Replacing the Vent Cowls

Replacing our Vent Cowls - Again!

We purchased Eximius in May of 2015, at that time it had plastic Vent Cowls and they deteriorated badly in just a few months. Was it something we did when cleaning them? There was always a grotty sticky feeling to the outer surface. I would put it down to UV damage but the boat was in a slip in Port St. Lucie, it should have been no different in our slip in Fort Lauderdale. So, I replaced the cowls in 2018 and again in 2021. They turned grotty in 2023! Two years! And now, four years later they too are grotty and sticky again! Enough! They cost $190 for two, time to remove the lock on the wallet and buy some decent cowl vents.

Initially searching Amazon but really could not find any that would fit the original Catalina Plastic Dorade boxes. Searched the rest of the web, at least it seemed like it, but finally I found Buchan Marine - Cowls - that's what they do!

They have several styles to chose from and I like the low profile cowls, I know that I have leant upon the plastic ones several times, the low profile design should reduce the risk of damage if that happens again.

The Deck plate should fit where the existing vents are and will look a whole lot better. Definitely an upgrade for Eximius.

Perhaps I'll get them in time for Father's Day 😉

I sent an email to Scott Buchan at Buchan Marine https://www.buchanmarine.net/ventillation and he replied on Saturday evening! He suggested that I confirm the deck plate size, so I'll go down to the boat later today/early Monday and measure the plates. The hole pattern appear to be the same and I did see this pic in their photo gallery images.

That looks exactly like our C34 except the teak is in better condition.

Just an FYI, the deck plate allows the vent cowl to be removed and blanked off. We're in SoFla, and part of our Hurricane prep on the boat is to blank off anywhere that water can get in. Being able to just unscrew the vent cowls and blank the holes off with the Deck plate is a big help. The existing plastic cowls do have a blank, but it's not screwed down and we have used gorilla tape to hold it down during preps for previous hurricanes.

I ordered the 4" Low profile vent cowls this morning ( June 10th 2025 ) from Scott at Buchan Marine:- 

https://www.buchanmarine.net/product-page/stainless-low-profile

BTW, this will make Peggy happy as she detests the plastic ones.

Nice to be adding some Boat Bling for a change.

June 11th, the day after sending an email to Scott at Buchan Marine, I received a reply with an invoice for the total cost and shipping for the 2 vent cowls. PDQ response time.

The invoice is for the two cowl vents with Deck Plate and Cap, two bug screens, and a T handle ( for the Deck plate Cap ) and Shipping. I'll not post the total as I'm guessing the price is going up like everything else. 

Update: June 12th. Scott replied to my payment via Zelle. Confirmed the shipping address.  So far so good!

I'm not being sponsored by the Company, although I have been chatting to Scott since I placed the order.

They are a small business specializing in Ventilation Cowls and have been around for 25 years. As a small business owner myself, I appreciate really good customer service and Scott clearly wears that hat.

Buchan Marine are located in California. But they are not a new startup and have been in business for around 25 years. 

  

Scott just advised me that if you mention Eximius in your order, he will give you a 10% discount

https://www.buchanmarine.net/?eximius10.

Hopefully, the new Cowls will arrive this coming week. We're planning on some other work on the boat this week after working Monday & Tuesday on a customer's project. We'll install the Cowls the day after they arrive as it should be a quick and easy install.

The new Cowls should ship in the next day or two, seems they do individual QA checks and a final Polish before shipping. I'm getting excited, bright shiny things do that.

So, just to have a comparison, here's a pic of the Starboard side Cowl Vent on the boat:

The plastic really cannot handle the South Florida Sunshine, it's way beyond 'cleaning'

If you notice the Black Dorade housing, it's because I refinished both of them a few years back. Time to make them Boatiful again to honor the new boat bling.

Anticipation is growing.

The insides look pretty grotesque too!

Again, the astute will notice the nice non-skid finish in the pic, that was done earlier this year ( 2025) 

Got an email from Scott today, Cowls should ship tomorrow. WooHoo.

