Made it to Marathon

Days passed on the mooring ball in Ft. Meyers with winds howling during the day and actually calming a bit at night. On the 8th Dirk celebrated his 47th birthday and so we decided it was time to get off the boat and go find someplace to eat out. We had a couple tell us about a little pizza place called the Surf Pie that had all you can eat Pizza on Thursday night for $5.00. Lucky us, today is Thursday. We knew that the couple from Majestic Dream were heading that way and the day before Dirk had met a couple on a 42 Vagabond and suggested we get together to swap stories. We get a table for 6 and the 4 of us sit down to wait. After a while we figure the other couple isn’t showing and start eating, we are starved. The pizza is wonderful and the pieces are huge, as big as your plate. I did manage to get two pieces down but wanted to save a bit of room for some of the Key Lime Pie I had made for Dirks Birthday that was waiting back on the boat. I asked him if he wanted a Rum cake or key lime pie, he opted for pie. I was more than willing to make the rum cake, but it’s his birthday. We were just sitting chatting and finally the other couple showed up with a cake they had picked up for Dirk.

Dirk at his birthday dinner at Surf Pie in Fort Myers

What a nice gesture that was, heck he met them for 30 minutes one day and the next they are bringing cake. Gotta love those cruisers. So the restaurant gave us some forks, plates, and we all sat around eating cake and telling stories, asking questions until we were stuffed and ready to waddle back to the dinghy dock for the long ride back to Renegade. The next day the winds were due to calm a bit and we decided it would be a good day to travel down to Marco Island. We would be travelling in between fronts so we needed to get a move on or get stuck. Moving on seemed like a better option. So Leela and us pulled out and headed south for a nice sail to Marco. We had them pull up next to us and take a couple photos as we have yet to see what we look like with all sails up as it’s hard to tell from the deck.

Renegade under sail



Another shot of Renegade

Once they photographed us we returned the favor. Since this was our first trip on the outside in the Gulf of Mexico we decided this would be a good time to try out the water maker. Dirk had installed the new parts but we couldn’t try it until we were in cleaner water. Dirk went down below as I took the helm and fiddled with it. He got the water to start coming out of the test line so we let it run a bit. A few minutes later he returned to test the water and came back up to tell me we were now proud parents of a 7 and a half gallon per hour water maker and we were now putting water into our tanks. Yippiee…. We pulled into Marco and anchored in the same spot as had several years ago on Tybee Time. I had just enough time to get the boat settled and grab a shower before Michael and Christi pulled up in Get er done.


Mike & Christi on Get r Done



Sun downers on the back deck

They would be joining us for the night and were nice enough to ask if they could pick up any groceries for me. Since it had been a little over a week since leaving Cortez there were a few things I needed. I was happy to get some fresh bread, tomatoes and other assorted things on board. Thanks guys….We cooked some dogs on the grill and sat back enjoying a sun downer as Mother Nature presented us with a beautiful sunset.


Beautiful sunsent in Marco, look at the size of that sun

 It was off to bed early as we had a daylight departure time set. Our sights were set on Shark River and it would take us the better part of 11 hours to get there. So after quick so longs we bid farewell to Michael and Christi, fired up the engine and got under way without even a cup of coffee in hand. Once we got out of the channel I managed to go below and whip up a pot as Dirk headed the boat south and raised the sails. The winds were being cooperative for most of the day than ended up coming right off our nose to being next to nonexistent. We ended up taking the sails down and motoring through the miles and miles of crab pots. I am really learning to hate these things and they conjure up memories of an all nighter through crab pots that left both Dirk and I exhausted due to the fact we both had to be on watch and on guard all night. But I took the time to go forward, sit on the bow sprit seat and enjoy the view.

nice place to sit back and relax

It is a wonderful feeling sitting so far out over the water, feet dangling, watching out for dolphins. I actually saw two jump out of the water side by side on the port side of the boat. How cool was that…. The day before I had seen a sting ray breach the water before heading back in. I wonder what they think when they are in our world for that split moment. Well the day was going well and after looking at weather and the area we were going to anchor, we decided to keep going to Everglades National Park area. We didn’t need the protection of the river and we didn’t really want to contend with the mosquitoes that I heard will carry you away if you’re not careful. Also our buddy boat Leela has Charley the Lab on board who needs a beach to run and do his business. In the river I hear there is nowhere to land the dinghy and one must be careful of the crocodiles. Hummmmmm So we continued on for several more miles and anchored in about 10 feet of water in the ocean. We were there with two other boats so it couldn’t be too bad of an idea, the winds were coming from the east and the island would protect us.


A full rainbow seen while underway


Sleep came easy and it was calm until early morning when the ocean swells began to come in. Our plan was to head to Marathon today, get some last minute stuff done and wait for weather to cross over to the Bahamas. Morning started out well but soon the winds picked up to 15 than to 20 knots. It was getting a bit rough and we decided to drop the main sail, keep the others up so we could reduce some of the heeling and make the ride more comfortable. I decided at this point for some reason to make Dirk and I lunch. Lucky for me I’m not one to get sea sick as I was sure to be sore from the Pilate's I was doing.


