Ok, so it took longer than it should have, as everything else on this boat has. But we’re finally online, and things are coming together. We apologize for the extensive delay. The number of emails we have gotten asking us about this site’s status really surprised us. We didn’t think that many people were interested.
Just to recap on what has happened and what is going on, to bring everyone up to speed:
February 2004 – In the weeks leading up to February, we were busy shedding household items, furniture, selling stuff, and giving much of the rest of it away, preparing for the big move. It felt kinda good to get rid of all that STUFF! We closed the sale on our house in LA in mid-February, and started the move over to our new home, a 50′ Beneteau Oceanis, lying in Coconut Grove, Florida.
But first, we need to bring her into a Miami boatyard to get her bottom and keel taken care of. We fly out to Miami shortly after taking possession, and take her out of her slip for a nice leisurely trip up the Miami River, to get her into the yard. Then it’s back to LA to pick up our car, the cats, and the last of our personal belongings. Then it’s time to trek back to Florida, this time by road.
The cats handled the trip fine, considering that they were all crammed into a VW Cabrio, that was full of lots of other stuff. We make the trip from LA to Daytona Beach (our first stop) in about 48 hours, which includes a half-night stopover in Louisiana for some ZZZZ’s. I’d forgotten how damn long driving through Texas takes!
We make one stop in Daytona, which happened to be right in the middle of their annual Bike Week. We lucked out and managed to get through the morass of motorcycles and leather to make it to our friend’s house to pick up some boxes we’d shipped there and a van to carry the stuff down to Miami. The next morning, we’re back on the road to Miami.
March 2004 – So the first thing we do when we get to Miami is go down to the boatyard where we left the boat, and pick it up. It’s back in the water, ready and waiting for us. Now, the cats literally got out of the VW, and INTO the boat without any kind of transition period. There was a bit of a shock. That was actually the least of our problems, though. Because while we left the boat in the yard, the batteries went dead, very, very dead and we couldn’t get them started. It took a couple of hours of charging and some tinkering before we get the thing going. Just in time, because the cutoff time for the bridges was about 10 minutes after we got the boat started, so we had to high-tail it out of the Miami river to make it under all the bridges in time.
So the boat made it safely back to Dinner Key Marina, in Coconut Grove (my favorite part of Miami). And the work begins.
March 21, 2004 – It’s my 40th Birthday. All the work we’ve been doing on the boat has more or less taken the edge off of it. I didn’t have any of the anxieties that I remembered having when I turned 30. Guess that’s a good thing. In fact, I think I felt younger and more with it than I have in a long, long time. Maybe it’s because we’re doing this whole cruise thing. If you’d have asked me 20 years ago if we’d be getting a boat ready to go cruising when I turned 40, I’d have made you buy me another drink. Anyways, that’s another posting…
The birthday weekend was quite eventful. We first drove up to Orlando and Daytona, and split our time in both towns celebrating the big Four-Zero. In Orlando, we met up with longtime pals from our Florida Mall days, Paul, Janet, Flavia and Chris, and met up with an old high school friend who drove over from Tampa to spend the weekend with us. Had a great time in Orlando at Universal City Walk, had dinner at Margaritaville, which some may say was a fitting place for the occasion, though there were no real advance plans to end up there. Got to see some family and friends in Daytona too. Had a nice Sunday afternoon mini-party at the Ocean Deck. A great time, but soon it was time to get back to Miami to get Andiamo ready for the big cruise.
April 2004 – So, our original plan was to take 6 weeks to outfit the boat, and get her out in the water for sea trials. But somehow, even though everybody on the dock said it wasn’t enough time, it turned out to be (big surprise!)… not enough time. By mid-April, we were woefully behind due to many unforeseen issues. Among the major projects completed up to this time, include:
A. Redone one of the forward cabins, converting it into a small studio for Mahi to do her magic in, and leave the rest of us in peace. Diamond Dave did a fantastic job.
B. Ripped out the entire forward crew cabin, and made a nice spot for a cool marine washer/dryer we picked up at the annual Dania Marine Flea Market.
