Good Karma Adventures: What we did on our winter sojourn in Fort Pierce FL

It was a pleasure to finally arrive at our winter home base, Fort Pierce FL, on February 4, 2019. As noted before, we planned to be here by November. We also planned to go to the Bahamas in March and April but that didn’t happen either. We hunkered down and relaxed. Or did we?

Of course not. We didn’t relax at all! The days passed quickly. It seemed like nothing happened until we started listing all the stuff we did. Time to share:

BOAT MAINTENANCE.

Kermit was very busy with boat maintenance. It seemed like every day was another adventure. In no particular order:

Rebuilt all three pump / macerators for the 3 heads. Ernie, the great grandson of Galley Maid founder, came out to our boat after work with his pal Wayne to do this job. Their claim to fame is you can throw cigar butts down the toilet and it won’t clog. Hatteras, Rybovich and a few other high end boats used Galley Maid exclusively for many years. Not a pretty job. These things are HEAVY made of solid steel. Each pumps weighs about 80 pounds. It was quite the adventure getting the pumps out.

The rebuild took only a few days. They removed the forward and aft pumps first then took the middle when they returned with the forward and aft. Now the toilets flush immediately and quickly just like new.

Totally rebuilt windlass. This was quite the project. Ernie and Wayne from Galley Maid did this job too. This windlass is huge, a double decker windlass. It looks like you could tow a building with it. For non-boater friends, the windlass is a winch on the front of the boat that allows us to raise and lower the anchor. The motor and shaft had to weigh at least 150 pounds because Kermit could hardly carry it. Wayne crawled into the anchor locker in the forward cabin. Crazy as it sounds, the anchor locker is big enough for a grown man to crawl into with plenty of room to work. On our other boats, the “anchor locker” is not a little room like this one. It is a door that opens to the unfinished fiberglass exterior of the boat where the anchor chain sits.

Now THAT is an anchor locker

The windlass is held in place by a huge stainless plate on the top deck bow pulpit (that pointy part). They needed to pull the windlass shaft up out of the boat to the top deck but the shaft was too long to pull it out. They took a SawZall to elongate the hole by an inch. The alternative was to take a torch and heat up the steel plate. Kermit didn’t want to do that. Finally the windlass shaft popped up. Kermit dragged it to the side and Ernie and Wayne received it carefully over the side so it didn’t end up in the water. Needless to say, the windlass works like a charm now.

Rebuilt freshwater pump in anticipation of Bahamas. Now all pumps are done except the air conditioner pumps.

New control board installed for air conditioner. AC pump would not run. Florida needs AC even in winter!

Installed a Wiengard X2 Satellite tv system with Dish TV. Kermit complained so much that he couldn’t watch his TV shows that he finally broke down and did something about it. He did a bunch of research to pay less than half of what everyone else pays.

Installed electric fuel pump on generator to replace failing mechanical pump.

Painted windlass chain in 25’ increments. This was quite a project. We hauled all the chain out on to the dock. None of the existing marks bore any relationship to the actual lengths so Kermit measured and spray painted marks. Now he will know how much chain he lets out when we anchor.

Replaced starboard engine room blower. It was blowing fuses. Now it doesn’t!

Dinghy motor serviced with new impeller, new fuel and oil filters. We were too nervous to take the dinghy out before getting it serviced. It zips around like a gem now. We also figured out how to use the lifting pulley system to keep the dinghy out of the water.

Getting the 4 stroke motor off was quite the adventure. Kermit drove the dinghy to Jim’s Joy across the fairway. Jim and Kermit used Jim’s lift. They attached the lift cable to the motor and pulled it onto Jim’s boat then put the motor into a dock cart to take to the mechanic. They repeated this process to install the repaired motor on the dinghy. It was quite a production.

We finally put the name
on the transom!!

Clean, wax and polish. Kermit Cleaned and waxed top side and cleaned and polished all stainless. He buffed and polished the transom after we put the name on the back of the boat. We had all carpets and furniture cleans.

Soaked all lines in Downey to soften them. Sounds silly and maybe it is but soft lines are easier for me to handle so I appreciate it.

Put out on-the-dock water softener / filter. Kermit thinks it makes a big difference but I never noticed anything. It makes him happy.