Thursday, July 10th. Arrival Day.

Oh My Goodness !

The package arrived a day early, it was waiting on our doorstep when I got home from the grocery store.

The box was heavier than I expected, it took an effort to restrain myself from opening the package before I had stowed the foods in the freezer.

I carefully used a box cutter to open the substantially packaged box, I didn't want to scratch the new Cowls.

WOW ! They are gorgeous. Sorry if I'm swooning with praise, but they really are awesome. You know how it feels when you install a new Stainless Steel Turnbuckle to replace one made in the dark ages? Looks Good, Feels Solid, the shape is amazing. I'm totally impressed. 

The package contained the two new cowls, two blanking plates ( Shiny Stainless too ), two bug screens and a Stainless Steel blanking plate key to aid installing / removing the blanks.

Ok, so I obviously have a thing for big bright shiny things, but I didn't realize how bad, I'll have to work on that. Meanwhile, I have to go to the boat to install them. From what I can tell, it should be a simple task of unscrewing the old cowls and installing the new. I'll put some butyl tape between the stainless retaining ring ( very shiny ) and the original plastic/fiberglass base. That's it.

Of course, life events are happening and I'll have to wait till later before going down to the boat. But.... if there's a chance break in the life events, I'll be down there in a flash.

Just picking up one of the cowls brings a smile. I should have done this years ago.

I'll hold off posting this until after the install and I have some pics to show them in place.

In my garage, they look fantastic, growing antsi for the install.

Saturday July 12th - Install Day

Despite the threat of a stormy day, we headed down to the boat to finish another project and to install the new Cowls.

The old cowls were now really gooey, the plastic has been really affected by UV here in South Florida.

It only took a few minutes to remove the screws holding down the old cowls.

I did have to drill holes in the Dorade base as the holes in the cowl's stainless steel base did not line up with the holes either the original holes for the cowls installed by Catalina nor the two replacement plastic cowls that I have installed during the past 10 years. That only took a minute for each cowl.

Here's what we started with. The top of the old cowls is horribly sticky. I was able to rotate the cowls in order to reach the screws in the base.

The new cowl next to the removed old plastic cowl.

This is a significant upgrade and is long overdue. I Should have done this job right when we first replaced the original cowls. At least, I presume they were original, but I'm guessing that as the replacements were in such bad shape after just a couple of years, then the ones in place when we purchased the boat in 2015 were probably also just a few years old.

And this is the result of the new replacement.

Absolutely gorgeous. Super solid, high gloss and they won't fall off. 

There's hex head set screw on the inside of the cowl, just a couple of turns with an allen key wrench and the cowl is locked in place.

I am totally pleased with these cowls. They did take a few weeks for delivery but was it worth it. You Bet!

Thanks Scott. I'll send you an email about some other cowls I might be interested in replacing.

Now when I say " See you on the Water " I'll be thinking that you'll know it's Eximius, she's wearing her Jewelry and looks Fine!

See you on the water.

Adding More LiFePo4 batteries

 Adding more LiFePo4 Batteries to Eximius

The two new batteries have been sitting in the boat for a couple of months, they are jambed into the locker but not really secured.

I did have a couple of hours this morning between other jobs, so I started on the project. Step 1: Replace the existing On/Off Battery Switch with a new Off/1/Both/2 switch.

The new switch requires a 2 5/8" Diameter hole and the old switch only required 2 1/2". So I removed the old switch, screwed a piece of plastic on the inside of the bulkhead and marked the center of that, then drilled using a 2 5/8" hole saw. Nailed ! ( Sorry, not a good pun.) The new hole was in the perfect position.

Next I connected the wire from the Battery Bank Terminal block to the #2 position of the new switch and the connected the output wire. Turned off the Solar breaker, reconnected the +ve wire to the new switch and turned it all back on. Worked great, Checked all connections were tight, closed it up. All done.