My mop and broom showing the heel we have going on.

I was in the skier pose, knees bent up against the oven to keep myself balanced, one hand on the skillet, as if I were to let it go it would have tumbled off the burner. I need to get some of the bars that lock the pots in place. Every chance I got I let go to do a quick chop of veggies and back to balance the skillet. In the end though I had whipped us up some really good chicken tacos that satisfied our hungry appetites. After cleaning up the dishes and heading back up top we get a call from our buddy boat, his engine was over heating and he asked Dirk to help him trouble shoot. As rough as the water was there was lots of grasses and such in the water, Dirk told him to check the sea cock strainer and it turned out that’s what it was. Not enough fresh water being able to go through the engine to cool it. As he was working on it they continued to sail and we shut our engine down to sail alongside them. With only the yankee ( small jib) and the hanky (mizzen sail) as they are called, we were getting about 4 knots with a comfortable ride. Not too shabby……After Leela gets back on track we continue on and make it to the channel that takes you under the 7 mile bridge and on around to Marathon. Wow, finally on the home stretch to a long rough day. The end is in sight…or so we thought. All of a sudden our engine died. Dirk tried restarting it, nothing. Hummmmm Dirk went and checked the fuel filters and saw our pressure was fairly high. We must have sucked up something in the intake hose. Dirk proceeds to change over to the other tank and we get on the move again. Suddenly the engine quits again. While Dirk is down below trouble shooting I am sailing along heading through the channel towards the bridge. Leela hangs next to us making sure all is well. After much tinkering we finally get the girl fired up again and back on track. Long story short, after changing fuel tanks we ran out of fuel in the secondary tank. Dirk had forgotten that he had directed the return hose to the other tank so as it was being sucked out and filtered the excess was being returned to the main tank. Threw Dirk for a loop a bit as he couldn't figure how we used 20 gallons in such a short time. He switched back to the other tank after taking the intake line out and cleaning it. Never could find the source of the blockage but it seems to be working now. Guess its one of those things one must deal with when dealing with a new to us boat. So after much excitement we headed under the bridge and up to Marathon. We called ahead and unfortunately they were full in the mooring field. Right on the outside of the channel going into the Marathon Harbor there is an island that gives protection from winds from the east and we tucked in behind it along with several other boats apparently awaiting mooring balls also. Was good holding and we stayed there 2 days before the marina called us to say they had a ball for us.

First sunset in the Keys with 7 mile bridge in the distance

So here it is almost a week later and we find ourselves still sitting and waiting along with a full harbor of boats waiting for weather.

This guy has been hanging around our dinghy fishing for a couple days

Looks right now that perhaps we will be getting a break in the weather this weekend and we find ourselves planning on different points of entry. You know its all written in jello anyway. So I made arrangements for Capt. Butters to get his health checkup tomorrow and we will also do our last minute provisioning tomorrow also. Then laundry and if we are lucky come Wednesday morning we will move back out to the anchorage and prepare for and wait on weather to move. I'm hoping the next post will be from the Bahamas so keep your fingers crossed.

Capt. Butters relaxing on the back deck

Finally Free of the Dock and the Lines That Bind Us

Our goal was to leave the marina on March 1st and we actually stuck by that date. The week leading up to our departure was hectic as we made a final trip to see my sister and her family, dropping off more items that didn’t make the cut for the boat. We also put as much as we could in our overstuffed storage unit and packed the car with items we decided needed to go with us. See you later’s were said as Dirk and I try never to say goodbye. Several trips to West Marine were made for last minute thought of items and items that we were trying to decide if we wanted or not. On our last boat we had the smart controller remote and really liked the idea of being able to steer the boat away from the helm.

Raymarine Smart Controller

Great when you’re in open water and only small adjustments need to be made. We can relax in our port o seats on the front deck or lay back on the nice comfy couch on the stern. The nice feature about it is it is also a repeater station for all the instruments and we can keep it in the bedroom at night if we need to be aware of anything. We also got the antenna finally for the small handheld GPS that we have mounted by the bed that we use as an anchor alarm.


Hand held GPS mounted on the wall in the bedroom

 I sleep so much better knowing something is tending to the anchor. Several trips around town making sure scripts were filled and provisions were gotten. As I put the provisions away I find more room and thus think I need more. I mean, can you really have too much? We shall see what we return with. I also finished up some screens for hatches and installed the lee cloth I made in the forward berth.


screen on the aft hatch, come on flys, your not getting in here




Lee cloth keeping lots of stuff stashed and stowed.

 There was one final dock party to attend and we had our friends Mac & Margie return to spend some time together talking over plans to have them visit us in the Bahamas. Loads of laundry was cleaned, water tanks topped off, fuel collected and systems checked, I think we were ready to go. Our plan was to have a short trip down the ICW to stage for a long day on Friday. We would be travelling with a buddy boat from the marina that is heading to Key West.

