Fortunately, we did enjoy a wonderful Thanksgiving with family. We rented a house for 5 days, the week of Thanksgiving, and my daughter, son-in-law, and two granddaughters traveled from Charleston to join us. We were concerned about Covid exposure, but we were comfortable with the precautions and protocols they strictly follow. It was wonderful to see them, but sad to realize that Maggie (who turned 5 while visiting us) doesn’t remember a time without masks and social distancing. Both girls take it all in stride and they will quickly announce “mask up” when we arrive at our destination!
During the last leg of our journey to Carrabelle, we passed a boat yard that builds Staten Island Ferries.
Eastern Shipbuilding Group in Panama City, FL suffered extensive damage from hurricane Michael in 2018. Glad to see they have recovered, and are rolling out the ferries.
Right Hand was hauled out on Nov. 24, which was a day later than originally scheduled (due to an emergency haul out for a boat taking on water) so we were in a hurry to get her settled and head to our rental house on that Tuesday afternoon.
Grandmom was prepared with lots of holiday crafts to make with the girls. Here we are making our own snow globes...how cool is that...and it actually worked, they don’t leak🤞YET!
This was a great house for our gathering! If you are ever in need of a rental in Apalachicola, FL go to Vrbo and check out property #909150. The owners, Tracey and Michelle are fabulous!!
We took a nice long walk on the beach after eating our huge Thanksgiving dinner.
And, of course, we made sure to squeeze in some kayaking time.
It’s so sad to say goodbye to our girls, but it is time to get to work on the boat!
This was something on Keith’s wish list...raise the exhaust ports so they aren’t underwater. The bottom hole was for engine exhaust and the top one was for the generator. The engine exhaust has always been partially submerged, but when we moved onboard full time the boat settled a little lower in the water🤷🏼♀️. You might also notice how dirty the hull is, with the brown water stains creeping up the white side.
The fiberglass guy was very good! Clearly the exhaust port was too low to begin with...thank goodness we were able to fix this 41 year old problem😉. You might also notice the shiny white hull in this pic. The boatyard guys turned me on to a dollar store toilet cleaner that works like magic to remove water stains on a boat. We will be leaving with a case...maybe we should have put the exhaust a little higher!
Keith installed a new hot water heater in this very tight location!
Preparing to install new thru hauls and valves.
I have been cleaning and painting interior storage lockers and cabinets.
And this is what it looks like when my job and Keith’s job come together to compliment each other! New thru hulls and valves installed in the freshly painted locker under the stairs.
The primary reason for this stop...needed new strut bearings. Of course special tools are required to take out the old...
WOW...that new bearing is beautiful! You will also notice a shaft on the right side of the picture. After close inspection of our 41 year old shafts, everyone agreed it would probably be best to replace them with new 2 inch shafts. The new shafts are being machined (tapered and threaded) as we ‘speak’, which is one of the reasons this repair layover is taking longer than expected.
Keith has been working to install a new alternator and serpentine belt kit to replace the old vee belts. He needed to have some machining done to make the components fit, but everything is coming together nicely!
Enough project pictures for now...
We did leave the Whaler in the water so we can explore when we have some free time. This poor guy is new to boating, and had some anchor drag problems on a windy night. Luckily, he was able to get towed off the shore during the next high tide. We stopped to check on him, and offered a little advice regarding anchor drag alarms. The next day he offered to hire us to help him take his boat to Galveston, TX. Sorry, but we are not currently for hire!
Finally, I know I shouldn’t complain about the weather (especially considering that many of our readers live in the northeast, and they are preparing for a snow storm this week), but it has been cooler than we expected.
Last week, our early morning trip to Tallahassee was slightly delayed. Note to self: rental cars in Florida do NOT come equipped with ice scrapers! Thankfully, that cold air was gone by noon.
Hopefully my next post will have us back in the water, and stone free!
