10-17 Jul: More of Charleston, Then on to Cape Lookout

Charleston Charm

Sunday (10-Jul) was another sizzler, with temps in the mid 90’s and a heat index north of 100F, but breezy and mostly sunny, as the few TRWs stayed to the north of us.  The first part of the day was spent tending to administrative items, and then a “routine” check of all 13 batteries on the boat.  That’s mostly a visual inspection and checking the integrity of the cable connections, but also involves taking manual multi-meter voltage readings of each batt….sounds simple, but access to the eight that are located in the Laz requires some twisted “boat yoga” positions….and long arms.  Everything checked out within specs (all batts were between 12.79V and 12.91V and all within .2V within the same bank), but am thankful that’s no more frequent than a quarterly check.

More of Same

 That afternoon we took the shuttle across the big bridge into downtown Charleston and spent a few hours touring this charming city.  It features well-preserved antebellum structures, cobblestone streets, large red and white crepe myrtles, open market spaces, excellent restaurants, and a laid back southern charm that exudes a welcoming friendliness.  We started with a Pedicab tour of the southernmost part of town, aka the “old city” at the tip of the peninsula, bracketed by the Ashley and Cooper rivers, which features beautifully preserved historic homes (Rainbow Row), Battery Park (a civil war defensive installation, now a peaceful city park), and White Point Gardens overlooking the harbor entrance and Fort Sumter.  We also then walked the entire length of the City Market which spans several city blocks.  And there is so much more here to see, so we are planning another jaunt across the river this week.

Charleston Market

In the evening we Ubered over to one of the local Shem Creek restaurants near the marina, called “Finz”….definitely not fancy, essentially a bar surrounded by a few tables, but featuring fresh seafood, good service and reasonable prices.

On Monday and Tuesday (11 & 12-Jul) we mixed it up each day….Chelle used the bike to go touring and shopping, we got the black tank pumped out, Rick made several stuffing box adjustments, and we finally launched the dinghy again.  The latter was mostly to test drive the new spark plugs, make some idle adjustments to the carbs (good result) and troubleshoot the mid-range bogging (still present, but below or above that RPM range it runs great.)  More effort required there.  We had fun socializing with our new boat buddies with another happy hour on the fly bridge and of course we watched the MLB All Star game so Rick could get his sports fix.

The Haunted City Jail

Wed (13-Jul) was yet another scorcher, but nonetheless Michelle made a big provisioning run into town, a task made much more convenient with Mercedes generously providing chauffeur duties.  While they tended to that, Rick continued the research and troubleshooting of the boat’s air conditioning system, with lots of help from a local and experienced captain, as well as phone-coaching from one of the nearby Cruisair service shops.  Later in the day we were pleasantly surprised with a drive-by visit by Carol and Bill Sanford, former owners of N47-26 Let’s Dance…yet another Nordy owner encounter that provided even more insights and advice.

Jail Interior

That evening we took another break from boat duties and taxied back over to Charleston proper to tour the Old City Jail, reportedly one of the most haunted structures in all of SC.  We figured with a boat name like Ghost Rider we’d be treated to an apparition or two, alas we had no such luck.  But that place does have a rather creepy atmosphere, mostly due to its rather morbid history.  After that we treated ourselves to a dinner out at the upscale High Cotton restaurant in downtown Charleston – good food, drinks & service, highly recommended.

For Thu (14-Jul) the day’s plan included more messing around with the carbs on the dinghy’s  OB motor….but (surprise!) A/C problems got in the way again.  Cleaning the strainer basket (which looked like it was sitting in a pile of South Carolina pluff mud) and its Groco container introduced air into the system causing overpressure alarms at the chillers.  It wasn’t a difficult fix (bleeding the air from the seawater pump / circuit), but it took Rick a while to figure out that was the problem.

We also finalized our mission planning for the 36 hour sortie up to Cape Lookout, and after that Rick biked into town for a much-needed haircut.  Later we also began tripping shore power circuit breakers – the power pedestals at this marina aren’t the best – so we ended up running a second 50 amp power cord, and that solved that issue.  That evening we hosted another happy hour with boat neighbors Ron & Mercedes, had a light onboard dinner, and called it a day.

Chelle Hauling Golf Clubs
on Her Rental Bike

Fri (15-Jul) was a sleep-late day given that we were planning two consecutive overnighters, but Michelle still got a round a golf in while Rick futzed around the boat and made final departure preps and weather checks.

