The New Engine

Getting the tools ready to use.

Preparing the boat.

Getting ready to make the boom a crane.

Mark and BJ set things up.

Old engine on cart.

Unhooking old engine.

a big mess.

Lifting out the old engine.

Empty rails.

New engine waiting to be lowered.

New engine waiting to be hooked up. You can see David working on the back from inside the "hell hole". It is basically the lazerette.

New hoses going on.

The engine is finally in. It was quite a process and a lot of work. We spent Monday preparing the boat. We had to take off the mainsail, the dodger and some other items so that we could use the boom as a crane. David, with me as tool wench, drained all the fluids and disconnected all the lines, hoses, wires, etc. It was scary but it took less than 2 hours to pull the old engine and put the new one in place. Mark and BJ were super. They are obviously very good at their jobs and very professional. We spent the rest of the day working on getting the engine hooked up. Daniel, also of MD Marine helped get everything going and spent quite a bit of time giving David the rundown on the differences between the engines and things to do for a proper installation. He had the same sense of humor as David so I got double doses of it! I think he had as good a time working with David as David did working with him. Great guy.

We had to buy some hoses and connectors to finish the job so that entailed a 15 mile ride to town. Thank God for the bikes and the bike path! We had all the hoses and electrical connected by the afternoon and the dynamic duo of Mark and BJ came back to add the fluids and check everything out. Unfortunately, in the whole process, our shifter cable gave up the ghost but a new part will be in tomorrow. We weren't able to take her for a test ride but we did run it and it sounds wonderful and nothing else broke or leaked. We toasted her first tenth of an hour then started taking the pedestal apart for tomorrow's project. Nothing is every easy but so far we're very pleased.

On Top of Clearwater Bridge

Suz Weston

David with his usual "take the picture already" smile

Facing north

Facing northeast

Looking down

These pictures are from my camera taken the evening before we left Clearwater for Treasure Island. I still need to learn how to use the camera better but it was all I had at the time. You can tell it was a bit windy, but what a view. It is different to see things from the top of a bridge you went under just a few days before.

Adventures in Shopping

Yesterday Suz and I adventured out on the local bus system to go and slay some groceries. The first bus wasn't so great. First, it was the wrong one and took us to downtown Clearwater instead of the Publix. Second, the driver was grumpy and fussed at us for a variety of grievances from carrying on drinks to having crumply dollar bills. He reminded us more than once that we were on the wrong bus like we weren't already aware of our mistake. The nice lady at the transfer station got us headed in the right direction. Unfortunately, it was back on Grumpy's bus to the road where we needed to go. He warned us that is was a looong walk. Turned out to only be 4 blocks. We found what we needed and thought we could carry back so looking loaded down we boarded the next bus headed back our way. We verified that we were on the correct bus and this driver was as nice as the other one was grumpy. In fact, he dropped us off right in front of the club. That night we joined the Weston's on Mariah for dinner and a movie. With repairs on the horizon, it doesn't get better than that!!

April 5, 2011

We are currently dry and snug in Clearwater YC waiting for the weather to clear. We had a tremendous front move through with gusts up to 60 mph (per local news). We were up in the club watching so no discomfort for crew. The boat is dry inside thanks to David rebedding our leaky port yesterday. Good timing on his part. He was waiting on a phone call from the Yanmar gurus and had to do something. They did eventually connect and we're moving to Treasure Island once the weather clears to be closer to the engine repair center. The mechanic seems to have a vector to work from so we may be back in motoring business soon. We're still prepared to spend or do whatever is needed to get her running again and not asphyxiating us. On another bright note, the Westons also have an expert headed out this afternoon to help them resolve their technical woes with depth and autopilot. David and Craig were able to troubleshoot the problem down to a narrow range so the Raymarine guy should be able to put his tester on the unit and let them know what needs to happen next. Hopefully in a few days we'll have both boats ship-shape.

