Birthdays and Anniversarys

Dear friends and family,

It's been just over two weeks and I figured I better give you some kind of update, plus we have some pictures to share.

Jimi found a fairly large crack in the bottom of the bilge; it runs through the middle of the keel and the lowest part of the inside of the boat. After some initial concern, it appears to be non-structural; however, he will assess it more in the future.

He continued to align the prop shaft.

He finished assessing all the standing rigging, wires and their attachments and placed a very large order - three grand worth. It's a big expense but worth the piece of mind at sea.

It's becoming more comfortable climbing to the top of the mast. Attached is a picture Jimi took looking down. If you look closely you can see me on the bow of the boat (right side of the picture).

Jimi found a good wind generator on EBay which he will attach to the mizzen mast.

He removed the gimbal stove from the galley and brought it home. He cleaned it up and tested it in the garage. We are pleased to report it works great. He has since re installed it. A gimbal stove is a swinging stove. When not locked in to place it swings as the boat rocks keeping the burners level, so the pots don't fall. It also has rails to keep them in place.

Jimi has done a lot of research on 12 volt refrigeration/freezers. We'll plan on making this purchase from Australia. A product normally used in the outback and draws under 30 amp hours per day of electricity. It will fit nicely in the spot we have for it.

Jimi ordered 600 feet of rope. We only need 400 feet of this rope, but buying it in bulk came out to the same price.

Two weekends ago, we spent the day at Blind Pass Beach. I am amazed at the amount of new shells and shark teeth that wash up. They are so beautiful and never ending. We must have collected a few dozen shark teeth in only a couple of hours.

Last weekend we checked out a new beach and snorkel spot. This place was absolutely amazing. Jimi tried to go out to snorkel, but the visibility was poor. Instead, we explored the beach and rocks. We saw an abundance of sea life including a octopus about 3 inches long.

My dad's birthday was October 10th. HAPPY BIRTHDAY DAD!!

We celebrated Jimi's birthday on October 15th by going to dinner at our favorite little restaurant here is Englewood.

My parents celebrated their 47th wedding anniversary on October 23rd. HAPPY ANNIVERSARY!!

Well, I suppose that's about all I have for you right now. In the meantime take care and I'll write more later.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Progress

Dear Friends and Family,

Just a quick and short update, as requested by a few people. :-)

Progress on the boat: Jimi got the engine running just hours after last week's update. It now pures like an ornery lion.

He finishing installing the mast steps. However, the day he chose to complete the project we had high winds. Jimi was dangling 50+ feet in the air by a rope with tools in hand trying to attach the steps straight and secure. I wasn't there to watch, but I've got a pretty good image in my head. I have to look past the panic of danger and try to picture a humorous scene.

Jimi purchased a newer auto pilot system from our favorite consignment store on the gamble that he could merge it with the existing system on the boat. After playing with the electronics, it's looks at though he will be able to merge the two systems and they should work fine once installed.

He is preparing to address the standing and running rigging, also know as the cables and ropes. More to come on this later.

I am preparing for our wedding, as the day is fast approaching. We are most excited to see our friends and family. I've also been spending time advancing my skills at making embellishments with my Slice. It's fun! I've got cards for sale in a mariners trading store in Port Charlotte. I began with 10 nautical cards to see how they do. I've talked to a little beach boutique shop who is interested in taking a look at placing them in their touristy store, but I've been lazy and haven't delivered them yet. And I have another potential location that I'm also looking in to.

We went to Venice beach to snorkel and collect seashells over the weekend. It was chilly, as a storm was rolling by. Once I was finally able to get in the water I was fine, as long as I kept swimming. Unfortunately, we weren't finding many shells this time. Jimi was able to observe several larger crabs in their shells moving along the bottom of the ocean. When we  got out of the water and dried off, the sun came out and we sat for a long time soaking it up. It felt so good on our bare skin.

That concludes the past week. All is well here in Florida. The weather is getting cooler - 60's by night and low 80s by day. And we haven't had much rain in the past week.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Just working away

Dear Friends & Family,

We've done nothing of great excitement in the past two weeks. At least nothing to top our last update (moving Sanibel). Jimi has worked hard everyday on the boat. On most days he gets up in the mornings, drinks his coffee and grabs a bite to eat. He packs a lunch and heads over to the boat yard. I do the same except I head over to me desk.LOL Sometimes he has projects to work on at home and spends the majority of his time in the garage. For this update I will briefly tell you what he's been working on.

