Moore Haven

Saturday November 29, 2014
26 49 904 N
81 05 405 W

Long day today, 53 NM. I find the trip across Florida's middle quite interesting because there is quite a lot of farming to see. This area is the heart of the sugar cane industry. The lake water was very muddy looking.

We arrived at Moore haven about 4 PM and tied up to the City dock. A "very black guy"with dreadlocks (no offense, just being descriptive) turned up after dark asking for the fee - he had a identity card and issued a receipt so I assume he was on the up and up. He told us where we could get breakfast in the AM

Lots of "jungle" down to the water's edge in places

I liked this house

The lock into the lake

Plenty of sugar cane

Water hyacinth islands

Sugar cane burning in the distance

River Forest Marina

Friday November 28, 2014
27 05 653 N
80 17 816 W

Steve said he could look at the #2 Gen if we got to River Forrest marina by 1.30 PM. We went back and forth with emails on Thursday and finally settled on 2:30 PM. To manage this feat we needed to leave at first light on Friday, and so we were up and away by 7 AM. It was a clear morning but pretty cool with a Small Craft Advisory for fun. Steve owns a boat just like Tide Hiker, is Captain in a 100' yacht and has worked on Tide Hiker before.

On the way we passed thru "the Crossroads" which is a heavy traffic area with the ICW meeting both the St Lucie Inlet and the Okeechobee Waterway along with traffic for Manatee Pocket and the St Lucie River.  There are frequent large sportfish boats traveling through here at speed and there are various shoaling issues. Plus it was blowing pretty hard.

As we felt our way thru I spotted a "fishing kayak" in trouble (Why was the idiot out there? Is that not the ultimate "small craft"?) The silly fellow was in the water, and trying to wave his paddle in distress. He was nowhere we could approach and so we radioed the Coast Guard.

The Coast Guard is pretty good, but calling them on the radio can be a bit onerous. The first problem is that the person who stands by the radio seems just out of high school and has been given a list of 'all purpose" questions to ask, and has zero discretionary authority. But the benefit is that "everybody" hears the call and while the Coast Guard is asking you the color of the kayak, the rest of the boating community is reacting to the location info we provided. Sure enough, a local "Towboat-US" had heard the call and was quickly on the scene.

Of course, now we were famous and next boat we saw radioed us with a "Good Job, Tide Hiker"

The Diagnosis

After 2 1/2 years "all at sea" I have decided that the biggest problem with fixing boat operations issues is knowing precisely what they are. It seems that to many times the resolution is a "process of elimination" rather than a specific diagnosis and a specific solution. Its like pulling a tooth every week until you pull the one that is aching.

Not the case with Steve and #2 generator. I now know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. The problem is serious, but it has an "easy" solution and a "expensive" solution.

There is a notorious device in a marinized diesel engine called an "elbow". This is where the hot exhaust is mixed with salt water (that has already been used to cool the engine). Hot salt water is rather corrosive and so the elbows tend to fail. When they fail salt water gets into the engine.

The elbow on the generator engine has failed. When Tide Hiker sat at Palm Coast the errant salt water was madly corroding the inside of the generator engine, causing it to "freeze up". So when I tried to start it the starter motor could not rotate so blew the 250 amp fuse.

The "better" solution

Steve and I were able to break the engine free by rotating it with a big wrench. Then I drained the oil (it was a disgusting color) and flushed the engine twice with diesel fuel, cranking the engine (but not starting it) between flushes. Then changed the oil filter and cranked the engine still it started, running it for just enough time for the oil to circulate.

Next step will be to order the part and have it delivered to Burnt Store where I will install it. If the generator runs consistently after that we will have dodged the bullet. If not, the engine will need to be rebuilt. That would be expensive.

That evening we went out to dinner with Steve and his wife Diane.

Vero Beach

Sunday November 23, 2014
N
W

Vero Beach is one of our favorite ports of call. We have now visited Vero several times. It is a very boat friendly place. The mooring field is very protected and they only cost about $18 a night. There is an hourly free bus service that will take you either to the shoping or to the beach side. For Thanksgiving the City supplies cooked turkey and ham to a visiting boaters party. The boaters provide the labor and the side dishes etc.