Ok, next part of this project: Secure the new Batteries

Simple, just make a webbing hold down strap and secure it in place using a couple of footman loops.

The Batteries are 9" high and the two are 15" wide.

So the straps need to be 3" + 7" + 5" and 3" + 16+ a loop in length.

ie. One Strap will be 15" including a 3" loop

the other will be 22" including a 3" loop on one end and a 2" loop on the other.

I'll make the strap at home, then go to the boat, attach the straps to the loops and drill and screw the stainless steel footman loops in place. Easy job.

The webbing restraints are stainless steel and really grip well.

Got them installed. It was awfully hot today. it only took about 20 minutes to secure the batteries with the strap but by then I was really feeling the heat. I should have learned from our trip up to Jensen Beach a few weeks ago.  

With the Batteries now secure, next step is to mount the Fused Terminal Blocks.

We'll work on the wiring upgrade in steps.

I'll be mounting the Positive Terminal Block with Fuses on the inside of the new battery box and connecting wires that are the same length as the original 3 battery wires.  The intent is to make sure that the voltage drop is the same for both sets of batteries to ensure even charging and discharging from both battery banks.  

We have to mount the two Terminal blocks but not connect them to the master battery switch. That will allow working in the cabin in the summer heat with the AC running.

Next, with the Terminal blocks in place, I'll make up the wires and connect the Batteries to the +ve & -ve terminal Blocks.

At that point, the Additional batteries can be connected to the master battery switch. The existing system is designed for a max current of 300Amps, but with the two additional batteries, it's capable of 500 amps ( Each battery wire is protected by a 100Amp fuse. ).

This means that I should upgrade the cables from the Master battery switch to the DC connection of the Victron Multiplus to 4/0 cables. I'm not sure that we'll be able to get the 4/0 cables through the 38 year old conduits from beneath the Nav Table, Under the cabin soul and up to the Battery Boxes. That means we'll have to consider replacing the conduits with larger diameter. 

Monday June 23rd. I worked on a canvas project this morning as well as picked up our Mercury Outboard, not working but I have a plan.

This afternoon we went down to the boat and put the sunshades up in an effort to cool the boat for the time we need to work in the cabin.

We, yes, Peggy was a big help, installed the positive and negative terminal blocks and covers.

This pic shows the setup for the original batteries, I  used the same type of terminal blocks for the new batteries. Also, just ordered another 4 post 600 amp terminal block for the combined negative connections.

We ran the AC for 3 hours and dropped the batteries to 61% - it ran consistently the entire time. Hopefully the next time we go to work on the boat it will be initially cooler due to the sun shades and we can make better progress. Anyway, the next job is to make the cables for the two new batteries connection to the terminal blocks. The Positive terminals have 100Amp fuses on each post.

Ok, back at the boat, we cut the new 1/0 AWG Red & Yellow cables for the new batteries, but only had 1 pair of 1/0 5/16" ring terminals, all of the others were 1AWG Grrrrr. Ordered new terminals from Amazon while still on the boat.

The AC was running while we did all of the 1/0 cable prep and the Installation of the new 600Amp -ve Power post terminal block -- this will join the two sets of -ve terminal blocks to the -ve connection to the 500Amp Victron Shunt. Remember, the cables from this post will be 4/0 AWG and will easily handle the 500amps available. We're nowhere near that when running the Air Conditioning but it's nice to know that we will not be likely to over clock the wires.

Next time at the boat we'll connect the rest of the cables from the two batteries and the -ve terminal block to the  -ve post.

Making progress until a setback today :(

On our last trip, we left the boat with the two new batteries connected in parallel to the fused terminal block (9/+ve ) and the negative terminal block.

Today I made up the cables that connect the +ve terminal block to the #2 connection on the Blue Sea 6007m 4 way selector switch and the able from the -ve terminal block to the single -ve terminal post. Used a 1 1/8" hole saw to cut holes between the old battery bay and the new battery bay. Good progress.

