Lots of Bling to Ring in 2025!

As we await our engine rebuild, we have been hard at work getting small and large tasks done on Wild Horses.

We arrived at Wild horses in the Fall with a fairly large to-do list, which we have slowly been working through. The list has big tasks, small tasks, some weather or temperature dependent and others are personal-energy dependent. This last bit is huge. We have definitely learned not to take on a task if we are not feeling physically or mentally ready to do it. Not only will we rush through the process, causing mistakes which need correcting, but we just won’t be able to deal with all those little “surprises” that inevitably happen.

“Surprises” happen a lot so, yeah, you really have to have your head in the game.

Over the holidays, one of these scope-creep tasks popped up about our ground tackle but, thankfully, we were ready to tackle it head on. What is ground tackle? This is everything that is used to anchor a boat and on Wild Horses it includes an 88lb Rocna anchor, 250 feet of 5/16 G4 chain spliced onto 190 feet of anchor rode. This is a great set up that has carried us to Grenada and back, even keeping us AND another 47-foot sailboat set in Carriacou during Tropical Storm Bret when that other boat dragged into us at the height of the storm.

Although we love our ground tackle, we knew that it needed a good fresh water cleaning when we arrived at Green Cove Springs Marina in Spring 2024. Our anchor was clean but our chain was beyond salty and dirty and well, yeah, it could tell a story or two about the places it has been 😊. Last Spring, everything was pulled out of the anchor locker and washed thoroughly with fresh water and then a commercial “saltaway” product that is meant to remove all the last nasty bits of salt from everything was applied. The anchor and chain were looking pretty decent when we set them back in the anchor locker for the summer.

It is what it is! An awesome product for getting rid of salt!

Our chain at the end of two years in salt water, getting cleaned and revitalized

This Fall, our plan was to remove all the ground tackle from the anchor locker again and flip our chain around so that the unused bits of chain at the end of the 250 feet would be attached to the anchor and the really used end of the 250 feet would get re-spliced onto our rode, waiting for opportunities for deep anchoring.
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But surprise! The heat, condensation, and any remaining salt that hid away in the chain links all did a big number on our gear. Oh, Florida summers, you are some nasty stuff! 

Oh, what? Is that chain debris clogging up our anchor windlass?

Lots of chain rust sits at the bottom of our anchor locker

Wow. Our anchor chain has deteriorated in the last two years in salt water!

​We decided that the best option was to revitalize our gear by giving it a zinc bath. That’s right, our anchor and all 250 feet of chain went off to Metalplate Galvanizing near Jacksonville to get a fresh layer of zinc. This re-galvanization process is an inexpensive way to bring new life to ground tackle and we were thankful for it. One week later, our gear came back shiny and new.

Our anchor chain and anchor sits in our car trunk, ready to get cleaned.

Mike waiting at Metalplate Galvanizing for them to pick up our ground tackle

Oh wow, one week later, Mike is picking up the same anchor and chain looking much shinier!

Mike getting an assist putting the re-galvanized anchor into our car trunk

Lots of bling!

​But, surprise! The “dipping” of the chain in zinc meant about eight hours of hammering the chain to loosen the links. Metalplate Galvanizing doesn’t use a tumbler after they dip the chain so each link had to be hammered free of the one beside it. Mike was onto other projects so this task fell on me. It was definitely a good workout! Did I mention we have 250 ft of chain? That is a crazy amount of hammering! But, I cannot deny how shiny and new it all looks. Worth every blister! 

People couldn't resist helping me with hammering out the chain

Even our favourite yard kid Joel had to take a swing at it!

​Bling #2 is our new spare anchor. We have carried a 45lb CQR anchor around for awhile but we really felt we needed a good modern anchor (Fortress, Rocna, Spade) as our spare, you know, in case things got really wild 😉! Seriously though, a spare anchor is awesome to have if you happen to find yourself at anchor through a particularly strong storm, or if your primary anchor gets snagged and is not recoverable. We have encountered neither situation to date but, if we did, we feel better launching our brand new FX37 Fortress anchor that is meant to hold a 47 foot boat in strong conditions. We are ready for Mother Nature to bring it on, but, just in case she is listening, we are sending an "all hail to Mother Nature" (please don't bring it on!).

Our new anchor arrives at the yard

Mike talks to our friend John on "Key of Sea" about our lovely new Fortress anchor

Joel and Mike have disassembled our new anchor for storage

​The other bling in our lives over the last week was a fantastic New Years celebration and light show here at Green Cove Springs Marina. The yard chief here had a truckload of fireworks that he had been saving just for this kind of celebration. It was our first experience with a non-city light show and we were amazed on a few levels. First, it was a beautiful show (we were stunned) and, second, it was incredible that it was legal to have such powerful fireworks without a permit (again, we were stunned). Florida is a different place! We were thankful that our yard chief had the experience to properly store, set off and clean up after the show. He did an incredible job keeping everyone entertained and safe 😊.

Mike helps Joel's sister Lily light a sparkler

Yikes! Fireworks being lit just feet away from us!

Check it out! These are local fireworks set off by the yard chief at Green Cove Springs Marina! Amazing!

That is a lot of spent fireworks cartridges!

Our gang celebrating at New Years

​Now that we are past the holidays, we are awaiting confirmation as to when our engine rebuild will finally happen. Fingers crossed it is in the next few weeks. It is getting cold here! We need the Bahamas!!

Mike and Ocean looking forward to being back on the water