Boat Project Key...I mean, Boot Key, Marathon FL

Not a bad blogging view huh?

After over two weeks we bid a fond farewell to Key West.  I think we were all quite ready to move on...we have discovered that two weeks in any one place starts to feel like a long time.  I guess it's boat time versus normal time.  Regardless, it was fun to be there and I'm very glad our change of plans took us there by boat because it was something Mark and I always talked about when we would fly down for our long weekends.  So we will check "Sail our boat to Key West" off the list with a HUGE smile on our faces!

We enjoyed a quick last day of showers, laundry, lunch at BO's, a farewell margarita of course, water fill ups and a lovely sunset (we may or may not have eaten dinner--that was more than 24 hours ago so I honestly don't remember but if I did make something, I'm sure it was fabulous - haha).

Nobody here but us chickens...

Jon did not enjoy a farewell margarita, see how forlorn he looks?!

Last Key West Sunset...at least for a while

Awww aren't they just the cutest?!

The next morning we were up at 0600 again to be "anchors up" by 0630 and heading around Fleming Key to rendezvous with Island Khaya before sunrise at about 0712...so of course we didn't unhitch from the mooring ball until 0645 and it took forever to get there.  I suppose Khaya is getting used to us always being late but are polite enough never to say anything.  We also waved good bye (hopefully not for long) to Alley Cat and Shiloh as we passed the anchorage.

Sunrise over the anchorage as we departed

See you soon Alley Cat and Shiloh

Cruise ships don't bother us none.

Shock of shocks that the wind forecasts were...how do you say?...wrong.  Along with the cold temps, we had some fun cloudy drizzly weather.  Every time we put away our warm clothes, out they come again.  Predictions were for North winds and the ability to motor sail fairly well.  Try Northeast and East Northeast instead and in the 15-20 knot range.  We had the main sail up but with the wind angle at around 30-40, no way would we be putting up the head sail.   Regardless, off we went - Boot Key bound.  Other than a bumping ride into the waves and a rather slowish go of it, everything went well until Mark's new fancy hat flew off and we had to do a "hat overboard" rescue.  Never fear, the hat was safely recovered by Jon.

We arrived in good time at Boot Key and took care of some housekeeping:  diesel fill up, full water fill up.  We also discovered that our port side water take is huge.  Seriously, about 20 gallons larger than we thought.  Ohhhh, that is the reason that the tanks always seemed to last so long--not that we are good water conservationists. 

We had first taken a quick tour of Boot Key Harbor and found it totally crowded with the mooring field full (always is with waiting list) and tightly anchored boats.  We are not fans of tight anchorages plus not fans of paying $22 for dinghy access at the city marina dock (same price as a mooring ball).  We had good luck anchoring just West of Boot Key itself and did so again.  Once settled, we hosted Island Khaya for dinner.  Khaya left yesterday morning to head back to Dinner Key.  I keep telling them that they can try as hard as they might but they cannot get away from us.  We'll see them in about a week whether they like it or not ;-)  We have been here since Friday afternoon and are doing quite well with a combination of excellent project work and progress, relaxing quiet time, finding new work that needs to be done (the winches need to be fixed asap) and visits to our new favorite place, ChikiTiki at Burdines Waterfront. Fried Key Lime Pie while the sun sets...'nuff said!

Good food and they have All Day IPA!

Two hip dudes...do people still say "hip"?

Ummmm...

Photo Credit:  Jon Graham and Fried Key Lime Pie is the best dessert I've ever had...EVER

Started doing yoga again today - we are the only people in the world living on a boat who have NOT lost weight almost immediately (Think burgers, wings, beer and fried desserts are to blame?  Me neither).  Doing yoga on the boat was a dream I had so I'm trying to live it while doing something even remotely active.

Projects:  Mark and Jon installed our new solar panel.  This involved removing and relocating an 85 watt panel after making and installing the mounting brackets.  That was day one (after we had gone to pick up the new refrigerator but that's another story).  Day two they installed the new 140 panel including mounting brackets and which Murphy's Law ensured did not include the necessary electrical connectors.  Of course Mark had the wiring and we only had to order the connectors.  Mark also did some custom bimini cuts to accommodate the mounting hardware.  It was really something to see the two of them working on this project.  They work really well together and are a great team.  Plus with their collective skills, things like mounting new solar panels is something we do ourselves...while anchored in the Keys...during a 15 knot blow...no problem--it's easy ;-)  Mark will also be installing a controller system so that he can turn off a panel if there is too much coming into the system.  That'll be a big day--when Mark feels he has too much power coming in. Ha Ha!  Meanwhile even with only two panels pulling in, we are doing well on power thanks to our wind generator doing her part. Once all is said and done, we'll have the capacity for over 500 watts and that's a good thing.

