10 of our other trips have been documented in our books available on Amazon HERE. Last year, we did not keep a blog. I enjoyed keeping the blog of our RV trip this summer so thought I'd start it up again for the boat.
The past several weeks have been a frenzy of getting us and the boat ready for the 1,500 mile trip south. Laura had scheduled a trip to the Seattle area to visit her two daughters and their families for the middle weeks in September and I had committed to a Captain job on the 100 foot party boat Marika in Poughkeepsie for the last weekend in September. That set our timeline for leaving. We would bring our 43 foot ketch Second Wind to Poughkeepsie on Friday, September 27th, live there for the weekend while I was driving Marika, then head south on Monday.
Laura was gone for 11 days and didn't fly back until the 21st. That only gave her 5 days to get all of her stuff ready which included stocking our pantry, fridge and (2) freezers for long range cruising. She likes doing that part of our list since she the knows where everything is. Plus, she's has gotten really good at finding homes for 40-50 bags of groceries. She's good!
I worked boat projects while she was gone including
- installing snaps on the inside of the canvas cover we made for our dinghy (chaps)
- re-packing the propeller shaft
- fixing a leak in our exhaust anti-siphon loop
- replacing the raw water impeller (each Fall before we leave)
- replacing all the (4) belts on our main engine
- purchase and install an "EasyStart" for our air-conditioner / heat
13 years ago we purchased a Honda 2000 gasoline generator to supply power to the boat when needed while anchored and for emergencies. One problem we've had was it would never run our refrigeration or air-conditioner. When I bought it, I thought it had enough power to run them (individually) but turns out it didn't have enough power to start the compressors. We've since replaced our power-hungry refrigeration but still couldn't use our air-conditioning or heat at anchor.
Several weeks ago another boater told me about the Microair EasyStart system that lowered the starting current required for air-conditioners so they could be run by portable generators. I researched it a bit but didn't go much further because it was expensive - $300. I looked at it again while Laura was gone and decided to buy it. I received the system a few days later and installed it the next day. I had to take my air-conditioner apart and install the (4) wires from the EasyStart. Not too complicated for someone who has worked in electronics for 40 years. Anyway, when I turned it on, nothing happened. The A/C didn't work and even the fan wouldn't turn on. After checking 5 times that I wired everything correctly, I called Microair and had a technician on the phone in about 5 minutes. Nice! He talked me through taking a few measurements then had me remove the EasyStart to check the A/C. It wasn't working.
I then called Webasto (my A/C manufacturer) and again had a tech on the phone quickly. While I was taking a few measurements for him, my 14 year-old multi-meter stopped working. Everything was falling apart!
I let him go and drove to Harbor Freight for a new multi-meter. The next morning I decided to check the A/C circuit card over good and found a broken leg on a voltage regulator. I had probably hit it while hooking up the EasyStart. I called Webasto again and, after making a few measurements, they told me the circuit board was bad. They don't sell direct so I called Defender where I purchased the A/C 8 years ago. They called me back about 30 minutes later and said the new circuit card was $120 including overnight shipping. Great!
Here I am holding onto the new circuit board. See the box with all the wires? I had to take out the circuit board underneath the wires and put in the new board. No problemo!
We made grocery runs in 3 sections. First, all the consumables (soap, shampoo, tooth paste, paper towels, etc). Then meats and cheeses. Finally, fresh veggies and fruit the day before we left. Total was right around $1,000 - our usual leaving expense.
Our last two evenings we spent with family and dropped our car off at Hop-O-Nose marina on Thursday night for winter storage. We were free (almost)!
Early Friday morning (9/27) we said our goodbyes to our friends at the marina and motored down the Catskill Creek at 7:15am. On our way about two weeks earlier than ever before and almost a month earlier than last year when I had cardiac ablation surgery in October and we didn't leave until October 29th.
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