, and I don't think that the old one before that was bad but I was told to switch them out so I did. Now we are clearly having problems with it. If it ain't broke don't fix it ...right?
We also had audio visual guys on board as well as some "do it all" guys. We are replacing the amplifier in the salon and replacing all of the speakers with bose speakers. All of the doors are off their track right now as we are replacing the roller bearings and installing new hardware on the pilot house wing doors. We still need approval from the machine shop to install the new hardware, but if we are going to get it done anywhere we will be getting it done here.
...P.S. I need a vacation....
Sound Waves Out
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Day 113 & 114: ICW
FT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
Dinner was good on Friday with Bruce. We checked out some of town and I finally made it to Waxy's, the famous yacht crew bar here in Lauderdale. It was an early night but the quick tour around Lauderdale was great, I've always wanted to see more of Lauderdale.
Saturday was really nasty and it was a bit cold. The owner and I went to West Marine to pick up some random items and we moved the boat later in the day to wash to port hull side. The boat was in the best condition it has been in since we left Chicago. The owners friends who we saw in Key West came back for more and they showed up sometime in the afternoon. We all went to dinner at 15th Street Fishery on the west side of the 17th street bridge. It was alright, but I wasn't wild about it. We went to Los Olas and Riverfront to check out some of the nightly activities. It was crazy. It was like spring break. One bar after another, and people everywhere.
Today has been somewhat lazy and I even got to sleep in! We took the boat up the Intercoastal waterway to catch the Chicago Bears game at a bar called Shooters. Its too bad the bears lost! We are still sitting just outside of Shooters but will be heading back to Bahia Mar sometime soon. I am excited to bring people on board tomorrow to hopefully get a lot of work done.
Sound Waves Out
Dinner was good on Friday with Bruce. We checked out some of town and I finally made it to Waxy's, the famous yacht crew bar here in Lauderdale. It was an early night but the quick tour around Lauderdale was great, I've always wanted to see more of Lauderdale.
Saturday was really nasty and it was a bit cold. The owner and I went to West Marine to pick up some random items and we moved the boat later in the day to wash to port hull side. The boat was in the best condition it has been in since we left Chicago. The owners friends who we saw in Key West came back for more and they showed up sometime in the afternoon. We all went to dinner at 15th Street Fishery on the west side of the 17th street bridge. It was alright, but I wasn't wild about it. We went to Los Olas and Riverfront to check out some of the nightly activities. It was crazy. It was like spring break. One bar after another, and people everywhere.
Today has been somewhat lazy and I even got to sleep in! We took the boat up the Intercoastal waterway to catch the Chicago Bears game at a bar called Shooters. Its too bad the bears lost! We are still sitting just outside of Shooters but will be heading back to Bahia Mar sometime soon. I am excited to bring people on board tomorrow to hopefully get a lot of work done.
Sound Waves Out
Friday, January 21, 2011
Day 111 & 112: Happy Birthday to ME!!!!
MIAMI, FL USA
I woke up and opened the door, preparing to leave Marathon. The humidity and morning heat was already warm to the skin and it didn't take much to get a little sweat on the forehead. There was no wind and the smell of fish was in the air. A lobster boat was working its way out of the harbor, eager for a good catch being that they are selling to China for $13 a pound right now. The smell of a diesel engine replaced the fish odor temporarily as they cruised by. It was time to get off the dock. A foggy channel had me checking the weather forecast one last time. Dense fog advisories to the north had me thinking twice, but it looked like it was already starting to lift. We were off the dock before 0800. The water was glass. Not kind of calm...glass calm. No swell, not even a ripple. The boat sliced through the water effortlessly. The visibility was fine but the horizon of the ocean blended seamlessly with the sky. The water was a turquoise blue and you could see to the bottom just fine. Cruising through 20 feet of water looked more like 2 feet of water. Lobster pots scattered the bottom with patches of seagrass and white sand everywhere. The fog gave way to a perfect blue sky and mother nature cranked up the heat. I couldn't ask for a better start to my 25th birthday. We cruised slow up the coast to Miami.
