Wordless Wednesday | Church In Indiantown, Florida

 
Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - There is a church near the local grocery store in Indiantown, Florida which sometimes has services in a tent outside.

2 - All the signs are in Spanish, so I don't have a clue what they say.

3 - You hear Spanish everywhere you go in town. 

4 - I wonder what they're saying when I'm waiting in line at the store. 

5 - I really should learn Spanish. 
   
What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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Even More Of What The Heck Have You Been Up To? Boat Project Roundup, Pt3

It's time for the final installment of our boat project roundup. I can hear you cheering there in the background. Oh, maybe that's me cheering. I get a little tired of thinking and writing about boat projects. But it's good to get it all down for the record.

If you haven't read our earlier posts and you're dying to know what else we've done to Tickety Boo, check out Part 1 and Part 2 or our boat project roundup.

So here we go, a recap of some of the stuff we've been doing over a nine-week period as we got our Moody 346 sailboat ready to head off to the Bahamas.


Sails & Rigging

You can't get very far in a sailboat if your sails and rigging aren't ship-shape. Unless you like to run your engine all the time, which we don't because it's noisy and uses up diesel. Sailing is quiet and wind is free.

We're sloop rigged, which means we have two sails - a headsail (on the bow of the boat) and a mainsail (which is attached to the mast and flies behind it). We started with getting our headsail setup in shape by tuning up our Furlex furling and reefing system. That involved figuring out what model it is (Type B, Mk I), tracking down a manual, then checking that the Type B, Mk II manual we were sent actually applied to our system (it does, the differences between Mk I and Mk II are minor) and then sourcing the appropriate lubricant (Selden Furlex bearing grease).

Next, we laid out our headsail on the grassy area near our boat to inspect it. We knew it was a rather tired sail when we had stored it, but I kind of forgot how tired it was. There was a lot of restitching to do, as well as repairing the head. We'll likely get a new headsail before next season. Who knows, I might even sew it myself.

We also inspected our mainsail (relatively new and in good shape), along with two other old sails on board (a staysail and a trisail).

Laying out our headsail on the grass to inspect it.

After the headsail was sorted, we put it up. Then we put up our mainsail. It's amazing what a difference it makes when you put your sails back on your boat. Suddenly, you feel like a proper sailboat.

In addition to putting our sails back on, we also put our US flag back up.

After a number of emails to Lewmar to get information on the winches (it's amazing how much time email and internet research takes up when it comes to boat projects), we serviced them. While Scott has serviced winches before, it was my first time. Basically, you strip the thing apart, clean it up, lubricate it and reassemble it. They were so gunky with old grease, it took quite a while to clean them and it was no wonder that they were so stiff.

The insides of one of our winches. That's a box from Defender behind it which we used to put all of the parts in so we wouldn't lose them. We seem to get boxes in from Defender almost on a daily basis.

Last, but not least (especially from my perspective), was inspecting the rigging, including going up the mast. I lost the coin toss. More on this in a future post. They're were mud dauber wasps involved. Not good. Not good at all.

Steering & Navigation

Another one of the what should be routine maintenance tasks was to service the steering system. I say "should be" because we're not sure that this was routinely done by the previous owners. We weren't sure how to access the steering system, so we put a call out to our fellow members of the Moody Owners' Association. The folks there were super helpful, even posting pictures of how to access it through the steering pedestal.

Accessing the steering system chain through the pedestal.

This was a bear of a project. Four of the six bolts holding the plate on top had to be ground off, then drilled out with cobalt bits. Next up was retapping four holes for new screws, followed by servicing the chain, sprocket and wire at the quadrant and the steering shaft. The words I just wrote don't even do this project justice. I could use some other words to describe it, but they would be naughty words and we try to keep things G rated around here.

One of the things I love about Tickety Boo is that she has an autohelm. We had to hand steer our old boat and it could be a drag at times. So much better to set a course, press some buttons and let a machine do the driving for you.

However, the wheel pilot that came with our boat wasn't the greatest, so we bought a new-to-us one. Another one of those projects where you can delude yourself into thinking it's going to be simple. "It'll just drop straight in," we said. Oh, how wrong we were.

We had to realign the stopper shaft on the steering pedestal and put a new shim on it so it would reach. Then the rubber gaskets on the brackets for the wheel had to be drilled so that they'd fit our wheel. Of course, the belt broke during it all. We also had to put on and remove the wheel a gazillion times which takes time as you have to center it. And of course the piece de resistance was dropping a screw that took a half an hour to find.