Our buddy boat s/v Leela at anchor by Caya Costa

We met s/v Leela with Robin, Tony and Charley the chocolate lab at Christmas when they pulled in beside us. We left the docks together around noon with our dock friends there to help, waving us off, with hugs all around. I have to admit I even shed a few tears for new friends made and left behind. I am sure we will all meet somewhere along the way, it always seems to happen. With only a 2 1/2 hour trip the first day down to Sarasota Bay it was a good way to ease back into cruising again. The winds were calm which was nice as this would be the first time to anchor this boat and everything would be new to us. It all went well and we settled into the rest of the evening with some curried chicken salad and brushetta with a couple cold beers out on the back deck.


Our anchorage in Sarasota Bay



Dinner and a cold one on the back "couch"

 Aaaaahhh, this is what we were missing. The next morning we were up at daylight hoping to get a jump on the day our sights on Caya Costa in Boca Grande as an anchorage. The fog was so thick it looked as if it could be cut with a knife. Wow, so we hung out for just a bit than decided we needed to get underway. In the open areas it wasn’t too bad but there were a few skinny areas that we had to travel that my main goal was to spot the next channel marker to keep us on track. Thank goodness for radar…..We had known the winds were going to be picking up that evening so we wanted to be tucked behind the island for some good protection. The trip took about 10 hours of busy busy waterways bustling with people getting a head start on the weekend. We got to the anchorage threw the hook down, watched the sunset, ate some dogs from the grill and called it an early evening. Up early again the next morning, we needed to reach Ft. Myers today as a cold front was moving in and it was packing some hefty winds. We really wanted to be snuggled onto a mooring ball rather than anchoring in unknown waters with little to no anchoring around. It was a rough trip as the winds were already picking up and even in the ICW it was fairly rough. That coupled with the fact that we had several power boaters racing by along with being in the middle of a cigarette boat race that didn’t leave us feeling too warm and fuzzy. These boats were literally flying past us from all sides one cutting not 30 feet in front of our boat. It scared the cat so bad that I’m sure he set a land speed record for a cat making tracks to a hiding place below.

Butters hiding in the Vee Berth upper bunk

Had one of these boats lost control it would have been a nasty event, and for the life of me I can’t figure why they would have a race in the middle of the ICW, on a Saturday to boot. Once we passed under the Sanibel Causeway Bridge we had a short jaunt in open water to make it into Ft. Myers Beach and the City mooring field.

Renegade heading to Ft. Myers

It was quiet a rough ride as we were taking wind and waves over the sides. The wind was cold and we ended up dropping the sides to the cockpit enclosure. Wow, what a difference as saltwater was sprayed and yet we stayed dry. It has already paid for itself. Dirk called ahead and got our ball assignments so at least that would be taken care of. We knew we would be in the back field and we were told there were only two balls that our boat was rated for. As I’m on the front with the binoculars looking for ball numbers I spot what looks like another Vagabond 47. As we get closer I start to recognize the boat, it is a Vagabond 47 and in fact it’s the one we first thought would be the one we would end up with when our search first began 2 years ago.

s/v Majestic Dream

The owners came out on deck seeing us pull in and watch for a moment before the husband Don I think it is hops in the dinghy to give us a hand locating our ball. We had a choice of two and we noticed there was already a smaller boat on one and when we tried to pick up the other the tackle on it was completely rusted away. We call the office and they tell us we need to be on the ball with the smaller boat, they are on the wrong ball. Humm no one is on the boat and the wind by this point is making coasting around in tight places a bit uncomfortable. Don is in his dinghy going from one ball to the next before finding one with suitable ground tackle, he hands me the line up and I tied it off. I don’t care if the office is upset we took a different ball we would deal with moving later. We just wanted to get secured. We thanked Don for his help and set about getting the dinghy in the water and the engine put on so that Dirk could go into the office and settle up. He would pay for two days and we would make a decision then whether we could move on or not. We settled in and when the couple returned to their boat Dirk went over to them explaining that they were on our ball and would have to move to the one they were assigned. He said don’t worry about it this evening we would do it tomorrow.


