In the summer, it is kind of boring to hear me say, “Kermit messed around with a boat and I worked.” Now that we are moving back on to the Hatteras, we have some excitement to report!! So, I pick up my pen again and share!!
Changes to our Family
We are pleased to
report that our son finally married his partner, and the love of his live,
Julie!! They had a small, pop-up wedding on September 19, 2020. It was beautiful!!
We had another addition to the family when Marissa adopted a little dog, Briggs Riley Burik. He is a tiny dynamo, a Havanese. Briggs is always busy and provides no end of entertainment and responsibility for Marissa.
In June 2019, Kermit brought a new vehicle into our family,
a Cadillac SRX he affectionately nicknamed Scooter. The bloom fell off that
rose quickly. Kermit decided it was too small. This fall I must have been smoking
something fancy because one evening I said to Kermit that perhaps he would like
a muscle car of his dreams to celebrate his upcoming 70th birthday.
After he regained consciousness from this shock, he said he really wanted a
Suburban like the big black truck he had before.
Visiting friends and family this summer
We had some fabulous socially distant socialization this
summer. Char Houser and I met up with Connie Dobransky for lunch and a long
delayed catch-up. We had such fun, we got the whole gang together (Housers, Ruegamers, Simos, and Helms) and
finally met Connie’s fella, Larry. What a
great guy!!!
Unfortunately, Connie’s daughter, Shelly, was gravely ill and
has since passed. We extend our deepest sympathies to Connie and her family.
Kermit visited his mom for lunch every Wednesday, bringing over Chik Fil’ A, especially Helen's favorite, the
lemonade. We miss family a lot when we
go south for the winter so we do everything we can to indulge in the summer,
even in a pandemic.
Changes to the Summer Boating Experience
Like most of the country, we spent the summer in quarantine
looking for ways to get out of the house
safely. The Lake Erie boat, 1991 Four Winns 365 Express, was finally
coming into its own. But we realized that our years on Lake Erie were sort of
coming to an end. After 26 years at Venetian Marina, we were ready to have a
few months out of boating every year.
In the past 2 years since we owned the Hatteras, we realize
that owning two boats is no longer
feasible. We love the time we spend on the Hatteras from November through May.
Then we run up the East coast to New Bern NC to put the Hatteras in summer hurricane
storage. By the time we got to OH it is mid-late June. Then we need another
flurry of activity (waxing, bottom paint, etc.) to get the Lake Erie boat out
of winter storage, cleaned up and in the water sometime around July 4th.
It is exhausting to even describe this effort. Kermit is tired!
This year we only visited Lake Erie and the Four Winns four or five times.
We planned to pull the boat for the
winter in October only to repeat the effort for the Hatteras starting in
November.
So, we were doing all this work for a few weekends with our
friends on Lake Erie. We want to enjoy the friends but reduce our hassle
factor. For the cost of the second boat we could stay in the fanciest hotel
nearby and visit our friends! Even take them out to a fancy dinner on us!
We decided to pull the plug on Lake Erie boat ownership. The
Four Winns sold in about a month for more than we put into it. 2020 is a great
year for selling boats! The family that bought it has never owned a boat before!! Imagine
that?
So now we only own one boat! We feel relieved, especially
Kermit who carries the brunt of the effort on boat ownership.
Hatteras Update
The Hatteras Good Karma spent the summer safely at New Bern
Grand Haven Marina on the Neuse River in North Carolina. Kermit and Paul Bates
visited in the summer to move the boat from one dock to another dock in the same marina. These
docks are privately owned, called a “dockominium”. Someone else owned the slip
we were in so we had to move to another vacant slip.
Here is some of the maintenance we did this fall:
Tank Monitors: Paul and Kermit installed tank
monitors on the holding tanks. We have 2 holding tanks for waste. One is 120
gallons and the other is 60 gallons. Unfortunately, we never knew exactly how
much waste is in those tanks until they overflow. We are much better guessers after
a few years on this boat, so we never have overflows but having tank monitors allows
us to visually check to see how full the tanks are – a big innovation!!