I don't know why I keep saying "we." Let's be honest, this was all Scott, assisted by some wonderful Canadian boat neighbors. I am good at pouring beer for Scott at the end of the day though. So, see, I helped.

We also got and installed a new compass (there's that "we" again). That was a bit of a palaver in terms of getting it shipped over from the UK in a timely fashion. {Lucy - if you're reading this, I threw in that "palaver" just for you.}

Our old Plastimo compass, desperately in need of replacing

Other Bits & Bobs

There were also lots of other bits and bobs we took care of, some of which were simple and straightforward projects (like removing a trash bag holder from a cupboard so we could store cans in there instead), while other involved hours on the phone or the computer doing internet research (like changing our Boat US insurance policy to a Geico one), and then there were the ones that went like most boat projects do - they take longer than you think (like installing two new Caframo fans - one in our aft cabin and one in our saloon).

We also had some "Duh, how stupid can you be!" moments - like when we couldn't start our outboard after it had been serviced. Turns out that the kill switch keys for outboard motors are different depending on the model. The previous owner of our boat had two different kill switch keys - we used the wrong one.

There's tons of other things we've done, many of which I'm sure I've forgotten. My subconscious probably erased the memories because they were so unpleasant and involve grease, grime and wedging my hand into small spaces with a screwdriver.

Please, tell me I don't have to read anymore of these boring posts

No worries, you don't have to read anymore of these boring boat project posts because I don't want to write any more of them. I don't want to do any more boat projects either. All I want to do is sit in the cockpit of our boat in some quiet anchorage doing crossword puzzles and reading books. And eating cookies too. That goes without saying, I guess.

But we live on a boat and that means three things:

1 - There will always be boat projects.

2 - Your bank account balance will always look depressing.

3 - You'll always have grease and grime under your fingernails.

I bet if you don't own a boat, you can't wait to rush out and get one of your own.

Have you been to the Bahamas or the Caribbean? What did you like the most? Do you enjoy crossword puzzles? How do your fingernails look today - neat and tidy or covered in grease and grime?

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If You're Reading This...

If you're reading this, then that means that we've finally left Indiantown Marina, after ticking almost everything off of our boat project list, and are making our way to the Bahamas.

Pictures from the last time we were in the Bahamas. Inspiration to get the heck out of here ASAP.

Or it could mean we're still stuck at Indiantown Marina and I was too lazy (or busy) to change this post out with something else.

Hopefully, it means the former and we're anchored someplace checking various weather forecasts and waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream to the Bahamas. Fingers crossed we get one soon.

Passage Weather - one of the weather forecasts sources we use.

While we're in the Bahamas, we'll have very limited internet access. That means that I probably won't be posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday as normal. I do have some posts scheduled in advance (like this one) and I'll post others when I can. I'll probably have better luck keeping our Facebook page updated, so check over there from time to time for pretty pictures of beaches and the like.

I'll also have to skip the A to Z Challenge this year as I won't be able to readily visit other participants' blogs. I've really enjoyed the challenge, so I'm a bit disappointed by that. {You can see my "Nancy Drew Investigates" blog posts from last year here.}

I won't be able to respond to comments and emails as quickly as I would like, but I love hearing from you and will eventually get back to you, so please, please keep them coming.

Our intent is to head back to the States before hurricane season starts in July. We'll haul out at Indiantown Marina and do a number of major boat projects before putting the boat back in the water and heading off next season to the Western Caribbean and beyond. At least that's today's plan. Who knows what might happen tomorrow.

Are you participating in the A to Z Challenge this year? Do you keep an eye on the weather forecast?

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Wordless Wednesday | Up The Mast At Indiantown Marina

Wordless Wednesday is supposed to be about posting a photo(s) without any words. But, I'm a rule breaker, so here are a few words:

1 - I had to go up the mast of our sailboat to check the rigging.

2 - This is what Indiantown Marina looks like from above.

3 - Our mast is about 46 feet above the water.

4 - Did I mention I'm afraid of heights?

   
What words does this picture(s) bring to your mind when you look at it?

For more Wordless Wednesday fun, click here. 

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More Of What The Heck We've Been Up To | Boat Project Roundup, Pt 2

Hi there! It looks like you're back for more of the scintillating details of what the heck we've been up to in terms of boat projects. Don't know what I'm talking about? That's probably because you didn't read Part 1 of our Boat Project Roundup which we posted last week. Don't worry, I'll wait while you go back and have a read.

