Month: January 2022

Well here we are – still at the marina. Our departure date of Jan. 27th is now gone and we are staying connected at the dock because we are looking at a very cold weekend. The temperature for Saturday night is predicted to be -1. Now that’s not very cold compared to what has been happening in Toronto and Kingston, but when you are on a boat that only has heat when plugged in, that is very cold!!! A few days ago I woke up to 12 degrees inside the boat! We don’t run our heater (which is also our air conditioning unit) overnight because it is noisy and blows right on Mark, so we can wake up to some cold cabin temps. Being on anchor would mean no heat at all!!! So here we stay!

Now that we have a few more days here, Mark is looking at all those jobs that just kept moving down the list. Starting off the day, Mark worked on our new (to us) anchor. We bought this very large Manson anchor (80 lbs – meant for a 60ft boat) back at Reynolds and discovered quite quickly that it was very difficult to bring back aboard. Mark has been working on different ways to make it easier to haul the anchor back up from the water. Today he drilled a new hole in the anchor shaft to help with the retrieval process. Several tests later (and lots of noise), the anchor was coming onboard more easily! Success.

Mark also made some headway on cleaning the hull. Crimson Kathryn had a moustache (and she wasn’t too happy about it 😉) – a lovely souvenir of the ICW! We have had this brown mark on the bow since April 2020 – when we put the boat on the hard! It takes a lot of scrubbing and polishing to get the hull looking clean!

While Mark was busy working on the hull, I made spaghetti sauce and worked on my crochet projects. I also moved all of our cockpit cushions onto the deck to dry them out after the rain we’ve had for the past few days. Our enclosure has some leaky zippers and our cushions get very wet when it rains. It doesn’t take long for them to dry out, especially when it’s a nice sunny and windy day (which is what we had today).

I spent a bit of time on Wednesday getting our inreach device up and running. The device has been off for almost 2 years, so there was a bit of updating needed. I was very happily surprised that it started working immediately after the update! It only took about an hour to get it going and it’s working perfectly. Right now the device is in tracking mode, which means it’s sending out tracking points every 4 hours. It will continue to send tracks every 4 hours when we are stationary and every 2 hours when we are moving. I’m going to leave it on now until we end our season in May. We will start moving in a few days! Here is the link to our map:

https://share.garmin.com/CrimsonKathryn

It’s been an eventful few days here on Crimson Kathryn. Mark has worked very hard figuring out the best way to install our new wind generator. It was quite the process because the wind generator needed to be about 3 ft above the top of the mizzen mast. There were lots of things to consider with this installation; how tall did the aluminum pole have to be to make it steady enough so the generator doesn’t vibrate and that it misses the triatic stay when it spins; How to get the wind generator to the top of the mizzen mast and be able to remove any ropes. Also he looked at things like what type of cable connectors are needed, where to put the readout panel, how to connect it to the batteries – and I know there were more things that went into the planning.

The installation went very smoothly and took place over about 4 or 5 days. Mark was hoisted up that mizzen many times – thanks Steve for your help with this – and each time he worked on drilling holes, installing cables etc. Today (Friday) was the final installation day. With a fancy wooden brake attached to the wind generator, Mark, Steve and I hoisted Mark up first and then the generator second. There were a few minor hiccups but for the most part all went as planned. This was a big job and one of the last major things that needed to be completed before we leave Vero Beach. Now we wait for a nice windy day to see how much energy the wind generator will produce!!

Other things we did this week were to finish our provisioning- always a fun job! We had already been to Costco a few weeks ago so this phase of shopping was at local grocery stores and of course the ABC (LCBO knockoff). We now have a very happy boat full of food and drink!!

I spent a bit of time crocheting 2 hanging baskets for a couple of air plants that will eventually end up in Toronto with Evelyn and Caroline. But first they will travel to the Bahamas! It was very relaxing to crochet again – it’s been a few months and these baskets are super easy and fast (my kind of project)!!

