May Pre-Departure Update

As predicted our pre-departure preps have kept us very busy.  By the end of this week both Chelle & I will have tended to all our personal administrative tasks, allowing us to focus on the boat and the voyage.  Late this week we’ll also move back to the boat, close up the condo and prep the pickup truck for storage.  (We sold Michelle’s hot rod this week, so we are now down to one vehicle.  Yay.)

Windlass in Pieces

Boat preps continue.  We think we are appropriately stocked on provisions (or soon will be); the boat is definitely sitting lower in the water.  Spares are another story – if I go more than a day between Amazon orders they call me to ask what’s wrong – and I suspect that exercise will continue well after we depart.  Hopefully our mail-forwarding solution will work well enough to allow orders to catch up with us somewhere.

Windlass back to Ops-Normal

The dinghy is across the river at Tom’s shop in Cape Coral getting its annual physical and tune-up, but we should have the tender (“Casper”) back on board by the end of this week.  Rick tore apart the windlass today for its semi-annual maintenance – and somewhat surprisingly, after getting it all cleaned & lubed, managed to put it back together with no left over parts & smooth operation.  Once we complete the scheduled water maker maintenance this week – according to our Wheelhouse maintenance software – we’ll be up-to-date on everything and ready to sortie.  At least until the next thing breaks.

As for that next journey, here is the preliminary outline:

·         Depart FMY on or about May 9….will make some stops around Sanibel, Marco, Marathon, Key West….and then out to the Dry Tortugas for a few days; that takes us out to about May 20.

·         Head back east from there with stops around Key West, Marathon, Tavernier, Biscayne Bay, Lauderdale, and then Palm Beach; we plan to be hanging out in the PB area from late May to June 8/9, with a side (airplane) trip to STL in there.  That will also give an opportunity to have James Knight and his Yacht Tech gang tend to any major maintenance items that come up.

·         After that we’ll continue to head north from Palm Beach with stops in Fort Pierce & St. Augustine, taking us to mid-June.

·         Once we get past St. Augustine, we’ll likely only make one or two stops before Hilton Head (not sure where yet, likely will entail some overnight running, and we’ll want to time it for slack tide/current in most places); we plan to RZ with some good friends near Edisto Beach, SC (roughly the third week of June.)

We haven’t done much mission-planning beyond that, but will be generally heading towards the Chesapeake Bay for some cruising in that area.  Depending upon calendar and weather we’ll decide at that time whether to head further north before reversing course and heading back to Florida (roughly a November return.)

If that sounds like a pretty loose plan….it is, and that’s intentional.  No doubt weather windows and maintenance issues will intervene (at a minimum the main engine will be due for an oil change by the time we reach Palm Beach.)  Regardless, we can be tracked via the links provided on our website:  http://www.mv-ghostrider.com/locations.html.         

We’ll post more updates after we get underway next week.

A Mid-April Update

SuziQ & Gal Pals

While we are remaining docked for the month of April, it nonetheless is a very busy month.  Michelle’s mom (Charmaine) came to visit us for several days, and as is her custom, immediately pitched in helping us with some key boat tasks. Those included making a new custom cover for the m

Outnumbered....Big Time

attress in the forward berth, plus a very nice Sunbrella storage bag for our flopper-stopper.  She should visit more often.

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.

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.

From Key West Back to FMY

Leaving Galleon Marina

While we certainly wanted to stay longer (we did extend by a day), on Thursday we departed Key West and headed back to Fort Myers….our month of April is chock full of activities which are prerequisites for our May-to-November cruising plans, so even in retirement priorities still matter.

Departing Key West

We waited to depart Key West as long as the Galleon Marina would let us – which turned out to be noon – since we didn’t want to arrive at Fort Myer’s narrow river entrance until first light.  We still had to throttle back to make that happen given the following winds, seas and currents.  But just as with the trip down, the voyage back north was in great weather, warm and clear with smooth seas.

Osprey Navy Landing on the Bow Rail

About 50 miles north of Key West, just after sunset, we were strafed and then boarded by a Florida Osprey….he was basically in the middle of nowhere and apparently needed a rest.  I snapped a few quick pictures, assuming he’d be gone in a matter of seconds.  Wrong.  He perched on various bow rail locations until well after dark, giving us a new hood ornament for about an hour, and giving him less distance to cover to landfall.  We hope he judged his range accurately, although truthfully their

range is roughly equal to Ghost Rider’s.

