Crimson Kathryn and her crew

Finally we’re back on the water!! It’s been a long week living on the hard and to top it all, our final night on the hard was spent in the travel lift slings, suspended about 10 inches off the ground. The very last spots under the stands needed to be painted and left to dry for 10 hours – that’s why we spent the night just hanging there.

The good part about the wait for the propeller shaft was that we were able to focus on a lot of other jobs and had time to complete quite a few! The days have kind of all blurred together but there has been a few stand out moments.

It’s been the time of the saw! The old air conditioning units have been removed and that required some cutting of copper pipes, wrestling with heavy units and motors plus lots of wire cables being moved. The new units have been put in place but are not connected yet – that’s a job for later down the river. The aft unit went into the new spot very easily with lots of room to spare. The spot for main cabin unit, which is larger than the aft cabin unit, needed a fair amount of adjusting – out came the saw again. It was a noisy, messy job but with some ingenuity, Mark managed to get the unit to fit.

The new inverter took a bit of time to install. It fits perfectly in the old inverter’s spot but the wiring for the new one was a challenge. Mark managed to get all the wires connected and the inverter box was secured in its new home in just a few hours. That job lead to the purchase of a new microwave! Our old one was all rusty and disgusting so we decided to look for a new one. Lots of choices and they’re cheap!!

Our final big jobs were all done on the last day (Nov. 14). We started the day by moving the 2 heavy water maker boxes onboard. We used our main halyard to hoist both boxes onto the deck and then into the cockpit. One box contained the 2 – 45 inch membranes and the second box contained the pump. We next moved onto clearing out the compartment under the floorboards below the main cabin table. This compartment held one of our original water tanks. That tank got holes several years ago and we ended up cutting the top of aluminum tank and placing a rubber bladder in there. Now the bladder is gone and the whole top of the old water tanks has been removed. The two membranes are secured in this space and the pump will be going in another storage compartment under our cabin seats.

While this job was ongoing, the propeller shaft arrived!!! So the water maker job stopped and we went to work on the new shaft. Before we could start work on the shaft, we quickly had to remove the forestay because the travel lift was heading to us to complete our bottom paint job. The cutlass bearing had been installed at the beginning of the week so we were good to put the shaft back in by ourselves. Mark added a “dripless shaft seal” that complicated the job a bit. Fortunately the new shaft was a perfect fit and the re-installation went well. As we were working on the shaft, the final bottom paint was going on the spots where the boat stands were placed and under the keel. At around 4pm, we went back to work on the membrane install and then cleaned up the main cabin! It was a long, very productive day.

It was an early morning today (Nov. 15) – up at 6am and moving to the water by 8 am. Our launch was smooth with no problems. Once tied up at the launch dock, Mark started the engine (always a bit of a tense moment) and it ran like a charm!! We had a very windy morning so getting off the launch dock was a challenge but getting onto the pier was even more fun!! We had wind and current pushing us into the pier. Good thing we had Brad and Julia helping us with lines and muscle power. It took some strength to keep us off the wooden platforms on the pier and to get our fenders in position. In the end we tied up at spot 12 and sighed with relief!! We’re back in the water at last.

I probably shouldn’t tell you this but I’m going to anyhow. We’ve moved aboard Crimson Kathryn – on the hard!! Unfortunately our time at the Airbnb has run out but we’re still waiting for the new propeller shaft to arrive. Our choices were to find a hotel for the next 5 or more nights or live on the boat clandestinely!! We chose to save money and become land pirates😁! As I mentioned in my previous post, contractors from the yard next to Reynolds have been working on the weekends so our gate has been open allowing us to access to our boat. Turns out this weekend is Remembrance Day weekend and so far no one is working in the other yard and the gate is still locked! Are we trapped? Stuck in here for the long 3 day weekend? Nope! As we were walking in at the end of the day on Friday (Nov. 8), Mark noticed the lock to our gate was hanging open. He decided to check if it was a combination lock or a keyed one. Sure enough it was a combo lock and the combination was still in place! Mark checked later last night and it is the correct lock combination! Freedom at our fingertips.

