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| SuziQ & Gal Pals |
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| Outnumbered....Big Time |
We also enjoyed a visit by Rick’s daughter (Suzi) and two of
her good gal pals (Tammy & Madie); they had escaped the chilly environs in
St. Louis and Chicago and were rewarded with perfect south Florida weather for
their beachcombing, kayaking and related
tourista activities.
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| New Slip @ Legacy |
We also moved the boat to a new (and much more convenient) slip
at Legacy Harbour – it’s a much shorter walk now, which is good with all the
provisioning we’ve got going on. And, of course, we are concurrently knocking
out our maintenance activities….so far this month these have been concluded or
are underway:
· We relocated the ship’s flag pole from the
transom up to the aft end of the boat deck; Old Glory looks better up high,
plus it no longer whacks Michelle in the face when she’s working the lines
& fenders in the cockpit.
· We replaced the two house batteries that went
tango uniform on us during the Key West return sortie; those 8D AGMs weigh in @
160 lbs each, so it’s no fun getting those removed / replaced; we’re hoping
we’re done with battery games for a few years, my shoulder joints are
complaining.
· We had much of the boat’s holding (black water) tank
electrical hardware overhauled – new float assemblies, new level indicator
panel, and new discharge pump switch; we finally just got tired of trying to troubleshoot
& repair existing parts, and almost nothing will ruin a voyage quicker than
black water malfunctions.
· We replaced the generator’s air filter, and
changed its oil and oil filter…it was a few hours overdue by the time we
returned from Key West, so it was good to get that taken care of before our
next journey starts.
· After several DIY attempts at adjusting the wing
engine’s stuffing box, we threw up our hands and hired a local diesel tech to
come out & overhaul the box.
Unfortunately there is a serious design flaw of the wing engine shaft on
the N47 – basically you can’t get the box’s flange all the way off due to
interference from the oil pan; we left it at its loosest possible position to
see if we can generate any cooling flow on our next sortie, but a permanent fix
is going to require a haul out.
· We hired out a complete exterior detailing –
from bow to stern, and from fly bridge to the waterline - including a thorough
soapy bath, light oxidation buffing & stain removal, metal polishing, hand
waxing the gelcoat to the rub rail, and then Awlgrip polishing the painted
hull. That’s in progress this week, so Ghost Rider will be looking spiffy in a
few days, or as the old salts like to say, “Bristol”.
· We scheduled our trusty Yamaha mechanic (Tom
Imrie @ Andalusia Mobile Marine) to perform a complete annual / 100 hour service on the dinghy’s 40HP
outboard motor next week; we plan to anchor out a good bit this year and want a
reliable tender, and we know Tom’s quality work from our Grady-White fishing
days.
· Last but not least, we are in the
process of configuring our new Wheelhouse Technologies Marine Maintenance
System (SM). This software will provide us with a very customized framework with which we can schedule and track all of Ghost Rider’s maintenance tasks and recommended
spare parts inventory covering virtually every system & component on the
boat.
And based on the Wheelhouse “maintenance forecast” report
for the next 3 weeks, we’ll remain very busy before we depart here in early
May.