Miami was alright, but being that I was only there for one day I guess I shouldn't form an opinion. We did meet up with one of the captains that we know from Chicago and went out to dinner with him to one of his spots. He took us to some other bars that I didn't really like but whatever it was fun. We did see Bill Clinton having dinner at one of the places we went to. Secret Service was everywhere. The bar was full of pin stripped suits and everyone was dialed up...everybody must have been somebody. I think my t-shirt and jeans was a little under dressed. Paul took us to another place that was exactly the opposite...a dump. We called it an early night and that was it...happy birthday!
FT LAUDERDALE, FL USA
We woke up this morning and decided to stay in Miami. We had some good contacts here and were hopeful that we could get some things done. After making 100 phone calls I figured that most of our contacts were in Lauderdale anyway. The wind was picking up and there was a front coming through sometime in the next day or so. Being that we couldn't start work until Monday I still decided that it would be better to get in front of the weather and get to Lauderdale. We left Miami and found that the seas were already building. Our stabilizers went out twice and made things very rough being that we had a quartering sea. We got to Lauderdale in about an hour just as the sky was turning black. Thunder and wind greeted us at the docks and it was good to be secure again. I guess I called that one a little too close for comfort, but we are here and safe. We are staying at Bahia Mar which is a good spot I guess. I haven't been off the boat yet. I spent the rest of the day washing the boat and still have to do the port windows tomorrow. It rained a little while I was washing but the important thing was to get the salt and soot off.
Bruce, my first mate for the river delivery, is in town completing his 200 Ton upgrade and I think that we may go out and grab dinner tonight. It will be great to see him again and catch up. Its funny because there are so many yacht crew in the world but once you start to meet them it seems like you keep running in to them over and over again. Of course, Ft. Lauderdale is a good spot to run in to yacht crew. If you sat at the docks long enough here you would see every registered vessel in the world go by.
Click this link to watch a video from the Marathon to Miami cruise:
The owner enjoying the water out on the bow
The horizon is invisible
Sound Waves shot with the calm water
Another sailboat
Twenty feet of water....crystal clear
Coming in to Miami, FL
Next stop....BAHAMAS!!
My birthday cake in Miami
Sound Waves Out
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Day 110: Bye Bye Key West
MARATHON, FL USA
Well we were supposed to stay in Key West for a few days over New Years Eve and it turned in to three weeks. We really had a great time and while I was ready to leave I was glad we stayed for more than a few days. We left the dock today at around noon. With only a 40 nautical mile run we knew that we didn't have to hurry out of Key West. There wasn't a cloud in the sky it was nearly 80 degrees and there was no wind. We almost got ran over by the sailboats heading back in from their attempt at a race this morning. The trip was uneventful. We came in to Marathon at low tide and it was a little hairy but with a bit of visual piloting and a slow approach we made it to the dock just fine. We took on fuel and I organized the aft laz. We caught one of the better sunsets of the trip and went off to dinner. The owner stumbled in to a restaurant called Castaways last year when he was here and insisted that we go back. It was really good sushi and that place was really neat. It is a fishing town and there isn't much here. We walked down a dark road with lobster cages stacked high on one side and water on the other. Semi-truck trailers were acting as freezers and the smell of fish was strong on the nose. It was a humid still night as not an ounce of wind was in the air. We rounded a trailer freezer and there it was, Castaways. It turned out to be an awesome place despite its less than prime location.
Tomorrows plan is OTD at 0800 en route for Ocean Reef, Key Largo Florida. Another day!
Marathon, FL sunset at Pancho's Fuel Dock
Sunset at Marathon
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Day 109: Another B-E-A-UTIFUL DAY!
