07/15/2020
Saturday, April 25th
I found a listing for a 1975 Marine Trader. Single Ford Lehman with bow thruster and generator. Pictures looked great. Emailed asking if we could come see it next day. Boat was in Indiantown, Fl
Sunday, April 26th.
Went to see boat with Mendy and my father. Boat was on the hard, so we could not test genset or engine. Had new electronics, and was very clean. Some serious water damage inside the lower helm on the 3 windows facing the bow. Other than that, boat was in GREAT shape.
Mendy maade a verbal full price cash offer, with the caveat of engine and genset working on a sea-trial the following day. Owner accepted, and confirmed via email. Back to Tampa.
Monday, April 27th, 2020
My father and I went back to Indiantown (about a 3 hour drive for me from Tampa). Boat was put in water (almost 2 hours late). Everything worked! Went to bank, transferred funds, and signed paperwork. We own a boat!
Decided to keep boat in water in Indiantown until we fixed any small things that needed fixing, and work out a plan (and find a marina) in Tampa.
Wednesday, April 29th
I drove down early in the am to work from the boat remotely. Marina wifi was terrible, but AT&T hotspot worked surprisingly well.
Between the clouds of mosquitoes, and the unusable wifi, decided to look for another temporary marina until we could make the 3 day trip back to our yet-unknown new marina home.
Friday, May 1st
Pops and I took the boat from Indiantown, through the St. Lucie Locks to a small place in Stuart. Less than a ½ mile from where I went to high school.
We went back and forth to Stuart multiple weekends, learning the boat and fixing various things. On one of our trips, the bow thruster stopped working at the return to the dock. This started a 6 week process of trial and error, trying to figure out what was causing the issue. I replaced the solenoid on the thruster, but the problem persisted. Eventually hooked up to a brand new ($370!!) marine battery and it worked. Jump forward to June 20th for further info.
Replaced most of the DC lights with LED. Less power draw and no heat.
We looked at and called literally dozens of marinas in Pinellas County. From Ozona down to South St. Pete. Very few marina’s had any openings, and the ones that did just didn’t have the amenities or ‘look and feel’ that we wanted. One of the last places we looked was Maximo Marina in St. Pete. Very industrial feel to it. Seeing it put Mendy on a mission.
She started searching, and ended up finding our home, at a brand new marina. It is on the Margaritaville property. Brand new facility, Compass Hotel with incredible pool, Floridays restaurant, incredible sunset views, open access to the gulf, and a 1 mile bike ride to Holmes Beach, on Anna Maria Island. Perfect.
Saturday, May 23rd
Mendy and I headed to Stuart early Saturday. We were to take the boat to the Marriott Hutchinson Island Marina and meet up with Scott and Christie for some fun. It was supposed to be a gorgeous weekend, but ended up raining a LOT on Sunday/Monday. We had one hell of an adventure coming into the dock. Pretty windy, and no bow thruster, but honestly, we were simply prepared. We didn’t have lines ready and didn’t latch on to the stern posts when pulling in. Dockmaster was awesome and saved our bacon.
Mendy and Christie did some silicone work, patching suspected leaks from the bow.
Fun weekend. We went to the pool bar, and cooked chicken on the boat grill (Scott’s unique recipe of ½ Mojo and ½ Teraki was actually quite good)
Lost DC lights at night. Not sure why. House batteries had no charge. Hooked up car batter charger as temp solution
Monday, May 25th
Mendy and I headed out of the marina successfully, and south on the ICW trying to get back to the temp home marina. Before the crossroads, we hit white-out conditions, AND the gps flaked out. Either the gps was flaking out, or the wind gusts were enough to put me seriously off-course and out of the channel. Ran aground briefly, but were able to back up and get back into the channel. No other issues.
Friday, May 29th
Dad and I started the trip to Bradenton at the new Safe Harbor Pier 77. We started out heading the wrong way, on purpose, to fill up with fuel near the Roosevelt bridge. The starboard tanks would not take fuel, but we filled both port tanks and headed to Indiantown, via the St. Lucie Locks. Got to the Indiantown marina, showered, ate. No issues.
Saturday, May 30th
Up at 5:45. Showered and on the water by 6:15. Our next lock was Port Mayaca, and it was wide open. Clear skies, fair wind all day. We went what is called “Route 1” which is SW through Okeechobee to Clewiston, and up the ditch to Moore Haven lock. In the middle of Lake Okeechobee we had a few minutes when BOTH GPS’s were not communication with satellites. From Moore Haven to Ortona lock. Our original plan was to try and get to WP Franklin locks, but we would have had to stay on the hook, and use the generator, so we opted instead to stay at a marina. We called the Marina LaBelle, but they were full. Nice lady directed us to the city marina. Only 6 slips, but they included power, and were free! I was able to walk down to the local Italian restaurant to get to-go. Score! A/C started popping the 25amp breaker on the A/C unit. Would run for minutes, or hours, and then pop the breaker. Electric head stopped working too.
