Where did the season go?

My, my, my, where did the season go? We have spent 3 weeks here at Vero Beach mooring field. The original plans to travel to the Abacos, Bahamas have succumbed to time constraints. Why did we spent so much time here at Vero Beach? Some of the time was spent visiting old friends such as Sandra and Davido and playing golf with Skip Hardy. But most of the time was consumed in chores and the endless, ongoing boat building. We attended 3 of the Thursday afternoon happy hours with local cruisers.

Charlie Mitchell flew in to help with installing the new Doyle stack pack sail cover. One afternoon I had to make three trips up the mast to install the cheek blocks for the new lazy jacks. This chore stretched out over two weeks as we had to send the sail cover back for changes. Remember what the Great Carpenter said, “Measure twice, cut once.” Eventually the stack pack was installed and looked great. Tip of the hat to Mark Matthews from Doyle Sails. He was very patient and responsive. Still it was all long distance and tricky. Time will tell whether this is an upgrade as the sail cover requires considerable attention. However, I will not regret having to wrestle the main sail into submission in challenging conditions. With the stack pack I can address the main sail after the anchor is secure. 

New lazy jacks

Charlie also helped me replace an antenna. What happened to the old one I do not have clue. It just was not there when we picked up the boat at GCS. The antenna is a Metz Manta 6. The old one gave great service since it was installed in 2007. I had to go to the mast head which was not fun at my age and weight. Jan said that she had never heard the winch make such noises. Fortunately, she did not have to crank me to the top as the coach roof winch is electrified.

Jan added two more coats of varnish to the exterior wood. Also she resurrected the companionway screen. After a vanish job she re-screened it. Also the Velcro for mosquito screens for the hatches were redone. This is a vital job at Vero Beach which is quite “buggy”, intolerably so in the summer.

 Old Edson table brought back to life

 Hand rail as work of art

Restored companionway screen varnished

New running lights were installed on the bow. These have not been working for years. We have been relying on the masthead tricolor at night. However, the tricolor is not legal when motoring, esp. in the ICW and harbors where most people are looking for a low light. I had to completely rewire the lights as the original wire was corroded. I used enclosed LED lights from Hella. I can only hope these perform better than the old incandescent lights from Aqua Signal which never stayed lit for more a few months at a time.

 Note the small port bow light with home made mount

Karl changed out one of the batteries. White Pepper uses Odyssey group 31 2150s. These batteries are amazing. The one I replaced lasted 9 years, but they cost $350 and weigh 85 pounds. Very challenging.

New charts for the journey north were ordered. A mail drop arrived. Propane was topped up.,

A project that failed was installing a new fuel gauge. The old sending unit could not be removed. I can only assume it was welded into place when the new tank was built by Deltaville Boatyard in 2009.

Several deck leaks were addressed. A large leak was discovered at the starboard potable water intake. This leak had plagued Jan for years as it sent water straight into the pan locker and rusted her pans. A huge project at Green Cove Springs to seal the mast boot seemed to be helping. Keeping water off the “roof” is an endless project on the White Pepper. We know that if we fail in this effort our lovely home will be slowly destroyed.

A leaking PSS drip less stuffing box was addressed by Peter, our local mechanic at Vero Beach Marina. He added 3/8 inch of tension to the rubber bellows. I hope this works, because if it does not we will have to haul out somewhere. We can not live with salt water spray in the engine compartment. It will destroy the engine. I had to spend an afternoon washing the engine with water, drying it and then applying PAM.  Maintenance buffs should know that a PSS dripless stuffing box has to  be installed with two sets of set screws--one on top of the other.  My installation only had one set. The set screws can never be reused. Also the entire shaft should be replaced every 6 years regardless. This one is only one year old but it replaced one that was easily 10 plus years old.

We spent a lot of time at Waldo's, the local beach bar.

Current plans are to travel north to the Chesapeake. Stay tuned.