Month: April 2023

Electrifying!

Boat Projects, Electrified, James' Blog, Life Under Sail

We posted local ads on dregslist and facefuck for our diesel engine and left Key West on a sheet of glass covered in salad. Not a breath, a sigh, nor even a whisper of wind on our ocean all the live long day. …And any day you have to listen to a diesel infernal-combustion engine on a sailboat is a long fucking day! We anchored on the southwest side of Lois Key for a change of view and because it would allow us to sail off the anchor the next day, which we did. Not only did we weigh anchor under sail, though, we made good time for the first 15 miles to Boot Key. The last 5 took hours as the wind died down, but never quite out, and we enjoyed the quiet and easy motion through the water. We made an average speed of 3.29 knots, which is amazing to think about since we were doing less than 2 knots by the time we were approaching the anchoring area west of Boot Key. The conditions were gentle enough that we rolled into a good position, James dropped the anchor, and I (Dena) pushed the mainsail to the side so the boat would back down while he let out the chain. We set that anchor with the current as much as with the light wind, but it was a trustworthy bury. We made it back to Boot Key just in time to discover we had a serious offer on that diesel we hadn’t used. The more we talked to the guy who is interested in the engine, the more we discovered how truly serious he was. And that’s when all the other serious offers started to pour in. Next thing you know we secured an unexpected but absolutely welcome[…]

Read more

Splashed!!!

Boat Projects, Dena's Blog Posts, James' Blog

To a job well done! We both woke with a strong dedication to finish the job-at-hand: the rebuild of S/V S.N. Tursiops. We were so close to splashing that sucker. The gunwale-guard is a soft poly-fiber textile with a light-weight foam fender running through it. It attaches at ninety degree angles completely around the boat and takes whole lot of tiny epoxy bedded screws with finish washers to secure it to the gunwale. It’s a big job but well worth the effort. We also installed four small fenders for a little extra buoyancy and topsides protection. We flipped for it and guess who won? Dena might have won the toss but she was cool about it and let me take a spin around the big boat just to confirm what I (James) already knew. Tursiops rows like a dream! We then put the motor on her and went into town for provisions. The trip took less time than we were used to spending in the old dinghy, and we were dryer on arrival than we had been on any wind-vs-current trip since we’ve been here. It’s a really good sign, even though we plan to row as much as is feasible. Rowing is better for health and happiness, and it lets us get into shallower, more interesting waters. It’s a good thing we installed the extra fenders…the dock was packed when we got back a couple hours later. We made about five knots over the ground going back to Cetacea, with very little current pushing us and the wind alongside. Back at Cetacea, we left the fenders out just in case we got the wild wind-vs-current boat-clash in the middle of the night but there was no need. Tursiops silently tracked behind all night long. Now we can’t wait to[…]

Read more