To install the tank monitors, they put aluminum tape in 2
stripes on the outside of the tanks. Then you mount the sensor in the middle
and run a wire to each strip. Then you run another wire to a battery. Once it
is installed, you hit a button and you can see how full the tanks are.
The monitors are called “SCAD TM2”. It only works on the
Hatteras this way because on this boat, all holding tanks are ¾ solid fiberglass.
This system reads through the fiberglass. Cool, huh?
Dinghy Storage: The first summer hurricane
season in 2019, Tom Stieber, Paul Bates and Kermit deflated the dinghy and
strapped it to the bow of the boat. This meant we had to reverse the process in
the fall with the help of several strapping dockhands. It was a hassle because the
dinghy and especially the motor are heavy and awkward. There had to be a better
way.
In June, we rented a storage unit here in New Bern. Kermit
drove the dinghy over to a nearby ramp and I drove Scooter with a trailer over
to the ramp. We manhandled the dinghy and motor into that trailer then unloaded
at the storage until. I can’t believe how heavy that 4 stroke Honda is!
This November when we arrived back in New Bern, we had to
repeat the process in reverse to get the dinghy back on the boat for our
journey south. We tried a new innovation to reduce the manhandling.
We bought 2 cheap Harbor Freight dollies to put under the
front and back ends of the dinghy. This meant we could roll the dinghy out of
the storage unit and up into the rented trailer attached to Big Scooter. He strapped
the motor to a rented refrigerator dolly so we could roll the motor onto the trailer
and lay it on the floor. A short trip to the ramp and we reversed the process
putting the dinghy in the water. .
We gracefully slid the dinghy off the trailer. It smoothly
went down the ramp, into the water. No
effort at all! And the front dolly floats! We
collected both dollies, storing them safely in the storage unit until
next spring.
We stood up the motor and glided it to the dinghy stern.
This was a little more problematic. Kermit had to walk it into the water, then
jiggle around with the mechanism to bend the motor so the blades were out of
the water and not hitting the ramp. With the motor in place, he rowed out to
deeper water and tried the engine. After a few pulls it started! He was off!
Over the summer, Kermit purchased a new dinghy hanging
system, a Trilogy Lift, a roller system like cranking the dinghy up a boat trailer.
Kermit hates the current set up in which the dinghy hangs on two arms like a sailboat
dinghy structure. The new system needs to be mounted when we get to FL but for
now it sits safely in pieces in the back of Big Scooter.
Dinghy in place, we finalized engine maintenance necessary
before leaving.
Engine Maintenance & Repair
- Barnacle Buster – cleans all the gunk out of engine cooling system
- · New impellers on both engines and generator
- · Barnacle Buster in Air conditioning system
- · New fuel filters on engines
- · New water pump on starboard engine. This is a funny story. Last year this was supposed to be replaced. We discovered that the mechanic walked down the steps to the galley, turned left to the engines and opened the engine door for the starboard engine. Or so he thought. He was facing the rear of the boat. All you boaters out there know that the starboard is the right-hand side when facing the FRONT of the boat! That mechanic put a new water pump on the PORT engine, replacing an already new pump. So the starboard water pump still needed to be replaced!!! LOL, only in boat world would someone find that funny…
All this work took a week, during the week of November 1,
2020. We were all set to leave on Saturday, November 7.
We make new friends
One day last week Kermit said a guy walked over and said he was the former owner
of this boat. I said, sure, of course. HA!
Turns out, he was the former owner. Dave and Paula owned
this boat from about 2000 to about 2008, before the fellow we bought it from. They called it Laurentide, based out of Milwaukee’s McKinley Marina, the
same marina we were marooned at in 2018 when the starboard engine went bonkers.
How crazy is that?
This is the couple that redid the entire boat!! They
redecorated, bought all the lovely furniture, made the curtains, remodeled the
kitchen, and rebuilt the engines! Isn’t it a small world?