At Clearwater Yacht Club

Entering the Clearwater Pass

Headed under the bridge

Down the channel to the Clearwater YC

Very appreciated help from Craig

Today has been a day of work and leisure. While the guys were working on the boats, I borrowed the Craig's car and went to Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes in Dunedin. I was grateful for the app on my phone that gave me easy directions around all the twists and turns. The church was large but friendly. The whole experience was wonderful. The school kids were responsible for leading the singing and the first two readings. The little girl who was the cantor did a tremendous job. It was also the Mass where the ones who will be become new Catholics on Easter Sunday were welcomed to their next level of preparation and study. The priest was visiting and preached a wonderful sermon. It was so good in fact that the congregation applauded. I have only seen this happen in a Catholic church a few times before, just not part of our worship tradtion. His message was powerful and meaningful. The drive to Mass was also a treat. The road winds around through the old parts of Clearwater and Dunedin both historic and beautiful towns. Like a lot of Florida, they've been overrun by developers who want maximum occupancy per square foot of beachfront. The tacky tourist shops follow. To bad they couldn't be satisfied and confine that stuff to Orlando. Oh well, there is still a lot of good stuff to see between the condos. Back at the boat, Suz and I took care of getting the clothes clean and the boats squared away. Then it was time for drinks by the pool. Suz, being a wise woman, realized we'd been toiling enough and needed to relax and enjoy the trip. I'm sure glad she's along!! Tomorrow we'll worry about provisions.

From Carabelle to Clearwater

Sanctuary crossing the gulf as seen from Mariah

Tourist area to the max.

Condos run to the water all along the water.

Mariah looking good under full sail.

Fair wind and a friendly seas

Left Carabelle at 9:30 in the morning planning to cross to Tarpon Springs. The weather was forecast to be steady winds at 15 knots out of the Southwest. The waves were predicted to be 4-6 feet but laying down in the afternoon so we thought we'd tough it out and go. Turns out the winds were perfect for a reach and very steady. The waves were only 3-5 which was very manageable for us. We made the best speed for the most consistent distance ever. In the first 12 hours, we covered over 73 miles. The winds died down and the waves did as well. We didn't have to turn the engine on until about 2 in the morning. Unfortunately when we did run it, it was smoking worse than ever and wouldn't maintain a steady purr above 2500 rpm. Above that, it would run all over the place and sounded awful. It put a real damper on the rest of the trip but at least we made it in.

The Westons also had their share of issues. Poor Suz, really suffers from seasickness. She had so many different remedies that had been recommended but they only worked for the first few hours. Not good in a 27 hour trip. She is a real trooper and still stood her watches but I can only imagine how horrible it was. On top of that, their instruments are acting up and they had no autohelm for the entire trip. It is extremely tiring to have to maintain a heading and constantly handle the wheel in strong winds. David calls the autohelm our 3rd crew member that never gets tired. Again, I can only imagine how hard the trip was for them.

We had a super nice surprise once we neared the Clearwater Pass. We received a call from our friends CeCe and Craig Stoldts telling us they were in Clearwater and would meed us at the yacht club. CeCe is grew up in Clearwater and knows the area well. They were a super sight to see. They helped us get into a slip then treated us to lunch at one of their favorite spots. Then to be even more hospitable, they took us parts shopping to see if we can resolve some our problems. On top of that Craig offered to help troubleshoot Mariah's instrument problems. The 4 cruisers came back from lunch and promptly went to sleep! We woke up long enough to clean the salt spray off the boat, eat a light snack and go back to sleep!

The three guys spent the morning with their heads buried in the manuals and the bowels of the boat. They determined a list of questions for RayMarine in the morning when they open. David dove on our boat found big wad of seaweed wrapped around the prop. He and Sam took it for a test run and it ran better but still smokes too much. Our list of questions also await shops being open tomorrow. If we spend the rest of our time allotted getting our problems resolved, it has still been a good trip. I hope I still think that in a few days!

Chirpie

This beautiful little swalow tail came into our lives for a while. We were about 60 miles from land so he was a long way from wherever he started from. We first noticed him soaring around our foredeck. He settled on the lifelines but we didn't have the camera out and we thought we had missed our opportunity for a picture. He came back and rested on our dingy which is stored folded and in it's bag on the front of the cabin. Then he came back and sat on the lifelines then onto David's lap! He flew away again but then we figured it was worth pulling the camera out. Next, he came and rested on my arm. We were shocked at how unafraid he seemed. He sat on my arm for quite some time, just resting. We tried to offer him some water in a bottle cap and cracker crumbs and ground up nuts but he wasn't interested. After a while, he flew inside the cabin and rested on top or our table which stores up against the bulkhead. Again, he flew out of the companion way and flew off. He sang us beautiful songs and had the most fibrant colors. His top feathers were a gorgeous blue-black and his breast was a shiny shade of rust. When he came back we decided he was our mascot and David named him Chirpie. At dusk, he flew back to his perch on top of the table and we tried not to disturb him. Sadly, when it was light enough, David checked on him and he had died in the night. Apparently he was too worn out from being blown around. We gave him a burial at sea and bid him farewell.