Cruising Again! Day 156 - Moore Haven, FL

February 16, 2016
Day 156


Last night we had severe thunderstorms in Stuart, but awoke to nice weather.  The weather window for crossing Lake Okeechobee appeared to be Wednesday, but the winds had died down sooner than expected, so we decided to give it a try today.  We left Stuart Yacht late, around 11:00 am, and headed up the St. Lucie Canal toward Lake Okeechobee.  The lake has been very high this winter due to record rainfall, so the Army Corps of Engineers has been letting water out of the lake in an attempt to lower the water levels before the summer rains.  We entered the first lock and were raised 14 feet to the level of the canal.  The whole way through the canal we had a current against us due to the water being released from the lake.  Below is a picture looking back at the St Lucie Lock as we were leaving it into the canal.

Most of the canal was just straight and featureless, but it did pass through some very pretty "old Florida" landscape.

At the end of the St. Lucie Canal, we approached the Port Mayaca lock which was wide open to Lake Okeechobee beyond due to the high water being released.

Our crossing of the 25 plus miles of open water on Lake Okeechobee went smoothly as the winds were low and the lake water was practically flat.  On the way across we saw about a half dozen smoke plumes all around the lake.  Apparently it is wildfire season around Lake Okeechobee and in the Everglades and this is a common occurrence in January, February, and March in Florida.

On the way across the lake, we saw our first white pelican.

Once on the other side not too far from Roland Martin's marina we saw a number of boats bass fishing the weed lines.

Jake and Kimi enjoyed the breeze and the scenery once we were near shore again.

Below we are approaching our last lock of the day at Moore Haven which lowered us down from Lake Okeechobee into the Caloosahatchee River.

 We arrived at the municipal dock at Moor Haven just beyond the lock at about 4:30 pm and the library sign across the street said it was 78 degrees!

The city has built a nice dock facility here with a park alongside to walk the dogs.  We tied up and paid our very reasonable dock fees for the night.  The dock has power and water which are included in the fee.

After arriving, we found out that the thunderstorms we had experienced last night in Stuart had generated a tornado on the way across Florida which destroyed some homes in Moore Haven.  I'm glad we did not arrive yesterday!

Boat Repairs and A Trip Home

December 14, 2015, through February 15, 2016

Since Stuart Yacht Harbour had to work us into their schedule for the fuel tank repair, we decided to leave the boat with them and go home until the repairs were completed.  We rented a car and drove home in two days to Gloucester, VA.  We came home to snow, ice, and cold weather, exactly what we were trying to escape by cruising to Florida for the winter.  However, the sunsets we get over the York River in our back yard almost made it worth chipping ice off of the front stairs for three days.

Gregg Burdick at Stuart Yacht kept me updated via email and pictures on the progress they were making on the fuel leak repair.  The first photo sequence shows cutting out the floor and seats on each side to expose the tank.

Once the tank was exposed and disconnected they lifted it up to remove it from the boat for testing.  You can see the fuel soaked foam blocks under the tank in this photo.  

The tank was taken to the shop for a series of tests.  Inspection of the tank revealed no obvious leaks.  The tank was then pressure tested again.  It passed.  Then it was vacuum tested.  It passed.  Then they vacuumed out the air and put freon into the tank and then pressurized it.  They found a very tiny freon leak at the fuel gauge sender unit.  They tightened a couple of screws on the sender and the freon leak disappeared.  Then they filled the tank with water and put three feet of head pressure on the vent and left it sitting for the weekend.  No leaks.

By this time, we decided that the tank was not leaking and with the extensive battery of tests that had been performed it would be safe to put it back into the boat.  The wonderful thing about pulling the tank out of the boat was that the leaked fuel underneath the tank and all of the areas where the fuel had settled, which would have been difficult to get to otherwise, were exposed for a thorough cleaning.  The next step was to retest all of the connections to the tank.  It was decided that the best way to retest the connections was to set the tank back in the boat and reconnect everything.