When it came to connect the -ve cable to the single -ve terminal  post, I realized that the post would not hold 3 of the 3/8" 4/0Awg ring terminals. Grrrr.

Solution is to replace the post terminal with a 4 post terminal. Already have one in the workshop. Solved.

But then!!!! As I tightened down on the bolts for the Blue Seas 6007m 4 position switch, the casing broke! Arrgggggh!

Ordered a replacement, should arrive Saturday. Looked up the Torque settings: Gemini gave me this result: For the Blue Sea 6007m 4-way switch, the terminal stud torque setting is 120 in-lb (13.56 Nm).

This applies to the 3/8" (M10) tinned copper studs on the switch. 

Luckily, I have a Torque Wrench 2 - 26Nm.

Soooo, next trip to the boat I'll be armed with the wrench, the new 4 post terminal block  and the new BlueSea Switch.

This means I should be able to actually complete the setup of the new batteries excepting the replacement of the 1/0 AWG wires from the battery bank to the Shunt and the Fuses before the Victron System.  That's quite a task and I'll post separately on that part. It does involve in removing the old 1/0 wiring and conduits, reworking the fuse setup and installing the new 4/0Awg wires. They go from under the cabin soul on the stbd side below the Galley sink, beneath the flooring, up into the Port side locker ( home of the holding tank ), up the port side storage cabinets then aft to the Fuses and Victron.  Not looking forward to that one. 

See you on the water, but not for the next few days - we'll miss going out on the 4th. That will be the first time in many years.

Mercury 4hp Outboard run issues

 Mercury 4hp not running.

The Outboard is not really that old and has less than 50 hours on it, a lot less. But despite replacing the Carb and the fuel Filters, it's sick. If I can get it running, it will crap out after a minute or so and almost immediately if the gear shift is moved to fwd or reverse.

I was getting ready to bring the engine home, again, and take it to a service center along with my credit card!

But asking the club members, one suggested I check out the fuel pump - what fuel pump???

Turns out there is a fuel pump and change out is a 5 minute job. Two bolts, two hoses, no need to dismantle the engine to get to it. 

I searched for it online and found it for $125 or $21 on Amazon.  Duh!

Ordered it this morning. I should be able to change the fuel pump while the outboard is secure on it's mount - port side aft.  I'll syphon out as much fuel as I can and have plenty of spill pads beneath the engine before removing the fuel pump.

I guess that as we're located in the 'boating capitol' of the world ( hmmmm? ) the local Amazon distribution center has the pumps available locally.

We took a trip up to lake worth around 4pm yesterday. We got home around 8pm, the new Fuel Pump was sitting on our porch when we got home! 

The item looks identical to the ones I've seen online and has the same part number as I found online too. So it looks like a winner. I'm sewing today, so the earliest to get down to the boat is Friday.

The pump is mounted on the Stbd side of the outboard and we mount the outboard on the Port side facing forwards, so the pump is on the Cockpit side of the engine. There's a lot of Stainless steel tubing for the Bimini in that area, so it's not a complete breeze, but pretty close. I'll put a bucket over the prop and shaft, fill it with water so that we can test the engine in situ. 

Peggy will be onboard with me when I work on the fuel pump, I'll encourage her to take a video of the process.

Tools needed:

• Socket Set
• Philips head screw driver.
• Rags to catch any fuel drips from the hoses and to clean the pump mounting surface.
• Hose clamp pliers to ensure the tank doesn't try to drain.

If it really is as easy as it's shown in the YouTube Videos, it should take about 10 minutes - but was done on an outboard engine stand in a Garage, so perhaps add a couple of hours to that guestimate.

Well, that didn't work!

So far I have changed the Carb, Fuel Pump, Spark Plug, Fuel Filter and the Fuel.  Not looking good.