Osprey Hitches a Ride

When it got dark, it got very dark….moonrise wasn’t until after 0200, so it was pretty much like boating inside an ink bottle -- I do love both of our Furuno radars.

The boat generally performed well once again during the 21 hour overnight run.  We had to reset the inverter during startup (with Martin’s help) when it threw an overcurrent error, and had to replace a couple of navigation light bulbs underway that failed at precisely the wrong time, but those were minor annoyances.  The only big issue was when two of the six big AGM house batteries started to heat up (one of them well above redline) towards the very end of the sortie – that was a bit worrisome since a thermal runaway in one of those can get dicey, but we were able to isolate those from the system and get them cooled down.  We’ll be replacing those before we set off in May.

After we catch up on some sleep we’ll be going into maintenance and provisioning mode for our May launch….some new batts, oil / filter changes, replacing some balky switches, dinghy tune up, and stocking up on everything – food, drink, supplies, spare parts, etc.

At least we don’t have to fuel up any time soon.

Key West Sortie

Sunrise 2 Hours North of Key West

We had to delay our plans by one day, but that allowed us to find a slip at the Galleon Marina in Key West, so we threw off the lines on Friday morning around 10.30.  Our first (and only) stop was next door at the Fort Myers Yacht Basin to take on 710 gallons of diesel and a hefty dose of Stanadyne fuel treatment.  Coincidentally, while we were waiting for an opening at the fuel dock, fellow Nordy drivers Jim and Ann Crossley cruised their Nordhavn 55 Giddy-Up right past us as they headed up-river towards Stuart.

Arriving @ Key West

By noon we were tanked up and headed down-river to the Gulf of Mexico, and then due south towards Key West.  We steamed straight through the day and night, taking the helm in shifts.  Michelle took the graveyard shift from 0200 to 0600, while Rick provided the night coverage before and after.  Total trip time was 21.5 hours, although we had throttled back quite a bit so as not to arrive in Key West before our slip was available.  While the Coast Guard was issuing weather warnings for the entire west coast of Florida, all the nasty stuff stayed well north of our route, sea conditions were very tame at 1-2 feet, and the worst we had to deal with was some light fog just before sunrise.

View of Galleon from Ghost Rider's Slip

This was our first overnight voyage, and we enjoyed it….Ghost Rider purred the entire way with no new boat issues arising, while averaging about 2.3 NMPG. We were all tucked in at the Galleon well before 1000, although we spent over an hour giving the boat a much needed bath. 

Blossom Sitting Pretty Next Door

We’ll be here in Key West until Thursday, enjoying some time with friends Martin & Stephanie who are also here with their Nordhavn 60, Blossom, berthed just two slips away.  This afternoon is recovery time – Michelle is off to the pool for a nap in the warm sunshine, while Rick is heading to an air conditioned berth for his shuteye.  Then it’s Key West and NCAA basketball party time.

Captain School & Other Notes

Chelle's Diploma !!

Michelle & I completed the USCG captain’s course & testing today, and we are both very happy that’s over.  It certainly was informative, and I suppose it’s satisfying for each of us to hold a captain’s license, as we anticipate it will be beneficial in a number of ways.  But after 2 weeks of night & weekend classes my brain hurts.  Our main conclusion is that our studying / learning capacity isn’t what it used to be.  In some regards I felt like I was back in pilot training….there’s nothing like professional training to make you realize how much you didn’t really know.

But now we can get back to more enjoyable Ghost Rider specifics….as always the punch list doesn’t seem to get any shorter.  In the near future we hope to attack: 

·         Autopilot settings adjustments to improve tracking in following currents / seas
·         Troubleshoot the spotlight controls in the pilot house
·         Change both primary & secondary fuel filters for the generator & troubleshoot a “droop & surge” issue when A/C chillers & pumps cycle on
·         Change the genset’s oil / oil filter
·         Take on (lots of) diesel fuel and perform a preliminary calibration of our fuel tank sight gauges
·         Schedule a thorough wash & wax before we head out on the big cruise in May
·  Revisit the damned stuffing box on the wing engine….probably will be a complete disassembly if I can figure out the tools needed for that 

And of course we want to get out on another sortie soon.  It does not look promising for our Key West plans and hoped-for RZ with Blossom – thus far we’ve been unable to find a suitable marina down there with space for us.  But even if that falls through we’ll head out somewhere soon….marina fever has set in again.