The next sequence shows the tank being set back into the boat, and all of the fuel lines being reconnected.  Then before testing the lines the area under the tank and voids all around the edges were filled with closed cell foam.  If any fuel should leak during the coming tests it would not be able to get back underneath the tank and could be easily cleaned up.  This also had the effect of sealing the exterior of the tank on all sides except the top so that if any leak should develop in the future fuel would not be able to leak out of the tank.

After foaming the tank into the boat, all of the lines were reconnected and tested.  The lines on this tank are fuel and return lines for two engines, a fuel polishing system line, and two transfer lines for transferring fuel between the forward tank and the aft tank (the one being tested).  Fuel was transferred back and forth between the forward and aft tank repeatedly, the engines were run for an hour, and the fuel polishing system was run long enough to polish all of the fuel in the tank.  No leaks were detected.

By that time, it was Friday evening and the crew locked the boat and went home for the weekend.  When they returned Monday morning it was discovered that there was a very small amount of fuel on the top of the tank around the fuel gauge sending unit.  It was also found that the valves for the fuel transfer lines on the forward and aft tanks had been left open over the weekend.

After all of the testing that had been done, the working theory became that when the tank was full, and a transfer valve was left open, that fuel draining back into the tank caused pressure on the tank and since the sending unit had demonstrated a small leak during the freon test, that small amounts of fuel were leaking from there over a long period of time.  Eventually, the small repeated fuel leaks saturated the foam blocks under the tank and then the leaked fuel began finding its way out of the tank compartment and into the port bilge, which is where I first noticed it.  A new fuel gauge, sending unit, and gasket were ordered and installed, and the closing in of the tank compartment began.  The previous owner and I had both been in the practice of leaving the aft transfer valves open after transferring fuel and closing only the forward valves.  I have instituted a new protocol that both sets of valves will be left closed unless I am actually transferring fuel.

The next photo sequence shows the carpentry work stages to reassemble the floor and seats.  When we came back to the boat I placed oil absorbent around all of the penetrations on the top of the tank and will check them daily as we cruise to make sure that nothing is leaking

The completed carpentry work is practically invisible!  Unless you were very familiar with this particular model of boat, nothing about the repairs would catch your eye.  We are very pleased with the result!

Below is "Building Our Wings" lying at Stuart Yacht's dock after repairs were completed.  Another PDQ MV-34, "Miss My Money", is just behind us at the dock and had pulled in the day before we were ready to leave for some repairs needed on his boat.  We'll be out of here soon!

Our Second and Third Days in Delray Beach

December 12-13, 2015


For our second day at Delray Beach, we decided to check out the Cabana Club portion of The Colony Hotel and Cabana Club.  The hotel owns a portion of the beach where they set up cabanas for the hotel guests.  There is a restaurant on site as well as bath houses and a swimming pool.  Dogs are welcome, so Jake and Kimi got to spend some time at the beach and relax in a cabana.  Sharon and I spend some time in the cabana as well.

For lunch, we ate at the on-site restaurant overlooking the ocean.  The waiter even brought a water dish for Jake and Kimi!

After a very nice day at the beach, we had dinner at an English/Scottish themed pub downtown.  They had several hand-drawn ales on tap as well as a number of authentic English and Scottish dishes.  The front of the Blue Anchor is actually from a pub by the same name in England.  After being in business in London for over 150 years, the pub was shut down and the entire facade was disassembled and shipped to Delray Beach and reassembled.

That evening we visited the 100 foot Christmas Tree and walked the beautifully decorated streets.  I'm not sure why, but there was a bar across from the park where the tree was that had a banner saying we were in Ravens Country.  It caught my eye since I'm from Baltimore and the Ravens are my team.

Later that night the city was still celebrating our arrival and threw us a parade.  Santa even stopped by to say hello.

On our last day we went back to the Cabana Club for a couple of hours and then we headed back to Stuart.

Delray Beach - Finally it feels like Christmas in Florida!