I give up! So I took it to Drummonds Outboards in Deerfield Beach. They cannot work on it for at least a couple of weeks. Staffing issues and swamped with work - nice place to be but.... Anyway, Zack informed me that they have all the parts they might need to service the engine, but it might be expensive. Glum!

See you on the water, but we won't be using our outboard this month.

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Gearbox Oil Change on C34 Universal M25XP

Easy Gearbox Oil Change

Changing the gearbox oil is not something we do very often but it is a pain in the neck trying to refill the gearbox after removing the old oil.

Equipment required ( to do it my way )

• Socket & Wrench to fit the Dipstick ( I think ours is a 9/16" socket )
• Oil Extraction pump - I use the same pump to do an Oil Change on the Engine
• 3/8" plastic hose - OD diameter to fit the Dipstick hole, ID to fit the Oil Change hose.
• Clean up towels
• Fresh Gearbox Oil - there is a label on our gearbox 'Use Auto Gearbox Oil'

Here's how I change the Gearbox Oil on Eximius.

Prep the Oil Change Pump ( OCP ) and completely empty it of any previously extracted oil.

Remove the cabin steps to gain access to the top of the engine and use a socket and wrench to remove the Dipstick which is located on the Port Side forward edge of the top of the gear box. It's a challenge but once removed, wipe it down with a clean cloth and put it back in place but do not screw it down, instead just put it into the gear box and withdraw it then note the Oil level on the dipstick. Ours is normally at the groove in the dipstick. Now remove the dip stick again.

Ok, now we know what level the oil should be.

Again, leaning over the top of the engine, insert the 3/8" hose down between the heat exchanger and the back of the engine and insert the hose into the gearbox Dipstick hole.

Using that hose as a sheath, insert the Oil Change Pump hose down into the dipstick hole as far as you can, down into the gearbox dipstick hole.

Next, use the Oil Change Pump to suck out the Gearbox oil. Only takes a few pumps of the OCP handle.

Withdraw the OCP hose from the 3/8" sheath but leave the sheath hose in place.

Insert a suitable funnel into the top end of the sheath hose.

Now that the oil removed from the gearbox is in the OCP container, pour the old oil into a measuring cup in order to measure the replacement, new, oil.

With the correct amount of replacement oil in a measuring cup, pour it into the funnel that is in the end of the sheath hose.  Now the gearbox should have enough fresh oil that replaced the old oil.

Now remove the sheath hose and check the gearbox oil level with the dipstick, it should be the same as the original dip. If need be, add more oil by removing the dipstick, reinserting the sheath hose and funnel then add small amounts of oil checking between with the dipstick until the correct level is attained. Don't forget to reinsert the Gearbox Dipstick bolt!

Using the concept of the sheath hose makes it a whole lot easier removing and replacing the gear box oil when the fill point is really awkward to reach.  

It is possible, with a good bit of boat Yoga, to reach the Dipstick bolt from the top of the engine, but if that doesn't work for you then empty the aft berth, remove the sub floor and crawl down to reach the dipstick bolt just forward of the port top edge of the gearbox.

Note. I have read stories of owners that removed the gearbox oil drain plug and then had a hard time of getting a replacement sealing washer for the plug. However, draining the oil from the drain plug is the way to go if you want a 100% change.  Your boat. 

See you on the water.

Fort Lauderdale to Jensen Beach - Washup

Review of our Trip from Fort Lauderdale to Jensen Beach and back.

Memorial Day Weekend.

06:15 Thursday May 22nd till 15:30 Monday May 26th 2025

Quick Recap:

We sailed from our home port to Lake worth on Thursday 22nd, Motored from Lake worth to Jensen Beach on Friday 23rd. Stayed on a Mooring Friday night, Saturday and departed Sunday morning back to Lake Worth and then from Lake Worth to home port on Monday.

Sailing:

Not much :( we were able to sail for a couple of hours on the way up to lake worth. The rest of the trip was under motor. Wind was either too light or on the nose. It happens.

Sails were looking good. All the lines were good, Furler, Winches and steering all good.