C. Installed my cool onboard entertainment system and sat dish. Sorry, Tivo had to come along for the trip. Couldn’t leave Tivo and the Sat dish behind.
D. Repaired the boat’s refrigeration system, which unfortunately is engine driven. Not our first choice, but from the feedback I’ve gotten, it’s the best choice once you’re actually cruising. We’ll see.
E. Updated and/or replaced the entire DC electrical system, including new Trojan batteries, newly rebuilt alternators, a very cool DC management panel, battery combiner, heavy duty cabling and alot more. Kudos to Dave from Zia Lucia for much needed help and guidance!
F. Installed a new heavy duty inverter to handle our AC loads while cruising.
G. Installed 2 OUTSTANDING electric heads into the aft heads. No more pumping! Just a push of a button, and WHOOSH!!!
By the end of April, there was still much to do. The boat needed major rigging repairs, our headsail’s furling system was in extreme disrepair, and there was trouble brewing with the Perkins diesel. So, it looked like we were going to need to stay a while longer through May.
May 2004 – Ok, so there was REAL PROGRESS happening on the Andiamo! Many of the sticking issues got worked out. Furler’s fixed, check! Rigging issues resolved, check! The 2 alternators did their thing, the watermaker finally got installed (SWEET!), New DC fans throughout most of the boat. We finally got the diesel squared away, thanks to John Galkovich out of Marathon, it runs like a top now. Mahi finally got our cockpit cushions made, most of the electronics are working. Hey, I think it’s time to fuel up the boat and take her out for a nice little sea trial. Ok, there is a nagging smell of diesel from some undiscovered leak, but so what! Let’s go, or better yet, “Andiamo!!!”.
So on May 28th, we prepare to do a little run down to Elliott Key, which is about a 2-3 hour sail from Dinner Key. The boat is totally low on fuel, since we’ve been running the engine every day at least twice to keep the fridge nice and cold. So off to Grove Key fuel dock for a fill-up! After filling up, we head back to the slip, this time bow-in so we can load our brand new anchor chain (we had been keeping the boat stern-in at the slip the whole time), do our last minute stuff, and get the boat out at first light. That was the plan. Seemed like a pretty simple plan. But no.
As we were coming back into the slip, I kept the boat at a very slow speed, just enough to be able to maintain steering. As we totter into the slip, Mahi goes to the bow to catch the spring lines and to toss over our bow lines to the dock. I hit reverse to slow/stop the boat. The reverse control fails, and instead of going into reverse, the boat lunges into forward!! We’re now careening through the slip with no chance of stopping the boat in time. In an effort to slow the boat, I kill the engine since I know that reverse is not working, but it’s too late, we’re between the outer pilings, and there is no way to turn out. In fact, we were heading right into the boat next to us.
I straighten the boat out and tell Mahi to hang on, we’re going to hit, and boy, did we hit. We slammed into the dock, taking a nice chunk of concrete off, and knocking over the fire hose box like it was an aluminum can, right off its bolts. It was not pretty. I was expecting the worst when I walked off the boat to check out the bow’s damage. Interestingly, it wasn’t as bad as I expected it to be, considering how hard we hit. Now, the damage was BAD, but I think I was expecting some major hull damage as a result. There was a considerable, er… gash on the bow, right at the chainplate. The chainplate, made of half inch thick stainless, took the brunt of the impact. It bent considerably, but in a way that it was able to be repaired. We’d show you a photo, but it’s too garish, at least to us. Maybe we’ll change our minds.
So, needless to say, this has pushed our schedule back a bit more. It is now the 2nd week of June, and we’re hoping we can have the boat back together within the week. Most of our other issues have been resolved, and there are only a few little tweaks to contend with, other than the hull repair. At this point, all we can do is take it a day a time. We will be getting out of here soon though.
And, we found the source of the diesel leak and took care of it, so no more nasty diesel fumes! I noticed the cats are actually walking in straight line again and don’t have that glazed over look anymore.
More to come, stay tuned!
