What's New

It has been a busy week or so for us.  Since everything takes longer to do, we are excited to get anything off of our list at the end of the day.  But in the past week we've made a few trips to West Marine, grocery shopping, misc. shopping, worked on bicycles, and loafed a lot.  A highlight was a visit from Kim and Roger from the FWYC.  They are in their motor-coach close to Big Pine Key.  They used to own an RV park and know their way around RVs.  Roger is a master deal hunter and their current coach is the definition of luxury.  We felt in the presence  of traveling royalty!  They also gave us a ride to the store so our liquor cabinet and pantry are now restocked.  Sadly, Roger's dad has taken a turn for the worse with his health and they are on their way home.  We'll keep them in our prayers.

A few projects off of our list is the horrible clunking sound one of the bikes make with every turn of the crank.  David completely rebuilt both folders (our bikes fold up for storage) after our last trip and managed to minimize the "clunk" but it was back with a vengeance and very annoying.  The marina has a shop space available for the boaters and he took it all apart again and after some cleaning, lubing and extra tightening, the bike is now "clunk" free and we hope it lasts.  I found the perfect bike trunk and now have it installed.  I can make short trips to the store and carry it all back without having to take a big backpack.  We've also decided that the extra solar panel the we deploy from the rail is a good idea so two panels must be better so the engineering and procurement process is underway.  Hopefully the second panel will help us meet our power needs when the wind doesn't blow.  My we, I really mean me.  I like hot water to wash the dishes at least once a day.  I've tried using water heated on the stove and always seem to ruin something plastic for that's not for me.  The hot water heater is wired to a 110 outlet and the outlet is powered any time the inverter is on and the circuit breaker is on.  It takes about 1/2 hour to make enough hot water for dishes.  This sucks up a bit of  power so we sometimes have to run the engine to charge the batteries back up.  It's all a delicate dance of figuring out how to me not miserable but not wasteful.  Hopefully the second panel will help.  When the sun shines and the wind blows, our current setup works but that can be rare.

A great thing about Boot Key is the camaraderie.  We have been to 2 potlucks, a lunch and I go to yoga (muscles that have been underused this past 2 months are unhappy).  We plan to check out other activities such as bocce ball, dominoes and tonight we're going on our first dinghy drift around the harbor.  Life is good.

There are so many ways to get back and forth from shore to your boat.  Even if you are anchored
you can use the marina dinghy dock for a fee.  It's included in the price of your mooring if you take one.
The fee also gives you shower and laundry privileges.  The staff do an amazing job of keeping
it all organized.

Lots and lots of bikes.  This is the largest of the assemblage of bike racks.

The very nice city park is right next to the marina.  Yoga is on the stage at the
band shell.  One thing good that came from Hurricane Irma was the freshly
painted murals and buildings all over town.  Just a sad, hard way to remodel.

You never know what you'll see in the water.  This barracuda was hanging around by
the dinghies.

Really sad case this one.  It was floating when we arrived but slowly started sinking and
now has a definite list to port.  Reportedly the owner was trying to keep from having it
declared derelict and forcibly removed by getting it floating but not looking too good now.

This is a super popular spot for happy hour.  So popular that we have yet to find space
at the bar!  We hear it's worth it so we'll keep trying!

The best way, we hope, to get our 3 auxiliary solar panels wires to our controller is
going to be through the cabin top.  Always scary to cut a hole in your boat but we
have gotten tired of the wire running through the aft companionway and making it
hard to shut up the boat when we're gone.  Since we don't have the panels out all the time,
we will have a way to remove the wire but still keep it waterproof from rain.

Yikes!  There's a hole in my roof.

This PVC tub is going to be glued into place and will be hidden behind the electrical panel.

The towel caught a lot of drilling debris and kept it out of connectors on the panel.

The cap fits over the tube.  The cardboard was a spacer tor measuring where to cut the tube
down below.  Once the glue sets, we'll caulk around the tube to make sure no water can leak in.  The panel and
remaining parts should be here next week then we'll finish the installation.