The wind was kicking up at around 15K and TRWs were popping inland, but we departed Charleston @ 1800 at a slack (high tide) current without incident. And then at 1830 we got boarded by the Coast Guard.  It had been over a year since out last boarding so I guess we were due.  They were very courteous as well as thorough – checking all paperwork, life vests, flares, placards, through-hull positions, etc.  The Coasties complimented us on having everything in order and departed after about 30 minutes.

Boarded by the Coasties

After that we were hoping for an uneventful night sortie….but no deal.  The main engine stuffing box was getting warm again, so Rick spent more time in the engine room adjusting that.  It seems to require a LOT of water flow to get acceptable temps, but we’re thinking that the new packing is still “settling in” and we may be mucking with it for a while.

We Also Got Boarded by Some
Small Baitfish During Some Lumpy Seas

At about the same time the starboard stabilizer fin went wonky…going into an over-travel alarm state.  The seas were running anywhere from 3 to 6 feet quartering on the beam, so to make less rolly conditions while we performed the troubleshooting, we made a big heading change off course to put the bow into the waves – it’s easier to play around with parameter settings on the TRAC’s small screen with a pitching motion vs. that sideways roller coaster.  We got a workaround sorted out after about 30 or so minutes, then turned the boat back to our planned course.

After that we settled in for the first night, and it was wonderfully boring.  Chelle finally got some shuteye as Rick took the first long watch up until 0500.  Moonrise was early and at 90% illumination it made for good night time visibility.  TRWs continued to pop inland, and a few developed over the waters near us, but we were able to keep a safe distance with a few jogs here and there. 

As the clock rolled over into Sat (16-Jul) we again took some detours off the planned route and throttled back to 1500 RPM for much of the night, while still trying to stay at 40% load on the big diesel – we had a tailwind and current that was pushing us a little too quickly and we didn’t want to hit our Cape Lookout anchorage before daylight on the 2^nd day.  (As it turned out, we did not need any of those maneuvers to arrive late – read on.)

We Turned Away Just in Time

At daylight we had some high clouds and a steady southwest breeze at 15K, and the TRWs kept their distance through the day until early evening, when a small but electrically charged cell approached us from our six o’clock….when it got within 8 miles we took a hard left & throttled up enough to get out of its way.

After dinner and sunset we settled in again for a second night of cruising. We had some high clouds but the moonlight again provided decent night visibility. But it was hot and humid, and we were a bit tired, so we fired up the genset and the air conditioning for the night…which was refreshing and made for good sleeping conditions.  For the first half of the night we ran a course in between two storm tracks off to our east and west….while the steering currents at 10,000 feet were mostly as predicted with a northeast flow, the landside storms were still closing in at a pretty good clip (25+ mph) and with an increasing intensity.  The landlubbers to our west from Myrtle Beach to Beaufort were getting lit up pretty good.

Worsening Weather

In the wee hours of Sun (17-Jul) as Chelle was getting some sleep in preparation for her upcoming watch, that line of storms to the west (which according to our satellite XM radar repeater extended from Savannah all the way to New Jersey) picked up more steam and closed on us quickly, midway between Cape Fear and Cape Lookout.  We took up an evasive course due east and avoided those, then about that same time new storms started popping to the east and south  At this point the storm cells were forming and moving so quickly that the time-delay XM radar repeater was almost useless, but our Furuno open array radar was absolute gold.  

Wx Worsening...It Got Much Moreso After This Shot
But Got Too Busy to Take More Shots

We spent over three hours zigging, zagging, speeding up, slowing down, and also cursing a bit when we occasionally slammed into a big wave.  While we had a few close brushes with some of the cells with some brief downpours, we managed to avoid most of them, albeit not by much.  After a few hours of that nonsense we found a gap we could squeeze through heading back to the east, and we tucked Ghost Rider in behind the final line of storms as the last of them sped away to the northeast.  Overall, I guess it was a good refresher in vector geometry.  In the process we were also treated to a blindingly good light show as good as any July 4^th celebration….but I’d prefer not to do this again.

If you look at our recorded track (click HERE), almost any departure from a straight line is due to storm avoidance measures.

Anchorage at Cape Lookout

The last four hours of the trip were mercifully quiet and relatively calm, and we dropped the hook in Cape Lookout’s beautiful and protected anchorage just after 1000, about 4 hours later than planned.  After the usual cleanup (on the boat and ourselves) it was nap time.

