Another Day in Paradise

​It is now December and Northeast Florida is dealing with an early cold spell. Our days peak at 15 degrees Celsius and our nights are dropping to a very chilly 0 degrees. Boats have no insulation and are not air tight so the chilly nights really cool down the hull and the deck. The cold air seeps in through any slight opening and whispers its way across our floorboards, giving them an icy feel. Without our little ceramic space heater and our down duvet, we would be freezing. Not good! I praise our space heater often!

Our new best friend...our little space heater!

Mike cooking up some food while staying warm

A stop at the marina office to say hey to friends and to pick up some Amazon packages

Even though it is very cool (for Florida), we have several things to be thankful for. There has been very little rain and very little wind. This makes it so much easier to be cozy, whether we are in the boat or making those late evening walks to the yard bathroom. Also nice is that the sunny days really heat up everything so we are able to throw off our jackets and toques as we work on the boat.
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And there is lots of work to be done! Our main project, of course, is the boat engine. When the engine was disassembled by our mechanic, that was only the beginning of the real work to be done. Even though most of the parts were ordered over the summer, our engine repair has grown to include the transmission, the muffler and the rudder so a few new parts were required. We are also having existing parts tested, cleaned up and repainted. Other parts, like the prop shaft, are being milled back to true (it had small wear etchings from use over 22 years). There are a lot of phone calls, emails and google searches as we search for parts or services. The good news is that, so far, we have no show stoppers. The bad news is that it is a slooooooooow process.

Our transmission has now been removed for testing and any required servicing

The Flex plate for our transmission showing perfect springs...

...and one definitely damaged spring. Yikes!

Ocean begging us to spend less time with the engine and more time playing frisbee with her

In between the calls and the emails and the waiting, are we twiddling our thumbs? Hell no! This has been the perfect opportunity to break out our long “to do when we have a spare moment” list.

• The bottom of the hull is getting sanded to remove the barnacle rings and then we will give it a fresh coat of bottom paint. This is a project we have to work around the weather to get done.
• The hull and decks are getting waxed and any imperfections are getting fixed up.
• Our teak toe rails have dried out from the salt and sun, causing them to crack in a few spots. Mike is fixing the cracks and sanding them down to new. And then we are going to give them a fresh moisture bath with Howard’s Sunshield, a wood conditioner and UV Protectant.
• We are replacing all of our Genoa fairleads (deck hardware) that became fragile from sun and salt over the last few years.
• We have repaired a few of our stanchions that were slightly bent from a wayward docking in the Dominican Republic.
• Mike fixed our leaking high pressure overflow valve for our hot water heater. Woo hoo we have hot water! Very important with these chilly nights!
• The edging around our salon windows had degraded over time so I cleaned and sanded them up to new.
• I have cleaned the engine block and will be priming and painting it back to its beautiful Westerbeke red colour.
• We repaired one of our pantry lids that had been lying askew for the last year.
• We are replacing and repairing our anchor bow roller and getting our anchor guard milled back to true.
• And we finally found a locksmith who could make us new spare keys for our companionway lock. For some reason, it has a specialty lock and finding someone who could create the required custom keys for us has been a real journey. But we found him! Yay!

Mike and Victoria suited up to do some sanding of the boat bottom

Victoria in action

A shot of the hull with the left side untouched (except by barnacles) and the right side sanded up

New anchor bow roller on the left and old is on the right. What a difference!

Ocean's paw has been sore from playing frisbee so she decided (on her own) to put it in a sling

​What else are we doing? Exploring the area and getting in lots of hikes. There are some great state parks and trails around us and it has been a real pleasure to take a break from our dirty dusty boatyard and breathe in the fresh air of the forests and the ocean.

The sun shining in on a trail at Ravine Gardens State Park

Ocean and Mike taking a break at Ravine Gardens

Victoria and Ocean walk a trail at Vaill Point Trail near St. Augustine

A Gopher Turtle hangs out at Vaill Point Trail. These turtles are exclusively land-based so, these days, we have a lot in common!

Mike watching a large commercial boat navigating the narrow passage under the Bridge of Lions, St. Augustine.

A walkway to the beach at Anastasia State Park in St. Augustine

There it is! The beach! A taste of our future at Anastasia State Park

​And even in the boatyard, the days are not too bad. Of course, it is very satisfying getting lots of boat work done but it is made even better sharing the joys and sorrows of boat work and boat living with our newfound friends in the boat yard. Although we are not where we would have chosen to be in December, we are exactly where we are supposed to be. And that is pretty all right 😊.

Ah, boat yard friends are truly special. Ocean and 9 year old Joel are besties!

Wild Horses is ready for Christmas in the boat yard

We still have water front property that gives us great sunsets...

...and amazing sun rises. Each day brings new adventures!