Sun set over the mooring field with the Ft. Myers beach bridge in the distance

 They had no problems with that and apologized. The next morning we awoke to calm weather but no sooner than we were thinking perhaps the weather people were wrong the skies started getting dark and the winds quickly piped up. We clocked 40 knots at one point and the boats were all straining on their mooring lines. Some heeled so much that I was able to see the top of the deck. We decided that no one was going to be travelling today so no one would need the ball we were on. We were staying put and we weren’t moving unless it was absolutely necessary. There were several other balls around and as long as the winds were as they were we wouldn’t have a problem with turning radius. However, towards the evening we had an alarm sound that we were in shallow water. We had six feet under us and we need 5’6” so there wasn’t much room to play with. Also the tide was still going out and we had another foot to go. That’s not good, it was time to move, wind or no wind. If we sat in the mud with the wind hitting us on our side it wasn’t going to be pretty. Dirk phoned the office to inquire the depth of the field to know perhaps a better place to go. He was told the depths were 8 to 12 feet all around. Dirk informed the lady we were sitting in less than 6 feet at that time, her response, “well move”. Um, anyone knowing my husband knows that’s the wrong response but what were we to do. With many onlookers and not one person offering assistance we let the ball go and plotted our course taking current and wind in consideration to maneuver around the other boats to pick up a ball Dirk had checked the depth with in the dinghy. The first attempt of us trying to get into the channel we ran aground and with just a bit of reverse were able to back off and back the way we came. We managed to get close to the ball but the wind was so strong it kept us from getting there successfully. After a couple of go arounds we pull up next to it, I hook the pennant and I get a line tied to the boat. Whew, then the fun began because with the way the winds were blowing we didn’t trust the tired looking rope and wanted to add our own tackle to it. After much cursing that I’m sure many people heard Dirk had his own lines through the ball and finally attached to the boat now using theirs as a backup. We are definitely not moving again, tough. So today is day 3 here, the 6th of March. I have only gotten off the boat once since leaving Cortez and that was to have sun downers on the neighboring Vagabond 47 s/v Majestic Dream. She is still for sale and both Dirk and I feel that even though we didn’t end up with her like we thought a year ago that fate brought us to the one we were suppose to have. We couldn’t be happier with our decision. A few more days here perhaps waiting out the front and then we will make a hop to Marco Island, Shark River and then on around to Marathon. Yes it blows that we are stuck sitting here waiting, but it beats sitting at a dock any day. I know this post is long but Dirk has decided he would like to add his recap of the events of the mooring field. Anytime he wants to add something I am all for it as he may only make one or two contributions per year. Here goes.....I said a long time ago that the only time that I will make an appearance on the blog is when something didn’t go right. So, that being said, let me take the sugar coating off from Nancy’s version and tell you what really happened.  There we were, no shi…no, but seriously, we arrived at Fort Myers, FL, after a 6 hour motor into 25-30 knot headwinds.  We had called the mooring field a few days ago and they told us they were only half full, but after calling this morning, they informed us that they had two moorings left for our size.  Of course we started calling marinas around the area, just in case.  Everything that we found was about $2/ft, which would make for an expensive stay for the week.  As we got closer we called the mooring field on the radio and they gave us two balls to choose from, #51 and #54, the only two balls left that had a 80’ turning radius.  Both of those moorings are in the southern field, which is about a 5 minute dinghy ride to the dock, but it will be better than having to pay for a slip.  We motored down to the field and saw another Vagabond moored in the field.  It was Majestic Dream, a Vagabond that we had always wanted to look at before buying Renegade, but after having the run in with the Broker last year, I swore that I would not buy a boat from Contemporary Yachts out of Annapolis, no matter how much I liked a boat.  Since that was the listing broker we never did look at it, which worked out just fine for us.  Anyway, back to the story at hand.  We found mooring ball #51, which you can see from the pic, was not a good place to be attached to and feel safe about it.


Ball 51, would you trust your boat on this?