So we are now making plans for our departure from Loggerhead Marina. We looked at storing our car here in Vero Beach but it’s very expensive so we’ve decided to drive our car back to Reynolds and leave it there for the 3 months we are in the Bahamas. We’ve rented a car for Jan. 25th so that’s the last day we’ll have wheels. We are looking at a marina departure date of Jan. 27th and are planning to cross to the Bahamas when there is a good weather window. We’ve started the process of getting our health visas and cruising license. Jane ordered rapid antigen tests that you can do from the boat (just need wifi) so we can upload our negative (🤞) test results as part of our health visas. It’s all starting to come together now!!

January 16 (a special day for me 🥳) gave us our biggest rain storm yet and a great test for our new portlights. I’m very happy to say we had no leaks from the new ones but one of the 2 remaining old portlights did leak. I think the boat is telling us to replace the last 2 with the nice new ones!! Definitely something to think about – maybe we’ll replace them with portlights that don’t open.

Right now the boat is full of beautiful flowers. It’s so nice to have cut flowers onboard – really brightens the place up. We had a lovely dinner with Jane and Steve on Saturday night to celebrate my birthday. They bought me a bottle of Kentucky bourbon (which I have been wanting to try) and it’s very smooth!!

A few days ago Mark received the long overdue wind generator. It was ordered in the beginning of December so it took a very long time to get here. Unfortunately it arrived without the cables – that box arrived today! While waiting for the cables, Mark and I worked on the 6ft aluminum pole that will support the wind generator at the top of the mizzen mast. Mark was hoisted up the mizzen 2 days in a row to make the needed adjustments and to drill holes in the mast to mount the pole. Lots of planning has gone into the installation of our new wind generator. Now that we have the cables, the wind generator can almost be installed. Turns out the power cable is very big (almost 3/4 in thick) and we don’t have the correct sized connectors, so another Amazon order has been placed.

The other big job Mark worked on was installing our new inverter. The new inverter takes our battery power and changes it into 120 volts so we can run the microwave, toaster and all our wall sockets without being plugged into shore power! This is such a nice thing – no more using the manual toaster over the propane burner or plugging our devices into the little inverter under the navigation station when we’re at anchor. The new inverter had to be mounted near the batteries and horizontal which was a bit of a challenge but Mark made it work!!

We decided today to extend our stay here at Loggerhead until January 27th. We’ve made a tentative plan with Jane and Steve to sail south to Lake Worth and then cross over to the Bahamas. Hopefully by the beginning of February, these cold fronts will slow down and better crossing weather will start to show up.

The days keep moving along and we’re getting a little bored of our marina life. Don’t get me wrong, it’s super nice being here – the car, the pool and all the comforts of being tied to the dock – but we’re starting to miss being on the water and sailing.

The last few days have been quite windy and much cooler. We can always tell when home is getting some stormy, cold weather because we too see a change. Toronto and Kingston have been seeing some cold temps and our temperatures have been in the low 20 degrees. It’s still sunny most of the time and we are enjoying the cooler temps.

The jobs are starting to wind down now. Most of the necessary work has been completed or is close to being completed. Mark is doing some fluid changes on the engine (engine and transmission oils, fuel filters) and is waiting for the dinghy repair kit to arrive. The dinghy has a small hole causing it to deflate (not a great thing for a dinghy). Mark located the hole with the help of Steve and it’s an easy fix. The wind generator is arriving on Thursday so installing it will probably be the last big job we do before we leave the marina. We’ve decided to hold off buying the new water maker until next season because there seems to be an issue with supply. We can’t get one until maybe mid February (no guarantee), so we’ll just wait.

I am almost finished all the exterior wood work. The windlass base, 2 hand rails and the dinghy engine mount are all that’s left to be sealed with semco. It’s so nice to be at the end of that job and the wood looks great!!

