 |
| We Had a Front Row Seat on the Bow of Ghost Rider for Viewing the Pyrotechnics that Concluded This Year's Edison Festival of Lights |
Two
months have passed since our previous post, so here’s another catch up entry
from the crew of Ghost Rider for the
months of February and March. Our days
have been a good mix of recreation, social events, some travel, lots of reading,
occasional boat business and even some actual boating. Since we started our dirt-dwelling winter
spell here in Fort Myers Chelle has turned her attention back to her golf game,
playing an average of twice per week. She
even has taken some corrective lessons and spent time at the range, which used
to be heresy for her. Meanwhile, Rick
has continued his recovery both in terms of energy level and weight gain, which
of course means he’s gotten quite active once again with his main hobby – more
boat projects. (There’s always a list.)
February Update
With
guests occupying the condo we moved back onto the boat in February, still
moored at Legacy Harbour Marina in downtown Fort Myers. That gave both of us the luxury of combining
dirt-dwelling with live-aboard life.
That also meant we had a front row seat for the Edison Festival of Light
fireworks finale right off the bow of Ghost
Rider….it was a sustained and percussive pyrotechnic display that we
thoroughly enjoyed, see the YouTube video link HERE.
Rick
finally began construction on a new page for our web site, with the purpose of
documenting the more significant boat projects that we’ve undertaken on Ghost Rider. That page is still under construction, and
while mostly of interest to boat geeks, a partially completed version/preview
is available HERE for the
curious. It’s also worth noting that these
blog page(s) now have a search capability, and you’ll find the search box
towards the upper right hand corner of the current web page.
 |
| The Ships's Computer and a Bluetooth Laptop Feeding the Fusion Stereo System with Either Internet Streaming or Our Own Music Library |
As for February boat business, Rick completed configuration and testing of the boat’s revised sound system, using a full screen media player (MusicBee) with access to our fairly large music library, as well as Internet-streaming music (and Rick’s favorite podcasts) all now accessible via Bluetooth devices as well as the ship's computer, piped through our Fusion marine stereo system. We’re also happy with the smartphone remote control capability. And, as has become our custom when wintering here in Fort Myers, we had the U.S. Coast Guard aboard for Ghost Rider’s annual courtesy inspection. Legacy Harbor sponsors these each winter and we find it comforting to have that third party evaluation of the boat’s safety readiness.
March Update
 |
| Ron & Mercedes with Daughter Stephanie Preparing Dinner Aboard Moonrise |
The
month of March brought spring training baseball to Florida; it was a treat to
attend a Red Sox game on a perfect sunny afternoon, even if the Sox got
trounced by the Pirates. Immediately
after the game we drove over to Fort Lauderdale on the other coast to visit
with good friends Ron and Mercedes, who had just returned from months of cruising
the Bahamas in their Nordhavn 47, Moonrise. They were waiting on some water maker parts
before resuming their journey north to their home in Charleston, so we were
able to spend a couple of very pleasant evenings together.
Shortly
after returning to Fort Myers we finally got the boat out of its slip for a
three day period, heading down river and then up the ICW to an anchorage between
Cabbage Key and Useppa Islands. We got a
good chance to fully sea trial some of the previous repairs: the stabilizers
performed well with no more leaks, and the new wing engine throttle did its job
admirably for both hydraulic power and as auxiliary propulsion. We were met at the anchorage that Friday by
friends Dan and Juli in their Grady-White Marlin, FloMotion, and we anchored together just west of Useppa. We launched the dinghy and ferried them over
to Ghost Rider for dinner, drinks and
a fun social evening.
 |
| The Water Taxi Going from Ghost Rider to Nearby FloMotion |
The
following morning (a Saturday) we were greeted by some spotty rain, so Rick
tended to some boat chores. On the
sortie north the previous day we had noticed some rubber chunks of an
alternator belt beneath the main engine, so Rick pulled off the engine and belt
guards to take a look – sure enough both drive belts for the #2 alternator had
begun shredding themselves. We had
spares on board and it didn’t take long for Rick to remove and replace those
and reassemble the guard shrouds.