We spent about nine weeks at Indiantown Marina getting our Moody 346 sailboat, Tickety Boo, ready to go to the Bahamas. Some of you might know that while Scott was away working and tending to other matters in Scotland, I was a total slacker when it came to boat projects. That meant there was a very long list of stuff we needed to do when he got back.

Before we begin why don't you get yourself a cup of coffee and a plate of cookies, fresh from the oven. It's a long post, so you're going to need something to sustain yourself if you plan on making it to the end.

Galley

Those of you who have followed our blog for a while know that eating constantly is one of my top priorities, especially chocolate chip cookies. So having a functioning galley (or kitchen) is pretty important to me.

While we've been connected to shore power, I've been using our microwave, crockpot and hot plate to cook. But since we'll be heading off cruising, we needed to make sure our propane stove and oven were in order. When I went to clean the stove, one of the burners disintegrated into a pile of rusty pieces. Not really desirable when it comes to cooking.

The burner that rusted off of our Plastimo Atlantic cooker.

We spent hours and hours and lots of emails trying to source replacement burners. Turns out our 30-year old Plastimo Atlantic unit is obsolete and they don't make spare parts for it. Anytime anything younger than me is declared obsolete, my spirit gets a little deflated.

We briefly debated getting a new stove/oven. There are a couple of relatively reasonably priced European made units that would slot right into our extremely tiny cut-out, but they won't ship them to the States because they can't guarantee they won't get damaged in transit. The only alternative available that would fit is a Force 10 Euro Sub Compact model, but it's going for over $1,500 on Defender plus another $250 for shipping. Yeah, no thanks.

We also considered making a temporary workaround by dropping in a two burner RV type stove, but that wasn't ideal either as it wouldn't be gimballed (meaning it moves on an angle so you can cook while underway).

So we're going to live with the one burner on our stove that does work for now. The good news is that the oven works adequately and that means chocolate chip cookies!

If our one and only burner fails on us, at least we have our Magma grill and I can make a lot of casseroles in the oven.

Looking forward to grilling all sorts of things on this including pizza.

On the cooking front, we also sealed up a hole between our propane locker and lazarette (big storage locker in the cockpit), which is really important from a safety point. If you get a propane leak, the last thing you want is for the evil gas to make it's way down below and kill you.

We also replaced our leaky faucet in the galley (which turned out to be one of our more complicated projects), as well as put in a hand pump so we won't be reliant on our electric water pump and so that we use less water.

Turns out that hand pump was a smart move because, of course, our electric water pump started leaking quite a bit shortly thereafter. It was easy enough to replace it (as easy as anything is on a boat, which is means it was the opposite of easy) while we're on land. But if it had broken when we were out cruising, we would have the option of disconnecting it and just going with our hand pump.

Bright and shiny! That's our salt water spray hose next to it. We installed our fresh water hand pump in between the two of them.

Are you bored yet?

I am and I'm the one writing this post. Let's liven things up for a minute with a picture of our wee beastie trapped in our oil lamp. Scott put him there. It took me days to find him. Don't worry, we don't use this lamp so there's no risk of the wee beastie coming to harm.

Okay, back to business.

Safety

Safety really should have come before telling you about our galley improvements. But it's hard for me to think about scary things, like our boat capsizing or hitting a reef, when my tummy is growling. Not to worry, we did pay attention to safety related items.

We repacked our lifesling (easier said then done), which is what you toss out in the event that someone goes overboard. Let's hope we never have to test this out. We got an EPIRB and registered it. An EPIRB is a distress beacon that allows search and rescue to find you. Let's hope we never have to test this out either.

We organized for a voluntary vessel safety check. We've had one of these before. A member of the US Coast Guard Auxiliary visits your boat and goes through a checklist of important safety related items such as distress signals (flares, air horn etc), VHFs, PFDs (personal flotation devices or life jackets), navigation lights, fire extinguishers and the like.

Part of getting ready for the visit was checking to make sure our flares weren't expired (they weren't) and making sure that the CO2 cylinders for our PFDs weren't expired (we had to rearm one PFD).

We passed inspection and have a lovely decal to prove it.

Anchoring

The last time we went to the Bahamas our electric windlass didn't work and Scott had to drop and hoist the anchor himself. (An electric windlass is a dandy invention which lowers and raises your anchor and chain for you so you don't have to get all sweaty and tired doing it yourself). Fixing the windlass was one of the main priorities on our project list.

The windlass appeared to be seized. Scott could get it to move slightly and then it stopped. He tried numerous things, none of which worked. He was about to start to dismantle the windlass to service it (which would have been a pain in the you know what), when one of our boat neighbors stopped by to see what mischief Scott was getting into. While they were investigating, they noticed the butt connector for the wire to the down button was disconnected.