Sunday, May 31st
Up at 5:45, on the water by 6. Perfect day. It rained the night before, so it was nice and cool, clear skies, fair winds all day. This day we went through the WP Franklin locks. We were still in the OWW (Okeechobee Water Way), but now we were outside the locks, so clear sailing. We got to the end of the OWW and to the beginning of the ICW around noon. Came through Cape Coral, around Pine Island, up past Sanibel, Captiva and Boca Grande. We had reserved a spot at the Palm Harbour Marina in Placida, Fl. We told them we would be arriving after 5, so they told us what slip. When we arrived, we found that slip already occupied. After navigating this very tight marina without a bow thruster, and getting into the slip, and getting settled, another boat pulled up. We were in HIS slip. Super cool guy, commercial fisherman, but he had one engine out so it was difficult for him to maneuver as well. He agreed to tie up next to us, and let us stay. We helped him dock, and offered a beer, and everything was good. Great marina with an awesome pool, good facilities, grill, water filter, whirlpool bath. Johnny Leverocks on-property, but was closed due to covid. After showering and relaxing, the guy whose slip we stole needed a few minutes of help reading gauges while he was below deck fixing his temp gauges. Bed early. Didn’t sleep well as A/C would not run for very long until popping the breaker.
Monday, June 1st.
Up at 5:45, on the water just after 6. Up the ICW past Stump Pass, and into Venice. The ICW curves and runs inside Venice. At one point you are almost 1.5 miles from the Gulf. The water in and around the Venice Inlet is gorgeous. In Osprey, the Blackburn Point Swing Bridge is wide enough for one car, and to open it, the tender has to go out in the middle of the bridge after stopping traffic, and run the controls from the middle. The bridge pivots from it’s own island to create the opening. Pretty cool to see. Up through the Sarasota bridges and crossed Sarasota Bay, which is ginormous. Under the last two bridges (Bradenton, Cortez and Manatee Ave bridges), and a hard right into the channel for our new marina home.
At the dock after 3 days. We tie up, and plug in power and immediately trip the dock/pedestal breaker. This starts a 10 day process to figure out what is going on and how to fix it.
Multiple times on the trip, the main Garmin would lose connection to the satellites, for 5-15 minutes. I think we need an external antenna.
Tuesday, June 9th
Found an ABYC certified electrician. After may hours of troubleshooting, it turns out, when the A/C was installed, they connected the ground and neutral. Once this was separated, power was restored. A/C kept popping it’s breaker. Cleaned out water strainer for A/C. Lot of gunk and even some snails. A/C still popped breaker.
Wednesday, June 10th
Talked to A/C manufacturer (Flagship Marine, located in Stuart, Fl). Tom immediately told me to swap the 25amp for a 30amp. I went to Grainger and spent $5.30 on TWO breakers. Fingers crossed.
Saturday, June 12th
Put in new breaker for A/C. FIXED!
Sunday, June 13th
Checked voltage of batteries when engaging bow thruster. Serious drop. Isolated BT to new single marine battery. Fired right up.
Pulled the engine zinc. Took out the bolt, but the zinc stayed in the hole. Not good. The remaining zinc was like a clay consistency, blocking the hole.
Wednesday, June 17th
After work went down to clean out the old zinc and replace with the new ones I bought from West Marine. Scrape and vacuum. Scrape and vacuum. Got most of it out, but now there is zinc in the bolt-hole threads. Mendy had the idea of a bottle brush. Ordered from Amazon.
Saturday, June 20th
We arrived at the boat to do some repairs. Mendy and her mom were doing measurements for some new canvas, cushions, etc. When we arrived, there was no DC power on boat. After further research, both house batteries were virtually dead. After even MORE research, it seems the negative from the 30amp house charger was not properly connected to the batteries. Fixed this and immediately had DC. Doesn’t seem like solar power is correctly connected to all 3 battery systems. Will need to address this. This might have been the root cause of the bow thruster problem. Still need to research and test batteries.
Sunday, June 21st
Took head completely out and took it home for disassembly. Removed macerator motor. Lots of hair and string around blade and shaft. Cleaned it a little bit, but hard to get to. Shaft was initially stuck, but after cleaning a bit, started to move. Hooked up to battery and it is now turning. Need to take it apart for thorough cleaning before re-assembling and re-installing. I count this as a success!
