Manatee pockets

Manatees don’t have pockets but we’re anchored in the “Manatee pocket”. It’s a little bay just off from the ICW on the east/south side of Stuart Fl. The City put out a regulation earlier this year that would have prevented any cruisers from anchoring in the pocket but Anna heard about it and joined many cruisers in writing letters to the city complaining about the closing of the pocket for anchoring. The city relented and re-opened the small bay. It’s a great place to stop for we have friends who live just a few miles away from here and hope to visit them soon. The city is also friendly to bikes and it’s only ½ of a mile to stores. Plus it’s warm!

Other cruisers anchored on their way south.
The pipe in the water by the yellow bouy is a dredging pipe. They are dredging the aft bay where we normally anchor so, we are in the middle bay.

Crane city

Going down the Indian River (which isn't really a river at all) we passed this large construction site. Lots of cranes at work. It looks to me to be a new power plant being built. What do you think it is?

Wrecks

Here in Titusville there are a few boat wrecks up on the shore or sunk in the shallows around the bay. Whenever I see these wrecks as we travel the intercoastal, (some of them aren’t that bad,) I wonder what the back story is. Were these boats owned by a ‘boat bum’ who finally had his anchor rope break in a storm? Or, is it somebody’s pride and joy that dragged anchor in a storm and is now resting in the mangroves or high on the rocks waiting for a crane and that last trip to the dump. It’s always a mystery to me and a never-ending source of exploration as we travel south.

This one is partly sunk by an island in the middle of the bay.


This one doesn't have any holes in it, the owner just walked away from it when he woke up and found himself on the rocks... I guess.
It appears that this one almost made it full on shore.
OK, The Snow Goose just looked to good sitting there so I included a picture of her in her new paint job.

Work underway

Last night the anchor light failed to work. The US Coast Guard tends to frown on boats that don’t show their anchor light. So today, while motoring towards Titusville, I went up the mizzen mast and found a broken wire. I also found a great view! A broken wire became an adventure during a long day of motoring.

More work

When I stopped in at the office to ask if there were any projects that needed to be wrapped up before we leave, I should have known better and kept my mouth shut. John sat up and said "it a good thing that you asked, I need a temporary platform built on the far side of the main building… over the swamp". Well, all I had to do was build legs with pads on the ends (to keep the supports from sinking into the mud), then wade through the reeds and work in ankle deep water to build legs and then nail plywood on for a deck.


Actually, the project was rather easy and only took a day to complete. The walkway is needed for the steel workers (who are due at the marina) to replace the sides of the building that were damaged in the hurricane.
We should be leaving for Fl. by the weekend. I’m looking forward to some warm weather and sunshine.

Back in Oriental

It’s cold in Michigan and the lakes are beginning to ice over, it’s time to leave. We should be back in Oriental NC by the weekend and put the goose back in the water Monday. Then it’s south for the winter!

Two days later...

This is what we found the morning after we arrived in Oriental, a soft fog covering the marina. I love walking on mornings like this, the world just seems more magical.

New car

The trip home was a run through hell. It was rainy for 80% of the trip. I thought that the great flood was returning at times. Finally, we reached Michigan, in the rain, at night, only to have the “new” car break down on the expressway miles from the nearest exit, about 50 miles from home. The wrecker towed us to the next exit and we left the car. In the morning, we returned with parts and I replaced the idler arm and the destroyed serpentine belt. As I told Anna, “stick with me and everyday will be an adventure”!

Last coat

You all are probably sick and tired of checking this site and finding more work projects… well, so am I. The good news is that the project list is finally coming to an end. The green gets its last coat of paint today and the bottom gets its paint job too. All that’s left is to pre-paint the name on the backside. Then we are taking a vacation and going home for turkey day. While there, we’ll close on the house and take care of other business before heading back to the boat. With luck, we should have the Goose back in the water by the first week of Dec and heading south soon afterwards. It’s been a long, long stretch of work here at Deaton Marine but the results have been rewarding both in the financial sense and in the great friendships that we have made here at the marina. One of the hardest things as the months have piled up was to watch as new friends finished up on their own boat projects and head south. Soon, we hope to be joining them too.


the final product, she sure looks good!

