Make ready.....very ready

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  North Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Sunday, January 20, 2008

[Many of you wanted to meet "Art" our mechanical pet.  He finially concented to a picture.]

Our original plans were to be in port until Jan 1 and then head to the Keys.   But....boat plans..well they seldom hold up.  I now look back at the last blog entry and we have been here in the slip for a full month. 

Have we gone home to AZ....nope.  Just working and getting work done here in the slip.  We have had First Forty for some time, but really have not 'worked on it'.  Sure, I keep it running and Sue keeps it looking good.  But we had a long list of 'want-to-dos'.  This was the time and this was the place.  Its worked out well.

The big question was the slip we have here at our condo in North Palm Beach

Art

.  Having read the condo 'rules', we clearly saw the phrase "No live-aboards".   I had fully expected that we would be forced to leave the slip every evening and drop the hook in the nearby anchorage in Lake Worth only to have to dock again in the morning when someone might come to work on the boat.   This might have been okay for a week, but would get old fast.  As it happened, we have been here several weeks and all we get is a wave from the head of the marina committee.  All is well. 

Not only have Sue and I been working hard on the boat, but we have had other work done by contractors.  

My main mission was to get the boat detailed.  This appeared to be easy, but I have had to 'hire' 4 different detailers before I could get one to start ....and finish.  The first in Hilton Head and then two more here in North Palm.  But finally we were started.  Five full days of two guys running the compounding wheel, cleaning and polishing the topsides.  The results are great. 

Other projects went on.

My personal favorite (not) was rebuilding the marine head.  These things are not at all toilets in the normal sense.  They are really 'do-do' pumps and they need new fittings regularly.  When the head smells ripe, its really bad.  The Admiral had deemed our head a disaster so it became my priority.  Last winter I had bought the needed fittings at a price which I had never publicly disclosed to the Admiral.   Shhhhhh.....believe it or not, a dozen rubber fittings and one spring in a small plastic box....$110.   Yes that was US Dollars.   My guess is that when the head smells ripe, price is not an object.

I tore that head out of the boat at  9am one day and it and I sat together in the back cockpit along with a dozen wrenches, pliers and screw drivers.  Once I started, there was no turning back....a new one would cost me $900 and I was not going there.   I would not be defeated.

By 2 in the afternoon I had hit the wall.  I could not get more parts taken apart and I had somehow destroyed one of the other critical parts.  There was no turning back.  Finally I came up with the solution: coat every part with slippery dish soap.  In an hour all the fittings came out.  By 4pm it was back together and in its place.   All looked good and smelled good.

Another epoch occurred when I was testing the bilge (sump at the bottom of the boat) pumps.   I filled the bilges using a hose and all of a sudden everything stops.  Blown fuse....why?  I pop in a new fuse and go below...smoke.  Smoke!  I look and look...nothing.  I get the volt meter out and start chasing voltage.  I can't make sense of it.   So bring in a marine electrician and he spends two hours finding a shorted float switch.   OK, in goes a new one.

Most things went well.   We now have a wind gauge so I can see wind direction and speed when we dock and when it pipes up out there. 

Then there was my plumbing project.  We had no way to measure water in our 200 fresh water tanks.  So I installed a big, fat brass meter that measures our water usage.  Now, we can see how many gallons we use and can determine when we need to tank up.  While the leaks were frustrating, they finally stopped and it works well.

Most frustrating was my installation of a Sirius radio receiver.  It started out easy.  Put up and antenna in the house roof...easy.   Getting the little radio mounted and wired above the helm.....not too bad.  Then the big test..turn it on....nothing but static.  The only way I could get a clear sound in the salon was to hold the antenna wire in my hand and up toward the ceiling.    The Admiral says "no way".  So more work, more thinking.  Then we finally compromise and find a way to mount a wire in such a way that the signal is good.   As it happens Sirius does not advertise that its FM rebroadcast only goes 3-4 feet.  Small detail.  We have it figured out.

I should also mention Sue's project: new carpet, seat cushions and general decor.  Since we bought the boat, Sue had never liked the dark blue carpet and colors.  She was right (of course) as the seat cushions had taken on a faded look and there were signs of wear.  We had an estimate to get this done at Atlantic Yacht Basin in VA but the estimate seemed high.  We though we would take our chances in FL.  It could have been worse, but it was not.  In fact, Sue got 'knock out' cushions, pillows and carpet put in for about same as the cushions alone up north.  Plus, it looks great.  This is a real face lift for our 9 year old vessel. 

So now we look at the WX.   As I sit here the wind is blowing 15-20 and I am told my NOAA that seas are running 6-8 feet off shore.  We could go south by inter-coastal as we did much of the way down from Virginia, but there are 15 bridges between here and Ft Lauderdale.  Too much for us. 

So we wait until Tuesday.   With luck the forecast will be reality:  4-6 foot seas dropping to 2-3 off in the afternoon.  Light winds.   That should be good to go.

We had friends who have waited many weeks for a weather window so our few days of continued delays are not bad.  

But we are very ready to go.  Out trip down the Keys should begin Tuesday morning.  First Forty has never looked better or been more ready mechanically.  Lets go!

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