Sunday, February 28, 2016
A Morning Walk
With the weather getting better I've been able to get out for a morning stroll around downtown Ft. Myers. Here are few pictures of what I see.
Looking over the stern to check the weather for a walk.
The U.S. 41 bridge over the Caloosahatchie.
The flag over Centennial Park.
Civil War monument in the park.
Calm waters in the mooring field.
Fountains downtown.
City of Ft. Myers Yacht Basin.
City of Ft. Myers Yacht Basin.
Plaza outside of the City Library.
First St. with High Point Towers in the distance.
Davis Art Center.
One of 23 statues around downtown depicting the artists memory of scenes of his early years in Cartagena.
A little more of First St.
Another of the 23 statues. This one created quite a stir due to the action it depicts.
Eagle carved from an old tree.
One of the Live Oak trees in Ft. Myers.
The pink parking ramp.
Palm tree lined Macgregor Blvd.
Back home a Legacy. My legs are cramping! Pam says I need to hydrate. I think I'll have a rum!
Sunday, February 21, 2016
Living the Dream
Yes we are living the dream. But like all dreams this one has a few interruptions. When we put the boat in storage last May I knew that the generator impeller needed to be replaced. I changed the oil and fished out all of the broken impeller blades from the heat exchanger but I opted to wait until Tourist was back in the water to undertake the impeller change. We've now been floating for over 2 months so the time had come.
As you can see it was beyond replacement time.
An unexpected interruption came one early morning around 4 o'clock when our carbon monoxide detectors started chirping. WTF? So up we get and start the process of figuring out what the cause may be. Experience points to a dead battery but the batteries are only 2 years old. Into the lazerette I go to check out the charger. None of the indicator lights are on. Why isn't this getting any power? Next I go to the breaker panel. (Pam is all the while trying to keep a flashlight pointed in the direction that I'm looking.) The breaker is still in the on position. I know. I'll get the multi-meter and see if the switch is good. Only problem is that the 9 volt battery in the meter is dead and we don't have a spare. Undeterred I found a replacement breaker and switched them out only to find that the breaker wasn't the issue. By now it's 6 a.m. Only another hour till Publix opens and I can get a 9v battery. Meanwhile I shut down all of the 12v power to stop the incessant beeping.
6:55 a.m. finds me hiking down the street to Publix. I return with two 9 volt batteries, half & half, and a half gallon of milk. Seems I would have been going for half & half anyway so Pam could have her morning coffee!
With a working meter we traced the problem to a non-functioning charger. Power in but no power out thus a dead battery. The remedy was to order a replacement charger and as a temporary fix purchase a small portable charger to use till the replacement arrives.
Through all of this the comedy (for me) was Pam's displeasure of having to use the bathroom facilities in the marina for a short time since ours are all run from the 12 volt side of the power supply!
Finally the new charger arrived and the switch out went relatively smooth considering it was a "boat" project.
The non-working charger.
The replacement.
One of the items found by the surveyor back in November was that the sea water hoses that feed the main engines were showing some cracks and he suggested that they be replaced. What should be a pretty straight forward job probably isn't so I elected to have a professional do the work. He estimates that we have roughly 38 feet of hose that needs to be replaced which seems like a lot. but of course this is Tourist and the engineers at Sea Ray decided it would be prudent to place the thru hull at the front center of the bilge then run the hose from there across the engine front, down the outboard side of the engine and into the sea strainer. Then another hose from the strainer to the fuel cooler and then another short piece from the cooler to the sea water pump.
Knowing what a pain in the butt it is to work on the outboard side of these motors is what led me to hiring the job done. Now all we need is the hose which because of the lengths of the runs had to be special ordered from the manufacturer.
Not all of our time has been spent making repairs to Tourist. We made a trip to Walmart where we were delighted to find brand new shopping carts! What a treat to be able to push a cart that rolled smoothly and went in the direction it was pointed.
Look at that shine! It won't last long.
We also had a great Valentine's Day dinner at the The Road House Café with friends.
We clean up pretty good.
Of course roses got the day off on the right foot.