Last coat

You all are probably sick and tired of checking this site and finding more work projects… well, so am I. The good news is that the project list is finally coming to an end. The green gets its last coat of paint today and the bottom gets its paint job too. Then we are taking a vacation and going home for turkey day. While there, we’ll close on the house and take care of other business before heading back to the boat. With luck, we should have the Goose back in the water by the first week of Dec and heading south soon afterwards. It’s been a long, long stretch of work here at Deaton Marine but the results have been rewarding both in the financial area and in the great friendships that we have made here at the marina. One of the hardest things (as the months here have piled up), was to make new friends, watch as they finish up on their own boat projects and then head south. Soon, we hope to be joining them too.

Green paint

The first coat of paint is on and it’s a 100 foot paint job. I’m disappointed. Next coat goes on Friday Maybe it will look better.

Time to paint

If it were only as easy as splashing a bit of paint onto the boat I’d be a happy man but it’s all of the prep work that has to be done that’s the killer. All of the existing paint has to be sanded and then carefully washed down to remove all of that dust you just put on it. Then, wipe the entire area down with acetone to clean the surface of any possible oil or grease. Finally, tape the area off to keep your paint lines clean and crisp. Only then can you open up a can of paint, get your roller ready and roll the paint on THEN quickly “tip it” off, which is running the tips of a brush across the surface of the paint to produce small uniform paint lines that will then flatten out into a perfectly smooth finish (yea, in your dreams). Anyway, if you do it right it gives a great ’20 foot’ paint job… that is, from 20 feet away it looks great.

More hull blisters

It’s been 3 – 10hr days of balancing on my home made scaffolding but the hull blisters are now filled, faired and primed and I’m pooped.

Sanded smooth, I know, it doesn't look like much but a LOT of work went into getting to this stage.
Here's the prime coat. Ready for the green paint.

Hull blisters

It’s amazing how much work and time it takes to repair the finish of a hull. If I had Deaton do this work I could have 10 to 15 thousand dollars invested in the job. As it is, it will cost us about $300 in materials and about 2 years off my life when it’s done! Now, all I have to do is sand the areas until there smooth and fair.

As you can see I have a bit of work ahead of me.

Odd jobs

Along with the major jobs I still have a few smaller jobs that need to be done. Such as repairing the rust spots in the port holes
Finishing the rudder
Clean all of the port hole screens, (Anna volunteered to shine them up).
And put the last few coats of paint on the prop. Don’t you just love the bright green?

Rudder

Just like the hull the rudder seems to have a delamination problem so, I ground out the places that the fiberglass had cracked. Then I had to rebuild the many layers of fiberglass necessary for the protection of the rudder. In another week or so, the hull and rudder will be ready for another 5 years of life.

Cutlass bearing

The cutlass bearing is a fiberglass tube, 6 inches long with rubber spines inside that the propeller shaft rides on. To replace it all you have to do is remove the propeller shaft. Of course, to do that you have to remove an 11 foot tall rudder, the propeller, all of the batteries, the battery housing, the muffler, the connection to the engine and the shaft seal all working in an area that can only be accessed by kneeling in a tiny area, leaning over until your head is resting on the hull (lower than your knees) and stretching out your arms through a bulkhead to undo bolts… lots of fun. Of course these parts haven’t been apart in 5 years just to add to the fun. Then you can use a hack saw to slowly cut the old bearing off. Needles to say, it was a bad day for Rich.

Going "down under" to un-bolt the rudder. Anna lifting it off the boat,
With a bit of help.
Removing the prop.
Pounding out the shaft.
Next, the batteries
The muffler which hasn't come out in 5 years.
All to replace the cutlass bearing. Here's the final product... that little ring around the shaft.

Blisters

Now that the bad spots are marked off it’s time to grind. As you can see there was quite a bit of delaminating between the hull and the paint job.

While I wait for materials to arrive to repair these grind areas, I’ll tackle the cutlass bearing.