December 11, 2015

Since James needed to work inside of the boat to try and track down the source of the fuel leak, we needed to be off of the boat for a few days.  We decided to rent a car and drive to Delray Beach, about an hour south of Stuart.  I thought it might be nice to visit somewhere that we would not be traveling by boat.  We were planning to cross Florida to the Gulf Coast via the Okeechobee Waterway after the boat was repaired so we would not be going any further south on the east coast.  After doing some internet research, it appeared that Delray Beach might be nice to visit since they had planned some events for the Christmas holidays.

We arrived in Delray Beach to streets decorated for Christmas, and soon found our hotel.  The Colony Hotel and Cabana Club was designed and built in 1926. From the outside, the twin domes are an example of the romantic Flagler era of Florida Mediterranean architecture. Inside we saw what decades of family care and dedication can preserve and improve. The interior of the hotel included the 1926 staff operated elevator and the original telephone switchboard. In the lobby, is the original hand-woven Fixx Reed wicker furniture and is lit by six wood skylights. The lobby terrazzo floor, the porch Cuban tile floor and the red oak floor in the music and former dining rooms are original.  We stayed in a historic room which was still furnished with original furniture.  There was a beautiful Christmas tree in the lobby and even the halls leading to the rooms were very beautiful and well maintained.  As a bonus the hotel was dog-friendly, so Jake and Kimi got to go as well!  We felt as though we had been transported back to the Roaring 20's.

That night they were so glad we were there that the hotel had a jazz saxophonist playing on the front veranda for us.

Then the town threw us a lighted boat parade on the Intracoastal Waterway!

After the parade, we went for a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant and they were so glad we were there that they had a live band playing for us.  I have to admit that it is the first time I have ever heard Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" being played in a reggae style.  All in all, it was a very nice welcome to Delray Beach and we were finally starting to feel like it was Christmas!

Thanksgiving and the PDQ Owners Rendezvous

I have not updated the blog in over a month and people are starting to check on us to make sure we are OK.  Yes, we are, thank you very much for checking!  Here below and the next couple of posts is what has been going on with us.

Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is "our" family holiday.  As our children began having families of their own it was very apparent that they would not be traveling with small children to visit at Christmas, especially since they would need to be home for Santa.  Early on we decided that Thanksgiving would be our family holiday when everyone would gather at our house for a good meal and fellowship.  This event has evolved to be every other year rather than every year at our house as our boys got married and other families and in-laws entered the mix.  Well, this year was "our" year when we would normally have our three boys, our three daughters-in-law, and our six grandchildren at our house for the holiday weekend.  We did not want to give that up just because we were traveling on the boat, so we left our boat in Stuart, FL went home to Gloucester, VA.  We had planned to do this since our travels began, so since we were going to be off of the boat for 10 days or so we also had some routine maintenance and some repairs scheduled to be done on the boat by the PDQ expert, James Power, who was also in Stuart during this time.  Being the former Commissioning and Warranty Manager at PDQ when they were in business, there is nobody who knows these boats better than James.

PDQ Owners Rendezvous

One of the reasons we stopped in Stuart was the planned PDQ Owner's Rendezvous planned for December 5th.  After getting back from Thanksgiving, we attended the rendezvous at Stuart Yacht Harbor.  This was a great day of meeting other PDQ owners, exchanging stories and experiences, and attending some very helpful seminars specific to the PDQs.  We had a very nice owner's docktail party and dinner afterward.

While the men sat through seminars on 12 volt systems and diesel maintenance, the women went on a PDQ MV34 like ours to learn some tips from each other about interior storage and maintenance.  I've always wondered how many people could fit in a PDQ MV34 salon, I think the picture below may help to answer that question.

After the rendezvous, Sharon received her boat handling class from our broker, Beth.  Beth had promised Sharon this class when we purchased the boat so she could learn boat operation from another woman rather than from her husband.  It's much better that way!  Since we were in Stuart where Beth is located, this was the perfect opportunity.  After the boat handling class, Sharon and Beth moved the boat from the Loggerhead Marina where we had been staying to the office of Rhumbline Yacht Sales in Palm City up the St Lucie River from Stuart.  We were leaving the boat there for a few days so that James Power could get back on the boat and try to track down the source of a small diesel fuel leak we had discovered, so moving the boat there gave Sharon some further boat handling experience.