05-Jul to 09-Jul: Edisto to Charleston, SC

Departing Simmons' Marina

After five wonderful days of taking advantage of Paul & DD’s outstanding hospitality, it was time to move on to our next destination, Charleston, SC.  We planned our departure for 0900 at a high tide and slowly diminishing current and took Ghost Rider back down-river towards the open waters of the Atlantic, and the relatively short hop to Charleston Harbor Marina, 40 nautical miles to the north. 

At around 1000 our trip log reached the 1,000 NM mark for our first 2 months of this overall planned journey.  In total, according to our Nobeltec voyaging logs, we now have put a total of 2,361 nautical miles under the keel (and over 600 hours on the main engine) since last October when we first started actively cruising on Ghost Rider.

Chugging Down the River
Towards the Atlantic

While general weather was pleasant enough – clear skies, no TRWs on the scopes for the entire route – it was hot, humid, windy and lumpy out there on this day.  We had 15K winds out of the south and mostly following seas at 3 to 5 feet for most of the sortie, then as we got near Charleston that increased to +20K and 4 to 6 foot seas.  It was sloppy, although the boat handled the conditions well enough.  The banging and clanking in the galley cabinets was somewhat annoying, but as far as we know nothing broke or spilled out of those.  In the Charleston entry channel we did take a bigger broadside wave on the port side that sprayed up to the pilot house level and also spilled a considerable amount of sea water into the amidships stateroom (our sleeping quarters....oops, we left that portal open), providing a significant cleanup opportunity.

Fort Sumter from the Charleston
Entry Channel

Unfortunately we also experienced more mechanical issues to be addressed whilst in Charleston – the main engine’s stuffing box got overly warm, the port side stabilizer fin failed in a fully deflected down position (that made steerage interesting), and once again it took us 2 hours to get the air conditioning system to function after arrival.  Rick spent entirely too much time in a 110F degree engine room for the second half of the trip troubleshooting stuff.  Is there an echo going on here?  We seem to be in a groove, but the wrong kind – I think it’s called a rut.

View of Yorktown from Our Fly Bridge 

At any rate, Charleston Harbor Marina is a nice place – it’s big (459 slips and 17,000 lineal feet of dock) – located up-channel on the Cooper River on Patriot’s Point.  The currents (and lately the wind) run strong here, and as one wise person put it in an Active Captain post, docking here is a varsity level sport.  We pulled it off without banging into anything, but just barely, and mostly because they gave us a really big slip.  There’s no cable TV and the wireless signals come and go, but next door is a big maritime museum, including the USS Yorktown aircraft carrier as well as the USS Laffey destroyer, a submarine, and a Medal of Honor museum.  And some of the best restaurants in the country are in the area.  As soon as we get our key maintenance issues sorted out, we'll be spending time exploring this area, and are thinking of staying more than a week now.

CHM in the Foreground, with the
Yorktown in the Background

Wednesday (06-Jul) was a down day – we slept late, handled some minor routine maintenance chores, lined up the needed service calls, and then socialized with some new friends dockside.  Michelle also made good use of the loaner bicycle, riding several difficult miles over the bridge to a nearby ACR shop to drop off one of our EPIRB devices to have a new battery installed.

Thursday morning (07-Jul) was spent troubleshooting (and actually fixing!) the port side stabilizer.  Rick spent time on the phone with an ABT Trac technician – Steve Owens, who is simply outstanding – and he talked us through troubleshooting and parameter changes to the system.  Essentially we were able to trick the port side servo valve into working once again by mucking with its polarity setting.  Steve also advised us on some other system parameter changes that should result in better performance and fewer issues going forward.  That all needs to be sea trialed, but at this point we appear to have a functional port stab fin once again.  This is the second time ABT has helped us resolve a problem….their expertise and service ethic are flat out exceptional.

The Yorktown and the Laffey Closer Up

On Thursday afternoon we got a local marina tech to come aboard and help us pull apart the main engine’s stuffing box and replace the packing material (it’s always good to have an expert guide you on how to do it the first time around.)  That should address the overheating issue, although that, too, needs to be sea trialed.  It’s pretty typical for new packing to require multiple adjustments while underway.