The celebrations are very popular so I was quite surprised when I called and the marina said they would squeeze us in. It is understood for this week that moored boats will "raft up" three wide. We arrived at about 3PM and pulled into the fuel dock for a pump-out and to take on water. While we were there we received our mooring assignment - #56 out of a field of 57. It seemed we were a bit big to raft to most of the (sailing) boats there, so we got the second last mooring and told to expect company over the next couple of days.

Rafted sailing boats

Monday November 24, 2014

Good nights sleep - no anchor to think about. Launched the dink after breakfast and headed into town on the free bus after signing up for the Thanksgiving party. Beautiful sunny day, quite humid. There was enough sun for the solar panels to keep the batteries charged most of the day.

Dinner out at the River House, up the ICW under the highway bridge. They have a dinghy dock. On the way we popped in on another DeFever ("Salty Turtle") to say Hi. But the outboard would not re-start. So the captain took us over in his dink and picked us up after - at which time our dink decided to start!

Tuesday, November 25, 2014

Caught the free bus over to Vero Beach (the part of town on the Atlantic) for breakfast and a stroll around town. Waiting for the bus, Deidre stood in a fire ant nest and was bitten a dozen times. Immediately went to a drug store and purchased some Benedryl tablets for her, and all seems well.

Wednesday, November 26, 2014

Lots of rain and a cool change last night. Rain and wind squalls coming and going all morning. In a break we rode the dink to the marina and took the bus to the mall. We just wandered around doing a bit of light shopping and enjoyed late lunch at Burger King.

Thursday, November 27, 2014

Cold night, beautiful clear, sunny morning. So much so that the panels cooked breakfast and are putting some amps in the batteries. Headed off to the party in the dink at about 12:30 PM. The venue was about a mile away up a deep creek. There must have been about 150 cruisers there. We fell in with a table and ate our fill.After lunch was over several people brought out musical instruments and organized a sing along. Back on Tide Hiker about 4 PM we recovered the dink and generally tidied up. Early morning tomorrow.

Dinghy parking

The spread was pretty impressive

My lunch

Banana River

Saturday November 22, 2014
28 50 141 N
80 48 347 W

We slept OK although it was a bit windy during the night. The batteries were a bit low when we awoke so we decided not to make coffee etc until we were underway. The engines started well and the windlass managed the anchor. (That dealt with two of my night terrors)

We have two diesel generators. We normally use #2 to charge the batteries and for cooking. It obviously has an issue in its starting circuitry - outside of my pay grade. The #1 generator is larger (14KVA) and that will run every 110V and 2220V system on the boat, including the HVAC. I did not want to try it last night in case the electrical fault was shared by both generators. We only had the one spare fuse. So we waited until we were right outside the Titusville City Marina to give it a crank - and it ran OK. If it had blown the DC circuit again we could have visually navigated into the marina, taken a slip and called an electrician. So we are safe to proceed "on one generator" until we get to Burnt Store where we will have time to find an electrician and order parts if needed.

The rest of the day was pretty ordinary. The sky was overcast with a low ceiling and rain on and off. The wind was blowing 15/20 mph with gusts to 25 but we were in sheltered water. We are now anchored in the Banana River.

We have noticed lots of porpoise activity the last couple of days. On Sunday morning they were very active in the anchorage. When I was in the shower they were so close to the boat that I almost could have reached thru the port hole and patted them. As we were leaving one of the other boats called us on the radio and said that the porpoises looked like they were "scratching their backs on our hull"

Gloomy morning, Banana River anchorage

Strange boat

Mosquito Lagoon

Friday November 21, 2014
28 50 135 N
80 48 337 W

Underway promptly at 9 AM. The engines and all of Tide Hiker's many systems seemed to start up OK. Not a great forecast but we will be on the ICW all day so no big deal. We were fortunate in that we rode a favorable tidal current for 75% of the day. The forecast strong winds did not eventuate and we enjoyed weak sunshine most of the day.

The sun has just set and clouds are building but we are in a very secure spot so "no worries".

A lesson learned.....