KEY WEST, FL USA
We woke up this morning and it was beautiful outside. We got the boat ready to go and went out to try our luck at fishing again. We tried a spot where we saw a lot of charter boats but all we saw were tons of green turtles. We went back to our spot from yesterday which was about six miles to the west. Our first pass through our secret line and we got a hit! Another King Mackerel. I flipped the boat around and headed for the sweet spot again. We had three shelves that we were trolling over and no one else was there. The first shelf went from 120 feet to 59 feet the second back down to 100 feet and the third back up to 30 feet. We hit something almost every time. Sure enough FISH ON!!! FISH ON!!! Two Mahi Mahi hit both of our lines. On of the owners guests is knowledgable about fishing and advised us to leave them in the water for a little bit. Sure enough the whole school of Mahi Mahi came right up to the back of the boat! It was kind of cool. We kept the two Mahi. I got out the filet knife and went right to work. Meanwhile the owner ducked behind a reef and dropped anchor. We fired the grill and had the freshest blackened mahi sandwiches you can get. What a day it was. The water had a greenish tint to it with shades of dark as the patches of seagrass below reached for the sun. The wind was calm and bringing a warm southeasterly breeze to the face. The high today was 77 and it was every bit of that. Margaritaville played away on the XM radio and we could not have asked for a better lunch.
The boat is washed, the tender is up, the scooters are washed, and we are locked and loaded to departure tomorrow for Ocean Reef. Probably an 0800-0900 departure. The forecast? Flat Calm.
Sound Waves Out
We woke up this morning and it was beautiful outside. We got the boat ready to go and went out to try our luck at fishing again. We tried a spot where we saw a lot of charter boats but all we saw were tons of green turtles. We went back to our spot from yesterday which was about six miles to the west. Our first pass through our secret line and we got a hit! Another King Mackerel. I flipped the boat around and headed for the sweet spot again. We had three shelves that we were trolling over and no one else was there. The first shelf went from 120 feet to 59 feet the second back down to 100 feet and the third back up to 30 feet. We hit something almost every time. Sure enough FISH ON!!! FISH ON!!! Two Mahi Mahi hit both of our lines. On of the owners guests is knowledgable about fishing and advised us to leave them in the water for a little bit. Sure enough the whole school of Mahi Mahi came right up to the back of the boat! It was kind of cool. We kept the two Mahi. I got out the filet knife and went right to work. Meanwhile the owner ducked behind a reef and dropped anchor. We fired the grill and had the freshest blackened mahi sandwiches you can get. What a day it was. The water had a greenish tint to it with shades of dark as the patches of seagrass below reached for the sun. The wind was calm and bringing a warm southeasterly breeze to the face. The high today was 77 and it was every bit of that. Margaritaville played away on the XM radio and we could not have asked for a better lunch.
The boat is washed, the tender is up, the scooters are washed, and we are locked and loaded to departure tomorrow for Ocean Reef. Probably an 0800-0900 departure. The forecast? Flat Calm.
The owner with his King Mackerel. What an awesome day!!!
Sound Waves Out
Monday, January 17, 2011
Day 108: Fish ON!!!!!