What’s up next for Crimson Kathryn? That’s a very good question. Mark and I have talked about where we go once we leave here (we’re paid up until January 20) and we still have no definitive answer. The Bahamas keep changing their entry requirements and I’ve heard that they will be changing again at the beginning of February. So, we’ve still not ruled out going to the Bahamas and will probably start by moving further south for now.

Although it has only been 1 week since the girls went home, we have been busy working away at our job list. It was great to take a break from boat jobs but now we need to get the more critical jobs done. We are paid up at the marina until Jan. 20, so we do have a few more weeks to go.

The new year jobs started with mast cleaning and engine work for Mark. I tackled our exterior wood – cap rails and rub rails. The mast cleaning and polishing went well but the engine work was far more complicated. Mark was replacing some copper lines (pipes) that are part of the fuel and steering system because they were salt corroded (from the leaky generator- another good reason that it’s gone!). It was a difficult job which required a lot of moving things around to get at the corroded parts, removing those parts and then replacing them. There were some moments of, well let’s just say unhappiness, during this job. A bit of leaking made a mess in the engine room and then the copper tubes were a challenge to make them fit properly. As of today, the job is done – Mark just needs to replace all the moved parts in the engine room. The real test will come either tomorrow (Friday) or Saturday. We have to move into a new slip so we’ll get to test the steering (which is one of the copper pipes that has been replaced)!

My job started with cleaning our teak cap and rub rails with this 2 part cleaner that removes all the crud from 2 years in storage. I was amazed at the stuff that came off – it was like mud almost. It took a few hours to do the whole boat (it’s at these times that I wish our boat was about 20ft shorter 😁) and then the teak needed to dry thoroughly for about 24 hours. The next day I applied 2 coats of the semco teak sealer. This sealer is really nice – super easy to apply (just use a clean cloth) and the 2nd coat can go down within an hour. There is still a bit more exterior teak to look after but the hardest part is done.

Today we went on a shopping journey! We went to Fort Pierce to drop off our old alternator (to have it rebuilt – it will be our backup) and continued south to West Palm Beach to buy some metal for the installation of our new wind generator and then we went to Costco!! We had a very successful day – lots of good food and drink was purchased!! I can tell you our freezer is working overtime right now!

The days fly by quickly on the dock! It’s hard to believe we are already a week into January! We are still figuring out our plan for the season. The Bahamas seem to be changing their entrance requirements daily so we’re still hoping to cross over in late January or early February.

Happy New Year!! We hope you all had a fun New Year’s Eve and have had a relaxing start to this new, exciting year. I know we are all wishing for (and hoping for) a better year where we can be with our families and friends without masks or social distancing!

We rang in the new year with our friends Jane and Steve Holler! They arrived at Loggerhead around 2 pm on Dec. 31 and tied up on our dock but across from us. We helped them get on the dock by taking their lines – although they did a great job coming along side the face dock. After they settled in, we got together for appetizers, bubbly, and then dinner. It was great to celebrate the new year with them.

So it’s a new year but we still have the same boat jobs hanging around. We did zero jobs while the girls were here – which was amazing and a well needed break!! Now we are back at it – well one of us is back at it, hehe! Mark spent part of the day up the main mast, cleaning and polishing it. He also spent time working on some corroded copper pipes that are part of the steering and fuel systems. I helped get Mark up and down the mast, but for most of the day, I enjoyed the hammock 😁.

We definitely have more jobs to complete in the next few weeks but we are slowly getting back up to speed. We are waiting on some deliveries – the wind generator and the water maker are taking a long time to arrive!! Both items have fairly complicated installations so it would be nice to get them soon.

Our plan for the rest of our sailing season is still evolving. The Bahamas are changing their entrance requirements as of Jan. 7. After that date, all travellers must have a negative pcr test within 72 hours of their arrival (the previous requirement for vaccinated individuals was to have an antibody test 5 days before arrival – much easier). That’s a fairly tight timeline when you are looking for the right weather window to cross over to the Bahamas. We are playing it by ear and not rushing. Better to be safe then sorry!