Back in Fort Myers

Docked bow-in @ Legacy

We’ve been back at Legacy Harbour in Fort Myers for about a week now, catching up with some admin duties (condo cleaning, medical stuff, auto/truck maintenance, etc.), as well as tending to some additional upkeep on Ghost Rider.  And Michelle & I are both attending the local “Captain’s School” for the next two weeks to obtain our USCG captain’s licenses.  But we are hoping to sortie down to Key West towards the end of the month.  Between now & then we’ve got plenty to keep us busy.  More on that in future posts.

For now, an aside:  A few folks have inquired as to why we dock Ghost Rider bow-in vs. the more common stern-in approach.  It has nothing to do with ease of docking – either way is equal in terms of ease of effort.  For us it’s mainly that we want the dock on our starboard side, since Ghost Rider has the “asymmetrical” layout where we have a walkway only on that side, and that’s the way our slip at Legacy Harbour Marina is oriented.  A secondary consideration is that our shorepower and cable TV hookups are also located on the bow, so the nose-in arrangement means a shorter run of cables.

Groove antenna and enclosure

The boat has had three baths already this week – the first to get rid of all the salt from our last sortie, the second to have her bottom, prop & keel cooler cleaned (below the water line, and a zinc health check), the third just a few days later to wash off all the damned green pine pollen that accumulates in short order down here at this time of year.  That stuff gets everywhere.

I finally mounted our MikroTik Groove Wifi booster antenna in its permanent home on the fly bridge dash.  Previously we had it hiding deep inside a fly bridge locker to protect it from the elements…while MikroTik advertises the Groove as weather-proof, the salt water exposure on an ocean going trawler in hurricane country isn’t likely in their test cases.  So we waited until we could find a custom enclosure and stainless antenna mount before taking this step.  The Groove (technically known as a GrooveA 52HPn – a marketing company MikroTik is not) is actually a combination router and Wifi access point with an omni-directional high gain antenna and gets its (24V) power via POE….so it’s an ideal Wifi amplifying solution for a number of different outdoor scenarios.  I’m a fan of it, along with their indoor routers (which have even more mystifying names, but if they just work – and they do – who cares?)

While In St. Pete....

St. Pete Muni

Our six day stay in St. Pete was thoroughly enjoyable.  We docked and stayed aboard Ghost Rider at St. Petersburg’s Municipal Marina, located on the far west side of Tampa Bay.  The great thing about the facility is its location immediately adjacent to downtown and all its attractions, as well as the friendly and helpful staff.  The downsides are a FUBAR reservation process (be ready for multiple & likely frustrating phone calls), spotty Wifi coverage, and that it’s mainly a 208V marina (with a few isolated exceptions.)  That meant we were cellular hot-spotting for Internet access, and since Ghost Rider does not have a power booster (yet?), that also meant that on our 240V boat we had to run the genset for hot water, laundry, heat & air.  But overall it was still a very inviting marina.

5,000 Autographed Baseballs!

The close proximity to downtown meant that numerous restaurants, bars, parks, piers and museums were within easy walking distance, and we took advantage of that.  St. Pete has done a fabulous job of building and preserving a vibrant waterfront city – there’s something for everybody.  If there is a bad or mediocre eatery there, we could not find it.

The Museum of History had a unique display that captivated me – with 5,000 autographed baseballs on display (yes, I’m a diehard baseball fan), I could not go wrong with a protracted stroll through that area.  Of course there is more than that in there.

The Dali Museum

Also nearby was the Salvador Dali museum, and it was totally fascinating.  While mainly a permanent (and impressively large scale) display of Dali’s works, at this time they were also featuring an exhibition that focuses on the friendship and collaboration between Dali and Disney.  Previously I had no idea that the two were so close, and that the surrealist and the dreamer had so much in common.  I probably learned more about Disney that I did Dali.

Steph & Martin @ the Dali

Of course the bigger attraction of the entire journey was the opportunity to spend time with friends and make new ones.  We were able to spend the better part of a day with good friends Doug & Cat Cox (from our previous Grady-White boating days), as well as hook up several times again with Martin and Stephanie Morris on N60 Blossom, who were spending the month there in St. Pete.  On top of that we got to meet new friends Atle and Kristina (N57 Summerstar owners) who were visiting the U.S.  

