Saturday May 28, 2011

Today was provisioning day. We tried to buy a couple of weeks worth of food and all of the bulky non-perishables we would need for the trip to minimize the amount of "lugging" we would do by foot when we are in transit on the boat. Three hours at the Publix, four shopping carts and $830 later we had the SUV full!

It took a few hours and some creative packing to get the supplies packed away.

 

We had an early supper then we made a trip to pick up beverages, beer, soft drinks, wine, water and spirits. We should be good for the trip.

The rest of the evening was spent continuing to pack away and arrange the inside of the boat.

We had an interesting sunset with some lightening and thunder clouds approaching from the east which ended up dissipating and not giving us any rain.

Tomorrow we will be leaving the motel and moving onto the boat at Snead Marine Boat Works. There is no Internet there so the blog will be off-line for a few days until we can get to a wi-fi hot spot. We hope to be able to get underway sometime on Tuesday and should be in Ft. Myers by Thursday.

Friday May 28, 2011

Another sunny day in the 90's. We got a call first thing this morning that the propellers were ready to be picked up in Tampa so we struck out on a journey to retrieve those, some proper sized anchor chain from a West Marine Superstore and some parts for the windlass from another supplier.

 
This required our eighth and hopefully last trip over the Sunshine Bridge.

We got the parts back to the boat yard by 2:00 pm and the mechanics were busy trying to get all of the repairs completed by the end of the day.

They managed to get everything completed except to align one of the propeller shaft couplings which they discovered was misaligned when they installed the new shaft seals. It was late in the day, very hot and most of the mechanics wanted to get away for the long weekend. They were able to get the boat launched and gave us a slip for the weekend at the marina.

Note the shiny new propellers!

We are at the opposite end of the marina

Now that we can move onto the boat, it will give us time to get provisioned and things packed away. Looks like they will have things sorted out by Tuesday morning and then we will be on our way.

We went out for supper at sunset at the River House Restaurant in Bradenton. A lovely place on the water.

Thursday May 26, 2011

We were up early to have breakfast and get to the boat to meet Captain Kirk who was going to help us take the boat to Snead Island Boat Works. This provided Brian with his first opportunity to get the boat off the dock (with a little coaching from Captain Kirk). Click on the following link.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PzT6tPWfc4k

Here are a couple of the neighbour's boats, both 80ft+ and we didn't even come close to them. Good work Captain Brian!

We left Riveara Dunes at 8:10 am and after a short run down the Manatee river, we arrived at Snead Island Boat Works, a sort of old time rustic place, at 8:45 am.

We were in the slings ready for haul out at 8:49 am

They had the boat in the pressure wash station by 8:59 and they were removing the props

The rudder definitely needs straightening ....

By 9:17 am, the props were off and the boat was on its way to the work yard. These guys must have worked in the NASCAR pits!

By 9:45 am we had the props in the SUV on the way to the propeller repair shop in Tampa Bay. When we got there, they promised to get on them right away and have them ready for pick up tomorrow. Great service!

The next job was to pick up the new anchor chain at West Marine. This was a challenge as it was in a 250 lb barrel but we did manage to get it into the back of the SUV.

Then it was time for lunch and a meeting with the boat broker at Rivera Dunes Marina for Brian and Joan to sign off all of the papers for the boat purchase.

By the time we returned to the boat yard, the rudder had already been repaired. The bad news was that when we tried to hoist the new anchor chain into the boat using the windlass, it kept jambing. After some head scratching and dismantling of the windlass, we discovered that West Marine had sold us $1000 worth of the wrong size chain (BBB instead of G4). So, we loaded it all back in the car and had another trip to West Marine for a refund.

The people at Snead Marine were very helpful in locating another store in Tampa that had 1000 ft in stock so it is off on another trip to Tampa tomorrow morning to get chain and hopefully, pick up the propellers from the re-conditioning shop by noon. This would allow Snead to finish all of their work (prop repair, rudder repair, steering hydraulic leak, install new prop shaft seals, install new prop shaft line cutters, replace shower sump) in time to get us back into the water before the long weekend.

We returned to the motel for a swim in the pool then a late supper followed by a trip to WalMart to pick up a few odds and ends to equip the galley and some red wine to keep the Captain happy.

Wednesday May 25, 2011

Final boat purchase negotiation day .... We started off by visiting the boat to gather information for purchasing critical spare parts for the trip and trying to figure out how some of the auxiliary systems such as the tv's and satellite receivers operate and to see what we still had to purchase to outfit for the trip.

