Author: Tessa Aydelotte

These last two days we have been spinning around like tops. From provisioning, to getting chocks made for the skiff; the latter, again, sounding easier said than done.

Marina Mile Yachting Center had our starter out and replaced within four hours. Back in the PNW, that would have easily been a couple days. We were surprised and elated to have this checked off our list.

We got acquainted with Seafarer’s Marine, who made patterns within a couple hours, which we then did our best to revise and fit for the real deal out of starboard. Tom was in their office when they opened in the morning the next day, and they were ready by midday. We then needed some starboard blocks cut to set the chocks on, they were ready within 45 minutes. Their Shop Manager Jeff helped Tessa with screws to assemble our setup when she went back to pick up the starboard blocks. The Sales Manager George helped her ID and locate a hinge for our deep freeze – ended up being a special order.

Every marine business we have dealt with in our time here in Ft Lauderdale has done Herculean efforts for a quick turnaround. From Seafarer’s, to Wood-Chip, to Tender Care (after Palm Beach Boat Show, they delivered a skiff to our specs in less than five days. Everybody else was ten days out) We are dually impressed, and very thankful.

Seafarer’s recommended a local business to make us a new bridle for our skiff to hang from the davit- the one we had made for our former skiff we just could not make work. Look for the sign “Rope”. Nance and Underwood had our bridle built in four hours.

While out and about we crossed paths with Bluewater Books and Charts, which lived up to all the hype. We were able to pick up cruising guides for all the regions we would be venturing, and they had any charts, flags, courtesy flags that you may need. As many have said before us, not to be missed in Ft Lauderdale.

This guy came along for a ride from Bluewater to our next destination. Scared Tessa to pieces as we approached the car door, the guy getting into his truck next to us kindly told her not to worry about these guys. It’s the ones with the curly tail you need to be wary of. Noted.

Before photo of what the chocks looked like on our aft top deck.

Nope.. the pattern is not even close to right.

Tom making a template out of cardboard to modify the composite template.

One chock down, one to go… it’s five o’ clock… here.

We are close…

Stern chock with a dock padding on top, lookin’ good!

7:20pm. After multiple adjustments, lifting her down and back up, she is sitting … supported … and comfortable. Not perfect, there is more sanding of the chocks to be done.

Neither of us felt confident leaving tonight for 15th Street for our jumping off point tomorrow morning. It was just over an hour cruise, and we would get there after dark. And we still needed to do more work.

A quick check of the weather showed tomorrow was our weather window. Thursday could work, but it would be from the N-NE, exactly what you do not want when crossing the Gulf Stream.

We continued to work into the wee hours of the night to prepare for cruising tomorrow. It was a race against the clock.

The light at the end of the tunnel is minute, however slowly but surely is becoming brighter.

Our clock is ticking. We have a hard date of picking up our best friend in Nassau April 8th. Planning for a two month plus voyage, we need to make sure all our i’s are dotted and t’s are crossed.

Crossing the Gulf Stream is liking crossing the Straight of Georgia, Johnstone Strait, or Cape Caution. It’s not to be taken lightly. The Gulf Stream runs on average 2.5-3kts North off the east coast of Florida. The wind cycles around like clockwork; the trades are predominantly E, shifting to SE, then SW to W (warm and humid!), shifting N (c-c-cold), back to NE to E. When the winds are N to NE, you do not want to cross the Gulf Stream. You may say, but you will be going with the wind; isn’t that what we all try to do? The N-NE wind will be against the S-SE Gulf Stream: wind over current. Unless you want to get the sh*! kicked out of you, you wait for the weather window. Our weather window is Easter Sunday, April 1st. If we miss it, it’s another four to five days in Ft Lauderdale.

Since we were splashed, the deep freeze compressor has been installed, all six (we counted wrong, not enough fingers on one hand) AC units work, the de-naming and naming ceremonies have occurred, the BBQ is now functional, the gauges are somewhat functional, the dilapidated skiff is on the dock, and the water maker is installed and functional.

Key word: functional. When we tried to test the water maker, no sea water was getting to the pump. Back to that saying, it always sounds easier than it is. We began the troubleshooting. We primed all the hoses with water, we checked all the hose clamps, we swapped out the initial strainer… still nothing. The thru hull/sea cock was blocked.