KEY WEST, FL USA
We woke up this morning to rain but it cleared by around 0830. The owner and I went to the Key West Bait and Tackle shop and spent about $600 on tackle. They lost the other tackle box to Poseidon a few weeks ago. Now we were ready to catch a whale. We cleared the dock with the big boat at about 0945 and headed out. One of the owners guests and I worked hard to get the tackle box put together and got a few rigs ready to go. We hit the reefs and idled out to the shelf where we were told that the fishing was good. We put a line in the water and it wasn't two minutes before we had a huge hit. FISH ON!!!! The owners guest was up first and we put him on the stairs which was the best fighting chair we had as there was a wall directly in front of him to put his feet on. He fought for about 30 minutes before we finally saw the fish. It was a hard fight. I got the gaff hook out and we landed our first fish. It was a 20-30 lb. Greater Amber Jack!!! Pictures below. How awesome!! We got the lines right back in the water. It was fairly rough outside of the reef but we managed. About a half an hour later another hit. I landed a small Mahi Mahi but as we brought it up on to the boat he got free and we let him flop back in to the water. Some time went by before we got another hit. I was holding a smaller reel in my hand with an artificial wahoo rig at the other end. Suddenly a fish jumped three feet out of the water and I did the same from my chair. No dice though as the fish missed the lure. Five more minutes and the pole just about got ripped out of my hand. FISH ON!! I set the hook and started reeling. I only got a few cranks in before I lost the fish. No sooner than losing the fish I looked over and saw our heavy rig rod and reel bend into a U-shape. FISH ON!!! The same fish that hit our artificial lure twice had now finally grabbed hard on to our ballyhoo rig. I got to the stairs and starting cranking. It didn't fight hard until it saw the boat and then it took off. I just about got pulled out of the boat... no joke. The huge tackle we were using bent over like a twig. The last few minutes were the hardest I have ever fought a fish. I landed a great King Mackerel and boy did he have some teeth!!!
Some time passed by before our next hit. It was my turn to drive and all of the sudden I heard the cry from the aft deck...FISH ON!!! I pulled back in to neutral and ran back to watch. As the owner was fighting the other rod hit...FISH ON!!! I ran back to adjust the heading of the boat and got back to the aft deck. The owner was fighting a shark! Not only was the owner fighting a shark but the other rod had a shark on as well. The best part about it was that it was the same shark. The shark hit the first line and as we pulled it by it hit the second line. Crazy! I didn't want to kill the shark knowing that we wouldn't keep it so I called off the hook and said that I would take my chances getting the hooks out. I put the gloves on and jumped on to the shark, trying to pin him down fast. Don't worry mom it was only about 2-3 feet long. (razor sharp teeth though...raaarrrrrr) I finally got two hands on the shark and honestly it was the strongest thing pound for pound that I have ever fought with. With all of my weight and might I could barely hold the shark down on the deck. The owner grabbed the long nosed pliers and managed to get all three hooks that he swallowed out. We let him go.
What an amazing day we were having. I knew the weather might turn and I kept an eye to the sky. A strong line of approaching storms had me raising attention to the owner and we brought our lines in and headed for shore. We got in, got the lines set and started washing the boat. In a matter of 30 seconds the skies went black the wind picked up and it started to rain, and rain it did. We couldn't see the dock across the fairway it was raining so hard. We clocked 35 knot winds and some thunder and lightning. Thank God we kept an eye to the sky!
The guys across the dock from us are fishermen and helped filet up our Mackerel and Jack. He is a great guy and it was good to make conversation with a knowledgable person. I think we are going to go out tomorrow. Calm seas, high of 77 and SSW winds 5 knots....woooo!!
As the rain continues we just put in The Perfect Storm...a little respect.
Here are some pictures:
Sound Waves Out!!
We woke up this morning to rain but it cleared by around 0830. The owner and I went to the Key West Bait and Tackle shop and spent about $600 on tackle. They lost the other tackle box to Poseidon a few weeks ago. Now we were ready to catch a whale. We cleared the dock with the big boat at about 0945 and headed out. One of the owners guests and I worked hard to get the tackle box put together and got a few rigs ready to go. We hit the reefs and idled out to the shelf where we were told that the fishing was good. We put a line in the water and it wasn't two minutes before we had a huge hit. FISH ON!!!! The owners guest was up first and we put him on the stairs which was the best fighting chair we had as there was a wall directly in front of him to put his feet on. He fought for about 30 minutes before we finally saw the fish. It was a hard fight. I got the gaff hook out and we landed our first fish. It was a 20-30 lb. Greater Amber Jack!!! Pictures below. How awesome!! We got the lines right back in the water. It was fairly rough outside of the reef but we managed. About a half an hour later another hit. I landed a small Mahi Mahi but as we brought it up on to the boat he got free and we let him flop back in to the water. Some time went by before we got another hit. I was holding a smaller reel in my hand with an artificial wahoo rig at the other end. Suddenly a fish jumped three feet out of the water and I did the same from my chair. No dice though as the fish missed the lure. Five more minutes and the pole just about got ripped out of my hand. FISH ON!! I set the hook and started reeling. I only got a few cranks in before I lost the fish. No sooner than losing the fish I looked over and saw our heavy rig rod and reel bend into a U-shape. FISH ON!!! The same fish that hit our artificial lure twice had now finally grabbed hard on to our ballyhoo rig. I got to the stairs and starting cranking. It didn't fight hard until it saw the boat and then it took off. I just about got pulled out of the boat... no joke. The huge tackle we were using bent over like a twig. The last few minutes were the hardest I have ever fought a fish. I landed a great King Mackerel and boy did he have some teeth!!!
