So …
I flew from Phoenix to Fort Lauderdale nine days ago. The plan was for me to get the bulk of the mechanical issues fixed, new equipment installed (a more accommodating swim ladder and solar panels), the boat cleaned to my standards, and the important items out of the storage locker and onto the boat.
As I’ve frequently shared with Kath- plans are only broadly relevant to boating. The reality- when I arrived at the boat in the storage yard in Indiantown I found the bilges full of water! The boat was on jacks on land! There are enough leaks, holes, points of ingress, etc. that on the order of 20 gallons of water had made its way from the sky to the deep cavity centerline on JOY. Oh, joy. Not staying on the boat like that. Started the generator to charge the batteries, took the old AGM batteries off the boat and put them on a charger at the hotel, bought some Homer buckets at Home Depot, and found the wash down pump. This is a bilge pump with a long cord and battery clips that can be moved around and dropped in a relevant body of water to pump water, generally for washing gunk off the boat. In this case it was to pump gunky water out of my bilge and into the Homer buckets. Quick but messy work, some spillage, but much less water below the Joyous floorboards.
For those of you who haven’t been paying attention … JOY’s transmission is being replaced and we have a good mechanic, Keith, who has been finding the parts to accomplish the job. I’m not a transmission mechanic, so I try to listen and understand the friction points in the process. Keith’s is a busy, in-demand guy, so he could get us on the schedule May 30 (7 days after my arrival)- I have plenty to do. Arrange to have the boat put in the water the day before Keith is due to arrive (you can’t do major work in the storage yard), but it’s RAINING! Yes, May in Florida is the rainy season. In fact this April and May are the wettest April and May on record in Indiantown! The Travel Lift (TL) is a big, big machine that straddles the boat, has two long straps that fasten under the boat and lift the boat to a height that TL can that move the boat from storage to the water. Now Joy is a slim 17,000 lbs and TL is big, so the yard guys have no confidence that the TL will not sink into the wet Everglades ground, so my schedule is subject to Mother Nature. Fortunately, it doesn’t rain for two days (Thank you, Lord!!!), the ground dries and the boat is launched.
May 30 arrives, Keith begins to put the new transmission in place and the second piece to go on, an adapter between the bell housing and the new transmission is the wrong size (what are the chances? Apparently, pretty good). We’re trying to mate a 40 year old Westerbeke diesel engine to a new ZF transmission. The transmission will fit, if we have the correct adapter. That essential project is stalled while we scour the world for the correct adapter or have one made in MA (2 weeks).
Arggh.
So the next day I drive to Fort Lauderdale (the city of my birth) and buy stuff! The ladder from this wonderful place called Sailorman, a consignment, used, new, junkyard-type place. The I go over to eMarine and get educated and demystified on solar panels, convince myself that I can do this and buy a solar system for the boat- they had some panels on clearance that would provide the desired power and were substantially less than normal price, so I got a good system with a Blue Sky MPPT 20 Amp controller and 170 watts of solar collecting power for about 40% of other quotes! Yay!
By now the rental SUV looks pretty full, so I visit the storage locker and put more stuff in the car (now really full). Commence to install solar panels, and Mother Nature commences to rain. I’m staying in a hotel again.
Plan for today is to complete solar installation, reinstall the cockpit table I have refinished (also refinished the companionway doors- JOYs front door and am quite satisfied with the result. Also finishing the depth finder install and the new instrument panel on the bulkhead where I removed an old cluster and now have a big hole. And wait for word from Keith.
Probably also time to start cleaning more. Pray for me!
A note on woodworking on boats. I have limited tools- a jig saw, a sander, a drill and a 3-inch level. Fortunately, since a boat is continually rocking and rolling level is note really a thing, so my shelves are functional and will be perfectly level at times as the boat moves! SUCCESS!