Motoring:

Lot's. Engine pushed us really well, highest speed was 7.9knots. Engine temp remained steady even during the times we pushed our 3 pot Universal M25XP to WOT at 2,200 rpm ( that's as forwards as we can move the throttle.)

Navigation

I mounted the Samsung Tablet at the helm, it's big but that worked in our favor. It's running AquaMaps and we have the full subscription. It offers additional nav data and I recorded at least one of our tracks so that I can see how that works out.  

We have a Power brick on board and I had that plugged into the Tablet at the helm so there were no power issues.

Communications

VHF works great, we had several severe weather warnings pop up on #4. We used #68 for interboat chats, #16 on the Ocean and #9 on the waterways.

Food:

We ate well. We did miss the Picnic Lunch on Saturday and the Dinner on Saturday evening, so we ate all of the food we took with us. Best meal was the Shrimp Fettuccini that Peg's had prepared earlier in the week.

Drinks:

We mistakenly did not 'fill' our water tanks and quickly consumed the bottled drinking water we had onboard, wanting to preserve our tanked water for showers. Plenty of Wine, Rum and Whiskey but ending up bringing most of that home. Our Buddies Mike and Barry delivered Gatorade and Bottled water to the boat when I was poorly on Saturday, a huge help! Next time bring lots of both.

Bedding:

Two sets of bedding, just as well as we had left a hatch open on the Ocean trip from Jensen to Lake Worth and soaked the V-Berth bedding.

Towels & Linens, Clothing.

We brought plenty to last the 5 days and had some left over. My new Tilley hat was worth the money.

Toiletries & First Aid Kit & Meds

We had plenty of everything, needed nothing special. Purely due to timing, I had meds enough through Wednesday morning but would have had an issue if we added another couple of days to the trip.

Refrigeration:

Our primary Fridge Freezer worked great - except that I had turned it off when we left the boat on Wednesday afternoon - and after loading it with our food. We had to toss out some of it.

Our secondary Fridge Freezer - BougRV - worked great except that it did not like the drop in voltage when we ran the AC. I need to rewire the 12v supply to the aft cabin, it suffers a voltage drop. So bigger wiring. I'll lookup the power requirements for the Bougrv fridge and make sure there's plenty of capacity.

The new Ice Maker worked pretty good. It did not perform as well on the boat as it did in our Air Conditioned home. It does make ice quicker than our main fridge freezer, and it is easier to get Ice from it compared to having do dig down in to the main unit. It is currently installed adjacent to the BougRV portable fridge freezer, not the best location but it is secure. I should make a hold down strap for it.

Cooking:

Total Success using our portable Induction Cooktop. Did not use any propane at all over the weekend. I am going to go ahead and remove the propane cooker and supply.

Our induction kettle - cute but dangerous - The kettle is really a camping kettle, silicone, folding but not so clever when it full of hot water! After searching for a decent Induction cooktop Kettle I decided to switch to an Electric Kettle. I'll write up a review when we test it next weekend. It's 1.2kw.

Pots -n- pans - Still my favorite set of pans - Larger Skillet, Medium Skillet ( have to try using that to make Omelets ) and a Sauce Pan. They heat up so quickly on the Induction cooktop. Seem to be pretty non-stick and stack up for storage in the oven ( Soon to be galley storage cupboard unless I go for an Air Fryer/Toaster/ Combo oven.)

I did toss out some duplicated utensils, just wasting space.

Air Conditioning:

Another success; We ran the AC for a few hours on Saturday afternoon using the Honda Generator, but if we needed it at any time, we ran the AC on the Batteries. The lowest we took our 300AH LiFePo4 batteries was to 49%  And we have two more 100Ah batteries to wire into the system.

Mooring system.

I used our Anchor Snubber for the mooring line at Jensen Beach. over kill. In Lake worth, the mooring pennants are really beefy and barely fit over our cleats.  I'll make a couple of mooring loops that do fit.