On our way to the engine part store, Brian finally heard back from the boat broker with the owner's offer of compensation to settle up for some of the items that the survey indicated need attention. This resulted in a counter offer from Brian while we were stopped a toll both.

Brian's offer was eventually agreed to in the late afternoon while we were busy power shopping at a Factory Outlet Mall. Chris got some new sandals which resulted in the immediate disposal of her old ones in the trash.

With the boat deal finalized, Brian made arrangements to get the boat into Snead Island Boat Works tomorrow morning to get the rudder and propeller work and a few other items attended to. There is only a remote chance that they will have it completed before the Memorial Day weekend so we may have lots of time to get provisions as it now looks like a departure next week would be the most probable.

We did manage to move all of the boating supplies that have been stored in the vehicle for the last week. Four large dock carts full.

More to come from the motel room tomorrow! There are some great storage spaces in the bilge.

We had a late supper and managed to return to the motel in time to see the end of the American Idol Show finale.

Tuesday May 24, 2011

Today was our first day of standby, waiting for the service providers to attend to some of the things that have to be rectified on the boat before we head out. We took a trip to the marina to try to hook up with the marine diesel service guy but we did not have any luck in connecting with him. He had been at the boat earlier so we are assuming he has assessed what needs to be done. There are a number of routine spare parts that we wanted to purchase for the trip such as fuel and oil filters, water pump impellers etc. so we took a trip out to Anna Maria Island to what was supposed to be a large boat dealer. As it turned out, they did not stock any parts for Yanmar Marine Engines so we are going to have to look for another dealer in the area, or perhaps in Fort Myers.

This allowed us to spend the afternoon touring around Anna Maria Island. We had a great grouper and crab cake lunch at the pier. The temperatures were in the low 90's again.

Some followed it up with an ice cream cone...

We stopped for a short beach walk and wade in the water....

On the way back to the car we encountered a friendly gopher tortoise walking down the sidewalk.

We returned to the motel for a swim and relax in the shade. Brian had to return to the marina to meet up with the engine technicians who finally showed up. They were able to resolve all of the engine controls and instrumentation problems and have sorted out the problem with the bow thruster and will have to return to replace some parts. The main item that remains to be done is to replace the propellors and repair one of the rudders. We will be trying to get the boat hauled out tomorrow and have that work done ASAP. Looks like it will be at least a few days before we can get underway.

We didn't get out for supper until 9:00 pm and just went down the road to Applebee's for a casual dinner and a couple of drinks.

Background

This Blog is a journal of our trip with our friends, Brian and Joan, delivering their new boat from Bradenton Florida to Belleville Ontario. We will be travelling via the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, The Okeechobee Waterway, the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway, the Atlantic Ocean, the Hudson River, the Erie Canal, the Oswego Canal and Lake Ontario. At this point we are not sure of the exact distance but somewhere in the vicinity of 2000 - 2200 nautical miles.

Here is some information about the vessel:

Type: 2004 Cruisers 405
LOA: 42 ft 6 in
Beam: 13 ft 8 in
Draft: 3 ft 6 in
Displacement: 31,000 lb
Power: 2 x 370 hp Diesel + 9kw Generator

Here is the crew:

Captain Brian

First Mate Joan

Navigator & CBT* Jim

* (Chief Beverage Technician)

 

Deck Hand and Ship's Purser Chris

 
Monday, May 23, 2011

The crew (Chris & Jim) arrived today from Buffalo after an uneventful flight. The weather was great with high temperatures in the low 90's. We managed to pack all of the luggage into the rental SUV and make our way to Costco to pick up a few supplies and a visit to the boat to check on progress of a few of the items that were being addressed prior to our departure. Here are Brian and Joan on the transom of Don't Cha!

One of the decisions made today was to replace the anchor rode which currently is 5 ft of chain and 200 ft of nylon with 200 ft of all chain which has been ordered from the marine supply store. The challenge will be carrying it from the vehicle to the boat (weighs 250 lb).

It looks like it will be a few more days to finish up with correcting some of the deficiencies noted in the purchase survey. We are hoping to have the boat hauled out in a day or so to look after these and then start on our trip home. In the meantime, we are headquartered in the Comfort Inn in Bradenton and will have some opportunity to do some shopping and preparations.

We had supper at Woody's River Roo ... a rustic bar on the Manatee River.