The jobs are continuing. The dinghy repair is done and it’s back with us in the yard. All the “must do before going in the water” jobs are also done (except for the propeller shaft and cutlass bearing). Now we are working on the other improvement jobs. Mark has removed the old air conditioning unit in the aft cabin and will start removing the main cabin unit soon. We’re adding little fans to the aft cabin – that’s today’s job. The engine will get a fuel pump repair fairly soon also. The new inverter needs to be installed. It’s a funny (not so funny) story about our inverter. It was working fine for the first few days after our arrival. On about day 3, our friends Jackie and Tom stopped by for a chat and told us about their inverter which was damaged during a thunderstorm this summer. After they left, Mark tried to use our inverter and it had stopped working!! Somehow the darn thing was listening to the story and decided to join the dead inverter club. Or maybe it was just a coincidence 😁.

We’ve decided to delay some of our more time consuming and weather dependent jobs until later. We really want to get going as soon as possible and we’ve already been delayed because of the shaft replacement. The semco teak work and the non-skip deck painting will be done when we’re further south – maybe at Vero Beach. The water maker and air conditioners can be installed at any time. We can easily get good water in the Bahamas so no hurry for the water maker and we can only run the air conditioning when we’re at a dock. Once we leave here, we probably won’t be at a dock again until we reach the Wardle’s on New Providence.

(A reminder – the small photos can be clicked on to enlarge them. You can then scroll between the photos in the “gallery“.)

We got lucky this past weekend (Nov. 2 – 3). There are some men working on a ship in the yard just past our boat and the access to this vessel is through the Reynolds boat yard. So these guys work all weekend and therefore, we could too!!

Many jobs were completed over the weekend (and part of today). The interior of the boat is now clean and mostly organized. The galley has been washed and all the dishes have been returned to their shelves. The fridge and freezer have been washed and they are both ready to be filled (once we’ve moved aboard).

Mark spent a good deal of time finishing the installation of our new emergency rudder. This emergency rudder uses one of our interior doors as the rudder. The “rudder” door is normally the door to our aft cabin which we rarely close. Now it has a few holes in strategic places. Mark made 2 long poles that connect together with the door to become the rudder. All parts of the emergency rudder are stored inside the boat with relatively easy access. Here’s hoping we never have to use it!!

The job list has had some satisfying cross offs, including washing all the boat fenders; emptying boxes and vacuum sealed bags and taking the dinghy to a shop to be repaired. The hardest job we worked on this past weekend was reinstalling the windlass (which Mark brought home to work on). The windlass is on deck and inside the chain locker. It’s very heavy and access is terrible. After much cursing, sweating and just hanging around on deck (that was me 😁), the windlass is back in place and working perfectly. There are other jobs that are still ongoing – the hull is about 70% polished (and looks great) and our new name decal for the stern needs to be placed. Of course the last big job that must be completed before we go in the water is the propeller shaft and cutlass bearing.

It hasn’t been all work – on Sunday evening Julia, Brad and Finn came over to our Airbnb for dinner. We had a lovely salmon meal with a great fruit dessert (thanks Julia). It was wonderful to relax and chit chat away from the boat yard.

Four work days are done and we’re getting things accomplished. Mark’s first big job, removing the propeller shaft and the cutlass bearing,  went really well. Turns out if you lubricate bolts in the spring and leave them for 6 months, they turn quite easily. That work was done by mid morning and at the end of the day, Kyle (the go to guy at Holland Marine) came over to remove the propeller. The bad news from this job is that we need a new propeller shaft on top of the cutlass bearing. The shaft has to be sent to a company on the west coast of Florida who will make a new one for the boat but that job will take 7-10 business days. Earliest the new shaft will be here is Thursday, November 7th – our scheduled launch date. So if all goes well, the shaft will arrive and it plus the cutlass bearing will be reinstalled on Nov. 7th and we can be launched on Friday, November 8th. We’re super hopeful this will happen because we have to check out of our Airbnb on Nov 8th and we can’t stay in the boat in the yard.