We also celebrated Chinese New Year at Ichiban (Ming's). Pam and Sarah helped out by tending bar but the highlight of the evening is when Ming cranks up the Karaoke. Of course it's all in Chinese!
Well back to the dream. It's time to fix a water leak!
A leaky connection at the water heater is the culprit this time.
New connectors in place.
An unexpected interruption came one early morning around 4 o'clock when our carbon monoxide detectors started chirping. WTF? So up we get and start the process of figuring out what the cause may be. Experience points to a dead battery but the batteries are only 2 years old. Into the lazerette I go to check out the charger. None of the indicator lights are on. Why isn't this getting any power? Next I go to the breaker panel. (Pam is all the while trying to keep a flashlight pointed in the direction that I'm looking.) The breaker is still in the on position. I know. I'll get the multi-meter and see if the switch is good. Only problem is that the 9 volt battery in the meter is dead and we don't have a spare. Undeterred I found a replacement breaker and switched them out only to find that the breaker wasn't the issue. By now it's 6 a.m. Only another hour till Publix opens and I can get a 9v battery. Meanwhile I shut down all of the 12v power to stop the incessant beeping.
6:55 a.m. finds me hiking down the street to Publix. I return with two 9 volt batteries, half & half, and a half gallon of milk. Seems I would have been going for half & half anyway so Pam could have her morning coffee!
With a working meter we traced the problem to a non-functioning charger. Power in but no power out thus a dead battery. The remedy was to order a replacement charger and as a temporary fix purchase a small portable charger to use till the replacement arrives.
Through all of this the comedy (for me) was Pam's displeasure of having to use the bathroom facilities in the marina for a short time since ours are all run from the 12 volt side of the power supply!
Finally the new charger arrived and the switch out went relatively smooth considering it was a "boat" project.
One of the items found by the surveyor back in November was that the sea water hoses that feed the main engines were showing some cracks and he suggested that they be replaced. What should be a pretty straight forward job probably isn't so I elected to have a professional do the work. He estimates that we have roughly 38 feet of hose that needs to be replaced which seems like a lot. but of course this is Tourist and the engineers at Sea Ray decided it would be prudent to place the thru hull at the front center of the bilge then run the hose from there across the engine front, down the outboard side of the engine and into the sea strainer. Then another hose from the strainer to the fuel cooler and then another short piece from the cooler to the sea water pump.
Knowing what a pain in the butt it is to work on the outboard side of these motors is what led me to hiring the job done. Now all we need is the hose which because of the lengths of the runs had to be special ordered from the manufacturer.
Not all of our time has been spent making repairs to Tourist. We made a trip to Walmart where we were delighted to find brand new shopping carts! What a treat to be able to push a cart that rolled smoothly and went in the direction it was pointed.
We also had a great Valentine's Day dinner at the The Road House Café with friends.
Well back to the dream. It's time to fix a water leak!
Friday, February 5, 2016
Soggy Start to the New Year
The weather has been the newsmaker for January here in Florida. The wind has blown and the rain has fallen. Normally Ft. Myers averages 1.9" of rain for the month. This January we've received 11.90 inches of liquid sunshine.
The parking lot at a local shopping plaza. Notice the bumpers underwater.
It's been so wet here in Southwest Florida that they had to cancel the Swamp Buggy Races near Naples because there was too much water! Huh?
It's also been a trying month for Pam. The wind has caused her considerable stress trying to keep her hair in shape and the cooler temps forced her into a footwear change.
A true problem!
In between cold fronts we've been having a good time.
I snuck in a cigar on one of the warmer days.
Diane (M/V RiDi) giving Pam Mahjong pointers.
Watching the neighbor perform the pumpout ritual.
We purchased a new popcorn utensil which worked great!
We even exposed ourselves to a little culture by attending the play "The Cocktail Hour" downtown at the Arcade Theater.
And on occasion we've been able to enjoy the sun setting over the Caloosahatchie.
It's been so wet here in Southwest Florida that they had to cancel the Swamp Buggy Races near Naples because there was too much water! Huh?
It's also been a trying month for Pam. The wind has caused her considerable stress trying to keep her hair in shape and the cooler temps forced her into a footwear change.
In between cold fronts we've been having a good time.
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