"There is a good battery store in Fort Pierce," said a cruiser after beach church on Volley Ball Beach last April. On such small things, great plans are made. I had never heard of Fort Pierce, Fla. prior to that very brief exchange. I did learn that Fort Pierce has a first class very safe inlet and a reputation for marine services. Being well north of the Bahamas and not being Fort Lauderdale were added advantages. The name of the battery store is St. Lucie Tire and Battery.
After securing a slip at Harbortown Marina and clearing in, we retained the service of an excellent marine electrician--William Rhoads (772) 812-1722. He suggested more batteries in a house bank. Eventually, we settled on a single starting battery which was one of the Odyssey batteries and a house bank. The house bank is now a hodgepodge of batteries--one of the Odyssey's, the two group 27's that I bought in Georgetown, and a new group 4D from St. Lucie Tire and Battery. He replaced the long broken shore charger with a heavy duty unit from MasterVolt, and replaced the 30 amp Hitachi alternator with a 70 amp Balmar coupled to an AR-5 smart regulator. It took a while and cost plenty, but I am hopeful that this is a good start to solving White Pepper's power problems. Later we will add solar and wind power.
Other chores included replacing the leaking front hatch, fixing the propane bottles, and ordering or mailing off a half dozen broken parts. New charts and a Reed's Nautical almanac were purchased for the Atlantic portion of our trip.
Fort Pierce is industrial and agricultural. It seems oddly downtrodden, esp. considering the glitter of the South Florida coast. Jan and I rented a car for the weekend. After all the chores were done, we headed for West Palm Beach on Sunday. The opulence and wealth there is staggering. The Fort Pierce city father's have not given up however. They have redone the old city center quite well. The library is at least as nice as Corpus Christi. There is a nice farmer's market every Saturday morning. The restaurants are charming and refreshingly cheap.
The high light of our stay was Father's Day. Kristi and Pat flew to Florida for a visit to his relatives in Tampa and Miami. They were able to swing by on Saturday and Sunday. We all had a marvelous visit which included a dingy ride from Harbortown to the City Marina and downtown.
Now having spent all of our allowance, we are leaving Fort Pierce for Charleston, SC. on the outside. We will be glad to leave Fort Pierce but sorry to leave behind the many good people we met living aboard in the marina. Everyone was quiet friendly and some were invaluable in giving assistance. Thanks! The weather looks good except for usual afternoon thunderstorms which are typical of the June here. Our next post should be in 4 or 5 days.
After securing a slip at Harbortown Marina and clearing in, we retained the service of an excellent marine electrician--William Rhoads (772) 812-1722. He suggested more batteries in a house bank. Eventually, we settled on a single starting battery which was one of the Odyssey batteries and a house bank. The house bank is now a hodgepodge of batteries--one of the Odyssey's, the two group 27's that I bought in Georgetown, and a new group 4D from St. Lucie Tire and Battery. He replaced the long broken shore charger with a heavy duty unit from MasterVolt, and replaced the 30 amp Hitachi alternator with a 70 amp Balmar coupled to an AR-5 smart regulator. It took a while and cost plenty, but I am hopeful that this is a good start to solving White Pepper's power problems. Later we will add solar and wind power.
Other chores included replacing the leaking front hatch, fixing the propane bottles, and ordering or mailing off a half dozen broken parts. New charts and a Reed's Nautical almanac were purchased for the Atlantic portion of our trip.
Fort Pierce is industrial and agricultural. It seems oddly downtrodden, esp. considering the glitter of the South Florida coast. Jan and I rented a car for the weekend. After all the chores were done, we headed for West Palm Beach on Sunday. The opulence and wealth there is staggering. The Fort Pierce city father's have not given up however. They have redone the old city center quite well. The library is at least as nice as Corpus Christi. There is a nice farmer's market every Saturday morning. The restaurants are charming and refreshingly cheap.
The high light of our stay was Father's Day. Kristi and Pat flew to Florida for a visit to his relatives in Tampa and Miami. They were able to swing by on Saturday and Sunday. We all had a marvelous visit which included a dingy ride from Harbortown to the City Marina and downtown.
Now having spent all of our allowance, we are leaving Fort Pierce for Charleston, SC. on the outside. We will be glad to leave Fort Pierce but sorry to leave behind the many good people we met living aboard in the marina. Everyone was quiet friendly and some were invaluable in giving assistance. Thanks! The weather looks good except for usual afternoon thunderstorms which are typical of the June here. Our next post should be in 4 or 5 days.
1 comment:
S-s-s-h-h, not so loud...we don't want any more people moving in to Fort Pierce.
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