Other jobs are being completed too. The deck and cockpit were washed. The enclosure has been put up. Sails were moved from the inside of the boat and the interior has been washed and is being organized for moving aboard. Mark has started polishing the hull and working on his newly built emergency rudder.

We’ve been making daily runs to the office to pick up all the parcels that have been arriving. It’s like Christmas down here!! Our Airbnb unit is filling up with boxes. Next week we’ll start bringing all these new items back to the boat. Right now there’s not really room for all the stuff because our normal storage area – the V-berth – needs to be washed and sorted. That’s my job for Friday (Nov. 1).

Tonight, Halloween, we’re going out for dinner with Julia and Brad. Thought we’d take a break and see what St. Augustine is like on Halloween. Should be fun!!

Our drive down to Florida was incredibly uneventful which is exactly what you want when driving straight down. Traffic was good for the most part and the weather also cooperated (with a bit of rain during the night). We left Kingston at 1:30pm Oct. 26 and arrived at Reynolds Park at 12:30pm Oct. 27th. After a short visit our friends Julia and Brad, we drove into the Reynolds storage yard (we got lucky – the gate was open because some contractors were working. The gate is supposed to be closed and locked on the weekends) and checked out the boat. We spent a little over an hour taking off the sun shade. After that job was done, we headed to our Airbnb, unpacked most of the car, and did a bit of grocery shopping. After the overnight drive we were in bed early!

First day of boat jobs – Oct. 28th!! There is much joy in owning an old boat. Crimson Kathryn has a lot of style and charm that comes with her 44 years. But she also comes with a long list of jobs!!! Some of these jobs are maintenance items that every boat owner must do, while others are improvements. This season we have a variety of regular maintenance jobs and repairs plus some new installs. The major items on the list are: New bottom paint (being done by Holland Marine), repair of the cutlass bearing, non-skid paint on the deck (to solve our slippery deck issue from last season), new water maker and 2 new air conditioning units. 

The bottom paint job was started the Friday before we arrived and the Holland Marine employee, Andrew, finished the work today. It looks amazing and it’s great to have that item crossed off the list. Unfortunately the first job for me today was to wash the deck and cockpit so the enclosure and all cockpit cushions could be moved back from inside of the boat. As usual we had a small amount of white mold on some of the wood surfaces and I easily cleaned those off with water and vinegar. Mark worked on taking apart the propeller shaft to get at the cutlass bearing. Not a lot of swearing went on so it seems like the removal process has been a successful job so far.

Ordered parts are starting to arrive at the Reynolds’ office. Today we picked up our air conditioning units and 2 other items. We’re moving all these new parts into our Airbnb unit for now – freeing up space inside the boat while it’s being cleaned and organized. Tomorrow the deck and cockpit will get washed so outdoor stuff can be moved and we’ll be able to work more easily inside the boat. The first few weeks are always the most challenging as things get sorted out.

It’s the start of a new sailing season folks. The summer flew by and now it’s time to make our drive south. This season will be our biggest and longest yet. The plan is to get the boat back on the water by Nov. 8th and hopefully leave the Reynolds’ pier by the third week of November. We’re planning to cross to the Bahamas very early in December – as soon as there is a window. We’ve booked our Christmas flights home from Nassau on December 22 – 30.

You may ask why are we in such a hurry to get to the Bahamas? Well this season the goal is to take the boat all the way to Puerto Rico. Mark has already booked a spot for us at a hurricane protected (as protected as can be anyhow) marina where we’ll leave Crimson Kathryn for next summer. This will be the beginning of our Caribbean adventure – cruising all the way down to Trinidad and Tobago (eventually).

So come along for the ride – it should be an interesting season!!