Some time passed by before our next hit. It was my turn to drive and all of the sudden I heard the cry from the aft deck...FISH ON!!! I pulled back in to neutral and ran back to watch. As the owner was fighting the other rod hit...FISH ON!!! I ran back to adjust the heading of the boat and got back to the aft deck. The owner was fighting a shark! Not only was the owner fighting a shark but the other rod had a shark on as well. The best part about it was that it was the same shark. The shark hit the first line and as we pulled it by it hit the second line. Crazy! I didn't want to kill the shark knowing that we wouldn't keep it so I called off the hook and said that I would take my chances getting the hooks out. I put the gloves on and jumped on to the shark, trying to pin him down fast. Don't worry mom it was only about 2-3 feet long. (razor sharp teeth though...raaarrrrrr) I finally got two hands on the shark and honestly it was the strongest thing pound for pound that I have ever fought with. With all of my weight and might I could barely hold the shark down on the deck. The owner grabbed the long nosed pliers and managed to get all three hooks that he swallowed out. We let him go.
What an amazing day we were having. I knew the weather might turn and I kept an eye to the sky. A strong line of approaching storms had me raising attention to the owner and we brought our lines in and headed for shore. We got in, got the lines set and started washing the boat. In a matter of 30 seconds the skies went black the wind picked up and it started to rain, and rain it did. We couldn't see the dock across the fairway it was raining so hard. We clocked 35 knot winds and some thunder and lightning. Thank God we kept an eye to the sky!
The guys across the dock from us are fishermen and helped filet up our Mackerel and Jack. He is a great guy and it was good to make conversation with a knowledgable person. I think we are going to go out tomorrow. Calm seas, high of 77 and SSW winds 5 knots....woooo!!
As the rain continues we just put in The Perfect Storm...a little respect.
Here are some pictures:
One of the owners friends and his Greater Amber Jack!
My King Mackerel back at the dock during the rain. What a fight!!
The owners guest fighting his Greater Amber Jack on the fightin' stairs
Sound Waves Out!!
Sunday, January 16, 2011
Day 106 & 107: Relax
KEY WEST, FL USA
The weather is finally starting to come around and while it was still a little cool on Saturday it was sunny and beautiful otherwise. I worked in the morning and then was told to take it easy the rest of the afternoon. We cooked some burgers on the grill with the owner and his two guests that are here. It was great to kick back and relax and enjoy the afternoon. The race boats are all in town for Key West Race week and I knew one of the boats that was in from Macatawa, MI. Mark, who was Brady's mate for the river delivery, is down here helping out on the Melges 32, Heart Attack. I saw them come in from practice and went over to say hello. They were all pretty busy and I stayed out of their way. Mark called me later and we went and got a burger at a place downtown. We roamed the streets for a bit and checked out some places off of the beaten path. It was good to catch up. He had to get back to the condo early as he had to dive on the sailboat early in the morning the following day. I met up with the owner and his guests and we had a ball. The night ended with just me and one of the owners guests and I think we hit every place in Key West. It was so great to let loose for a night and relax a little bit. I feel like we have been going a million miles an hour for the past few months so it was nice to go out and get away from the boat.
