Vero Beach (4 nights)

February 1, 2014
27 39.722 N
80 22 357 W

Hopeful shorts, not a lot to see

Woke up to thick fog after a very quiet night. Went back to bed as we were not going anywhere till it lifted. Eventually out of bed, Deidre cooked French Toast. I put on shorts as we are promised 70 degrees! But nothing to do except wait for the fog to lift.

Fog lifted about 9:30 AM so stared engines. Stb engine would not run and then. #1 Gen would not run! Did the usual checks for leaks etc, no dice. Primary filter was not showing excess vacuum.So Deidre and I changed the secondary filters and bled the engine and it started. The filters only had only 3 months of running on them, but maybe sitting in Charleston for 3 months gunked up the fuel. Will do the same for the gens and port engine in Vero Beach tomorrow. The good news is that it is only "partly sunny" but the solar panels are making 500 W

We arrived Vero at about 4:30 PM and were settled on a ball by 5 PM. We were invited to dinner over on Cavara so launched the dinghy. The new motor fired on the first pull. Dinner with Din & Barb was fun - Barb is English and she offered us "bangers and mash" which we happily accepted. Back in bed by 10 PM.

Sunday Feb 2, 2014

Today is the first real test of the solar panels. The purpose of the solar addition was so that we could be at anchor (or on a ball) and not need to start a generator to charge the batteries. So I have set up a special log for today to monitor how they perform. Bad news is that there is a lot of cloud around.

The clouds cleared by 10 AM and the panels built up to 400 - 500 Watts. We used the batteries to make coffee, breakfast and lunch. The batteries started at 67% at about 7 AM, fell to a low of 62% after breakfast but only recovered to 65% at about 5 PM when we needed to leave to go to the Super Bowl. So I ran the gen for 30 minutes and another hour before we went to bed. So it seems in current conditions the panels will keep us solvent during the day but I will still need to run the gen at night. That result is a bit disappointing, but I still have hopes that at lower latitudes and longer days they will do better.

Otherwise it was a perfect day - sunny, low 80s, no wind to speak of. We ran around in the dink a bit but spent most of the time relaxing for a change and enjoying the warm. Went with Don & Barb to a restaurant to eat and watch the Super Bowl. Pleasant night.

Monday Feb 3, 2014

Another nice day with plenty of sun. The City of Vero Beach provides a free bus service all around town, and there is a stop at the marina. So we dinked over to the dinghy dock and caught the bus into town to shop. Deidre needed groceries, I needed filters. The bus stopped at the grocery store, I walked about 2 miles to the parts store. It was an interesting walk and I certainly needed the exercise.

I spent the rest of the day in the ER changing filters and trying to clean up a bit. Plus we have a "bit of an issue" with insurance and I spent some time on that. The problem is that when we bought the boat we had it surveyed and the survey included a bunch of recommendations. We did not agree with all the items, but the problem is that the insurance company gets a copy and they want them all implemented. We have resolved all but two.

We have decided to stay another day. The weather is good and I need to get a lot of things organized before we get to Stuart when it all "has to happen". The amount of work and expense is starting to bug me. Its not that Tide Hiker is in bad shape - she is really in great shape - the problem is that there are just so many systems its simply hard to keep up. This afternoon I am dealing with emergency rafts, water maker, dinghy lights, dinghy rego, and the stabilizer oil leak.

Tuesday Feb 4, 2014

Caught the early bus over to the beach and enjoyed breakfast at a table almost on the beach. Short walk on the sand, then back to work! The solar panels are doing better today, we have actually put 5% back in the batteries. Still have a long way to go before I can call it a "success". Pump out boat paid us a visit, so all is well in that department. Don and Barb are coming over for a farewell drink.

Don loaned us a drive containing  about 300 movies and seasons of multiple TV shows. It took almost all night to load them and almost filled the 500 gig disk on my laptop. I need to buy a cable so that we can plan them on our TV.

It has been a relaxing 3 days with some decent weather. I think I can put my polo neck sweater away!