In the above paragraph I wrote: "Tide Hiker's many systems seemed to start up OK". Any sailor worth his salt would recognize this error. We met a fellow in the Bahamas who was a professional fisherman in Texas. He had many rules about boats and boating, including the following:
* Never start a voyage on a Friday
* Never say "Everything is running well"
* Never say "The weather has been great"
* Never bring bananas on board!

Tonight just before bed I attempted to start the #2 generator to top up the batteries. Instead of the expected "crank and fire" I heard nothing, and then all the lights went out. We were in the middle of nowhere and the sky was 100% overcast so there was no natural light. We have a bunch of flashlights arranged around the boat so we soon able to function. The 110V system was OK (so the frig and the TV were OK) but the 12V system was totally dead. (The 12V systen runs 90% of the lights, all the pumps, the windlass, most of the navigation etc)

We started the port engine because that has a 280 amp alternator bolted onto it that would look after the batteries while I looked for the root issue. I started looking for "main" breakers and fuses and eventually found a "big" fuse on the engine room bulkhead that looked promising. The previous owner had left me a box of electrical stuff and found what looked like the right sort of fuse, and swapped them over. Bingo, we had lights again.

Decided not to mess with the generator that night as I had only found one fuse and we need 12V to get anywhere.

Back to Tide Hiker

Monday November 17, 2014

We fly back on Wednesday so we are now in closing and packing mode.

We had discovered a few termite trails on the slab so called the termite people and they came and treated the affected area today. I had a haircut - lovely lady cut my hair and in the course of our conversation asked me if it was possible to "drive to Canada from Arizona?"

Tuesday November 18, 2018

Bill and Tonni arrived back from PV late yesterday. We enjoyed breakfast with them this morning. On the way over we drove passed a few hot air balloons touring the desert.

Bill had taken a spill in the hotel and hurt a leg. Our mutual friends Elliot and Leslie Kaufman had been in PV at the same time, and Leslie had taken a spill and broken her hip! She needed a hip replacement, done at a local hospital.

Breakfast at "Harolds"

Balloons off Carefree Highway

Wednesday November 19, 2014


Closed the house up and on our way to the airport by 11 AM. Flying these days is a pain in the rear, but we arrived Jacksonville safely and on time. We had booked a car for the 90 mile drive to Palm Coast and Tide Hiker was pleased to see us at about 1:45 AM. 

Thursday November 20th, 2014

Made good use of the car replenishing the larder and enjoyed lunch and dinner out with our hosts. I am feeling fat. We plan to head out in the AM. All the Tide Hiker systems seem OK - we will know for sure tomorrow. 

You can see Tide Hiker on the other side, behind Phil and Sara's boat

Vereran's Day

Nov 11, 2014
Anthem, AZ

Anthem is a great town. I think I could settle here quite happily. Its in the foothills so its handy to the mountains and a bit cooler in the summer. The entire city is new and landscaped and the public facilities are just amazing. The city park is in walking distance from our house. There is not a blade of grass out of place.

Today is Veteran's Day so we went over to the memorial for the 11 AM service. It was well attended and tastefully presented. The actual memorial is arranged so that at 11:11 AM the sun shines thru a series of circular openings and highlights the Great Seal of the USA. Very cool.

And it still works!

The kid's train in the local park

The new play ground

The water park

New Plans

Anthem
November 7, 2014

We have made flight reservations to return to Palm Coast late on November 19th. We hope to resume cruising soon after, and head to the West Coast of Florida.

The Specialist

Tuesday November 4, 2014
Mayo Clinic

To make a long story short, an operation on Deidre;s knee probably would not help. There are issues with the meniscus and some "floaters" but the basic issue is arthritis, and that cannot be treated surgically. Some time in the distant future when pain becomes a real issue a "knee replacement" might be appropriate. But for now a quarterly shot of cortisone is the most intervention she can expect. They gave her a shot on the spot. I did not look.

This is not the result we wanted or expected to hear. We were hoping for "Sure, we can clean up the joint and you will be back on your feet in two or three weeks". Now we have to figure out what happens next.

We were back on the street by 11 AM so we decided to head for lunch in Sedona. It was a beautiful day, Sedona is a very scenic part of the world, and we have a couple of favorite restaurants there. So that is what we did and it was very pleasant.

The view from out table