Up at dawn and underway. We will exit the ICW at Ponce inlet and head to Beaufort,NC. Should take about 3 days/nights.
Last bridge of the trip!
Uneventful but very hot and calm motoring for hours. We saw storms in front of us as we approached Titusville. We needed to top of The fuel tanks anyway, so we pulled into the Titusville city Marina.
Good fuel prices and easy access. The stormy sky looks pretty cool.
After fueling, we just decided to call it a day. Anchored just a mile or two north of Titusville. We’re treated to a lovely sunset, the storms actually did cool things down a bit.
Just hours of ICW motoring An occasional rain shower thrown in…
We’re off the dock and hidden northbound towards Oriental! At least this first day we’re going to stay in the ICW. Just because the boat is new to us and want to get a feel for things.
Don’t really have a good idea of a return date, we just have to be north of the Florida line by June 30. Shouldn’t be an issue. We want to get back to the dock as soon as possible and plug-in for air conditioning!
Missed including this photo yesterday for some reason. Really happy to be able to see out of the salon windows! Makes it so much more cheerful.
Finally finishing up the purchase of Gypsy, just a few loose ends to finish up tomorrow....it's been a long few months but I think everyone agrees it was worth it. Alan saying his goodbyes to the boat that has been his home for the past 5 or so years.
Just a brief photo tour....we're tired.
Things are a bit of a mess - we'll get things ship shape.
The repair to the fiberglass we've been waiting on is almost complete and well done.
We're in a bit of a holding pattern waiting on some paperwork to complete the sale. Banks are closed for Juneteenth so we can't actually close until Thursday.
We've been having supper every night with Alan - he sent this photo from the previous night. Weird red light in the bar, but fun little place.
OK, so we're really at Riviera Beach but these towns all just run into each other within a mile or two....
The surveyor, Matt Hoxie, arrived right on time and got busy investigating all the installed items. Alan and Matt taking a quick break before we head over to the haulout lift.
After a brief wait in the current for a boat to leave the well, Alan steers the ship into the lift area.
I will give a shout out to the staff at Crackerboy in Riviera Beach - very professional.
In the slings and lifted in just a few minutes.
The owner of the yard came by to say hello. He's very proud of his son and his business! Nice fellow.
The bottom looks great as it was painted just a few months ago....not a fan of the red bottom paint so that will get changed to blue at the next haulout....
After Matt thoroughly inspected the hull and found nothing of note, back into the water in less than an hour. Charge for the haulout was only $642 so we were quite pleased (other yards quoted more than twice that price!).
Alan captained the boat one last time back to the slip.....
After a short rest, we went out for a pleasant meal....we'll get some "training" tomorrow on a couple of the systems and start to get to know this boat.
We arrived to the Riviera Beach marina to find the new boat nice and tidy.
We chatted with Alan (the seller) and looked at the repair that his repairmen have been working on for two weeks. Edited to put a better photo of Alan!
We’re on our way south to survey the new boat tomorrow morning….gotta love the enthusiasm at Pedro’s South of the Border!!!
We stopped by Duck Creek Marina and did a final coat of epoxy paint on the mast to make it all uniform and shiny. Then we headed back to Pittsboro to get ready for our Florida sojourn to pick up the new Manta!
All well at the house although the yard needs some attention as usual after our long absence.
On a somber note, there was a fatal crash near the Siler City airport - not on City property so we weren't directly involved. I drove out to be supportive of our employee who heard the radio traffic right before the crash. Sad day even though I don't believe I knew the student pilot and flight instructor (I assume this because it was a training aircraft).
Sojourn looks like a power boat now!! We will head to Pittsboro today to get ready to head south for another attempt to buy the newer boat!
Hot sunny day! We drove over to Duck Creek to work on the mast. Good set up with electric outlets in easy reach. We used various sanders to remove a good bit of surface corrosion on the mast, mostly around dissimilar metals of rivets and stainless fittings.
Then cleaned and painted with a 2 part marine epoxy paint.
First coat of topcoat paint, doesn't hide the grey epoxy so more coats will be needed. The hot dry air makes for quick cure times!
We had driven into town to do some errands - on the way back we saw this black cloud ahead....
As we got nearer it was clear that the farmer was burning off the field on the side of the road. It looked out of control but they were standing by with about 6 large tractors and immediately started plowing in the burned ashes. I'm not totally certain why - I read about it on Google and it appears they may be killling pests - but also could be something about soil nutrients.
Back at the ranch - the reflective "bubble wrap" window shades have given up the ghost after 5 years of semi-continuous use. Literally falling apart.
Because the shades are about 3' wide, I had to cut/sew together pieces of the new 2' wide reflective insulation. That was fun as it's 25' long!
Then I laid out the old shade as a pattern and simply traced the edge with a Sharpie marker. It's not critical that it fit perfectly.
Back at the boat, simply slide them in place over the window and instant black-out shade inside. Instantly cooler inside the boat.
After verifying one was good, easily cut out the others.
And it was Tuesday....so you know what that means. Two-fer-Tuesday at the Silo's restaurant....some of the usual suspects - crews from Blue Jacket, What If and True North. Good day.
