Lake Worth(Continued)

Friday March 7, 2014

Looks like we will be here over the weekend. The forecast for Monday & Tuesday look OK for the crossing. In the meantime it continues to be fine but quite windy. Last night I discovered that the salt water head was leaking.

First job this morning was to change the oil in the generators. We used the small gen to run up the batteries for an hour or so, and then changed the oil while it was hot.

There was no apparent leak from the toilet hoses, so the toilet had to come out. Eventually I got it out and onto the aft deck in an attempt to find the leak. Unfortunately "the guts" of the device seemed in poor shape, and I could not identify the origin of the leak. I suspect the unit is original equipment and I know (from a previous experience) that it is obsolete and parts are no longer available. So I think we might make a donation to the gulf stream and buy a replacement when we return to the USA in June. So we are now a "one seat" boat.

After I decided the fate of the salt water head I took the wash down hose from the deck and hosed down the bilge where the toilet had leaked. Then lifted the float to activate the bilge pump. Nothing!

Naturally, the bilge pump is located in the lowest corner of the forward bilge. To reach it I need to hang thru the hatch at about my waist line. The hatch is too narrow for my shoulders so I have to go thru diagonally, one arm at a time. The only way out is to have Deidre to hold my feet so I can pull myself up. Hanging upside down really plays unpleasantly with my vertigo. Needless to say I was really fed up and just about "done" with boating life. I removed the pump and it tested OK, so the problem must be the float switch. I do not have a spare so I re-arranged the wiring so we can turn it on/off in the wheelhouse. Later that day I called a friend who will be meeting us in the Bahamas and asked him to buy a float switch for us.

I bet their toilet leaks too!

Lake Worth adjoins Palm Beach and is part of the playground of the rich and famous. As I was working on the toilet on the aft deck  a procession of enormous private yachts passed us in the channel.

The wind blew all night. I must say I am pleased with how well Tide Hiker has stayed put. The wind on Thursday must have made it to 40 to 50 MPH. Since then the wind has been strong (20 to 30 MPH) and come from just about all points of the compass. Plus there is a decent tidal current in the anchorage that has put Tide Hiker perpendicular to the wind on several occasions. But she just has not budged.

Saturday March 8, 2014

We slept in till 8:30 AM. The wind had died, the boat was still & quiet. Deidre made pancakes for breakfast. The forecast for Monday still looks good. I ran the gen and took the batteries up to 75% and then left it to the panels. The day was sunny and clear. By 4 PM the batteries were up to 89% despite the fact that the cook used the coffee maker AND the toaster THREE TIMES!

 It was a beautiful day. We had lunch on the aft deck in the sun. I needed this. After lunch we launched the dinghy and explored the "lake" for an hour or so. We paid a visit to what must be a 'super yacht" marina. We Googled one of the boats we saw - it rents for $400K a week and sorry, it is sold out this season.

Sunday March 9th, 2014

Another nice day, a bit breezier than expected. We got all dressed up in our best and took the dinghy to meet friends Wray and Cigna at a local waterside restaurant for lunch. They had a car so after lunch they took us to the local supermarket for a bit of last minute shopping. We made our way back to Tide Hiker and hoisted the dinghy back on deck.

MUSASHI

Several large private yachts passed us in the channel this afternoon. The biggest was MUSASHI - 88 metres (285') owned by Larry Ellison, the founder of Oracle. Now we don't even look up when a 100 footer goes past.

Looks like we will have a companion  boat crossing to West End. We have been chatting with Swede Dreams since back in Charleston and made contact with them last night. We just have to agree on a departure time and all will be set. They are a trawler like us, a bit smaller.

Swede Dreams - just arrived.