Tennessee

I see that I didn't post this page last spring.  Oopps!

Winter is over and it is time for us to return to Tennessee to tend to business.  We intend to return here to work on the boat just as soon as possible.

We packed up and headed out in late April. 

I've put off updating this blog due to not having a good internet connection.  Uploading pictures takes a lot of patience!

We cleaned and straightened up.



The final step to closing up the boat...taking down the gangplank.

The storage box is back on deck and looks good.

I know we're almost back to Tennessee when we hit the mountains in Asheville, NC.

We'll be back in Florida by November if not sooner!

Have I Mentioned That I HATE Love Bugs?

We have been very busy the last couple days getting ready to end this season of work.  We really wanted to accomplish one of our main goals which was to paint the boat so we got out the primer and got to it.  It looks so nice and clean!

This is with the top of the superstructure complete.

Looking at the port side.

The engine room hatch.

Here, looking at the starboard side, we notice a few love bugs being interested in the paint but not a problem so far.  After all, this is just primer.  There will be more work to be done before the final coat.

The bow.  These black spots are love bugs.  We were joking at this point about having love bugs for non skid!

Carter also worked very hard to get the sun deck to a point that we could take the boat to the marina for its monthly potty dump.  There is more work to be completed here but this was enough to go down the river.  We will enjoy this deck and it provides much needed shade in the cockpit. 

Then we decided to go ahead and prime the freeboard.

Here we are looking at the solar canopy with only 2 panels installed. Just imagine this completely covered with panels.

A view of the rear that we have not seen before. This is the only section that has not been primed.

We should not have joked about the love bugs because...they are no longer a laughing matter!  I was at the laundry when Carter sent me these pictures of our freshly painted boat!  You can see the totality of just how disgusting this is.  

This is the engine room hatch and below is the wheel.

Not only are they sitting on the structure but they are flying, swarming also!

Ugh! This being the main entrance, it was inevitable that they would get inside. We spent most of the day, vacuuming these creatures out of our way

 We just keep telling ourselves that 1) they don't bite, 2) they don't poop, and 3) they don't smell bad.  They are just sooo annoying!  Ugh!!

Tuesday, April 26th

It's hot and the love bugs are here.  In my opinion those are two excellent reasons to pack it up and head north to the beautiful state of Tennessee.  This week will be all about finishing up projects and packing it up for the season.  It's been fantastic to get this project started and Carter and I both are missing this life already.

While trying to determine how and where to store everything, Carter asked me to stain and poly the old trunk that I was ready to trash...it was so ugly and weather worn.  Carter put new hardware on it and I have to admit it looks pretty darn good.  Amazing what a little bit of stain and polyurethane can do.

Carter continues to install the decking and rail spindles above the cockpit.  The heat slows down the speed of this project but it will be done before we depart.  We also intend to paint a layer of primer on the superstructure.  Thankfully, I have gotten all of the staining and polyurethane-ing done to a stopping point.  The love bugs are absolutely annoying in this process and it is time to stop until they are gone.

 We took Sunday off and went for a 'Sunday drive' on the Boston Whaler down the Caloosahatchie River.  We were fortunate enough to get behind a couple of larger boats and played in their wake.  That sure was fun! I shot some video of it but I can't download it here at the library or at the internet cafe. 

We're Solar! (Finally)

Wew Hoo!   We are solar powered! Not solar propelled yet, although we did technically pass that milestone a while back, if only temporarilly with the experiemntal system. With the support canopy finalized, cross braced, anchored and stained we could finally mount the first two panels for good and finish the wiring for a complete micro power system that should serve us well until the major upgrade comes later, when we'll add another 4 kiloWatts of photovoltaic capacity and the electric drive system. With a few more batteries and another 500 Watts, this system will meet all our house power requirements leaving about 3.5 kiloWatts that will be dedicated to propulsion. For now, with about 450 Watts, we have enough capacity to easily run our refrigeration, lights, and consumer electronics. Although the inverter can power the air conditioner, we tested this, we don't have quite enough solar or batteries to operate it continuously, YET.

But it is enough for refrigeration and that's a major milestone as far as we're concerned. Since we live aboard while working on this project, maintaining 24/7 refrigeration as been a major challenge. We Americans don't fully realize the luxury we have in our daily lives until you live without electricity for any length of time.  This is not to say that we have been living without electricity as we do have a very nice Honda generator but we must purchase and fill this machine daily with gasoline and keeping it running continuously is both a lot of work and money.  Since we're not plugged into the grid for the electric, when we leave, the food must all be consumed or come with us which is not always convenient. Now that we're plugged into the sun, no problem any more. This will also be good for keeping the bilge pump operational while we're gone for the summer.