The Submarine Clagamore
in the Foreground    

Friday (08-Jul) was a hot day, with temps reaching over 100F, but Rick was finally able to get off the boat for a while, and so we spent the afternoon touring the nearby naval museum assets – the submarine Clamagore and the carrier Yorktown, as well as the Medal of Honor museum.  As you might expect, the aircraft carrier is quite large, hosting 22 aircraft in its hangars and on its flight deck, from the vintage warbirds of WWII to today’s F/A-18 Hornet.  The MOH museum is both an enthralling and humbling experience…as well as emotional.  If you’re ever in this area it’s worth a visit.  That evening we enjoyed happy hour(s) aboard our live-aboard neighbors’ Ron & Mercedes gorgeous sailboat Samana, a good way to end a day that didn’t include boat maintenance.

Mercedes and Chelle
Popping Shrimp Heads

Saturday (09-Jul) was another relaxing day, starting with a visit by more new friends, Kevin and Tiffany Taylor, and their son Lance, who were visiting Charleston (from Dublin, GA.)  They wanted a closer look at a Nordhavn as they assess their future boating options, and it was fun to provide the tour and discuss all the pros and cons.  A brief line of storms blew through around mid-day, and then again late afternoon, but honestly the cloud cover, cooler breeze and rainfall provided a welcome if brief break from the heat.  In between we went shrimping….or at least made a visit to Shem Creek local Tommy Edwards, aka the “shrimp pimp”, from whom we bought 10 pounds of the freshly caught crustaceans….for just $20.  Gotta love that.  We hosted a late social gathering on the fly bridge following a great (fresh shrimp) dinner with some of our new dockside friends, and finally called it a day.

That's it for this week's update....more to come from Charleston in the next week or so.  Stay tuned.

30-Jun to 04-Jul: Up to Edisto, SC

Chased by Weather

The weather forecast was still unsettled when we awoke on Thursday, 30-Jun, but it looked good enough to make the run north to Edisto.  But first we stopped at the Harbor Town fuel dock to take on 500 gallons of diesel.  By the time we got that done and got underway it was 1000.  We plowed the first 10 miles or so on the inside behind Hilton Head Island, then exited to the Atlantic through Port Royal Sound. 

Approaching Edisto Island

Seas were tame at around 2 to 3 feet with light winds out of the southeast, and we were pleased with our new autopilot settings – cranking up the counter-rudder settings on the Simrad made a significant different in Ghost Rider’s tracking with following seas and currents.  The weather cooperated initially, but by mid-afternoon the TRWs started popping over the mainland to our southwest and started moving our way.  Tracking their movement via radar and our XM weather satellite display told us they’d likely catch us before we got to Edisto….so we bumped up the throttle and took some distance off the route by shortcutting a few turn points into shallower water, but still deep enough for our 6 foot draft.  We endured a light shower as we negotiated the final few miles of the Edisto River and St. Pierre Creek, but managed to avoid the really nasty stuff.

Docked Up -- in the Marshes According
to the Furuno Chartplotter

We had bypassed the Edisto Island Marina – they told us they were full up for the next 2 months – and threaded our way about 5 miles up river to Paul & D.D.’s place….we are pretty sure the locals don’t typically see Nordhavns motoring or docking up in this area, but thankfully the depths (if you know what side of the river to cheat towards) are excellent, especially at high tide (7+ feet this time of year.)  The charts aren’t particularly accurate up this way, either….it’s strictly a visual approach.  But we had plenty of water and room to tie up at Paul’s place. 

Paul's & DD's Place in Edisto, SC

Once again we experienced amazing hospitality from our friends....Paul & DD's place is remote but absolutely huge and quite luxurious.  Chelle and I had an entire upstairs suite to ourselves, and the food and drink was reminiscent of a 5 star resort.  A couple of days after we arrived we were also joined by our good friends from Atlanta -- Dale, Cal and Kara -- and we had a fantastic reunion....while also eating and drinking way too much.

Ghost Rider Docked at Paul's
Place in Edisto, SC, at High Tide

Paul took us on a tour of the local rivers and low country in his 20 foot skiff, and from what we saw of the nearby ICW, we were easily convinced that the best route to Charleston is definitely on the outside. But this area is both peaceful and beautiful, with plenty of wildlife, including lots of dolphins and acrobatic sturgeon.

More pics of the journey and local area are below.

We'll likely stay here a couple more days -- or until they kick us out -- and then make the short one day hop up to Charleston, where we'll likely hang out for a week or so.  