By
noon the skies cleared and we had another pleasant afternoon hanging on the
hook. Dan and Juli departed later that
day but by then we had been joined by yet another Grady club couple, good
friends Dan and Cher. They rafted their
small Freedom (Lady GoDiver) to Ghost Rider and that evening we dinghied
over to Cabbage Key for dinner. We
returned to the anchorage just after sunset and enjoyed more social time
aboard, with Dan and Cher spending a comfortable night in our guest stateroom.
 |
| Two Grady-White's and a Nordhavn at Anchor...and the Dingy as Water Taxi |
The
next day the four of us enjoyed a lazy morning hanging out on Ghost Rider’s fly bridge while watching
light traffic pass by out on the ICW.
By late morning we had gathered enough energy to begin departure
preparations and by noon Dan and Cher had pushed off to head back to their home
in Punta Gorda. We retrieved the anchor
and chugged back south to Legacy Harbour in Fort Myers, arriving just after
1600 in calm conditions for an uneventful docking exercise. It had been good to be back out on the water.
A
busy March was concluded with a long flight out to Tucson, Arizona where we
were privileged to attend the wedding for our niece, Morgan. She and her soulmate Claudio hosted a
backyard affair under crystal clear desert skies and it all went perfectly. Making it even better, we got to spend
quality time with Rick’s lifelong wing man, Dick Schulte, at Dick and Cindy’s
gorgeous home in the foothills of the Santa Catalina Mountains. It was a fabulous five days.
 |
| Rick and Dick Next to a B-52D (Tail Number 067 in Which Rick Had Many PIC Hours) at Tucson's Pima Air & Space Museum. Two Buddies Who Went Through Grade School, High School, College and then Pilot Training Together. Brothers. |
March Boat Business Updates
 |
| New Fire Bottle in the Engine Room |
As
for the latest boat business: First, an
unfortunate modernization opportunity arose during our annual fire suppression
system inspection; the big Fireboy bottle (900 cubic foot capability) in the
engine room failed the weight test, indicating some propellant leakage had
occurred. These auto discharge bottles
are not serviceable, so a new one was ordered to the tune of two “boat
units”. During the same inspection the
smaller fire bottle (350 cubic foot capability) in the lazarette passed, but
unfortunately experienced an accidental discharge during the remounting
process. The poor technician got a face
full of FM200 propellant, but fortunately emerged without serious injury (apart
from a temporary burning in the eyes and a numb tongue.) Lesson: wear eye protection when messing around with
those things. We’re not sure what that
replacement cost since ABC Fire Equipment Corp footed the bill for that ‘oops’. We also replaced the manual pull cable for
the big engine room bottle while we were at it….it had some fraying and was
difficult to operate at full travel.
Once all that was completed we re-tested the system’s auto-shutdown
sequence and all was well once again.
 |
| Draining the Coolant from the Diesel Generator |
Next
up was the coolant service for the generator that comes at 600 hour intervals,
a threshold we crossed while anchored at Useppa. That’s a relatively simple routine
maintenance operation since (unlike the wing engine) the drain spigot and hose
is well-designed and easy to access. Rick
drained the old coolant, flushed the block twice with fresh water, then
refilled with a 50/50 mix of Peak Fleet Charge, which meets all the SCA specs
for these Lugger diesel engines.
Changing out the thermostat (a recommended precautionary measure) was a
slightly different story since that damned thing was located on the “wrong”
(outboard) side of the engine, thus requiring some boat yoga, and is mounted
vertically with a rather beefy internal hold-down spring. With four hands it would have been easy, but
with only two it took Rick a while to get it done right.
 |
| New Caframo 12V Fan Added to the Pilot House Bridge |
The
final project on the list was to mount two more Caframo 12 volt fans that
Chelle had purchased a while back; she liked the one we installed in the galley
so much that she asked for one in the master stateroom and one in the pilot
house. Mounting the hardware was simple
enough but figuring out where and how to tap into the boat’s 12V system is
sometimes challenging….at least for Rick it is.
But we figured it out and these new fan additions help address some
dead-air spots when not running the AC.
 |
| Morgan & Claudio as Wife & Husband...and Ready to Get Out of There and Over to Europe for Their Honeymoon. |
 |
| Dick & Rick Next to the F-16 Viper at Pima Air & Space Museum. Dick Flew the Viper During the First Gulf War. He Also Has Time in the F-4 Phantom and the OV-10. |
 |
| Among the 300+ Aircraft at the Pima Museum was this F4D Skyray. It's Obscure to Most, but Rick's Dad Flew This Carrier-Based Aircraft. Note the Tail Number '4748'. Our First Nordhavn was an N47....Hull Number 48. |