I slept in a little bit on Sunday but was still the first awake. The Chicago Bears were playing today and because of contracts and laws we weren't going to be able to pick up the game on the boat, because we don't get local chicago channels. We don't get local channels for Key West either. Well we started brainstorming and decided to run the CATV cable to the dock, which we haven't done in years because we have had satellite. Well the switch boxes were a little old and the picture wasn't very good. Well we bypassed that whole system, ran a cord right in to the salon, ripped out some cabinets and plugged the CATV directly in to the tv. I think the quality is better than satellite now, and the bears won!
The owner made an amazing spaghetti dinner for everyone tonight. He put onions, hot italian sausage, some spices and meatballs in to the sauce. It was very good and I am stuffed!
I will probably watch the rest of the Jets, Patriots football game and then head to bed. We are going to go out and go fishing tomorrow and I need to get up early and go get some chum and bait. I am really excited and I am saying forget the mahi and the wahoo I want to catch a marlin!!!
Sound Waves Out
The weather is finally starting to come around and while it was still a little cool on Saturday it was sunny and beautiful otherwise. I worked in the morning and then was told to take it easy the rest of the afternoon. We cooked some burgers on the grill with the owner and his two guests that are here. It was great to kick back and relax and enjoy the afternoon. The race boats are all in town for Key West Race week and I knew one of the boats that was in from Macatawa, MI. Mark, who was Brady's mate for the river delivery, is down here helping out on the Melges 32, Heart Attack. I saw them come in from practice and went over to say hello. They were all pretty busy and I stayed out of their way. Mark called me later and we went and got a burger at a place downtown. We roamed the streets for a bit and checked out some places off of the beaten path. It was good to catch up. He had to get back to the condo early as he had to dive on the sailboat early in the morning the following day. I met up with the owner and his guests and we had a ball. The night ended with just me and one of the owners guests and I think we hit every place in Key West. It was so great to let loose for a night and relax a little bit. I feel like we have been going a million miles an hour for the past few months so it was nice to go out and get away from the boat.
I slept in a little bit on Sunday but was still the first awake. The Chicago Bears were playing today and because of contracts and laws we weren't going to be able to pick up the game on the boat, because we don't get local chicago channels. We don't get local channels for Key West either. Well we started brainstorming and decided to run the CATV cable to the dock, which we haven't done in years because we have had satellite. Well the switch boxes were a little old and the picture wasn't very good. Well we bypassed that whole system, ran a cord right in to the salon, ripped out some cabinets and plugged the CATV directly in to the tv. I think the quality is better than satellite now, and the bears won!
The owner made an amazing spaghetti dinner for everyone tonight. He put onions, hot italian sausage, some spices and meatballs in to the sauce. It was very good and I am stuffed!
I will probably watch the rest of the Jets, Patriots football game and then head to bed. We are going to go out and go fishing tomorrow and I need to get up early and go get some chum and bait. I am really excited and I am saying forget the mahi and the wahoo I want to catch a marlin!!!
Sound Waves Out
Friday, January 14, 2011
Day 105: Why is it so cold?!
KEY WEST, FL USA
I slept in a little bit today...opps. I got up and made some coffee for our guests on board and started the day just like any other. It was a bit of a slow start though. The owner and his guests went out for a dingy ride and I did some tasks here and there. I organized a cabinet by the engine room, cleaned out my closet and re-organized everything and did some laundry. Before I knew it the sun was getting low in the sky. Racing boats were out testing their sails and their rigs, practicing up for the big race week next week. There is still a good breeze, but not like the past few days. It was a decent day today but still colder.
I grabbed my guitar and went up to the bow to play some songs. I've been trying to get back in to it and use my free time to play here and there. The biggest thing is committing to one song and memorizing it before I move on to the next. The guys on Jasmine, the sailboat next to us, came out on the bow with their guitar and we played boat to boat for awhile. It was a lot of fun and more of that may be on the agenda for later tonight after they get back from their race awards ceremony.