Our Track from Hilton Head to Edisto

Our Path Up River to Paul's Place

Edisto Marina...About 5 Miles Down River

Big Bay Creek Behind Edisto Island

Pretty Odd to See a Nordy Docked Up Here

Another Shot at High Tide 

Ditto

And at Low Tide

Michelle and Paul on the Skiff

Social Time on the Dock

And More of That

Never Forget

27-Jun to 29-Jun: Overnight Run To Hilton Head

Hotel Alcazar Original Pool

We had a fun time yesterday (Sunday) during our 1-day weather delay; we went into old St. Augustine and did the tourista thing with Kathy – eating lunch at the historic Hotel Alcazar building (once home of the world’s largest indoor swimming pool, which now hosts the Café Alcazar restaurant and the Lightner Museum.)  We also did a lot of walking in the historic Lincolnville District, or put another way, Rick got conned into a geo-caching exercise with Kathy and Michelle.

From Pool to Restaurant

We slept late the next day, made final departure preparations and tossed off the lines around 1345 on Monday 27-Jun.  The exit via the St. Augustine inlet was straightforward and uneventful thanks to a high tide and very benign conditions on the outside…although it’s notable that charts do not depict the channel markers, as they get moved around a lot to accommodate the constant shoaling there.  In good visibility (daylight) it's fine, but otherwise the interval and size of the markers would be challenging to pick up. The channel also extends to nearly 2NM offshore before you can be sure you’re in deep enough water to make the turn north.

Harbor Town Lighthouse from the FB

Winds were light from the northeast, with seas running around 3 feet, but with comfortable intervals, initially around 8 seconds, then later in the day down to 4 seconds – it was similar to a smooth rocking chair ride.  Sky conditions were mostly “severe clear” – some widely scattered high cirrus clouds in the distance, with the radar and XM weather screens clear of precipitation along our track.  We ran sans generator but with an ambient temperature of 85F during the day, and around 80F after sunset, with the sea breeze we remained comfy underway.

Harbor Town Marina from the FB

As darkness fell Rick took the first night watch, manning the helm until 0200 (Tuesday), with continued good weather and sea conditions.  Moonrise wasn’t until 0145, so it was IMC for a good part of the night.  Chelle assumed the watch from 0230 to 0700, and then Rick took it from there into Hilton Head.  We approached from the east through the Savannah entry channel and then veered off to the north to enter Calibogue Sound, and while that area is subject to frequent shoaling and some interesting cross-currents, we maintained adequate depth and steerage throughout the approach (with some local advice), arriving Harbor Town Marina shortly after 1100, making for just under 22 hours of sortie time.

View of Ghost Rider from the Harbor
Town Lighthouse / Museum

 Then it was bath time – both for the boat and ourselves – followed by an afternoon of the usual boat chores and casual distractions.  We also hung out here again on Wednesday 29-Jun to explore the local area, and lunched on fresh grouper and shrimp before the TRWs moved in.

Exactly when we depart for Edisto will depend on when we can find a suitable weather window, and right now we're sandwiched between a nearby cold front and an upper level trough (which are occasionally triggering some severe cells) -- and the so-called experts can't seem to discern where they're going or when.  In cases like this it's best to wait until the next morning to see what's cooking out there.

26-Jun: Weather Delay

Lousy Weather with More Coming

Well crap.  We awoke this morning surrounded by TRWs with more building on our planned route.  Apparently that cold front has more teeth than the forecasters originally thought.  So we’re staying here in St. Augustine another day.

We'll just relax today and head into town to enjoy the local area. There are worst places to be delayed...St. Augustine is the oldest established settlement in the U.S. and has plenty of history, entertainment and eateries to keep one enjoyably occupied.

20-Jun to 25-Jun: Palm Beach to St. Augustine

On Monday 20-Jun we tossed off the lines and finally boogied out of Palm Beach, taking the “inside” route up the ICW, heading north once again in the general direction of St. Augustine, with interim layovers planned at Fort Pierce, Cape Canaveral and Ponce de Leon.  We had to deal with quite a few bridges on this initial leg, but nonetheless still made reasonably good time, arriving at Fort Pierce City Marina by 1530 after a 0900 departure from Old Port Cove.