F*$! We were just on the hard for two weeks, and we did not even think about checking the thru hull. We quickly assessed our options. A) be hauled out in the morning ($$$). B) it’s warm and 6ft of water where we are sitting. Tom could dive under to dislodge it. Neither sounded appealing. If only we had something long enough and skinny to stick down the hose…

Thank goodness for… a metal coat hanger! This is the third time we’ve used this coat hanger left by the previous owner. We’ve used it as an arm extension for pulling wires, and now we used it to unclog our thru hull. With a little bit of prodding and heavy pressure from Tom’s lungs, we were able to blow it out. We are now making our own water!

Sunset during our de-naming ceremony

March 26th was a big day. Our bottom work is done (cutlass bearings, three transducers, keel damage fixed, bottom sanded and painted) and we got lifted back into the water.

We begin our final push before hopefully leaving Ft Lauderdale sometime this coming weekend.

Big ticket items still on our checklist: finish water maker install, assess BBQ, purchase and install a compressor for the deep freeze on the flybridge, install VHF #2, service two of five AC units, purchase a tender, hold the denaming and naming ceremonies.

Changing the name of a boat there are two schools of thought. Don’t. It’s bad luck. Or if you take everything off the boat with the old name, hold a denaming ceremony asking for the blessing of the Gods of the Sea (which of course involves champagne) and then a naming ceremony once you have installed your vinyl letters asking again for the blessing of the Gods of the Sea, you should, key word should, be OK. We have been following these rules to the tee, not bringing anything onboard with the new name until we have the denaming ceremony.

We realized last night that the current dilapidated tender on the boat has the old name on it. Tessa heat gunned off the vinyl letters and the name was imprinted on the vinyl. We believe this is the last item on the boat with the old name, and plan on lifting it off the boat tomorrow in preparation for the denaming ceremony.

Upgraded shower view.

When we sold our 42′ Performance Trawler last fall, we sold her without our tender. We purchased a 12ft AB ALX (aluminum bottom, instead of fiberglass) two years ago, and Tom tricked her out with a ten inch sub, amp, and a Fusion stereo. Needless to say, she rocked. Portia checking out our new tender.

Tessa researched shipping options to transport our skiff from Bainbridge Island to Ft Lauderdale. She found uShip.com, which you can put out a request for transport and different companies bid. We went with the first guy who bid on our tender, which happened to be the lowest.

Fast forward to the week before our guy is supposed to pick up our skiff. UShip dropped him as a transporter, stating in an email that a previous customer reported slander. Our guy contacted us and told us his side of the story. Since we needed our skiff in Ft Lauderdale ASAP, and he had many many positive reviews on uShip, we decided to stick with him working outside of uShip.

March 5th he came with a 40ft trailer and with the aid of a boom truck from Sunshine Propane, we lifted our skiff off her trailer and onto the 40ft trailer. We kept the key, and the removable Garmin GPS/Navigation unit. We put our Seahawk folding chairs on the floor, and a nifty battery recharger under her seat. If you’ve been boating with us, you’ll know that her battery always seems to need a quick boost.

We shook hands, handed him a thousand bucks cash with the rest paid upon arrival, and that was that.

Fast forward to March 24th. Our skiff was supposed to be in Ft Lauderdale ten days prior. Our guy texted asking us what the WN registration numbers were on our skiff. Big red flag went up. Did we just pay a guy cash to steal our skiff?

The next day Tom spent seven hours talking to multiple police officers, sheriffs, dispatches, and towing companies in Jacksonville Florida and Georgia. His story was true, and it was a doozie.

At some point along the way the owner of the company split ways with the driver of his truck. The driver and the owner had a tiff, and the owner did not hear from him for six days.

March 22nd Tom gets the lengthy text of his story. His truck broke down outside of Jacksonville Florida, and his driver in his infinite wisdom decided to borrow a friend’s Dodge Dakota to finish the haul. A significantly smaller truck and inadequate for a 40 ft trailer. They got caught in torrential rain, the ball was too small for the trailer, it popped off, rolled over and slid across the the meridian to the other side of the highway.