Scott replaced the connector and asked our boat neighbor to listen and see if he could hear the solenoid click. It did and we were back in business. After slowly working the chain back and forth using the up and down buttons, he was able to get it to work again.

We also got a new anchor and rode for our dinghy. (The old anchors had completely rusted out - not a desirable trait in an anchor.) I do have one last anchoring task to do which is to get crafty making an eye splice to connect the rode to the shackle. I've tried it a few times already and I have a feeling it's going to take me around a million tries to figure it out.

It kind of reminds me of trying to learn how to knit, except that there's a lot more pressure to get it right. If you mess up your knitting stitches, your sweater will unravel. If you mess up your splice, your anchor will fall off and you could drift away out into the Atlantic Ocean and end up starring in an inadvertent remake of the movie Lost.

Whoa, this is getting really long!

Scott just read through a full draft of this post and said that it's insanely long. So good news for you - we'll stop here and there'll be a new installment next week.

In the meantime, you might be wondering, "Have you headed off to the Bahamas yet?

Did you have to ask that question? The answer is so depressing. No, we haven't. At time of writing, we're still at Indiantown Marina trying to sort out the disarray with our solar array. {Sigh} It's a mystery that has stumped everyone. So keep us in your thoughts and cross your fingers and your toes and hopefully we figure this out soon. Otherwise, we may just burn this boat down.

We've pretty much ruled out the controller as being the issue. We've tried three different ones. On a related note, the tech support at Blue Sky Energy is phenomenal.

Anything frustrating on your "To Do" list? Do you use any alternative forms of energy such as solar or wind power? Do you have any wee beasties lurking in your home? 

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February In Numbers

Clockwise from upper left: (1) Baking bread using one of the recipes from "The Boat Galley" cookbook; (2) The insides of a winch; (3) Provisioning at Aldi's; (4) Replacing the freshwater pump; (5) Doing sewing projects under the watchful eye of a wee beastie; and (6) Fun with friends on board Tickety Boo.

It's time for the monthly recap in numbers - an assortment of odd tidbits and random thoughts that popped into my head when I was reflecting back on the month. Just like the previous month, February was all about boat projects and getting ready to head to the Bahamas. We can almost see the finish line and hopefully we'll be on our way soon. Fingers crossed nothing else breaks before then.

1 - Number of loaves of bread I baked. It's been ages since I've baked bread and I'm trying to get back in the swing of things considering a loaf costs nearly $6 in the Bahamas. 

25 - The number of breakfast burritos Scott ate. It's his favorite breakfast. Two scrambled eggs with jalapenos, maybe some bell pepper and onion, a little bit of cheese and some salsa, all wrapped up in a tortilla.

5 - Number of packages of tortillas we have on board. Plus flour so I can make more once we run out. Packaged tortillas have a long shelf life, which is great when it comes to provisioning for an extended cruise.

2 - Number of times I made pancakes. One of my favorite breakfasts. 

5 - Number of times we ate out or got takeaway.

$10 - How much we put into a pool at a Superbowl party.

$0 - How much we won. 

2 - How many winches we serviced (they're the contraptions that you wrap your lines around to pull in the sails). We each did one. It involved taking them apart, cleaning the old grease out of them (they were gunky), relubricating them and putting them back together.

1 - Number of days off we had from boat projects. It was chucking down rain and we lazed about. 

4 - Number of dogs I've seen running around off-leash at the marina lately. It's a topic of some debate here - should well-behaved dogs be allowed to run around off-leash? Cats do, why can't dogs? What do you think?

2 - Number of friends who just completely changed their cruising plans. We had assumed we'd see them again this year. Now we probably won't. That's the nature of cruising and RVing - you have to say goodbye to friends along the way.

In case you missed them, here are some of our favorite posts from last month:

Canadians: They'll Restore Your Faith In Humanity
Cost of Living Aboard Tickety Boo 
Is It 2020 Yet? Our Cruising Plan

How was your February? What are you looking forward to in March?

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The Time Traveling Cat | IWSG

The Insecure Writer's Support Group (IWSG) is a place to share and encourage, where writers can express their doubts and concerns without appearing foolish or weak. It's a great place to mingle with like minded people each month during IWSG day.

Every month there's an optional question which may prompt folks to share advice, insights, a personal experience or story. Some folks answer the question in their IWSG blog post or let it inspire them if they're struggling with what to say.

This month's question prompt is:

"Have you ever pulled out a really old story and reworked it? Did it work out?"

