SW FL/Thous Is/Everglades/Keys Adventure

[gulfcoast john]

James,

After 51 days on your boat I sure hope you are tipping your barber.

I don't, and it shows.

Here’s me and mini-me together at Pink Shell marina:





Last night I lightly swiped my face, sending my bifocals over the side, and as Luck would have it, they dived right through the tiny space between the boat and the finger pier and down 10 feet into the pluff mud.

We each have a backup spare specs in the First Aid box (after some debate on where to keep them). I’m having to use them now! You might consider having a Plan For That.

We have found it very helpful to make backup scans on Google Drive of things like prescription glasses rx, Medicare cards, copy of prescription medications, passports, car and truck tag registrations, boat liability insurance, Sea Star engine alignment procedure, etc.

All our passwords are on an Excel sheet (further password protected) in addition to Google’s pretty good security on Google Drive.

The forecast for Mar 3 was for near Small Craft advisories, which is what we came down in through Charlotte Harbor and Gasparilla Sound, so we elected to leave Estero Island a day early and it was a much more enjoyable ride with few whitecaps. Charlotte Harbor is BIG, and can be rough for a C-Dory.

We’re lucky in that we can make 80 miles a day easy at 25 MPH cruise.
We stopped again at Cayo Costa state park for a lunch hook meal, it was fantastic again!



We Cruised back up to Punta Gorda and Laishley Marina in time to do laundry, cook some Spanish rice, garlic and jumbo shrimp in the cockpit on the Nuwave skillet.



All our fresh water has started leaking into the starboard sponson, emptying the tank within hours. The tank is on the port side, so it could not be a leak there.

Since the leak was into the starboard bilge, I looked there first, and the filter cover was leaking where a tab broke off and the O ring squeezed out beyond it’s track. We adjusted the O ring and rotated some old Rescue Tape around the junction and will hope for the best. If it’s a boat, it’s always something. With any luck, a Whale freshwater pump filter cover will run under a Boat Unit.



Current plan (NOT A SCHEDULE!) is to heave the boat onto the trailer Friday and head up to Ed Stone. The ramp sign says NO POWER LOADING so we wish we had a 10,000lb rated winch for this 10,000 lb boat.

Safe travels everyone!

John

 

[ssobol]

... Last night I lightly swiped my face, sending my bifocals over the side, and as Luck would have it, they dived right through the tiny space between the boat and the finger pier and down 10 feet into the pluff mud.

We each have a backup spare specs in the First Aid box (after some debate on where to keep them). I’m having to use them now! You might consider having a Plan For That.

We have found it very helpful to make backup scans on Google Drive of things like prescription glasses rx, ...

We find it very helpful to have a net on an extendable handle to recover stuff that falls off the boat into relatively shallow water. We've fished things out of the mud in marinas that have fallen off the boat. If it's in the mud it can take a few tries to find it though.

 

[gulfcoast john]

The freshwater pump filter MacGyver repair seems to be holding so far.

We developed a new nuance to our cruising plans...after every 30 day period on the boat (even at marinas) we’ll reward ourselves with two nights in a nice hotel (in this case the Wyvern, across the street from and overlooking the Laishley boat ramp, with a nice rooftop pool and bar).

We gained back our ‘land legs’, but we had every meal on the boat except a breakfast of jumbo crab and cream cheese omelet at John Ski’s...highly recommended! (So big we shared it).

While towing up the thruway 30 miles from Hontoon, the trailer tire pressure/temp monitor alarm went off. We pulled over and found a huge bulge on one tire with continuing loss of pressure. It’s the first structural failure of a Goodyear Endurance trailer tire we’ve had (we’ve had two nail puncture flats, but the TST system gave us plenty of early warning before any damage). This is right at three years from the date of manufacture.



That put us late to the ramp, where we tried to help jump start another Brat (who’d also had a flat). It was a pitch dark moonless night by the time we headed toward the Hontoon marina. Everything sure looked different at night!

Tomorrow, we search out a Goodyear tire dealer (so MANY adventures!)

This is the first time we used the Phifertex camper back enclosure. It gives a lot off privacy, while still being able to see out, allows some breeze to come through and some insect protection and increases living space. The heavy rain mainly sheeted down. We’re very happy with it.





A great winter month to be on the boat, and we’re glad to be at the Hontoon Hoot!

Cheers!

John