Fuel:

Our tank was 7/8 full ( 20 gallons ) at the dock. We carried an additional 10 Gallons on deck. Added 4 Gallons on Saturday night, arrived at the dock with over 3/8 ( 9 gallons ) left.

• Thursday  - 4 hours
• Friday - 8 hours
• Saturday - 0 hours
• Sunday -7.5 hours
• Monday - 8 hours

Total 18 gallons / 27.5 hours = ~ 0.7gph  

I did fill the Honda Generator, about 1 gallon Gasoline. Didn't use it all.

What to do before the next trip:

• Complete the upgrade of the LiFePo4 additional batteries
• Get the Mercury Outboard fixed.
• New Bridge list ( laminated list blew overboard )
• Install new Cabin fixed ports ( badly crazed )
• New Kettle
• New Mooring loops
• New Towel holders on inside Head Door
• Hold down straps for the dinghy
• Hold down strap for the Ice Maker
• Curtains for the 6 opening ports ( 4 main cabin, 2 V-berth ) They need to allow for the port to open. ( Decided we'll go for the Clozure blinds for the opening ports. )
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Things we would do differently

Reduce the Schedule! If the club has another destination cruise ( I hope they do! ) then we'll leave at least a couple of days before and plan to stay out longer. 

If we're on the ICW, then we'll only use the Bob423 tracks during the risky parts of the trip. The stress of trying to stay within such a skinny line ruins the trip.

Ok, let the work continue.

See you on the water.

Lake worth to Fort Lauderdale down the ditch

 Heading from Lake Worth to our home port.

The weather on Monday Morning was forecast as Wind from the South and as it had been a bumpy Sunday evening, we opted to go down the ditch ( I know, Kick me! ) from Lake Worth to our Dock in Fort Lauderdale.

We were awake a couple hours before our 6:30am alarm, so it was an early breakfast of Cereal and Fried Bread and the, so needed, cup of coffee.

As we were preparing to drop our mooring lines, Summer Wind was doing the same thing and were also heading down the ICW.

Really no issues heading down the ditch. We spotted Alebrije at anchor off of the city docks in down town Palm Beach and later heard them calling the bridges we had passed an hour earlier. We motored in company of Chris & Kelli on Summer Wind. 

Still feeling the left over of Heat Exhaustion from the Trip up on Friday, it was peaceful heading south. Just after passing Ocean Bridge, south of the Boynton Inlet, we heard a change in noise from the engine/prop. Temperature was fine ( 147ºF ) Speed was still good but the noise was unsettling. I went below while Peggy shut the engine down while we were in a straight section of the waterway, I checked the Raw Water Filter - dirty but certainly not clogged and the engine temp ruled that out but always worth checking.

With the engine stopped and the prop now slowing down, there was a definite 'Swishing' sound that slowed as the prop slowed and we came to a stop in the water. My diagnosis was that the Shaft Zinc had slid down the prop shaft and was rubbing against the cutlass bearing. The forward edge of the bearing was perpendicular to the shaft, so I figured, at worst some of the bearing forward edge might get rubbed a bit.

Stay Calm and Carry on

I had informed Chris of our problem and my diagnosis, so Chris kept us close company for the next few miles.

A couple of bridges later, we had to increase our RPM and heard a loud Bang! It was almost certainly the sound of the zinc breaking off of the shaft and hitting the hull. The noise stopped.   

It's not unusual for our monthly dive team to put on a new zinc without removing the old, so I figured we might have a second zinc further up the shaft.   Pretty sure we 'did' because it too started making a noise but then it too fell off. Now just the normal noise from the shaft and we were back cruising at our normal speed without a worry.  ( I send an email to our dive team and asked them to remove any remaining zinc and replace it with a new one, we keep one at the dock just in case they ever find the need to replace it.)