Check out how people have answered this month's question, as well as the other insecurities and writing topics they may have shared by visiting the IWSG sign-up list here. If you want to see how I answered the question, have a look below.

****

Image via The Graphics Fairy

I felt something furry brush up against my leg while I was making some coffee in the galley. We've had a problem with spiders on our boat, so, of course, I logically assumed one of them had mutated and grown into a large, hairy creature and was trying to attack me. 

As I screamed, I spilled milk all over the counter and it dripped down onto the floor. That's when I noticed it wasn't a mutant spider, but rather a large, gray cat. While he was busy licking up the milk from the floor, I reached down to pet him. He had really soft fur. Much nicer than a mutant spider.

"Hi kitty, what's you name?" I asked.

He turned around, looked up at me and said, "Meow." 

I was going to ask him to elaborate on his answer when I noticed that he had the weirdest eyes. Well, they weren't so much eyes as miniature clock faces. 

He meowed again, this time much more loudly and dug his claws into my leg. This is the problem with living on a sailboat in southern Florida. It's hot here and you're always wearing shorts. Cat claws just sink right into your flesh.

"Hey, watch it," I said sharply. I was beginning to think a mutant spider might have been a more welcome guest.

He sat back down on his haunches and blinked slowly at me. His clock face eyes were mesmerizing.

He swished his tail angrily and said, in English this time, "All right, enough now, lady. Give me some more milk and sit down. We've got stuff to talk about."

He jumped over to the settee and I put a saucer of milk in front of him on the table. He lapped it up greedily and then washed his face for a few minutes.

After a last wipe behind his ears, he said imperiously, "I'm Simon, the Time Traveling Cat." We don't have much time. Yeah, I know it's ironic, isn't it considering I can travel through time, but that's the way it is. Now, your personal life coach, Esme, told me about this month's IWSG question. She figured you'd find it challenging."

I frowned. Esme could be so annoying. "What right does she have to meddle in my business?" I demanded.  

"Frankly, I could care less," he said. "Unless it involves milk, cat food, scratches behind my ears and time travel, I'm really not interested. My only job is to take you forward in time. Now look into my eyes and count to ten."

Did I mention how mesmerizing his clock face eyes were? I felt myself fall into a deep sleep as he blinked his eyes slowly ten times. I was having all sorts of pleasant dreams about mutant spiders when I felt a sharp jab on my leg.

"Wake up already, lady. We're here," Simon said. 

I rubbed my eyes and looked around. "Here? We're in the same place, on my boat."

"Oh, don't tell me, you're one of those people who expects everything to be dramatically different in the future. No, everything is pretty much the same. We're seven years in the future and you still live on a boat. You might want to think about a dye job though. You sure have a lot of gray hair in the future."

"But, you're gray."

"That's different. I'm a cat. Cats look good in gray. You just look washed out. Now, get on with it. Look back at some of the work you've written over the past seven years and put aside because it was so awful. Are you going to rework any of it?"

I booted up my computer and poked around in the folder labeled Crappy Stories. I opened up a file. "Hmm. Here's an interesting one. It's about a time traveling cat named Simon. I don't remember writing it though."

"Whatever," he growled as he stretched out on the settee. "It's all that time travel, paradox, mumbo jumbo nonsense. Like I said, if it doesn't involve milk, cat food..."

"Yeah, I got it the first time. You're a typical cat. It's all about you," I said. "This story actually looks pretty interesting. The structure is all wrong and you can tell I didn't know what I was doing, but it's a fascinating idea - a cat who travels through time. It's amazing how much I've learned about writing in the past seven years. I bet I could rework it into something much better now."

Simon rolled over onto his back. "Good answer. Now pet my belly." 

After a few minutes of belly petting and purring, Simon got up, stretched and said, "Okay, time to go. You know the routine. Stare into my eyes."

Next thing I knew, I was standing in the galley watching milk drip onto the floor. I looked up and noticed a tiny spider scurry across the counter. I screamed and thought to myself that maybe I should get a boat cat to keep the insect population in check.

****

Before you go, here's a shameless plug for the IWSG anthology,  <<Hero Lost: Mysteries of Death and Life>>. It will be published on May 2nd, but you can pre-order a copy from these online retailers:

Amazon (US) 
Amazon (UK)
Amazon (Canada)
Barnes & Noble
Kobo




If you want to help us spread the word, please consider participating in our Thunderclap campaign or blog tour.

Do you ever worry about large, mutant spiders brushing against your leg? If you could travel in time, would you go forwards or backwards and why?


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