 On to #54 it is.  After a 15 min cruise through the mooring field, we found what had to be #54. We were not really sure, since the ball was upside down, grown over with algae, and didn’t have a number shown on it.  On top of that, it had a 27’ sailboat attached to it.  After a quick call to the office I was told that there was no boat on 54, but rather 55. Since they had not seen the outside of their office in a while, I assured them that 55 was empty and 54 was taken.  After a little arguing  I told them that I am going to take one of these open balls and we could figure it all out later.  #56 it was for right now.  We had about 9’ of water under us and all was good,for now.  After we got tied up and all secured I dinghied to the office and informed them that since there is no one around us on any of the balls, that we would stay there until the boat  moves from 54 to 55.  After a nice calm night, the wind picked up to about 25 knots and stayed there all day.  About  2 pm our shallow water alarm, which was set to 7’, went off.  No biggie, readjusted it to come on at 6’ and the problem was solved.  At around 3pm we heard the alarm go off again.  Now that we are at 6’ it was time to get concerned since we draw about 5’6”.  So I checked the tides and it showed me the we still had another foot to go to Mean low tide and that by 4am, the water level would be even below that.  In land lovers terms that would mean that our keel would be sitting about a foot in the mud and we would be stuck. On any normal calm day that would not be an issue, but when you sit sideways in the mud and the wind picks up to about 40 knots… let me just say that there would be a foul smell coming from your underwear. A quick call to the office proved me wrong. There is always 6-12’ of water in the mooring field, and if I have less than that, then I should just move. To where?  #54?  I don’t think so.  So we found another ball that had no one else around it. On our way over there we ran aground in the channel but luckily backed right out and got back to 6’ of water.  Once we got to the ball, Nancy did a great job picking up the pennant and we were set.  So we thought!!! After a close inspection of this shackle and line, we found that the line is frayed at the end and that the shackle is rusted pretty bad to the point that I wanted my own line attached directly to the mooring ball and just use their line as a backup.  With the winds at steady 25 knots it took us a good hour and quite a few of choice words to get my chafe guard in place and all the lines attached, but finally it was time for a shot of Patron and some TV.  Like they say, sometimes you will be entertained and sometime you are the entertainment.  Well, that night we were the entertainment for sure.  The following morning I got into the dinghy and drove to the office to see what kind of idiots run the place.  I explained to them about the condition of the balls, the low water in the field and all I got in return was “ You should have checked your charts to see that kind of depth you have” and “ yeah with the mangroves on that side it shallows out quite a bit”  If you know that, then why don’t you tell boaters that when you assign them to that dry dock that they call a mooring field?  The person behind the desk gave me the Public Works number and a point of contact and that was all I could handle for the moment.  So that next night we were invited to Majestic Dream, the other Vagabond, and had sun downers when we saw a good size boat coming by looking for ball numbers.  I asked them which one they are looking for to help them out.  You won’t believe it, but they were looking for #51 or #54.  The one that is taken and the other one with no shackle.  Now tell me if I am over reacting, but not 4 hours ago I was in that office, telling them about the situation about those two balls and what do they do?  Ignore and reassign.   Then I finally I got a call back from the PW office and the lady was very nice and was glad that I contacted her and that she was going to address all of this with her staff.  We will see how this goes. Well this was my yearly contribution to the Blog, and since Nancy is doing such a fine job I won’t interfere again until the next thing that pisses me off.  Today as I post the blog we had the dock master come by and speak to us. Wow, the city actually did what they said they were gonna do. Lets see how far they take it. Maybe they were just greasing the squeaky wheel. Finally a photo of Capt. Butters perched on his favorite spot even though its open.


Leave me alone, Im chillin



Departure Date is Fast Approaching

Here we find ourselves at the end of February and the migration bug is hitting us hard. We have put things into over drive trying to get the odd jobs complete and the almost done deck finished. About once a week I head off to Wal-Mart to fight the peak season crowd here long enough to have my fun meter pegged than head on back to the boat to find room to stow it all. Our plan is to get out of here as early as March 1, that’s our shoot for date, head down the west coast, under the 5 mile bridge in the keys and up to Marathon to do last minute provisioning and that’s where Capt. Butters has to go for his last minute vet check. Once we get several good days of weather we will head to Rodriguez Key or points close to jump off from. We plan to check into Bimini which is new for us as we usually enter in the Abacos up north. We decided since we were so far south that from Bimini we would head straight into the Exumas and go from south to north this time. It will be different for us as we are usually in the Abacos when it’s still a bit chilly and I don’t swim unless the water is 80 or higher.

We made a few purchases that needed to be made here on Renegade. The first being a new Sailrite sewing machine.



Our new Sailrite, got the one that does zig zag stiches also



 We have eyed them for a couple years now, but really didn’t have the space to store one until now. For those of you who do not know, Sailrites are a very heavy duty sewing machine that allows one to sew sails, canvas and any other heavy duty materials that regular sewing machines just can’t handle. They also allow one to sew even delicate curtains and interior cushions so basically I can take the small sewing machine off the boat. The big determining factor in buying one was the fact that we needed to have the sacrificial sun cover on our jib re sewn or replaced. After getting several quotes we found that for a couple hundred more we could purchase the machine and do it ourselves. We also had a quote done for some new canvas projects such as a cover for the deck box and new helm cover to fit the new instruments. That quote quickly ate the other money we saved buying and doing it ourselves.



Dirk with his first project, new cover for the deck box



So Dirk has been busy sewing and I even managed to make a nice lee cloth for the forward bunk to keep stuff stowed behind along with a few curtains. I have started on making screens and want to get them done by the time we make the Bahamas. We also purchased two new fiberglass propane tanks like we had on Tybee Time, our last boat.

New fiberglass propane



New cover made for the tank



 We currently have two horizontal aluminum tanks; one has a problem and can’t be filled. They were also in the port side deck locker under the “couch” on deck. With that locker empty we now have room for the snorkel gear and fishing gear all up top. Dirk sewed some covers and they will be mounted behind the couch on deck and secured to the aft rail. We went from having 20 lbs of propane to 40 lbs. It will be nice not having to worry about running out.

Lately we have been in touch with several cruisers and friends we met last year. Bill and his wife Kiran who we had actually met 2 years ago have visited several times. Lynda & Harry from s/v Cool change were in the area and stopped in to do a little catching up.

Lynda & Harry from s/v Cool Change

Bill & Elaine from s/v Triumph came by for a session of catching up and finally Ace & Suz from s/v Ace’s Wild pulled in behind us to stay for the night in order to catch up, play some cards and eat some chili.