Recognize that tender? Yes, this photo is oriented the correct way.

Tom’s bird dogging located our skiff in Jesup, Georgia. Population 10,214.

March 24th. We fly to Ft Lauderdale with Portia, this was her longest flight by far and she was a trooper!

Worst case scenario is our tender is not totaled. Since we are trying to cross the Gulf stream at the end of the week, we are under a time crunch and can’t wait two to three weeks to find out what the insurance company deems the damage of our tender and have it repaired.

March 25th just happened to be the last day of the Palm Beach Boat Show. Guess what we did, you are correct. Tender shopped!

The boat we have admired season after season while cruising and dining at waterfront restaurants, we now officially own. But since she is located in Ft Lauderdale, and we are based on Bainbridge Island, Washington, we will not see her for another week.

The layout of our boat

Before she is ready to cruise, we will need to give her a lot of TLC. Fortunately the Seattle Boat Show occurred while we were in the process of closing, and we were able to score a deal or two, and ideas. She will need all new electronics, top to bottom. Tom is a nerd who also loves all things electrical. He was excited to do the installation himself.

The survey we did in January did not bring to our attention anything we did not already know. The major stuff: the keel had a ten inch section that was damaged, the bottom had some blistering and also needed new bottom paint, the cutlass bearings needed replaced, the props may need alignment, the water maker did not work, the stabilizers need serviced. The fun stuff: new radar, AIS, two new transducers, new autopilot, new touchscreens on the flybridge and the bridge. The minor stuff: some (ok, a lot) lights do not work, ice maker, washer/dryer, deep freeze all non functional, A/C units need serviced (yes, our boat has not one, but five A/C units), the gauges on the helm don’t work. Ok, that last one maybe should go in the first category…

Tom inspecting the keel damage

Leading up to our departure for Ft Lauderdale, Tom spent multiple upon multiple of hours studying the installation manuals of all the electronics, and drawing wiring diagrams. His stored knowledge became critical as we had a finite period of time to do the install. Because he had prepared so thoroughly, we also had two suitcases in tow full of tools for our work.

The best day of boat ownership finally came March 6th. We stepped aboard for the first time as her owners. And immediately got to work. We became intimate with a handful of businesses along “Marina Mile.” Specifically McDonald’s Hardware (family owned and arguably one of the best hardware store’s in the states), Wood Chip (everything wood! They cut our new dashboard for our helm), Boat Owner’s Warehouse, Sailorman (a consignment type store for used marine goods), Watermakers Inc, and of course West Marine.

For ten days we worked from sun up, until after sun down. We whittled away at the palette and a half of boxes that contained everything we needed to install. Projects on a boat are always simpler in theory. Install the radar on the radar arch. Simple enough, right? In reality, reach your arm in a four inch tall cavity in the radar arch to the point you can’t reach any further, using only one hand locating where the four bolts need to be pushed up through the holes Tom drilled in the fiberglass, get them into these holes, and then screw them into the radar unit with two fingers. Easier said, than done.

Another scenario. Running a NEMA cable from a transducer in the engine room to the central vacuum closet (also non-functional) in the master stateroom. This required Tessa on the outside of the starboard engine, Tom contorted in the kitchen sink cabinet, and then feeding it on into the central vacuum closet. Through holes that are already packed full with wires, and trying to figure out how to make space for not just the circumference of the cable, but the size of the NEMA connector on the end. And this is just one cable. We probably ran about thirty.

Before photo of the helm

During…

…. and after!

We thought the Sea Recovery water maker would be serviceable, but it turned out it was cheaper to install a new one. We chose Watermakers Inc. because the units are simple, use generic filters and membranes (easy to find and not as expensive as proprietary) and we liked the company. It all began because the owner of Staniel Cay Yacht Club in the Exumas wanted to figure out how to get fresh water on the island. Thirty plus years later they are making reverse osmosis water makers not only for islands, but also boats of many sizes.

Water maker installed by Tom; membranes and pumps still to go.

By March 15th when it was time for us to fly back to Seattle, we had accomplished what he had set out to do, and then some. We were sad to hit pause on our work, as it was far from finished, but it was time for us to host our last winemaker’s dinner series with Harbinger Winery at our restaurants.