Besides cleaning out the inside of the boat from our trip, the first thing he did was remove the outboard motor bracket. That made quite a difference in her look. She looks a little more like a respectable sailboat and not so ghetto. He also constructed a cover or awning over the cockpit to provide shade and keep the rain out. He says it has made a nice difference.

He designed about built 32 mast steps by hand. He purchased bar stock aluminum, made a jig and bent each step himself. Doing it this way cost us $3 per step verses buying them already made for $20 per step. He installed about half of them until he dropped his Makita from 30 foot up. However, a little attention and JB Weld and it's working good as new again.

The big focus was the engine. Six years of water dripping and mild steel rotting, he removed everything from the engine he could to better access the damage. He ordered fuel injectors, a starter, rebuilt the transmission and put everything back together. He brought it back to life for the first time in six years. It runs and looks like it will survive, but it's not quite purring, so he'll continue working it. In addition, it needs to be wired in, a cooling system added, and a fuel system built because it was not the original engine to the boat.

He found and rebuilt a windlass (motor to pull the anchor up) off Ebay.

He scrubbed the top side of Sanibel to be able to access any damage. I helped him scrub her bottom side over the weekend. Now all Ghetto is gone and she looks like a whole different boat. We're like prouder parents everyday.

He completely removed the helm (steering wheel and pedestal). He rebuilt it in the garage and spent several days painting it in the lanai. It's looking really good.

Numerous trips to Home Depot and ACE Hardware. In most cases ordering parts on line has proven to be cheaper and he does that too. UPS comes to our house almost daily.

We found a great mariners trading store. They sell used items and most of the time the prices are really good. They have all kinds of little parts we would never dream of being able to find. They also sell a lot of books and nautical items that are fun to browse.

This email does not do justice for the work Jimi has done for the past two weeks. Reading it, it appears he hasn't done much, but he has and he's been so busy and working so hard everyday.

We did make it to the beach on Sunday. The wind came from the North and was cooler than we are used to. I stayed out of the water for that reason, but enjoyed my time reading. The waves brought us piles and piles of new shells and Jimi collected a few dozen shark teeth in less than a few hours.

We also made our way to the jewelry store and bought our wedding bands one evening.

Jimi says he'll give updates periodically and he promises to even put in a guest writing. That's all for now.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

A Fish Called Sanibel

Dear Friends and Family,

I have finally gotten around to writing you about our trip down the river.We spent four days on the river motoring Sanibel West across Florida

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Our adventure began on Wednesday as we rushed to get everything together. We went to the grocery store buying enough nonperishable food for a minimum of four days. We piled everything we thought we would need in the living room and dropped the car off at our final destination.

Early Thursday morning we loaded the pickup and made the three hour trip to Indiantown. This is where the hard work began. We had about two hours to get the boat ready before the marina employees would come get her, but we had an entire days worth of work that needed to be done. Jimi worked aimlessly, while I filled the gas cans and put things away. He removed the battery from his truck hooking it up to the outboard motor and he got the bilge pump working. For a brief moment we discussed and considered cancelling the 'put in' and rescheduling it for the next day. But we decided to push on and go for it. We were scheduled for a 3pm 'put in'; the boat crane showed up at 3:30, giving us a little extra time.

And then Sanibel felt the water on her back bone and belly around 4 pm. After six years of dry dock and neglect she sat there floating like a proWe were so relieved. Not once during the trip did she take on any water. She is solid and we couldn't be happier.

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We stayed docked for a while, but then Jimi noticed weather heading our way and decided we had better get going to make it to our first destination. Just ten minutes down the river it began raining. It was a turental down poor, common for this area. Jimi looked so cute at the helm, soak and wet, as I watched from the cabin below. I wish I had taken a picture. Then it quit as fast as it began. Before long we reached our first bridge The bridge had a 51 foot clearance and our mast is 50 feet. It would be close. We were very nervous, but had no choice than go for it. We sat there speechless looking up wondering if our mast would clear the bridge. Once it was over, we just looked at each other in disbelief. We made it. Up ahead was our destination point. We veered right to tie up to some dolphins on our starboard side until we realized we were no longer moving. We finally figured out we were stuck in the mud. After several attempts to free ourselves including Jimi getting in the alligator infested waters, we settled for the evening and scheduled a tow for the morning

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When we woke in the morning going about our morning rituals, we realized we were moving a littler free er than the night before; just a little sway here and there. We suspected we could free our selves and we did. I cancelled the tow and we headed on. Just ahead was the lock to Lake Okeechobee. Jimi radioed the lock master, who opened the gates for us to pass. I felt like I had just been released from prison. We went from the small river lined with trees and alligators to a vast free world of open space. What seemed like just minutes after passing the lock, the engine shut off and continued to behave poorly. I would restart it over and over again, but it was not happy. Not knowing what was wrong, Jimi changed the fuel tank and fuel line out. That did it. We had no problem with the motor again after that. It was tense however. Going through the lake we had to stay in the channel and without any kind of speed we had no steering. So, every time we lost the motor we lost any control we had.

