New boat - Preparing for trip north

It's been a busy year and a half since the last post. We began a hunt for a slightly larger trawler in 2006, and by May 2007 we had settled on a DeFever 41 built in 1987. Since then, we have been working to upgrade some of the systems and the decor, with a new Force 10 propane stove/oven to replace the dreadful electric stove/oven (requiring us to operate the generator every time we wanted to use the stove), a hand held Simrad auto-pilot control unit (in addition to the console mounted unit), new GPS, new curtains and cushions (absolutely beautiful), new bow-thruster (to replace one 1/2 the proper size), and soon-to-be rewired electrical system.

We hope to have everything completed in time for a departure in late April 2008. We'll be heading to Canada, either via Maine on the ocean side of the continent, or via Lake Champlaine on the inside route.

Pictures of the new Sanderling can be seen at http://public.fotki.com/rmcleran/sanderling/

Almost home

We've failed to maintain this blog as promised at the start of our cruise to Maine, but we did try to let our friends know what we were doing through an email log sent out every few days. Sorry 'bout that!

We had a great trip, and now it is almost finished. We reached Bar Harbor, Maine, as far north/east as we were able to get with the time we had available. That was about 70 miles short of Eastport, Maine, which is on the boarder with Canada. We found cruising in Maine to be extremely rewarding with beautiful vistas, anchorages and towns, friendly people, and boater-friendly harbors. We're ready to head back at the next opportunity and see more!

We turned around in late August, and after a quick weekend trip to Kansas to help celebrate Judy's mom's 85th birthday, have been steadily headin back toward Florida. The weather didn't cooperate as well on this leg of the trip, and we've had to wait for better weather in various places for about 10 days - Oyster Bay, Long Island; Atlantic City, New Jersey; Dismal Swamp Canal, Virginia. As a consequence, and the need to get back to Florida by the end of October, we haven't stopped to smell the roses as much as we would have liked. Nonetheless, we've had some great experiences along the way.

Sanderling is now at the Isle of Hope Marina, Savannah, Georgia, for a week while Judy is in Kansas. Bob is taking care of the rest of the crew and Sanderling, catching up on a little maintenance. When Judy returns on Wednesday, we'll continue the cruise to Merritt Island - should take about five days once we get underway.

Delaware Bay

After 15 days of cruising every day, we anchored Friday night at the north end of Delaware Bay. Now we're fog-bound on Saturday morning, hoping the fog will lift by 1000 so we can get underway.

Great trip so far. We should be able to make Cape Cod on the 20th of July without any problem (unless we encounter more fog).

One more day!

Sanderling is just about ready to depart. Everything is aboard except for our personal items and food. We still have to hurricane-proof the house, but that is just a matter of picking up everything that is outside and moving it into the garage, or other areas indoors. Our house-sitter will take care of things if a hurricane invades the area.

We'll be departing either Thursday afternoon (the 29th), or early on Friday (the 30th). We'll have to watch the shuttle launch while underway north of Daytona, Florida.

Ready to Depart Boat Yard

Everything has been completed as far as the fuel tank replacement project is concerned. The generator was connected to the fuel line and run this morning. The "shark skin" that had been protecting (with some success) the saloon deck has been removed. The sand and small pieces of gravel cleaned up.

The final item was to haul Sanderling to check her bottom, cutlass bearings, and zincs. The bottom only had a bit of slime, and there was a small amount of growth (worms and small barnacles) on the shafts and wheels which were scraped off. Two shaft zincs needed to be replaced; the remaining zincs were still in good shape. Sanderling was out of the water for no more than 45 minutes.

Now she's lying against the dock. I reconnected the starting battery and ran the engines for a short while as I was checking out the various electronics, inverter and Link 1000 electrical usage monitor. We ran the generator so we could check out the heat pumps and charger.

Now we need to clean and dust, and put things away. We should finish cleaning tomorrow (Sunday) and then we can take her down to our marina on Monday, and load items we need for our trip north on Tuesday and Wednesday. With any luck we'll be on our way north on Thursday.

Good news!

Good news - both engines are back in the engine room (along with new tanks)! The port engine is all hooked up and ready to run for the first time in over three months. The starboard engine is resting on the stringers, but not yet fastened in place with the engine mounts. That will be accomplished today, along with reattaching all of the hoses, lines and cables. With a little luck, the generator will be placed in the engine room today.

After reconnecting the electrical system, starting the engines, and making sure that everything is operating properly, the only thing left to do is to haul Sanderling for a short while (keeping her in the slings) to clean the bottom and replace any corroded zincs. Then we'll be out of the boat yard and back in our marina.

Still in the boat yard

Sanderling is still undergoing repairs at Banana River Marine on Merritt Island, Florida. Earlier this spring her generator, two diesel engines, and fuel tanks were removed in order to replace the fuel tanks with new ones. In the process, the entire engine room and bilge was cleaned and painted, and all hoses and impellers on the engines replaced.

Work has proceeded slowly, as the yard is short-handed and has been repairing other boats while Sanderling's work took a back seat. On June 9th work started again after a month of inactivity. As of today (June 14th) the 900 pound engines are being lifted into place. In a few days they should be connected and running again.

Following completion of the yard work, we will take Sanderling back to her marina at Patrick Air Force Base and begin the task of getting her ready for the cruise north.