Dirk with Ace & Suz from s/v Ace's Wild



I just love the cruising community as you can meet someone in the Bahamas, along the ICW, or just in a marina and sometime down the road you know you will run into them again.

We also had Dirk’s best friends; Mac & Margie come for a second visit on the boat.



Dirk with Mac & Margie



They had come for Memorial Day but we couldn’t take Renegade out as we were redoing the rigging. This time however we had beautiful weather and took her out for a sail in the Gulf of Mexico via Tampa Bay.



Dirk enjoying the ride on the bow sprit out in the Gulf of Mexico




Wind in the sails



It was perfect sailing weather, great winds, calm seas and a good time had by all. I think we now have them convinced to visit us in the Bahamas this season. Not like we haven’t been trying to get them to come for several years now…..

Well this will be a short post, but a post none the less. Mom was asking when I would be posting again and quite frankly I have bored of marina life and when you have groundhog day everyday with boat work it makes writing very difficult. I am actually looking forward to travelling again, different scenery, beautiful sunsets, making new lifelong friends and adventures shared with my husband. So keep your fingers crossed that the next post you read will be in fact written with no dock lines attached to the boat. Below is a photo of Capt. Butters keeping warm. Most days this is where you will find him if he isn’t completely covered.

A much needed update

Getting started has been a thorn in my side as I am known to procrastinate and once I do it for so long on a certain project it gets out of hand. I keep telling myself I need to sit and write to catch the readers up on what’s been happening here on Renegade. Here I find myself almost in February and I have yet to write a word so I will do my best to catch you up. I just find it’s not any fun writing about projects that are tedious such as scraping decks, varnishing and the grunt workings on the boat. I’m ready to cast off the lines and start heading south again, I say I, but I know Dirk feels the same way. Writing about travel and new experiences is what I want to be doing, and if we have it our way it will be happening soon. So for right now let me get back to filling you in on the past month. First things first, Renegade has now officially been renamed, libations have been given to the perspective Gods of water and winds and hopefully they bestow upon us safe travels where ever we may go.

Renegade named

Dirk admiring his work once all the blue tape was removed

We decided to do the renaming ceremony on New Year’s Eve as we thought why not start the year out right. There was to be a dock party afterwards so  we gathered everyone to witness.

The brass nameplate with the name Cassaway that was removed and given to the great ruler of the seas to expunge from the records  

There it goes

Now we offer champagne in appreciation

Now we offer champagne to the rulers of the winds so that Renegade may traverse the wind and faceless deep, ensuring us gentle assistance according to our needs

Here Dirk is explaining the meaning of Renegade to our guest

Here's to Renegade, may she be assured fair winds and smooth seas wherever she may travel

After the ceremony we ate till we were stuffed with wonderful foods all the tenants provided and I could be mistaken but I think only a handful made it to midnight to see the fireworks show on the island behind us. Us and our guest Klaus and Barbara from s/v Klabara popped champagne and toasted to the New Year.

Several weeks earlier Dirk had finished the rigging and we ended up taking Renegade out for her first sail. Dock master Scott and Asst. Dock master Brian wanted to go along for the ride so we all piled on and headed out to Tampa Bay to test and adjust the rigging.

Heading out for our first sail, Cortez bridge and our marina in the background

Scott, Dirk, and Brian as we have a nice sail going

It was nice to have the extra hands on deck helping Dirk as I took the helm and tried to make myself comfortable with it. After sailing the same boat for several years it took some time for me to get comfortable with where everything was and how the steering handled. It was a beautiful day, just a bit chilly but beautiful and on several occasions we had dolphins come to check us out. We put Renegade through her paces, and she did great, the rigging looked good with just a few minor adjustments and it’s amazing just how different this boat feels under us than our last one. Must be that 44,000 pounds vs. 19,000. On the way back to the marina we radioed back to the dock to let them know we were coming in. Dirk did a great job sliding her right into her slip with no problems.

Thanks to Sandi for capturing us returning to the dock

We won’t talk about our departure, still trying to figure out the prop walk and how a full keel reacts differently than a fin keel. Also still trying to figure how we did a 180 just about in the slip. Well it was more like a 12 point turn. No harm done except perhaps the egos got bruised just a bit. “One day you are entertained, one day you’re the entertainment.”

We have still been doing task, trying to shorten our list of projects that need to be done so that we can focus on making tracks south. Dirk had to go back to Germany for family issues for two weeks so I stayed here and managed to get a whole lot of nothing done while he was gone. I admit it, I got a major case of being lazy. But now that he is back we sat down and made a list of must do, can do underway, and can do when we return in the summer. It’s still a pretty good sized list but Dirk has gotten busy and in the last two days checked a couple items off.One of the big projects that is complete and we love is our full enclosure. Thinking back on what we started with, a cockpit that even Dirk and I couldn’t stand up in without hitting our heads, side curtains that seemed like afterthoughts and didn’t fit right, and it just looked a bit sad in general. We thought we could live with it one season till we decided what we wanted but we are so glad we went ahead and did it. I spent many a lazy day up in the cockpit lounging and reading my kindle while the world outside of my “sunroom” was wearing sweat shirts and pants. Even on cold days it can get a bit warm inside and I find myself unzipping it to allow some air flow.