Along the AICW

Negotiating the ICW in this part of Florida entails a lot of “hand flying” – you can’t just punch the auto-heading or nav function on the autopilot and hope to keep it between the beacons for very long….so it isn’t as relaxing as running on the outside.  Still, we got some good fly bridge time, and the few inlets that we got a look at as we passed them made it obvious that the inside route was the right move – the winds were cranking out the ENE @ 20K+ and the Atlantic was boiling at 7 to 9 feet.  While the boat can punch into those head seas with no problem, it isn’t comfortable for its occupants.  Likewise, running any of those inlets (in either direction) would have been dicey at best.

Fort Pierce City Marina

The boat ran well the entire leg, with just one burp from the port side stabilizer fin (cleared up on its own).  Entry to the Fort Pierce City Marina was uneventful in spite of the winds and a frisky current.  The marina is very nice, and the adjacent downtown area looks very appealing….we’ll need to spend more time here at some point in the future, perhaps on the return trip.  The new floating concrete docks that were added are superb, and although there had been reports of the new GCFI system causing breaker trips, we had no issues, even at the dock’s relatively low 110/220V output.  And their Wi-Fi signal was excellent.



Merritt Island Anchorage

We departed Fort Pierce on Tuesday 21-Jun but not until around 1000.  Since our plan was to spend the next night at anchor, we weren’t in any rush.  The breeze was still fairly stiff out of the northeast at around 13K, but certainly better than yesterday.  Seas were forecast at 4 to 6 feet, but we stuck with our plan for going up the inside.  It was a pleasant day with highs in the low to mid 80’s and relatively low humidity (58%) for Florida, so we spend the entire day on the fly bridge.

With a following current much of the way we made good time running between 7 and 8 knots, and dropped the anchor around 1730 just east of the ICW a few miles south of Cape Canaveral near Merritt Island.  It was well protected from the easterly wind and we had a relaxing night hanging on the hook.  Apart from still finicky air handlers (that eventually start working) from what we can tell, nothing else on the boat broke today.  Hoorah.

Canaveral in the Distance

On Wednesday 22-Jun we picked up the hook shortly after 0930 and continued motoring north towards our next planned anchorage In the Ponce Inlet area.  The ICW has a lot of twists and turns in this general area, but not too many bridges, and we managed to keep it between the beacons.  The water quality, though, was turbid, especially so in Mosquito Lagoon – the winds were kicking up a lot of bottom silt and it looked more like chocolate milk than sea water.

Once we got to the Ponce Inlet area we were challenged to find a usable anchorage….all options were either already full-up or not nearly deep or wide enough for our comfort zone.  We ended up continuing north for another two hours into the Daytona area only to find the same situation.  It was nearing 2000 hours and sunset, and we weren’t crazy about the idea of continuing towards St. Augustine in the dark in such narrow and skinny waterways.  So we launched a “Hail Mary” phone call to the after-hours number for Halifax Harbor Marina – and sure enough, they answered, gave us a great slip on the end of a floating concrete t-dock, and we got tucked in for the night just as the sun set.

The next morning (Thu, 23-Jun) we continued the trek north to St. Augustine.  Winds were calm, the ICW was absolutely glass smooth, and we were wishing for an inlet to get us back outside in the big water where Ghost Rider belongs.  Alas, there is no such option in this area, so we stayed with the inside route plan.  We negotiated openings with a few bridges along the way with no significant delays, but we were bucking currents occasionally – I think we got passed by a manatee and a sea turtle at one point.  

View of Conch House
Marina from Our Fly Bridge

However, as we neared the St. Augustine vicinity the current reversed sharply, and we had over a couple of knots on the tail.  Even with that helping push we just missed the Bridge of Lions opening at 1630 by 5 minutes and had to wait nearly another hour for the next one.  A cigar and some Brad Paisley music helped pass the loitering time. Nonetheless, we arrived without incident at Conch House Marina in St. Augustine and were docked up around 1800 hours.  It was low tide with a decent remnant current, and it was a bit of a squeeze in a tight fairway, but we pulled it off without bouncing off of anything.



We finished the day with an enjoyable visit from Kathy Clark, who along with hubby Bradley Rosenberg are here aboard their Nordhavn 72, Shear Madness.  Although Bradley was back home in Naples taking care of some family business, it was still good to meet up with more of the Nordy community and learn from them.