I have a business call tonight with one of the guru's from Raymarine and I am very excited about that. I have been working on a few ideas for the marine industry and tracked him down online. He is the most positive guy in the world and I am so excited to speak with him more about my project. The project and the ideas are being kept to myself and those who have signed a confidentiality agreement with me however so I am not going to go in to much detail on my blogs. Maybe down the road if/when we get a patent?! I am very excited and have a lot of motivation to keep this project moving, despite my very busy schedule.
Sound Waves Out
I slept in a little bit today...opps. I got up and made some coffee for our guests on board and started the day just like any other. It was a bit of a slow start though. The owner and his guests went out for a dingy ride and I did some tasks here and there. I organized a cabinet by the engine room, cleaned out my closet and re-organized everything and did some laundry. Before I knew it the sun was getting low in the sky. Racing boats were out testing their sails and their rigs, practicing up for the big race week next week. There is still a good breeze, but not like the past few days. It was a decent day today but still colder.
I grabbed my guitar and went up to the bow to play some songs. I've been trying to get back in to it and use my free time to play here and there. The biggest thing is committing to one song and memorizing it before I move on to the next. The guys on Jasmine, the sailboat next to us, came out on the bow with their guitar and we played boat to boat for awhile. It was a lot of fun and more of that may be on the agenda for later tonight after they get back from their race awards ceremony.
I have a business call tonight with one of the guru's from Raymarine and I am very excited about that. I have been working on a few ideas for the marine industry and tracked him down online. He is the most positive guy in the world and I am so excited to speak with him more about my project. The project and the ideas are being kept to myself and those who have signed a confidentiality agreement with me however so I am not going to go in to much detail on my blogs. Maybe down the road if/when we get a patent?! I am very excited and have a lot of motivation to keep this project moving, despite my very busy schedule.
Sound Waves Out
Thursday, January 13, 2011
Day 104: Surprise Guests
KEY WEST, FL USA
Another day. Another....cold...day. I am not sure if it even got in to the 60's today. That cold front that came through was a mean one and it is still blowing and is going to continue to blow above 15 knots until next week. Today was just another day on the boat and it was little projects here and there.
The owner got a phone call and had some old friends that wanted to drive in and visit for a couple of days. The boat was ready for guests but I did one last walk around.
All of the sailboats from the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race are in and more sailboats are coming in for Key West Race week which starts on Monday. The guys next to us were hanging out last night playing guitar and carrying on...you know the usual. I snuck on board and hung out with them for the night. What a crazy night. The guy from New Zealand, whose name is slipping my memory, never stopped playing guitar and was ....wasted. haha. I'm writing this blog on Friday morning, and as I look over he is out washing the deck and drinking a beer (1100). Good times though meeting new people, and even better to sit my butt down in a sailboat again. I am keeping my ears open to maybe get on a boat or two for the races next week.
Sound Waves Out
Another day. Another....cold...day. I am not sure if it even got in to the 60's today. That cold front that came through was a mean one and it is still blowing and is going to continue to blow above 15 knots until next week. Today was just another day on the boat and it was little projects here and there.
The owner got a phone call and had some old friends that wanted to drive in and visit for a couple of days. The boat was ready for guests but I did one last walk around.
All of the sailboats from the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race are in and more sailboats are coming in for Key West Race week which starts on Monday. The guys next to us were hanging out last night playing guitar and carrying on...you know the usual. I snuck on board and hung out with them for the night. What a crazy night. The guy from New Zealand, whose name is slipping my memory, never stopped playing guitar and was ....wasted. haha. I'm writing this blog on Friday morning, and as I look over he is out washing the deck and drinking a beer (1100). Good times though meeting new people, and even better to sit my butt down in a sailboat again. I am keeping my ears open to maybe get on a boat or two for the races next week.
Sound Waves Out
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
Day 103: WINDDD!!!!