The full enclosure with matching cockpit and aft seating cushions all installed

While Dirk was gone he did have parts come in and so the task of installing and stowing extras has begun. One of the purchases he made was a Racor duel fuel filtration system to be installed in the engine compartment. He always wanted to install one on our last boat but never got around to it. This way if for some reason we end up having a problem with the filter getting clogged all he has to do is flip a switch and were back in business. Brings back memories of travelling in the gulf a couple years back on Tybee Time in a pretty decent storm and with me on the helm, Dirk was below changing out a clogged fuel filter. As Capt. Ron says, “If its gonna happen, its gonna happen out there” and it did. Lets just say its not something we would like to repeat again.

We also got a new Standard Horizon radio with a remote mike for the helm. One of the nice features about this radio is that it has the AIS feature which stands for Automatic Identification System. It only receives, not transmits which is OK by us, that is it only receives the AIS. We didn’t buy the radio because of it, but with that feature it made it more enticing.

Doing crossings to the Bahamas or crossings in the dark period there is always ships, big ships, cruise ships, cargo ships sharing the waters with you. Sometimes it’s very difficult to judge how fast, what direction they are heading, and what their intentions are. You can get on the radio and hail “the large ship in the vicinity of such and such”, they may or may not respond. With the AIS system, it tells you the name of the vessel, the direction of travel and speed. Once you hail them by the name they tend to respond as we found out thanks to our buddy boat and his AIS system he had aboard last season. Its just another piece of equipment that gives you piece of mind. The radio was installed yesterday, wires run to the helm and all that’s left to do is connect the GPS to the AIS so we can also have it overlaid on our chart plotter along with the radio.

So now that I have given you some sort of update I can go back to projects and preparations for departure.I have already begun to inventory my food, re-provision a little at a time so it doesn’t hurt so much and trying to organize the best I can. Still not knowing this boat inside and out and we forget about some of the cubbies and all the stuff we can carry. I'm sure we will find plenty to fill it with. Our hope of course is to be outta hear as soon as possible but we think the soonest that will happen is probably late March sometime. Will keep you posted and I leave you with a photo of Capt. Butters making sure his dad installs the wires correctly.

This is exhausting....

 As you can tell, it’s a tough job. Till next time.....

December is Upon us and we are still at it

Well I have finally managed to make myself sit and catch you up to date before I get so behind that I forget what we have done. I know I will miss some things as we have been so busy and getting so much done that our heads are spinning and we don’t know whether we are coming or going these days. Hard to believe that it’s December already, where has the time gone? First off you might have noticed that the site has changed just a bit as I have been playing on adding links and in general just playing with the look of the page. Like I need more to do, but as I still learn more about this blogging and the site they seem to be making it more user friendly with new add on things one can do. Up at the top you will notice I have put an about us section, about the boat, from the galley, and contact us. I believe the only one with anything in it yet is from the galley section and the contact us, but keep checking back. If I happen to have a couple rain days there may be an opportunity for me to actually get some other stuff done. Okay, so where to begin…..Since I last blogged Dirk has finished replacing all the standing rigging. We have yet to take her out to adjust it but we have the tension gauge and tensioned them as we did them but now we need to put her under sail to complete it.

The tension gauge

I know Dirk is happy to have that task complete as it was many trips up and down the mast several times daily.

So here it is December already and the marina is in the full spirit of Christmas. Boats are decorated, some more than others.



A shot of the marina with Renegade on the far left

Apparently there is a contest that will give a month free dockage to the winning boat. Boats are judged by the people dining at the restaurant. With us needing to take Renegade out for a sea trial to adjust her rigging we really couldn’t do her all up and while we won’t win the contest we think she still looks pretty in her minimalistic lights. Everyone says she needs a Santa sitting on her stern seating and she would look like a sleigh. Maybe some other time when we don’t have so much work to do. 

Close up of Renegade with the Cortez bridge behind her

 

Our little tree we put up inside

When we bought Renegade she had just about all the electronics new and replaced. As we heard recently from the broker that sold her to the last owner, she had been struck by lightning. The owner had been given a substantial sum from the insurance and actually put it back into the boat. Good for us, and I have to say who ever did it,its a job well done. Most of the electrical wires Dirk is seeing have been labeled and are able to be traced around like they should be. The only thing we weren’t too happy with was where they had located the chart plotter and the radar. The radar had not been replaced although it still worked. The existing radar is downstairs at the nav station which is alright if you’re not underway and actually needing to use it. We decided to put in a new 24 mile Raymarine radar and chart plotter.