We got through the shallowest parts of the lake with ease. We were gracious enough to give a ride to hundreds of "love bugs". It took us about five hours to cross the lake

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We went through a total of 5 locks, two of which were unique and brought us an array of anxiety and intense feelings. I call them 'fish tanks'. We entered the lock when instructed by the lock master and he closed the gates trapping us in a life size fish tank. Then they would drop the water level. In the first 'fish tank' lock they dropped it eight feet and the second ' fish tank' lock they dropped it 2 feet. Then they opened the opposite gate and we were free to go. Let me just say the second 'fish tank lock' lock went much smoother than the first. :-) The other three locks were gates that the lock master would open for us. We also passed under several bridges that had to be opened for us and some already opened. The railroad bridges mostly stayed open unless a train was coming; however, the highway bridges we had to radio ahead. The bridge master would stop the bridge traffic, open the bridge and let us through. It was really neat. We were lucky enough to get through all the locks and bridges quickly; upon arrival except for one, which we had to wait about an hour before they opened it.

Considering our experience and equipment, the trip went very well. The few hick ups we had hardly seem worth mentioning.

Sanibel weighs 20,000 pounds. Our purpose for the trip was to get her close to home so Jimi could begin her refit. We only had the skeleton of this sea worthy vessel. No instrumentation, other than a hand held GPS and some paper navigation maps, no lights or power to speak of, no running water, stove, refrigeration, and most importantly, no engine. We used a small outboard motor, which could get us up to 6 mph in some places, but had no stopping capabilities. Putting it in reverse did not have the effect a suitable size engine would have. Nevertheless, the outboard motor would get us from point A to point B with careful planning and watchful eyes.

On our final days as we traveled between the barrier islands in the Gulf, dolphins were all around us. A small pod swam along side our boat for ten minutes or so. I hung my arm and hand down the side as they swam with us. My hand was less than two feet from touching them. They blew their blowholes and let out some squeaks, They are beautiful creatures who swim with grace and ease

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After 73.5 hours we docked at All American in Port Charlotte.

The scariest part of the trip was when we went through our first "fish tank" lock. We were instructed to tie up on the starboard side, but when we couldn't get the boat stopped we landed on the port side. Or maybe the scariest part was trying to keep Jimi from swimming with the alligators.

The most frustrating part was trying to anchor in the river on our second night - but after many many attempts, we did it. Or maybe it was those pesky hitchhikers - the "love bugs". I spent hours swatting at and killing them. They seemed harmless; didn't bite or anything. They just wanted to hang around and became very annoying.

The saddest was the cow who fell down the bank of the river and was stuck in the mud. We circled around trying to scare him to free himself, but he was obviously too exhausted.

The most exciting were the dolphins and the most rewarding was our accomplishment. We did it and we did it as well as could have been expected, if not better

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Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

On Our Way

Dear Friends and Family,

I am writing this email from my phone as Jimi drives. The truck is loaded with essentials we'll need for the next five days. We're on our way to Indiantown to finally get Sanibel. She's scheduled to once again float at 3pm today. Jimi is excited and I'm nervous. Lol

We're planning to go about 10 miles tonight. This will get us to the very edge of Lake Okeechobee. We'll anchor there for the night. Tomorrow we're hopong to make it all the way across the lake. We really have no idea how long it will take us to make the 175 mile trip; but we are hoping to be home sometime on Monday.

I'll try to post updates on facebook, if you want to follow us there.

In other news.....
We did not do anything special for Labor day; just the usual for us. We had a "Planet of the Apes" marathon, watching all five original movies. I painted some garden furniture and we prepared for our trip.

We went to our scheduled court hearing to retrieve money from our last landlord. Rather than going to trial, we opted to settle and are happy with what we got back.

We found a resturaunt down the road from our house, which turned out to be fabulous. Caribean style dining inside or outside on the beautuful covered patio. There was a man playing a metal drum on the patio. It was soothing and relaxing. The wait staff was fast, courteous, and attentive. The food was reasonably priced and, as Jimi would say, off the hook. We'll be going back for sure and hopefully taking friends there in the future.