Michelle & I had a wonderful time.  It was a good week.

To Useppa & Fort Myers

Busy Anchorage @ Useppa

On Saturday -- after changing out fuel filters to address our WOT issues -- we departed Venice and cruised down the outside to Useppa....it was a nice afternoon sortie, with seas much friendlier than the previous day at 2 to 4 feet.  The anchorage at Useppa was a bit busy, but we managed to squeeze in without cramping any other vessels.

Bad Alternator or Bad Gauge?

On Sunday we slept in since we had a relatively short day ahead of us for the final leg back to Fort Myers.  Winds had finally died down a bit and it warmed up into the 70's as well.  We discovered another small problem after cranking up the main engine...the digital gauge for the 175A alternator wasn't reading anything.  After a few minutes of troubleshooting we determined the alternator output seemed normal, as the house bank of batteries were showing a good charge state (confirmed using the Batt Test switch and the LinkPro Battery Monitor.)  Hopefully that will be a simple part swap.

The ride down the inside ICW was very pleasant, with weather conditions permitting a full afternoon of driving from the fly bridge.  Not bad for late February.

Heading Back to Fort Myers

We didn't go "boating" today as much as we went "surfing and wallowing".  We departed St. Pete's Municipal Marina this morning around 0800, headed out of Tampa Bay and then south on the outside....about 3 miles offshore.  NOAA had forecast seas at 4-to-6 feet, and that was pretty close....with an occasional 7-footer tossed in.  It was a following & quartering sea for the most part, and Ghost Rider's autopilot struggled with heading -- plus or minus 10 degrees was the norm today.

Lumpy Water

The good news is that we had the auto-nav function working today, and we were the only boat out there, so it wasn't like our meandering path was all that concerning, although it did make dodging the (sometimes numerous) crab pots quite the guessing game.

I learned something valuable today -- I should make my breakfast before we depart the bay and head outside. Plus we need to do a better job of securing stuff stored in the SubZero fridge; the crashing noises coming from the inside of that thing whenever we surfed off the top of that occasional 7-footer was disconcerting.  We elected not to open the fridge door until we tied up at Venice late this afternoon.  Surprisingly nothing had broken, and we managed to catch the few things that did fall out when we opened it.

Some boat stuff:

• We reduced but did not quite eliminate the slow-drip leak coming from the main engine's transmission; more work to do there.
• Located and fixed the coolant leak coming from the front of the wing engine; thankfully it was just a loose hose bracket and not the water pump.
• The stabilizers worked well (and hard today); didn't even think about comparing the ride "off" vs. "on".
• The autopilot definitely needs some tuning for following sea conditions; need to study the Simrad book.
• Big problem:  the main engine won't get past 2000 RPM under WOT; it also vibrated and we had some smoke in the engine room (yikes!)

That smoke cleared as soon as we quickly backed the revs down to normal cruise. It's a puzzling problem, as the boat ran perfectly at 7.4 to 8.1 knots today at 1680 RPM with no issues whatsoever. I've got some calls & emails out to our diesel guys to see if we can get some troubleshooting help. More to come.

(Edit 2/27....this morning we changed both the primary (Racor) fuel filter as well as the secondary (on-engine) fuel filter, and that completely resolved our WOT issues on the main engine. Yay.)

Back in St. Pete

We had a very nice 3 day journey to St. Petersburg, with stops at Useppa and Venice along the way. The weather was very pleasant with sunny skies, mild temps and flat water the entire way.  We were once again able to hook up with friends Dan, Juli and Jerry at Venice, and enjoyed a nice dinner aboard Ghost Rider (take-out from Crow's Nest....excellent meal!)

Dolphins in the Bow Wave

The boat ran well, although we are still challenged with an overheating stuffing box (prop shaft) on the wing engine...pretty sure we'll need to disassemble and repack that thing since the adjusting nut changes are having no impact whatsoever.

On the first day's sortie we also had a fun encounter with a pod of dolphins who enjoyed playing in our bow wave as we exited the Caloosahatchee River enroute to Useppa.  Michelle captured part of that via cell phone video, here's a YouTube link:  Dolphins at Play.

We are currently lying at St. Petersburg Municipal Marina, juggling work with boat duties and some tourista activities.  Martin & Steph are also moored here aboard Blossom, and it's great to be spending time with them as well.  We'll be here until the end of the week, then heading back home to Fort Myers to tend to some administrative chores.