Shear Madness, a Gorgeous Nordhavn 72, Also
Moored at Conch House Marina

Friday the 24^th was a fairly lazy day, a combination of taking some down time – bits of administrative stuff, plus Chelle and Kathy played golf – and catching up on some routine scheduled boat maintenance.  That included topping off the fresh water tank, replacing a faulty gauge on the electrical panel, playing with the inverter and battery monitor settings (still a work in progress), resetting some of the A/C air handlers to factory specs (hoping that addresses some of our intermittent cooling issues), and a few other minor things.  Apart from the stock market panic over the Brexit silliness, all in all it was a good day.

Kathy & Chelle, with Shear Madness
in the Background

 On Saturday (25-Jun) we enjoyed hosting another visitor, this time John Stanton, who classifies himself as a “Nordhavn Dreamer”, and drove from Gainesville to St. Augustine for a look at a N47, but mostly to glean some experiences from former-dreamers-turned-owners.  We had a good 3-hour discussion on the pros, cons and some “gotchas” to watch for, and we hope it was helpful for him in his upcoming pursuit of his own Nordhavn 47.  Chelle and Kathy also got in another round of golf - they must really like that game, the heat index was 102F here today!  To complete our final full day in St. Augustine we then had the pleasure of Kathy’s company for dinner.  If you ever visit here, check out the Blackfly restaurant (http://www.blackflytherestaurant.com/) - acoustics are lacking, but the food is really good.

 

Tomorrow we plan to depart St. Augustine and make an overnight run up to Hilton Head Island in South Carolina to hang out there for a couple of days before continuing on to Edisto Island to meet up with some friends.  The enroute weather forecast is reasonably good, with only a fairly weak cold front and some scattered showers to deal with along the way.

Mid-June: Service Wrap-Up and Sea Trial



Stripped Bottom After Soda Blasting...Down
to the Gelcoat

We finally got all the players and parts aligned for the bottom painting over the past weekend / week….the soda blasting wrapped up after two days, then the layers of new paint started going on the hull – we went with two coats of barrier epoxy (Pettit Protect 4700), and then 2 coats of Pettit ablative (Hydro Eco), observing the dry / apply windows per the experts.  In other words, that all took 5+ days.  And we opportunistically decided to renew all the sacrificial (zinc) anodes while we were on the hard.


First Coat of Barrier Paint (Grey)...Second
Coat Was White

But while that was going on we kept working on the other punch list items (in spite of the heat…air conditioning doesn’t work when the boat is out of the water.  Geez, it was hot.)  That included upgrading some of our faucets, as well as replacing the Racor water sensor gauge which suddenly was glowing red, theoretically indicating there was water in the fuel at the bottom of the supply tank.  (Our fuel system design makes it easy to verify that – and there was no H2O in there.)

Getting Ready to Splash

One of the good things about being laid up in the boat yard is that we ran into our friend and mentor Captain Bernie Francis, who was there helping the new owner of a Nordhavn 78 learn his new boat (Ammonite) and also getting some repairs done there.  It was good to see Bernie again, and also meet another new Nordy owner, Kaj Liljebladh, who hails from Sweden.

We finally splashed the boat on Thursday (16-Jun) around noon (video here) and ran some sea trials enroute from the Cracker Boy yard to Old Port Cove Marina to verify all service work done to date.  Along the way we ran aground – twice – in the middle of the channel; it was low tide and stiff west winds were blowing water out, so that made for some skinny water in that northern part of Lake Worth.  The bottom was very soft sand, so we managed to wiggle loose each time with a hefty dose of backing down and some thruster pivots.  Not a good way to treat your new bottom paint.  To top it off along the way we also lost functionality in the starboard stabilizer fin.  Let’s say we’ve had better days.  But at least Ghost Rider also got a much needed bath after we docked up at Old Port Cove….being on jacks in a boat yard for 2 weeks results in an extremely dirty vessel.

Rebuilt Stuffing Box on the Wing Engine...
Who Would Have Guessed Such a Small
Thing Could Cause Such Grief?

It took an extra day to fine-tune the stuffing box adjustments on the wing engine – but we got good water flow and have conquered the shaft overheating issue (at last.)   And then we required yet another day to fix the stabilizer issue (new solenoid & potentiometer.)

Today is Father’s Day, and forecast to be another stormy day here in south Florida, so we’ve declared it a day of rest and pre-departure preps.  And watching the U.S. Open.  We’ve got a decent weather window starting tomorrow – well, at least in terms of reduced thunderstorm activity….the winds will be cranking offshore with seas at 7 to 9 feet, so we’re going to slog up the inside route via the ICW for a few days. 

