RADAR - New Addition to the Arc

We are pleased to announce a new additon to our family! 

Radar! 

 

Radar is a 2 year old Jack Russell Terrier that we found at the Brevard County Animal Rescue.

He's a natural boat dog and seems to love cruising out on the Banana River.

 

 

 

 

He's a great dog!  We love him already.

 

 

 

Into The Atlantic Ocean

In conjunction with the salon project, Carter wanted to clean up the wiring on solar panels.  We also made a new friend, Chuck, who just happens to be an electrician who very generously volunteered to pitch in and help.  and then we all went for a cruise.

 

 

 

Nice neat work.

 

 

One of the many causeways.

 

 

 

As long as we were passing by Port Canaveral, Carter decided to go out into the Atlantic.  Here we waited for the lock to open.  It was a nice calm day so ... ok.

 

Here we are out in the Atlantic Ocean with the pelicans and seagulls.

 

 

Some of the sites at Canaveral on the way to the Atlantic Ocean.

 

 

 

 

Everyone always asks "have you been to Fishlips?" 

Well, no, but we cruised by it! 

 

Cruising down the barge canal.

 

We anchored out at Cocoa Village that evening and then it was time to go back to the marina. 

 

Fun time is over and back to Tennessee we go to finish the summer season of work. 

We plan to be back in October.

 

 

The Salon!!!!!

We are back in Merritt Island for the final boat check before the winter season and as always, we have a long "to do" list to accomplish.  Our project for this trip will be the improvement of the salon. We intend to rip out the existing bunk beds to convert the space into a proper salon area.  The demolition began immediately upon our arrival.

 

Let the demolition begin!

 

Here are the two queen size bunks taking up precious space in the main salon.

 

Tools for this job....crow bar, wonder bar, a 3# sledge hammer and the saws-all.

 

1/2 of the top bunk removed.  As with everything else on this boat...these were not meant to be removed.  They were built in to stay.  Needless to say it took some persuasion to get them out.

 

 

 

There was storage under the bottom bunk for canned food.  We found these left by the previous owner.  Tomato and mushroom soup.

 

 

 

Peaches and baked beans.

 

Demo complete and ready to clean the floor.

 

Beginning to shape the support for the seats.

 

 

Custom fitting the front support to the curve of the boat.

 

 

The end product for this work session.  Carter used the existing nailers for both of the seats and it is obvious that he will have to bring the seat on the far wall down to the same height as the other.  We'll work on that next trip down.  For now....this is a GREAT start to the project and we are pleased with the result.

Soon after the completion of the salon, we plan to remove the seat at the extreme bow of the salon and build in another hanging locker. 

 

We will build in an end table that will go all the way to the middle of the floor and attach to the support pole.  Also, we will add a coffee table.

 

 

Week of July 4th, Banana River, Florida

The Captain is aboard the Arc'himedes!
We love our time on the boat.

We arrived at the marina on Monday, July 2nd with the intent to work on the boat for the week as well as enjoy the fourth of July on the Arc.

Carter purchased another Kilowatt of panels from Kemery Solar in Strawberry Plains, Knoxville, Tennessee along with power electronics (inverter and charge controller) that we had hoped to install during this week but unfortunately, this project will have to wait until next time.  We had a long list of 'must do's' to accomplish on this trip.

Fortunately it fit perfectly on the self!

One of the first items on the 'to do' list was to replace the Force 10 BBQ that was destroyed on the last passage.  We both feel badly about this loss as it was a great BBQ.

We were expecting growth on the bottom of the whaler but this exceeded our expectations!  We found a nice sandy beach nearby to scrape the bottom of the whaler.

Next, Carter custom fit the current window shaker into the forward hatch so we have minimal loss of cooling during the sizzling hot summer of central Florida.

Meanwhile, I continued my sewing projects by beginning work on a cover for the control panel and a cover for the generator.  (The generator is needed for power tools.)

I didn't get the control panel project complete so it came back to Tennessee with me to finish by the next trip down.

This cover turned out nice.

The End of the Season

It's the end of the season and we are back to work in Tennessee.  The Archimedes is safe and sound in a marina on Merritt Island, Florida.  We thought about leaving it in the Cocoa Village anchorage, temped by the idea of a free place to park but we found the thought of leaving the boat unattended on the hook in a sometime very choppy basin was too nerve wracking so we moved to a calm, sheltered marina. The extra $350 bucks per month is well worth the peace of mind.

Cocoa Village Anchorage

In the marina.

We'll be back soon to begin moving the Arc further up the coast somewhere in to the Carolina's so we can continue working on it this summer.

They Don't Call It On The Hard For Nothing!

The boat is out of the water on the hard and it's time for the work to begin.  We started by chipping barnacles and oysters from the bottom, sanding the freeboard and the bottom, wiped it down and she was ready for paint.  Sounds so easy doesn't it?   Shew!  It's hard, hot work.

Not too many barnacles.  But there were oysters aplenty on the keel coolers.

There were quite a few oysters on the keel coolers.  This is just 1/2 of them as we had already cleared out a bucket full when I took this picture.

Here's how she looked at the beginning.

I worked on the freeboards.

While Carter worked on the bottom.

Carter and I both had our boat yard fashion on!

Good News!  Carter had 2 qualified opinions on the cutlass bearing and both agreed that it is in good shape and does not need to be replaced at this time.  Carter had already planned to replace the current auto prop with the original 3 bladed prop.  The picture above shows the new prop installed with the auto prop on the ground below.

Cleaning the keel with wire brush.

 There were a few places that needed to be repaired and Carter spent a good bit of time mixing epoxy patch material and trowling it on, then grinding it down, nice and smooth.

We had time to paint the superstructure.

Wow!  She looks real nice to us!

 

Both freeboards, all of the superstructure, and the outsides of the bottom are painted.

We have time to paint the stripes on the freeboard.

We thought this would be a good time for a before and after comparison.

This was when Carter moved the Ketch Du Jour from Matlache to the Oxbow where it stayed for about 2 years.  The 30 year old wooden masts were taken down because of decay. 

During this down time Carter built a solar powered dingy for the late Ellen Peterson at Happehatchee in Estero, Florida and that was when the idea for solar power propulsion was born.

After a two year recovery from the auto accident Carter was ready to get back to work on the boat.  This is when I came in to the picture and this was my first look at the "Hal".  The boats first name was the Halcyon and that is what Carter always called her.

And here is how she looks this morning!

She's ready to go back into the water. 

There is still plenty of work yet to be done but we're done in the yard.