They only sold the boat because they were transferred to new
posts in Hawaii. I guess that is a great reason to sell a boat!
One afternoon Dave and Paula came over for docktails and an
eager tour of the boat. They seemed pleased that we are taking such good care
of their boat! When we got delayed this week with the generator, they invited
us over to their home across the river for dinner. Now they have a 36’ Grand
Banks. We had a delightful time!
On our way!!
We left at 6:30am, as the sun was coming up on a perfect day
for traveling! Ah, it was glorious… until it wasn’t. About 2 miles down the Neuse
River, we noticed that the generator went off. That’s odd. Kermit went down and
checked. We turned around and headed back. We need the generator to power the
fridge and outlets while under way.
It took us some time to get back. We passed the historic
district, something we overlooked in our walks around New Bern. Then Mike said
we were going the wrong way and we should head back and cross the river in a
different place. All in all, we tied up at Bridgeton Boat Works around 10am
after lots of screwing around.
Chad, the mechanic, came on board, fiddled with a few
things. It should work. We untied and headed out. In the middle of the river
the generator went off again. We turned around and headed back. This time they
wrung their hands. Nothing they could do. They needed the generator expert out
of Beaufort but he was not available until this week.
We turned around and headed back to New Bern to wait. This
was Saturday November 7. On Wednesday afternoon Nov 11, Keith, the generator
expert knocked on the boat around 3pm to take a look with his trusty sidekick.
These expert mechanics all seem to have young
sidekicks learning the ropes. Right now, they hand the expert his tools but
eventually these kids become full fledged talented mechanics. It’s a good
system!
Anyhoo, after fiddling with generator stuff, he asks to
borrow Kermit’s heat sensor and turn on the generator. It started immediately.
And kept running. Keith checked the heat all over the generator compartment.
Time for the diagnosis.
Get this. The mechanic changing the impeller forgot to open
the sea cock! The generator was getting enough water intake to start the engine
but not enough to keep it running. When it got too hot, which is what happens,
the generator shut off! When Keith opened the sea cock, the water entered to
keep the generator cool. The generator stays on now!!
YEAH for Keith!! Problem solved!!
We can leave now!! Or
can we?
While all this nonsense
maintenance was taking place, something else
was happening. A little tropical storm
named Eta wandered around the Gulf like a ping
pong ball, making its fourth landfall in
Tampa and heading northeast across the state. Today as I write this (Thursday
Nov 12) the storm is heading out to the Atlantic northeast brushing the
coastline on its way to Nova Scotia. At the same time, another storm is heading
east with heavy rain and flooding extending from Savannah to Boston. It has been
raining for 2 days now heavy.
Why do we care? Because
this kind of storm system causes storm
surges, flooding, and churned up water exactly where we want to travel. It will
be a mess out there. It is already a mess here on the Neuse River. We are rocking
and rolling. Yesterday I got a little green in the gills and had to go for a
walk in the rain to get off this roller
coaster.
We can’t leave in this weather. No matter how much we want
to. We are heading back to Ohio to
celebrate Thanksgiving next week with our family, as best as we can during a pandemic.
We will begin again in a few weeks.
Here is our float plan
for the two-week journey to FL:
|
Day 1 |
Mile Hammock |
Day 8 |
Cumberland
Island |
|
Day 2 |
Southport |
Day 9 |
St. Augustine |
|
Day 3 |
Barefoot or
Osprey |
Day 10 |
Daytona Beach |
|
Da 4 |
McClellensville |
Day 11 |
Cocoa |
|
Day 5 |
Charleston |
Day 12 |
Vero Beach |
|
Day 6 |
Hilton Head |
Day 13 |
Stuart FL |
|
Day 7 |
Walberg Creek
or Wahoo River |
|
|
Depending on weather and water, we might go outside in the
ocean to cut off some time. This general concept gets us to Stuart FL around
Dec 10 – 13. We hope to see friends along the way if we can and if the pandemic
permits.
I will write again when we return to the boat and get under
way. In the meantime, have a wonderful Thanksgiving!!!
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