The new chart plotter with the 9 inch screen and the radar dome

The Chart plotter ended up being mounted on a swivel arm that attaches to the pedestal rather than the old one that mounted forward close to the companionway. Now we can sit at the helm and see the screen rather than having to walk forward to see what’s going on.



The helm before, as you can see the gray covered box by the companion way is the existing chart plotter



The helm after with the new chart plotter mounted to a new swivel arm

These eyes are not the eyes of a 20 year old anymore. We will keep the other chart plotter forward and use it for a dept finder. Other than that all the electronics are good. Maybe just a new marine radio and remote mike for the helm.

After Dirk had cleaned the fuel filter out he decided to take a look inside of our fuel tanks to see what kind of mess could be in there. What he found he wasn’t happy with. Lots of sediment littered the bottom and they were in need of cleaning. A good note to that was that he didn't find any water in the fuel, that's good. He called a fuel polisher to come and clean the fuel and tanks. They basically insert a tube into your tanks that pushes filtered fuel into your tanks stirring up the gunk while another tube sucks up fuel to be filtered. It all happens in a filtering system located on the dock with long hoses going into and coming out of your tanks.



Here is Dirk checking out the fuel polishing system

Once the filter gets full they change it out and continue to do this until the filter is clean. After about five and a half hours and 13 filters later we called it good.

Now that's pretty dirty

This also gave Dirk a chance to inspect the fuel tanks as we still have the original black iron ones. For their age they look pretty darn good and it looks good for us that we won’t have to go through the expense and work to get them cut out, dismantled and removed from the boat. The boat was actually built around them and it is a pain from what we have read to remove them. So it looks like we will only need new gaskets, an oil change and a few other odds and ends and the engine is ready to go.

We also decided to have the canvas bimini & dodger reconfigured after only a short time on board. When we got the boat she had a decent dodger but her bimini was so short that even at our short height we could not stand up without hitting the top. When seated you have a great view of the front but after cruising for a while we both realize that most of our time in any kind of waves is spent standing as its just more comfortable. At least for me it is. When you wanted to enter the cockpit you had to unzip the top or just about craw in. Hummmm, that’s not gonna work. We also wanted to have a full enclosure so we could have that “sun room” effect. We always saw people travelling all zipped up in the enclosure with just a long sleeve shirt on while Dirk and I were travelling looking like the Pillsbury dough boy due to the layers and layers we had on. How I cursed the rain when it was coming down and I couldn’t see because my glasses were soaked and I can’t see without them. Guess it’s the little things in life that can make one happy. So after many discussions we finally decided on a design. With the mizzen mast sharing the cockpit with us it made for some head scratching discussions. The canvas company made our new dodger frame but the aft frame for the bimini had to be fabricated and welded so they referred us out. Once the frame was built they came to pattern us, about a week later it was ready to fit and finalize.

Linda & Rita doing the final fitting

A couple days later the finished product was delivered and installed. Now all that’s left is the aft and side curtains which are still causing some head scratching due to the turns and twists, & the wenches and ropes that have to run to and from. Can’t wait to get it done and it already looks great in the Burgundy that we selected to match the existing cockpit and aft seating cushions.

New dodger & bimini matching the aft seating

For now we will keep the sail covers in gray as they are in just about new condition and they don’t look too odd with the color scheme. Dirk is also looking at the possibility of getting a sail rite machine so we can begin making our own canvas products and for  the future travelling we plan on doing they come in handy for repairing sails.

The scraping, re caulking and sanding is an ongoing project as we knew it would be. We learned our lesson about pulling too much caulk out at one time when we decided to do the entire raised section of the cabin top at one time. Mother Nature threw us a curve ball and decided to rain on us a day early, causing us to stop midstream, cover what we could with a tarp we had, and have every handy bucket and plastic tub we had down below catching the water coming in. Whew, what a frustrating day that was and it caused us to cancel our Thanksgiving Day plans in order to clean up the mess and correct what we could. Finally the rain stopped, the sun came out several days in a row and we were able to dry out the decks once again and Dirk was able to caulk with wonderful results.

The cabin top un-caulked and drying out

Cabin top, caulked, cleaned, and teak guarded

So far, so good, no leaks……Sandy & Eddie from m/v Tarquin have given us the use of their heat gun in order to get some of the major things stripped. Wow, how it makes life so much easier. We now have one on our wish list and we know with all this wood it will be used a lot. The transom is stripped, sanded and in the process of being re-varnished.

Dirk sanding the transom while hanging from the davits

Transom stripped, sanded and partially re varnished



I added gold to the details to match the gold in the name



Our lettering came in so Renegade will finally be named this week hopefully. We plan on having some sort of formal name change with a few folks at the marina to witness in the near future.

A peek at the name before she goes on the boat

And as my usual finish lately I am posting a couple photos of Butters doing what cats do best

Butters checks out every box that comes on board



Why does he want to be outside when he wants to know whats going on inside