Regardless, it will be good to get moving again.

Early June: Service & a Side Trip

The day after we arrived at Old Port Cove in Palm Beach, Rick changed the oil & oil filters on both the main engine and the generator as a part of our routine maintenance regimen (250 and 200 hour intervals respectively); that’s pretty straightforward stuff given the convenience of the Reverso oil drain pump, but between the two diesels they consumed 28 quarts of fresh 15W-40 engine oil.

Tivoli Looking Good @ OPC

The evening before we left Palm Beach for St. Louis we hooked up with Clayton and Deanna, owners of N50 Tivoli, who were docked next to us at OPC.  They were just wrapping up their own Yacht Tech punch list, and headed north towards Maine for the summer.  As always it was fun to meet other Nordy owners and learn from their experiences.

Danielle Wake Surfing Behind
Their Tige Boat

Nick Wake Surfing at Lake
 of the Ozarks

Our side trip to St. Louis was fabulous…a little golf and a lot of family time, including a weekend at the Lake of the Ozarks with Nick, Danielle & our three grand kids, all with excellent weather.  It actually felt a little odd taking a spin in a boat that could reach 40 MPH, and it was a blast watching them wake-surfing.  It was even more fun watching Danielle surfing with 4-year-old Grace tucked in between her legs.  (EDIT: here's a YouTube video link of that.)


But while we were away from Ghost Rider, and now having returned to Palm Beach, we’ve also been getting a lot of work done on the boat courtesy of James Knight’s gang at Yacht Tech.  We have a lengthy punch list, including:

·        R&R the wing engine’s stuffing box…after 8 months of mucking around with multiple adjustments in a vain effort to cool it down, in the end the boat had to be hauled out and the wing shaft pulled, engine lifted, followed by modification and repacking of the stuffing box.

·        Re-wire the engine room intake fans to the battery bus bar (vs. a single battery) and install a new inline 24V converter.

·        Repair / rewire the LinkPro battery monitor gauge & reconfigure for our 24V system.

·        Replace the raw water pump on the generator; it had an intermittent leak at the rear seal; it also turned out the impeller was starting to come apart, too, and we were careful to retrieve the missing chunks from the heat exchanger.

·        The slow transmission oil leak at the base of the dipstick turned out to be a worn out crush washer which was replaced.

·        We also decided to address some minor plumbing issues with the fresh water system (low pressure at a couple of faucets – replacing with new assemblies.)


·        Strip & repaint the bottom….the latest ablative coat was simply not adhering to the previous coats of bottom paint (see pics); bottom line (I suppose that’s a pun) is that bottom paint is a consumable that needs to be periodically replenished; the soda blasting, however, is an expensive procedure & hopefully never needed again.

Peeling Bottom Paint

Most of these items are getting knocked out efficiently, but as I write this the boat is still up on jacks in the boatyard for all the bottom paint work that needs to be done; getting all the players and supplies coordinated for that has been like herding cats.  Plus the weather is not cooperating – all this rainfall is not conducive to quality outdoor painting.  We are guessing at approximately a week’s delay as a result.  Even that may be optimistic, but a revised departure date of 18-Jun is the current plan.

Bagging the Bottom to Prep for
the Soda Blasting

The good news is that our great friends Bernie and Sylvia are located nearby in Jupiter, and have given us a place to crash as well as a car (a Jaguar, not bad for a free rental, eh?)  Their hospitality has been and remains amazing….although we may accidentally found out how long they can tolerate us.

In the interim I’m contemplating an addition to my “bucket list”….while we’ve made good progress with acquiring the right vessel and pursuing the desired adventures, am wondering if operating that vessel for at least a period of time without an open punch list might also be achievable.  Once in a while you have to howl at the moon and tilt at a windmill, right?

A More Interactive Tracking Map?

Ghost Rider's Track Summary
from 09-May to 26-May, 2016

While enjoying some family and "down time" in St. Louis, I started playing with the concept of a more interactive tracking map.  By downloading a KML format of our Spot track, and then uploading to Google's "My Maps", I came up with something that might be useful for summarizing our tracks over certain periods of time.

Click HERE for Ghost Rider's track summary from 09-May through 26-May, 2016.

You can click on any track point on the resulting map to see a date & time stamp associated with each position.