KEY WEST, FL USA
I woke up on today to a very wild gulf of mexico to the north. The wind was a steady 20-25 knots out of the northeast. I was glad that the dock master found room for us, as it would be stupid to go out today. I organized the dvd cabinet and put everything in alphabetical order and typed up a sheet of all of the movies we had on board. It was my stay quiet because people are still sleeping but stay busy project for the morning. We took the owners girlfriend back to the airport around 1130. The whole deal was a mess. She was supposed to fly out on Monday but was delayed because of all the winter storms north of us in the Atlanta area. Well when they talked to the guy at the ticket counter on Monday he said that they were all set to go on Wednesday. Well thank God the owner called and checked before we left, because AirTran had no records of her being on today's flight. They had to re-book something and it is unfortunate because she will be taking off at 1300 EST, stopping in Orlando then Atlanta (we later found out she got delayed a few more hours in Atlanta), and finally landing in Chicago at 0020 EST. What a day. I am not sure when she actually landed.
The owner and I took a cab to the grocery store after our little airport trip so that we could stock the boat up a little bit. Note to consider, do not take cabs on Key West. If I remember right it cost a total of $65 to go to the airport the grocery store and then back to the boat. This all took place on the island and the cab did not wait for us at the grocery store. I think just for sitting down in the cab was $5-$6. I just looked at the route on google maps and it was exactly 10 miles.
The rest of the day was pretty low key and other than dealing with the circus of getting the carpet cleaned on the boat the day was pretty much over. The owner and I went and had a light dinner in town and came back to the boat and called it a night. I have been watching the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race online for most of the night and it looks like the 69' mini maxi, Bella Mente, is going to cross the finish line at around 0100 in the morning. We thought about taking the tender out there to watch her come in, but it is way too rough. While it will be a very fast race, she is not going to break the monohull record. Winds have been recorded at 33 knots, and apparently it is cold out there tonight.
You can check out all of the action at: www.keywestrace.org
Sound Waves Out
I woke up on today to a very wild gulf of mexico to the north. The wind was a steady 20-25 knots out of the northeast. I was glad that the dock master found room for us, as it would be stupid to go out today. I organized the dvd cabinet and put everything in alphabetical order and typed up a sheet of all of the movies we had on board. It was my stay quiet because people are still sleeping but stay busy project for the morning. We took the owners girlfriend back to the airport around 1130. The whole deal was a mess. She was supposed to fly out on Monday but was delayed because of all the winter storms north of us in the Atlanta area. Well when they talked to the guy at the ticket counter on Monday he said that they were all set to go on Wednesday. Well thank God the owner called and checked before we left, because AirTran had no records of her being on today's flight. They had to re-book something and it is unfortunate because she will be taking off at 1300 EST, stopping in Orlando then Atlanta (we later found out she got delayed a few more hours in Atlanta), and finally landing in Chicago at 0020 EST. What a day. I am not sure when she actually landed.
The owner and I took a cab to the grocery store after our little airport trip so that we could stock the boat up a little bit. Note to consider, do not take cabs on Key West. If I remember right it cost a total of $65 to go to the airport the grocery store and then back to the boat. This all took place on the island and the cab did not wait for us at the grocery store. I think just for sitting down in the cab was $5-$6. I just looked at the route on google maps and it was exactly 10 miles.
The rest of the day was pretty low key and other than dealing with the circus of getting the carpet cleaned on the boat the day was pretty much over. The owner and I went and had a light dinner in town and came back to the boat and called it a night. I have been watching the Ft. Lauderdale to Key West race online for most of the night and it looks like the 69' mini maxi, Bella Mente, is going to cross the finish line at around 0100 in the morning. We thought about taking the tender out there to watch her come in, but it is way too rough. While it will be a very fast race, she is not going to break the monohull record. Winds have been recorded at 33 knots, and apparently it is cold out there tonight.
You can check out all of the action at: www.keywestrace.org
Sound Waves Out
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