Once the 2 panels were up and secured on the canopy structure and the last of the wiring was complete, Carter started working on the sun deck above the cockpit.  But first, he had to complete the support structure for that by putting in posts behind the engine room hatch.  He just happened to have found matching posts in the shorter size...perfect!

Aluminum was cut to fit the beam going across for added strength and structure.

With all of the structure in place, he next placed an aluminum sheet down to keep the cockpit dry and shady.  The flooring is next.

A view from underneath, inside the cockpit.

Next, and this is the stage he is at presently, he is installing the flooring, notching in the railing spindles as he goes.

Here is a shot with 4 planks in place.  Carter states that he will have floor completed by the end of today. 

We have had to split the work day in 1/2. We work in the cool of the morning, have lunch, take a siesta or do our internet work through the HOT part of the afternoon and then work again until it's too dark to see anything. With the temps getting into the 90's you can bet that we run for cover during the heat of the day.  We either go to the library or Charlies Coffee Shop.  I do believe that Charlie will be sad to see us go as we have been regular customers of his.  Who can blame us?  Charlie has created a very nice atmosphere in which to do research and work on the blog.

The Halcyon has been visited by a Halcyon (Kingfisher bird) of late and I finally was able to catch him on camera.  Above he is perched on the

Below he moved to the railing.

Then over to the gangplank

Down to the spring line to catch bugs in the lily pads.

The boat was moving back and forth giving the

bird a ride up and down on the spring line!  :-)  I enjoy watching nature.

 

Thursday, April 14th

It's getting harder and harder to stay on task as we approach the end of this work season, but we try.  It seems there are just too many day trips for various reasons that need to be made.

Work continues staining the canopy.  We took the tarp off yesterday and stained the very top of the structure.  We have decided that the color we are using is too red. It seems like our original color swatches were done with a lot of red pigment at the bottom of the can and the red seems to clash with the boats black trim so we're trying to darken it up a bit. Hopefully we can accomplish this with one more coat of dark walnut on everything and then we can finish with the final three coats of polyurethane.  Better to do it now than to live with a color we are not satisfied with.

I'm feeling so good being up on this tall ladder fighting my fear of heights but I can safely say that it will not be myself that gets up and walks the line like Carter does!  I kind of find this a little strange because once upon a time I was a pretty good gymnast doing cartwheels on a beam that was about twice as small as this one.

We played around with the spindles, placing them on the walkway to get an idea of what it will look like.  We think the boat is taking on a pirate ship attitude...which is ok with us!

Carter plans to extend the canopy out to the tip of the bow so here we are deciding on the placement of the next spindle posts.

Here's a project I've put off too long.  Cleaning the fenders.  I'll be trying a couple different methods until I find the one that actually works!  I have already ruled out bleach.  I went to the internet to research how to clean fenders and found a sailing forum suggesting the use of acetone and then coating with armor all.  We experimented with the acetone on one fender with some success.  I'll keep working on these a little bit each day. 

It's getting soooo hot here that it is hard to get much work done.  But, the work scheduled to be completed before leaving is: 

1) sun deck over the cockpit

2) installation part of the railing

3) more organinzation in the engine room

We have begun to clean up the work area while figuring out where to put things.  We loaded the scuba gear and some fishing gear back into the bow hanging locker. That was the easy part.  The rest requires some thought and arranging.

We only have two weeks left and we are missing this project already!  But we must get back to Tennessee to continue with "Plan A".

Assorted pictures.

Belle Hatchy Marina located just around the bend of the oxbow from us.  We visited yesterday to see if they had the capability to haul the Halcyon out of the water to clean the bottom but unfortunately, she is too large and heavy.

A derelict houseboat at Belle Hatchy Marina.

A view of the entrance to the oxbow.  It's difficult to find if you don't know it's there and that's why Carter calls it the "secret spot".

A view of our neighbor's in the oxbow.  Pretty isn't it?

A view of our oxbow as you enter.  The boat on the left is the Shang...our neighbor. 

As we were riding back from a sunset dingy ride, we came across some cows at the rivers edge getting a drink of water.  Carter mooed at them and....

Yep, I'd run too!

Are the crazy humans gone yet?