St. Augustine to Vero Beach

With sadness White Pepper cast off from the Rivers Edge Marina in St. Augustine. We had stayed there 6 weeks cleaning and doing projects of the boat. The tasks seemed overwhelming at times. However, we were buoyed by the friendship of Margie and Chuck on Twin V and Vickie and Erin on No Fixed Address. Regular happy hours at White Lion, Ann O'Mallie's or Hurricane Patty's also helped to keep spirits up. We spent one delightful Saturday afternoon on the roof top bar at the St. Augustine Winery listening to new local singing sensation, Jolie.

The anchor windless project proved impossible. It would not rotate at all and defied all efforts to disassemble. My plan had been to have the boat yard at St. Augustine Marine Center install an electric windlass in its place. They prudently declined to tackle such a difficult problem. I was left to try the project myself to to no avail. Eventually I ordered a new manual Lofrans Royal windlass as a replacement. Erin and I worked all day to remove the corroded old bolts breaking one. The new windlass fit in the old holes and works perfectly for now. Before installing the windlass I took it apart and put Never Seize on the screws so that I can disassemble it next year.

Leaking faucets were replaced in the head and galley. The fixtures were easily obtained at the local Home Depot. But dealing with 35 year old plastic fittings and tubing was maddening. The entire boat needs to be re plumbed with modern equipment, but that project is too daunting to even contemplate.

Leaks had corroded the hinges on the nav station desk and the sink locker. A new piano hinge was ordered, cut to size and installed. Jan replaced a half dozen finger latches on drawers. She has mastered this chore which is great because the latches never last more than a few years.

The rusty anchor chain was addressed. The first 20 feet cut off and discarded. Then the chain was end-for-ended and reattached to the rode with a chain-rope splice. One the other end the shackle was in good shape and only needed to be re greased and re seized. If you don't re grease the anchor shackle it will seize and have to be cut off.

The LED light fixture in the head liner of the saloon was rebuilt.

All of the interior wood was oiled twice.

The local propane distributor, Courtesy Gas, refused to refill the 35 year old propane cylinders. I had to buy two new aluminum cylinders and haul them back up to Courtesy Gas for propane.  We Ubered back to the boat.

Two propane tanks and a new regulator

With the help of a local marine electrician, Mr. Billie Balcolm, the chart plotter and the autopilot were replaced. I was especially sad to see the Robertson Simrad autopilot go. It was easily the oldest piece of electronics on the boat and had given 20 years of flawless service. I opted to keep the Simrad linear drive as it seemed to be still working. It was leaking slowly but more about that later.

Traveling south from St. Augustine was retracing familiar ground. Jan and I spent the day reminiscing about this spot or that one where something happened during the past trips. We passed Diane and Pete on Pearl. We even anchored at the same spot in Daytona where I once had to go overboard to free the prop from a tangled line.

From Daytona we got an unusually early start, caught a lucky break at the New Smyrna bridge, and had favorable currents all day. With all of this good fortune White Pepper was able to power past the usual stopping point of Titusville and reach Cocoa. Anchor down at 4:30.

There were two items that day. We caught a glimpse of the Space X launch before it disappeared into the clouds. Then in the Mosquito Lake the new autopilot failed. The leak in the Simrad linear drive had become excessive.

A stiff cold front came through that night and challenged the new ground tackle but every thing held up well. It took 10 minutes to get the trusty Rocna anchor out of the mud.

The trip from Cocoa to Vero Beach was also very familiar. Along the way we saw Pearl again and saw Obsession. Pierre and Caroline are old friends from many years past. Once again we caught favorable currents and turned into the familiar entrance to the Vero Beach Marina at 4:45. After a turn at the marina dock we settled in on mooring ball #1 which is close to the bridge. Three days from St. Augustine to Vero Beach is a good run and one day faster than we usually have done before.