Mary and Lance – cruising the ICW & Bahamas

So, let’s see what we’ve been doing over the ThanksGiving weekend. Sleep laaaate, drink coffee, have breakfast, have shower etc, laze around to lunch, check emails and Facebook, have afternoon tea, laze around till dinner, watch some random TV and then off to bed. Repeat process for next few days Yeah right!!!

So what have I done?

Shopping!!! Always first on the list as there’s always something more I need to get. This time it was a new (multi-region) DVD. Well that took half a day without success!!

Next, I re-positioned the VHF radio. It was situated in a small cupboard almost at  the level of my knees on the flybridge. It’s a very nice secure position but the problem is trying to use it. Here’s the scene: someone calls us on the radio; must bend almost double to get our microphone out of this cupboard, Meanwhile, because I’m bent over, I can’t see where I’m driving to and the boat is going all over the show. By now the other boat is frantically calling again. So, straighten up, sort the direction of the boat and answer the radio. All initial contact on the radio is done on channel 16 and then participants move to a “working” channel – often 68. Now, bend over to see radio and press button repeatedly – from 16 all the way up to 68. Meanwhile the boat’s wandering all over the show again!!! Finally answer on channel 68 Now back to calling channel 16 at end of conversation. So, bend over double – this time only have to press one button for Ch 16 – boat’s still on course – but still have to secure the microphone in its bracket…….. Hence my decision to relocate the radio to a higher point which is more user friendly. But, to do this have to wiggle into an area – well, imagine trying to work behind the dashboard of the car from below – lie with back on floor, bum on car seat and legs draped over the seat rest, arms extended behind dash and all sorts of “stuff” falling into eyes! – get the picture? I should apply for a job with the circus as a contortionist!!! So, eventually everything’s moved but the antenna cable is 3ft too short. This will necessitate a visit to the marine store (1 hour drive each way) to buy more cable and cable connectors! Then back under the console again!

So, don’t ask what we do all day long. A simple 1 hour project in you home is an all day affair on the boat!

Next project: Yessss, it’s to do with anchors again. May seem that I have this obsession with anchors. Well, I do The anchoring system – called “ground tackle” – is the boat’s lifeline. It’s the only thing that keeps the boat from dragging into other boats, or onto the beach, or, heaven forbid, onto the rocks, or, worse still, out into the ruddy great big ocean. Hence my obsession.

So, you all know about the anchor and our dragging episode. Well that’s being sorted. But there’s more to the ground tackle than just the anchor. There’s also the chain (plus rope) and, especially, the length of chain between the anchor and the boat. Obviously, one needs more chain than just the depth under the boat. But, how much chain??? That’s the question. There are all sorts of formulae but I generally use the formula of 5:1 (7 or more if I expect big winds) So for every foot of depth I let out 5 ft of chain (and for those know-alls, yes I take into account the tidal range as well as the height of the deck above the water). So, in 20′ of water, I let out how much chain? C’mon, you can do it! Yep, you got it: 20×5= 100 ft of chain! Well done. The question is how do you know when you’ve let out 100′ of chain?

Well, the more modern boats have an automatic counter that will give you the exact amount on a digital screen. Mine doesn’t! And what happens when the chain counter dies…..?

So you have to mark the chain at intervals so that you can visually see how much you have let out. This was another all day project yesterday.

First, haul all 200′ of chain (at 1.1lbs per foot) out of the anchor locked. Then lay it out on the dock, then measure where to place the marks, then clean the chain, apply primer, wait for it to dry, apply first coat of paint, wait to dry, apply second coat….

Finally, its done.

Meanwhile, “splice” 100′ of anchor line (rope) to the end of the chain extending the length of the anchoring chain+line (rode) to 300′ Then, also insert markers at set intervals into the line.

Job done

Fluorescent pink and green

Pink represents 25ft and green is 50′ So, pink and green together is …… drumroll here, if you please ….. 75 feet!

The "splice"

This is a “tapered” splice joining the chain to the line.

Line markers

These are 30ft markers (so, 200′ chain +30/60/90) and the red-green-red markers mark the end of the line.

Now, all I have to do is make sure I remember my system…….

Who can break steel? I mean who can, literally, break steel? And not just any steel! But a stainless steel bar? A solid 3/4 inch steel bar? Well, Mighty Mouse of course

More on anchoring, and especially windlasses (winches). Now most bigger boats have electric winches to uplift and retrieve the anchor and chain. It’s a mammoth task to do it by hand as we found out some weeks ago in Mile Hammock Bay when our batteries were flat – remember that episode! Hand over hand, inch by painful inch, Robert and I hauled in about 160 ft of chain (weighing about 1.1 lbs per foot) plus the 23 lb anchor from slippery, slimy, sticky mud!!! And as a kid I loved playing in the mud!? What happened?

Anyway, my windlass also has a lever on it that one can use to manually winch it in without having to haul on the anchor chain itself. It’s a slow, laborious process but will get the anchor up with less effort. In fact, one can do it singlehandedly.

So, why didn’t we use it? Simply because some time before this episode Mighty Mouse had decided to try out the manual system. Hey that’s why it’s a “shakedown” cruise – to discover and iron out the minor problems before embarking on the major journey J

Well, Mighty Mouse, aka me, tried the system and promptly snapped off the stainless steel bar!!

As it's supposed to be

What Mighty Mouse did to it!!

I guess after 25 years, metal fatigue had set in and weakened the lever to susch an extent that little force was needed to simply snap it off.

Fortunately, Muir is a great company, still producing great products and I have been able to simply order a replacement. As a Kiwi I hate to say it, but full marks to this Australian company!!!

Drove to Jacksonville yesterday for some more retail therapy It was about an hour’s drive and Myrtle (our Tom Tom GPS) was gently navigating us along the highways and byways. Of course, just because she says to go straight doesn’t mean that we will. Here’s the culprit that led Mary, who was driving, astray.

That cement truck's the culprit!!

(Excuse to poor quality of the photo but it was raining and the road was bumpy)

Yep, it was that cement truck. Mary had sedately tucked us in behind the truck in the right lane – following it? Naturally, when you are behind a large truck your view ahead is a bit obscured. So, I guess it was no surprise that Mary simply followed the truck onto the off ramp and off the highway! Oh well, it’s happened before!

Myrtle to the rescue!!! No problem for her to direct us down the off ramp, to the traffic lights, directly across all the other lanes and back onto the on ramp on the other side!!! Myrtle says……

Crossed this interesting suspension bridge that we will (I think) be going under when we cruise out in a few days!

Suspension bridge

The approach to the bridge ascends quite dramatically!

Well no further issues apart from spending too much on swimming and fishing gear.

Not much else happening at the moment. It’s Thanksgiving weekend so a lot of businesses close – sadly also the marina yard – so not much will get done till Monday. But, my watermaker has arrived as have some parts for the anchor winch.

More later…