Remove newest 85w panel

Making brackets

Installing brackets

Relocating 85w panel

Bimini cuts to accommodate the hardware

Voila!! One down, one to go!

Checking out the new 140w...bent up but no broken glass. Thanks FedEx.

Up it goes...note the weather conditions they were in.

You can't feel the wind...trying hanging off a boat with a large solar panel in 15 knots. Cool view regardless.

She's up and the weather even improved! My attempt to clean the bimini was not as successful.

All five of our solar children...excited to see them all working together and giving us those 500 watts.

That's my eyeliner...used to mark the biminis as well as other items in the solar panel project...Good dang thing I brought make up on the trip huh?!?!  I think it was just as useful as all those other tools!

Additionally, Jon had started the process of prepping the old refrigerator to be removed.  The new frig is quite pretty but I'm not sure if Mark knows that it won't hold the same amount of beer as the one that came with the boat.  Ah the sacrifices we make for energy efficiency.  I think the refrigerator install project will be tomorrow (Tuesday) because today's priority is fix the freezer...and this time we really mean it.  Chris from SALT was out this morning to take a look and make sure there was not some underlying problem other than moisture in the system.  Mark and Jon were 99.9% sure there was not but never hurts to check...and there was not.  So out came all the R143A refrigerant that we paid good money to have put in a month ago.  (Have I ever mentioned that we are job creators here on Stray Cat?) And now the system is being vacuumed.  I don't know what that means other than it's going to be going on for many hours and is supposed to solve all of our freezer running too much and hot compressor issues.  Then we'll get a recharge and all will be well in the world--or at least in the corner of the boat where the freezer lives.

Fancy pants...Stay tuned for "Food versus Beer" arguments.

Jon is silly

They are having fun filming themselves doing projects...I need to remember that at any time, a camera may be pointed on me or in my general direction.  There will likely be a new GoPro video posted soon.

Meanwhile we are eating what we can from the freezer and the frig is basically empty except for beer, half and half and a couple random blocks of cheese.  I didn't go to University but that sounds like a collage dorm frig to me (except for the half and half and cheese part).  All kidding aside, it's very very important that both the new frig and repaired freezer work efficiently and properly.  Many boaters do quite well without them--either/both--but we are not at that level and living on the boat without refrigeration is not ok with me (and last time I checked, happy girlfriend--happy life, even if that doesn't rhyme).

That's Chris who I hope is making all my freezer dreams come true.  Cool guy too! No pun intended ;-)

The vacuuming stuff that I don't really understand but it was doing what it was supposed to be doing I think.

At some point this week, the rigger will be coming to the boat to do those fixes and our NEW OUTBOARD will be delivered!  Yep, we are getting a new 9.8 HP outboard to replace the newish 6.0 HP outboard we got before we left in place of the 15 HP outboard we had for years in Maryland. Like I said, we are job creators.  As you can see, there's a lot going on here this week.

Other than that, we are planning our provisioning for the Bahamas and Jon has a system he will be using to calculate current inventory and what we will realistically need.  You'd think that my three trips to Costco, two trips to Walmart, countless trips to Giant and Publix and multiple Amazon orders would have been sufficient...nope.  For my part, I have bought a pressure cooker!  Never in my life did I think that would ever happen.  Never say never I guess.  We'll see how it goes but my sister may be the lucky recipient of a barely used pressure cooker in about two weeks.  Thanks to the wonder of Amazon Prime, I have also bought 56 ounce bags of Peanut M&Ms and Skittles and two 60 count boxes of Lindt with Sea Salt...among other actual food stuffs, things we still need and things we do not need but I buy anyway because I'm a princess and sometimes I just do what I want without asking the Captain for permission.  We figure that we need about 5 cases of canned vegetables before we go...that's alotta green beans folks.  All that should go nicely with the six bags of quinoa we still have thanks to Costco....that's alotta quinoa folks.

I have no earthly idea how to use a pressure cooker but am comforted to know that "no, they don't blow up anymore."

So that's about all for now--a lot I know but this is turning into a pretty great stop for us as far as projects.  I'll try to get Captain Mark or First Mate Jon to do a technical post for you.  Hopefully if I misspoke or left out stuff, they'll fill in the blanks for you or at least brag about all the work they are doing on the boat.

XO Suzanne

PS:  L.O.V.E. my butane curling iron and smile deviously every time I use it!  I even got 8 thermocell refills.  Those who know me know that "good hair is a priority in my life."

PPS:  Today is MLK Day and if you haven't ever, maybe read the "I Have a Dream" speech...imagine the day that we are all only judged by the content of our character. 

One Tribe : Humankind