WE TOOK SOME OUTINGS.

Dock party!!

We visited the Miami and West Palm Boat Shows with Jim and Joy just to look around.

We arranged a dock party although we were blown out by no-see-ums at sundown. How come we always instigate these things?

We stopped to visit One
September at Vero Beach

Jim and Joy joined us for a visit to Cape Canaveral to see the Delta rocket launch. We stopped to visit One September at Vero Beach on our way the anchored out near the Cape Canaveral Lock where the cruise ships depart.

We set ourselves up on the bow of the boat but got more comfortable when they delayed the launch. You should have seen us scurry when the launch commander said, “We are a go” and it took off!!

Setting the anchor can be a 2 person job

Jim and Kermit set the anchor!!

We are ready for the launch

Katherine, Joy and Jim in our places for the launch

Joy, Jim, Katherine and Kermit

This is it!! We have ignition!

Dawn at Cape Canaveral

We had key lime pie one last time at the Tiki Hut. The city is tearing it down in May, replacing it with a new restaurant that could never be as good or as much fun for boaters.

Jim and Judy

A bunch of us visited the Trident Submarine factory in Vero Beach where we got to climb into and all around these multi-million dollar little personal submarines. Who knew you could get tours for this stuff!!

Kris from Eagle One

The Presidents - I guess when
your team is the "Nationals"
your mascot is presidents!

At National's spring training

Jim, Kermit and I went to a spring training baseball game in West Palm Beach. We saw St. Louis Cardinals play the Washington Nationals to a tie. It was fun! Hot dogs, peanuts and beer. What more could we ask?

See the kite skier?

We took the dinghy out a few times to Joe’s bar, a dive bar honoring SEAL teams.

Although the weather
was rough, the sunset
never disappoints

They get really close to shore!!

On one particularly beautiful day we took the dinghy out to the sandbar in the Ft Pierce Inlet. A few beers, a few laughs. A good day to spend an afternoon.

One time we drove out to the ocean to see the weather whip up huge waves. Kite flyers were everywhere!

Florida crackers ride their horses
across the state every spring

Fort Pierce was hopping. The Florida Crackers came to town at the end of their parade across Florida from Ft. Myers. That was loud and fun.

We went to the Farmers Market most Saturdays. We enjoyed the Pirate’s Weekend and Oyster Fest. Then the Jazz Festival.

Jazz Festival

Blackstone Hotel - Chicago
Those are KING beds!!
Not a typical hotel room

My client was located across
from the new World Trade
Center

While Kermit was working on the boat, I had the best March ever. I think I booked more hours than possible. I did a bit of traveling too. In the last week of February I traveled to CLE, then to NYC on business, then back to CLE then to Chicago with my sister for her doctor's appointment.

Blackstone Hotel

Martha at the Blackstone

It was Martha's birthday so Marissa reserved an awesome room in the Blackstone Hotel on south Michigan Avenue. We followed the hotel's art treasure walk stopping at every elevator landing to view the art work.

On the treasure hunt!

Visiting Roy at Arlington

We flew back to CLE, picked up the car and drove to DC for work. We had a chance to visit Martha's husband, Roy Fewell at Arlington and see the president's portraits at the National Portrait Gallery.

We drove to Martha's house in Greenville NC for a few days.

I drove back to Florida so we could have a car for the winter. I stopped at a marina near Myrtle Beach to check out the winter storage. Notice the flooding? Lots of high water all over the eastern US.

Wacca Wachi Marina on
Waccamaw River in SC

It was quite an adventure in two weeks!!

We had some visitors. Bill and Eve Gribble. Kevin and Vicki Hoffman. Bunny and Evan Evans. Dan and Marilyn Lipka. Dick and Dee Shephard on Sareanna and Mike and Judy Hechtkopf on One September visited a few times and we visited One September in Vero Beach once. Loopers Pat and Joe Anicilla from Maine visited a few times.

We made some new friends. Dockmates Paxton and Shae on Shameless out of Southport and Gary and Linda on Pearl across the dock. Loopers Rick and Kris McQuaig on Eagle One visited on their way north.

We made lots of new dog friends: Henry the big poodle, Stella the perfect dog, Allie the cutest dog, and Bob, the biggest, best lab ever