Other than a brush with the bottom before Spanish river bridge, the rest of the trip was easy but Really Really Busy! There was a line of boats waiting to get past Spanish River and the Palmetto Park Bridges.  Soon we were past Lake Boca and down to our usual neck of the woods. Summer Wind called us on #9 to go to #68 and advised that they were about to turn off the ICW to their dock and thanked us for being buddy boats for the trip back. It does make a huge difference when you really do have a buddy for a buddy boat. Thanks Chris & Kelli.

The wind was blowing off the dock but we managed to put the boat, port side too, alongside. The next half hour, or so, we unloaded the boat and loaded the truck. We here home by 15:30, exhausted from the weekend.

Good to be home.

Looking forward to our next trip. Peggy also hinted that we should do a longer trip, to the Dry Tortogas next year ( April / May 20256 ) so I'll start planning that one.

See you on the water.

Paul

Jensen Beach to Lake Worth- Outside.

Having recovered from exhaustion we basically took the evening off and missed the hugely successful Picnic on Saturday afternoon. We set the alarm for 06 double bubble for the trip back to Lake Worth. 

We were rewarded with a beautiful morning. I made us toasted Bagles with Cream Cheese and Salmon, a big pot of Coffee and untangled the mooring lines all in time for a 07:15 departure from the Jensen Beach Mooring Field.

1The route from the mooring is littered with shallows, so Peggy eased us sSE to the ICW channel the South under the Causeway bridge, easy-peasy. The local fishermen traffic was no big deal and we hugged the deepest part of the channel according to Bob423. Really no wind, and the water was mirror like until the can only go fast boats zoom past.

The turn towards the St Lucie Inlet is possibly confusing, it's around the area marked as "Great Pocket", but scanning in all direction helps the routing.  As we approached the breakwater and jetty on the outside of the inlet, a powereboat overloaded with testosterone passed on our stbd side , called out to the "sailboat" and mooned us as the flew past. Must admit, I had a brief picture of them flipping their boat, but I just smiled.

Not quick enough to capture a Pic of the Crack o doom. 

The route I followed from here was the reverse of the route we had planned to take on Friday.  Lesson learned!

The route from Lake Worth to the St Lucie Inlet was set to take advantage of the Gulf Stream Northely current. Reversing the route did not work in our favor. 

Two and a half nm out, we felt the push against our Southerly course, that was 2.5nm Northely. 

When I realized my error, I turned to the Southwest to get closer to the shore and out of the current. When you're only doing 6 knots through the water, it costs about 20 mins of travel. Grrr.

Even when we were only one half mile off shore, we still had 1.7 knots against us.

Summer Wind had left shortly after us from the mooring field and we pretty much stayed less than a mile apart all the was to Lake Worth. 

The going was smooth until about 90 minutes from our destination, then the seas picked up and it got a little bit exciting even though we were under motor for the entire trip. We had spray coming over the deck frequently but thought nothing of it.

I had reached out to the mooring owner in Lake Worth asking if there was one available for tonight. We had already booked one for Monday night. He was able to accommodate with the same ball that we had Thursday night.

I updated our route to the known location and we turned into the inlet happy to get out of the growing seas.

With Peggy at the helm, we picked up the ball first time.

With boat secure, I went below to freshen up just as Summer Wind arrived to pickup their mooring adjacent to us.

That's when I found that the hatch under the dinghy stowed on the foredeck was not fully closed.

Guess what I spent the next hour doing. Yep, Hoisting the mattress out of the boat to dry, hanging up the mattress cover  and the bag of laundry.

Surprising how quickly one can man handle a mattress out of the boat and up on deck. I just hope nobody was out with their video camera. 

OK, get on with boat life. Peggy took a hot shower and I made dinner. A real Sailing Brothers dinner: Baked beans, ham, fried bread and fried eggs. DELICIOUS! 

Time left to write up tonight's blog entry, shower, and put the v-berth bedding back together. 

Last job of the evening is to prep for our departure home in the morning.  Looks like we'll take the ditch with an early start hoping to beat the crowds out for Memorial day 2025.