Jennifer and Tim found an apartment. They're putting down the deposit and will move in next week. With both having full time jobs now, they should be ok. They still need a vehicle to assure they can get to their jobs. But for now Tim has been able to ride with a guy from work and Jennifer has been walking. Continue to keep them in your prayers.

Last I heard from Daniel, he was working 3 jobs. He works at the Dodge dealership from 6am until 1pm. He loves driving all the new vehicles. Last week he posted he got to drive a new 2011 Dodge Charger. He got it up to 5mph in under a second. Haha. He then works another job from 1pm to 5pm and yet another job from 5pm to 9pm. If nothing else, he's keeping busy.

That's all for now.
Love everybody,
Lorie & Jimi

Shark teeth

Dear Friends and Family,

Monday comes faster and faster and I really don't feel I have much to report. The week was somewhat uneventful. I spent last Monday and Tuesday in absolute misery from the no-seeums, also known as sand fleas or sand flies. By the weekend most of the spots had disappeared. Now I'm a little leary of being on the beach after dark. I purchased some skin so soft, as that is suppose the help. However, will I ever get the nerve to test it? Not sure.

Early last week, the lake was at the minimum recommended depth we need to move the boat. We had planned on leaving Sunday for our trip; however, decided it would be too risky . If the water is rough, swells could cause us to hit the bottom and that's something we don't want to risk. We have decided to plan our trip beginning on September 8th.

Jimi began setting up his HAM radio operation and he hand made steps for our mast. He'll attach them to the mast about every 18 inches, so we can climb to the top to see afar and do any necessary repairs. He temporarily attached them to a 4x4 timber and tied it to a tree for testing purposes and I have to say they are pretty ingenious.

We went to the beach on Sunday for a couple of hours. The water was rougher than we've ever seen it. Apparently the dry weather from Irene is causing a suction effect and creating 3+ foot waves. We played in the water for a while and as long as we got out past the break we were fine. I practically had no control in the breaking area; lost my top once and nearly the bottoms a few times. Jimi did some body surfing and caught some pretty good waves. It was exhausting, but a lot of fun. We also walked down the way and collected a couple dozen shark teeth washed up on shore. There must have been a dozen people collecting them also and some with sandwich bags full.

I have finished Jennifer and Tim's wedding album and uploaded it to our blog. As always, the pictures do not do the pages justice. It is so much better in person. Enjoy!! Jimi took all but the reception pictures and did a spectacular job.I hope we can get pictures that nice for our wedding. http://dogbonegraphics.com/blog/?page_id=1966

Jennifer and Tim moved in with some family friends for a short time. This will give them a chance to get on their feet. Please continue to keep them in your thoughts.

Well, I can't think of anything else right now. Hope all is well with you.

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi

Just a little more water please.........

Dear Friends & Family,

A little shorter this week.

We stayed in on Saturday and Sunday; however, headed out to the beaches Saturday and Sunday evenings to watch the sunsets. The water was surprisingly clear under the moonlight. Jimi took a quick moonlight dip in the ocean, forgetting his swim trunks, he had to skinny dip; two moons were out that night. Hahaha..... Sunday night, while I collected shells, he got creative with his camera. However, we didn't stay out long, as the no-seeums were really bad. Jimi counted over 100 bites on my legs, ankles, and feet. They must only come out at night, because we haven't experienced them on any of our daytime trips. Jimi also had a countless number of bites, but he hasn't been as whiny about them as I have been. Lol

 

I worked diligently all week on Jennifer's wedding album. When I get it finished, I'll post it on our blogs website. Jennifer and Tim are doing well. They both finally got full time jobs, which they both started today. They have acquired one bicycle from my girlfriend for transportation and are awaiting another. They will be moving into less expensive housing, as soon as they are able to find something.

 

Daniel is also doing well in Alaska. The landscaping job he had during the summer is winding down and his hours are lesser and lesser each week. He is in search of something else now.

 

The water in Lake Okeechobee rose nearly two inches this past week.YAY! We need just under an inch to meet the recommended minimum depth. Please continue to keep your eyes, toes, ears, arms, legs, nostrils, and fingers crossed. We could be making our voyage soon and when we do, think of the movie African Queen when you think of our adventure.

 

That's all for now. It great to get your feedback; we love hearing from you.

 

Love everybody,

Lorie & Jimi